Stronguy Reviews The Marvel Bronze Age

[Stronguy]

 

Would be nice to see this thread revived.

 

Indeed.

 

More cowbell!

 

Hmmmm.... I'm sensing a theme.

 

Ok, I've got some time off coming up and I will do what I can to get a chunk of these knocked out. I've kept up with the reading so I've got several that just need to be put on paper. Right now I'm about 15 issues into Doctor Strange (and it's goooood).

[Comicopolis]

[FlyingDonut]

[electricprune]

 

Would be nice to see this thread revived.

 

Indeed.

 

More cowbell!

 

Hmmmm.... I'm sensing a theme.

 

Ok, I've got some time off coming up and I will do what I can to get a chunk of these knocked out. I've kept up with the reading so I've got several that just need to be put on paper. Right now I'm about 15 issues into Doctor Strange (and it's goooood).

 

Doctor Strange #14!

[Stronguy]

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Conan, The Barbarian

Issues 25-105

April 1973 - December 1979

 

Annuals 1-5

1973, 1976-1979

 

Rating: 4/5

 

"Know, O Prince, that between the years when Barry Smith left Conan and the dawn of the Copper Age, there was a time when comics became the refuge of incredible suckage. As the pressure for more and more stories rained down from on high, the once mighty House Of Ideas collapsed; the depth and breadth of their suckage grew to astonishing levels. Although the proudest of the books were spared the complete ravages of suckatude, none escaped unscathed. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer... and now a solider, a nurse maid, a love-struck pirate and a cheap knock off of Trazan... with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.. and meet a monthly publishing schedule regardless of how crappy the story is."

 

And so it began, the vortex of suckatude grew as a whirlpool in the deep. As Marvel began to over-extended itself in the mid '70s quality stories began to be much more of a luxury than a necessity. Conan was not immune to this. With some of the best REH adaptation behind him, Roy Thomas had to start making up stories and filling in the blanks REH left. Unfortunately, Roy Thomas (with all respect to him) was no REH... which is probably a good thing or he would have been as crazy as an outhouse rat. Don't get me wrong, the stories are still solid but, as the writing of the '70s waned, they followed right along with it. The difference between Conan 1-24 and, let's say, 76-100 is like night and day.

 

The remaining issues break down into a few main blocks -- Conan, The Soldier; Conan, The Babysitter; Conan, The Love-struck Pirate; Conan, The Lord of the Jungle (or Tarzan, The Barbarian... take your pick).

 

As Conan, The Soldier (25-38), he is conscribed into the Turanian army (in one of the pre-24 issues). Throughout his service he is sent on several missions to capture so-and-so, kill so-and-so, retrieve such-and-such, and in almost every one of them someone tries to screw him over. Thus, the formula is set -- Conan on a mission, Conan in a fight, Conan finds a wench (note, his playboy ways have now become replaced with monogamy -- at least per story arc), Conan sees some freaky stuff, Conan kills the freaky stuff. These stories, by no means, are bad and, in fact, several of them are pretty darn good. However, as they begin to stretch on, it makes you long for the earlier issues. This goes one until about issue 38, where he strikes back out on his own.

 

Issues 39-51 are pretty much the same as before, with Conan filling the formula for what we expected a Conan story to be.

 

Then we get some real crack smoking with issues 52-57... Conan, The Babysitter. Conan takes on a quest from this dude but instead of hooking up with a bunch of hardass fighters, he teams up with a 13 year old girl, who is an acrobat, dresses in green and purple tights. No kidding... I'm not making it up. Thank the blessed Lord above that this didn't last too long. I mean, WTF were they thinking. Conan should have split her in half with his sword in the first 2 pages and saved us the misery. If you're going to skip any issues, these need to be at the top of your list.

 

And here we are, the love it or hate it portion of the series... Conan, The Love-struck Pirate (issues 58-100). For those of you who are culturally illiterate and have not read Queen Of The Black Coast, I will give you a little background. Conan has pisssed of some people (imagine that) and is fleeing the city. He jumps onto a ship that is leaving port and joins a crew working its way down the coast. Along the way the they are attacked by the dreaded Belit, Queen of the Black Coast -- cut throat, pirate, reaver and one hawt mama. So naturally Conan hooks up with her (literally) and her crew to roam the coast bringing terror to all whose path they cross.

 

In the REH original it doesn't say how long Conan is with Belit but its can be inferred that it's a few years. This is where Thomas picks up to fill in the blank. Not a bad call since there is nothing else written about this time in his life. All you ever know from REH is people know Conan as this blood thirsty killer named Amara from his pirate days.

