Starlin's Thanos, part 9 of 10: False Conclusions

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite; Part 7: The Holiest War; Part 8: Gazed Too Long

'The End' was an unusual series of Marvel titles which began in 2002 with Incredible Hulk: The End, an adaptation of a prose story Peter David had written about the Hulk's final days on a desolate, mostly-uninhabited Earth. Soon, Marvel began churning out additional 'The End' titles, often written by the present-day scripter of the character's home title. The control over these titles was somewhat suspect, as two entirely different 'The End' stories appeared for the Fantastic Four, but it was an interesting idea to imagine how Marvel's heroes would end up if their stories were ever permitted to end.

In 2003, Jim Starlin followed up The Infinity Abyss with Marvel Universe: The End (again scripting/penciling with Al Milgrom as inker). Unlike every other entry in the title series, this was not an alternate universe tale. Yes, virtually every major character in the Marvel Universe dies, but they are then brought back to life, not unlike The Infinity Gauntlet. And sure enough, Thanos and Adam Warlock were once again present.

The early issues of the 6-part mini-series deal with Akhenaten, an Egyptian pharoah possessing cosmic power from the Heart of the Infinite. When he's finally dealt with, Thanos inherits his power and is once again the most powerful being in the universe. Naturally, once again he realizes he can't handle the weight of all this power and gives up on it.

This led directly into a Thanos ongoing series in 2004. Starlin wrote & drew the first six issues with Al Milgrom as his inker. Thanos picks up immediately after Marvel Universe: The End but also picks up some loose ends from The Infinity Abyss. Thanos' primary motivation in this series is to seek redemption for what his Thanosi clone did over in Dan Jurgens' Thor. In the course of this, Thanos discovers Galactus is pursuing the Infinity Gems while a being who consumes entire realities spurs him on.

As Starlin has frequently chosen to ignore how other writers treated Thanos (likewise Adam Warlock), it is interesting to note how generous Starlin was in Thanos to pick up on the events of Thor. Also, the recap of Thanos' origin in the first issue makes no bones about identifying Thanos as an Eternal, something which Mark Gruenwald had come up with and which Starlin had previously distanced himself from; he even identifies Thanos as possessing a 'Deviant gene.'

The Thanos series did well enough but Starlin had a falling-out with Marvel after the sixth issue. Marvel chose to continue the series without him (bringing in Keith Giffen as writer and Ron Lim as artist) and Starlin politely wished Giffen well with the series. Giffen's Thanos #7-12 wound up building towards a new attempt to develop a Marvel cosmic line, resulting in the Annihilation event which would eventually birth Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy, stories which caught the attention of Marvel's new motion picture line, the ultra-successful Marvel Studios. More about that in our conclusion.

Next Thursday: Forever Infinite.

Starlin's Thanos, part 8 of 10: Gazed Too Long

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite; Part 7: The Holiest War

Although Jim Starlin spent the latter half of the 90s away from Thanos, the character himself lingered on. Previously, creators had been wary of dealing with a character whom they saw as Starlin's pet - but now that The Infinity Gauntlet had made Thanos one of Marvel's biggest villains there were many who wanted a shot at him. Unfortunately, creators other than Starlin (or Ron Marz) tended to fall upon the same old tropes Starlin had already thrown out in The Infinity Gauntlet - that is, they wanted Thanos to be worshiping Death and seeking power for himself.

Thanos appeared all over the place, even in Incredible Hulk/X-Man 1998 Annual, but there were a few appearances which were particularly notorious: in 1997, Mark Waid & Andy Kubert used Thanos as the main antagonist in their first year of Ka-Zar. Pitting Thanos against Ka-Zar, a non-powered jungle hero, irritated many of Thanos' fans. The other came in 2000's Thor #21-25 wherein Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr. sent Thanos on yet another quest for cosmic power, this time using Thor's foe Mangog as his lackey (further upsetting Mangog fans, as the villain had previously been a threat powerful enough to end Asgard on his own).

At the same time, Starlin slowly crept back to Thanos. Peter David and Chriss Cross had begun a new Captain Marvel series, using Mar-Vell's son Genis as the new Captain Marvel, bound to Rick Jones as his father had been. The series went over well, and for their 11th issue, Jim Starlin came to play (along with Al Milgrom as his inker again). The story involved Genis meeting a version of Mar-Vell from another reality, giving him the chance to finally meet a version of his father. Bringing in Starlin for this tale continued to demonstrate how he was considered the definitive Mar-Vell creator. Shortly after, there was a sequel.

Back in his Incredible Hulk run, Peter David had written a run-in between Rick's wife Marlo and Death, herself - mostly to set-up one of his infamous puns ("a brush with Death"). David now brought Marlo's connection to Death into the fore of Captain Marvel via a two-part story in issues #17-18, drawn by Starlin & Milgrom. In this tale, Death is revealed to be hiding within Marlo's body while a being called Walker pursues her; to stop Walker come Thor and Thanos as Marlo's defenders. This was the first time Starlin had ever participated in a Thanos story he didn't write himself but David's Thanos was fairly on-point, serving as a chaotic neutral figure.

