Well, here it is, time for the John Romita Sr. finale! You know, Jazzy John is most notably known for his romance work, and of course, Spider-Man. He did do a fantastic job though on everything he touched, as evidence showed in my first post. As we move further into his career, lets look at some of his other work for Marvel. His runs on Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, and Captain America, are also most excellent! Three cheers for Jazzy John Romita! Enjoy!
Well, after my tribute to Big John Buscema last week, I’m on to the next face on my Mount Rushmore of comic book artists, with Jazzy John Romita! This man is nothing short of a legend, from his early work at Timely Comics (a precursor to Marvel), then onto becoming one of the industries all-time greatest romance artists, then a return to Marvel that would see him follow the incredibly talented Steve Ditko on Spider-Man. This is where Romita would make his mark, but he also penciled Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and many other Marvel titles before being named Marvel’s art director!
Here are a few of his early pages from Menace, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, and more! Enjoy!
Instead of the usual one issue spotlight, I’ve decided to send off February and Jack Kirby with a bang! Here are four awesome covers by the ‘King’, on one of my favorite series, The Invaders! He did some splendid covers for this book, and with Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins on story and interiors, respectively, you couldn’t ask for a better team effort! So, thank you, Jack Kirby, for your monumental contributions to the comic book industry! Enjoy!
In this, the penultimate post of February, and of my month-long Jack Kirby tribute, I give you a gem of a story! Captain America versus the Black Panther! You’ve got to love superhero fights, as they are almost as cool as super villain fights! In these two reprints, Cap heads to Wakanda at the behest of the Black Panther, but when he arrives, he’s attacked by that very same hero! Moments later, T’Challa tells Cap that he attacked him to make sure he was the real deal, and not an impostor. Both men know there are some shenanigans going on in the jungle, so they leave to investigate. They find some crazy device, but it’s very heavily guarded. They manage to subdue just about everybody, but then a beautiful spy knocks them both unconscious with some energy weapon!
After Cap and Panther have been revived slightly, they are being held against their will, but by whom? It doesn’t take long for their tormentor to make his presence known. It’s the nefarious Baron Zemo, and he’s out for revenge against Cap, and also wants to take over the world or some nonsense. Can Cap and the Panther get loose in time to stop him? Who is this mysterious blonde super-spy that seems to be helping Zemo? You must read this story to find out!
This issue is one of those rare instances where you get such a variety of work from Kirby. The jungles of Wakanda, outer space, the Panther’s lair, and everything in-between! Yes, you really get to see Kirby at the height of his powers in this one, and as usual, you wont be disappointed! Enjoy!
All month-long I’ll be spotlighting the work of Jack Kirby, and the last post showed his awesomeness on the Fantastic Four. Honestly though, I loved his run on Captain America just as much! He made Steve look very handsome, and Sharon Carter was very sexy in her panels as well! In this specific issue, Steve and Sharon are trying to enjoy a quiet evening out on the town, but suddenly, their dance is interrupted by some of the Red Skull’s henchmen. They use knockout gas on Steve (not realizing it’s Captain America), and kidnap Sharon. The Skull wants to lure Cap to his island base, where he can destroy him for good!
Cap fights his way through the Skull’s minions (no, not the ones from Despicable Me), and he finds Sharon, chained up in a cell. He frees her, but then must face the Skull and his generals. Cap manages to escape with Sharon, but the Skull is confident that he wont get far. The Skull holds a detonator in his hands, and prepares to hit the switch! Will Cap and Sharon survive? I hope you enjoy my Kirby tribute this month, and rest assured, it’ll stay at this height for the month! See you in three days!
One of Marvel’s best titles on any list, in the 70’s, has to be Marvel Team-Up! From one issue to the next, you’d get two heroes (Spider-Man, plus one), battling against all sorts of crazy villains, creatures, or just shenanigans of some sort. This was a great formula, and although it sounds like it would be tough to keep going at a great pace, it wasn’t thanks to creators like Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), and Al Milgrom (cover)! Enjoy!
Alright, so, the tag line of this book might be slightly misleading, but it certainly doesn’t diminish the pure awesomeness of the issue! The first story (Stan Lee & the late, great, Gene Colan) is a Vietnam story with ‘ol Shellhead. The second story features Captain America (by Stan Lee & Jack ‘King’ Kirby), as he and Nick Fury battle it out with A.I.M.! Cover by Jack ‘King’ Kirby & Frank Giacoia! Enjoy!
A reprint of Avengers #56 (1968), this book is a fantastic look at Captain America, as he and four other Avengers (Black Panther, Wasp, Giant Man, & Hawkeye) travel back in time using Dr. Doom’s time platform. They go back to try and determine if Bucky really died on that fateful day back in WWII at the hands of Baron Zemo! This gem was brought to us by Roy Thomas and Big John Buscema! One must wonder if Ed Brubaker used this story as a springboard for his “Winter Soldier” story. Hmmm… Enjoy!
Magazines and Monsters! 