Ken Aldred

That was a very good period for Legion. I think it was when Giffen was drawing in a similar style to Kevin Maguire, with exaggerated facial expressions on his characters, as with their Justice League series.

Thanos wannabe. I always remember him with his hands behind his back in a dominant, alpha male pose. The owner of the local comic shop here had a similar affectation, though neither imposing in stature nor stone-faced.

Yes, it’s a pity. The Night Stalker was an underrated series.

I agree. ‘The Silver Age Transistor Fixation of Stan Lee’ sounds too much like a psychology thesis.

Those final panels are ridiculous. It’s absolute, pure drivel.

How old are these kids meant to be? Six, or twenty six?

I think they’re being played. He’s going to take them to Mars, in order to avoid having to pay for the trip afterwards. That’s the twist ending.

One of my favourite early Copper Age stories, and unbelievable that I forgot about it.

Then, a companion volume, ‘The Silver Age ‘Science’ of Stan Lee’.

A book should be published collecting the ‘science’ of DC Comics.

Amazing Spider-Man 138 First Mindworm

Frank Miller’s classic series, All-Star Batman and Robin, was never finished.

I believe you can occasionally pick them up from random strangers in American sports bars.

We did get US Direct Market imported cent copies by the 80s. So, it’s American in origin, not British.

The only one I recall is Daredevil / Bullseye: The Target by Kevin Smith and Glenn Fabry. Only got to a single published issue. My copy’s languishing in a box somewhere, a mini-series I’d have waited to read in its entirety.

Although far from being the first comics I ever read, as there have been many threads about that subject, the first series of comics that gave me a sense of excitement and something to look forward to each month on the newsstand were the DC 100 page comics from the mid 1970s. As a kid I absolutely loved those, in particular Detective Comics, Justice League, House of Mystery, Superman Family, Superboy (Legion of Super-Heroes) and Shazam!. The mixture of new material and reprints going back as far as the Golden Age, styles I was unfamiliar with as a young British kid. Easily the best thought-out selection was assembled by Archie Goodwin in Detective Comics, along with his brilliant Manhunter serial. It was a good thing that came to an end much too quickly.

He’s been supercharged with electricity.

All I’m really interested in now is quality of story and art, and the OP is right, it’s a terrible read, impeded by some atrocious Frank Robbins scribble. That’s not necessarily a barrier to speculation.

I agree. Terrible story, appalling art. My brain switched off about half way through it. So bad, so boring, I didn’t finish it. And, it’s what, 20 pages long.

I agree. It only takes a chance encounter with some numbskull who isn’t even trying, or an invisibly-contaminated surface. You try your best, but of course it’s just an exercise in damage limitation in a socially uncontrollable, chaotic situation.

Journey Into Mystery 114 1st Absorbing Man

242 to 263 Prelude to Secret Wars Part 2 Infinity 1 to 6 Avengers (2013) 18 to 23 New Avengers (2013) 9 to 12 Captain Marvel (2012) 15 ,16 Avengers Assemble (2012) 18, 19 Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) 8, 9 22 issues in total An ancient, extremely powerful race called The Builders is heading towards Earth 616 to annihilate it, totally destroying, or, later on in the story, enslaving, other technologically advanced civilisations on the way, and is seen as such an immense threat that a war council is convened, involving all of the major, galactic-level players; the Kree, Skrulls, Shi’ar, Spartax (Star-Lord’s people), and even Annihilus and The Brood. A large contingent of Avengers leaves Earth to join up, but Thanos and his Black Order notice that the Earth is now weakly defended as a result of their departure and take the opportunity to invade. Thanos has another motivation to do this, which brings him into conflict with The Inhumans. As well as protecting 616 from the multiversal incursions, the Illuminati now have to deal with the added complications of The Mad Titan. The Captain Marvel and Avengers Assemble issues tell a section of the main storyline from different points of view. More detail, but really not that essential. The GOTG story is from the time when Brian Michael Bendis was basically phoning it in, as he was later on Battleworld. So, here, in order for The Avengers to return to Earth, the force field generated by the Death Star, sorry, the orbital SWORD platform, has to be deactivated, and the Guardians infiltrate to do this, along the way rescuing Princess Abigail, sorry, Abigail Brand, Director of SWORD. It’s that derivative. More excellent, page-turning stuff from Jonathan Hickman in the main storyline, and more nice art from Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena, Dustin Weaver and Lenil Yu.

There’s a lot of his analysis that’s been debunked, and more now of historical interest.

FF 112 Classic Hulk vs Thing slugfest Flash 112 1st Elongated Man

Strange Tales 111 1st app Baron Mordo