On Comixology - Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook

Also on Comixology! Going very cheap! And check out the awesome Sal Buscema cover!

Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook #1

From the Venerable Vaults of Marveldom, it's the Mighty Marvel Handbook -- 1970s style! Just what is the 1970s Handbook, you ask? Imagine a Handbook written at 11:59 PM Dec. 31, 1979. The profiles within cover everything published by the hallowed House of Ideas up until that point. So if it's from a comic that has a December 1979 cover date or earlier, you'll find it in this magnificent mag! Featuring the Avengers, Captain Marvel, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, Power Man, the Punisher and the X-Men as they were in the 1970s, as well as'70s-era characters such as Black Brother, the Deadly Dozen, the Faceless One, Golem, Hellcow, Lady Liberators, Manphibian, Ms. Marvel, Mr. Zodiac, Sons of the Tiger, They Who Wield Power, Xorr the God-Jewel and more!

You can buy it on Comixology here.

Now on Comixology - Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook

These were fun books to put together and Sal Buscema's covers were really neat. And now they're on Comixology!

Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook #1

Here it is, True Believers! You knew we'd do it sooner or later! From the Venerable Vaults of Marveldom, it's the Mighty Marvel Handbook -- 1960s style! Just what is the 1960s Handbook, you ask? Imagine a Handbook written at 11:59 PM Dec. 31, 1969. The profiles within cover everything published by the hallowed House of Ideas up until that point. So if it's from a comic that has a December 1969 cover date or earlier, you'll find it in this magnificent mag! From the Acrobat to Zota -- with the Avengers, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, the Sub-Mariner, Thor and the X-Men as they were in the 1960s, as well as '60s-era characters such as Factor Three, the Beasts of Berlin, Chili, the Infant Terrible, Mogul of the Mystic Mountain, the Painter of 1000 Perils, the Living Brain, Patsy Walker, the Blackie Drago Vulture, the Ringo Kid and more!

You can buy it from Comixology here.

Stan Lee: "It's complicated."

As I indicated when I wrote about Stan Lee's death, there are certain criticisms I have about him, but it didn't seem right to bring them up when his life really does deserve to be celebrated.

Stan Lee's most obvious failing was his knack for putting his name on all kinds of terrible products. As more and more time elapsed, he would put his name on an increasingly-large market of subpar products, not only in comics but in film, television and cologne.

But the aspect of Stan Lee's character which I found problematic was his approach to credits. As I noted before, he did a great thing by standardizing creator credits at Marvel Comics - he frequently would talk up the artists who collaborated with him. Virtually all of his collaborators found him a very fine guy.

The way in Stan wrote comic books was to provide artists with a rough idea of what the plot could be, then he would dialogue the pages as they came in. It became called the "Marvel Method" but it was primarily a means to an end - Stan didn't have the time to type up full plots/scripts. Fortunately, artists like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko & Don Heck didn't require any hand-holding, they could throw together the pages on their own. Kirby in particular would offer suggestions for dialogue and we know from existing samples that Stan would often take Kirby's suggestions.

The problems began as Marvel Comics became famous and the media started approaching Stan. Stan eagerly adopted the role of spokesman for comics, but because journalists didn't understand much about how comics were made, they tended to assume Stan was the person most responsible for the comics - heck, they'd even assume he drew the comics unless expressly told otherwise. What Stan was doing was a collaboration and the media didn't quite get it - and they definitely didn't get how heavily skewed the collaboration was towards the artists' strength.

The problem deepened as Stan would, as he often said, "take any credit that wasn't nailed down." He would shrug off his credit-stealing by blaming his faulty memory, but there was a definite change in how he spoke about his creations over time; in the 1960s, he readily admitted Dr. Strange was 100% Steve Ditko and the Silver Surfer was 100% Jack Kirby - but more and more, he would refer to himself as "the" creator of the Marvel Comics super heroes. It's understandable why he thought this, because the concepts frequently originated in his mind, then he would ask an artist to develop the idea. But those characters did not really exist until the artists visualized Stan's idea and plotted out their adventures.

Detractors of Jack KIrby & Steve Ditko have often pointed to their post-Marvel work as being inferior. I recall several people complaining to me about Kirby's scripting on The Eternals back when I ran an Eternals fan page. But heck, the Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, New Gods, the Question, the Creeper - those characters may not be as good as the 1960s Marvel super heroes, but they're a thousand times better than anything Stan Lee created after 1972.

