Daily Scans
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Daily Scans" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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08:05 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
Giant-Man cracks me up
I seriously doubt if Stan Lee put all that much that into the dialogue back then, as he was batting out scripts as fast as he could type and he was working with whatever wild unexpected plot twists Jack Kirby handed in ("Black Bolt? I told Jack that this issue was going to guest-star the Silver Surfer! Oh, well..."). But it's interesting how Henry Pym was consistently shown as someone in over his head when dealing with other super-heroes. He was so outmatched in sheer strength or fighting ability that it wasn't even funny. Yet, right from the start even as Ant-Man, he took it for granted that his seat at the pantheon of godlike beings was secure.(In a way, he reminds of the original Atom. Al Pratt was just a short, tough-guy brawler but he sat down opposite the likes of the Spectre or Dr Fate with complete confidence he was their peer.)
Take this panel from THE AVENGERS# 2, where the Space Phantom has got the Avengers fighting each other. Giant-Man runs up and seperates a brawling Iron Man and Hulk. Now, in the real world, someone who could disregard the cube-square law and function at a twelve-foot height, would be incredibly awesome. He could pick NBA players up and throw them to one side while dropping the basketball into the hoop from above. Yet, in the world of super-heroes, Giant-Man is messing with two guys who could each tear him apart without trouble. (In fact, later in the same issue, the Hulk mentions that he's "stronger than a dozen Giant-Men.)
Tags: creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age
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04:38 pm
[cyberghostface]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/9717794/376381) [Link] |
Does Stan Lee's daily Spider-Man comic follow the movie continuity?
Tags: char: sandman/flint marko/william baker, char: spider-man/peter parker, char: venom/anti-venom/eddie brock, creator: stan lee
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10:22 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
So, what really happened when Dr Doom stole the Silver Surfer's power?
The original story was one of the highpoints of the Silver Age, FANTASTIC FOUR# 57. It provided most of the plot for the second Fantastic Four movie, as well. But it was not until NOT BRAND ECCH# 1 in 1967 that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby let us in on the real events behind the legends.
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Worth checking at the higher size for the surfing cross medallion, the book BUTTERFLIES I HAVE LOVED and more.
Tags: char: dr. doom/victor von doom, char: silver surfer/norrin radd, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age
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11:30 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
Jack Kirby's favorite sci-fi flick?
This first page is from THE FANTASTIC FOUR# 7, October 1962, the second from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY# 101, February 1964. Let's see... the elements include a flying saucer from outer space landing, a strange occupant emerging, TWO giant robots appearing and one of them slowly opening its glowing eyes to shoot a disintegrative beam. Holy smoke. Did Jack Kirby really like THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL or what? (I didn't excavate another book, but in the first issue of THE X-MEN in 1963, Cyclops first displays his power by slowly raising his visor to reveal two glowing spots which suddenly shoot out an overwhelming force. I've always figured much of the inspiration for Cyclops came from Gort.
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And if this has brought back memories of the movie with Klaatu and Gort, here are some thoughts on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.
Tags: char: thor, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age, group: fantastic four
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09:30 am
[skjam]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7373300/377354) [Link] |
Karakuri Douji Ultimo
This one is a bit tricky--while my scans are from the Japanese version which appeared in the July 2009 issue of Jump Square, the English version appeared in Shonen Jump USA just this month. So I'm going to treat it as a "recent" comic and confine myself to four scans.
As you may remember from the preview chapter of Ultimo shown on this community some time ago, "Karakuri Douji Ultimo" starts with the mad technomage Dr. Dunstan (who looks a lot like Stan Lee) creating two essentially magical robots. They are Ultimo, who is pure good, and Vice, which is pure evil. They are to battle it out to once and for all prove whether good or evil is stronger.
Current Location: About to leave town
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: computer hum
Tags: creator: hiroyuki takei, creator: stan lee, medium: manga, title: karakuri douji ultimo
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01:00 am
[xdoop]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/10661691/376622) [Link] |
Mr. Fantastic vs. Doctor Doom!
