I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to one of the most exciting creators at Marvel in the early 70's, Jim Starlin. I figure this would be a good place to discuss CAPTAIN MARVEL, WARLOCK, MASTER OF KUNG FU, and anything else he's been involved in over the years.
Just posted a mammoth post at my blog, spotlighting Starlin's 1st 4 WARLOCK episodes. Enjoy!
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Of course, WARLOCK is about as non-Silver Age as you can get. By that I mean, whenever you see Jim Starlin's name in the credits, you know that the Silver Age had come to an end at Marvel and they were moving on. Steve Gerber is another name that has that same non-Silvery resonance.
I read a bunch of the WARLOCK stories back in the late 70s when Marvel reprinted them in the back of their Silver Surfer reprint comic (FANTASY MASTERPIECES, I believe). I've always wanted to read the whole shooting match, and now I see that Marvel will be making that possible this summer when they issue ESSENTIAL WARLOCK. But I wonder how much of the Starlin experience I'll be missing out on without the color. That was one cosmic comic!
Another possibility for you would be to pick up the Warlock Marvel Masterworks volume. It not only picks up all his appearances, but also crosses over into Marvel Two in One Annual and an Avengers annual, as I recall. If you're into it, this is the place to score it all.
"Of course, WARLOCK is about as non-Silver Age as you can get. By that I mean, whenever you see Jim Starlin's name in the credits, you know that the Silver Age had come to an end at Marvel and they were moving on. Steve Gerber is another name that has that same non-Silvery resonance."
You're probably right. I did a quick search, and wasn't sure whether this would fit better here or under "General Comics Discussion". I do tend to associate the "Silver Age" with FUN and imagination, and the "Bronze Age" with gloom and depression. On the other hand, somehow, these days the dividing line in my mind, for Marvel, seems to be before or after Gerry Conway as EIC... or maybe Jim Shooter.
Nick Simon DID post some Paul Gulacy MASTER OF KUNG FU stuff at the Silver Age Marvel site, and I used that as an excuse to post the 70's run of STRANGE TALES covers (the tail-end of which were DR. STRANGE reprints). Assuming the site ever gets revived, I can picture myself at least expanding it to include the early-70's stuff I think was good... like the earliest Johnny Blaze GHOST RIDERs and HERO FOR HIRE, among other things.
WARLOCK by Starlin has been reprinted as least twice in color (I think). And there's MASTERWORKS now.
I was lamenting how, for a while there, the 2nd half of the WARLOCK run and on, Starlin began doing just layouts, with an increasing number of "finishers", who, whatever their talents, never quite "did it" for me when it came to "STARLIN!!" art. This included Steve Leialoha, Tony DeZuniga, and, most bizarrely, Alex Nino (GAH!!!!). When Joe Rubinstein debuted in AVENGERS ANNUAL #7, I thought, AT LAST!!! Somebody who knows what they're doing. And you know what? More than 30 years, and Rubinstein is one of the very few inkers I'vce ever seen who has never turned in a bad job. I mean, hell-- he even made GIL KANE look fabulous (and I normally can't stand Kane).
he even made GIL KANE look fabulous
Sacrilege! Gil Kane is one of the giants, at least of the Silver Age. Of course, for me the best Kane is Kane inked by Anderson, Greene or (too rarely) Wood. It always galls me that THE ATOM got Kane and Anderson almost every time out, whereas on the much better title, GREEN LANTERN, it was usually always Kane and Giella. My favorite Kane stuff of the Silver Age has gotta be his short but classic run on CAPTAIN ACTION.
Yeah, Anderson, Greene, Wood, all fabulous. Lots of people cite Kane-Adkins, but Wood blows Adkins totally out of the water on Kane, as he also does with Sinnott (although, sometimes, Kane-Sinnott wasn't bad). But in Kane's later years, Rubinstein was the BEST "new" inker I ever saw on Kane.
I used to be very impressed with Kane-Romita... before I realized exactly what Romita was doing (well, sometimes). Even so, Romita was wayyyyyyyyy better on Kane that Giacoia, from the same period.
For what it's worth, I always thought the best inkers for Starlin's work were either Al Milgrom or Starlin himself.
I'll go with that. You know what's crazy? In the 80's, under Jim Shooter, somehow, Al Milgrom became one of the WORST inkers working for Marvel. I mean, I've seen inkers' work got to HELL, but this was in a (lack of) class all on its own. GHASTLY, horrible decline in quality. Now here's the punch line: somewhere in the 90's, Milgrom re-teamed with Starlin... and he GOT his quality back. I mean, it was STUNNING. I've never seen an inker go THAT bad who "came back" that way. I think I evenr mentioned it to Jim Starlin the day I met him in Philly. I was that impressed.
After seeing the "Clowns" episode of WARLOCK, I kept wishing Starlin would have done a run of DR. STRANGE. He did get on the book for a few issues-- in the wake of Marv Wolfman's meamndering, directrionless and pointless non-epic. But he only did the writing and layouts, leaving the finished pencils & inks to Al Milgrom (pencils) and Rudy Nebres (inks). Even crazier, he stayed just long enough to "fix" the story, then jumped ship and left it to other to finish (Stern, Sutton & Chan). I had to wait for the "INFINITY" crossovers to see Starlin draw Dr. Strange (he did art on some of that-- didn't he?).
...Henry , by " Clowns " do you mean that San/Roy-caricaturing ish o' STRANGE TALES that got Starlin fired from Marvel at the time when he managed to sneak it by The Powers and get it printed ?
Henry R. Kujawa said:
Emerkeith Davyjack:
"...Henry , by " Clowns " do you mean that San/Roy-caricaturing ish o' STRANGE TALES that got Starlin fired from Marvel at the time when he managed to sneak it by The Powers and get it printed ?"
Uhh... PROBABLY. See the Ditko influence!
I seem to vaguely recall Starlin "getting fired", but how can this be, when the NEXT episode appeared like clockwork (and in WARLOCK #9) just 2 months later?
According to my index, the editor at the time was Len Wein. Beginning with WARLOCK #10, it was Marv Wolfman. Both nice guys, I'm sure, but neither one the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.
First off, I suggest putting any older-comics discussions here rather than in the General Board. We're not particularly sticklers about just talking about SA comics, just because it says Mr. Silver Age on the title. It's hard to contain discussions to the SA even if they start there, in any event, and there's no reason they have to. Certainly Starlin is close enough if we can continually bring up Goody Rickels. And no, that was not an invitation.
I have fond memories of that Captain Marvel/Warlock material, because I read it in college--it was one of the few comics worth reading in college in those days. Starlin's Cap and Warlock, along with the Englehart-Brunner Dr. Strange, MOKF, TOD, and maybe a couple others. (There certainly wasn't much at DC to look at.)
I actually think the comics might improve in b&w, at least over the originals, because the printing was so abysmal and the art was pretty detailed. I'd be curious just how good the MW version looks.
My problem with Wood as an inker is that everything ended up looking like Wood rather than the penciller. I think that's true of a few others, too. They don't enhance, they dominate. Granted, no inker could get rid of Kane's up-the-nose shots.
It's always hard to know what goes into the work produced. It's possible in the 1980s that Milgrom was Marvel's go-to guy for doing last-minute stuff, because he'd turn it out, even if it wasn't great. That made him a great team player and got him lots of work, but it wouldn't have impressed the fans. I don't if that's what happened, but it's a possibility.
-- MSA
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