#Mike Nasser

[gameraboy2]

Amazing World of DC Comics #15 (1977) Cover by Mike Nasser

[dirtyriver]

"Conan's Ladies", Savage Sword of Conan #29, May 1978

Bélit by Bruce Patterson and Dick Giordano Yasmina by Mike Nasser and Bruce Patterson Valeria by Bruce Patterson and Russ Heath The Frost Giant's Daughter by Bruce Patterson Salome by Bruce Patterson and Ralph Reese Red Sonja by Bruce Patterson and Neal Adams

[the-gershomite]

The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #29 -May 1978-

Conan's Ladies

Belit by Bruce Patterson & Dick Giordano

Yasmina by Bruce Patterson & Mike Nasser

Valeria by Bruce Patterson & Russ Heath

The Frost Giants Daughter by Bruce Patterson

Salome by Bruce Patterson & Ralph Reese

Red Sonja by Bruce Patterson & Neal Adams

ad art by David Wenzel & Duffy Vohtand

[pulpsandcomics2]

Kobra #7 April 1977

[cantsayidont]

For a long time, the main impetus for DC reprinting any of its voluminous back catalog was some promotional or licensing tie-in: a movie, a TV show, some merchandise they were trying to push, or just a popular ongoing book. Given how prominently Dr. Fate was featured in the recent BLACK ADAM movie, therefore, it's surprising and somewhat disheartening that DC didn't take the opportunity to do some kind of greatest hits compilation for the character, who was certainly the best thing about that mostly terrible film.

This is especially unfortunate because you could fit quite a bit of Dr. Fate's Silver Age and Bronze Age non-JSA appearances in a single volume, starting with the two 1965 SHOWCASE team-ups with Hourman shown above, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. There are also a number of later team-ups with Superman and Batman:

Fate then got a couple of solo features in the '70s:

Kubert cover notwithstanding, the 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story, which is written by Marty Pasko, has some really outstanding early Walt Simonson art, while the SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-HEROES story has an eight-page retelling of Fate's origin, narrated by Kent Nelson's wife Inza, by the ALL-STAR COMICS team of Paul Levitz and Joe Staton.

In 1982, Doctor Fate got his own eight-page backup feature in, weirdly enough, THE FLASH #306–313. Despite what a couple of the covers imply, there wasn't a team-up between the Flash and Fate (who in those days still existed on separate parallel Earths); the Fate strip was just an unrelated second feature.

This strip, written by Marty Pasko and Steve Gerber with spectacular art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, presents an array of interesting ideas (some of which obviously paved the way for Giffen's 1987 revamp). Pasko had already established (in the 1975 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story) that Doctor Fate wasn't exactly Kent Nelson: He was really the ancient Lord of Order Nabu, the entity who trained Nelson in the magical arts, who possessed Nelson's body whenever he put on the Helm of Fate. In other words, the Dr. Fate of these stories isn't so much a man wearing a magical helmet as a magical helmet wearing a man. Nabu has made both Kent and Inza ageless — they both appear about 25, but by this time, they're really in their 60s — but allows them little real control of their lives. Kent has more or less resigned himself to it, but Inza is feeling the strain of being trapped in a magical menage à trois with her husband and an inhuman entity that has little regard for Kent's welfare and even less for hers. Nabu, for his part, seems to exist in a state of constant mystical urgency in which human frailties are an unaffordable distraction.

This could have been really compelling, and it's both graphically interesting and quite strange, but all that is a lot to squeeze into eight-page installments, and having them crammed in the back of one of DC's most conventional superhero books was obviously not optimal. It was also having to compete for Giffen and Mahlstedt's attention with LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, which I assume was why the Fate strip was dropped after only eight installments.

To everyone's surprise, there was even a Doctor Fate action figure in 1984 as part of the Kenner Super Powers line. This came with a little minicomic, which to my knowledge has never been reprinted:

All of this stuff would add up to something in the realm of 230 pages, which would easily fit into a single trade paperback collection with a digestible price point. Maddeningly, DC has already done the color remastering for roughly three-fifths of this material, so even that probably wouldn't be a huge chore (although the Giffen/Mahlstedt stuff, which has a lot of color holds and graphic effects, really calls for more care in remastering than DC has tended to give its older material of late.)

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

BHOC: MARVEL TALES #100

Despite the fact that it was a reprint title, MARVEL TALES didn’t miss the opportunity to go oversized for its 100th issue, a trend that had started with the centennial issues that Marvel and DC were putting out. It’s kind of a mixed bag, in that one of the secondary features doesn’t have any relation to the lead character, Spider-Man. But it was still entertaining, even if it cost more coin than…

[browsethestacks]

Original Art - Super Spider-Man With The Super-Heroes #172 Pg 01 (1976) by Mike Nasser (Marvel UK)

[comic-covers]

(1977)

[mudwerks]

(via Amazing World of DC Comics #15 - Neal Adams art - Pencil Ink)

Front cover by Mike Nasser - 1976

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

The Thing gets zapped in Marvel Two-in-One #70 by Mike Nasser

[marvelousmrm]

Marvel Two-in-One #70 (Gruenwald & Macchio/Nasser, Dec 1980). Thieves steal Alicia’s statues as she’s moving into the Baxter Building. The Yancy Street Gang is on the case!

[tomoleary]

Mike Nasser and Al Milgrom - Marvel-Con '76 cover (1976) Source

[sprockyeahlegion]

“The leer on his face”

[cryptocollectibles]

Challengers of the Unknown 6 Issue Lot (1962-1977) by DC Comics

Written and drawn by various.

[ginge1962]

Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes No.236 - Feb 1978, cover by Mike Grell & Joe Rubinstein.

Interior art by James Sherman + Bob McLeod, Mike Nasser + Joe Rubinstein, Rick Bryant.

[protytwo]

My, what big ears you have.

Tragedy: it comes in countless shapes from innumerable directions…