The Comics Thread

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Yeah hence the mixed emotions Paul. I think the film updated the story and made is very (frighteningly) contemporary - it was due for release, there was a terrorist attack, and suddenly the Government was asking for new draconian powers "for your protection".

But all the same, as brilliant as moments are, it's still not quite the graphic novel, and there are some things missing, some things that don't work. Hence I love the film, but it's got it's flaws.

[SiHart]

I loved the film, but have never read the comic despite it being on one of the bookshelves at home.

Si xx

[MacNimon]

Marvelman was a great series, but I remember it disappearing midway through a storyline, due to copyright issues. I never did find out how the series ended!

V For Vendetta was one I wasn't particularly keen on to begin with, but it grew on me as the story progressed. It was too dark and gloomy for my tastes to begin with, but eventually that was what I enjoyed most about it!

There were other great stories in Warrior as well, such as Father Shandor, Demon Stalker and The Legend Of Prestor John, both featuring some excellent art by the great John Bolton, and a fantasy strip The Spiral Path, by Steve Parkhouse.

However, I felt that the title lost it's way somewhat in it's latter days...the magic of it's early issues was lost somewhere along the way.

[MacNimon]

A great selection of classic comics available to view here

It's well worth a look, there's over 1,460 series/titles available and all totally legal (apparently) because it's a library which can only be viewed online in your browser, and none of the content can be downloaded to keep (see details on website)

[Paul Monk]

Nice site! Thanks, Kenny.

[MacNimon]

Slightly off-topic here, but a question for those who may be familiar with the sci-fi & comic shops of London. When I come down for the PS meet in November, I wouldn't mind a browse through some old second-hand comics stores, maybe make a purchase or two. If I can manage to escape from Mary for an hour or two (or else convince her to tag along, but it's no fun when you're with someone who isn't interested and just wants out of there to head towards clothes shops!) where would you recommend going? Bear in mind that you're talking to someone who doesn't know London very well so preferably somewhere central/ near a tube station.

Last year I came across one just off New Oxford Street (but I didn't get much of a chance to have a good look) - I think it was actually in Shaftesbury Avenue - which I'll try to find again. 'Comicrama', or something like that. I also found Forbidden Planet in the same street on another occasion, but coming from the opposite direction...although that's not really what I'm looking for. Are there any more in that area?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

[Paul Monk]

Comicana, the one you mentioned, is about the best for back issues. Orbital Comics is pretty good as well. That's in Little Titchfield Street just off Charing Cross road. If your trip coincides with a weekday lunchtime then I'd be happy to join you for an hour.

[MacNimon]

Well, I'll be in London from the Thursday night till Monday morning so (Mary permitting! ) we'll see if we can organise something for the Friday lunchtime. Hopefully.

It's 3 months away yet, though...

[MacNimon]

Comicana, the one you mentioned, is about the best for back issues.

It's mostly back issues I'm interested in. Not that I'm actually looking for anything in particular, it's just nice to have a browse and wallow in nostalgia when coming across stuff which I once owned a long time ago! And I love looking at the old Silver Age stuff which hangs on the walls, that's worth visiting for alone.

[MacNimon]

It’s amazing the amount of satisfaction you get when you finally manage to answer something which has puzzled you on and off for 35 years or so, isn’t it? Even when it’s something really trivial and unimportant, but it still nags away at you on occasion. Such as…

…(and I‘m about to ramble on a bit here, so be warned!)…

As I’ve said before, I grew up during the 70s with the Marvel UK range of titles. I began reading them regularly with MWOM (or The Mighty World Of Marvel, to give it it’s full title) issue 5 in 1972 and continued throughout the decade. However, that wasn’t my first introduction to the worlds and characters of the Marvel universe…when I was younger than this, possibly too young to even read properly, I remember my uncle having a rather tatty Marvel Annual which I always looked at when visiting his house. That annual has long been binned, and all I could ever remember of it was that it had a black cover with the words ‘Marvel Annual’ (obviously!) printed in big bright letters on the cover (taking up about half the cover!). And I can’t even remember anything at all about most of the stories featured inside, except for one which I remember reading (or at least looking at!) time and time again…a story featuring Captain America and Bucky. With its mean and moody artwork (or so it appeared to my 6-year or so old self) which so matched the black cover. Apart from the style of the artwork, all that I could ever remember was a scene with Cap and Bucky lying on a roof, looking down at something.

