Those early issues of Master of Kung Fu had some of the most consistently dynamic covers ever.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday's Favorite OTR
The Lone Ranger--"Kit Carson"--July 17, 1944:
This particular episode is one of 16 broadcast in 1944 in which the Ranger shares an adventure with a real-life person. In fact, I posted comments about the Teddy Roosevelt 2-parter a few months back.
"Kit Carson" is something of an anomaly. It starts with the commander of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas reading a news story about the deaths of John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, both on July 4. That sets the story firmly in 1826. A few minutes later, a young Kit Carson enters the tale.
So I figured the story would be have a 50-year gap in it, with young Kit having an 1826 adventure, then teaming up with the Lone Ranger as an old guy in some sort of follow-up to the first half.
But instead, the whole story was set in 1826, with the Ranger and Tonto mysteriously and without explanation existing in that time period (40 to 50 years before they should be around.)
Of course, it was a good, entertaining story, so there's really no reason to complain. I guess the writers & producers simply decided to set aside internal continuity in order to tell the story they wanted to tell. The result was a sort of "Elsewords" or "What If" Lone Ranger tale, with a well-constructed plot and some nice bits of characterizations involving various people involved in the adventure.
I usually think that fictional universes are more dramatically viable if they pay proper attention to their internal continuities. But I have to admit that in this case, it simply doesn't matter. The episode did what all the stronger Lone Ranger episodes do--it told a good yarn.
(It does beg the question, though, of what sort of weapon the Ranger was using at one point when he engaged in a gun battle with a couple of bad guys. He was shooting multiple times without reloading in a time period where revolvers weren't yet available. )
Click HERE to listen or download.
This particular episode is one of 16 broadcast in 1944 in which the Ranger shares an adventure with a real-life person. In fact, I posted comments about the Teddy Roosevelt 2-parter a few months back.
"Kit Carson" is something of an anomaly. It starts with the commander of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas reading a news story about the deaths of John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, both on July 4. That sets the story firmly in 1826. A few minutes later, a young Kit Carson enters the tale.
So I figured the story would be have a 50-year gap in it, with young Kit having an 1826 adventure, then teaming up with the Lone Ranger as an old guy in some sort of follow-up to the first half.
But instead, the whole story was set in 1826, with the Ranger and Tonto mysteriously and without explanation existing in that time period (40 to 50 years before they should be around.)
Of course, it was a good, entertaining story, so there's really no reason to complain. I guess the writers & producers simply decided to set aside internal continuity in order to tell the story they wanted to tell. The result was a sort of "Elsewords" or "What If" Lone Ranger tale, with a well-constructed plot and some nice bits of characterizations involving various people involved in the adventure.
I usually think that fictional universes are more dramatically viable if they pay proper attention to their internal continuities. But I have to admit that in this case, it simply doesn't matter. The episode did what all the stronger Lone Ranger episodes do--it told a good yarn.
(It does beg the question, though, of what sort of weapon the Ranger was using at one point when he engaged in a gun battle with a couple of bad guys. He was shooting multiple times without reloading in a time period where revolvers weren't yet available. )
Click HERE to listen or download.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
It’s only natural to wonder why Sherlock Holmes—at the height of his career and deductive powers in 1888—didn’t help run down Jack the Ripper in 1888.
Well, maybe he did, but just couldn’t let Watson write about it afterwards. The 1978 movie Murder by Decree (with Christopher Plummer as Holmes) uses an old conspiracy theory involving the Royal family and Freemasonry to explain why it all had to be swept under the table after the Ripper is killed.
But there was a better version of Holmes vs. the Ripper made 13 years earlier. A Study in Terror (1965) has John Neville doing an enjoyable interpretation as Holmes—not as good as Jeremy Brett, but then what Holmes is?
Donald Houston may grate on some as a hero-worshiping Watson, but I was okay with it. The rest of the cast—including great actors such as Anthony Quayle and Frank Finlay—are all top notch. There’s a strong plot, a reasonable explanation for covering it all up afterwards, and a real sense of just how incredible Holmes’ deductive skills are.
