Random Longbox

TITLE: Doctor Strange #2

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: August 1974

COVER PRICE: $0.25

18 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I love me some good Doctor Strange. Unfortunately, for as long as he's been around there's been a lot more chaff than wheat. Luckily for us, that Randomizer gave us a heaping helping of the good stuff. This was Doctor Strange's first self-titled series, and the first couple of dozen issues are some of my favorites.

The icing on the cake? The first half a dozen of those featured some truly epic art by Frank Brunner. There are three people that tackled the good doctor, that in my opinion are the holy trinity of Doctor Strange artists. Steve Ditko set the stage for Doc and his world in the Silver Age. Frank Brunner then came on and amped things up for the Bronze Age. And for the Modern Age, it doesn't get any better than Jackson Guice. That right there is about all you need as far as Doctor Strange is concerned.

The best of the crop from the 70's run are the issues that verged on the trippy. This issue falls squarely in that category as Doc is trapped in the Orb of Agamotto, fighting for his astral life while his body lies mortally wounded in the real world. The main protagonist for this particular story is the less than threatening Silver Dagger, but he's sidelined for the most part, as Strange desperately searches for a way out of the Orb.

Let's not waste any more time talking about it, and read it already...

A Separate Reality

• Co-Plotters: Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner
• Author: Steve Englehart
• Artist: Frank Brunner
• Inker: Dick Giordano
• Colorist: Frank Brunner
• Lettering: John Costanza
• Editor: Roy Thomas

And for those of you coming in late to the party, here's a recap of what happened last issue, right on page one.

So maybe the Silver Dagger stabbed him in the back instead of beheading him, but the dramatization is for the benefit of Clea who was taken prisoner by Silver Dagger last issue. It's his hope that seeing her beloved mistreated in this fashion, will break her spirit. Clea may be new to the realm of sorcery, but she's no dummy. She knows that if anyone can defeat the Silver Dagger, it's Doctor Strange.

Speaking of Doctor Strange, let's check in with him within the realm of the Orb of Agamotto.

Yikes...a winged, soul sucking space worm! Good thing Clea can't see this, as her confidence in Stephen would be sorely tested as his soul gets sucked up and swallowed whole.

What she doesn't know, is that Doc is about to get some help from some unlikely allies. First among them? The Silver Surfer.

So while the Surfer thinks he has arrived too late to save another victim of the Soul-Eater, what he doesn't realize is that the victim was Doctor Strange. Even without a mortal body, he is far from defenseless. Attacking the central nervous system of the creature, he manages to get himself vomited back to what passes for reality inside the orb.

Curiously, the Surfer does not recognize Doctor Strange. Since they've been team mates for the last two years, that can only mean that the Orb is pulling images from Doc's mind and making them manifest in its realm to interact with him. Their first task? Find his body, which has decided to go on a bit of a walkabout after having the soul sucked from it by the Soul Eater.

Following it's rambling footprints, they trail the mortal shell to a strange castle. What's even stranger is what they find inside the castle.

All right all you heroes, it's time to get crazy drunk on some off the Hulk's tea. And you don't turn down a cup of Hulk's tea, as that would make him angry...and you wouldn't like him very much when he's angry.

Reunited with his body, Doctor Strange is willing to throw caution to the wind and not only refuse Hulk's tea, but decides to leave the party early as well. Bad move, Doc.

Doctor Strange manages a spell or two of obfuscation that has the Defenders attacking phantom versions of himself. That leaves them wide open for a whammy of a spell that knocks 'em all unconscious, right as the Soul-Eater returns.

Luckily for Doctor Strange, not all of orb-created manifestations were quite as reactionary. With the help of the Silver Surfer and Valkyrie, they deduce that the Soul-Eater will keep on coming as Doc is the only one in the orb with an actual soul. To save himself, he must confront death itself at the center of the orb. Only then will he be able to free himself and return to the mortal world to save his beloved Clea.

With Valkyrie's winged horse as his guide, Doctor Strange closes out the issue heading right for the center of the Orb of Agamotto...sure of himself, and his actions, for the first time in a long time.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

First and foremost, never turn down tea with the Hulk. If he doesn't get his regular dose of caffeine, look out!

Do you think he favors green tea or gray? I guess it depends on what his skin color at the time is. Do they have red tea?

Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner craft a well done tale, putting Doctor Strange through a series of challenges where he must use his mind in a world where the reality is a warped version of his memories. It allows just the right amount of trippyness, while giving him plenty of foes to battle, both familiar and bizarre.

