Thursday, July 15, 2010
Making A Splash: Marvel Comics, July 1975
Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We were captivated by the covortin' covers to some'a these Groovy Age classics not too long ago, so Ol' Groove thought you might dig a peek under the covers to see who was writing and drawing what at Mighty Marvel 35 years ago this month!Dig it, baby--Colan on Doc Strange and Dracula, Gulacy on Master of Kung Fu, Starlin on Warlock, Cockrum on the X-Men--and is that George Perez on Power Man? And look, John Byrne's debut on Iron Fist! And speaking of debuts, there's the Champions, Perez (again!) on the Inhumans, Mordred the Mystic, and Bloodstone! Whoa, do these tired old eyes spy the conclusion of the original Spider-Clone Saga? Yep, they sure do! What a summer that was!
It's only recently dawned on me that Power Man is the most-'70s character of all time! Back in the '80s, I thought there was something "different" about him and that the 1980s didn't go with Luke Cage's "vibe." He looked so at ease in the NYC of Lindsay and Beame and The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three!
ReplyDeleteI love Marvel's covers from the 70's; almost every other one seemed to be by Gil Kane! Of all these issues that I remember reading - in the black and white UK reprints mostly - it's the MOKF I wish I had.
ReplyDeleteWhoa -- poor Ka-Zar! Don Heck and Frank Springer on the pictures?? Cancellation must have been coming!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the scans -- a lot of great memories in those pages.
Doug
Marvel sure had alot of top talent in the 60's & 70's. I have to agree, that it seemed when a title was about to get the ax. The art was aways handed down to one of their much lesser talents. Loved Bloodstone, reminded me of a super power Kolchak the night Stalker.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite in this group as a 13 year old & still is today. Was Herb Trimpe's Hulk. Sadly one more issue & his 7/8 year run was about to end. A era was over for the Hulk, even though Sal Buscema did a great job also. It just wasn't the same, Joe Staton should have been on the Hulk as Herb's inker many years earlier. After John Severin left & Herb was inking his own art. He deserved a much better inker, like Staton. True Herb was back for a few more issues. But that was only a temporary fix for us Trimpe-Hulk junkies!
The only ones I didn't have were the SpideySS, War is Hell & maybe the Mummy. The little recap at the top of each page is a welcome reminder of days gone by.
ReplyDeleteHey Michael
ReplyDeleteI agree, i loved those recaps! They were a excellent idea for first time readers. I miss those days when comics were fun & still affordable & great!
Just...awesome.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love today's comics, nothing comes close to the sheer POW! of the 70s Marvel stuff.
Incredible blog, my man.
Karlos
These are stunning. I had forgotten how good some of these guys were. Tuska? Heck? Perez? Buckler (who "discovered" me and gave me work)? Wow...and Vosburg. I wish I had stayed in the industry long enough to in him. I believe he did a Huntress origin story that was a thing of beauty. I love seeing Gulacy doing his Steranko thing. Honestly, I sound like an old fart, but, comics today can't touch this stuff. Man, it almost makes me want to take a time machine and go back to my high school days of '75 just to discove this stuff again!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know "War is hell",thanx.
ReplyDelete