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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2018 19:39:01 GMT -5
Avengers #167 HOOOOOOOO, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEREZ IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Creative Team: Jim Shooter-writer, George Perez-artist, Pablo Marcos-inker, Joe Rosen-letterer, Phil Rache-colorist, Archie Goodwin-editor THE KORVAC SAGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Synopsis: The Avengers have been aroused by an alarm......  (Oh my stars and garters, I loved Perez on Avengers, especially Beast!) Nick Fury comes on the line to alert the Avengers of an unknown presence and tell them to switch to their orbital satellite camera. They do; but can't see what Fury is in a tizzy about, until Vision tells Beast to pull back for the widest angle view...  They go get ready to fuel up a Quinjet (Quinrocket?), while Tony Stark tells Fury he 's gotta leave the SHIELD orbital station. Wonder Man and Thor are alerted while eating breakfast, at a diner... Everyone meets up at Avengers Mansion and Cap and Iron Man get into it (Cap questioned Iron Man's leadership, often, under Shooter). After arriving at the SHIELD orbital platform, they suit up into pressure suits and do an EVA, to recon the alien object. Once inside, they find it has an atmosphere (and artificial gravity, though rotation isn't exactly illustrated by Perez), perfect for humans. The Avengers shed their pressure suits ('cause, why would the atmosphere suddenly drop out) and Cap splis them into teams and gives them marching orders, despite Iron man being the chairman (Conflict!). Beast is left on his own and goes poking around, when he is suddenly yanked up by a large hand...  Beast breaks free, Nikki takes a potshot and Martinex breaks things up, while Vance Astro says something looks familiar. Beast is about to counter-attack, when Thor steps in and he and Cap make intoructions between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers, while Vance Astro soils himself at meeting his heroes. We rerun the events of the Thor Annual and the Guardians fill in what happened after Thor left. They converted Drydock's warp drive to turn it into a time machine and chased Korvac back to 1977, where Korvac intends to kill young Vance Astro, before he can see Star Wars. Or, at least, become an astronaut, go 1000 years into the future, help form the Guardians, have sex with giant galactic Niki, and help Thor bust up Korvac's attempt to control the universe. Iron Man then radios Fury and gives him a sitrep. Meanwhile, on Earth, Janet Van Dyne is unveiling her new collection and George Perez demonstrates why he is not a fashion designer, even if Jan is.  Jan's outfit looks like a leftover from an old Star Trek episode! Kyle Richmond is in the audience, sitting next to some blond Aryan-type guy, who gets all excited when model Carina Walters appears. Things are interrupted by the Porcupine and everyone falls on the floor, laughing at his costume...  Jan, Hank (who was in the audience, supporting his wife) and Nighthawk take out the goons, as the Aryan goes backstage, in all of the confusion, and meets Carina Walters, and she goes all gooey eyed at his glare and unspoken offer and they then disappear. As they clean up, Jan is informed that Carina has disappeared. Jan seems more concerned about the outfit she was wearing than Carina's safety (Hank did say she probably ran out in the panic; but, they don't exactly investigate to confirm that hypothesis). Thoughts: great beginning an it slams you right into the mystery, as the Avengers go investigate the huge spacecraft. The Guardians make their best appearance yet and we recap the Thor annual and speculate that Korvac wants to kill little Vance. As we saw previously, though, Vance's presence should be causing all kinds of temporal problems. Iron Man and Cap's bickering seems out of character, without Iron Man having Robert Downey Jr's personality to instigate things. Shooter makes Cap sound rather Richardish, which is rather new, for the Red, White and Blue Boyscout. Then again, Shooter wasn't big on writing characters who behaved professionally, as he followed the Stan Lee model of team dynamics. Seriously, marvel super-teams needed a coach. I always preferred them when they grew out of the bickering, like the FF, or the more mature Avengers lineups. The Guardians' description of Korvac's plan sounds a bit dubious; but, it's comics. We aren't yet told that the Aryan dude is Korvac; he isn't even named. The models, in the fashion show, are wearing typical 70s styles; but, Jan looks like she threw on a tablecloth and her favorite pair of boots. Perez was kind of iffy with costumes (see his Wonder Man design) and some of his Wasp costumes looked like something from the Streetwalker line. The white one, with the blue piping wasn't bad, except for the exposed leg. The one bare arm worked fine; but, the one bare leg just never worked, for me. It looked like she had a mishap, or something. Chaykin was one of the few artists of that period who was really into fashion and used it more and more in his work, giving his characters patterns and textures and real lines to the garments. Most artists had a hard time with a generic suit or dress. Someone really needed to give the Porcupine a makeover (which did eventually happen). He looks like a bad attempt at a scarecrow. Korvac's tux shirt was a little on the frilly side. he seems more of a classic shirt kind of guy. For a millionaire, Kyle Richmond isn't exactly turned out well. Korvac is the only one in a tux, though it's a little unclear if this is a day or evening show. Lot's of intrigue, lots of recap, lots of set-up; let's see where it leads.