 

Almost from the start you realize this is going to be a long and suck-filled ride. Guess what; you're right. Before long you start getting these crazy stories with Africans riding crocodiles, giant moths, some red-headed dude named Amara (who Conan, naturally, kills and steals his name), more crazy African stories, some stuff about sea serpents, a Red Sonja cross-over (Marvel Feature #7... and that doesn't sit well with Belit). And all the while there's this love story about Conan and Belit. Honestly, it's building on the relationship that REH creates in QOTBC but it starts getting old really quickly. It's almost like Thomas went on auto-pilot for a few years because it's steadily down hill. SPOILER: In the end, like in QOTBC, Belit dies and Conan is emotionally destroyed.

 

So, what do you do now that you're hawt-azz, pirate girlfriend of the last 4 years is dead? You walk the earth, like Cain in Kung Fu. But instead of returning to the cities Conan hangs out in the jungle. This is where it turns into Tarzan, The Barbarian. Fortunately this is only for 4 issues and, with issue 105, the end of the Bronze Age, Conan returns to the city... and hopefully gets back to treading the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.

 

So that's the story. On to the art.

 

This entire run is made great by the art of John Buscema. For the most part it's John Buscema and Ernie Chan (Chua) for the whole run and they kick azz in a big way. Every now and then you get someone filling in for them and that's okay... helps break up the monotony. However, IMO the reason this series did as well as it did, despite the ever increasing amount of suckage in the stories, is the visual continuity Buscema and Chan brought to the book. Had this book changed its look every 10 issues, I don't think it would have remained one of Marvel's top books.

 

Summary

While not nearly as good as the first 24 issues, Conan 25-105 is still really good (relative to the other suckage that was out at the time). There are some high highs and some low lows but for a quarter each month it consistently delivered the goods. The art is superb and really carries this title through some rough points. Mid-grade copies of this can be had in-bulk for next to nothing. If you are so inclined and have a little money to spend I highly recommend you pick up this run (minus those Babysitter issues -- unless they pay you to take them... and then, just maybe). Conan has a constants fan base so when you're doing reading them you can flip the on eBay for what you paid.

 

Annuals

Annual 1 - Reprints Lair Of The Beast-Men! from issue 2 and Tower Of The Elephant! from issue 4.

Annual 2 - Original telling of REH's Phoenix On The Sword.

Annual 3 - Reprints At The Mountain Of The Moon God from SSOC 3 and The Beast From The Abyss from SSOC 2.

Annual 4 - Return Of the Conqueror -- this is the 2nd part of Hour Of The Dragon

Annual 5 - Bride Of The Conqueror -- a sequel to Annual 4 where Conan marries Zenobia.

 

Notes

Every temple and island fortress must have some sort of self-destruct mechanism that triggers when someone dies.

Issue 31 - A cool, out of sequence, story where Conan finds a mystical sword down in a tomb. This strikes me as the inspiration for the sword scene in the Conan movie.

Issue 33 - Fan letter from Ralph Macchio (the editor not the Karate Kid).

Issue 36 - There's an error in the stat on page 18 and you can see the "CONAN" stamp from the original art at the top of the page.

Issue 37 - The Neal Adams issue. The art alone is worth the price of admission. Page 11, panel 4 is a swipe of Frazetta's Berzerker painting.

Issue 46 - Fan letter from Larry Lankford. Who the heck is Larry Lankford, you ask. He's the guy who ran the Dallas Fantasy Fare back in the '80s. At one point the DFF was in the top 5 shows in the country and host to he Harvey Awards banquet. Alas, Larry had a taste for strippers and paid for one too many boob jobs. He ended up screwing a bunch of people out of a lot of money in the early '90s and, as a result, is the reason Dallas hasn't been able to get a decent con going since.

Issue 51 - Had a printer's error and some copies have the guts to Archie Of Riverdale #25 in them (mentioned in the letter page of issue 55).

Issue 57 - Ploog on Conan... hmmmm. Not great but interesting and quite a change from Buscema. Another letter by Ralph Macchio.

Issue 78 - Reprints "Curse Of The Undead Man" from SSOC #1

Issues 79-81 - Out of sequence Chaykin story -- EXCELLENT!!

Issue 104 - Fan latter by none other than Flying Dount!

You finally did it! I thought you would never kill off Belit, but you finally did. I thank you from the bottom of my Conan-loving heart. Not taking away from your writing, Roy, but I feel CONAN can be a better book if the hero is not following around after some other person."

Best line of the whole run... "Treacherous She-Cur!" Try to fit that into your daily dialogue

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

 

Issue 104 - Fan latter by none other than Flying Dount!

You finally did it! I thought you would never kill off Belit, but you finally did. I thank you from the bottom of my Conan-loving heart. Not taking away from your writing, Roy, but I feel CONAN can be a better book if the hero is not following around after some other person."

