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Re: The Comic Book thread

#31 Post by ConchRepublican »

Roger Stern was an excellent writer. He had some great Avengers runs.

I unfortunately never read his Captain American stints, there's a lot I need to catch up on. Thank God the industry has been in the crapper the last decade or so, I can catch up with collections of things I missed earlier on. :-P
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#32 Post by Little Garwood »

You could probably finish reading the Stern Cap in one sitting, since it was such a brief run. Great stuff.

Okay, long-winded post coming up...

I've never(!) been to a comic convention but when I saw that I had the chance to meet artist Mike Zeck yesterday at Florida SuperCon, I bought tickets immediately for me and the Mrs.

Zeck comes across as a quiet, soft-spoken guy, and, I kid you not when I say that he flashed a smile and his eyes lit up when I asked him to sign my copy of Master of Kung Fu #82. He said "It's nice to see one of these again." He talked about artist Gene Day and recalled his MoKF inker fondly, talking about how both he and Day loved martial arts stuff and so they had that in common when they began working together. Zeck even wryly commented that Gene would do any and all work asked of him just so long as he had plenty of cigarettes, coffee, and doughnuts to fuel him, all of which Zeck pointed out, contributed to Day's early death.

I also said, without a hint of hyperbole, that he, Zeck, was the "savior" of Master of Kung Fu, as it had been on perilous artistic ground since Gulacy's departure. Zeck laughed and said, "Yeah, because the guys they had on it couldn't turn the work in on time."

Image

Also met former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter--really nice and charming(!) guy, quite different from all the negative things I've read about the man concerning his years at Marvel and how he "chased off" the talent. I also met Jim Shooter on Sunday, who signed anything and everything anyone put in front of him! One pot-bellied, long-haired-but balding type had no less than fifty books that Shooter signed without question, even if the majority of said books only involved Shooter by virtue of his being E-in-C at the time. Shooter was telling stories the whole time and having a good time with the small crowd that had gathered around his table.

When it got to my turn and the one Avengers comic (#214) I brought for signing, I told Shooter that he, by virtue of being Marvel's EiC, was an architect of my childhood. He smiled and you could tell he was touched by the compliment. Shooter replies to remarks by telling anecdotes about his time in Marvel and how Stan Lee's work made him feel and how inspirational it was. I then told Shooter that the very comic he was signing made an impression on me, which is when Ghost Rider "smoked" Iron Man and Iron man was stunned and panicked by what had happened to him. Shooter laughed, said "Ha! I'm glad I made an impression!" Obviously pleased to know that something he wrote made an impression on a reader.

What a thrill. :)

On a negative note, I was turned off by the CGC vultures and guys like the fifty-books-to-be-signed guy and another greed merchant who was a neurotic mess; worrying about where and what he wanted signed. Those types aren't true fans but rather speculative creeps who are the major reason the comic industry is in the shape its in and why artists have to charge for their autographs (though small fees they are; except "Man of the People" Neal Adams who charged $30.00 a signature, whereas "Evil Ruiner of All Comics" Jim Shooter didn't charge anything for autographs or photos.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#33 Post by ConchRepublican »

Very cool!

Zeck sounds like a cool guy. He's an under-rated workhorse from that time. Not a Byrne or Perez type (IMHO) but solid. I was a big fan of Master of Kung Fu as well. If only a licensing agreement could be reached with the Rohmer estate so they could be collected. It was a really good run.

I went to my first and only comic book convention around 1982, before it had the cool "Comic-Con" name. It was in the lobby of the Hilton I think in Grand Central Station in New York. I was about 15 (a young 15 at that), and had a chance to talk to Bob Layton for a minute. I was disappointed he left his run on Iron Man, one of my fave titles at the time. The art really dropped off when he left, and I wanted to get an idea why decided to go. I didn't get the whole business side of things at the time, but he came across as an arrogant jerk with a laughed off response. Something like "What, I was supposed to do it forever?" or something like that.

I agree about what has happened to the industry. I have very few collector quality issues because . . . I READ THEM! People would freak out, buy two, one to read, one to save, get all the foil stamped hologram variation covers . . . it got crazy.

Avengers, Invaders, the Satellite JLA, All-Star Squadron, Iron Man, X-Men, Teen Titans . . . some great runs.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#34 Post by Little Garwood »

ConchRepublican wrote:Very cool!

