Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!!: Marvelman

Showing posts with label Marvelman. Show all posts

Saturday, May 18, 2013

New Contest: Two Words, Ten Letters, 2015

On Formspring, Tom Brevoort spilled a bean or two about Marvel's future plans:

If all goes as planned, our big storyline for 2015 will have a title that’s two words long, ten letters in total.

Well, then, game on. Two words. Ten letters. Go!

I, Marvelman

It might take that long to actually clear up the rights tangle.

But it's a great name for a series, right?

Of course, the question then becomes, how exactly does Marvelman fit into the Marvel Universe? Does Doctor Gargunza know Dr. Doom? Does Mike Moran work at the Daily Bugle? Or would this just turn into another Sentry-level clusterfrak?

Darth Vader

By 2015 Disney will have given the Star Wars comic(s) to Marvel. And why not be ambitious about it? An Exiles team leaps into the Star Wars universe, and inadvertently brings Vader back to 616. Ah, the ensuing havoc. Especially when it turns out that The Force is...

Hey, it makes more sense than having Norman Osborn run things during Dark Reign...

Malibu Wars

Marvel will finally resolve whatever the pesky contractual problems are, and revive the Malibu Universe, and integrate it into Marvel-616. Black September II, dawg!!

ROM Revived

Speaking of intractable rights problems...

Well, it's late, that's all I've got. Your turn now.

Big storyline. Two words. Ten letters. GO!!!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

If Twitter Had Existed In 1982

*Why don't Moore & Leach invest their energy in something original, find the "next Marvelman" instead?

*You gotta admit, a relaunch of a 20 year old strip steeped in 50s imagery is really relevant today, and a great way to bring in new readers. Not.

*This "relaunch" of Marvelman is the most cynical money-making exercise I have seen in a while.

*No matter how good the creators on this new Marvelman is, I won't buy it, out of respect for the original

*They're changing his name to Miracleman? They've destroyed my childhood!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Well, It Makes As Much Sense As "3X2(9YZ)4A"

Emil Gargunza's cousin (henceforth known as Young Gargunza) has captured Dickie Dauntless and hooked him up to a brain-scanner:

Bold plan. But while Young Gargunza is off running errands, Dauntless escapes, and as Young Marvelman, comes up with a clever scheme to thwart the evil scientist:

So Young Gargunza, unsuspecting, proceeds to deduce Young Marvelman's "magic word" from the wrong brainscan:

Really? That's kind of...long and complex, isn't it?

Anyway, Young Gargunza tries it, and...

Sadly, it turns out not to be a super-powered chimpanzee:

Fortunately, there is a cure (surprisingly enough, it's NOT just saying the same phrase again):

OOJAH CAPIVVY??? Really????

Man, these books are nuts. Gotta love 'em!

SPOILER ALERT: The formula doesn't work. Believe me, I've tried. Still, if you want to turn yourself into a big monkey, try saying "Abracadabra-πr²÷H2O Eeny-Meeny Miny-Mo Hey Presto-Stop-Go Hackwacky" aloud as often as you can today. There are worse ways to spend a Tuesday...

From Young Marvelman #100 (1955), as reprinted in Marvelman Family's Finest #4 (2010).

Monday, October 18, 2010

Manic Monday--The Truth About Atlantis

Folks, here at Slay Monstrobot, we're all about improving the classical education you all are so sorely lacking in.

Earlier this year, I used time-traveler Flip Falcon to repair many of our misconceptions about Amazons. Today, the Marvelman Family is going to help us understand the truth about Atlantis.

For reasons that we really shouldn't dwell upon, Marvelman, Young Marvelman, and Kid Marvelman have traveled back in time to uncover the truth of the Atlantis legend:

Hmmm....well, where can it be?

Well, yes, that's true, but...

Now wait a minute!! Just because a legend has become "distorted" over the centuries doesn't mean that the actual truth is the 180-degree polar opposite of the legend!!

Oh, wait, yes it does:

Tanatlis? Really?

Well, that's conclusive--legends are just Bizarro versions of the truth!! As Marvelman pounds into our head again at the end:

Hey, wait--how did they know that Atlantis didn't sink??