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2018 21:25:35 GMT -5
Avengers #168 Somebody's been sitting in Captain America's chair.......................and they ate all of his oatmeal! Creative Team: same; but with Denise Wohl lettering. Synopsis: the Avengers and Guardians are returning from space; but, jarvis doesn't seem to be at home...  Eeryone is in groups, with a Guardian, carrying on conversations. Nikki is crushing on Thor, to Wanda, while Yondu is feeding Thor's already bloated ego. Martinex thinks the Qunijet (Quinrocket?) is quaint. Vance is left on Drdock, because, apparently, the temporal distortions only happen when he is on Earth, even though time "exists" in space, too (well, time is an abstract concept; but, you know...). Shooter feels the need to explain things that Perez shows ("I'm opening the hangar door by remote"). Cap takes a potshot at Iron Man (like I said, way out of character) and they land, then hear the alarm going off (and no response from ADT). The elevators don't work, so Thor rips open the doors and everyone slides down the cables, even though they are cables and their are lubricated and some of them don't have gloves and cables are wrapped in strands and ......anyway....they search the mansion; but, don't find Jarvis, then they find the meeting room is locked up. Thor and iron Man smash their way in and find Jarvis, tied up and some jerk with a crew cut and no fashion sense sitting in one of their chairs. Goldilocks introduces himself as Henry Peter Gyrich, agent of the National Security Council (which is not an agency, it is a coordinating council of national security organizations) and lets them know that they are subject to greater government oversight and their security is a shambles (to wit, his breaking in and playing Pulp Fiction, with Jarvis).  Gyrich departs, Cap uses this to take a shot at Iron Man and Wanda calls him out and he storms off like a teenager. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid (time displaced during Englehart's run) are riding on a train and doing trick shots, when TGK disappears. Back in NY, a woman walks up to a house and rings the bell. It is Starhawk, walking around in his Aleta personna, who meets Carina, then "Michael," who is Korvac. Korvac calmly faces Aleta and unleashes his power, as Aleta transforms into Starhawk.  Starhawk and Korvac go at it and it is both physical and metaphorical. It affects the world around them, as even Peter Parker sense the conflict. We see Korvac fighting Starhawk and punching Aleta...  Korvac breaks the psychic link between Stakar and Aleta, which enables him to defeat Starhawk. He tears him apart, which is sensed by Dr Strange, Captain Mar-Vell and Silver Surfer. Korvac snuffs out Starhawk's existence, then remakes him....  ...with no knowledge or perception of Korvac. he is sent on his way and catches back up with the Avengers, who are making plans for the GOTG to watch young Vance. We end with Korvac making like Mr Burns.  Thoughts: Well, first off Shooter knows squat about the government's (of the era) national security set-up. The NSC is not a security agency; that is the NSA. The NSC was a committee of the heads of the security agencies, to help coordinate their activities, under the National Security Advisor (9/11 changed much of that). The NSA deals mainly in electronic surveillance, not human intelligence. It would have been more accurate for Gyrich to be from the FBI or have some other connection to the Justice Department, which handles domestic criminal affairs and such. Leaving the pedantic aside, Gyrich does kind of address the real world issues of the Avengers tearing up the place and how they get so much cooperation from local and national authorities (not that most readers cared). However, the guy is mostly just a Grade A-hole, designed to stir conflict in the group, which is already working overtime with Shooter turning Cap into a jackass. This was still the era when the rest of the team didn't know that Iron Man was Tony Stark, as illustrated when Cap verbally attacks Iron Man as a mercenary. Wanda ends up being the referee in all of this, which is unusual. The confrontation between Starhawk and Korvac is straight out of the Starlin playbook (which was written by cribbing from the Ditko playbook and a bit of the Thomas