80s Marvel

MARVEL TWO IN ONE #58 To The Nth Power! (The Pegasus Project. Pt 6) Writers: Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio Artists: George Perez, Gene Day Letters: Costanza Colours: Gafford This story has a lot of special resonances for me. I had never read it before, but in some ways it sets up storylines that I was enjoying a decade later. Marvel Two In One is sometimes regarded as the little brother of Marvel Team Up. And the concepts are broadly similar. Each teams a Marvel icon with a revolving cast of supporting characters. But while MTU featured Spider-Man, Marvel's biggest hitter of all, MTIO had to rely on a guy who did not even have his own solo title. Ben Grimm, the blue-eyed, brick-headed Thing of the Fantastic Four was always an unlikely lead. This particular issue brings us to the end of The Pegasus Project storyline. (Also known as Project: Pegasus.) The Project itself had been around for some time already, and would continue on to new life in later storie...

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...

Hail True Believers! And welcome to the wondrous world of wild writings, the motherlode of Marvel masterpiece musings, the site of second-rate Stan Lee soundbites! Yes, you have stumbled upon my blog about 80s Marvel Comics! A little background. My Mum tells a story of when I was just a boy, picking up a comic book from the local newsagent. She was wary of the bright colours and lurid art style, and questioned the shopkeeper (who was from somewhere near Newcastle, but for the purposes of this story, you can totally picture him as Stan Lee, making an unlikely cameo. If that makes you happy. And if doesn't, you may be in the wrong place.) She asked him if this publication was likely to adversely affect my development, would it warp my young mind and lead me on the early steps to a life of misadventure, drug abuse, crime and sexual deviancy? The kindly gent behind the shop counter pointed to the corner box of the title and told her that if it said Marvel, it would be absol...