It's a difficult thing to talk about, even now - the weird alchemy of time and place and of writer and artist (colorist too, for that matter); what makes a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby super-villain instantly memorable and a Stan Lee/Don Heck super-villain instantly forgettable?

Because Stan Lee was such a wonderfully friendly person and because journalists weren't usually educated on how the comics were made, it was difficult to discuss these matters throughout Stan's life. I recall being amazed at Jonathan Ross' documentary In Search of Steve Ditko because Ross actually tried to pin down Stan during an interview - it's the only time I've ever seen footage of Stan Lee with a camera on him and uncomfortable about it.

Some people try to turn these questions into "are you pro-Stan or anti-Kirby" etc. I have no interest in that. I definitely agree they did their best work together, and I likewise adore Lee/Ditko. (Lee/Romita, Lee/Maneely & Lee/Colan were pretty good too) But now that Stan has passed away and I've taken this off my chest, I don't think it will bother me too much... except for all the times in the future where I'll see the phrase "Marvel Universe credited by Stan Lee" and sigh a little. There are so many more creators to talk about. So many.

RIP: Stan Lee

Stan Lee died today. He was 95 years old. My feelings about him are somewhat divided, so today I'm going to celebrate his life; tomorrow, I'll criticize him.

Stan came to work for Marvel Comics in the 1940s as a mere teenager, an office boy hired by his cousin's husband, who just happened to be Martin Goodman, owner of Marvel Comics. With aspirations of being a great author, Stanley Lieber used a variety of pennames when writing comics so as to preserve his real name for his hoped-upon literary career; the penname he used most often was 'Stan Lee.'

From scripting, Stan eventually added editing to his duties. Marvel Comics were an also-ran in the comics industry, never publishing the sort of trend-setting fare such as Fawcett, DC or EC printed, instead chasing whatever new trend their competition had unearthed. Although major talent like Jack Kirby and Harvey Kurtzman passed through Marvel in the 1940s, their defining work was published elsewhere.

Marvel Comics imploded in 1957, going out of business for several months after losing their distributor. Stan was one of the few to keep his office job while Goodman let the others go; when they resumed publishing comics, Stan was left scripting most of what Marvel printed. Fortunately, Marvel was blessed with the work of Jack Kirby, who quickly became Stan's preferred artist. With Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck as his most prolific artists, Stan wrote a variety of science fiction and western comics, favouring stories with giant monsters on Kirby's evocative covers.

When Lee and Kirby launched the super hero comic Fantastic Four in 1961, it was supposed to be yet another instance of Marvel chasing another popular trend - in this instance, the renewed interest in super heroes over at DC. But what Lee & Kirby turned in was different - a super hero soap opera which compelled readers to return month after month to follow the development of the heroes' lives. Unlike the stagnant world of Superman and Batman, the Marvel Comics heroes could change and grow; Spider-Man's initial love interests Liz Allan and Betty Brant were gradually phased out of his love life (yet not the comic) while he developed affections for Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy; the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic and Invisible Girl got married and had a son; wartime hero Nick Fury lost an eye and became a secret agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The stories which Lee scripted were also willing to push boundaries. This had been true of Lee even in the 1950s when he railed against the attempts to regulate the comics industry, but even under the 1960s auspices of the Comics Code Authority, Lee's scripts would confront racism and, eventually, reflect young people's anger at the Vietnam War.

But most importantly, the Marvel Comics of the 1960s were ingratiating; they were welcoming; Lee's caption boxes would often break the fourth wall to joke with the reader. It was a lightning-in-a-bottle situation which was only helped by Marvel's status as the bottom rung of a marginalized artform - he made reading a super hero comic book feel subversive, hip, counter-cultural. His became the "voice" of Marvel Comics, one which other scripters like Roy Thomas would emulate. For once, Marvel Comics had taken the lead; the rest of the industry took years to comprehend what was going on and how to respond. Since then (by and large) Marvel Comics have been the industry's trend-setter for what is popular in super hero comics.

Lee stopped writing comics regularly after 1972 to become president of Marvel Comics after Goodman sold the company (a move Goodman regretted almost instantly). Most of Stan's efforts from then on were focused on widening Marvel Comics' audience, such as shopping them around to television and Hollywood, which did bear fruit in places such as the live action Incredible Hulk television show or the animated TV series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Stan Lee himself would narrate the openings to the latter animated show, which was the first time I took notice of his name; I soon recognized his signature in the masthead of every Marvel comic book I owned. "Stan Lee" was the first comic book creator whose name I knew.