It was from this that 2002's Infinity Abyss was born. The title drew obvious lines back to Starlin's Infinity trilogy of the 1990s, but this time Starlin was writing and drawing the series (Milgrom again inking). Although Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and Captain Marvel participated in the story, the real stars were Thanos and Adam Warlock. As a cosmic tremor is felt, Warlock once again emerges from a cocoon (establishing a precedent for Starlin rebooting Adam every time he would return to the character). A cosmic custodian named Atlez is dying and Adam must defend Atlez's successor. Assisting Adam are his former Infinity Watch allies Gamora, Pip, Moondragon and, of course, Thanos.

The villains of the story are the Thanosi, clones Thanos made of himself and designed to combat different superhumans (Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Professor X, Gladiator and Galactus, to be precise). Thanos reveals his Thanosi included earlier models who he pit against Ka-Zar, Thor and the Avengers (referencing Steve Englehart & Jorge Santamaria's Avengers: Celestial Quest) but the doubles were faulty and tended to lapse into mindless destruction, so Thanos abandoned the project. It's a not-so-very-thinly disguised attack on how other creators had used Thanos. Even Gamora is allowed to criticize other writers' use of Thanos as, overhearing a Thanosi talk about worshiping Death, raising armies and gaining cosmic power, she notes Thanos has evolved past that point.

Jim Starlin continued to solidify his interpretation of his creation Thanos, the former tyrant now cosmic pilgrim. But other Marvel writers continued to oppose his wishes.

Next Tuesday: False Conclusions.

Starlin's Thanos, part 7 of 10: The Holiest War

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite

In the 4th season of the television series Angel, the creators came up with a different 'Big Bad' menace for their heroes. They conceived of the character Jasmine, a 'Big Good,' someone whose goodness makes them a threat to the heroes. It's a provocative idea, but ultimately Jasmine was simply evil; she claimed the ends justified the means, but it made it very easy to dismiss her as yet another 'Big Bad' because the program needed to hit the expected beats of an action-adventure series.

It is certainly possible for a good person to cause an evil to erupt through their actions. With my recent work in missions, I've learned about missionaries whose good intentions led to a new evil where they were. The idea that good is as bad as evil is a strange kind of infantile moral relativism that doesn't bear much scrutiny. But here we are: The Infinity Crusade.

So, The Infinity Crusade is not a subtle work. The villain is the Goddess, Adam's good half, who was glimpsed during The Infinity War. Just as the Magus was drawn from Adam's evil self, the Goddess was designed in imitation of Her, Adam's would-be mate. For most of the crossover, she dresses in armour with a page boy's haircut as an evident reference to Joan of Arc.

The Goddess' goal? To purge the universe of all life, that being the only means to eradicate evil. That's not a plan that calls for much nuance. To achieve her means, the Goddess mesmerizes many super heroes, appealing to those who are the most noble or spiritual. Once again, Thanos and Adam Warlock must save the universe while the rest of Earth's heroes are mostly ineffectual.

Jim Starlin teamed with Ron Lim and Al Milgrom again on this series, which felt even more rushed than The Infinity War (Lim takes some tremendous shortcuts in the final issue). However, this series did at least wrap up Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet with a full trilogy.

There are fantastic ideas in The Infinity Crusade, but the execution botches it. The heroes in the Goddess' thrall are little more than glassy-eyed zombies, so the series sidesteps any attempt at portraying how the heroes could be so easily ensnared. Some of the tie-ins delved into this territory, but there was little in the way of consequences in this series when what it really needed were some dramatic scenes of the heroes post-brainwashing as they grappled with how their virtues had been toyed with. Compare to Starlin's earlier Warlock series and how the Magus' Universal Church of Truth was grounded and see what might have been.

Basically, The Infinity Crusade asserts that if you're a religious person, you're a sheep. How much better to be like his pets, the totally-neutral Adam Warlock and totally-grey Thanos.

Enough of the plot; what about Thanos? It was in this event that Thanos was revealed as the keeper of the Reality Gem; as he'd demonstrated that he no longer wanted ultimate power, he was an obvious custodian. The scene which reveals this in Infinity Crusade #1 obscures Thanos visually (saving the big reveal) but it's obvious from Thanos' speech balloons. Which reminds me, I should have given props to Ken Bruzenak, who developed the distinctive speech balloons Thanos used throughout the 1990s. He'd had blue speech balloons back in the 70s, but the wavy lines around his balloons in the 90s added strength to his dialogue.