I always love a good Doctor Strange story where he's essentially fighting himself, or manifestations pulled from his consciousness or powers, and this one doesn't disappoint. The use of the Defenders as visualizations of the superhero world as seen through the twisted lens of the Orb is the perfect meta-commentary on the team itself. Strange, bizarre, and seemingly thrown together at random with nothing but a vague sense of camaraderie (or Hulk's tea) holding them together.

Frank Brunner's artwork is just as good as I remember, truly shining when he gets to let loose with dimensions and perspective inside the surreal world of the Orb. It's a shame that we only got five or six issues with him on the art, but it's a testament to his talent that they loom so large in my memory.

All in all, this was a heckuva book and definitely one of the highlights of the Bronze Age. I only wish that they could capture this sense of what makes a good Doctor Strange story and apply it to today's Doctor Strange.

TITLE: Fantastic Four #347

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: December 1990

COVER PRICE: $1.00

23 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

There's two things that I remember about this issue. One of them, it turns out, I've remembered incorrectly.

I'd always assumed that this issue was the start of Walter Simonson's run on Fantastic Four. I'd read a little bit of the Fantastic Four here and there, but never followed it with any sort of regularity. This issue was the start of me buying this title on a monthly basis, and I guess I always attributed that fact to jumping on at the beginning of Simonson's run, but it turns out that he started his tenure on this title back on issue #334!

As much as I hate to admit it, I guess I jumped on with this issue because it had Wolverine and Ghost Rider in it. Don't judge me...it was the early 90's and I was a naive comic book reader.

Luckily for me this was an awesome issue in the middle of an awesome run. Which leads me to the second thing I remember about this issue, which was that it turned me into a Fantastic Four fan. To put it more correctly, I guess I should say it turned me into a frustrated fan as Simonson would be off the title only eight months later.

To me, Simonson set the bar incredibly high with his run. Yes, It was wacky, goofy, and tongue in cheek; but most of all it was intelligent and incredibly entertaining at the same time. Not many other creators have managed to achieve that balance, which is why my collecting history with the title is full of holes.

The closest we probably got was with Waid and Wieringo's tenure earlier in the decade, which unfortunately had it's consistency marred by some overactive editorialial influence. John Byrne had a highly entertaining run, but I don't know how intelligent it actually was, while Hickman's run currently is striving for intelligent, but leaving the fun behind. I've never read any of Stan and Jack's original run (I know, I know...I'll get around to it someday), but I can only assume that it hit the mark seeing as how they were the ones that defined the target.

To me, Walter Simonson's short run is the apex of greatness, and the fact that there are twelve more issues that I never knew existed before today have me chomping at the bit to go do some longbox shopping tomorrow. In the meantime, however, we'll tide ourselves over rereading this issue.

Big Trouble On Little Earth!

• Writing: Walter Simonson
• Penciling: Arthur Adams
• Inking: Art Thibert
• Lettering: Bill Oakley
• Coloring: Steve Buccellato
• Editing: Ralph Macchio
• Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

This issue begins in space, as the silence between the Earth and the Moon is broken by the arrival of a damaged ship that emerges from lightspeed, only to crash land on Earth.

The attractive female pilot (hey, she's drawn by Art Adams...she's gonna be pretty) escapes with her life, swearing vengeance on those that betrayed her and marooned her on Earth.

We'll find out exactly who (and what) she is in a bit, but first let's check in with the Fantastic Four at Four Freedoms Plaza who are enjoying some down time after being away for the last couple of weeks. Like any typical family, however, there's some dysfunction hiding in the background.

Johnny seems to be infatuated with an alien woman that they met a few issues back, even though he's married to Alicia Masters. Johnny Storm married...I had forgotten all about that.

A human Ben Grimm seeks to console his girlfriend, Sharon Ventura, who is currently She-Thing and trapped in her rocky form. She-Thing...I had forgotten all about that.

That right there is the sign of a good writer. You got two things that by all rights should hamper your ability to tell a good Fantastic Four story, and he makes 'em work. So much so, that I had completely forgotten that they were even an issue.

Seeking to take advantage of everyone's distracted attentionzs, our mysterious crash survivor arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza. Using her ability to change shape and her telepathy, she easily slips inside and begins to take the FF down one by one.

Changing her from into Nebula, Johnny's blue-skinned alien infatuation from earlier, she appears before him and gets close enough to shock him into unconsciousness with a hand held taser device.

Similarly, she does the same thing to Ben. Only this time appearing as Johnny's wife, Alicia Masters, his old flame who fell in love with Johnny when Ben was off-world. He obviously still has feelings for her, as the shapechanger is able to take advantage of that to get close enough to use the same device on Ben.