 

What can I say. I was 12.

[Stronguy]

 

Issue 104 - Fan latter by none other than Flying Dount!

You finally did it! I thought you would never kill off Belit, but you finally did. I thank you from the bottom of my Conan-loving heart. Not taking away from your writing, Roy, but I feel CONAN can be a better book if the hero is not following around after some other person."

 

What can I say. I was 12.

 

That means you were 8 when they started that whole love-sick puppy BS. I say, it looks like a 12 year old knew suckage when he read it.

[nmtg9]

 

Nice to have you back reviewing.

 

Neil

[canickus]

All I can say is

 

 

YESSSSSS!

[rjpb]

Great to have this thread back in action!

 

Once again it is confirmed that I stopped buying mainstream comics in the mid-70s less due to having outgrown them, than to the increasing suckitude.

[jbud73]

Glad to have the reviews back as well. As I previously posted I just read these in the Darkhorse trades, Chronicles of Conan. They are full color with commentary by Roy Thomas, though no letters pages so thanks for posting Donut's letter.

 

One of the things I will add is that I think I enjoyed the run a bit more than Jeff as I didn't think the suckage was quite so bad in a few of the runs. Thomas also brings in religion and politics (Belit's princess back story) kind of Roman themed dictators, despots and priests all over the place. I thought that was unique for its time in going back and reading the stuff again only being a little tyke in the mid-late 70s and not reading comics until around 1980.

 

That said yes, Belit's arc probably lasted a few years too long and I think Conan would have been better served with more entanglements in the cities, Stygia and the like. Also thought the latter period lacks a big enough bad guy, more Thon Amon would have been very welcome. Conan's post Belit wandering period is pretty much is suckage though until he returns, FD was happy I'm sure, to the cities and head bashing some decent bad guys.

 

Awesome stuff Jeff (thumbs u

[Stronguy]

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Creatures On The Loose

Issues 10-37

March 1971 - September 1975

 

Rating:

Issues 10-15: 2.5/5

Issues 16-21: 1.5/5

Issues 22-29: 1.5/5

Issues 30-37: 2.5/5

 

Creatures on the Loose picks up numbering where Tower Of Shadows leaves off. It breaks down into 4 different parts -- sci-fi/horror reprints; Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars; Thongor; and Man-Wolf. Just from that breakdown you can tell there's going to be suckage aplenty.

 

The series starts with an original, 7 page, sword and sorcery story featuring Kull. Written by Roy Thomas with art by Berni Wrightson, it's solid work. Unfortunately it's the only original story for next 6 issues. Most of the stories are from pre-hero Journey Into Mystery, Tales Of Suspense and Tales To Astonish. If you're in to these stories then this is a great way to pick them up on the cheap.

 

With the outstanding lack of suckage with sci-fi/horror reprints, Marvel decided to up the power on the Hoover to about 11. I'm guessing the brain trust over in the House Of Ideas decided that, since Conan was such a hit, then they better throw every pulp character at the wall just to see if any more of them stick... kind of like a monkey flinging poop. Gillivar Jones, Warrior Of Mars!!!! Supposedly this was the inspiration for ERB to write John Carter of Mars. Unfortunately this is not John Carter and I'm guessing there's a reason why, shortly after it was published, it faded into obscurity.

 

Gullivar Jones, hip cat just livin' his life in the groove '70s, leaves his groovy office one night and encounters this yellow dude floating in the air who tells him he needs help. Little does he realize that the "help" would involve being spirited away to the mysterious planet of Mars where he finds all these un-hip red dudes oppressing all the really cool yellow people. By page 8 of the first issue Gullivar is putting the moves on the local hottie who immediately gets herself kidnapped by some jive-asss pterodactyl dudes. From then on out it's Gullivar fighting rabid raccoons, sea monsters and more red dudes trying to rescue the hot yellow chick. In the end, Gullivar beats the bad guys, saves the girl and then finds out that he can't go back to Earth; when he was hijacked in the first issue he was sent back in time 1,000,000,000 years. So even if he could get home he would still have to wait almost a billion years to stockpile himself a hoard of Action #1s.

 

These are only 8-10 page stories; the rest of the book is more sci-fi reprints. Roy Thomas does the writing. Gil Kane does the art for the majority of the first 3 issue... and it's not his best; typical drawing with triangles. Garry Morrow comes in for the last couple of issues and makes you remember why you liked Gil Kane. All of the covers are Gil Kane except issue 21... that's Steranko.

