May 23, 2006
Giant-Sized Drew-Thing

   First order of business: On my message board, several posters have been making observations on DC's new, re-invigorated "One Year Later" titles. When someone brought up Birds of Prey, I was struck by the idea that the title is soon approaching a major milestone in modern comics: Issue #100! I think we have writer Gail Simone to thank for it's resuscitation and longevity. The initial success of the first B.O.P. one-shot, with art by Gary Frank & John Dell, did well enough during the depressed comics market of 1996 to warrant a miniseries with art by Matt Haley & Wade Von Grawbadger. A couple more one-shots followed before DC greenlit an ongoing series. When I got to work on the first year of said ongoing with Chuck Dixon and Greg Land, B.O.P. was a committment by DC to counter-program a lot of other comics at the time, and we had no idea if it had 'legs', fishnet or otherwise, in a market still clinging to it's Cable clones. When Greg moved to Nightwing, I tagged along, and (here comes some more blatent ass-kissing, so forgive me) if we had a lesser talent than Butch Guice following us, I doubt it would've survived a second year, because at the time there weren't a lot of comics with women as the major stars, particularly ones that weren't T & A books. Now, there seems to be more commercial appeal to comics with female leads, whether it be Hawkman's title becoming Hawkgirl, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Alias, Zatanna, plus the red-hot revival of Red Sonja. I'm not saying that Chuck, proud papa Editor Jordan Gorfinkle or we various early B.O.P.artists, are in any way responsible for this new wave of Superwomen comics. I'm merely pointing out how the odds seemed against us at the time. Heck, my then-local comic store only ordered copies for the subscribers who requested them, so I'd go to the store on Wednesday and not see B.O.P. #6 on the shelf the day of release! How do you get new readers interested, I inquired? I was answered with indifference. I've learned that the store has since gone the way of the dodo.

   Thankfully, my now-local store is very good at stocking the shelves and ordering things they've sold out of (such as the charming Franklin Richards one-shots with Chris Eliopolous doing his best Calvin & Hobbes, Marvel-style). They've also ordered for me the Haunted Tank Showcase that's supposed to hit the stores next week. As with the Jonah Hex Showcase, I'm really hungry for some classic atypical genre material. Must be my age catching up with me...after all, I'm approaching 30 soon. *cough cough*

   Got a real blast from the past last week with the purchase of Marvel Legacy: 1970's Handbook! Like the 1960's volume, this contained another stellar Sal Buscema cover, this time with all the great enduring (and not-so enduring) characters from that nutty decade such as Black Goliath, Ms. Marvel, Stunt-Master, The Brute, Luke Cage, Nomad, Tagak the (yawn) leopard lord, etc.

   A quick digression about Black Goliath, Giant-Man, super-sized Yellowjacket and Wasp, Stature(Giant Girl), and for that matter, The Thunderbolts' Atlas and the Legion of Super-Heroes' Colossal Lad (hilariously correcting others that his name is "Micro Lad", as, in the newest Legion incarnation, he is normally a giant who has to shrink to walk amongst his cohorts). Oops, double-digression there. Anyway, about these giant-sized guys- Why are they always portrayed as such wussies? Why are they never allowed to cut loose? When Clint Barton (Hawkeye) was Goliath in the early '70's, he spent most of his time as a sitting duck, lumbering around until someone like Arkon would clock him. I figure if I'm Giant Drew and my team is held captive while a roomful of gloating superfiends are revelling in their nastiness, I'd grow to my fullest height (usually 25 feet is the standard peak), stick my arm all the way in the room, and sweep all the bad guys violently off their feet, like a tempermental executive clearing off his desk! I know, I know, maybe you'd have to be careful sometimes. What I'd think was a wad of chewing gum on my Giant Drew boots was actually an innocent bystander, but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, right?

   *ahem*

   About the '70's Handbook. What's particularly riotously funny is some of the plot synopses (plural for synopsis, I looked it up) that help encapsulate some of the worst meandering stories of their time:

   The oh-so-mysterious (NOT!) Mr. Kline from Daredevil/Black Widow & Iron Man. Wow. Some poor bastard researcher had to thread these stories together into some kind of cohesive narrative for this '70's Handbook. I never did find out what happened to Mr. Kline, as my DD collection is incomplete, but, man, I was glad when it was over. This synopsis explains away a lot of things with android duplicates of Scorpion, Mr. Hyde and others. This was the one-issue idea that was allowed to fester like a sore. Mr. Kline's behind-the-scene machinations are so ridiculous and arbitrary that I almost gave myself whiplash when violently shaking my head in disbelief while reading it!

   Also, the atrocious Black Lama/War of the Super-villains story, which dragged on for years due to story interruptus, otherwise known as the Dreaded Deadline Doom, which called for reprints or out-of-continuity stories. Has ANY story ended with such a soft, pillow-y thud as this one (I.M. #81)? After all the fights for some promised Globe of Power (which Doc Doom, Red Skull and Fu Manchu had the sense to turn down), between Modok, Mandarin, Mad Thinker, Yellow Claw, Melter, Man-Bull & Whiplash, Firebrand shows up to take down a battle-weary Shellhead, drained after defeating the Yellow Claw. If it was done right, the irony could've been played up well. Actually, the game should've been forfeited on account of lame. Then Black Lama, Firebrand, Shellhead and the unfortunate reader head to the Lama's boring-ass world to settle the most tepid civil war on record, the polar opposite of the current Marvel Civil War.

   Due to the revolving door editor-in-chief position at the time, Iron Man was circling the drain of mediocrety. Someone should've replaced the writer and wrap up the mess sooner - after all, why make Tuska the fill-in guy on his own book? It's not like the flimsy "War of the Supervillains" was worth the wait like Ultimates. On a positive note, #78's Vietnam issue was a beautifully-done story by Bill Mantlo, George Tuska and, yes, even Vince Colletta.

   Some new art's been added to the site, courtesy of Webmaster Chris:

   Thor #76 pg. 1-5. You have to check these pages out in glorious black and white. Writer Dan Jurgens asked the Mighty Scot Eaton to do a tribute to select panels from Journey Into Mystery #83, Thor's first appearance by Kirby & Sinnott. For those who missed out, Thor #76 takes place in a dark future (what other kind is there, besides the one Kang left due to boredom?) when the next generation of Asgardian rule is played out-Thor's in Odin's role, Magni, the rebellious son of Thor. Thor's hammer has long disappeared and hasn't been spoken about since. Magni eventually finds the hammer and history repeats itself in these pages. These pages were some of the most exciting that I've ever inked and artistically, Scot and I were firing on all cylinders. Maybe the pages would've been better served without my addition of black splatter effects, but it still works. I don't do splats much anymore because, frankly, it takes time to cover the areas that you don't want splatter on! Scot and I would really enjoy another chance at Thor some day, but until then we've got memories and photocopies.

   Also added to the site:
Team Zero #5 pgs. Chuck Dixon & Doug Mahnke do hardass military action, History Channel-style! In short: During the final days of WWII, the U.S. sends special forces in the middle of German retreat from Russian forces? Why? To capture scientists with military secrets before the Soviets do! Go to the "Pencil-to-Ink Study" page, then click on "Just The Inks". Enjoy, y'all...
 
 
All characters & their images are property of their respective copyright holders. All original content (c) Drew Geraci. Please request permission before reprinting or reposting elsewhere.