playbook). However, Shooter takes it a step further, with Starhawk actually dying and being resurrected. Korvac has been massively powered up, foreshadowing the future Beyonder. It also illustrates a serious problem I have with this storyline. Korvac walks up to Carina and stares into her eyes and she just walks off with him. Now, suddenly, they have set up housekeeping together. She is totally subservient to him. Starhawk shows up in female form and is easily discovered and forced to change form, then Korvac defeats Starhawk through his female form. There is a very strong misogynistic undercurrent to this as Korvac seems to essentially mindrape Carina. Now, we will see that she is not what she seems; but, the ambiguity is rather disturbing. It turned up before, with Hank's mental breakdown, when he reverts to being Ant-Man and attacks the Avengers (#161) and it turns up later, with Ms Marvel and Immortus, though David Micheline is involved in that, too. There are elements in some of Shooter's other writing, though it's not in all of his writing. Jane proved to be the one to stop Hank's rampage, in 161 and Wanda is the one who shuts down Ultron, just after. He's not alone in that, as Valkyrie was somewhat neutered under Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin had his neanderthal moments, too. Comics have always been a boys' club and sometimes it kind of leaps out at you, when you re-read this stuff. However, I tend to notice it a bit more in some of Shooter's writing than in others. Then again, I'm not his biggest fan, as a human being; so, I may be reading more into things than is on the page. Regardless, he was and is a good, intriguing writer and this is one of his best works, for an epic tale. Far better than Secret Wars. Perez and Marcos are just great on these issues, capturing the action, while also handling quieter moments well. Perez gets to strut his stuff here, which makes his sudden departure from the book all the worse. Being followed by John Buscema, who was so stylistically different, than, say John Byrne (who was just down the road) is a bit jarring, when you read the whole saga (like I used to, with the original Marvel trade collection).
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Post by beccabear67 on Sept 12, 2018 22:26:22 GMT -5
Jim Shooter's idea of the superior '70s man is a tennis pro from the Hamptons basically. By the '80s it's some disco guy in a white leisure suit (shades of A Night At the Roxbury). Some of the dialogue in the lighter situations is genuinely fun though.
George Perez starts things off in style only to be worn down quickly like a sabre-toothed hamster powered electric eraser at a Fred Flintstone architecture firm.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2018 13:55:49 GMT -5
Avengers #169 Eeven Shooter couldn't beat "Deadline Doom," leading to this mostly forgettable fill in from marv Wolfman, Sal Buscema, and Dave Hunt. The Guardians don't apepar, so let's move on. Avengers #170 Creative Team: Jim Shooter-writer and colorist! George Perez-pencils, Pablo Marcos-inks, Denise Wohl-letters, Archie Goodwin-running errands for Nero Wolfe Synopsis: Cap is busy working out in the Avengers' home gym....  Whooaaa! That's making me dizzy! Cap is working out anger and some self-esteem issues and Beast tries to give him a pep talk and Cap blows him off. iron Man comes in and tries to apologize for himself and Wanda's remarks, while Cap acts like a sulking teenager, as he works out with some stun blaster, which Shooter feels the need to explain, distracting the flow of dialogue. Eventually, as Iron man takes responsibility for his mistakes (as a good leader should), Cap finally grows up and accepts the apology and makes one himself, talking about his survivor's guilt and promising to follow Iron Man's orders. Elsewhere, Vision and Wonderman play chess, while Wanda takes a phone call from Hawkeye, who tells her about Two-Gun Kid's disappearance and that he is headed back to NY to consult Stark's computers. At that moment, in the Himalayas, Quicksilver is restless, in the Inhuman city of Attilan and Crystal is consoling him, when he pops out. Back at the mansion, Hank and Jan show up, with movers, who are bringing the still form of the then-unnamed Jocasta to the Mansion for Hank to study (as she creeps Jan out, sitting in their house). Shooter does a bunch of exposition about Avengers #162 and then we shift to Saugerties, where the Guardians watch over young Vance Astro. the young nitwit is tossing a baseball, in the street, after dark and Charlie 27 prevents a semi from barreling into him (unseen by Vance and his mom). He then brings the groceries to the GOTG safe house, Starhawk is sitting there like Korvac, fingers steepled, talking about maybe going to search for him, not knowing that Korvac has rebuilt him to be unable to perceive Korvac. His One Who Knows tag becomes a cosmic joke on him.  Back at the mansion, the movers set Jocasta down and he eye lights up and she breaks free...  