...and we all know the conflicted feelings that Sue has always had for Namor.

Second verse, same as the first...and down goes Sue to the shapechanger.

After drugging She-Thing with a knock-out brew of tea, the mysterious alien sets her sights on Reed. It turns out that the alien actually has a little crush on Reed, and takes the form of his wife to seduce him into unconsciousness.

Unfortunately for her, Reed is too quick and notices her deception and manages to bend his body away from her taser at the last second. As perceptive as he is, however, he's never been that good of a hand-to-hand fighter and he soon finds himself unconscious with the rest of the Fantastic Four before he can alert the Avengers.

Meanwhile, we find out exactly who the mysterious alien attacker was running from as a Skrull warship enters Earth orbit, hot on her trail.

Scanning the planet for De'Lila, they soon find a plethora of Skrull-like lifeforms centered on a small island in the pacific. Cloaking their ship, they head to the island to investigate. Unfortunately for them, that small island is none other than Monster Island, which they find out the hard way.

It turns out that the monsters of Monster Island all have a primitive Skrull like brain, which was the source of the Skrull life readings. The Skrull in charge seems less concerned about why that is, than with using that fact to his advantage to smoke out De'Lila from hiding. Using neural disruptor darts, they tag each monster and teleport it to various cities around the globe. Using the disruptors to increase the ferocity of the monsters, they hope to drive up the mental stress planet-wide and flush her out.

Little do they know, there's a monarch of Monster Isle...and he's none to happy about the current turn of events.

Still in the form of Sue, De'Lila uses the FF's computers to familiarize herself with Earth's superheroes. Reed's files are complete enough that they allow her to pick and choose among them a group of recruits with which she hopes to achieve her destiny. Using her telepathy she sends a mental summoning out to the four heroes who soon arrive at the door of Four Freedoms Plaza.

The Grey Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider are soon brought in to see "Sue", who tells them the tragic (and altogether false) tale of how she returned home to find her home in ruins and the rest of the Fantasic Four dead or dying. Using one of her husband's inventions, she called to each of them to come to her aid to help avenge the recently deceased members of the Fantastic Four.

By now, the "new" members of the Fantastic Four have fallen for De'Lila's story and agree to help her find the monsters that did this. Playing right into her hand, she arms them with another of Reed's gadgets that will allow them to track down the energy signature of the attackers. Little do they know, the attackers they're being sent to hunt down are the Skrulls that are hunting De'Lila.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

This comic was as fun, if not more, than I remember. Maybe it's the fact that there is so little new Marvel that I find readable for three bucks anymore, that I'm starting to get nostalgic for the characters that I grew up with.

Or maybe it's the fact that it's been so long since I enjoyed a good Fantastic Four book, that this issue seems to shine a little brighter. Hell, it's been even longer since I've enjoyed a Wolverine book, that his brief appearance here actually made me miss the old canuck.

Whether it was any of those reasons, or an amalgam of others, this book just pleased me to no end. Even though the Fantastic Four get punked out relatively early in the book, it's got alot of the earmarks that make a great story...Skrulls, Monster Isle, crazy inventions, family drama, space travel, etc...

And speaking of the Skrulls...they're an antagonist I like best when they are played for laughs. They've never been the most dangerous of foes in the FF rogue's gallery, but they are entertaining none the less. The over-the-top inclusion of some of the 90's most overused guest stars let you know right away that this is going to be a fun issue. So with the Skrulls and Mole Man as the villains, we have the perfect blend of absurdity and comedy with which to have a little fun at their own expense.

This is the first part of a three parter, so unfortunately we have to spend most of our time setting things up. Luckily for us, we have Art Adams supplying the pencils for this issue, so even the dialogue heavy pages are fun to look at.

One thing that is distracting about the art, is that the combination of the paper quality and the coloring tended to give this book an over-saturated look on the page. I'd love to see this book recolored using today's technology, as I'm sure it would give Art Adams' beautiful pencils even more attention.

Now we just have to wait for the Randomizer to pick another book from this run, so that we can continue on with one of the best runs from the 90's. In the meantime, I'll be happily looking through some back-issue bins for the issues that I missed.

Holy crap! Simonson had Kang show up during his run?! How the heck did I miss that? Now I'm definitely hitting the comic book store tomorrow.

TITLE: The Defenders #51

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: September 1977

COVER PRICE: $0.30

17 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

So up until a few years ago, I only ever owned one Defenders book. It was #152, which was the last issue of the original series, as well as a Secret Wars II tie-in. I'm pretty sure I bought it because I bought every other Secret Wars II tie-in as well. I can't remember too much about it, and that's the way it stayed for a long time.

