#karen mantlo

[intrapanelreturns]

MARVEL PREMIERE #22 1975, Marvel Comics Tony Isabella writer, Arvell Jones art, A. Bradford inks, Karen Mantlo letters, George Roussos colors

[bookoftheironfist]

Danny: “How do you kick somebody’s head off in zero gravity conditions? Start with the weapon-- use the inertia to spin around and-- then shove off the wall and bring it to him-- Even shattered, the stub of the whip-sword still looks nasty-- then take it-- and him-- out. And then...Stellar Astro-Fist. Um...Kick of the Geosynchronous Thunderbird. Something. Doesn’t matter. I made it up. What’s got two thumbs and didn’t boot in front of millions of people while inventing zero-g kung fu?” Defenders (2011) #1 by Matt Fraction, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, Sonia Oback, and Clayton Cowles

In which Danny fends off assassins in low orbit.

For the record, this is not actually his first time fighting while weightless. All the way back in Marvel Premiere #22, he and one of his early antagonists were thrust into an abstract pocket dimension created by Master Khan, which had the fun feature of no gravity.

"The odds here are against you. For you were never trained to use your kung fu skills...where gravity does not exist! You float helplessly as the razor-sharp shuriken shrieks past your head. Each movement sends you drifting even more helplessly. Each succeeding shuriken passes even more closely to your person." Marvel Premiere #22 by Tony Isabella, Arvell Jones, George Roussos, Aubrey Bradford, and Karen Mantlo

Fortunately, Danny was trained to adapt quickly to new environments, even very odd ones, and just as he does in the above scene from Defenders, he manages to find his space legs in time to fight back.

[kudosmyhero]

Daredevil (vol. 1) #121: Foggy Nelson, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Read Date: July 04, 2023 Cover Date: May 1975 ● Writer: Tony Isabella ● Penciler: William Robert Brown ● Inker: Vince Colletta ● Colorist: Don Warfield ● Letterer: Karen Mantlo ● Editor: Len Wein ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● DD kinda deserved that smackdown, the body-shamer! ● but then Nick Fury turns around and body shames, too. [sigh] ● heh, DD and Widow’s sparring session

● 👏👏👏

Synopsis: Daredevil and everyone gathered at Foggy Nelson's New Years Eve party are shocked to learn that the reason why Hydra crashed it is because Nick Fury intends on recruiting Foggy into S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury explains that congress has decided that S.H.I.E.L.D. is to be independently run and named Nick Fury Director of Operations. However, official S.H.I.E.L.D. policy is to be determined by a five man committee and Fury has tabled Foggy Nelson as one of the committee members. When everyone begins to wonder where Matt Murdock is, Daredevil makes a hasty retreat so he can sneak into another room and change into his civilian identity.

Later that day, Daredevil and Black Widow are training in Matt's private gym. Daredevil is distracted because he's worried about Foggy. Much to his surprise however, the Black Widow has sent Ivan to keep an eye on him and make sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps him safe. When Matt attempts to entice a romantic moment with the Black Widow, Natasha rebuffs him telling him she is not ready to dive back into their relationship again and that she needs time. While at Hydra's secret headquarters, El Jaguar reports back to the Supreme Hydra of his failure. Wishing to capture Nelson, the Supreme Hydra decides to send the robotic Dreadnought to collect the District Attorney.

The next day at City Hall, Ivan and the Black Widow are staking out the place while Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson attend to business inside. As soon as the pair exit the building they are ambushed by Hydra agents, who are then counteracted by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives that have been hiding out in the area. The Dreadnought arrives and knocks Matt aside, allowing for Murdock to change into Daredevil. As he is occupied, the Black Widow attacks the robot, but finds herself woefully outmatched.

When Daredevil joins the fight not even he is much of a help and the Dreadnought manages to easily defeat both heroes with it's various devices. Foggy surrenders to the robot when it threatens to kill the Black Widow, and is soon carried off by the Dreadnought.

