Black and White Wednesday: "Witch World!" by Mantlo and Giffen

Here it is, Groove-ophiles! The star-spanning second stave of Bill Mantlo's Sword in the Star! This (final) chapter was gorgeously illustrated by a young Keith Giffen who really let it all hang out on this job! Flourishes of Windsor-Smith, Kirby, Steranko, Starlin melded together into something totally different and offbeat--no wonder Giffen is still slaying us with his storytelling (that final ish of OMAC rocked, Keith!). The style he used on "Witch World" was more like his DC work (on Claw the Unconquered and Challengers of the Unknown) than his uber-Kirby-homage he was using on Marvel's Defenders. This particular style evolved into the intricate, small-figured work he'd blow us away with on Legion of Super-Heroes in the 80s! Mantlo was cutting loose as well. You could tell he was passionate about Sword in the Star. Too bad Marvel didn't give it a better shot. I mean, backing up Satana in what was pretty much a filler ish of Marvel Preview (#7, Summer 1976)? Sheesh! That makes for a fun time when you're trying to give a Rocket Raccoon fan the heads up on his first appearance!

Cosmic Week: Black and White Wednesday: "Alas, the Seeds of Man!" by Mantlo, Hannigan, Russell, and Bryant

COSMIC WEEK keeps on truckin' with a special pick for BLACK AND WHITE WEDNESDAY, Groove-ophiles! A while back we rapped about Star-Lord's kick-off in Marvel Preview #4 (October 1975), and how that tale was intended to appear in the first ish of Star-Lord's own stillborn mag. Today we're gonna dig on Star-Lord's back-up feature, THE SWORD IN THE STAR. Now, TSitS, created by writer Bill Mantlo abetted by artists Ed Hannigan, P. Craig Russell, and Rick Bryant (innovators and ground-breakers, all), was to run in the first 10-12 issues of Star-Lord. (It's really cool that Marvel originally had that much confidence in the mag's potential. Wonder wha hoppen to douse that confidence?) Prince Wayfinder's story was conceived as an epic in the tradition of The Odyssey and King Arthur. You can tell from the premiere story that Mantlo was pouring his all into the concept. You could also tell that he had a definite vision for Prince Wayfinder and company. Check it out (complete with an equally epic intro)!

 

Only one more episode of The Sword in the Star was completed. It was beautifully illustrated by a young Keith Giffen (his first pro work!) and appeared in Marvel Preview #7 (Spring 1976) starring...Satanna? So, as you can see, Mantlo's epic was quickly made filler-fodder. Man, reality really stinks sometimes. (And yeah, Ol' Groove'll share that Mantlo/Giffen masterpiece with ya in the near future if ya want me to, so cheer up!)

Boisterous Bill did eventually find a way to complete his epic, though it must have morphed far, far away from his original intentions as Wayfinder found his way into the pages of The Micronauts in the 1980s. Via flashbacks we learn that the prince finally found his sword which evidently led to the creation of the Microverse, Time-Traveler, and the Enigma Force, all core-concepts of the Micronauts' own mythology.