Also, A Study in Terror has Mycroft Holmes in it. We really don’t get to see enough of Mycroft—Sherlock’s smarter but sedentary older brother. He only appears in two of the original stories (HERE is one of them) and, well, that’s really not enough to satisfy us. He’s just too good a character.
Of course, one of the points of Mycroft is that he has no desire or energy to actively investigate anything (he makes a living being the brains secretly behind the British government), so any accurate portrayal of him doesn’t allow much leeway to involve him in an adventure. In this film, though, he’s sent by the government to enlist his brother’s help in catching the Ripper. Superbly played by Robert Morley, Mycroft’s scenes with Sherlock are a delight.
The film glitches a little at the end—showing Sherlock foolishly allowing the villain to get the drop on him so that the two can fight to the death. Heck, he didn’t even bring Watson along for back-up. But this doesn’t spoil an otherwise excellent “what if” Sherlock Holmes film.
By the way, Inspector Lestrade is played by Frank Finlay. In 1978, Finlay plays the role again in Murder by Decree. (Anthony Quayle is in both movies as well, though playing different parts.)
I’ve always wanted to see A Study in Terror—mostly because I felt (correctly, it turns out) that Robert Morley would be the perfect actor to play Mycroft. The movie was recently released through Columbia Pictures’ manufacture-on-demand service—a service offered by several studies now that is filling in missing gaps for getting older movies and TV series on DVD. Of course, that means these movies aren’t available for rental—you gotta buy one to see it. But with A Study in Terror, it was money well spent.
Well, maybe he did, but just couldn’t let Watson write about it afterwards. The 1978 movie Murder by Decree (with Christopher Plummer as Holmes) uses an old conspiracy theory involving the Royal family and Freemasonry to explain why it all had to be swept under the table after the Ripper is killed.
But there was a better version of Holmes vs. the Ripper made 13 years earlier. A Study in Terror (1965) has John Neville doing an enjoyable interpretation as Holmes—not as good as Jeremy Brett, but then what Holmes is?
Donald Houston may grate on some as a hero-worshiping Watson, but I was okay with it. The rest of the cast—including great actors such as Anthony Quayle and Frank Finlay—are all top notch. There’s a strong plot, a reasonable explanation for covering it all up afterwards, and a real sense of just how incredible Holmes’ deductive skills are.
Also, A Study in Terror has Mycroft Holmes in it. We really don’t get to see enough of Mycroft—Sherlock’s smarter but sedentary older brother. He only appears in two of the original stories (HERE is one of them) and, well, that’s really not enough to satisfy us. He’s just too good a character.
Of course, one of the points of Mycroft is that he has no desire or energy to actively investigate anything (he makes a living being the brains secretly behind the British government), so any accurate portrayal of him doesn’t allow much leeway to involve him in an adventure. In this film, though, he’s sent by the government to enlist his brother’s help in catching the Ripper. Superbly played by Robert Morley, Mycroft’s scenes with Sherlock are a delight.
The film glitches a little at the end—showing Sherlock foolishly allowing the villain to get the drop on him so that the two can fight to the death. Heck, he didn’t even bring Watson along for back-up. But this doesn’t spoil an otherwise excellent “what if” Sherlock Holmes film.
By the way, Inspector Lestrade is played by Frank Finlay. In 1978, Finlay plays the role again in Murder by Decree. (Anthony Quayle is in both movies as well, though playing different parts.)
