The Daredevil In Yellow!

Daredevil was the comic without fear. Marvel was on a dandy run, creating new heroes every month and growing in response to fan demand. Stan Lee had found a formula for success which leaned heavily on artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko for the hits which changed the face of comics and made the Silver Age profoundly different and profoundly modern. 

Taking the approach which had worked on Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Lee turned to Bill Everett, the Golden Age creator of the Sub-Mariner. That lasted exactly one issue. Everett was a master in his time but his Daredevil look positively antique, well-crafted but of a different era.

Lee turned to EC veteran Joe Orlando to take up the slack and inked by Vince Colletta the comics looked more like what Marvel was doing elsewhere. 

Despite battling the borrowed Spidey villain Electro and running up against new foes like The Owl and The Purple Man, Daredevil seemed to be a comic which was sputtering. 

Even the soon-to-be-obligatory crossover with Spider-Man himself under the penciling hand of Steve Ditko himself only showed what might be missing from the Daredevil comic itself. The stories were good, but felt like stories which might've been produced a decade before. 

And then Joe Orlando's old partner Wally Wood took the helm of the book and brought a true-blue big name feel to a book which in truth had been put together by many qualified veterans. Wood brought something which had been missing despite all the good intentions -- excitement. Admittedly the Matador was an opponent inspired by Daredevil's little horns, but he did look good. Mr. Fear and his partners the Ox and the Eel were a blend of old and new but looked fresh nonetheless. 

But most importantly Wally Wood identified the problem with Daredevil pretty quickly -- the costume. The yellow and black and red fighting togs which DD had put together were right out of the Golden Age of comics, something you'd see someone on the Justice Society of America wear maybe.. Quickly  Wood added a bit of dash with another "D" to the chest symbol. Now Daredevil was "DD" formally for all the world to see. But Wally Wood wasn't done yet. More tomorrow.

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The Whole Kitten Kaboodle!

I knew I wanted this collection the moment I was aware of it. This is the very kind of trade collection I adore, one which pulls together stories from across the broad expanse of time and space and gathers them into a handsome single package for easy perusal. Tigra is one of those characters in the Marvel Universe who has wandered around hither and beyond looking for a place to land. She began as a simple superhero named The Cat, part of a feminist offensive Marvel touted in the early 70's. Beware! The Claws of The Cat joined Shanna The She-Devil and Night Nurse as part of a trio of new titles featuring female leads and featuring female creative talent. Alas none of them got past five issues as I recollect and The Cat only made it to four. But all four are here. The first is a  tour d' force by Wally Wood over Marie Severin layouts. Later Bill Everett, Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss and more would draw her as each issue is very different from the one which preceded it. And then came Tigra.

In the pages of Giant-Size Creatures #1 (and only) Tigra leaps out alongside the Werewolf by Night. Greer Nelson is seems is not just a superhero, but the progeny of an ancient race of cat people and ends up by the finish of this issue transformed into one them sort of. And just like that she's popped into another fad -- the horror genre which for a brief time swallowed the Marvel Universe.

After a brief stopover in Monsters Unleashed, Tigra eventually finds a home in an oddity named Marvel Chillers (taking over the title from Modred the Magician...remember him...I didn't think so.) And just like her run in The Cat it seems each issue is drawn by someone else making the series doomed to early cancellation. But we gets some good stuff with Will Meugniot, George Tuska, and an up and coming John Byrne taking a try.

And once that series wrapped Tigra became just part of the sprawling Marvel Universe. Patsy Walker took up her Cat guise, becoming Hellcat and Greer Nelson becomes a sleek and ready character waiting for someone to come up with some nifty stories for her. She's an Avenger for a while, but those stories will not be found here in this collection.

This volume closes with a really  handsome four issue limited series from the part of this century. I cannot say that much of the modern stuff speaks to me, but I do like this run. Mike Deodato's artwork, which can leave me cold at times, is in idea form here.

