Monday, May 1, 2017

Marvel-ous Mondays: "The Battle of New Brittania!" by Thomas, Friedrich, Trimpe, and Sutton

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's another truly cool and far-out Ka-Zar adventure for your comicbook consumption! "The Battle of New Brittania!" (written by Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich with art by Herb Trimpe and Tom Sutton) blasted its way to the spinner racks in Astonishing Tales #8 during Marvel's brief fling with the twenty-five cent, fifty-two page format, July 1971. Edgar Rice Burroughs had nothing on this creative team who gave us the continuance of WWII in the "modern day" (if that term even applies) Savage Land, complete with an early appearance of Bobbi Morse (who would become Mrs. Hawkeye/Mockingbird many years later). And boy oh, boy, do Trimpe and Sutton ever make an art team that's well-suited for a high-caliber jungle adventure!
Cover art by Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia












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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 1, 2017 at 1:23 AM

    I've got this one, but sadly my comics are in my brother's basement, because, well, he has room for storage. He owes me, I know where the bodies are buried.
    As good as this story is, I'm hoping you'll show the Doc Doom story as well, which is one of the most powerful things to come out of The House Of Ideas for a long time.

    M.P.

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    1. keythd23May 4, 2017 at 7:31 AM

      I've heard so many horror stories about basements flooding that I'd be afraid to keep my comics there. You are so right about the Doc Doom story. Great Gerry Conway story, which adds a humanizing element to the despot of Latveria, in tandem with superb Colan/Palmer art.

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  2. Rip JaggerMay 1, 2017 at 5:34 AM

    I simply adore the work of the late great Herb Trimpe. I don't know what it is about his charming if often awkward stances but it all comes together in a delightful blend. He was best when inked by himself, but both Sutton and Sam Grainger were excellent too. I was much less impressed by Jack Abel who seemed to do a lot of Trimpe's work and John Severin who gets much praise was overwhelming at times.

    Rip Off

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  3. JustinMay 2, 2017 at 5:57 PM

    Thanks for sharing this, Groove! I enjoyed reading this more than I can adequately put into words. I think part of it is that my granddad (God rest his soul) was both a WWII Navy man AND an avid Tarzan fan. In a more perfect world, I think this is the kind of story he and I could really have bonded over.

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  4. William PrestonMay 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM

    I can see from this why Trimpe was an obvious choice, years later, for the Godzilla comic.

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