I’ve always wanted to see A Study in Terror—mostly because I felt (correctly, it turns out) that Robert Morley would be the perfect actor to play Mycroft. The movie was recently released through Columbia Pictures’ manufacture-on-demand service—a service offered by several studies now that is filling in missing gaps for getting older movies and TV series on DVD. Of course, that means these movies aren’t available for rental—you gotta buy one to see it. But with A Study in Terror, it was money well spent.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
History of the Marvel Universe: March 1966, part 3
It’s the coolest fight ever. Seriously. The fight between Hercules and Thor—consisting of everything from trading punches while balanced atop a moving subway train to tossing multi-ton vehicles at each other at a construction site—represents Jack Kirby at his best. It’s pure fun from start to finish.
And it finishes when Odin, as punishment for Thor’s disobedience in returning to Earth, takes away half his power right in the middle of the fight. Though he never stops trying, the Thunder God is beaten down by the Son of Zeus.
Actually, Odin can’t bring himself to so this personally, so he gives the Odin-power to Seidring, one of his advisors. It’s Seidring who actually zaps Thor. Of course, the decision to basically let someone else borrow his omnipotence will come back to bite the All-Father in the butt next issue. Some “all-knowing” deities just never learn.
But it’s the visuals and the extraordinary fight choreography that makes this issue. There have been other great fights so far. Spider Man’s rampage against Doc Ock’s gang in recent issues of that book, for instance. The Hulk/Thing fight from FF #25. Daredevil vs. Namor in DD #7. Dr. Strange vs. Dormammu in Strange Tales. I could name others. It’s arguable, of course, because it’s so subjective. But this might very well be my favorite comic book fight of all time. It is an astounding example of how to move the action in an exciting yet still logical manner from panel to panel.
Anyway, it ends with Thor refusing to be comforted by a repentant Jane, while Hercules is offered a Hollywood movie contract. That contract is a trap, of course—the first step in one of the most bizarre supervillain plans ever.
The Tales of Asgard feature has Thor rescuing Loki from the flying trolls. Then Odin recalls the ship to Asgard, telling them their mission is over and that Ragnarok must be confronted there.
I’ve always wondered if Stan and Jack didn’t plot out the Tales of Asgard in stream of consciousness from issue to issue, because this really is an awkward jump. The Argo was supposed to be sailing off to discover the source of Ragnarok. They had a few visually awesome adventures, but didn’t really accomplish anything that related to their mission. Now Odin pops up and tells them their mission is over and that basically the whole trip wasn’t necessary.
Oh, well, it really does look awesome. That’s the whole point to the feature anyways.
Namor is off to stop whatever human activity is causing earthquakes in Atlantis. He finds an experimental drill being worked by Hank Pym from a floating sea lab. Namor breaks the drill. Soldiers on the lab shoot at him and the issue ends with Namor confronting Hank and Janet, with everyone talking tough to each other.
In the meantime, the quake is waking up a giant sea monster called the Behemoth.
Adam Austin’s art continues to make this serial look cool.
In the far future, the Hulk uses Jack Kirby layouts and John Romita pencils to look equally cool. Hulk fights the Executioner and his tripod fighting machines, smashing a bunch of the machines, before the effects of the T-Gun wear off and he fades out, returning to the present.
While this is going on, Rick Jones, thinking Hulk/Banner is dead, tells Major Talbot that Banner and Hulk were the same guy. The cat’s out of the bag now.
Both serials continue to move along from cliffhanger to cliffhanger in a fun and satisfying manner. Neither story is reaching the heights of greatness currently being achieved in FF and Thor, but it’s still good solid storytelling.
Iron Man fights the powerful creature that Happy Hogun has transformed into, but gets his butt handed to him. Happy shambles back to Stark’s factory, where Senator Byrd is yelling at poor Pepper and trying to serve his subpoena to Tony—who, as usual, is nowhere to be found.
In an interesting character moment, the arrogant blowhard senator risks his own life to try to save Pepper from “Happy.” He gets knocked out, but it’s a neat reminder that though Byrd might not be likable, he is an honorable man who really is doing what he thinks best for the country. He really thinks that the Iron Man armor should be turned over to the government and Iron Man’s identity revealed.