There's always been something about The Defenders though, that kind of intrigued me. The idea of a "non-team" of super-heroes seemed like something that, if it was done well, would be really entertaining to read. Unfortunately, everything I had heard was not very encouraging.

So fast forward about twenty years and my brother-in-law informs me that he has come into possession of a comic book collection from the late 70's/early 80's that was given to him by a family friend. Being the resident "comic book guy" of the family, I volunteered to see what he had, and get the collection in order so that his son could have a nice-sized collection. He offered to let me have whatever I wanted from these as well.

All in all, it was a nice little collection of about 1000 books ranging from 1975 all the way up to 1995. Alot of this collection was stuff I already had, so my nephew got a pretty decent collection of books including some Claremont/Byrne X-Men and some McFarlane Spider-Man.

There were a couple of runs that I did end up keeping for myself that allowed me to finish off my Byrne Fantastic Four run and 50 or so issues of The Defenders. My curiosity was finally going to be sated, as far as the The Defenders were concerned.

So what was the verdict? Where they any good? Let's find out...

A Round With The Ringer!

• Writer: David Kraft
• Penciller: Keith Giffen
• Inker: Klaus Janson
• Letterer: Bruce Patterson
• Colorist: Phil Rache
• Editor: Archie Goodwin

The story begins with an epilogue of sorts from the previous storyline featuring a battle against Scorpio. Joining the Defenders on this adventure were Nick Fury and Moon Knight, who are still around as S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up the pieces from the epic battle.

This is a style of storytelling we just don't see anymore. With most books these days being written with the trade paperback collections in mind, it would just be too difficult to work out how to package this epilogue to the previous four issues, and not butcher the next volume.

It does date the book slightly, but I always enjoyed this technique. It makes the title seem more serial in nature, and not just a random collection of 6 issue adventures.

It's during this epilogue that we are reminded that Nick Fury's brother was killed. Whether or not his brother was Scorpio, I couldn't tell from the dialogue. He does seem to be at peace, however, just knowing the final fate of his missing brother.

We also see Moon Knight and Nighthawk palling it up and remarking about how well they fought together, with Moon Knight recapping how he managed to escape certain death with the help of a beer can (see the previous post here for more details).

Everyone soon goes their separate ways, and it's a rather uneventful couple of weeks in the life of the Defenders before we pick up their story again. Kyle Richmond and Barbara Norris (a.k.a. Nighthawk and Valkyrie) are riding in his limo as he is escorting her Empire State University, where he has convinced her to enroll for classes.

Here, Valkyrie encounters a villain more dastardly than any the Defenders have previously fought...the bureaucracy of college admissions. After a full day of standing in the wrong lines, filling out the wrong forms, and missing most of the classes that she wants, her day comes to a close with her application forms being ripped up in front of her. She leaves, vowing to get Kyle for getting her into this, but not before splitting the administrators desk in two with her bare hands.

So that was what the Valkyrie was up to. Let's check in with Nighthawk to see what sort of villainy he is now thrown up against. Arriving at the Manhattan offices of Richmond Enterprises, he finds that it is surrounded by S.W.A.T. teams who are trying to capture a small time villain known as The Ringer.

Without a moment's hesitation, Kyle changes to Nighthawk and bursts into the building to stop the Ringer. Unfortunately, it doesn't go to well for him as the Ringer uses his Rapid-Fire Wrist Rings to snare and constrict Nighthawk, crushing his jet pack.

Nighthawk does manage to get a couple of good shots in, using his damaged jet pack as a projectile, but the relentless barrage of rings is just too much. Reeling in pain and momentarily unable to stop him, the Ringer collects his loot and begins to make his escape.

While Nighthawk attempts to recover in time to stop the Ringer, let's check in with the next member of the Defenders to see how she is coping with the rather hum-drum villainy of ordinary, everyday life.

And apparently it's not going well for Hellcat, who has lost a momentous battle with the coffee pot.

Will this torture never end for our heroes?

Back in the thick of battle, Nighthawk has recovered enough to catch up to the Ringer and cut short his escape. The Ringer continually calls out Nighthawk as a hypocrite for indulging in violence and hero worship, all the while doing it to protect somebody else's money. Little does he know that the man he fights is actually the owner of Richmond Enterprises himself!

A game of cat and mouse ensues within the massive office building, with the Ringer's head games keeping Nighthawk off balance. Again, it looks like our hero is going to be trapped by the wily wrist bands of the Ringer, when fate smiles upon him. Not anticipating to meet any superpowered resistance, he didn't pack enough wrist ring and has now run out. Eager to put a stop to this battle, Nighthawk delivers a swift kick to the jaw of the Ringer.