Although Stan returned to write an issue or two of comics here and there from the 70s-00s, he didn't do so on an ongoing basis. His writing presence at Marvel Comics was most keenly felt in his editorials, 'Stan's Soapbox', which would appear in places such as the Marvel Bullpen page and in Marvel Age magazine; at one time, I think I had read more entries of Stan's Soapbox than I had Stan Lee comic books.

Originally a man ashamed to sign his real name to the comic books he wrote, Stan Lee ultimately embraced his new identity, registering 'Stan Lee' as his official name and going before journalists to speak passionately about comic books, making himself the ambassador of comics - largely because when he started talking to the media, no one else was speaking up. Stan Lee became a known name to people who had never read comic books and eventually his cameos in Marvel-branded motion pictures would make his face and voice recognizable around the world.

Perhaps the greatest thing Stan Lee did to comic books was to standardize the credits box; not every comics writer or artist would sign their work (especially writers) and publishers would sometimes wipe their signatures off the page, creating the impression that comics were made by committee, not by people. Stan made the credits box standard and expected within the industry; he even made it fun, peppering the credits box with nicknames for the creators and in-jokes.

What I enjoyed the most about Stan Lee's stories were the jokes he would include to liven up scenes; when he wanted to be dramatic, he went all-in, but the rest of time, he had a lightness of touch, a warm joshing manner in his scripts which was very appealing.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lee.

Here are some blog entries about his work I penned in the past:

I Love Atlas Comics: "Burton's Blood"

Why Do I Like Super Heroes?

Thor: 40 Years of Favourite Moments

Captain America: Recommended Reading List

And this one, which I posted right after Steve Ditko's death earlier this year:

Unearthed: "The Man Who Captured Death"

Angola in the Comics #8: Batman's Aerial View of Angola

By October of 1976 it had been almost a year since Portugal recognized the MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola) as the official governing body over Angola. The two rival revolutionary parties FNLA (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola) & UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola) disputed this and the civil war would continue through 2002. No one in 1976 expected the war would continue for so many years.

Against that backdrop, permit me to share a panel from Batman #283 and the story "Omega Bomb Target: Gotham City" by writer David Vern and artist Ernie Chan, released October of 1976.

This panel taken out-of-context raises many questions. Perhaps first and foremost: why is Batman flying over Angola's airspace? The short answer is: he was headed back to Gotham City from Burundi. But that only raises further questions...

This tale was a three-parter, with #283 being the finale. It began in issue #281 when three Interpol agents were found dead in Gotham. Investigating these deaths led Batman on an international quest, first to Hungary, then Burundi, then back to Gotham, all to foil a terrorist plot to build and detonate an atomic weapon. During his flight from Burundi, Batman was ambushed by two terrorists who had stolen aboard his airplane. After besting them in combat, Batman fastened parachutes to the men and ejected them from his plane. The following panel is the beginning and end of Angola's involvement in the story.

Batman has a code against killing; most super heroes who were published during the Silver Age did, but Batman's code was especially well-known and has been frequently trotted out over the years. After all, if Batman were comfortable with murdering his foes, surely Arkham Asylum wouldn't be such a lousy revolving door facility. Batman's refusal to murder can be seen as part of the character's optimistic spirit - that on some level he believes criminals can be reformed and redeemed (which has happened from time-to-time in his adventures). Therefore, Batman's refusal to claim lives adds complexity to his character; no matter how grim or vengeance-driven he might seem, he has a moral compass and there are lines he will not cross.

So what's going on in this panel?

I cannot claim to hold any experience in skydiving, but it's my understanding that if you're unconscious when you hit the ground, it does not end well for you. Hurling two men from his plane in parachutes seems like a good way to get both men killed, regardless of where in the world they're being dropped off.

But Batman doesn't simply let these men fall into an open field - he drops them into a war zone which neither man has anything to do with. "They'll know how to deal with these two unidentified parachutists," Batman muses to himself. But who is "they"? The government? FNLA? UNITA? The Angolan Civil War was a bitter affair and I have to think that if two foreigners fell from the sky and were - miraculously - still alive, they would be considered enemy agents by whichever of the three armies found them. Perhaps they would be interrogated, placed in confinement and eventually repatriated to their homelands; then again, perhaps they'd be summarily executed.