Anyway, Iron Man confronts Happy again and uses some sort of power feedback macguffin to attempt to revert his friend back to a normal human. The device catches fire and Iron Man is in danger of roasting in his own armor as the issue comes to an end.
Captain America, in the meantime, is mooning about the past when he runs into a girl who reminds him of a lost love from World War II. Though hinted at here, it’s only in later issues that we’ll learn that this girl is Sharon Carter, SHIELD agent and younger sister to that lost love.
For now, she’s trying to keep a cylinder of a new powerful explosive out of the hands of enemy agents. In this case, the enemy is represented by Baltroc the Leaper, an expert in the foot boxing fighting style called Savate. He makes for a visual fun opponent for Captain America in their ensuing fight, but he pretty much right away shows us his most irritating feature. He talks constantly in a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really annoying French accent.
In the end, Baltroc and Cap are both chasing Sharon (who, remember, is still unnamed at this point). The pretty spy doesn’t realize her cylinder is cracked and that the explosive is threatening to detonate with enough force to destroy New York City.
Gee whiz, a few blocks away, Galactus is confronting the FF and threatening to eat the world while here a spy is carrying what basically amounts to a ticking atom bomb through some back alleys. Spider Man is causing a ruckus fighting Kraven while Thor and Hercules are tossing construction vehicles at each other at yet another location. And Attuma is trying to flood the whole city out.
Exactly why does anyone live in New York City? I mean, I know the Broadway shows are nice, but ticket prices are already high enough without adding the risk of having a bulldozer thrown by an ill-tempered immoral fall on top of you. Or have the world eaten before you see the last act of “Lion King.” It just doesn’t seem worth it.
Anyway, that’s it for March. In April, our reduced line-up will see the FF continue to urge Galactus to go on a diet; Spider Man causes a ruckus with Molten Man; The Avengers continue to battle Attuma; Nick Fury gets strapped to a bomb; Dr. Strange continues with his out-of-body experience; Thor saves his dad; Namor gets mind-controlled; Hulk gets captured; Iron Man gets kidnapped; and Captain America has to continue to listen to a bad French accent.
But before moving on with Marvel, we will take a week to look at a particular multi-part Sgt. Rock story arc from the 1970s. We'll return to the chronological Marvel posts in two weeks.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
New OTR episode guide available for the Kindle or Kindle app
I've made another old time radio episode guide and review available to buy for just .99. It's for the Kindle or any computer/pad/phone/etc with the Kindle app.
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday's Favorite OTR
Cloak and Dagger: "The Black Radio" 8/27/50
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C and D was a regrettably short-lived but excellent series about agents working for the O.S.S. during World War 2. As an anthology series, it was able to jump around the world from week to week. One episode was set in the jungles of Burma; another in occupied Norway; another atop the snow-covered mountains of Tibet.
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As an anthology series, it featured a different protagonist each week. One of the strengths of this format was you never knew for sure if the good guys would survive until the end of the episode. Sometimes, they didn't.
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"The Black Radio" is a typically strong entry in the series, featuring an agent who is sent into a strategic German town to set up a "Voice of Freedom" broadcast station. He poses as an ex-soldier (discharged because of wounds) during the day, while making his broadcasts at night. He has to constantly switch his radio to new locations to avoid detection, as well as deal with a noisy neighbor who just happens to work as a clerk at Gestapo headquarters.
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The script does a really good job of establishing a constant sense of danger and fear, thus keeping the tension high throughout the episode. There's also a heart-breaking sequence in which his Underground contact within the town is captured and scheduled to be publicly executed, leaving him feeling helpless and guilt-ridden as he realizes there is nothing he can do to help. The ending includes a great twist.
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There's a moment early in the episode that particularly highlights just how well-written Cloak and Dagger was. When the protagonist has to make a night-time parachute jump over the Black Forest, his first-person narration does a spine-tingling job of telling us just how scary this was. It was a bit that didn't really have anything to do with the main plot, but it added a lot to the overall atmosphere and verisimilitude of the episode.
