Dig it, Groove-ophiles! During the Summer of '78, Teen Groove was all about The DC Explosion. Nothing else came close to being that cool...except for the fact that Dave Cockrum was not only coming onboard to pencil, but to redesign Ms. Marvel! Yep, my fave mag of July, 1978 was the exquisite Ms. Marvel #20! Chris Claremont's script wasn't bad at all (why didn't he come up with a title?), but nothing compared to Cockrum's art and re-design! Bob Wiacek's inks gave Delightful Dave's pencils a different kind of look, but to me, it was one of the best penciler/inker teams evah!
 |
| Cockrum's original art for the MM house ad. |
 |
| Cockrum's MM style sheet. |
And yeah, if those lizard-dudes in John Carter's threads look familiar, it's because you read about the last of their kind not too long ago in ROM #9! (Who sez DotGK ain't one big, bad, bizarre time-machine?)
Arguably the best costume re-design ever...
ReplyDeleteLove the heels.
ReplyDeleteEpitomizes late 70s illustrative sensibilities, from the character design to the color scheme.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why the powers that be at Marvel didn't stick to this costume. It's the best out of all the iterations of Ms. Marvel. It's too bad after they changed it yet again it was for the worse. I'd like to see part II of this story. Brings back a lot of memories of the 1978 comics I knew and read back in the day. We'll never see this style of story telling again. There's so much of a same-ness in the Marvel art of today. The individual cartoon style is gone and replaced with cold computer rendering that's all photo realistic. The artists are more interchangeable and the individuality is gone.
ReplyDeleteI still say the Marvel comics of the 70's were the best era to grow up in. We'll never see the likes of Treasury Editions for $1.50 ever again along with great story telling. You didn't have buy several comics to enjoy a story.
Sorry, I disagree. Dave's modification of John Romita's original concept in Ms. Marvel #9 is the best. It looks like Captain Marvel's, but it's not exactly his. That's as it should be. Ms. Marvel was paying tribute to her inspiration. This costume might as well be Psylocke's.
ReplyDelete(Note how Karla Sofen revived this costume for her appearances in Dark Avengers. Good choice!)
Thanks!
The new costume didn't save Ms. Marvel from cancellation though. The final issue (#23) was the only one I owned out of the entire run.
ReplyDeleteNice one Groove! Cockrum & Wiacek did some grrreat art here! Count me among those fans who think this costume was the best redesign for MM (yes, Edo!). Hmm Chris Claremont (a noted Star Trek fan) couldn't help slip in a reference to a Star Trek episode right at the end here!
ReplyDelete- Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.
Ah, Dave Cockrum. His artwork was exquisite. He definitely was one of the greatest artists the industry ever had. I remember being enamored of his art the first time I saw it in a Legion backup in Superboy in 1972. Everything looked so glossy and modern. Like a lot of DC staffers in the 70s he made the move to Marvel and gave us the new X-Men. I'm thankful he was such a nice guy as he was always patient with this fanboy geek gushing all over him every convention I saw him at. He left us way too soon at 63 in 2006. But his body of work is still with us giving us pleasure 40 years later.
ReplyDelete