When they all recover from the fight, Black Widow demands that Fury give her all the intelligence he has on Hydra, as she intends to go alone and rescue the man who gave himself up so that she might live, vowing to destroy Hydra if they have so much as harmed Foggy Nelson.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Daredevil_Vol_1_121)

Fan Art: Twart - 60s Nick Fury by ronsalas

Accompanying Podcast: ● Josh and Jamie Do Daredevil - episode 20

[agentxthirteen]

Sharon-A-Day, Day 259 (9/18/22)

Defenders 26. On sale 5/20/75. "Savage Time"

Writer: Steve Gerber

Penciller: Sal Buscema

Inker: Vince Colletta

Letterer: Karen Mantlo (Pocock)

Colorist: Irene Vartanoff

Editor: Len Wein

Flashback to when Sharon saved the future wearing fuchsia.

[resurrectionsadamwarlock]

Friends and Enemies (Strange Tales #179)- Avengers (1963) #134

[folderolsoup]

Daredevil #121 (1975)

Tony Isabella

Bob Brown

Vince Colletta

Don Warfield

Karen Mantlo

[marvelman901]

Super-Villain Team-Up vol 1 1 (1975) . Slayers From The Sea! . Written by Tony Isabella Penciled by George Tuska, Bill Everett and George Evans Inked by Frank Springer and Fred Kida Colors by Irene Vartanoff Lettered by Gaspar Saladino, Irv Watanabe and Karen Mantlo Edited by Len Wein Cover by Ron Wilson, Frank Giacoia and Gaspar Saladino . Doctor Doom wanted him and Sub-Mariner to join forces, but Namor refused. Later, Sub-Mariner fought Attuma, Doctor Dorcas and Tiger Shark... . See more relevant content here: #marvelman901submariner #marvelman901atlantis #marvelman901drdoom #marvelman901drdorcas #marvelman901tigershark #marvelman901attuma . #submariner #tigershark #70s #attuma #drdoom #drdorcas #georgetuska #georgeevans #billeverett https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck8MKn9MRUF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[booksincomics]

BOOKS IN THE COMIC BOOKS : : : 

“Incredibly ancient papyrus records in the special library archives of Cairo University...” Art by Val Mayerik with Klaus Janson (inks), Bill Mantlo (colour), and Karen Mantlo (lettering). Words by Tony Isabella (from “The War That Shook the World” in Supernatural Thrillers #12: Featuring The Living Mummy, 1975). #booksincomics

[travisellisor]

page 1 from The Uncanny X-Men (1963) #95 by Dave Cockrum, Sam Grainger, Petra Goldberg, Len Wein, Chris Claremont and Karen Mantlo

[biggoonie]

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GHOST RIDER VOL. 2 HC

Written by TONY ISABELLA with GARY FRIEDRICH, BILL MANTLO, MARV WOLFMAN & STEVE GERBER Penciled by JIM MOONEY, FRANK ROBBINS & GEORGE TUSKA with SAL BUSCEMA, BOB BROWN & JOHN BYRNE Cover by GIL KANE ON SALE OCTOBER 2020 Marvel’s hell-bound super hero, Ghost Rider, hits the road for a second Marvel Masterworks! Johnny Blaze’s adventures begin with the return of Zodiac, an organized-crime gang powered by agents of Hell, in a plot that can only be foiled with the help of the super-heroic Stunt-Master! Then, after fighting for his very soul against Satan himself, Ghost Rider finds himself teaming up with the Ever-Lovin’ Thing in mortal combat against the ever-angry Hulk and in league with the ever-courageous Champions! And if you thought the Orb was finis, think again as Marvel’s deadliest eyeball returns to extract another pound of Ghost Rider flesh! Plus: With Karen Page having joined Ghost Rider’s cast, Daredevil makes the scene in a crossover classic drawn by John Byrne! Collecting GHOST RIDER (1973) #6-20, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE (1974) #8 and DAREDEVIL (1964) #138. 328 PGS./Rated T …$75.00 ISBN: 978-1-302-92214-6

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GHOST RIDER VOL. 2 HC — VARIANT EDITION VOL. 297 (DM ONLY)

328 PGS./Rated T …$75.00 ISBN: 978-1-302-92215-3 Trim size: oversized

[daresplaining]

Luke Cage Countdown: 6 Days

Misty Knight, Armed and Dangerous

    At long last, MCU Misty Knight is getting her sweet bionic arm! This is essentially her origin story, and as such, it will have huge consequences for her life moving forward. Here’s a brief look at her disarming, recovery, and powers in the comics.

