Last Saturday, I thought I'd go through to Aberdeen to see if I could get the early-80s Colan/Wolfman Night Force series in hardback. I had no idea that Forbidden Planet was holding a closing down sale.
Apparently, it's been trading for 18 years, although I've only been shopping there since about 2012. They were selling graphic novels with a 75 per cent discount. I didn't find what I was looking for but I got these two for about eighteen quid, saving in the region of about forty!
The shop staff said the company didn't want to renew the lease.It's a big disappointment but it was never as busy as the Glasgow store so it's not surprising. I can still buy some "floppies" in Plan 9 and Asylum but it does feel a bit like I'm being forced online. And, as I said the other week, the manager of our local Waterstone's sounded pessimistic about selling graphic novels in his store.
It was an eventful week at work; as we plan our school comic con on the 20th, we also celebrated the senior dance ( the prom). Like the great Tom Baker, I can't come through a door naturalistically or pose for a photo:
Nae idea what I'm looking at. Ach weel.
In addition to the War of the Realms tie-ins ( Giant Man and New Agents of Atlas) I've been reading quite a few old comics lately, that I've bought on ebay, because I really want a spinner rack for my birthday. I've chosen a few Marvel and DC classics I would choose to display.
I'm hugely enjoying the work of masters like Ditko and Colan. I was also reminded of an idea for an imaginary Marvel Treasury from circa 1976/77 I had some time ago, which would feature a story arc from Avengers comics that are now almost fifty years old.
This is where the story begins- a psychedelic team-up of Doc Strange and the Black Knight, which then continues in the Avengers and a cosmic conflict with Asgardian demon-gods. This is, IIRC, the Black Knight's third guest appearance with the Avengers. In his fourth story arc, which introduces the Grandmaster, he'll become a member - albeit one who lives abroad.
For my Colan Treasury, I might present a precis of this Buscema epic and the next issue, which I got as a tot in Girvan as I've often said here; whether at Easter or in the summer, I'm uncertain.
But then I might not truncate these stories, since they trace the development of Hawkeye. We see the archer burn his arrows as kindling in the splash page. In the next issue his bow string snaps and he doesn't appear to replace it. This is also something of a pinnacle for the Panther - his technology, especially his aircraft- is vital in the arc. He's acting chairman in the next issue and this story suggests political tension in Wakanda as the "human behemoth"M'Baku makes a grab for power.
In the exciting climax, there's a brawl above the atomic furnace, as depicted on the cover and Thomas makes a hip, adult reference to the sets of Barbarella. As with Tiger Shark and Orka in Sub-Mariner and Magneto in X-Men, the anachronistic Man-Ape appears to be buried beneath a mountain of toppling stone ( a Panther idol, in fact). The Black Knight is drugged with Vizh and Hawkeye ( how do you drug a synthezoid, exactly?) and doesn't really see any action.
I've often said before that this was very significant issue for me. I'd been at school for about a year and a half, I think. I'd never seen Vision and Yellowjacket before- nor had I read about the Panther as a member of the team. It was a time of huge change and a bit unsettling.
Interestingly, Dane Whitman vanishes between issues. Did he have an exploit in Wakanda? What else might have happened in this untold tale?
The Panther's ship almost crashes and Hawkeye feels redundant. I believe he really is from Missouri, the Show Me State, like Roy Thomas himself. He certainly says so more than once in the series.
Saving the day, the Vision is the most visually dynamic Avenger in most scenes and his formal, spooky dialogue echoes the cultured and verbose inner monologue of the Panther, who becomes rather redundant at this point, with scientist Hank Pym back on board.
The revamped Yellowjacket isn't the only "new" Avenger however, as Hawkeye decides to go solo to rescue the Black Widow, captive of a triumvirate of old villains at Coney Island. I much prefer the all-blue costume to the red accessorised version that came along a little later.
The Mad Thinker and The Puppet Master, who've been allies since a 1964 issue of the Fantastic Four have joined forces with Shakespeare enthusiast Egghead, an old villain of Ant-Man and no relation to Vincent Price's Bat-tagonist. Egghead makes uses of the pair's android and puppet gimmicks in these stories. In the next issue, he's gone full-on Blofeld, threatening the Earth from a satellite at least two years before the film of Diamonds Are Forever.
Colan's three-page set-up for the destruction of a "small, Mid-Western City" is stupendous. I love this short-lived corner box too.
"Racket-Czar turned Public Crusader" Barney Barton betrays Egghead and leads the Avengers to the satellite. He also has an acrimonious past relationship with an Avenger. Wasp is secretly suspicious of his connection with the new Goliath : " We always assumed ( Hawkeye) was just misunderstood...but if he was hooked up with a big-time hood like Barney Barton... I wonder..."
The Vision leads the assault on the satellite and the team fight some androids in a spectacular double-page spread. Egghead uses a paralysis ray on Avenger puppets ( depicting the costumes of previous Goliath and Hawkeye. Gang leader Barney Barton sacrifices himself to save the Assemblers and in dying, reveals Goliath's name is Clint Barton. Poignantly, the giant comments:"Why shouldn't he know my real name, Hank? After all, he was...my brother!"
In the final Colan story, Egghead recruits the Swordsman, briefly an Avenger himself, to infiltrate the team's hq and eliminate Goliath. I first saw this story in black-and -white in an Alan Class comic, circa 1969/70. The Rathbonish villain makes a dramatic and stylish entrance, right through the page itself!
Neither crook knows Clint Barton has replaced Pym and in flashbacks we discover Swordy was once something of a mentor to the Barton Brothers. In a clever reversal of the classic Bucky/Cap reveal, Clint discovered Swordy embezzling the circus and the future mercenary left the boy for dead. Barney felt Clint was a foolish do-gooder and subsequently cut ties with his brother. Pym tells Clint he needn't be ashamed of his background but Clint wants revenge.
The blade-wielding Swordman's tutoring of Hawkeye will be retconned in the 80s by Tom DeFalco with the introduction an archer character called Trickshot. I've always thought that was a tedious, literal idea which wasn't as tidy or appealing as Thomas' one.
Thomas has fun with Egghead quoting Macbeth and Hamlet. Swordsman is amused when a vengeful Goliath turns on his team mates in a classic Avengers squabble. The Panther and YJ ( of all people) tell Clint they've only been tolerating his anger because he's been bereaved. No wonder he loses his temper. However, it's the gadget-laden sword that the Mandarin devised that finally lays Clint low but when Swordy delivers his prize to Egghead, they turn on each other too. The vain and competitive Swordsman is saved from falling to his death when Clint improvises a bow, displaying his superior skill. Goliath feels he's avenged Barney by apprehending the villains. This nicely complex set of motivations ends in a satisfying way, even if it's an early demonstration of Roy the Boy's preoccupation with continuity.
I re-read these stories in the reprint series Marvel Super Action, which were originally published in the autumn and winter of 1980, when I was at Hamilton Grammar School and just before the death of John Lennon. I also read them previously in the mid-70s, in the early, amalgamated issues of Avengers and Savage Sword of Conan Weekly.
I think a Treasury would have been an excellent format to showcase this storyline, which isn't lauded enough in my opinion. Before his relationship with Shooter soured and he left Marvel to work at DC ( as I indicated at the top of this post!), Colan returned to pencil the Avengers in the very early 80s. I might write about those issues in the near future.
Also coming up this summer: more audio adventures of the Third Doctor; Dark Phoenix; Ditko's Hawk and Dove and the Mark of Kane, again.
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