Two of the best story arcs in the 70’s Bronze Age featured the mad Titan Thanos and defined the roles of Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock in the Marvel universe. His first appearance was in Iron Man #55 and he…
This is the final segment of our Marvel super hero annuals (specials) series with original content from the 1960’s. Our first two segments were pretty much all Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, here are the rest. Avengers Annual #1 September 1967…
We’re closing in on Valentines Day and a little tale of love lost and found is in order. The Players: Jocasta – An exotic beauty lost and lonely with no place in this world to call her own. She has…
The calendar has flipped over to 2015 and the countdown begins to the second Avengers movie in May. Arcs & Runs will be here to help feed the hype machine with stories about the team, individual members, and of course…
We will bookend our first year of Arcs & Runs by highlighting the final days of the title Tales to Astonish. We started the year with TTA’s sister title Tales of Suspense. Both of these titles began production in 1959.…
Part 2 of this series on Marvel silver age annuals continues with the Amazing Spider-Man. I thought I had better get to this group of books in a hurry before Walt shines the Undervalued Spotlight on all of these books.…
October wouldn't be complete if we didn't feature a scary Marvel super-hero in Arcs and Runs! Well yes it would, but it is Halloween and I just can't resist taking a peak at the horror genre in Marvel comics this month. The early seventies was the heyday for this genre with books like Tomb of Dracula, The Monster of Frankenstein, Man Thing, Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, and our featured character Werewolf by Night all getting a chance at their own comic series.
Read MoreFull Moon Terror! Marvel Spotlight & Werewolf by Night
One of my personal favourite genres of comic books that I like to collect is the big square bound super-hero annuals. Twice the size and price of a regular comic, these books only came out once a year and were packed with pin-ups, some classic reprints, and usually a crackling good original story. The original stories quite often took place outside the current storylines taking place in the title, but had a place in the character or groups long term continuity. There were surprisingly few made – I count 18 in the sixties and some characters and groups had none at all. I did not include war, romance, westerns, or re-print annuals in this first series but may get to them at a later date.
Read MoreMarvel 1960s Annuals: Part One, Fantastic Four
We have featured many arcs in the last little while so I thought this week we'd take a look at a run. This run features Spider-Man outside of the regular continuity of the Marvel universe and in a joint venture the Electric Company. The Electric Company is the name of a PBS (US Public broadcasting) children’s TV show. It used live action skits featuring Spider-Man and Electric company characters, Easy Reader, Detective Fargo North, Jennifer of the Jungle, and a cast of kids to challenge evil doers like Blowhard, The Prankster, and the Blue Beetle.
Read MoreSpidey Super Stories 1-57
One of my go to comic characters from the 60’s was Daredevil. He was easier than most comic characters for me to relate to. No real super powers, Matt Murdock had acquired enhanced sensory powers when he lost his sight in an accident while trying to save someone when he was just a kid. He didn’t let his loss of sight slow him down and the youngster grew up to be a successful lawyer and the longstanding crime fighting hero Daredevil. My initial comic reading of this character took place in the issue’s #20 thru #53 time period. Our arc and run feature today take’s place right in the middle of this run and we also take a quick jump over to the Fantastic 4 to complete our story. Let’s take a look at this run, broken into four story arcs.
Read MoreHere comes…Daredevil!
When DC comics re-energized the super hero genre in the late 50’s and 60’s they had two titles that they used to introduce and re-introduce characters, namely Showcase and Brave & the Bold. The new Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Teen…
Arcs & Runs #9: Lo! A Beast is born! Amazing Adventures #11-17 We will continue on with my Days of Future past hangover and the X-Men’s hidden or lost years, when the title only produced reprints. In this period of…
In March 1970 the axe fell on the original X-Men, and after 66 issues suspended publication. They returned in December of 1970 in reprint form with issue #67 and published bi monthly until issue #94 when the all New X-Men…
A little more than two years after the first book hit the stands it was part of a Marvel wave of cancellations due to poor sales (Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, and The Silver Surfer) and suspensions (X-Men & Captain Marvel) and it was gone. I can’t say I was that sorry to see him go. What happened? There are a gazillion reasons and theories why the Surfer failed in his first solo effort. I will list some of my own reasons I thought the book failed and then we will take a look at the high’s and lows of the run itself. For anybody who thinks this run is not a failure I say this – when you are cancelled and the Sub-Mariner continues you have done something wrong.
Read MoreWhy did the original Silver Surfer run fail? #1-18
Thanks to Walter Simonson every time I see a horse my mind invariably drifts to a super hero with a similar appearance and many of the same qualities of those Clydesdales - Beta Ray Bill. Walt Simonson’s critically acclaimed run on Thor ran from issue #337 thru issue #382. He started with this Beta Ray Bill story and followed it up with the introduction of Malekith the Accursed Ruler of the Dark Elves (issue #344), who was the villain in the second Thor movie. Not a bad way to start your new job! Simonson’s run really breathed new life into this title and the many accolades he received are justified.
Read MoreMeet Beta Ray Bill: Thor 337-340
Arcs & Runs #5 Part Two: Captain America #114-119 – Cap’s Artist Alley Captain America #114 June 1969 The Man behind the Mask We continue with Caps Artist Alley and another new creative team and a new arc. This…
This eleven issue run has two strong story arcs, and features Rogues gallery of Marvel artists. Early Daredevil and late Original X-Men runs also feature a stellar group of artists in them, however I think they fall just a little short of this one. Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, John Romita, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, and Gene Colan all get a crack at Captain America here. All of the stories are written by Stan Lee. This edition of Arcs and Runs will be as much about the artists as the stories themselves, and will be in two parts.
Read MoreCap’s Artist Alley Part One: Captain America 109-113
This is a battle where I was definitely going to lose something (mmm…). My love of comic reading and Spider-Man vs. the raging hormones of a 15 year old me about to enter high school with all those girls. There was not enough time for both and the girls were winning. Reading comics was starting to feel a bit juvenile and my interest in them was beginning to wane. It didn’t help that my favourite title Spider-Man had been going through weak or flat spot (for me any way) in its run (issues #83-99) for a while with a couple of exceptions. Even the 2nd return of the Green Goblin, the drug issues (#96-98) hadn’t lifted me out of the doldrums as those books felt like drug story sermons to me back then. I was however holding out for a special issue #100, and that is where our Arcs and Runs tale begins today.
Read More#4 | Amazing Spider-Man 100-102 & Marvel Team-Up 3-4
It’s St.Patrick's Day. The only day of the year when the world goes green, and actually means it. We all want to be Irish today and if we’re not, we can pretend we are and go to the pub to celebrate anyway. All this green gets me thinking, not about money, but about comics, and a question. Why are all of Spider-Mans villains costumes green?
Read MoreSt. Patrick’s Day Special: Spider-Man’s Green Villains
This instalment of Arcs & Runs will look at the most important run of comics in the silver age IMO. DC Showcase (revival of super-heroes - new Flash and Green Lantern) and The Amazing Spider-Man, both receive and deserve a lot of consideration as the most important run of the silver age. Spider-Man is easily the most popular character to emerge from the 60’s; however he may not have even happened if it weren’t for a comic called the Fantastic Four.
Read MoreArcs & Runs #2 | Fantastic Four 44-51
