Posts

Captain Britain: Anarchy in the UK

Image
In 1976, as the British people suffered from a historic heatwave, comics in the UK were also suffering from the heat of a Fredric-Wertham-like backlash . A new comic was published by IPC, devised by Pat Mills (who would go on to create 2000AD the following year.) Called simply "Action", it had no connection with the American comic which had launched Superman in 1938, being instead, the usual British anthology format showcasing a number of strips each issue. The content of those strips was anything but usual, though. One of the standout strips was "Hook Jaw." Inspired by the success of Jaws, Hook Jaw focused on the shark as the main protagonist, inflicting his own brand of justice on the unsympathetic human characters - usually by graphically dismembering them. Hook Jaw always gets his man   Other strips focused on a Nazi tank commander during World War II, and football hooligans. This extreme approach did not go unnoticed - by consumers or the media. The first issu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spider-Man is a JERK!

Image
This is the tale of a character who was part of Spider-Man's supporting cast when I first started reading Spider-Man on a regular basis. Debra Whitman appeared regularly between 1979 and 1982 in both Spectacular and Amazing Spider-Man, and had a short-lived almost-romance with Peter Parker. Introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #196 by Marv Wolfman & Al Milgrom, Deb gets just two panels as the secretary of Doctor Sloan, for whom Pete works as a teaching assistant. In Spectacular Spider-Man #42, Deb has a bit of a moment with Pete while Doctor Sloan's staff are on a boat trip. Pete is distracted by a flaming message over the Statue of Liberty, seemingly from the Human Torch (in fact it's a trap set by The Frightful Four), and he rushes off, leaving Deb understandably upset. As the two of them become better acquainted over the next few issues, this kind of thing becomes almost a running joke. Pete rushes off to attend to Spidey-business, leaves Deb in the lurch, but then shows...
Post a Comment
Read more

Doctor Strange - Becoming The Sorcerer Supreme

Image
By 1972, Doctor Strange had had a somewhat chequered history. Created by Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Strange Tales #110 in 1963. Strange Tales was an anthology title at the time, featuring two separate stories, and Doctor Strange became a regular feature alongside, first, the solo adventures of the Human Torch, then Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. In 1968, Marvel's owner, Martin Goodman, secured a better distribution deal for the company which allowed them to publish more comics. So Doctor Strange and Nick Fury both got their own titles, the latter starting with a new #1, and Doctor Strange continuing the numbering from Strange Tales with #169. Unfortunately, due to low sales, the book was cancelled in 1969 with #183. The writer at that time, Roy Thomas, was fond of the character and included him in, first, The Sub-mariner #22, then Hulk #126, gradually assembling a mismatched team of superheroes. They debuted as The Defenders in Marvel Feature #1 in 1971, graduating to their own...
Post a Comment
Read more