With the completion of his trilogy, Jim Starlin took a step back from Marvel Comics for a time, focusing on creator-owned work. But in the 21st century he came back with a vengeance.

Next Thursday: Gazed Too Long.

Starlin's Thanos, part 6 of 10: They Bite

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove

The Infinity War was and is a mess.

Joined again with Ron Lim (and inks by Starlin's old mate Al Milgrom), 1992's Infinity War attempted to escalate what Starlin had done in The Infinity Gauntlet. More tie-ins! More heroes! More subplots! It's amazing that The Infinity War reads as well as it does; the best that can be said for it is that it was a very well-coordinated event.

Dipping into his back catalogue, Starlin brought back Adam Warlock's other self the Magus, revealing that Adam had unwittingly driven all good and evil from himself, causing those abstract qualities to take on physical form (as they do in the Marvel Universe). The reborn Magus builds an army of evil duplicates of Earth's heroes (where they came from was buried in a Quasar tie-in) and wields five Cosmic Cubes - but he's willing to settle for more. In fact, the Magus would dearly appreciate it if Adam would give him the Infinity Gems. Fortunately, Thanos is here to save the universe!

The other saving grace of The Infinity War is, thankfully, Thanos. When Thanos begins to sense the Magus' threat he returns to his familiar costume and seeks out Adam's Infinity Watch for assistance. Meanwhile, the Magus' evil duplicates are replacing a few of their counterparts.

The evil duplicates ('doppelgangers') are the most visible problem with The Infinity War: they're not interesting. Tasked with designing 50+ new evil doubles, Ron Lim reduced most of the evil doubles into images that were basically the same as the heroes, only with sharp teeth. Some of the doubles (Spider-Man, Daredevil, Invisible Woman) went on to cause trouble in comics long after the crossover was done. But they're evil; they have no nuance and barely any dialogue. Added to this, many of the tie-ins showed the same dull fight of the heroes at Four Freedoms Plaza battling their doubles. As in The Infinity Gauntlet, characters who weren't Starlin's pets have very little of consequence to do, with only Quasar's tie-ins containing any significant developments.

It's the surprise heroism of Thanos which elevates the event. Thanos begins by simply being intellectually curious about the Magus' plans, but when he realizes the cosmic threat, he takes steps to stop him. This is basically how Thanos will be characterized in every Starlin story to come (and Keith Giffen's).

It's just a shame those evil doubles are so lame.

Still, at the same time Starlin wrote a wonderful Thanos solo story for the 1992 Marvel Holiday Special. In this brief tale (illustrated by Ron Lim & Terry Austin), Thanos is reminded of how he raised Gamora from childhood and recalls how she saved him from an assassin - at the same time, revealing to Thanos she would never be the ruthless assassin he hoped for. This story actually has some credit coming to it for the way Thanos is treated as Gamora's father in the current Marvel films.

Next Tuesday: The Holiest War.

Consider His Ways: The Many Moods of Tigerman

If you follow this blog, you know I just finished looking at the complete run of the Atlas Comics series Tigerman through my occasional series Unearthed. In the course of reviewing Tigerman #1, Tigerman #2 and Tigerman #3 I found myself looking at a series which had potential but was crippled by a very poor first issue. At its best, Tigerman was an average 1970s super hero comic.

But before I carry on to a different Atlas comic, shall we consider Tigerman one last time? Rhetorical question, I suppose. Better close this browsing window now if you can't bear thinking about Tigerman again!

In Understanding Comics Scott McCloud wrote about how we perceive cartoon characters in terms of how close they approach realism, from characters who are photorealistic to the more cartoony or abstract. Quoth McCloud: "Through traditional realism, the comics artist can portray the world without -- and through the cartoon, the world within." It occurred to me that with Tigerman we have a character who wavers well between realism and cartoon. As a man wearing a mask his face is not a human face (many masked comic book characters likewise have this condition). However, his mask is supposed to be made from that of a tiger and the tiger's face is, at times, drawn to appear realistic. Let us consider the moods which are expressed through Tigerman's seemingly static features..

Mood the first: Distraught

We are about to look at the cover of Tigerman #1 again. I'm sorry too.

Art by Ernie Colon

As Colon drew it, the tiger head had no ability to contort itself according to mood. In his attempt to make Tigerman appear distraught at his sister's death he depicted him with his heading nodding forward, mouth open. Unfortunately, while these would work well on a human face, on Tigerman his blank eyes and triangular mouth cause him to appear freakish, his emotions inscrutable.

Mood the second: Angry

Art by Ernie Colon

The most common feature on Tigerman's face throughout the series is an angry look. The animal face, the sharp fangs and blank eyes give him a limited range of expressions, but as a murderous super hero the ferocious face suits him well.