Tags: char: dr. doom/victor von doom, char: mr. fantastic/reed richards, char: sub-mariner/namor mckenzie, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel comics, title: fantastic four
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11:03 am
[cyberghostface]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/10757861/376381) [Link] |
Stan the Man continues to stick it to BND
From today's newspaper strip...
Tags: char: mary jane watson, char: spider-man/peter parker, creator: stan lee
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03:20 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
The Scary Hulk
The first two issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK back in 1962 showed the character as a genuine monster right out of Universal horror movie. He was essentially a werewolf version of the Frankenstein Monster. Every night, Bruce Banner changed against his will into the Hulk. Jack Kirby drew the brute very much in the Karloff image; in the first issue, the Hulk even kept Banner's ripped suit jacket, a nice touch.(The torn shreds of white shirt were a great visual reminder of the transformation from a normal human, but which has long been abandoned.)The Hulk was hostile and murderous (he intended to kill Rick Jones at first ("As for you-- you are the only one who knows who I really am!")
Adding to the terror that the Hulk inspired was that no one knew anything about him. He just appeared out of nowhere to cause destruction, and the fact he only came out at night made him seem scarier. I've wondered how the character would be remembered if he had stayed this way for a few issues before his title folded and then only made a few sporadic appearances to fight Marvel's heroes. It didn't turn out that way, of course. By the third issue, the Hulk had broadened out to be four feet across and had been turned into a mindless servant of Rick Jones. Then he changed so he had Bruce Banner's mind and was sort of a super-hero for a while (a rather crude and unpredictable one). He's been through dozens of phases since then, to the point where there doesn't seem to be a real Hulk, just whichever version is being used at the moment.Steve Ditko only inked Kirby two or three times when deadlines were tight-- why have him ink when he could be pencilling? -- but the results were a great combination of Kirby dynamics and Ditko mood. This Hulk seems genuinely menacing.
creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel, char: the incredible hulk
Tags: char: hulk/bruce banner, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel comics
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07:36 pm
[cyberghostface]
[Link] |
From today's daily Spider-Man comic...
I wish Stan would write for the regular comics. This is better than anything the "Webheads" have put out.
Tags: char: sandman/flint marko/william baker, creator: stan lee
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11:27 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
The real source of the X-Men
 
Every comic book, cartoon and movie featuring the X-Men should in all fairness have a credit on it somewhere, "Inspired by the 1945 'Baldy' stories of Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore."
I'd read some stories by Henry Kuttner that I thought were clever and amusing (the Hogbens series, the one about Gallagher the drunk inventor) and some that seemed tedious and lame (those uninspired Elak of Atlantis epics). But until I found myself lost in MUTANT, I didn't quite realize how astoundingly good Kuttner (and his wife Moore, usually collaborating to some degree, here as "Lewis Padgett") could be. This is the real stuff, genuine pulp style science fiction. It's full of inventive details and clever plot twists, with a strong premise that today seems to have a even stronger appeal for readers than it did back then..
Created by atomic radiation, a new race of bald telepaths fights a desperate secret war between their two factions of the sane and the paranoid mutants. The paranoids (who at one point are mockingly called "Homo Superior" as compared to Homo Sapiens) see themselves as godlike supermen inevitably destined to conquer and rule the pitiful normal humans. The sane mutants are struggling desperately to keep knowledge of even the existence of the paranoids from become known, fearing that vastly more numerous normals will massacre them all. It's not a simplistic struggle between pure good and evil, as even the sane Baldies resent being forced to submit and bow their heads, keeping a low profile in the hopes that their children will be fully assimilated.
(Did Stan Lee ever mention in the letters columns that he and Jack Kirby had enjoyed the 'Baldy' stories by Kuttner? Certainly, they both had read a lot of pulps back in the 1940s, Kirby even illustrating some of them. As Jewish men alive during the Holocaust, did the 'Baldy' stories have special resonance for them?)
All the mutants are born completely hairless, but in an attempt at blending in and going unnoticed, most of them wear fake eyebrows, eyelashes and wigs. At first, the more defiant and unruly mutants go around natural (I'm bald and I'm proud!), but widespread lynching dampens that trend. We as readers following the Baldies can see they are mostly honorable and discreet, would never use their telepathic abiities unfairly and in fact go out of their way to do useful constructive work in their careers. Still.... you can see how just knowing there are people out there who can literally read your mind without your knowledge or consent would be seen as threatening. And who doesn't have dirty little secrets and vices they want to keep hidden? (Put your hand down, you in the back. You're as bad as the rest of us.)