    As in the show, in the comics Misty Knight starts her career as a promising young cop, top of her class at police academy, ready to change the world. She serves on the NYPD for six years... until the unthinkable happens. 

Caption: “Memories... years gone now, yet still terribly fresh, clear... Patrolwoman Misty Knight, twelfth precinct, NYPD, working the day shift.”

Bystander: “My god-- that man-- he’s thrown a bomb!”

Caption: “Reaction. Fast... instinctive. Futile.”

Iron Fist vol. 1 #6 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Karen Mantlo

    Misty is unable to dispose of the bomb in time, and her right arm is caught in the ensuing explosion. Her partner, Rafael Scarfe, manages to keep her alive until paramedics arrive, but she wakes up in the hospital irrevocably changed.   

Misty: “Damn you, Colleen-- I’m half-a-woman now, a freak!”

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu vol. 1 #33 by Chris Claremont and Marshall Rogers

    Misty is shattered by the loss of her arm. She sinks into a deep depression, feeling like she is now weak and worthless. Her best friend Colleen attempts to bolster her spirits and help her regain her self-confidence, both through encouragement and some well-intentioned butt-kicking, but Misty remains convinced that she’s damaged goods and no use to anyone. This attitude, along with the painful memories of her accident, haunts her for years afterward. The violence in her life often plunges her back into that moment of pain and loss, and she harbors a sense of anger and loathing about everything surrounding the event and anything that reminds her of it-- including her own perceived deficiencies. 

“Misty Knight, first in her class at the academy, B.A. in criminology at John Jay... holder of the NYPD Medal of Honor... twice wounded in the line of duty... and forcibly retired after six years service. After all, what good is a one-armed lady cop?”

Iron Fist vol. 1 #7 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Bonnie W.

    Much later, when Misty's arm is damaged again, she reacts in much the same way, showing that on a subconscious level, she’s still recovering.  

Colleen: “You’ve crawled up inside your head... again. Focus your anger on something positive.”

Misty: “Colleen, save the zen master speech. Seriously. I don’t want to hear it.”

Colleen: “Your father wouldn’t understand why you’re not a cop anymore. [...] You could go back to the force right now and they’d be happy to have you, but the problem isn’t in your arm, it’s in your head.”

Daughters of the Dragon #4 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Khari Evans, and Christina Strain

    Misty leaves her police career behind, and starts a slow healing process, largely facilitated by the creation of (K)Nightwing Restorations, a freelance detective agency she co-runs with Colleen. This new career gives her a chance to prove to the world, and more importantly, to herself, that she is still capable of working and making a difference. 

    In addition, though it serves as a daily reminder of what she has lost, Misty’s life is also improved by her brand-new super-awesome robot arm! 

“The girl had said Misty’s arm had exploded. Well, why not? Why shouldn’t a robot arm explode when it’s riven with nuclear fireblasts? Because that’s what it is-- a robot arm. On a human woman.”

Iron Fist vol. 1 #3 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Don Warfield

    In the comics, by the time we meet Misty she has already had her arm for several years, so we miss out on the details of its initial installment. But we know that it is Stark technology, and thus state-of-the art for its time. It is super durable, operates with all the ease of a real arm, and it grants Misty a degree of super-strength only limited by basic physics. Since the rest of her is squishy and human, she can push, pull, and smash with her arm, but it doesn’t allow her to lift extra heavy things, or do anything that would put tension on other parts of her body. 

Misty: “Blast! I’m overshootin’ the wall. Gotta grab this stanchion as I go by-- use my bionic arm to stop me-- an’ hope the non-bionic rest o’ me can take the strain.”

Power Man #49 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, F. Mouly, et al.

    However, over the years her arm has been upgraded to be more than just extra muscle. 