Mood the third: Pensive

Art by Ernie Colon

Here's an example of Colon's strengths as an artist (when much of Tigerman displays his weaknesses). In order to show Tigerman trying to play detective and find his sister's killers, Colon grants him a pensive expression by simply draping a hand before his mouth. Tigerman's mouth is the single least-human part of his mask so this also renders him more human in appearance.

Mood the fourth: Contemplative?

Art by Ernie Colon

Then we have Tigerman standing before one of the men who killed his sister. Here, we see the mask has become truly expressionless as the mouth has been diminished down to a single line. Is he tensing up for a fight? Is he boiling over in anger? Is he staring at that cowboy's crotch? The face tells us nothing.

Mood the fifth: Determined

Art by Frank Thorne

Frank Thorne's one-and-only visual of Tigerman is somewhat different from the other artists, most notably in the fuzzy, white muzzle on the tiger face. Under Colon, Tigerman looked like a man wearing a tiger's face over his own; Thorne makes him appear as a humanoid tiger.

Mood the sixth: Fearsome

Art by Steve Ditko & Frank Giacoia

I'm very fond of this image by Ditko where Tigerman's eyes are solid colored as Colon frequently depicted them and yet under Ditko's pen he appears more animal-like rather than the "dull surprise" of Colon. What Ditko seemed to realize better than Colon was how to manipulate the expressions of the tiger face, here curling Tigerman's brown to emphasize his ferocity. Colon eschewed these sorts of expressions in favour of letting the mask appear realistic, but Ditko's is the more worthy choice in terms of suggesting to the audience what the character is feeling.

Mood the seventh: Concerned?

Art by Larry Lieber

Larry Lieber's Tigerman is a fairly stock super hero character but he makes the most of the figure's facial features, putting some detail into Tigerman's brow and his eyes to convey his mood as he leaps to the rescue of a falling man.

Mood the eighth: Impish?

Art by Steve Ditko & Al Milgrom

The downside of Al Milgrom's inking is that he bringsin distracting details which subtract from Ditko's more malleable faces. Here, the curvy lines Milgrom used to fashion Tigerman's muzzle render him a bit too cartoony to fit the role of angsty super hero who just brought a burn victim to a hospital.

Mood the ninth: Enraged

Art by Steve Ditko & Al Milgrom

When Ditko revisited the scenes from #1 where Tigerman killed his sister's murderers, Ditko came up with this very fine grimace with Tigerman sporting a very upset brow. Here too, the animal-like muzzle on Tigerman's face is used to good effect- with his mouth open the curvy line of his expression makes him seem to be smiling, in contrast to his furrowed brow. Taken together, Tigerman seems to be emotionally out-of-control with bloodlust, which fits the direction the series was going as the character explored his compulsion to kill.

Mood the tenth: Triumphant

Art by Steve Ditko & Al Milgrom

The series ends with Tigerman exhibiting relief; the villain is over and now he can have a good rest in comic book limbo until some jerk drags his back issues out and talks smack about him on the internet. With Tigerman seen from below looking up at his open mouth and eyes so thin they almost seem to be squinting, Tigerman's expression is difficult to read but helpfully his left hand is clenched into a raised fist, which we understand as a gesture of triumph or defiance.

Unearthed: Tigerman #3

Howdy, tiger. What say we bring Unearthed's Tigerman retrospective to a close? Catch up by reading my looks at Tigerman #1 & Tigerman #2. Remember, Tiger-Man's not just good, he's gr-r-r-r-eatly average.

The cover to Tigerman #3 gives us a fairly stock super hero image by line editor Larry Lieber himself. Elements feature a civilian in peril, a villain uttering a threat, will the hero be too late, etc. It's not as interesting as issue #2's collage by Frank Thorne, but it's still way more enticing to a 1970s super hero reading audience than Ernie Colon's "this hero is a loser" cover on #1. It is worth noting how different the "snout" on Tiger-Man's mask looks depending on the artist. Here, he looks like a wild tiger wearing a mane. In the 1960s & 70s, Larry Lieber seemed to base his art style on Jack Kirby and consequently, it gives his covers a very Marvel-esque feel no matter who the publisher is; of course, Atlas Comics were all too eager to invite comparisons to Marvel what with the cover's blurb "The most savage super hero of the Atlas Age!"

Although the cover warns "Death Is a Man Called Hypnos," our tale inside is titled "Hell Is Spelled... Hypnos." Hypnos means many things; it was the Burma Shave of 1975. The previous issue's creative team of writer Gerry Conway & penciler Steve Ditko has been kept intact, but Ditko is no longer being inked by Frank Giacoia as Al Milgrom has joined the team (Milgrom also inked Conway & Ditko's Destructor #4). What difference will Milgrom's inks make to this series, you might well wonder. Well, see above; Milgrom emphasizes the animal features in Tiger-Man's face, rather than the more abstract look from Giacoia's inks last issue. In general, the obvious thing Milgrom brings to this story are in the characters' faces, which have fewer traces of Ditko than the previous issue. Personally, I preferred Giacoia's work on Tiger-Man's mask. But let's get to the story...