Although they can communicate freely with each other, the Baldies can only read a normal human's surface thoughts; it's a real effort to put a thought into a person's mind, and there's no sign that Baldies can mentally coerce anyone, let alone brainwash or control someone's actions. This makes them still dangerous but much more vulnerable and recognizable than Marvel mutants who can blast destructive rays from their eyes or make Army tanks fly apart. In addition to the tension of the desperate underground war going on unsuspected by the normal humans, the "Baldy" series also has an intriguing backstory that is gradually revealed.
[An incredibly lengthy review of the "Baldy" stories can be found over on my Retro-Scans site, for those who are interested. One more indication of how Lee and Kirby were deriving the X-Men from the "Baldies" is shown in how Magneto also had telepathic powers in the earliest issues. He was not as capable as Professor X, but he could scan minds and astral travel. This was quickly dropped, but it is an echo of Kuttner's vision of two groups of telepathic mutants warring with each other over humanity.)
Tags: char: magneto/erik magnus lehnsherr, char: marvel girl/phoenix/jean grey, char: professor x/charles xavier, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel comics, title: uncanny x-men
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02:41 am
[batmanexaminer]
[Link] |
Michael Jackson wanted to buy Marvel
Everyone is freaking out about Disney, but it could have been worse.
Michael Jackson apparently approached Stan Lee about buying Marvel
I know some of you don't like me posting the articles here, but I thank you for supporting them and appreciate those who have given feedback.
Making it legal..
Tags: char: betty brant, char: j. jonah jameson jr., char: spider-man/peter parker, creator: stan lee, creator: steve ditko, in-joke: shameless plug, publisher: marvel comics
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10:02 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
Teenage outlaw cowboys in love
Lee and Kirby's RAWHIDE KID featured a lot of human interest plots. This was a trademark of TV Westerns of that era. In addition to all the shootouts and fistfights and galloping horses, much of the plotting involved the Kid getting involved with regular folks and their problems. (Of course, he usually solved their problems with more shootouts and fistfights and galloping horses but hey, this was a Silver Age comic book.) This is from RAWHIDE KID# 19, December 1960, well before those four got in the rocket ship or that student got bit by a spider.
It's important to remember that the Rawhide Kid WAS a kid. He had just turned eighteen when his foster father was killed and he set out to roam the West. Being that age, with the chip on his shoulder of being noticeably short (5'3" or so) AND redhaired, his attempts to settle down incognito never came to much. And, once in a while, being human he felt the twinges of romance, whether he wanted them or not. The fact that he was on the run, with a price on his head (I forget if he was framed or what, but the general population thought he was a murderous criminal), which meant he had to move on whenver his identity was revealed. Being a short redhead teenager made him easy to identify, eh?
Tags: char: rawhide kid/johnny bart, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age, publisher: marvel comics, title: rawhide kid
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11:55 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
The shocking truth about Lee and Kirby
Exactly what went on in the conferences where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created so many of the Marvel Comics of the 1960s? Historians have fruitlessly wondered, but now we have the truth as presented by one of the creators. This document first appeared in FANTASTIC FOUR SPECIAL# 5 from 1967, which not only gave you a 30-page story about the Fantastic Four (guest-starring the Inhumans AND the Black Panther), but a 12-page back-up story starring the Silver Surfer, plus a dozen pin-up pages. You got your quarter's worth.
Tags: creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age
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08:57 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
Who put the magnets in Captain America's shield (bee bop a lu bop)
 Cap was revived from comic book limbo in THE AVENGERS# 4, March 1964. Two issues later, the story opened with a surprising scene where he is making his shield fly around and change direction. It seems Iron Man decided to beef up the shield by putting "sub-miniature transistors" in it that Cap could operate through magnets attached to his glove. (Stan Lee had an interesting idea of what transistors were, that is he thought they were magic.) I'd guess that it was Jack Kirby who dreamed this up, he absolutely loved adding gadgets that were never seen again; the man's imagination was always in high gear.