Zeck sounds like a cool guy. He's an under-rated workhorse from that time. Not a Byrne or Perez type (IMHO) but solid. I was a big fan of Master of Kung Fu as well. If only a licensing agreement could be reached with the Rohmer estate so they could be collected. It was a really good run.
Zeck had lots of Punisher fans come by, but I was the only one I saw with anything MoKF related; it's quite early in his career. Zeck's lighting up like he did was the highlight of my convention day (the other was talking with Jim Shooter). It was a HUGE thrill getting to chat with him. I myself consider Mike Zeck the definitive Captain America artist--and not just because his run (done with writer J.M. DeMatteis) was during my comics-reading peak. Zeck does the raw, kinetic energy and motion kind of thing so well but the man himself is as soft spoken as they get. His work also conveys total over-the-top insanity brilliantly.
ConchRepublican wrote:I went to my first and only comic book convention around 1982, before it had the cool "Comic-Con" name. It was in the lobby of the Hilton I think in Grand Central Station in New York. I was about 15 (a young 15 at that), and had a chance to talk to Bob Layton for a minute. I was disappointed he left his run on Iron Man, one of my fave titles at the time. The art really dropped off when he left, and I wanted to get an idea why decided to go. I didn't get the whole business side of things at the time, but he came across as an arrogant jerk with a laughed off response. Something like "What, I was supposed to do it forever?" or something like that.
Sorry you had a less-than-stellar experience with Bob Layton. I'm a huge fan of Layton's (first) run on Iron Man and the run in general has imo never been topped. Layton was the glue that kept it all together. Wait, let me just say it again: I friggin' LOVE that run on Iron Man.

Speaking of post-Layton (first run, anyway) Iron Man, I recently picked up the Marvel Epic Collection The Enemy Within, which consists of Shell Head's adventures in Iron Man #158-177. Like you said, the art did drop off, but I'm a long-time fan of Denny O'Neil's, so for that reason alone it was worth picking up.

John Romita Jr. was at the con too but split before I could get him to sign the one book I brought along. He still has "Rock Star" status and looks not much older than he did thirty years ago! He must be living right. :wink: His line had a large amount of greedy (and greasy) fans with crap they wanted him to sign. He's not a huge favorite of mine but on Iron Man when accompanied by Layton's inks, JRJR was superb.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#35 Post by ConchRepublican »

Little Garwood wrote:Zeck had lots of Punisher fans come by, but I was the only one I saw with anything MoKF related; it's quite early in his career. Zeck's lighting up like he did was the highlight of my convention day (the other was talking with Jim Shooter). It was a HUGE thrill getting to chat with him. I myself consider Mike Zeck the definitive Captain America artist--and not just because his run (done with writer J.M. DeMatteis) was during my comics-reading peak. Zeck does the raw, kinetic energy and motion kind of thing so well but the man himself is as soft spoken as they get. His work also conveys total over-the-top insanity brilliantly.
I think my one knock against Zeck were his faces, something about them never worked right for me. I remember some parts of Secret Wars being less than stellar, but that could have had to do with the scope and pressures of the project itself.

Little Garwood wrote:Sorry you had a less-than-stellar experience with Bob Layton. I'm a huge fan of Layton's (first) run on Iron Man and the run in general has imo never been topped. Layton was the glue that kept it all together. Wait, let me just say it again: I friggin' LOVE that run on Iron Man.
Eh, no biggie. Probably saved me a lot of money in the long run. :-)

I agree, that run they had on Iron Man is up there with my all time faves, including Perez' Avengers & Byrne's X-Men. I think the only A list villian was Doom, in the great Knightmare arc but Roxxon and Justin Hammer, man he was handled so well as the B and C list supplier, they got him all wrong in the movie. they really should have worked Taskmaster into there somehow. I also liked the Arthur Dearborn/Sunturion character, I thought there was more than could be done with him.

Little Garwood wrote:Speaking of post-Layton (first run, anyway) Iron Man, I recently picked up the Marvel Epic Collection The Enemy Within, which consists of Shell Head's adventures in Iron Man #158-177. Like you said, the art did drop off, but I'm a long-time fan of Denny O'Neil's, so for that reason alone it was worth picking up.
I had such a hard time getting past the art I dropped the title. The Stane storyline could have been decent but everything just looked strange . . the Irwin siblings, Indries Moomji . . . these people replaced Rhodey & Beth and Mrs. Arbogast?!?! I know, Rhodey moved on the wearing the armor, but it was all wrong for me . . .