She heads into an area and locks the door. the movers alert the Avengers and bugles sound (metaphorically). Vision gets through first and tries to solidify inside Jocasta and gets Fd up for his trouble. Wonder Man smashes through and they follow Jocasta to the courtyard. Hank and Jan zap her and she talks in Jan's voice. Hank gets grabbed, jan gets a mental block, WM can't punch trough her forcefield, then Beast hits her with a dropkick. Wondy tries again and gets stopped by Iron man's repulsors and Cap stops the returning Thor from launching Hammer Time. Everyone gets pissy, then Iron man explains he wants to follow Jocasta to Ultron. Dunh-dunh-duh!!!!! Thoughts: Well, after the previous issues distraction, we are pretty much distracted from the Korvac plot, by a new Ultron plot, just 8 issues after his last one. The Guardians get a cameo to rescue Vance Astro from being an idiot and that's about it. The pacing on this saga is one of its weaknesses, as we get a big opening and build-up, then we move on to other things, with threats lurking in the background. It's not Kree-Skrull War or Infinity Gauntlet, to be sure. Shooter isn't quite as good teasing the subplots as Chris Claremont or Roy (or Wolfman or Starlin or Gerber....). At least he got Cap back to acting like an adult. Perez is still cooking, though he has less grand stuff to work with, other than the fight at the end. Meanwhile, we have the disappearing Two-Gun Kid and Quicksilver subplot brewing. And people complained about Gerber's subplots, in Defenders! On the whole this is a good issue, for the start of an Ultron battle. As a continuation of the Korvac Saga, it is kind of weak; or, at least, a minor paragraph in the story.
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Post by brutalis on Sept 13, 2018 14:45:28 GMT -5
Shooter's pacing is a bit off, but I believe he was attempting to make the Korvac "SAGA" live up to being a true saga in the sense that it takes time for the whole thing to evolve properly. Giving it a sense of real time in the teams learn of Korvac and are distracted into other situations and problems before being able to delve fully into finding Korvac helped to make it feel more real and believable. How often do we start one job at work only to have it pushed aside for other more "urgent" or problematic issues which arise before we can get back to the original project? The problem arises that in a monthly comic book it usually meant that 1 or 2 issues occur within the same day or next few days making it hard to compress the Korvac story line with overall arc/story idea's. This works great when you can work the sub plots while pursuing the overall arc and still keep it action and character and story interesting. Which is not one of Jim Shooter's stronger points.
Kind of ironic that Shooter who pushed (re: demanded) for having stories in on time for publishing without having to use fill ins and wanted single issue stories rather than ongoing multiple issues goes ahead and breaks his own rules. Do as I say and not as I do? Typical top of the ladder thinking process I have found to be so true over the years in most businesses.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2018 15:22:05 GMT -5
Avengers #171 Creative Team: Shooter, Perez, Marcos, Wohl, Rachelson. Shooter is now writer/editor, so he has succeeded Archie to the throne. The Shooter Era has begun and it will be Shakespearean! Synopsis: The Avengers are tracking Jocasta across the city and creating a commotion. They happen to pass by a dress shop, where Carol Danvers is standing in a dressing room, in her lacies (Shooter and Perez had to show us) and she zips out to join them, as Ms Marvel (in the old costume, minus the bare midriff. A whino talks about Jocasta leaving with a penguin and we see her in a car, with a nun. The Avengers trace her to a convent and Thor is uneasy, as Shooter addresses the idea of Thor being a living "god" irking some Christian readers and making it clear they are not supreme beings, when Ultron strikes. Wanda is zapped into a room, rather like in Conan the Destroyer... where she is subjected to all kinds of deathtraps, if she moves. The Avengers find Ultron and attack...  He's whooping their hides when Jocasta demonstrates a conscience, upsetting his plans. Ms Marvel finds Wanda and frees her, ad her hex powers affect Ultrons Molecular Transformer, which alters the adamantium shell and he explodes into pieces. Meanwhile, Cap and Jocasta have blinked away. Thoughts: Well, this ends Ultron and continues the disappearing subplot, while it establishes Wanda as a threat to Ultron, via her hex powers. This would be a central plot element to the Avengers short story that Shooter wrote for the 1979 Marvel Superheroes anthology paperback...  