The Eyepatch Story

Astonishingly, we've already reached The Tattie Holidays; yesterday was one for soup and a scarf. School is now closed for two weeks and that means the countdown to Chrismas is imminent. It also means I may be posting a bit more frequently. I'm thinking about changing the name of the blog since coming across another, older one that references the same Squeeze album- but as yet, I can't think of anything that serves as well to cover Bronze Age comics, Dr Who, and cult telly (which is largely what we do here!)


Speaking of other blogs, I wanted to expand on an entry I posted on the delightful Bronze Age Babies site at the end of September. The premise was to discuss this topic: what if Captain America and Bucky had both been found alive by the Avengers?

 

 I was immediately reminded of the story above, which I read this summer in the first What If reprint volume. I also read a handful of Bucky/Winter Soldier stories and to be honest, I didn't get much of a feel for the character; a brainwashed Soviet super-assassin doesn't speak to me, so I'm visualising the iteration of Bucky from the Thomas/Robbins Invaders.

 
When the Avengers rescue both Cap and Bucky from the ice, I see unofficial mascot Rick Jones and Bucky developing a kind of sibling rivalry initially but Teen Brigader Rick doesn't strike me as the type to really resent Barnes.
When Iron Man, Hank and Jan quit, Bucky and Rick go in search of the Human Torch and Toro, to bolster the ranks of the Assemblers. They track down the adult Toro with the aid of the Torch's Forties sidekick Mary Mitchell, the former Sun Girl and now a mature SHIELD operative, Agent 12. ( I bet Roy Thomas or Englehart would have made her Sue and Johnny's mother Mary, who allegedly died when her surgeon husband couldn't save her. Maybe SHIELD forced her to fake her own death?!)

This leads to a guest-appearance from the FF as Mary and the boys try to rescue the Original Torch from the clutches of the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. The New Avengers (Cap, Hawkeye, Wanda and Pietro) subsequently gain two new members, the Torch and Toro. This, of course, means there are three Torches at Marvel - and two of them are adults.

Two New Avengers circa 1965

In 1966, when Galactus banishes the Surfer to Earth, the android Torch offers to become his new herald, with the proviso that he only feasts on uninhabited worlds (a la Frankie Raye)

 Even an Android can change colour

In 1967, Ultron unleashes The Vision, one of the Mad Thinker's retooled androids. Toro has been around enough androids to be able to temporarily deactivate this one, however, with guidance from Hank Pym and T'Challa. Of course, this is a revision (ahem) of the Golden Age version, with the power to flit back and forth from the Negative Zone (where the FF had previously dumped him). So, instead of being a wraith-like figure, Green Vizh pops up like the Vanisher, in a vaporous cloud.

"This ish- Bucky DIES!!!"/ Sam Wilson as Bucky

In 1969, Jim Steranko kills off Bucky, who sacrifices himself heroically saving Cap from Madame Hydra. Sam Wilson is subsequently introduced as the New Bucky. In 1971, Mike Friedrich scripts a scene where Sam receives some jibes about the negative connotations of the name. He subsequently adopts the identity of Power Man and is Marvel's first African-American solo star.

 My artist of choice for this What If is George Tuska. I've tried to stay true to the tropes of the original Thomas issues. I regret writing out the Falcon and changing Captain Marvel's dynamic (since my Vision could retrieve him from the Neg Zone) but I've never been comfortable with the Shazam homage that bonded Rick Jones with Mar-Vell. Nor was I keen on the more mercenary aspects of Power Man's schtick.

Luke Cage is pretty much the most prominent black superhero at Marvel and in comics at present, although the movie version of Nick Fury might change that. Speaking of Steranko above, I recalled yesterday that my first exposure to his work was this story:

 Since I have absolutely no recollection of the Dr. Strange tale cover-featured in this issue of ,er, Strange Tales, I think I originally read it in a Thorpe and Porter Double Double comic- possibly this one:
 

If you'd like to sell me a copy, PM me!

 My second encounter with Fury was this issue.

 There was a piece of SHIELD graffiti in Todd Street in Strathaven, across from the old railway station (now Sainsbury's side entrance ).The acronym used to thrill me because I didn't know any kids who'd heard of the agency; it was like a secret message from America and Marvel itself!
That would all change,of course, in the autumn of 1972. Here are the first two landmark issues of Mighty World of Marvel, which you might have been able to find in the shops nearly forty years ago today:

 For nearly a decade, Saturday was synonymous with British Marvel 

Steranko's work reminds me of a fusion of Kirby and Neal Adams: wild sci-fi imaginings blended with  naturalism. Because he's really a Silver Age pioneer, I haven't previously discussed his work on "Place". I only really began to appreciate the Fury strip when it was reprinted as the second colour feature in the original Captain Britain. It was a sexy, psychedelic reworking of the Saturday morning serial, ending with the revelation that it had all been a grand game between Doom and his android- Hindu-death-goddess opponent the Prime Mover!

My first ever Fury story sticks in my mind because it tied into the real-life Northeast blackout of November 1965 which affected over 30 milion people in the USA and Canada.

 Neatly for us, it's also the central event in AudioGo's latest Doctor Who release.

Frequently, I find these talking books much more soporific than the Big Finish full-cast plays; they lull me to sleep - no mean feat for a stressed-out, middle-aged neophyte English teacher and part-time insomniac. Unfortunately, this also means I have only the sketchiest, dream-like recollection of the plot resolution. The plot revolves around an alien experiment which poisons the water supply of NYC ;the symptoms include humans turning into ice statues.That much I do recall.
This one is read by Stuart "Nixon" Milligan; his Doctor sounds a little prissy but thankfully he doesn't attempt  "Ian" Gillan's Inversneckie accent. Given Milligan's previous role in the series, the period setting and the spindly, business-suited aliens who seemed exactly like the Silents, I was expecting a prequel to Day of the Moon- but didn't get one. I can also picture Morgan Freeman in the role of cabbie and alien abductee Clint Carter. Unlike Eye of the Jungle, however, this doesn't sound like a generic Who adventure and is as close to Doctor DW Who the Movie as we're likely to get.

Next: Unshriiiiiivennnn!!!

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