Tags: char: captain america/steve rogers, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age, publisher: marvel comics, title: avengers
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06:41 pm
[cyberghostface]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/9717780/376381) [Link] |
The Show Must Go On
This was brought up numerous times in the previous Amazing Spider-Man thread, so I decided to post it once and for all. In my opinion, it's one of the better Chameleon stories out there. Not surprisingly, Marvel has all but forgotten it.
On a related note, this was the first Spidey story written by Paul Jenkins. He would later become the writer for Peter Parker Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man.
Current Mood: gloomy
Tags: char: chameleon/dmitri smerdyakov, char: spider-man/peter parker, creator: angel medina, creator: paul jenkins, creator: roberto aguirre-sacasa, creator: sean phillips, creator: stan lee, creator: steve ditko, title: webspinners - tales of spider-man
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10:22 pm
[xdoop]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7353880/376622) [Link] |
Spongebob Squarepants/Fantastic Four parody
Tags: char: galactus, char: human torch/johnny storm, char: invisible woman/susan storm, char: mr. fantastic/reed richards, char: silver surfer/norrin radd, char: the thing/ben grimm, creator: jack kirby, creator: paul conrad, creator: stan lee, genre: parody, publisher: marvel comics, title: fantastic four, title: spongebob squarepants
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06:41 pm
[xdoop]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7353878/376622) [Link] |
Harrummph!
Tags: char: human torch/johnny storm, char: invisible woman/susan storm, char: mr. fantastic/reed richards, char: the thing/ben grimm, char: thunderbolt ross, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel comics, title: fantastic four
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02:41 pm
[xdoop]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7353887/376622) [Link] |
More fun with Mary Jane and Wolverine.
Tags: char: dr. octopus/otto octavius, char: mary jane watson, char: spider-man/peter parker, char: wolverine/logan/james howlett, creator: larry lieber, creator: stan lee, medium: newspaper comic, publisher: marvel comics, title: amazing spider-man
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11:36 pm
[xdoop]
![[User Picture]](https://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7353886/376622) [Link] |
Sue tries out some new hairdos.
In Fantastic Four #47, Sue feels that Reed isn't giving her enough attention. And what better way to get it than with a new hairdo?
Tags: char: human torch/johnny storm, char: invisible woman/susan storm, char: mr. fantastic/reed richards, char: the thing/ben grimm, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, publisher: marvel comics, title: fantastic four
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09:35 pm
[dr_hermes]
[Link] |
Light up another one, Tony
These clips are from THE AVENGERS# 5, May 1964 and #7, August 1964. Script by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby. Tony Stark has to wear the Iron Man chestplate all the time, because it keeps a piece of shrapnel from moving into his heart. When he lets the armor's power run down, that piece of metal instantly starts digging deeper, causing pain, dizziness and weakness. (This didn't seem the way such an injury would actually work, but it was great drama.) We got a lot of panels of a tortured Iron Man crawling doggedly toward an outlet to recharge his chestplate; he was quite the suffering hero, having to use up his power in a fight and then pay for it. Despite having a damaged heart that could only be kept functioning with machinery, the idea of quitting cigarettes didn't seem to occur to Tony, though. Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne and Reed Richards smoked pipes, Nick Fury and Ben Grimm lit up stogies. But Tony was satisfied with a pack of Lucky Strikes. (I would have loved it if Kirby or an inker had added one panel of Iron Man with a cancer stick protruding from the grille of the Iron Man helmet. Just once.)
1964 might as well be another planet if you're in your twenties today. People smoked EVERYWHERE. Airplanes, restaurants, movie theatres, stadiums. Nobody thought anything of it. People smoked in supermarkets and ground out the butts on the floor. Doctors smoked in their offices. Teachers smoked (but students weren't allowed to). After the Surgeon General started hitting the public over the head with a 2X4 about the dangers of tobacco, habits gradually changed and laws were changed. Today, you see the furtive "cigarette outlaws" sullenly huddled outside buildings on their breaks. But it wasn't always today.
Tags: char: iron man/tony stark, creator: jack kirby, creator: stan lee, era: silver age
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