The Guardians don't appear, so let's go right into #172  Creative Team: Jim Shooter-writer and fuhrer, Sal Buscema-breakdowns, Klaus Janson-finishes, Denise Wohl-letters, Phil Rache-colors So long, George! Synopsis: Hawkeye comes home, the Avengers come back to the mansion, Henry Gyrich showed up and got a taste of his own medicine from Hawkeye, who thought he was an intruder and he fires the Avengers from the government payroll. There is a disturbance at the Hudson River from some rogue Atlanteans and some of the Avengers remember about the disapeparances, which turns up at the end. Thoughts: Korvac has been forgotten, as are the Guardians. The issue is filler, until the very end. Avengers #173 Creative Team: Shooter gets first credit, as story/EIC, David Michelinie takes over as scripter, Sal is on breakdowns, Diverse Hands do the finishes, Kawecki letters and Nel Yomtov colors, and too many hands spoil the broth. Synopsis: The Avengers are holding a meeting to discuss the disappearances and Hercules and Black Widow have been summoned from the West Coast. They find out thatAvengers priority has been revoked, by the government. Iron Man finds communications frequencies, including SHIELD's, cut off from them (though Nick going along with that is out of character).  We finally get back to Korvac, as he watches things, omnipotently, while Carina is curled up at his feet, in some Shooter male power fantasy. He checks in on the Guardians, te remind us that they are lurking in the background and then dismisses Carina, like a handmaiden. She says she could help but he is all macho and she runs off and cries, because she is a weak female in a he-man book. She starts to make a psychic phone call and stops, because she fears "Michael."  Michael checks in on various beings, as he watches the Watcher (that answers that old question), observes Odin and Zeus, then checks up on Eternity, saying he will soon challenge him.  Michael sense Carina's little phone cal and goes abusive on her...  The Avengers regroup, Black panther pops out, they call Vance Astro to trace and he finds an object, the size of a phone booth, floating in space. Iron Man has him use the teleporter to beam them there and they find the phone booth-sized ship is bigger on the inside.... However, it's not the Doctor waiting for the Avengers; it isn't even The Master; it's The Collector... Thoughts: It's about damn time! Man, this thing was derailed at the station! I suppose some of it was Shooter becoming the king; but, this "saga" really ground to a halt, which is probably why it took some time to gain a reputation (more due to Perez's superstar status, with NTT, Crisis, and Infinity Gauntlet)  The Michael/Corina relationship still looks rather abusive and misogynistic; at least co-dependent (get your Melody Beattie books out). Korvac is basically setting himself up as the heir to the universe and Shooter is doing his test run for the Beyonder. It's all rather creepy. The "phonebooth-sized box" sounds like a deliberate nod to Doctor Who, which Marvel was publishing in the UK, which led to the reprints of the Dave Gibbons stories, in Marvel Premiere. This was when Tom baker's episodes were being shown on PBS and the series became a cult hit, in America. Quite frankly, the gaps in story and the loss of Perez takes a lot of the sizzle out of the Korvac Saga. The Ultron diversion is good, in and of itself; but, we are left treading water for a while. Let's see if we pick back up. The Guardians aren't even a factor, anymore, as Shooter seems to have used up his ideas for their involvement, rather quickly.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 13, 2018 15:56:47 GMT -5
Shooter's pacing is a bit off, but I believe he was attempting to make the Korvac "SAGA" live up to being a true saga in the sense that it takes time for the whole thing to evolve properly. Giving it a sense of real time in the teams learn of Korvac and are distracted into other situations and problems before being able to delve fully into finding Korvac helped to make it feel more real and believable. How often do we start one job at work only to have it pushed aside for other more "urgent" or problematic issues which arise before we can get back to the original project? The problem arises that in a monthly comic book it usually meant that 1 or 2 issues occur within the same day or next few days making it hard to compress the Korvac story line with overall arc/story idea's. This works great when you can work the sub plots while pursuing the overall arc and still keep it action and character and story interesting. Which is not one of Jim Shooter's stronger points. Kind of ironic that Shooter who pushed (re: demanded) for having stories in on time for publishing without having to use fill ins and wanted single issue stories rather than ongoing multiple issues goes ahead and breaks his own rules. Do as I say and not as I do? Typical top of the ladder thinking process I have found to be so true over the years in most businesses. I kind of get the impression that two things worked to derail the Korvac Saga, at the start. One was Shooter wrapping up his Ultron story, from #161 and 162. The disappearing subplot is dovetailing back into the Korvac Saga, as we will see. The other main thing that interrupted things was becoming EIC. Shooter went