Tony: “This arm is a superior design. I should have called Misty for an upgrade sooner, but I’ve been busy. The exterior is diamond interlaced with Vibranium. It is harder, lighter and stronger. I’ve had them install a pain dampener so if something like this happens again her nervous system won’t be harmed.”

Daughters of the Dragon #4 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Khari Evans, and Christina Strain

    These days, it can do such fancy things as generate magnetic fields and energy blasts, and interface-- both physically and at a distance-- with computers. It operates as essentially a Swiss Army arm, making Misty an even more formidable crime-fighter than she already was. 

Misty: “These originals were mechanized, a mix of Stark tech and counterfeit crap. Plenty of brawn. But no common sense, apparently. Fine. I’d just have to do the thinking for them. [...] I had Stark tech of my own. Made me very persuasive to A.I.”

Black Panther and the Crew (2017) #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Butch Guice, and Dan Brown

    Plus, of course, it looks awesome. Initially, likely due to her insecurities, Misty had a flesh-colored coating over the arm, disguising its true nature. But nowadays, she usually keeps the metal exposed-- probably for a variety of reasons: It’s common knowledge among the superhero and supervillain communities that she has a bionic arm, so hiding it would be pointless, it looks cooler this way, and her attitude toward it has changed. The arm is a part of her now, and she is no longer ashamed of it. 

    99.9% of the time, Misty’s arm is presented as a permanent fixture. It is attached to her body the way a biological arm would be, when it is damaged she experiences pain, and it presents serious problems when it... say... gets caught on giant electromagnets. 

Misty: “It’s no use! That magnet is stronger than I am. The only way I’ll get free is by pulling my own arm off.”

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #66 by Mary Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill, and Glynis Wein

    However, the remaining 0.1% is Jeremy Whitley’s approach in his Secret Wars: Secret Love story. Here, the arm is presented more like a typical prosthesis, and is removable. In the final scene, we see Misty relaxing with her arm off-- which seems way more comfortable than the alternative. 

Secret Wars: Secret Love, “Misty and Danny Forever” by Jeremy Whitley and Gurihiru

    Since this interpretation is in the minority, and directly opposes the way her arm is presented everywhere else, it likely will not stick. However, there is something appealing about it. Misty is a disabled character, and her bionic arm tends to feel like a quick fix-- a super cool quick fix, of course, but there are a lot of comics where, in terms of both art and writing, it’s easy to forget that she’s even an amputee. “Misty and Danny Forever” does a great job of spending what little time it has on exploring Misty’s life experience as a disabled person. It doesn’t rehash her trauma and self-loathing from the earlier comics-- she has largely healed from that, as is natural-- but it does bring up little day-to-day inconveniences that most Misty comics don’t address. 

Misty: “It looked so beautiful in the store.”

Colleen: “It is beautiful.”

Misty: “I know. It’s me. It’s the arm. It slides right off the metal. [...] Colleen, I can’t do this.”

    Whitley discusses his reasons for this change in this interview: 

“I think for the most part that comics view disability as a thing to be fixed. If a person is injured, their parts can be swapped out for cybernetic ones or they can be magically healed and everything is better. The reality of living with a disability is much different. While her cybernetic arm makes her super strong, it is also bound to have effects on her life. Self-image is just one of those things. [...] It was also very important to me that in the last page, Misty does not have her arm. She is having an intimate night with her husband, getting her hair done, and snuggling up to go to sleep. First off, we’re talking about a large, bulky metal arm. Secondly, the thing has a lot of moving parts and is sure to make noise. I think the visual of a superheroic woman of color with her arm missing is very powerful.” 

    Again-- this is one isolated, unique interpretation. But we’ve always found it compelling. 

    Now, we are finally getting Misty’s sweet robot arm in glorious live action, and we cannot wait. To start, it looks great. The design is fantastic-- still futuristic, as it should look to emphasize its state-of-the-art-ness, but it also looks realistic. The fact that it seems to be some form of plastic/carbon fiber rather than metal, and the sleeve-like part where you can see how it’s attached to what’s left of her biological arm, both provide the illusion of this being actual prosthetic technology. It’s possible that this arm will, just like 616 Misty’s first arm, only be super strong. But there ain’t nothing wrong with that.  