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Sadly, only 22 episodes of Cloak and Dagger were produced, but all of them survive today in good quality recordings.
Click HERE to listen or download
-
C and D was a regrettably short-lived but excellent series about agents working for the O.S.S. during World War 2. As an anthology series, it was able to jump around the world from week to week. One episode was set in the jungles of Burma; another in occupied Norway; another atop the snow-covered mountains of Tibet.
-
As an anthology series, it featured a different protagonist each week. One of the strengths of this format was you never knew for sure if the good guys would survive until the end of the episode. Sometimes, they didn't.
-
"The Black Radio" is a typically strong entry in the series, featuring an agent who is sent into a strategic German town to set up a "Voice of Freedom" broadcast station. He poses as an ex-soldier (discharged because of wounds) during the day, while making his broadcasts at night. He has to constantly switch his radio to new locations to avoid detection, as well as deal with a noisy neighbor who just happens to work as a clerk at Gestapo headquarters.
-
The script does a really good job of establishing a constant sense of danger and fear, thus keeping the tension high throughout the episode. There's also a heart-breaking sequence in which his Underground contact within the town is captured and scheduled to be publicly executed, leaving him feeling helpless and guilt-ridden as he realizes there is nothing he can do to help. The ending includes a great twist.
-
There's a moment early in the episode that particularly highlights just how well-written Cloak and Dagger was. When the protagonist has to make a night-time parachute jump over the Black Forest, his first-person narration does a spine-tingling job of telling us just how scary this was. It was a bit that didn't really have anything to do with the main plot, but it added a lot to the overall atmosphere and verisimilitude of the episode.
-
Sadly, only 22 episodes of Cloak and Dagger were produced, but all of them survive today in good quality recordings.
Click HERE to listen or download
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Now THAT'S a cool car!!!
It’s too bad Damnation Alley—an excellent 1967 novella by Roger Zelazny—was made into such a crappy movie. There’s no reason it couldn’t be a good movie. But poor plot structure (which took little more than the general idea from the original story)--and a change in the main character pretty much guaranteed to make him uninteresting--doomed the movie from the start. Now most people who recognize the title are going to equate it with the film.
But the novella is more fun than a barrel of radioactive vampire bats. (Zelazny later expanded it into a novel, but the shorter version is a tighter and better story.) It’s set in a post-nuclear war America. The war happened a generation or so ago and the survivors (an enclave in California and another in Boston) are getting along the best they can. The earth’s axis shifted during the war and frequent giant tornadoes now pull up tons of debris into the atmosphere. Consequently, it often rains rocks, fish, garbage or other random things from the sky. It’s no longer possible to fly an airplane. Middle America is a wasteland full of mutated creatures and other dangers.
The only reasonably safe way to travel from California to Boston is by ship around Cape Horn. But when a dying man drives in from Boston with news of a plague, it becomes necessary to send an expedition overland to deliver a serum.
Hell Tanner is a convicted killer—the last survivor of a vicious motorcycle gang. But he’s also the best driver around, so he’s recruited to help drive one of the vehicles with the promise of a pardon. The gist of the story is Tanner—soon the last survivor of the expedition—desperately trying to finish the quest.
The story is a cracking good adventure, with lots of bizarre dangers as Tanner fights to survive and grows (if only barely) something resembling a moral sensibility.
But I’d like to concentrate on the vehicle Tanner is driving, ‘cause it’s just plain cool. It’s a 32-foot-long, two-man vehicle, armored and radiation shielded. Instead of windows, it has cameras pointing in all four directions, plus up and down. It mounts machine guns, grenade launchers and a rocket launcher. There’s a flame thrower mounted on each side and on the roof. Razor-sharp metal “wings” can be extended from the sides. Inside, there’s a supply of small arms and grenades. (To be fair, the movie had a pretty cool vehicle, though not as cool as this.)