Tiger-Man bursts into Harlem Hospital carrying a smouldering body and demanding medical help. While the professionals treat this man, Tiger-Man avoids answering questions and leaves the hospital, roughing up a security guard who tries to force Tiger-Man to explain what happened. It turns out the guard need not have forced him, he just had to read the next page as a flashback begins. In Harlem River Park (it's worth observing how feel black people we see in Tigerman comics considering the locale), a man who lost his job and his wife and was told by his shrink that he's "a hopeless paranoid" suddenly dumps a container of gasoline over his head then lights a match. Tiger-Man arrives and grabs a blanket to smother the flames. So, that's where the smouldering body came from. This page is pretty effective at introducing the mystery and making the events frightening. The only time the man's face is seen is in the image above, as he pours the gasoline over his head.

Back to the present; Tiger-Man enters a storage room in the hospital and assumes his guise as Dr. Lannie Hill, concealing his costume within his medical bag. He wonders why the man lit himself on fire and muses "Unless -- perhaps he was protesting something?" To audiences in 1975, that would have obviously brought to mind the many self-immolations which went on in the 60s & 70s to protest the Vietnam War. Dr. Hill now changes clothes again as he dons a surgical outfit (yes, it appears he's a surgeon) to join a Dr. Morgan in treating the burn victim. The man mumbles "Hypnos" before dying. Dr. Hill is tormented by the man's death, stating "It's all so useless... so pointless." Dr. Morgan, however, casually smokes a cigarette in the hospital (because its the 1970s).

This death causes Hill to enter another flashback, this time revisiting the events of issue #1. The difference being, this time it's being drawn by Sturdy Steve Ditko, not Ergonomic Ernie Colon. This time we see Hill's sister the moment before her death and we see Tiger-Man actually kill his sister's murderers, something Colon proved incapable of rendering in a comprehensible fashion. I am frequently frustrated by the storytelling choices Steve Ditko makes when he publishes his own stories, but when it comes to adapting another writer's story, Ditko has always been a pro - you are never left in doubt about the basic things a story needs in terms of location, action and expression. Anyway, thinking back over these events, Hill wonders "Maybe I'm not a hero. Maybe what I am is a psychopath." Considering Hill is a physician who took an oath to do no harm, it's great that Conway has granted him this inner turmoil which issue #1 gave little attention to.

Tiger-Man goes on another patrol and sees a woman on a set of train tracks, waiting patiently to be run over by the train. Tiger-Man tries to save her, but he's not faster than a locomotive; the woman is killed. The next day, Dr. Hill reads about the suicide in the newspaper and learns the victim was Hannah Markham, a student of Dr. Otto Kaufmann, a psychiatric who runs a clinic in Midtown. Thinking there might be a clue to Hannah's suicide in the file, Hill visits Kaufmann and asks for his help, but Kaufmann flips the matter around, refusing to lend the file and saying "You appear deeply perturbed, doctor -- perhaps you should be in therapy." Hill rejects this but Kaufmann insists Hill needs treatment: "Everyone does." Before Hill leaves he sees another of Kaufmann's patients Miss Day waiting for her appointment.

Not long afterward, Tiger-Man sees a car being driven erratically. He leaps upon the vehicle's roof to try and get to the dirver, but the car is deliberately driven over a bridge. Tiger-Man rescues the driver who is Miss Day and she mutters "Hypnos." This convinces Tiger-Man that Kaufmann is connected to the suicides so he breaks into Kaufmann's office to read his files. Kaufmann discovers him and tries to fight him, but of course Tiger-Man is superhumanly strong so Kaufmann has no chance. "But brawn isn't the only power that exists!" Adjusting his monocle, Kaufmann unleashes a beam of light from the lens which bathes over Tiger-Man. Calling himself Dr. Hypnos, Kaufmann plants a hypnotic suggestion in Tiger-Man's mind to set himself on fire, being aware of Tiger-Man's intervention in the earlier suicide case. Hypnos declares his means will "Pave the way for a new race of supermen. A world of beings untouched by neurosis. A world that can only exist once everyone on Earth has been destroyed!" Tough medicine!

Tiger-Man goes to a gas station and begins pouring gasoline over himself, but luckily the station is in the midst of being robbed. The two thieves knock Tiger-Man out and frisk him for money, then depart. The next morning, Hypnos is using his power on another patient, ordering him to kill himself, but Tiger-Man leaps in through a window. Knowing Hypnos' power now, Tiger-Man evades the monocle's beam. Hypnos runs from his office to the roof for a showdown. Hypnos finally succeeds in striking him, but only because Tiger-Man deliberately comes in close to grab the monocle; reversing it on Hypnos, Hypnos declares "Death... it's the only answer... after all... I'm insane!" Hypnos leaps off the roof and Tiger-Man crushes the monocle. As Tiger-Man heads back to the stairs he notes "He wanted everyone to be perfect... the fact that nobody can be drove him insane!" To that end, Tiger-Man thinks there's a lesson for himself: "Starting right now, I'm going to accept myself -- just the way I am!"