Little Garwood wrote:John Romita Jr. was at the con too but split before I could get him to sign the one book I brought along. He still has "Rock Star" status and looks not much older than he did thirty years ago! He must be living right. :wink: His line had a large amount of greedy (and greasy) fans with crap they wanted him to sign. He's not a huge favorite of mine but on Iron Man when accompanied by Layton's inks, JRJR was superb.
JRJR is another guy, what happened to him? I can't believe that's the same guy from that IM run. Some of that World War Hulk stuff was atrocious. All those flat faces, hard lines, there was no fluidity . . . and don't get me started on the Superman I've seen. It sure seems he needs a great (cough Layton cough) inker to smooth out his pencils.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#36 Post by Little Garwood »

ConchRepublican wrote:I think my one knock against Zeck were his faces, something about them never worked right for me. I remember some parts of Secret Wars being less than stellar, but that could have had to do with the scope and pressures of the project itself.
The faces thing has always been a criticism and it's part of his style; I can see why some might have trouble with it. Other artists really took that and ran crazily with it in the 1990s, didn't they?
ConchRepublican wrote:I agree, that run they had on Iron Man is up there with my all time faves, including Perez' Avengers & Byrne's X-Men. I think the only A list villian was Doom, in the great Knightmare arc but Roxxon and Justin Hammer, man he was handled so well as the B and C list supplier, they got him all wrong in the movie. they really should have worked Taskmaster into there somehow. I also liked the Arthur Dearborn/Sunturion character, I thought there was more than could be done with him.
I really love those runs as well--I'm just finishing off the Perez issues of The Avengers now--#194-196 and thereabouts; heading towards the "troubled" Avengers #200, as well. I've never read it though I know all the back story. I was fanatically interested in the Claremont-Byrne run as a kid, which I believe I've gone on about in this thread.
ConchRepublican wrote:I had such a hard time getting past the art I dropped the title. The Stane storyline could have been decent but everything just looked strange . . the Irwin siblings, Indries Moomji . . . these people replaced Rhodey & Beth and Mrs. Arbogast?!?! I know, Rhodey moved on the wearing the armor, but it was all wrong for me . . .
The O'Neil-O'Donnell run had to follow the Greatest Iron Man Run of Them All, which I'm sure didn't help a lot of fans' view of it. Kind of like how I felt about Dave Cockrum's second stint on the majority of Uncanny X-Men was a disappointment. it's tough to see Our man Stark at such a low. Rhodey does get a few comedic situations as he's adjusting to the armor, though. He also has some fine "scenes" opposite Stane.

Speaking of Iron Man, I've never read Michelinie and Layton's second run on the book. Here's an interesting interview with David Michelinie where he compares the two Iron Man runs he did with Layton. I'm not sure if that second go around was when Stark had a Gheri-curled mullet hairstyle *puke*. Maybe that was Byrne who gave it to him? He gave Sue Richards one in a storyline late in his epic FF run. :lol:
ConchRepublican wrote:JRJR is another guy, what happened to him? I can't believe that's the same guy from that IM run. Some of that World War Hulk stuff was atrocious. All those flat faces, hard lines, there was no fluidity . . . and don't get me started on the Superman I've seen. It sure seems he needs a great (cough Layton cough) inker to smooth out his pencils.
I don't know what JRJR's been up to lately (or to many of those guys we grew up reading) but Romita comes off as a "Rock star" type, at least in how the fans revere him, not in the way he himself is.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#37 Post by ConchRepublican »

My sister hooked me up for my birthday!

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Re: The Comic Book thread

#38 Post by Little Garwood »

I've been Batman obsessing since August and my comic readinghas consisted of the Batman/Detective Comics of my early-'80s youth, which were written by one of my all-time favorite comic scribes, Doug Moench. His 1983-86 run on the two Bat books don't get much praise and there are some iffy moments, but on the whole I really enjoy it. Moench would return as Batman writer in 1992 and remain until 1998 in a superior run alongside artists Kelley Jones and John Beatty...

