80s Marvel

The Fantastic Four #213 December 1979 In Final Battle! Script: Marv Wolfman Illustrations: John Byrne & Joe Sinnott Letters: J Costanza Colours: Ben Sean In the last post (Thor #290) I mentioned that the ongoing story in Thor at the time had started life in Jack Kirby's Eternals series, and was moved over to Thor when that book was cancelled. Something similar was happening at the same time with the Fantastic Four picking up on a story from Nova, which ended its original twenty five issue run in mid 1979. While Nova himself had left the stage by this point, we join the Four here at the climax of a battle between Nova's arch-nemesis The Sphinx and the planet-devouring all powerful being Galactus himself. The Four have been aged by Skrull technology, or at least three of them have. The Human Torch is still very much his old, or young, self. And also in the mix is Terrax, who at this point is the Herald of Galactus. Both Terrax and the Sphinx would ...

Thor 290. December 1979. Ring Around The Red Bull Writer: Roy Thomas Pencils: Arvell Jones Inks: Chic Stone Colours: Carl Gafford Letters: Joe Rosen This is essentially a filler episode, which serves to get Thor back to Earth and set up the next stage of the Eternals storyline. A little background here. Jack Kirby's Eternals ran for nineteen issues from July 1976, but was eventually cancelled with most of its major plots and themes left unfinished. The original idea had been for the Eternals to exist in a separate universe to the Marvel heroes, but this had been overturned in order to enable crossover appearances that the company hoped would prop up sales on the flagging title. This meant that after the main title was dropped, the cosmic events that the series was leading up to needed to be resolved. Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald took on the task of completing the story, mostly in the pages of Thor. This particular issue revolves around a mi...

Power Man and Iron Fist #60 Writer: Jo Duffy Art: Marie Severin/ Steve Leialoha Letters: Diana Albers Colours: Severin https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/56367/power_man_and_iron_fist_1978_60 The Terrorist Manifesto Jo Duffy's run on Power Man and Iron Fist is about as close as you will find to a definitive take on the characters, and here we catch up early on that run. It is noteworthy that as early as 1979, Marvel were employing multiple women on this title, with Duffy, artist and colourist Maria Severin and letterer Diana Albers teaming to produce an action thriller with some interesting implications. We join the party in the aftermath of events from the previous issue. Luke Cage has saved the crew from being blown up and Misty Knight has had Danny's friend Alan Cavenaugh arrested for the bombing. Why? Well, it turns out Alan is a former terrorist, and has form. More on that later. The opening page has one of those charming sidebars with th...