Ol' Groove cannot jive ya, man--I have always really, really dug Pat Broderick's art. It always seemed so hip--cozmik in the Jim Starlin school, yet carrying an underground comix vibe that made it stand way out from the crowd. His work on the last few years' worth of Captain Marvel, usually written by Doug Moench and inked by stellar ink-slingers like Bob Wiacek, Bruce Patterson, and Gene Day still dazzles my senses. Dig these sizzling splash pages from one of the best, and definitely most underrated, CM runs of all time--Marvel's Captain Marvel issues 55-62 (December 1977-February 1979), and Marvel Spotlight (volume 2) issues 1-3 (April-August 1979). Dy-no-mite!
Hey Groovy One!
ReplyDeleteIronic I used to rub shoulders as a young man with Broderick, Jerry Ordway, Al Vey & Mike Machlan. Their first studio was above a grocery store. I even lived across the street in 2002-2004 from where Pat lived in the early-mid 80's in West Allis,WI.
Great post! I always loved Broderick's beautiful art. I always hated he was called the poor man's Michael Golden. I never thought that was right. He did some beautiful pieces in Monster's Unleashed as well of the Man-Thing. Beside's of course his Micronauts. I loved his Capt.Marv-ell as well. I always wanted to see him do DC's Shazam/Original Captain.Marvel also. SHAZAM! Mike
you know, Pat Broderick's Captain Marvel run had completely slipped my mind, until I saw this post. think I might have to start digging around in the old comic boxes again. . .
ReplyDeleteYay! My favorite run of Captain Marvel. Love that Broderick art. Thanks for posting these!
ReplyDeleteWhere can I find scans of PB's run Captain Marvel? If anyone can tell me,email me at:mweekesquinn@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteMany Thanks!!!!!!
I'd love to see Brodericks full stories for CAPAIN MARVEL 55-62 and MARVEL SPOTLIGHT 1-3 reproduced here. They've never gotten the acclaim they deserve, but are damn nice pages that should be given some visibility.
ReplyDeleteAnother run that deserves more attention than it has been given are Gene Day's run in MASTER OF KUNG FU 102-120, where Day first did pencils and inks. (Prior to that from MOKF 76-101, Day had been inker on Mike Zeck's pencils.) This Moench/Day run is as intelligent as it is beautiful.
I find it hard to believe anyone thinks of Pat Broderick as a "poor man's Michael Golden". I think they're on the same par talent-wise.
ReplyDeleteMICRONAUTS began with those 12 fantastic issues by Golden. Then there were 6 medicocre issues that just seemed poorly matched. And then from 19-34 there was a return to greatness under Pat Broderick, first inked by Armando Gil (19-26) and then by Bulanadi (27-34). Then there was another period where the series drifted aimlessly, a few Gil Kane issues, a few Giffen issues, and then another return to greatness with a new-to-the-field Jackson Guice (in those early days "Butch" Guice) to close out the series in issues 48-58.
Mantlo's writing in MICRONAUTS and ROM are fashionable to pan, but I thought against the critics that they were good stuff. But of the two, MICRONAUTS was the more fortunate, with three very talented newcomers to the field who all did lengthy and solid runs for the bulk of the series.
The first 58 issues of ROM either had full art by Sal Buscema (1-19) or pencils by Sal Buscema(20-58). I especially like the issues inked by Aikin/Garvey (34, 36-50).
And the final issues were pencilled by Steve Ditko (59-75). It was the closest thing to a pre-Marvel alien-invasion story turned into a series. And I loved LOVED the race of Dire Wraiths.
I say screw the critics, and enjoy these series for what they are. The Dire Wraiths were continued beautifully by Claremont in the Romita Jr run of X-MEN, and in a fill-in Windsor-Smith issue or two, circa 1983-1984.
Broderick went on to do work for DC such as FIRESTORM, LORDS OF THE ULTRA-REALM, and a SWORD OF THE ATOM ANNUAL, but I never liked that work as much as his Marvel work. Broderick also did pencils and inks for a nicely rendered SUN-RUNNERS series for Pacific Comics in 1983-1984, but all these were rougher and not as detailed as his earlier CAPTAIN MARVEL and MICRONAUTS runs, that definitely had the Mojo.