What Comic Books Have You Read Today?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!

[Richard Mantle]

I have the Starlord trade - the equivalent of an Epic volume which I think covers all the early stuff before his Annihilation revival. Loved it.

I too think he started as a non-MU or a Future story but got merged into current continuity.

Modern Starlord is do different I almost wish they were different characters - Like Mar-Vell and any other Captain Mar-Vell .

The romance with Kitty grew around the 'Trial of Jean Grey' X-Men crossovers which was quite a nice organic relationship but was dulled by Bendis's plots going nowhere! (Battle of the atom!)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Wasn't Starlord considered not to be part of the Marvel Universe originally?"

It wasn't really specified one way or the other, but the galaxy's a big place. The Claremont/Byrne reboot struck me as a cross between Star Wars and Space Ghost.

"...when was the mini-series published? "

Much later... 1996.

"And when was he 100% in the MU?"

I think midway through the 12-issue Thanos [meant-to-be] "ongoing" series, when Giffen took over from Starlin.

[Detective 445]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

"And when was he 100% in the MU?"

I think midway through the 12-issue Thanos [meant-to-be] "ongoing" series, when Giffen took over from Starlin.

Apparently, he was shown to be part of 616 continuity in an Inhumans mini-series by Carlos Pacheco prior to it being solidified in the Thanos series. I haven't read that Inhumans book so I can't confirm.

[Richard Willis]

I think what hurt the original version of Guardians of the Galaxy was that they were stuck in the future with little hope of interacting with the rest of the Marvel characters.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

CAPTAIN AMERICA (#153-156): First let me make it clear these four issues are not among those I got rid of in college. These four issues comprise “The Captain America of the 1950s,” one of the best and most important Captain America stories of the era. For those of you who may not know, Captain America was published through the mid-1950s. When Stan & Jack revived the character in Avengers #4, they revised the character’s back-story so that he was apparently killed in action in 1945. This raised the question “What about the Captain America of the 1950s? (It should have raised the question “What about the Captain America of 1945-1955?” but that’s a story for another time.) This is the story of the Captain America of the 1950s.

In a nutshell, this Captain America and Bucky were replacements of the originals. They both gained super strength using an imperfect version of the super soldier formula (one without “vita-rays”). Without the vita-rays, they pair became increasingly unstable, seeing “commies” and other sundry threats to America where none existed. Finally, the government had no choice but to put them into cryogenic suspension until a cure could be found for their condition. Before that happened, however, a government worker, disgruntled with the way America was headed, released them on his own.

Issue #153 was only Steve Englehart’s fourth professional comic book script, and he hit it out of the part his fourth time at bat. Actually, #153 itself is a slow build. It starts with 11 pages of the adolescent love triangle between Captain America and the Contessa Allegra de Fontaine and Nick Fury. From there it’s one page of Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter on vacation, one page of the Falcon one his own, and one page of the Sgt. Muldoon subplot before the main plot begins on the last six pages.

One thing I had never noticed before is that, when Sam Wilson sees Sharon and Cap off at the airport (p.12), Sam kisses Sharon on the cheek, with an older couple glaring at them aghast with shocj=k and disapproval.

Perhaps the highlight of the story (for me, anyway) is #155, which reprints actual pages from Young Men #24 which reintroduced Captain America back in the ‘50s.

One time, my brother had to attend a teachers meeting in Miami, and his district made him stay over a Saturday night to get the excursion rate, even though the convention was over on Friday. He invited me to fly down and spend the weekend with him. On Friday while he was in meetings, I took a walk around the down Biscayne Blvd. Completely unexpectedly I came upon the “Torch of Friendship” monument and thought, “Hey, Captain America #156!”