It might be a few weeks or months before I can tear into these stories again, but I'm eager to do so.

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Masterpieces Of Fantasy!

Of all the myriad of reprint comics that Mighty Marvel unleashed upon the world over the course of its long multi-decade existence, none will in my mind ever be cooler than Fantasy Masterpieces. First there's the name, the essence of bombast and insane seriousness which marked the early days of the Marvel experience. Marvel at one level took its comics more seriously than did the Distinguished Competition and consequently also took its fans more seriously too. That was felt by the youngster reaching for entertainment which not only passed the hours but lifted up their senses of themselves. Comic books might have been for kids, but Marvel comic books were a bit different, seemingly designed for a select cadre of readers who could truly appreciate the art of comics.

And so in the earliest issues the artists are the starts with not only Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko getting name-checked on the cover but also others like Don Heck, Joe Sinnot, and Dick Ayers. This wasn't a
"Batman comic" or a "Spider-Man comic" but a "comic by (fill in the blank)", a more adult and sophisticated attitude about literature which these comics aspired to be, if only just. Name checking the talent has proven to be a winner for comics which for many years eschewed such personal glory and promoted a company brand. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon had been the first really to break this pattern in the 40's when they took their trade to DC and later on their own. Kirby and Ditko now were at the spearhead of a wave of celebration of pop culture of which comics were a part.

Sadly by the third issue that attitude had given way somewhat and despite a cost rise there was suddenly a shift in focus as not just the Atomic Age was there to be gleaned but the Golden Age as well. Captain America by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon was back and he was soon to be followed by others of his ilk.

In issue seven Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch joined the jolly band of heroes and monsters and weird science fiction tropes which filled up the pages.

And ultimately a team from Marvel's Timely past, the All-Winners came to visit. The first of their only two yarns was in issue ten and the second would find its way into the magazine after its name change.

These were raucous packages of vintage work, and some of it every bit as good as what was being done in the then modern day. The Black Knight by Joe Maneely was an exquisite example of what could be done on a comic page. But soon Captain Marvel would come to Earth and the title would become Marvel Super-Heroes. Still they were masterpieces.

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Marvel Super-Heroes - Voodoo Spider-Man!

Marvel Super-Heroes #14 offers up not a new hero nor gives an existing character space to develop, but rather delivers one of Marvel's most successful characters in a story which was done apparently as a fill-in. Stan Lee and Ross Andru with the magnificent help of Bill Everett on inks give us a story in which Spidey fights a villain he never ever meets. The Sorcerer has vast mental powers based on years of study with mystics around the world and he also seems to be pretty handy in the laboratory since he has his very own "Synthetic Man" (also dubbed a "Hollow Man" at one point). To test his own powers and to announce his villainy to the world he uses a Voodoo doll to give Spider-Man (and consequently Peter Parker) powerful headaches and ultimately uses his control to make Peter catch a flight and come the New Orleans which is of course celebrating Mardi Gras. There Spidey encounters the Synthetic Man who he fights with limited effectiveness. The Sorcerer had sent a package to NYC addressed to Spider-Man and his hope was that the authorities would get the package and learn of their new super-villain. But the package is deemed undeliverable and is returned. When the postman rings the doorbell (and I'm sure he rings twice..they always do) it creates a short in the system which controls the Synthetic Man and which is attached to the Sorcerer's nogging and seemingly kills him ending the threat as the Synthetic Man walks into the Gulf and disappears. Spidey heads home without any clue what has happened.

This is a fun story, light and breezy and seeing Spidey handled by Ross Andru is a treat since he's almost my favorite Spidey artist after Ditko. I loved Bill Everett's inks and only wish he'd done more. The story by Stan is just okay, but that's okay. I don't know if there were any repercussions from this story, such as the Sorcercer didn't really die or the Synthetic Man was found or something. Seems like a nifty story there maybe. This story came at a time when Spidey was dominating Marvel with his new thirty-five cent magazine hitting the stands at this same time. Decent stuff!

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