Ahhhh....Atlantis=Australia. Well, they both start with A, so...

So, Micky Moran, can you pound home the moral one more time, please??

Thanks, Micky.

The Marvelman Family's expertise in folklore/mythology came in handy in Marvelman Family #10 (1957), as reprinted in Marvelman Family's Finest #4 (2010).

Would you like to know how many times I typed "Miracleman" instead of "Marvelman?" Every. Damn. Time. Grrr.....

Monday, September 13, 2010

Manic Monday--Size Matters

On Saturday we dealt--or rather didn't deal with--a sensitive issue in the difference between Kryptonian physiology and that of humans.

Well, it's time to look at the British perspective on such matters, albeit obliquely.

We start when 2 farmers are having a violent quarrel over who can grow the largest marrows (that's a type of squash):

They continue to battle, and the innuendo flies:

Sadly, Marvelman breaks up their fight. But somewhere far away, someone is pretty cheesed off by all the ruckus:

WHAAAATTTTT?!?!?!

You know, the more Marvelman reprints I read, the more I'm convinced that "Mick Anglo" is really Bob Burden with a time machine...

Anyway, the Marvelman Family routs the vegetable army...

But then the stupid farmers start squabbling again over the size of their "marrows."

Well, Marvelman solves the crisis as only Marvelman can. Because, as Otter said to Dean Wormer's wife...

"Mine's bigger!"

Wow.

All I'm saying is, there must have been some serious drugs floating around England in the 1950s...and some seriously giant marrows.

Bob Burden wishes he could make his Flaming Carrot stories were 1/20th as bizarre as "Marvelman Family And The Giant Marrow" from Marvelman Family #3 (1957), as reprinted in Marvelman Family's Finest #1 (2010).

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Why Wendell Vaughn Changed His Name To Quasar

Back in the day, rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Wendell Vaughn was given the quantum bands and uniform of the person everybody thought was the deceased 1950's hero Marvel Boy (it wasn't, he was The Crusader, an insane and surgically altered Uranian Eternal...sigh, retcons make everything so confusing...). He took the name Marvel Boy, and, since he was an actual grown-up, soon changed it to Marvel Man.

So why did he change it? Well, it started when the Hulk knocked him for a loop...

And he landed on his hinder several miles away...

...and the reception he got was...somewhat lacking:

That's right...people loitering in front of a comic book shop thought Marvel Man was a dopey name...even the hot chicks laughed at him. And if you're dissed by comics fans AND hot chicks, well, a new nom de guerre is called for.

So he promptly changed his name to Quasar. And that's why, to this day, even copyright conscious Marvel never has and never will publish a character with a dopey name like Marvel Man. It would just be too silly!!

Uhh...never mind.

Roger Stern, Sal Buscema and Chic Stone editorialize on superhero names in Incredible Hulk #233 (1979).

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Past Is Prologue

Guess who's back?

I guess you can't keep a good Robot Fighter down for long. And one suspects Jim Shooter is extending a huge middle finger at DC right now.

This raises another question, though. A lot of the comic book companies these days are spending mucho dinero and investing much effort to resurrect past superheroic creations: Marvel gloms Marvelman and brings back public domain golden agers; the DC Borg Collective assimilates the Milestone, Red Circle and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent universes; Dynamite resurrects 175,000 public domain Golden Agers; and now Dark Horse brings back the Gold Key portion of the Valiant line. Heck, I'm now have expecting someone to announce a Warriors of Plasm revival next week...

The question is, why the recent groundswell of reviving old, derelict properties? A attempt to make bucks based on rampant nostalgia for franchises many fans don't even remember? A tacit admission of a lack of creative imagination, a sub rosa confession that the companies really can't come up with any new properties of their own anymore? An attempt to make sure that when Hollywood studios come around with their fat option checks, they'll have something "new" to sell them?

I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing (although I predict dismal, flaming failure followed by a thorough under-the-carpet sweeping for DC's attempts to integrate 3 disparate continuities into their recently re-convoluted universe). I'm just curious about the trend, that's all.

Meanwhile, welcome back, Magnus. May you fight many robots, you magnificent bastard.