Comments: Tigerman #3 contains the series' first letters column. The letters are all reviews of issue #1 and are fairly positive, although one complains about the lettering and another didn't like the cover and complained about the Ernie Colon art being "cartoony."

There's something in this story which, had it been developed, would have been brilliant. Tiger-Man notes at the end how Hypnos' inability to make people perfect through psychiatry had driven him insane. I would have found this story more intriguing if Hypnos weren't trying to kill people, but instead was trying to hypnotize them into perfection, but this caused a weird neuroses in his patients so that they, realizing they could never be perfect, went around killing themselves. In any event this is a pretty good story, with the man immolating himself being the most *ahem* hypnotic passage. Pity that the Blue Leopard plot from the previous issue wasn't followed-up on, but such are the perils with hastily-cancelled series.

Both the Destructor and Tiger-Man had a bit of creative shuffling going on in their limited runs (Tigerman moreso) but unlike the Destructor, Tiger-Man never changed into a new costume or developed new super powers. There was a similar lack of care about long-term plotting and supporting casts in both books and Tiger-Man didn't have the glorious scripting of Archie Goodwin to enhance its tales, but Tigerman is not awful - once Ditko arrives. If the creative team had remained the same... well, I wouldn't have bothered reading it to begin with, I only bought #1 so I could know what exactly Ditko inherited. Conway did well with his scripting, giving Tiger-Man a decent Spider-Man feel to his monologues.

This is the end of Tigerman, albeit not the end of Unearthed and my look at Atlas Comics. Stay tuned for another Atlas feature in my next Unearthed!

Unearthed: The Destructor #4

Welcome back! Once again I have exhumed my infrequent feature "Unearthed," in which I delve into some long-retired piece of comic book history. I am very pleased to once more feature the short-lived Atlas comics hero The Destructor, drawn by Steve Ditko! You may recall I have already featured the first three issues on this blog:

Destructor #1

Destructor #2

Destructor #3

At last, I finally hold a copy of Destructor #4 in my hands, thus completing the series! Let's jump right in!

"Doomsday -- Minus One!" blares the cover once again rendered by Larry Lieber in his best faux-Kirby manner. You will observe the Destructor is still wearing the refined costume from issue #3; you shall also note he apparently now has the ability to fire blasts of energy from his hands. Generic powers for a generic hero!

The story inside was brought to us by new author Gerry Conway (replacing Archie Goodwin), returning artist Steve Ditko and new inker Al Milgrom (replacing Frank Giacoia). We open within a cavern in New Mexico as two men hired by the Combine are hunting for the Destructor. Having hidden above the cavern, the Destructor simply drops upon his two enemies and with his superhuman strength handily defeats them. Just as one of the two men draws his gun, a blast of energy strikes from out of the darkness of the cave, hitting the gunman in the back (fatally?).

And who fired this beam of energy? Before the Destructor stand three superhuman beings whom we'll soon learn are Kronus, the Eye and Sister Siren. The Eye's cyclopean "de-moeleculorize" ray was responsible for hitting the Combine agent and the Outcasts now demand the Destructor remain where he is; our hero refuses and the Eye fires a beam at him which misses. "You may have a wacko eye-blast -- but I've got the powers of a beast -- and that makes me the winner!"

Kronus quickly orders Sister Siren to sing her "dream song -- before we have to commit violence!" Evidently firing a destructive ray of energy does not constitute violence in Kronus' mind, but it seems to suggest a pacifist streak amongst these Outcasts. Sister Siren emits a "melodius, luring strain" which causes the Destructor to black out.

The Destructor awakens in an advanced facility with the Outcasts facing him, his mask removed. They all begin calling him Jay Hunter, although he doesn't stop to wonder how they learned his secret identity. Sister Siren begins talking about their world and how their parents "abandoned the culture from which you sprang," but Jay has no interest in gabbing: "as far as I'm concerned, you can take your junior 'Star Trek' set and shove it!" Jay seems unusually high-strung this issue as he socks the Eye one in the face and threatens to do likewise to Sister Siren. Kronus appears and suggests the Destructor is one of them - an Outcast - but Jay takes exception to this.

You may possibly have noticed Kronus' powers haven't been established up until now; we now see he has the power to send people into other dimensions and briefly deposits Jay in one to teach him a lesson. This alien dimension is fully of frightening beasts and has no clear directional axis - yes, it is clearly a Steve Ditko creation. When Jay is brought back to the Outcasts' base he decides to be rational and listen to what Kronus has to say.