Anyway, as kids do, such things are forgotten until something reawakens memories. In this case, it wasn’t the Cap’s appearance when he turned up in the Avengers, although I read that series/title when it first appeared (Marvel’s first glossy covered title after a short run in MWOM) - in fact the character didn’t even ring a bell - but it was a few years later when Marvel started reprinting Cap’s solo adventures (in The Titans, possibly?) that memories began to stir. I had fond memories of that old story, and vowed to look out for it being reprinted. But of course, it never was. And around 1979/80, Marvel published a Pocket Book featuring many of The Stan Lee/Jack Kirby stories from the 60s in full colour (which were probably the same ones I read in the B&W weeklies) but again, I was to be disappointed. These stories were too bright and colourful to be what I was looking for, also the style of the artwork was different. But more importantly, the all-important scene with Cap and Bucky on the roof was nowhere to be found.

And for years, that was that. The story and annual became lost in the recesses of my mind as I drifted away from comics in the 80s. But the release of the early 1990s Captain America movie, although nothing spectacular in itself, reawakened my interest in the character, just enough to keep my eyes open for something, anything, without being overly aware that I was doing so. But it was a few years later before I came across a trade paperback in Forbidden Planet which reprinted the original 1940s Joe Simon/Jack Kirby issues. It was only then that it dawned on me that the stories I read all those years ago could have been Golden Age reprints (given the era that the annual was published, it obviously must have been a pre-1970s story), so of course I bought it with great anticipation. It was a huge disappointment to find, once again, no sign of the stories for which I had searched. And when the publication of another volume yielded no results, I slowly came to the conclusion that this Marvel Annual and the stories within were a figment of my imagination. The more I thought about it, the less likely it was that Marvel would release an annual in the UK years before even publishing comics in this country, which of course they started in 1972 (and I can clearly remember the adverts in later issues of the comics for annuals from then onwards, and none of these were the one I remembered/imagined).

Again, that was that. Forgotten about again, for 10 years or so…maybe even 15. Until last weekend. When I happened to stumble across a blog concerning the early years of Marvel in the UK, in particular those years prior to the setup of their UK arm.

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2008...uk-part-2.html

There was some great stuff in the article concerning rewrites (Spider-Man retiring, The Silver Surfer killing the Inhumans) and some awful colouring errors (a purple Thing, anyone? And a multi-coloured Doctor Doom?) but most importantly, totally out of the blue, one thing stood out a mile: this cover. The Marvel Annual 1969.



And a little further reading indicated that for all those years, I had been searching in the wrong places for these strips…this annual in fact reprinted some of the rarely seen 1950s strips from the Captain America - Commie Basher (!) title, as it was for a few short-lived issues. And thanks to the wonders of modern technology, these strips (in the original issue, not the annual) are actually available to view online here:

http://www.htmlcomics.com/Book/html....ex_html=Index3

So let me present to you my original introduction to the world of US comics…two strips from Captain America #76, in particular the 4th one “Come To The Commies” although scenes from the first story look familiar as well, such as the panel when Cap & Bucky jump on to the roof of a car. Looking at the cover of the annual brings back faint memories of an early viewing of Captain Marvel as well, in his original green and white outfit. I don't think I ever read that story though, I didn't like the pictures as much!!! But as for the other, more famous characters on the cover, I have no memory of seeing these inside whatsoever.

Now all I have to do is track down a copy of the annual to confirm that my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me for all those years…

[Alex]

That's great stuff Kenny, and made me fondly look back on the first US comic I ever bought - Green Lantern 200. It was in the shop they had at the holiday camp we stayed in on Hayling Island - and I do wonder if they had happened to stock Marvel instead of DC if my comic's habits would have turned out very different!

Btw, I had a quick look on Amazon, and you can get it from there for £5.20 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/MARVEL-COMIC...4998137&sr=8-1

[Paul Monk]

My first comic I think may have been a Captain Britain summer special, and has probably contributed to my love of the character. I then started to get quite a few of the marvel uk titles but can't remember which ones.

I've been re-reading Mike Grell's run on Green Arrow. Its still pretty good although there are perhaps a few too many jive talking type gangsters.
And I'm just starting to read Paul Cupperberg's run of Doom Patrol. I know.... I've never read it and wanted to give it a try, especially as I'm enjoying Keith Giffen's new Doom Patrol.
I've also been really enjoying (in a gentle kind of way) The Last Days of Animal Man. There's only one issue to go now and its been quite enjoyable in a low key sort of way. Its made me remember how much I really liked the character.

[MacNimon]

Thanks for that link, Alex. I've just ordered it! It doesn't matter that this may not be in great condition, or even that the stories may be pretty poor compared to many, but what a feeling of satisfaction after all these years!