    (The level of detail on this thing is breathtaking. Wow.) 

    We also know that this new arm will be-- gasp-- Rand technology! We’ve been excited about this idea for a long time, so we were thrilled when it was hinted in the last episode of The Defenders. Usually we’re sticklers for comics accuracy, but this change makes perfect sense. It keeps Misty’s story tied to the Netflix corner of the MCU (we’d love for these shows to cross over with the movies, but in this case staying close to home will allow for more freedom in telling this specific story). It is also a wonderful bit of bonding between Misty and Danny, who have had distressingly few interactions so far in this universe. The whole idea of him commissioning the arm for her makes us all warm and fuzzy, and regardless of whether this will actually lead to them interacting in this show, it still presents a form of personal connection, which we appreciate. Go check out this delightful Rand Enterprises spotlight on Misty, if you haven’t already! 

    This will be a new chapter in Misty’s life emotionally as well. She will have to cope with having lost a limb, and all that that implies. Like in the comics, she should be in for a difficult time, because experiencing this kind of trauma is world-altering. There have been several shots in the trailers that suggest a Misty who is coping well and recovering, which is a big relief. But that can’t come too quickly, because that’s not realistic. We also have moments like the one above, which suggest turmoil. We also have this great Daughters of the Dragon scene, which suggests that Misty may be suffering from insecurity, and which Colleen may be using tough love to treat (just like in the comics). And while we know that Misty will still be operating as a cop in some capacity, it will be interesting to see how she approaches this, and how long it will last. Misty’s story is only just beginning, and for us, she is one of the people we’re most excited to see again this season.   

[intrapanelreturns]

MARVEL PREMIERE #22 Tony Isabella writer, Arvell Jones art, A. Bradford inks, Karen Mantlo letters, George Roussos colors

[bookoftheironfist]

Danny: "Give it up, Colleen. Before you get yourself hurt." Colleen: "Over your dead body, chum!" Danny: "Colleen, you wanted this duel and now you've had it. I hope you're satisfied. Now you're going to surrender or I'm going to break your arm. D'you hear me, girl? I really will break it!" Colleen: "You and how many other-- Oww!! Alright, already, I surrender! Hey, Danny, what's with the grumps? We had a pretty good workout and you won the duel to boot..." Marvel Premiere #24 by Chris Claremont, Pat Broderick, Phil Rache, Vinnie Colletta, and Karen Mantlo

I've talked a bit about this scene before in regards to the Danny side of things-- K'un-Lun's societal sexism and Danny's relationships with women who fight, and the way that each bit of culture shock in this early period fed into his frustration and homesickness for K'un-Lun-- but this time I want to focus on Colleen, and how compellingly this scene establishes her character and reflects her pivotal role in the Iron Fist world at this time.

This scene opens the issue, flinging us into a different type of action than we've grown used to in these stories-- not a desperate battle against an enemy, but a casual sparring match between two friends. Or at least, that's how Colleen sees it; as the fight goes on, we come to realize how the perspectives of the two combatants profoundly differ. Danny is uncomfortable and upset; he doesn't want to fight her, he's been raised with the philosophy that attacking a woman, under any circumstances, is forbidden. But Colleen doesn't care. In fact, as his protestations become more adamant, she begins to mess with him. To tease him. To see if she can push him past that mental block so that they can just, you know, have some fun.

Colleen Wing in this early period existed as a bit of an anchor within the world of Iron Fist. With both Danny and her father, Professor Wing, ensconced in far-flung things-- mystic realms, magical powers, epic revenge quests, ninja death cults-- Colleen is grounded. Down-to-Earth. While we don't actually see the Nightwing Restorations duo in action for quite a while, its existence is established early-on, cementing Colleen's career as an experienced professional butt-kicker. She is very likely older than Danny (at least, Misty certainly is). And when this strange, angry, damaged boy arrives from another dimension, wielding unearthly kung fu skills and the powers of a dragon, she takes him under her wing (pun maybe intended) and does something that probably not many people would do in that situation: She hangs out with him. She treats him like a regular person. She likes him and thinks his skills are neat, but she isn't in awe of him the way her father is. This is the same Colleen who refused to cater to Misty's self-pity after losing her arm, who treated her beloved friend as a tough and resilient surviver until Misty finally began to see herself that way too. With Danny, she goes, "So, you're this amazing fighter, huh? Cool, let's fight."

