Showing posts with label Steve Englehart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Englehart. Show all posts

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Doctor Strange (1974) # 14-28, Tomb of Dracula (1972) # 44/45


(I originally read these comics in early/mid September 2015) 

Hmm. Well, I must admit, reading these was something of a slog and has me questioning whether I'm actually a Doctor Strange fan at all! I could only manage one or two issues a day and I couldn't tell you the number of times I felt compelled to break off mid-issue for a snooze (though that possibly says more about me than the comics). Steve Englehart continues as writer with Gene 'The Dean' Colan replacing Frank Brunner as artist and they take the opportunity to have Colan's two contemporaneous assignments cross over with a Doc vs. Drac duel. When Englehart leaves after issue # 18, 'Tomb of Dracula' scribe Marv Wolfman takes over. The annual, drawn by P. Craig Russell, looks gorgeous but is just so much wordy, wispy, hippy wank. Jim Starlin is the latest writer to jump on board the carousel as of # 24, and I found his issues slightly more readable. He hangs around just long enough to introduce the In-Betweener before Roger Stern arrives to finish off his storyline and to begin a long and lauded association of his own with the good doctor. Stern's held in great acclaim as a Doctor Strange writer but I don't have an unbroken run of his issues. I'm hoping they'll be reprinted around the time of the upcoming movie so I can continue onwards. (At the time of posting, it doesn't look good.)


   
   
   
  
  


Doctor Strange (1974) # 14-28, Dr. Strange Annual # 1 and Tomb of Dracula (1972) # 44/45 are collected in:

Softcover:

Doctor Strange (1974) # 14-22, Dr. Strange Annual # 1 and Tomb of Dracula (1972) # 44 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Tomb of Dracula (1972) # 44/45 and Doctor Strange (1974) # 14 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:

Tomb of Dracula (1972) # 44 and Doctor Strange (1972) # 14 are collected in:

Softcover:



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, 2 October 2016

Marvel Premiere (1972) # 3-14, Doctor Strange (1974) # 1-13


(I originally read these comics in early/mid August 2015)

I first read the Doctor Strange stories by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner (a team in place as of Marvel Premiere # 9) a decade ago and remember being blown away by their cosmic awesomeness, but they didn't have the same appeal this time around. It seems to me that when stories are based in abstract concepts there's less to grab onto. Many stories feel insubstantial. Brunner's art is great but he leaves after the Silver Dagger saga to be replaced by Gene Colan and Colan's appeal has diminished for me in recent years. Englehart remains for a dozen or so issues.

In the event this 'review' seems sparse, it's because I read this grouping of comics before I made a habit of writing reviews. I've no doubt I'll revisit them at some point, though.


   
   
   
   
   
  
  


Marvel Feature (1971) # 1, Marvel Premiere (1972) # 3-14 and Doctor Strange (1974) # 1-5 are collected in:

Softcover:

Marvel Feature (1971) # 1 and Marvel Premiere (1972) # 3-14 are collected in:

Softcover:

Marvel Feature (1971) # 1 and Marvel Premiere (1972) # 3-8 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Marvel Premiere (1972) # 3 is collected in:

Softcover:

Hardcover:

Marvel Premiere (1972) # 9-14 and Doctor Strange (1974) # 1-9 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Marvel Premiere (1972) # 9/10, 12-14 and Doctor Strange (1974) # 1/2, 4/5 are collected in:

Softcover:

Doctor Strange (1974) # 1-13 are collected in:

Softcover:

Doctor Strange (1974) # 10-13 are collected in:

Hardcover:



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, 9 September 2016

Avengers (1998) # 36-56, Avengers: Celestial Quest (2001) # 1-8, JLA/Avengers (2003) # 1-4


(I originally read these comics between late March/early April 2015)

This entry brings the Kurt Busiek era of the Avengers to a close. He steered "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from February 1998 to September 2002 - 56 issues. However, with crossovers and tie-in limited series, etc, that balloons to over 120 comics!

Issue # 38 was the one with which I became a regular buyer of the Avengers, though I have read the previous George Perez run in trade paperback since. At the time, I was pleased to see Alan Davis take over from Perez on pencils, only to be disappointed when his tenure proved so short. 


   
   
   
   
   
  


'Celestial Quest' is pretty poor. It's a belated sequel by Steve Englehart to his 'Celestial Madonna' saga from the 70s. I read that when it was published in trade in the early 2000s and found it very dull. (The lingering memory is of tree people...) The sequel isn't much better. Englehart gets to wheel out his pet creation Mantis again. She's the focus of both stories and is a lame character, not least because she refers to herself as "this one," which gets old real fast.


   
   


JLA/Avengers sounds like a dream come true, and was over twenty years in the making, but the sheer overwhelming scope of the universal threat and the story's cast of thousands means I found it pretty deadening by the halfway mark. We not only get appearances from every past and present JLA and Avengers member, but every iteration of those characters (long-haired Superman, Superman Blue, etc), and towards the end they change randomly from panel to panel. It's too much. George Perez' commitment to this project can't be overstated, though.


 
 


Avengers (1998) # 36-56, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Hardcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-44, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-40/56, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers (1998) # 36-40, Avengers Annual 2001 and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative (2001) are collected in:

Hardcover:

Avengers: Celestial Quest (2001) # 1-8 are collected in:

Softcover:

JLA/Avengers (2003) # 1-4 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Softcover:



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)