While taking Jay on a tour of their underground city in a flying vehicle, Kronus explains the Outcasts' parents were people who feared the atomic bomb and built their city to avoid fallout. Because this is a Steve Ditko comic it is tempting to suppose they were Galtian "off the grid" folks, but that would suggest Ditko plotted this comic which I don't believe was the case (then again, maybe Conway was hired strictly for scripting duties; these Outcasts certainly seem very similar to the Misfits created by Ditko's friend and ex-inker-of-Destructor Wally Wood).

Unfortunately for the founders of this city, they were financed by one Abraham E. Caldwell III "and he was evil incarnate." Caldwell insisted on testing an experimental nuclear power plant in the city, which - as the residents' entire motivation was to escape nuclear weapons - did not go over well. Unable to prevent Caldwell, the citizens watched as their children were born as mutants with superhuman powers. When Caldwell returned in 1956 he was beaten to death by an angry mob. Kronus concludes his explanation by revealing all of the Outcasts are telepaths, which is how they learned Jay's name. Hearing all of this, Jay begins to feel they truly are alike, which prompts a sinister reaction from the Outcasts. There is nothing in the script to suggest the Outcasts are anything other than forthright with Jay, but Dikto's art certainly says otherwise. I don't know how Destructor was created but I assume it would have been "Marvel style," so Ditko likely created the pages with very little input from Conway.

Suddenly, an atom bomb is set off ten miles away (this is the unluckiest anti-atomic radiation plot ever). The radiation from the blast bathes Jay and reacts with the serum in his bloodstream, causing his powers to alter even further so that now he can emit destructive blasts of energy. "We may have gained a new soldier for our... army." Kronus remarks with another fiendish Ditko grin. The Outcasts convince the Destructor he should use his powers to destroy the nearby army base where the bomb was tested and Jay sets off with the Eye to do just that. To be continued... never!

The next issue blurb announced "The Man with the Golden Bomb" which sounds like a magnificent Bond mash-up. But this is where the Destructor ends - the plot of him destroying the Combine unresolved and with Jay joining forces with the Outcasts (though it's the sort of plot where one assumes he would eventually discover they had evil intentions).

Conway didn't have time to get into the Destructor's character, what with this issue basically setting up a completely different series and taking its time to introduce the Outcasts. Archie Goodwin had a firm grip on the plotting & characterization in the first three issues, but for whatever reason (editorial? Ditko?) this last issue jettisons much of what made the prior issues work. Ditko remains game, of course and can never be boring. The Outcasts are a bit generic as characters but are fine Ditko designs.

Unfortunately, the Destructor suffered from being too generic; even if the comic book marketplace of the time had been more forgiving to the line of Atlas Comics it would not have made up for Destructor's generic origin, generic powers, generic motivation and generic costume. What the strip most needed was something unusual; Ditko drew unusual characters, true; Goodwin could script unusual villains; but a hero avenging his father's death by wearing a costume and using the powers he received from a fluke experiment is played out on every level. As Jay began as a criminal and would sometimes use his connections to combat the Combine, perhaps it would have been more interesting if Jay were like Serpico, an undercover super hero trying to bring down the gangsters he worked alongside; that would have been different and appropriate to the 70s zeitgeist.

This then is the end of the Destructor. Look for his return when the rights around the Atlas heroes are sorted out and he's (inevitably) snapped up for a quickly-forgottten revival series. My money's on Dynamite, but IDW has fair odds. And then there's Marvel, but... hm... what was I talking about?

Unearthed: Justice, Inc.#3

Welcome back to another installment of Unearthed and a last look at Jack Kirby's Justice, Inc., as published by DC Comics in 1975. This time, the issue at hand is #3 and the story "The Monster Bug!"

I have to say, I don't think too much of this cover. Perhaps some of it is a little disappointment - noticing at first glance the car and the prominent words "Monster Bug" I'd hoped this story would involve the Avenger battling a VW Beetle; however, the word "bug" refers to a virus.

Besides the lack of lovebugs, Kirby's cover has only 2/3rds of the page and it feels too constricted. There'a also something very overpowering about Al Milgrom's inks over Kirby's pencils. The monster figures seem almost too heavy - the monsters don't seem to stand apart, but merge into a multi-coloured blob. Ah, but that's only the cover!

The story opens in a pharmacy run by Fergus MacMurdie and his wife. The monocled figure Colonel Sodom (of the New Hampshire Sodomites) has come to obtain chemicals needed to win "the coming war" with germ warfare. Fergus refuses to comply and begins to fight Sodom and his men; to Fergus' luck, our hero the Avenger (and his subordinate Josh) has also arrived on the scene and helpfully informs us Colonel Sodom is an enemy of the Shadow (author Dennis O'Neil wrote both comics for DC).