from writer and editorial assistant to Archie, to the boss, right in the middle of things. i think that is why the fill-in issue happened and why Michelinie takes over scripting, from Shooter's plot (and with a lot of input from him, over the course of time). The change in artists also affects how things flow, as we go from perez to Buscema, and then to others. It kind of robs some of the thunder. Kree-Skrull War suffered a similar problem when neal Adams bowed out. John Buscema does a fine job, but, there is a notable shift in the style of the thing, as Buscema was never that into superheroes, while such characters let Adams exercise his grandiose nature. Still, the plotting on that was more focused, as each issue has a bearing on the overall story. Even when when shift to the Inhumans, it is tied into the battle between the Kree and the Skrulls, as the Inhumans are descended from a Kree experiment. Shooter doesn't immediately make story demands at Marvel; that evolved over time and I think he was right in a certain extent, while the bulk of sales were still coming from newsstands; especially since newsstand outlets were disappearing, at that stage. It became less of an issue to find the next issue, when the Direct Market became more dominant and you had regular outlets for comics, with subscriptions and access to back issues. I think the advent of the mini-series suggested a better way to have extended sagas, that were less likely to be interrupted by lack of access or the need for a filler issue, to get the creative team on track. Eventually, Shooter did become "I do what I want; but, you do what I want," when it came to stories. Guys like Byrne and Claremont could ignore that, up to a point; but, others were not in that same superstar position. The Korvac Saga is one that reads better in collected form, as you can cut out the filler, and focus on the central plot threads and scenes. After reading a couple of issues, the original trade release of the Saga was my intro to the whole shebang and it made for great reading, though you do feel the air being let out when Perez departs. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Sept 13, 2018 21:49:22 GMT -5
The Korvac Saga is one that reads better in collected form, as you can cut out the filler, and focus on the central plot threads and scenes. After reading a couple of issues, the original trade release of the Saga was my intro to the whole shebang and it made for great reading, though you do feel the air being let out when Perez departs. When people started citing the 'Korvac saga' as one of the better moments of late '70s comics I was surprised because it was so patchy and stop and start in the original comics... now I know the collected version is what they were talking about. I wonder if it was further enhanced afterward in the collected version at all? Dialogue tweaked or the art perhaps? |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 14, 2018 0:06:14 GMT -5
The Korvac Saga is one that reads better in collected form, as you can cut out the filler, and focus on the central plot threads and scenes. After reading a couple of issues, the original trade release of the Saga was my intro to the whole shebang and it made for great reading, though you do feel the air being let out when Perez departs. When people started citing the 'Korvac saga' as one of the better moments of late '70s comics I was surprised because it was so patchy and stop and start in the original comics... now I know the collected version is what they were talking about. I wonder if it was further enhanced afterward in the collected version at all? Dialogue tweaked or the art perhaps? I had the original 1991 edition, which was pretty much as it was in the comics (skipping a couple of unrelated issues). I bought the comics, after, and didn't see any real difference. I know there were color changes in some later era Marvel trades; not sure about the later Korvac editions (there were one or two later ones). |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Sept 15, 2018 15:57:51 GMT -5
The 1991 edition added a new four page epilogue by Mark Gruenwald and Tom Morgan.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 15, 2018 18:15:53 GMT -5
The first time I heard of the Korvac saga was when I read the last two issues, which a friend of mine had happily landed at the local newspaper outlet.
I think we should not forget that the story was pretty ambitious for its time, doing things I had never seen before... The concept of a truly omnipotent villain who was not actually villainous had not yet been exploited; little jokes like needing a bus to carry all those heroes to a fight scene were pretty original; having a bad guy defeat the heroes (even killing many of them) hadn’y yet been done to death.
At the same time, it had all been done in a regulat comic, and not advertised as THE ABSOLUTELY GREATES5 THING THAT EVER SAW PRINT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE, an aspect thatnwould make many later “events” unpalatable.