Looking at that cover today, I think it’s still as timely as ever, as symbolic representation of the “two Americas.” (I can hardly wait until Howard Chaykin’s Divided States begins next month.) Incidentally, I also kept issues #157-158, but I have no idea why. Will find out soon.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

Velvet, Vol. 3: The Man Who Stole the World
Ed Brubaker, writer; Steve Epting, artist; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colors
Image Comics, 2016

The spy series comes to an explosive conclusion, but first there is plenty of deceit and double-crossing: business as usual, in other words. The trail has led Velvet Templeton back to the United States, to Washington D.C. She makes moves to shake up the mystery conspiracy enough to make them reveal themselves. There are still plenty of surprises, and a high body count. Smart as Velvet is, she still has to scramble when her plans go awry--and loses an ally in the process. In the end she does solve the mystery, and has her revenge. The ultimate solution probably came as more of a surprise than it should have; I realized that I hadn't been paying close attention to the the time period and the setting. Without spoiling anything, it's safe to say that the story ties in to significant historical political events, proposing a kind of alternate history.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I need to go back and reread that whole series. I loved it, but the slower schedule toward the end made it harder for me to fully engage with the story. Spy stories are all about the pieces coming together with a certain elegance, and they lose something when you forget what some of those pieces were.

Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) said:

Velvet, Vol. 3: The Man Who Stole the World
Ed Brubaker, writer; Steve Epting, artist; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colors
Image Comics, 2016

The spy series comes to an explosive conclusion, but first there is plenty of deceit and double-crossing: business as usual, in other words. The trail has led Velvet Templeton back to the United States, to Washington D.C. She makes moves to shake up the mystery conspiracy enough to make them reveal themselves. There are still plenty of surprises, and a high body count. Smart as Velvet is, she still has to scramble when her plans go awry--and loses an ally in the process. In the end she does solve the mystery, and has her revenge. The ultimate solution probably came as more of a surprise than it should have; I realized that I hadn't been paying close attention to the the time period and the setting. Without spoiling anything, it's safe to say that the story ties in to significant historical political events, proposing a kind of alternate history.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I just read DC Super Stars #1, with two Teen Titans stories: "Monster Bait," in which the Titans team with Speedy to help a kid blackmailed by crooks into stealing plans from the scientist he's interning for, and "Skis of Death," which is one of my favorite Silver Age Teen Titans stories. The team helps a friend who's running a ski lodge fend off people that are trying to scuttle his business (for a variety of reasons). Nick Cardy was a truly underappreciated talent. The man could draw like a fiend.

[Luke Blanchard]

I've got that one! The cover was by Cardy. I think he didn't draw them again until he did the cover for Teen Titans Annual No. 1, 1967 Issue in 1999.

The GCD tells me he subsequently drew a character profile for Silver Age Secret Files #1, and the covers for Silver Age: Teen Titans #1, The Silver Age Teen Titans Archives #1, and Teen Titans Lost Annual #1.

One of the good things about the series is the way it depicts the TTers as teens who like hanging out together. That's true to life.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

I recently read the first trade of the latest Flash series titled Lightning Strikes Twice. This is the story in which a speed force storms hits Central City and turns dozens of the citizens into speedsters. We then get the arrival of a new villain, Godspeed. Who it was was pretty obvious. Still, this was a good comic. With a lot of different characters getting the spotlight.

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

One thing I had never noticed before is that, when Sam Wilson sees Sharon and Cap off at the airport (p.12), Sam kisses Sharon on the cheek, with an older couple glaring at them aghast with shocj=k and disapproval.

There was an earlier sequnce in (I think) the Captain America book that had a contemporary (1968-1969, I think) romance between Peggy Carter and Gabe Jones. IIRC, they were just standing next to each other and it was all in the scripting. I have found references to it but no citation of an issue number.

At the time I thought it was a breakthrough, and said as much to a longtime acquaintance/friend in a letter. It turned out that he was raised to not approve of interracial romances. When I wanted to discuss it further he cut me off completely. It was pretty upsetting at the time and has stuck in my memory. No longer having the books or reprints of them, does anyone know where this appeared?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

That scene sounds very familiar to me, Richard, but I think you're misremembering when it happened. Peggy Carter has not yet been reintroduced into modern copntinuity; that scene is yet to come in the Englehart era. I'll let you know when I get to it. Maybe Englehart has a behind-the-scenes story to tell in the introduction as well.