We'll leave the final fate of the Ringer for a few pages, as we catch back up with Hellcat. She was distracted from seeking revenge on the coffee machine as Valkyrie's estranged husband, Jack Norriss, has arrived at the team headquarters. They take a walk and attempt to work out their feelings for each other, and Valkyrie.

Which finally brings us to the last member of the Defenders that we haven't seen engaged against uncanny villainy from the most mundane of sources. That's right...it's the Hulk!

And who is he pitched in fierce battle with?

A hot dog street vendor, who else. But seeing as how this is the Hulk we're talking about, it's a rather one-sided battle.

Back at Richmond Enterprises for the last time, we catch up with the Ringer as he jumps through a window trying to escape Nighthawk.

Nighthawk picks up the Ringers discarded ring chain and ensnares him as he bursts through the window. A few witty rejoinders about the true nature of jealousy and hypocrisy later, and the Ringer is down for the count.

The issue ends with a rather bizarre scene where we find Valkyrie still on campus, trying to regather her wits at a local coffee bar. She is soon hit upon by a couple of people who I get the impression I should know, but I am drawing a blank. They go by the names of Dollar Bill and Ledge, and they are soon escorting her to the movies.

To make this sequence even stranger, the are being followed in the shadows by a man with a lead pipe who has just assaulted a fellow pedestrian for littering. It's definitely tough living in a world full of vigilante justice.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I think I caught the Defenders on an off day, as they seemed to have had no end of problems dealing with the most mundane of ordinary problems and the D-Listiest of D-List superheroes. I get the impression from the epilogue at the beginning that they'd rather be fighting super-villains attempting world domination than stand in line at the D.M.V.

Seriously though, this issue was a blast. I can definitely see how a cult following has built up for this title over the years. It's fun and goofy, while at the same time hitting on some big time themes of loss, responsibility, honor, duty, inequality, and social justice.

Although what exactly the Hulk was trying to teach us by stealing hot dogs, I can't quite figure out. I guess every group needs it's Kramer.

The other thing I absolutely loved about this issue was the artwork from Keith Giffen and Klaus Janson. I've long admired Janson as an inker, but haven't had too much exposure to Giffen as a penciller. Together, I think they make a fantastic team. It's got a great Kirby sensibility to it, without trying to be an outright clone of his style. The storytelling was top notch, and the facial expressions and acting worked perfectly with a touch of humor that balanced everything out.

All in all, this issue was a real winner and definitely one of my favorites that I've reviewed on this blog so far. Unfortunately, most of the 50 issues that I picked up from my brother-in-law are not from this era, but from the early-to-mid 80's. That just means that I have another excuse to go longbox diving and find at least the rest of the Keith Giffen issues of this title, but I can also see myself not stopping with just those.

Welcome aboard for a special Thursday edition of Comic Book Days of Wednesdays Past! Or maybe it's just the Earth-3 version, where everything happens on a Thursday because they are inherently evil.

While we're waiting for my new evil-version goatee to grow in, let's let the randomizer run rampant and pick a couple of random years to see what the kids were reading back then.

First up out of the gate is the year 1999! Oooohhhh, December 1999...was anyone even reading comics back then? Weren't we all stockpiling water and canned goods in our basements, waiting for the computers to take over the world?

Wow, things were worse than I thought. Dogs were lying down with cats! The Y2K apocalypse nigh upon us! The Fantastic Five?!

I'm usually all over alternate histories, diverging futures, and goatee'd doppelgangers, but for some reason I never jumped on board this particular one. Oh well, carry on...

The randomizer has spoken again, and this time we're going back to 1992!

Yep, 1992. A year so extreme, that even the Hulk needed a gun.

Kidding, I kid the Hulk...especially when he's firing a machine gun pistol at you! And is that another, even larger gun in his other hand?

While I start backing out of the room really slowly, let's see what the next random book that we're actually going to review is...

...and that book is The Defenders #51 from September 1977, published by Marvel Comics!

Just the other day, I was looking over the list of issues reviewed on this site and noticed a severe lack of attention paid to the Hulk. The Randomizer must have been reading my mind, as he's now popped up twice on this post alone. Maybe that's why the Hulk was so mad earlier.

I'm looking forward to this one, as probably about 90% off all Hulk issues I've ever read have been written by Peter David. In fact, I don't think I've ever even read a Hulk book from the 70's before. So while this isn't an actual Hulk issue, hopefully it'll be good enough to scratch that gamma-ray irradiated itch. See you in a day or two for the review.