Job done!

[Alex]

I hope you enjoy it Kenny. I was re-reading your post again and it's such a lovely story, even if the annual turns out to be a bit rubbish at least you'll know you were right and that it did exist all along.

At the aforementioned holiday camp shop I picked up some issues of Warrior, I think I've mentioned this before but V For Vendetta remained in my memory for a long time afterwards (indeed to the point where it was re-issued by DC) but I'd love to see some of the other strips again, once I've a bit of spare money I might have to go on ebay and get some.

The 1982 version of Eagle was the other comic I used to be very nostalgic about, but after picking up about 20 issues at a car boot sale a while back I was a bit disappointed, with only Doomlord living up to expectations. Indeed some of the strips were awful (The Tower King and Saddle Trap especially) though at least the features (including the delightfully outdated "Glamorous Teacher of the Week) were fun still.

I've not read any old stuff of late, but on a regular basis I'm reading Buffy (a bit disappointing, but okay if you read several at a time), Hellblazer (Milligan's run is fine so far, but I've yet to see him dazzle), The Walking Dead (still grim but lovable zombie fun), The Boys (Garth Ennis being a tad lazy, but it can be funny sometimes), Invincible (getting better with every issue), Fables and Jack of Fables (both delightful).

Oh, and I read a couple of the IDW Doctor Who one-off's and mini-series, which vary from fairly poor to pretty enjoyable but have failed so far to be anything that special - to be honest I prefer the online Who comic The Ten Doctors to anything I've seen published so far.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

with only Doomlord living up to expectations

I remember enjoying Doomlord - it was indeed the only good thing in the Eagle.

[MacNimon]

I hope you enjoy it Kenny. I was re-reading your post again and it's such a lovely story, even if the annual turns out to be a bit rubbish at least you'll know you were right and that it did exist all along.

No doubt I'll have a leaf through it a few times when it arrives, then it will end up in storage along with my old comics up in the loft no matter how good or bad it is. Still, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I finally own a copy!

At the aforementioned holiday camp shop I picked up some issues of Warrior, I think I've mentioned this before but V For Vendetta remained in my memory for a long time afterwards (indeed to the point where it was re-issued by DC) but I'd love to see some of the other strips again, once I've a bit of spare money I might have to go on ebay and get some.

No need to bother going to that expense, Alex...I should be able to help you out there when I'm down for the November meet. Not that I'm planning on bringing a pile of comics with me, but a more convenient sized alternative. Not perfect, but handy! I'll PM you later/over the weekend with details.

I've not read any old stuff of late, but on a regular basis I'm reading Buffy (a bit disappointing, but okay if you read several at a time), Hellblazer (Milligan's run is fine so far, but I've yet to see him dazzle), The Walking Dead (still grim but lovable zombie fun), The Boys (Garth Ennis being a tad lazy, but it can be funny sometimes), Invincible (getting better with every issue), Fables and Jack of Fables (both delightful).

The only recent stuff I've read is Marvel's Avengers/Invaders team-up which I enjoyed more than I expected to. I'm collecting the recent Captain Britain series but am holding off on reading it until I've got the complete set. I've read some of the early Hellblazer stories recently which I enjoyed, but I've got a long way to go before I get to recent stuff!

Oh, and I read a couple of the IDW Doctor Who one-off's and mini-series, which vary from fairly poor to pretty enjoyable but have failed so far to be anything that special - to be honest I prefer the online Who comic The Ten Doctors to anything I've seen published so far.

I haven't read any of the IDW stuff but that online Ten Doctors strip is fantastic stuff, isn't it? It's brilliant!!! It's been several months since I checked it out though, so there's bound to be updates to catch up with!

I see The Ten Doctors strip has moved, and your original link doesn't work any longer, Alex. You can now find it here: http://comics.shipsinker.com/categor...o/ten_doctors/

[Paul Monk]

I'm collecting the recent Captain Britain series but am holding off on reading it until I've got the complete set.

I really liked it. Its fantastic and I think you'll enjoy it. Paul Cornell sneaks in a lot of references/cameos to old Marvel UK characters which is great.

And Alex. I'm enjoying Milligan's Hellblazer but agree with you that its missing something. That little spark. From reading message boards its seems we're in the minority for enjoying it. On whole Milligan's run seems to be despised.
And speaking of old comics I used to get Battle Action Force comic and I'd love to pick some of those up at a car boot sale. I'm sure that used to have Grant Morrison's Zoids strip in which I'd love to read again.