And that's exactly what we see here. Colleen is not afraid of Danny's legendary abilities. She's not intimidated by him at all (she calls him "chum", and earlier in the scene tells him to "quit futzing around"...<3). If he's gonna go easy on her because of some twisted-up moral quandary, fine, then she'll go right ahead and kick his ass. All she is asking for here is his friendship and respect. She has no time for his sexist hand-wringing. She wants him to fight her like an equal. To fight her like a friend. And Colleen Wing is stubborn enough and confident enough to risk a broken arm-or-two to make that happen.

P.S. The facial expressions here by penciller Pat Broderick are wonderful. The realism and attention to detail in this fight (a staple of these early Iron Fist issues) make it all the more fun and impactful.

P.P.S. "I am a woman. Not a girl." Chris Claremont, I am giving you the biggest of high fives.

[kudosmyhero]

Daredevil (vol. 1) #123: Holocaust in the Halls of Hydra!

Read Date: July 05, 2023 Cover Date: July 1975 ● Writer: Tony Isabella ● Penciler: William Robert Brown ● Inker: Vince Colletta ● Colorist: George Roussos ● Letterer: Karen Mantlo ● Editor: Len Wein ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● good timing on my part. I just read that issue of Spider-Man where Silvermane Benjamin Buttoned himself

● 👏👏

Synopsis: With Daredevil defeated at the hands of Blackwing, the Supreme Hydra -- revealed to be the crime boss Silvermane -- orders them to prepare to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D., who will be on their way shortly. Black Widow attempts to attack Blackwing, however Natasha is knocked out from behind by Man-Killer before she can take him down. After an argument with Blackwing, Man-Killer is ordered to take the unconscious heroes and the defeated El Jaguar into the lower levels of their secret base.

Meanwhile, Ivan demands that Nick Fury do something to rescue Natasha from Hydra, Fury decides to go with Dum Dum and the Contessa to investigate Shea Stadium. Furious, Ivan decides to follow after them, knowing that Fury is likely going to go wherever Natasha has been taken. Sure enough, Hydra has set up their secret base beneath Shea Stadium. Deep below, Silvermane explains that when he took the youth potion that de-aged him to the point where he did not exist, the process then snapped him back to his prime, now revitalized to the peak of his adult years, he then was escaped capture when Hydra agents had come to select him as their new leader.

When Mentallo reports that S.H.I.E.L.D. has arrived, Silvermane unleashes an explosive charge that seemingly kills Nick Fury and the others. Horrified by this, Foggy manages to get a gun from one of the Hydra agents and uses it to blast Daredevil and Black Widow's chains, freeing them. Despite the fact that they are outnumbered and face El Jaguar, Man-Killer, Blackwing, and the Dreadnought, the two heroes are about to attack when suddenly the base is rocked by an explosion. Fury appears on the communication screens announcing that they are alive and well and that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents they thought were destroyed were simply LMD's.

In the confusion, the Black Widow destroys the Dreadnought by shooting it in its only weak spot. Daredevil then goes up against Jackhammer and easily defeats him. El Jaguar is knocked out by Dum Dum Dugan, and Man-Killer is incapacitated when Ivan places a jamming device on her exoskeleton. With their plan failing, Blackwing and Silvermane make a hurried escape and the remaining Hydra agents are all rounded up and captured.

In the battle's conclusion, Nick Fury asks Foggy if he would still like to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Surveying the damage, Foggy declines the offer.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Daredevil_Vol_1_123)

Fan Art: Foggy Nelson (Earth-27M) commission by phil-cho

Accompanying Podcast: ● Josh and Jamie Do Daredevil - episode 20

[ghostoftheyear]

I was joking about wanting to be a comic book historian the other day on Twitter, but I’m kind of half seriously wishing there was a position like that for real.