In the midst of the fight, Sodom's vial of germs are dropped and MacMurdie's wife is infected; she transforms into a monster and one of Sodom's men kills her in self-defense. Sodom himself escapes as Fergus vows revenge; the Avenger and Josh invite Fergus to join the ranks of Justice, Inc., promising together they'll get Sodom; Fergus agrees. They journey to the Justice, Inc. headquarters in Manhattan and soon Fergus is busying himself in the lab. Josh's wife Rosabel reads up on Fergus and discovers he's more than a mere pharmacist, but a chemist who had once been nominated for the Nobel Prize. Between Josh & Fergus in these two issues, there seems to be a pattern in Justice, Inc. stories where the Avenger recruits people who (for some reason) are operating in low-income menial jobs rather than the prestigious roles their backgrounds would suggest.

The Avenger takes the time to introduce Smitty to Fergus (still no explanation of Smitty's speciality; still no assigned role for Rosabel). At this point, one notes Smitty & Fergus are both giant, red-haired men, which is needlessly confusing; to help us, the colourist has outfitted both men in green clothing. The Avenger thinks Sodom's next target will be the chemist Allan Ash, so he intends to bait the villain by impersonating Ash. While Fergus toils on a cure for Sodom's germs, Rosabel places a newspaper notice about Ash visiting an automobile show to draw out Sodom; the disguised Avenger goes to the show, accompanied by Smitty & Josh. The plan works, but when Sodom sees he's been trapped, he drops another vial of his germs, turning innocent bystanders into monsters which attack the Justice, Inc. crew. Although Sodom escapes, one of his men surrenders and reveals Sodom's base is at Tiro's Gun Shop.

While the Avenger heads to the gun shop, Smitty & Josh are sent to protect the real Allan Ash. To do this, Josh masquerades as a simple janitor to surprise Sodom's men; this prompts Smitty to wonder how Josh can "pretend to be so stupid." Josh's justification that his people "have been practicing for two hundred years" might have been a progressive line of dialogue at some stage, but even by 1975 it's an awfully patronizing idea to come from a white guy. Black people might not all be stupid? What a shocker! Colonel Sodom's not the only one to drop his monocle!

The story moves now to the gun shop where Sodom is returning, for some reason having abandoned the men he sent to collect Ash (Sodom didn't see Smitty & Josh stop them). There's a fantastic billboard in the street near the gun shop, depicting a giant face blowing smoke. The billboard is for "King" cigarettes, probably an in-joke on behalf of the series' beloved penciler.

The Avenger and Fergus fight their way into the gun shop; although the Avenger shoots Sodom's men he notes they aren't dead, having only creased their skulls. Strangely, although he does kill frequently (such as last issue's Skywalker), the Avenger does make a point of avoiding bloodshed when he can. Sodom confronts Fergus and the Avenger, threatening them with another vial; when Fergus tries to charge him, Sodom shoots him in the hand. The Avenger pins Sodom's coat sleeve down with a knife so Sodom throws the vial, but the germs do nothing to the Avenger - Fergus succeeded with his antidote and administered it to he and the Avenger in advance. Sodom pulls the Avenger's knife from his coat and tries to kill the Avenger, but stupidly inhales the fumes of the vial he just dropped; Sodom turns into a monster and, confused by the King cigarettes billboard outside the window, the now-simplistic creature leaps out the window and falls to his death.

It's a very sudden end to the comic - you have to read it yourself for the full effect. The last page consists of: 1) Sodom steps into the vapors; 2) Sodom becomes a monster; 3) Sodom sidesteps the Avenger to lunge at the billboard; 4) Sodom bursts through the window; 4) Sodom flies halfway across the street; 6) Sodom falls toward the ground. Although there's not actually anything more to say, it feels as though O'Neil & Kirby ran out of pages

Thoughts: At this point, the series seems to be building its cast issue by issue. The members of Justice, Inc. don't receive much focus, but this is primarily the Avenger's show anyway. I do feel it's an improvement over the previous issue with less emphasis on mystery and sudden leaps in deduction.

The one point where an attempt is made to develop the other cast members is, unfortunately, the business about Josh and "his" people. Josh is a pretty decent African-American hero, it's a pity that these stories were written in such a way that "a black man - with a brain!" is repeated each issue as though it were a novelty. Novel amongst pulp magazine heroes, perhaps, but not exactly a revelation to anyone intelligent enough to read these comics.

Also, although the death of Fergus' wife is his motivation in this story, I wish she'd been given a name; Fergus' repeated references to "Wife" makes it sound as though she were a stranger.

Although the ending is quite abrupt, Kirby seemed to be doing his best on this book - drawing people mutated into monsters definitely plays to Kirby's strengths. Kirby is the reason to seek these issues out - the story is pedestrian, but that keeps the plot from getting in the way of Kirby's visuals.