It’s magnificent. I want one. Of course, it’d be hard to find a parking space for something that big when popping into Quick Stop for a soda. Then again, the thing has flame throwers and grenade launchers. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard to find a parking space after all.
Oh, well. It probably gets lousy gas mileage anyways. But if I ever need to take a trip across a radioactive wasteland populated by giant gila monsters and carnivorous bats, this is what I’d want to be driving.
But the novella is more fun than a barrel of radioactive vampire bats. (Zelazny later expanded it into a novel, but the shorter version is a tighter and better story.) It’s set in a post-nuclear war America. The war happened a generation or so ago and the survivors (an enclave in California and another in Boston) are getting along the best they can. The earth’s axis shifted during the war and frequent giant tornadoes now pull up tons of debris into the atmosphere. Consequently, it often rains rocks, fish, garbage or other random things from the sky. It’s no longer possible to fly an airplane. Middle America is a wasteland full of mutated creatures and other dangers.
The only reasonably safe way to travel from California to Boston is by ship around Cape Horn. But when a dying man drives in from Boston with news of a plague, it becomes necessary to send an expedition overland to deliver a serum.
Hell Tanner is a convicted killer—the last survivor of a vicious motorcycle gang. But he’s also the best driver around, so he’s recruited to help drive one of the vehicles with the promise of a pardon. The gist of the story is Tanner—soon the last survivor of the expedition—desperately trying to finish the quest.
The story is a cracking good adventure, with lots of bizarre dangers as Tanner fights to survive and grows (if only barely) something resembling a moral sensibility.
But I’d like to concentrate on the vehicle Tanner is driving, ‘cause it’s just plain cool. It’s a 32-foot-long, two-man vehicle, armored and radiation shielded. Instead of windows, it has cameras pointing in all four directions, plus up and down. It mounts machine guns, grenade launchers and a rocket launcher. There’s a flame thrower mounted on each side and on the roof. Razor-sharp metal “wings” can be extended from the sides. Inside, there’s a supply of small arms and grenades. (To be fair, the movie had a pretty cool vehicle, though not as cool as this.)
It’s magnificent. I want one. Of course, it’d be hard to find a parking space for something that big when popping into Quick Stop for a soda. Then again, the thing has flame throwers and grenade launchers. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard to find a parking space after all.
Oh, well. It probably gets lousy gas mileage anyways. But if I ever need to take a trip across a radioactive wasteland populated by giant gila monsters and carnivorous bats, this is what I’d want to be driving.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
History of the Marvel Universe: March 1966, part 2
Mentallo and the Fixer team up, then attack SHIELD HQ. Mentallo can predict everything the defending agents will do, plus mentally detect structural weak points and hidden weapons. The Fixer can then whip out a gadget for dealing with each individual situation.
With all this going for them, they kick SHIELD butt and capture Nick. They then place a mask on Nick that’ll alter his brain waves and make him their mental slaves.
This chapter is a straightforward and exciting action tale. Kirby continues to come up with cool looking gadgetry. But, as I said a few issues back, his stuff here doesn’t look quite as cool as it does in the FF or Thor. Just my impression, of course, but I think Jack was putting a little bit less time and effort into Nick Fury to give him more time to concentrate on the other titles.
Since the SHIELD stories are still excellent (visually as well as structurally), then I’m okay with this. Jack Kirby when he was merely good was still leagues ahead of nearly any other artist.
Dr. Strange, meanwhile, detects the bomb hidden in his Sanctum and tosses it away, but the concussion still knocks him out. He’s captured by Mordo’s minions, who have no idea their boss has been banished to a far dimension by Dormammu.
Strange is locked up in a mask that keeps him from seeing or speaking and a pair of mitten-like gloves that keep him from making magical gestures. (Or any other sort of gesture—though Strange has too much class to just flip off the bad guys anyways.)
In a really nifty action sequence, Strange has to use his ectoplasmic form to awkwardly guide his physical body. He manages to knock out a couple of guards and escape the house he was held in, but his physical body is still nearly helpless and the bad guys are closing in on him.