I don’t think the Korvac saga is unfairly presented as a strong moment of 1970’s Marvel comics. It’s not the original Magus saga, but it’s pretty darn cool.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 15, 2018 22:05:55 GMT -5
The first time I heard of the Korvac saga was when I read the last two issues, which a friend of mine had happily landed at the local newspaper outlet. I think we should not forget that the story was pretty ambitious for its time, doing things I had never seen before... The concept of a truly omnipotent villain who was not actually villainous had not yet been exploited; little jokes like needing a bus to carry all those heroes to a fight scene were pretty original; having a bad guy defeat the heroes (even killing many of them) hadn’y yet been done to death. At the same time, it had all been done in a regulat comic, and not advertised as THE ABSOLUTELY GREATES5 THING THAT EVER SAW PRINT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE, an aspect thatnwould make many later “events” unpalatable. I don’t think the Korvac saga is unfairly presented as a strong moment of 1970’s Marvel comics. It’s not the original Magus saga, but it’s pretty darn cool. It is certainly ambitious and succeeds in much of its ambition, in an era before endless hype. It works better than something like Secret Wars, since it is more focused. Part of it was that it wasn't intended to be a big, sprawling epic saga, like the wrap up to Thanos was, where Archie Goodwin let Jim Starlin have his head. Shooter seemed to be more just doing a running subplot that would keep people checking back in; plus, wrap up some unfinished business with the Guardians. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 15, 2018 22:51:22 GMT -5
Avengers #174 Perez covers lulls into thinking he is back; alas, he is not. Creative Team: Shooter-plot, Power Cosmic; Bill Mantlo-script, Dave Wenzel (yeah, as in The Hobbit)-pencils, Pablo Marcos-inks, Shelly Leferman-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors Synopsis: Our recently snatched Avengers find themselves facing The Collector, who looks a bit older then Benicio Del Toro. His CGC rep grades them Near Mint and he is set to slab them, when they get all fighty. Iron man gets taken down, after looking rather like the Bull, in Bully for Bugs Thor goes down next, like a better speaking Yosemite Sam.  Wasp and Hawkeye give a better accounting, before Wasp is caught and shocked, leaving only Hawkeye. he proves better able to befuddle our fanboy, thanks to his primitive weapons. Collector sicks Turu on Hawkeye.....  Hawkeye makes like Turok...  and takes the flying honker down. Collector tries to evade the charging Hawkeye and throws Contact 1 hour cold capsules at him, which burst into flame. Hawkeye gets past and hits Collector with a stun arrow, which does the job. He whines about getting old and his Cosmicbego. Hawkeye frees the others and wakes up Thor with a bucket of water to the face (you know Clint loved that). and Collector explains his woes. He was married an lived peacefully on a planet, while his brother, the Gamesmaster, went around the cosmos, playing his games. He foresaw a future with Thanos and stayed out of it; but, sought to preserve species against extinction. He soon saw that there was a new rival and sent his daughter to spy. She is Carina Walters and the threat is Korvac.  Carina admits to Michael her near betrayal and he gets all omnipotent and zaps papa Collector. He ens up a pile of ashes and the Avengers soil themselves! Thoughts: Well, it gets a bang up opening, Hawkeye saves the day with skill, where power and muscle failed, and we find out that Carina Walters is the daughter of an Elder of the Universe. She was sent to spy, as the object of Korvac's desire. So, Korvac didn't bend her to his will, she was a honey-trap. Problem is, she fell for the cosmic lug. Pops pays the price for things; so, dysfunctional fits this family! I still think Korvac is more powerful than he should be, based on the Thor Annual; but, he is an interesting cosmic being and the first decent one since Thanos. Don't know if Shooter just wanted to try his hand or was trying to show up Starlin; but, he's doing a decent job of it, though Korvac is nowhere near as memorable as Thanos. Mostly, his dress sense lacks the flamboyance (and Kirby wannabe look). We never quite get why Korvac is playing the suburban fantasy, with all of that power. Still, things are heating up again.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 16, 2018 23:22:08 GMT -5
Avengers #175 Creative Team: Shooter-plot and power, Michelinie-script, Wenzell-pencils, marcos-inks, Denise Wohl-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors, Roger Stern-editor. It appears that the revised editorial structure is now in place, with actual book editors reporting to Shooter (except the writer/editors still in place, who report to Stan). Synopsis: The Avengers are looking at the pile of ashes that was the Collector.  They go to check the memory banks and find that they are also dust. Iron man snoops and finds collector's time machine and explains how Collector nabbed Thor from time and bounced him around, which was why he was in and out quickly, in previous issues. Two-Gun Kid asks to be sent back to his time and the other Avengers are beamed back to Earth, just in time for Wonder Man to collide with a bus, Wanda to nearly free-fall to the pavement, and for Hawkeye to be stuck on a flagpole. In suburbia, Korvac finishes a dip in the pool and finds carina crying on her bed. She then gets all doey eyed and the Barry White music starts playing...  