[Paul Monk]

Just found out that the Zoids had their own comic ! Must try and track those down.

[Paul Monk]

Just found scans here! I'm a very happy chappie!

http://www.zoidstar.bloodforthebaron.com/comics.html

[Alex]

No need to bother going to that expense, Alex...I should be able to help you out there when I'm down for the November meet. Not that I'm planning on bringing a pile of comics with me, but a more convenient sized alternative. Not perfect, but handy! I'll PM you later/over the weekend with details.

Oh cool, that'd be great if you could - thank you good sir!

I haven't read any of the IDW stuff but that online Ten Doctors strip is fantastic stuff, isn't it? It's brilliant!!! It's been several months since I checked it out though, so there's bound to be updates to catch up with!

I see The Ten Doctors strip has moved, and your original link doesn't work any longer, Alex. You can now find it here: http://comics.shipsinker.com/categor...o/ten_doctors/

It's finished now alas, though the writer/artist has hinted he may return to Who in the future. But yes, it's really great stuff, I'd love it if the Beeb allowed him to publish it (there's been discussion on the forum there) but alas I can't see it happening.

And Alex. I'm enjoying Milligan's Hellblazer but agree with you that its missing something. That little spark. From reading message boards its seems we're in the minority for enjoying it. On whole Milligan's run seems to be despised.

Wow, I'm surprised by that, sure it's not Constantine at his finest but it's still far better than some of the other takes on the character. And the part where he tries to use a love drug to seduce his ex was an interesting plot development - though I'm glad it panned out the way it did.

I'm hoping it's an intentionally slow beginning from Milligan that's going to build up in to something special, I'd be surprised if he carries on at the pace that he currently is at.

[Paul Monk]

Me too. Its building up to Constantine trying to regain his purity in order that his ressurection of Phoebe will work so it coulld be interesting. But yes its a run that's not liked largely it seems because Constantine has fallen in love, which is apparently heresy

[MacNimon]

As some of you may know, Paul and I went for a little wander around Shaftesbury Avenue's Comicana and Forbidden Planet in his lunch hour last Friday. An enjoyable hour or so it was as well, so thanks for your company and time, Paul. It was much appreciated.

I managed a return trip to Forbidden Planet on the Sunday when I purchased several Marvel Pocket Books and a Queen mug. I avoided Comicana because I reckoned I'd spend too long in there and just buy some more random issues, but if I'd checked out Friday's purchases beforehand (rather than after returning home) I would have returned with a sense of purpose...

I didn't make many purchases, only a couple of random Marvel UK back issues in Comicana which I remember buying way back on day of release. One of them was a Spider-Man Weekly from 1976, it must have been shortly before the title changed format to the sideways style of The Titans (anyone else apart from Jonno remember that?) nothing spectacular in there, just standard fare for the time with 3 strips which featured Spidey and Thor, with Iron Man being added to the mix by now - a strip which I don't actually remember being in the comic at that time.

The other back issue which I bought though, was Planet Of The Apes issue 7 from 1974 and it turned out to be a bit of a gem which brought the memories flooding back. Again featuring 3 strips, the first of which was the first film adaptation which was in full swing by this point. The art isn't the greatest, it's run-of-the-mill stuff by George Tuska but enjoyable just the same. The third strip was a Ka-Zar story with some wonderful art by Barry Smith, again I had long forgatten that this weekly POTA comic was where I was first introduced to the character. But it was the middle strip which really caught my attention...it was the fianl installment (for the time, at least) of a series called Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars. Now this really was a gem, by a creative team I'm really not familiar with at Marvel - writer George Alex Effinger and artist Gray Morrow - and for the second time this year I've felt a great sense of satisfaction at solving a mystery which I wasn't even certain was more than a figment of my imagination. I remember buying a few issues of Marvel's version of Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter Of Mars series in the late 70s, which then led me onto ERB's original series of novels over the following few years; but in the reading of both the comics and the novels at the time I had a nagging suspicion that I had read them before, although I knew I hadn't (if that makes any sense! - the Marvel comic was my introduction to ERB's character) The discovery of this long-forgotten series (by me, at any rate) puts this mystery to rest, as the similarities between Gullivar Jones, Warrior Of Mars and John Carter, Warlord Of Mars are striking. And a quick Google search informed me that the Gullivar Jones series was in fact an adaptation of a novel from 1905 which more than likely was the inspiration ERB's Martian series, the first of which was published in 1912 I believe.