Like. For several years now, I’ve been maintaining -- albeit with less zeal, lately -- the Marvel Universe Timeline Wiki (aka WikiMUT). I started it as a project to try and understand all of the events that have occurred throughout Marvel continuity, with a focus on the 616 universe. It starts with the very first superhero-themed comic published by Marvel, Fantastic Four #1, and continues from there in a fashion that I hope is at least marginally logical. I really enjoyed putting it together, seeing the spread of comics published each month, seeing the origins of various characters and how they developed.

(For example: the Avengers came together in the movies much the way they did in the comics: in separate titles first, and then eventually brought together in their own title. [Tangentially, I’ve thought about doing a podcast similar to X-Plain the X-Men, but I have neither sufficient time nor energy for that.])

It’s also been a fascinating deep dive into Marvel history in its own way. People always seem to envision comics as the exclusive dominion of men -- white men, at that. Which also ignores the critical contributions of people like, oh idk, Jack Kirby, Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel, Stanley Lieber (you might know him as Stan Lee)... but I’m getting off track.

My comment on Twitter had to do with a recent thread where some idiot declared that women are ruining comics by taking over the boys’ club and scribbling in pink crayon all over everything. And this is where my deep dive came in handy, because, hello? Flo Steinberg? Virginia Romita, famously Marvel’s “traffic director” for ages? How about numerous women who did the grunt work of lettering and coloring and didn’t even get properly credited for it for years? Jean Izzo comes to mind; I believe she was Artie Simek’s daughter, and was often listed as J. Izzo or J. Simek. I’ll grant that lettering and coloring did not get their due for far too long -- in fact, in early issues of Fantastic Four, for example, only writing/editing (usually by the same person, Stan Lee) and art were credited. That doesn’t change the suspicious fact that womens’ names were often shortened. Well, women and Irving W(atanabe). Suspicious. (Petra Goldberg was another one. And then there were wives: Karen Mantlo, Michele Wolfman, Glynis Wein/Oliver, Diane Buscema.) 

How about Joan Lee, who suggested that Stan write something he enjoyed before he quit the funnybooks business forever, thus leading Stan to create Fantastic Four #1 and eventually creating or co-creating every major Silver Age character in Marvel Comics? Stan, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko brought forth the FF, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Hawkeye, a revived Captain America, the Silver Surfer, a revived Sub-Mariner, and that’s not even mentioning the villains. We wouldn’t have any of that if Joan hadn’t made that suggestion to her husband.

This is mostly focused on Silver Age because I’ve only gotten up to 1976 in my work on the wiki, but I’d also like to point out that women continued to contribute, in more noticeable roles, throughout the 70s, 80s, and up to current day. The X-Men certainly wouldn’t have been what they became without Ann Nocenti. (Also we wouldn’t have Longshot and that would be sad.) Louise Simonson’s contributions to the X-Men franchise, as well as other books like Power Pack and... oh I don’t know, Thor... were beyond important. Letterers like L. Lois Buhalis and Janice Chiang have done, and for all I know continue to do, yeoman’s work. And to step away from Marvel for a moment, independent books wouldn’t be what they are if not for Wendy Pini (and her husband, Richard -- talk about a great team) and ElfQuest. They helped paved the way for independent publishers for years to come. There’s also Colleen Doran and A Distant Soil. There’s Linda Medley and the beautiful Castle Waiting. There are many more I know I’m forgetting.

Also, and this is crucial, women have always bought, read, and loved comics. This is not a new, sudden, strange development. I am 45 years old, and I have collected comics on and off since I was 13. (What got me into it? Marvel’s reprints of ElfQuest, oddly enough.) Women haven’t just barged into the clubhouse and demanded space. Women have always been there.

If you have a problem with that, you weren’t really paying attention to the clubhouse to begin with.

[resurrectionsadamwarlock]

Iron Fist (1975) #6- Page 10

Mindstorm!