...which leads me to my favorite Batman comics decade, the 1990s(!) and the epic that is Knightfall, which I'm also reading.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#39 Post by ConchRepublican »

Little Garwood wrote:
Zeck comes across as a quiet, soft-spoken guy, and, I kid you not when I say that he flashed a smile and his eyes lit up when I asked him to sign my copy of Master of Kung Fu #82. He said "It's nice to see one of these again." He talked about artist Gene Day and recalled his MoKF inker fondly, talking about how both he and Day loved martial arts stuff and so they had that in common when they began working together. Zeck even wryly commented that Gene would do any and all work asked of him just so long as he had plenty of cigarettes, coffee, and doughnuts to fuel him, all of which Zeck pointed out, contributed to Day's early death.

I also said, without a hint of hyperbole, that he, Zeck, was the "savior" of Master of Kung Fu, as it had been on perilous artistic ground since Gulacy's departure. Zeck laughed and said, "Yeah, because the guys they had on it couldn't turn the work in on time."

Image
Speaking of MoKF, did you see this?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... fu-omnibus
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#40 Post by Little Garwood »

Indeed I have! For years no one believed the rights issues would ever be cleared up for this to happen. I'm not an omnibus fan and already have 98% of the MOKF run--much of it bought six years ago partly out of frustration, but also to get as much of it as possible for cheap, which I managed to do.

On a related note, 2015 was the biggest comc book-buying year of my life! :lol: I decided to pick up as many comics from my childhood as I could. Needless to say, this year I have to step back a bit from the comics though I'm often reading them anyway.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#41 Post by Little Garwood »

Currently reading:

JLA Vol 4- Trade paperback which includes the World War III story arc, which I enjoyed for the most part and the legendary Tower of Babel storyline. I read this Grant Morrison-Mark Waid-Howard Porter run on JLA up to issue #26 so the tales told in this trade are new reads for me.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#42 Post by Little Garwood »

Seems I largely prefer original back issues--when prices and lack of reprints allow--of comics over their sterile trade paperback counterparts, so I've been reading some old issues of The Brave and the Bold, which are Batman team ups, and DC Comics Presents, which are Superman teamups. Even though these are comics from 1978-80, I never really read these as a kid, so they're "new" to me. Lots of fun, without all that continuity and consistency nonsense that Marvel was always fixated on.

Conch- Your old buddy Bob Layton was down in South Florida for a comic con. Naturally, I didn't go. Can't tolerate all those greedy fans wanting everything signed and "witnessed" (at ten bucks a pop) by those CGC vultures. Very few real fans go to those conventions.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#43 Post by ConchRepublican »

Little Garwood wrote:Seems I largely prefer original back issues--when prices and lack of reprints allow--of comics over their sterile trade paperback counterparts, so I've been reading some old issues of The Brave and the Bold, which are Batman team ups, and DC Comics Presents, which are Superman teamups. Even though these are comics from 1978-80, I never really read these as a kid, so they're "new" to me. Lots of fun, without all that continuity and consistency nonsense that Marvel was always fixated on.

Conch- Your old buddy Bob Layton was down in South Florida for a comic con. Naturally, I didn't go. Can't tolerate all those greedy fans wanting everything signed and "witnessed" (at ten bucks a pop) by those CGC vultures. Very few real fans go to those conventions.
I actually love the trades. There were only so many comics I could afford back on my allowance so these collections are great to fill in the gaps of great stories. Getting the back issues, while cool, makes for a storage problem, something I dealt with, badly, in my teen years. I like being able to stick them on a bookshelf as well, alongside Tolkien, Twain and Hemingway, just to see people's reactions. :D
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#44 Post by Little Garwood »

I have two shelves of trades, because I wouldn't want to spring for an original copy of, say, Giant-Sze X-Men #1, :wink: but in cases of things unlikely to be reprinted and not expensive, I obviously have to go the back issue route. I also enjoy those old DC House Ads...

At my hacienda, Hemingway occupies three different shelves in two different rooms; big "Papa" fan here.
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Re: The Comic Book thread

#45 Post by ConchRepublican »

Little Garwood wrote:At my hacienda, Hemingway occupies three different shelves in two different rooms; big "Papa" fan here.
Have you seen the movie Papa:Hemingway in Cuba? I caught on the flight, pretty good. Especially in comparison to the unwatchable Suicide Squad and barely viewable X-Men: Apocolypse.
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