This just topped what was an already great weekend (bar a few hiccups!)

[Alex]

I've just discovered a new series that I really like, it's called Powers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_(comics)) and is based around two cops who investigate superhuman related crimes. It's set in it's own universe, but takes a very down to earth look on what it's like to be a pretty much normal human being in a world full of superbeings.

It's got a great sense of humour, but is also very smart and there's a lot of different plot strands that make it fascinating stuff.

I'm also reading Alan Moore's Tom Strong, which is incredibly enjoyable. It's very innocent material, but well written and mostly beautifully illustrated, and is a bit of a must read.

[MacNimon]

Is it a superhero comic? Is it a sci-fi comic? Is it a horror comic? It’s actually a bit of them all, totally freakish but in unbelievably bad taste. Now and again you come across something which is just so bad that it’s unmissable, and Morlock 2001 falls into that category. This really has to be seen to be believed. It’s awful! It’s also unintentionally hilarious…unfortunately (or probably that should be thankfully?) this only lasted 3 issues in 1975 and so there’s no way of knowing exactly where the storyline was going to go…

Set in a totalitarian 1984-style future where books are banned etc, a scientist manages to grow a human looking plant in a giant pod. (That’s the sci-fi bit!) The creature looks totally human but unsurprisingly is actually a living plant which is born/hatched (?) wearing what looks like a superhero costume (that’s the superhero bit!) and gets given the name Morlock after characters in a long-banned book. Unfortunately anyone who gets touched by Morlock immediately starts to transform into a plant, rooted to the ground wherever they are standing. Worse yet, If Morlock doesn’t regularly take a special serum (of which there is only a very small amount in existence) then he turns into a mindless walking tree creature, which eats anything it touches and turns their bodies to slime. In the second issue, the creature even kills off an innocent young blind girl who is trying to protect him! (Of course this is the horror bit!)

It’s impossible to say for sure if the character was popular or not, but judging by the retitled third issue Morlock 2001 and The Midnight Men (with The Midnight Men part taking up the largest part of the logo) it’s probably safe to say it wasn’t. An equally ridiculous story by a totally different creative team sees Morlock apparently killed off on the last page, bur as a fourth issue was never published it’s not certain whether this was meant to be a cliffhanger or whether the series would continue simply as The Midnight Men.

But what really makes thing worse is the people involved in creating this mess…they really should have known better…writer Micheal Fleisher (of Jonah Hex fame) and artist Al Milgrom (of various Marvel titles) were behind the first two issues. Both were replaced in the third issue by writer Gary Freidrich (Ghost Rider etc) and artists Steve Ditko (on pencils) and Berni Wrightson (on inks).

This was published by a short-lived (and largely forgotten nowadays) company called Atlas (referred to nowadays as Atlas Seaboard, to save confusion with the 1950s pre-Marvel Atlas) who were set up with the intention of being major competitors for DC and Marvel. I have vague memories of buying a couple of Atlas comics at the time in a local newsagents, although given the local distribution problems of any US comic which wasn't Marvel, it could even have been a couple of years later; unfortunately Morlock wasn't one of them...I don't think I'd forget reading that!

A scan of the first issue can be found here...click on thumbnails for enlarged views.

Here's a link to a scan of the Ditko-drawn Morlock 2001/Midnight Men issue 3

Told you it was weird!


I love the cover,btw...not that it makes much sense. It shows Morlock in both his human and monster form.

[MacNimon]

Also recently I've been reading several titles. First up was Anne Rice's The Mummy...I'd never read any of Rices novels, or seen any of her films, but I think I'll check some out after this enjoyable tale of an immortal ancient Egyptian who only wants to do good, but makes the mistake of giving his potion of immortality to a dead person...ie the mummified remains of his long lost love, Cleopatra.

I've also started reading Fables, based on Alex's recommendation earlier in this thread...it's absolutely brilliant stuff, hopefully they can keep this standard up. Also, Y The Last Man (thanks, Alex!) is a really enjoyable tale, set in a world where every male mammal on Earth (except one man) suddenly died of a mysterious plague. Feminism taken to extremes...great fun! And another series which shows promise is Powers, although I'm not quite so keen on that style of artwork...an enjoyable storyline, though.

Back to Atlas Seaboard for a moment though...I've also started another of their titles, Planet Of The Vampires. Again, this series only lasted a few issues - I don't think any of their titles passed the fourth issue - and I'll comment on it more when I've read the remaining two. But I've got a sneaky feeling that this range may be getting a thread of it's own just shortly, for all the wrong reasons...