Batman knows all of this. He is dropping these men into a war zone. And why? Why indeed? We soon discover that Batman's plane is so ridiculously fast that he gets from Angolan airspace back to Gotham in only two hours. If Batman had moved a little slower in his fight with the terrorists, he would have been over the Atlantic Ocean by the time they were defeated. Surely he wouldn't have ejected the unconscious men into the ocean? And if not that fate, then why drop them into the Angolan Civil War?

At this point, Batman has uncovered a major terrorist plot, but he has precious little in the way of evidence. Upon his return to Gotham, he has to convince the authorities that he knows what the plot is about and how to stop the bomb. Considering that, why not simply tie up his opponents and present them to the authorities as proof of the terrorist plot and potentially useful subjects for interrogation by the law?

The only conclusion I can come to about Batman dropping these men over Angola is this: he's lazy. Perhaps he isn't being cold-blooded, but simply... lackadaisical. He can't be bothered to do the work of keeping his prisoners tied up and transferring them to the authorities, so for expediency's sake he throws them out of his plane. Dead on impact? Executed on sight? Incarcerated for the duration of the war? None of those options would bother Batman if his only true concern was the most convenient course of action.

I don't know why Batman did this, but I don't think he's lazy, a killer, or someone who places others into situations where they would be killed (jokes about Robin's bright red chest aside). I can only conclude: Batman is not callous about human life -- but comic book creators are.

Angola on the Radio #1: Tarzan "Across a Continent"

From time to time I feature "Angola in the Comics" on this blog and I've long wished to continue that trend by spotlight occasions where Angola appeared as the setting for an old-time radio program. However, I couldn't find any instances... until now.

I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising that the series in question is Tarzan. (I last blogged about Tarzan in Angola here) There weren't too many jungle adventure programs on the radio and although Tarzan had a program in the 1930s, he sat out the 1940s. Finally, in the early 1950s Tarzan returned to radio as a half-hour syndicated adventure program starring Lamont Johnson and that's where I've drawn my example from.

The episode is called "Across a Continent" (March 15, 1951). The story opens in Bechurata, which appears to be somewhere on the east coast. Tarzan looks up a governmental agriculture officer, one Erik von Horn (the Germanic name suggesting the setting is in a former German colony). Tarzan takes an interest in Gabrielle, a singer at Von Horn's nightclub (she sings in French, somewhat complicating clues about the locale).

After discovering Von Horn is a criminal, Tarzan goes on the run and takes Gabrielle with him. Gabrielle claims to have friends in Luanda who will take care of her. Tarzan points out Angola is on the opposite side of the continent, but being a gallant hero he agrees to lead her there. As they travel Tarzan begins to fall in love with Gabrielle (no idea where Jane is supposed to be on this radio series), but just as they're nearing Angola, Gabrielle is arrested by a team of international policemen for diamond smuggling.

It's not a bad use of Angola - I get the sense the writer had at least cracked a book open before writing it. Near the end Gabrielle and Tarzan are inside a cavern and declare Angola is "just over this ridge," Tarzan estimating themselves to be about a mile from the country. This is one of the few 'jungle adventure' stories I've heard which really has a sense of Africa as a continent instead of a vague/vast jungle.

It's a bit distracting that von Horn's top aide is played by the guy who did advertisement for Kellogg's Corn Pops on radio's Wild Bill Hickok. It's hard to accept him as menacing when any moment I expect him to extoll the virtues of Sugar Corn Pops to Tarzan.

You hear "Across a Continent" for yourself at archive.org. You can even buy the 1950s Tarzan series from Radio Spirits if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket.

Marvel Atlas #1-2 on Comixology!

I headed up the Marvel Atlas in 2007, four years before I became a real international traveller. I would certainly have done a better job had I not written the book until after seeing more of the world, but this was the effort we made at the time to establish how Marvel's version of the Earth fits together. And now, Comixology is selling them for $1.99 per issue!

Walk through Marvel's Earth with the first-ever official atlas! In the first half of this indispensable guide, travel through Europe, Asia and the Pacific with digestible in-depth features including: the splendor of Dr. Doom's Latveria! The wonders of Muir Island! The glory of Silver Sable's homeland Symkaria! The urban squalor of Madripoor! The underwater marvels of Lemuria! From the shores of Ireland to the ocean's very depths, it's all mapped out for you courtesy of handbook legend Eliot R. Brown!

You can buy issue #1 here and issue #2 here!