After a couple of cool issues, the Ka-Zar story arc winds down a little bit unsatisfactorily. The art is still fine—John Romita pencils this issue. But the story jumps awkwardly between plot points without any real sense of pacing; the Plunderer adapts a supervillain costume that isn’t as cool as the pirate duds he was using; and Ka-Zar spends the whole issue in jail.
I mean, yes, it’s Daredevil’s book, so it makes sense that he gets to do most of the heroic stuff. But Ka-Zar is pretty darn cool in his own right (8.2 on the Bogart/Karloff scale), so it’s a shame to have him in a story and not have him do ANYTHING. Gee whiz.
But in the end, Daredevil helps the army capture the Plunderer and his gang while Ka-Zar is proved innocent of the murder he was accused of last issue. Matt Murdock heads home for New York, where he can once again get into an awkward love triangle with Foggy and Karen.
And that’ll be it for Daredevil. His will be the first book we drop from these reviews.
Daredevil is an important addition to the Marvel Universe, but in those early years he seems to often be odd man out in terms of getting cool stories. There have been a few high points mixed in up till now, but he will pretty much muddle along for years without ever really being exceptional. Eventually, Frank Miller will make him popular by going all dark and gritty with him. I can’t object to this, because taken on their own merits those stories are of good quality. But, in my opinion, I always thought DD went a little too far down the “dark and gritty” path. Heck, the fact that it led to that awful Ben Affleck movie is proof enough of that. And I refuse to talk about what is eventually done to poor Karen Page. That was just wrong.
But for now, we’re going to leave DD behind to muddle his way through the rest of the 1960s and most of the ‘70s with mildly entertaining but unmemorable stories. He will forever be a great character who never quite seems to find the right voice.
Along the course of this issue, we discover that Magneto busted out of the Stranger’s museum planet by salvaging an old space ship (and contemptuously kicking poor Toad out of the hatch before taking off).
Now he’s planning on scanning the DNA of Warren’s parents and using that to grow an army of mutant slaves. That actually kinda makes sense in terms of comic book science. The Worthingtons already gave birth to a mutant, so their genetic make up should produce more mutants.
With most of the X-Men floating into airless space inside a balloon, only the injured Iceman (who was still in the hospital last issue) is around to fight the villain. But Bobby does a pretty good job of holding Magneto at bay while the rest of the team think their way out of their death trap. They then gang up on Magneto until Professor X projects an illusion of the Stranger coming back to re-capture the evil mutant. Magneto pretty much runs away screaming like a little girl. Professor X mind-wipes the Worthingtons so they just remember getting a good night’s sleep (Stan Lee STILL hasn’t worked out the ethics of mental powers, it seems) and everything ends happily.
Which makes this a good place to leave off with the X-Men, I think. Stan will script one more issue, then Roy Thomas will take over. The book will remain solidly entertaining, but it never gets to be a really big seller during the 1960s and early 70s. In fact, if I remember correctly, for some years it will simply be reprinting early stories.
But then, in 1975, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum will introduce a new generation of X-Men and suddenly mutants will be the most popular thing in the Marvel Universe. We’ll eventually look at some of those storylines, as the book (done regularly by Chris Claremont and John Byrne) was quite excellent and the new X-Men were vibrant additions to the Marvel Universe. But eventually, their very popularity will hurt the quality of X-Men stories, with too many different X-titles, Wolverine’s healing power amped up to absurd levels (to the point where he wasn’t cool anymore, just silly) and the angst and tragedy taken too far over the top.
But let’s not end on a downer note. In 1966, the X-Men were pretty cool. In 1975, they’d get even cooler and stay that way for a number of years. That’s not a bad record.
So, as we leave Daredevil and the X-Men behind for now, we look forward to our visits next week with Thor, Namor, Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man.
Monday, February 14, 2011
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