 

So just when you think you've read some lame stuff they pick up Thongor who, oddly enough, does not wear a thong nor is he a whore. Basically this is an adaptation of a Conan rip off written by Lin Carter. Typical swords and sorcery and dinosaurs stuff... and the suckage is pretty high. To make matters worse Val Mayerik's decent pencils get totally butt-raped by the ever ham-handed Vince Colletta. It's not until the last 2 issues (28 and 29) that you get anything interesting on an artistic front. Vicente Alcazar does these books and his art, while not stellar, shows moments of greatness. Each story is about 16 pages with the last 6 pages left for sci-fi reprints. This stretch of books was a beating to read (especially following Gullivar Jones) and the suckage remains at 11... maybe 11.5.

 

Now, on to the high spot for the series... Man-Wolf. John Jameson, moon stone, yellow space suit, werewolf... you know the story. Jameson's back on Earth with the Moon Stone stuck to his neck. The feds are after him so he's on the run and wolfs out every time the moon is full. Running from the cops, running from the feds, trying to explain to his girlfriend just whose hair that is all over the sheets... Kraven shows up in issue 32 (Spidey cameo) and captures Man-Wolf so he can take him off and hunt him (gee, that's real original). Man-Wolf gets away and ends up fighting some hillbilly bikers who want to take over the world from their super-secret lair they have hidden under a mountain (yep, you heard me right). This all turns out to be a front for the Hate Monger (purple Klan hood and robe, chainmail, spiked arm bands... probably would have been better of starting metal band or something). SHIELD shows up and kicks his butt but not before Man-Wolf jumps onto a rocket ship and gets shot into space. When he gets to space he ends up on a space station where some bad guys are trying to do some bad guy stuff. It turns out these guys are here looking for a special stone that belongs in their galaxy -- the Moon Stone. They finally realize that this is what's making Man-Wolf do his Man-Wolf thing and that it's permanently bonded to his body. Then the title gets canceled and you're left wondering just what the hell the rest of the story was. Fortunately, David Kraft did a 1 page write-up explaining why the title got scrapped (because it sucked... duh!) and a brief run down of the remaining plot. And that is that.

 

As far as art goes, there are 2 sides. George Tuska does the pencils through issue 31 where he is aptly violated in the posterior by Vince Colletta (someone should have shot him or something). Issue 32 brings in the new talent, George Perez. Perez and Janson do issue 32 and then it's Perez and Frank McLaughlin until issue 37 where Fred Kida shows up and pulls a Colletta. The Perez/McLaughlin art make this all worthwhile.

 

Summary

Let's do a quick run down...

Monster/sci-fi/horror reprints; Gullivar Jones a billion years in the past chasing after some jaundice tail on Mars; Thongor, a Conan ripoff, does not wear a thong nor is he a whore but he suck like one; Man-Wolf, who likes to run away from people, fights Kraven, the cops, some hillbilly bikers, the Hate Monger (who should have stated a metal band), and some inter-galactic space guys, all to get his series canceled just when it starts getting good; Gil Kane is the best at drawing with triangles; George Tuska and Val Mayerik should have beaten Vince Colletta's asss in the back alley every day after work.

 

For the most part, Creatures On The Loose was really nothing more than a way to loose you of 20¢ or 25¢ every two months. The reprints are cool but you have to wade through a bunch of suckage to get to the decent stuff. If you're thinking about buying them, don't. Just spend that money to pay a diseased hobo to chew on your big toe or something (look, if that's how you roll who am I to judge you). If you must have some of these the only ones that are worth it are issues 10 (for the Kull story) and 32-37. Other than that, go see that hobo.

 

 

[namisgr]

 

For the most part, Creatures On The Loose was really nothing more than a way to loose you of 20¢ or 25¢ every two months.

 

[Zonker]

I'm guessing the brain trust over in the House Of Ideas decided that, since Conan was such a hit, then they better throw every pulp character at the wall just to see if any more of them stick...

 

I've wondered about that myself. Why such obscure characters following in Conan's wake? It must have been Martin Goodman's basic cheapness-- didn't he tell Roy Thomas the best Marvel could do for the Conan license was $150/issue?

[Comicopolis]

[nocutename]

The reviews are back! I am actually reading a few lovestruck Conan's right now. I am going to have now check out the first 25 issues of the run. Hopefully, you continue your reviews.

[nocutename]

 

[Wally's Comics]

Great reviews and Great thread...

 

carry on SG!

 

 

 

(thumbs u

 

 

 

[patlajan]

Good review - like the early Perez artwork in the later issues was even able find one of his original pages. Marvel really pushed up their output in this time period, which as a business decision included lots of low overhead reprints - by 1974 they were publishing more reprints per month than their total output had been a few years earlier.

 

keep up the fun reviews - Rolf

[comics_ross]

Definitely one of the best themes in the forum. I do not write often, but read a lot and by far this is one of my favourite.

Keep the good work (thumbs u