Yep, that's what passes for sex, in a Code-approved comic, in 1978! In the midst of the carnal excitement, we get a recap and the explanation about how Korvac got so powerful. He slipped away from Thor, through time, and found Galactus' spaceship, with Big G gone, tapped into the memory banks, and was overwhelmed with eons of knowledge, until he became a god, who could hide his presence. he started making subtle alterations to reality, which helped him grow in power, until we are back in the present.  The Avengers have a conference, back at the Mansion, and everyone, and I mean everyone, is arguing. The place is filled with people, including reserves, associates (Mar-vell and Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel), ex-brides of Ultron (Jocasta) and bitchy bald chicks (Moondragon). Iron man calls up Starhawk to help, who only agrees after Charlie and Martinex push him into it. Korvac sense him leaving; but, Starhawk can't sense Korvac, which is what the Avengers want. oh, and Henry Gyrich had a bunch of their computers removed, 'cause he is a complete Rick, with a silent P! Thoughts: Sucks to be the Avengers. They are in deep doo-doo, on this one, as Korvac has them outclassed and outgunned at every step. The only thing holding him back is their weird suburban fantasy, which now includes metaphoric whoopie. We now know how Korvac became so powerful and we now have everybody nder the sun brought together, as Shooter continues his attempt to one-up Starlin (and he's not doing too shabby a job, either). gettin' towards a climax, here.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2018 23:53:41 GMT -5
Avengers #176 Creative Team: Shooter, Michelinie, Wenzel & Marcos; Rick Parker-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Roger Stern-editing (though I doubt he was correcting anything in Shooter's plot. Good to be the king  ) Synopsis: Apparently, Iron Man has been checking out the ladies on the internet, before Starhawk showed up...  Iron Man quickly ALT-TABs to cover, and then asks Starhawk to help locate the source of the energy that killed the Collector (after providing a recap. Meanwhile, Moondragon meditates, though her bootheels conveniently disappear while she is in the lotus position. From what is shown in OHOTMU, she should have them stabbing into her inner thighs. There is talk of sceneted smoke, in the narration, which the Marvel Bullpen of the 70s knew much about. She goes off through the mansion and finds Quicksilver engaged in anti-synthozoid bigotry and zaps his brain with "insight." Wonder Man is frustrated they aren't doing anything and Black Panther suggests reading Keats, to relax. Cap and Moondragon talk about potential combat, when Thor flies through the wall, backwards. Hercules was saying "hi," and Thor says, Yay, verily, knocketh it off, jerk-wad!" Herc wants to go a few more rounds when Black Widow stings him. Moondragon shakes her head and walks off. She finds Iron Man, who has given up on checking out superheroine porn and she gets all bossy. She ignores protocol and summons the others. The people who have been searching provide an info dump and Starhawk says he found nothing, yet the tohers at least have bits and pieces. We cut briefly to Michael and Catrina's suburban fantasy, where he is all menacing, if the Avengers stumble on to them. Ooh, foreshadowing! Back at the mansion, they triangulate the data they have uncovered and trace the source of the energy to Forest Hills Garden. They assemble everyone; and, since the government has revoked their FAA clearances, they need an alternate to the Quinjet.  Traveling music, if you please..... The Avengers arrive in suburbia and someone tells the others to remember where they parked. They go to Michael's house and ask to look inside...  All they find is tasteful decor (eh, to each his own) and Hawkeye envisions lawsuits from the bus riders and tabloid headlines, when Starhawk loses his defecation, because everyone is talking to no one. The rest let their jaws hit the floor, until Ms Marvel theorizes that Starhawk could only not see if someone was blocking him and the rest catch on. Michael then gets his tight tennis shorts wound in a bunch and goes cosmic.  Thoughts: Okay, for a minute there, I thought Steve Gerber took over the book. Superheroes riding the bus to suburbia and politely asking to check the villains house, while Starhawk wonders why everyone is talking to blank space. Sounds like a Super Friends episode plot. All we need are Wendy, marvin and Wonder Dog! The rest of the Guardians are still twiddling their thumbs; so, sucks to be them. Everyone is still ignoring Iron Man's orders, and Moondragon is still a pain in everyone's backside. Meanwhile, this is how she appears in OHOTMU...  and here she is "meditating"....  Like I said, she must have her heels jabbed way into the meat of her inner thighs. Probably doesn't feel it, with all of that "scented smoke." (a slightly skunky smell, no doubt). Well, one thing is for sure: the defecation definitely hits the oscillator, at the end!
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