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daydreamerdrew · 2 years ago

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Comics read this past week:

Marvel:

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #230-232 and Captain America (1968) #230-231 and Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #46 and The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) Annual #12 and Special Edition: Spider-Man and the Hulk (1980) and What If? (1977) #12

Continuing my project of reading through all of the Hulk’s appearances, just within the main The Incredible Hulk book I went from September 1978 to November 1978. Issue #230 of The Incredible Hulk was a special issue with a guest creative team of writer Elliot S. Maggin, penciler Jim Mooney, and inker Bob Layton. I didn’t care for it at all. The rest of the issues of The Incredible Hulk in this batch were a crossover with Captain America. Issue #231 of The Incredible Hulk was written by Roger Stern and then issue #232 was just plotted by Roger Stern and scripted by David Michelinie. Issue #230 of Captain America was plotted by Roger McKenzie and scripted by Roger Stern and then issue #231 was just written by Roger McKenzie. And all of the issues in both halves of the crossover were penciled by Sal Buscema with the Hulk half being inked by Mike Esposito and the Captain America half being inked by Don Perlin. I overall liked these issues, though they did feel weirdly disconnected to the events of The Incredible Hulk #228-229. It seems as though what little of a positive reputation the Hulk had being ruined and Leonard Samson giving up on rehabilitating the Hulk is just sort of being ignored, or possibly it just wasn’t fit into the plans for the crossover and subsequent issues will pick that thread back up.

It was revealed to me for the first time in Captain America #230 that Jim Wilson is the Falcon’s nephew, but this information was not newly established there. This was apparently revealed earlier in the Captain America book, which I hadn’t been reading as a part of my Hulk readings as the Hulk didn’t appear in it. I’ve decided to not go back and read these issues now because I really love Jim Wilson and I know he eventually dies so I’d rather save that bonus Jim content for after I reach that point in the Hulk’s comics.

The story in Marvel Two-in-One #46 had a super cute premise where the Thing is deeply offended to see that the Hulk has a TV show and goes to Hollywood to try to get his own show and the Hulk is offended to see that someone’s made a TV show about him because he thinks they’re making him look bad and so goes to Hollywood to smash them. Of course, when the Hulk sees the Thing, he assumes that he is the one responsible for the show and attacks him. This issue felt very ‘classic Hulk’ to me and I enjoyed it.

The story in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #12 was a retelling of the Hulk and Spider-Man crossover in The Amazing Spider-Man #119-120 from early 1973, so that was a fun throwback for me. This story has stuck with me since I first read just because of a specific moment where the Hulk tells a dam to stop leaking and then hits it in anger at it not doing what he told it to which, of course, immediately makes the problem much worse.

The Special Edition: Spider-Man and the Hulk one-shot was a magazine given away free with the Chicago Tribune in June 1980.

The What If? issue explored a world in which it was Rick Jones that became the Hulk. Instead of the endlessly tragic stories we’ve gotten in the main world in which Bruce Banner became the Hulk, this issue ends with a neat conclusion that provides happy endings for everyone, which I think sort of puts a damper on the tragedy of the main universe where Bruce became the Hulk saving Rick from the gamma bomb explosion. Apparently if he hadn’t done that then everything would have worked out just one, at least in one universe. There’s another alternate universe tale explored in The Incredible Hulk #204 in which Bruce similarly fails to save Rick from the gamma bomb and Rick doesn’t become the Hulk but just dies of gamma radiation and the subsequent guilt ruins Bruce’s life.

Iron Man (1968) #1-5

Now that I’ve read through Iron Man’s run in Tales of Suspense (1959) #39-99 and the Iron Man story in the Iron Man and Sub-Mariner (1968) one-shot, all of which together covered December 1962 to January 1968, I’ve begun Iron Man’s first solo series. In this batch of Iron Man solo stories, I went from February 1968 to June 1968. All of these issues were written by Archie Goodwin. Issue #1 was penciled by Gene Colan and inked by Johnny Craig. Issues #2-4 were all penciled and inked by Johnny Craig. And issue #5 was penciled by George Tuska and inked by Johnny Craig. I was initially dissapointed to see that Gene Colan's run on this book was ending because I had really enjoyed how he drew Tony Stark in particular, but I haven't disliked the subsequent art at all and actually think that the way Iron Man was drawn was better. It's still too early for me to form an opinion on Archie Goodwin's writing of Iron Man. The last two issues of the last batch were written by him, which ended Stan Lee's long run writing the character.

I will say that I've noticed that this character can tend to go in circles a bit. There's a lot of repetitive bits that we've seen before. We've seen Tony's heart nearly give out many, many times and we've seen him get trapped in his armor in order to keep it running before and that happens again in issue #3. We had a long-running arc in Tales of Suspense about Tony grappling whether or not it's right that he's keeping the Iron Man armor to himself and in issue #4 he worries over it again. We've also seen him struggle with the amount of time that he spends as Tony Stark and whether or not that's selfish because he could be spending that time helping people as Iron Man, and there's a new twist on that in issue #4 where instead he wonders if Iron Man is creating problems for the people he cares about and wonders if he could be doing more good spending more time on scientific research as Tony Stark.

There were some smaller hints at interesting specifics in this batch. In issue #2, after having encountered supervillain after supervillain leaving Tony in his armor without the opportunity take it off for a while, Tony thinks to himself that "I have to keep saying my name just to be sure I still know it!" In issue #3, while he's struggling in private with his heart for what must be the hundredth time, he contemplates "A life spent flat on my back- an object of pity?" and commits to keeping his heart issues as private as possible rather than opening up and asking for help. And in issue #4, when he brings him attache suitcase with his armor to a scientific convention even though he doesn't think he'll need it, he thinks to himself "It's almost as if it controls me!" But these are all brief moments. I think that we're seeing a lot of the same broad strokes over and over and it's not that they're all completely played out with no new interesting material that can come from them but that they're maintained as broad strokes. I think the stories would be more interesting if they went into these littler details in more depth and explored the character's psyche more as he's going through these things again, but at the same time that might not be what appeals best to the intended audience at the time. It feels like this character's stories aren't evolving quickly enough for him so he's just sort of stuck playing out the same things over and over again until they can be done again in a way that's significantly different from how they've been done before.

I was also glad to see Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan brought back in this batch of issues and I hope they stay on as prominent supporting characters. Jasper Sitwell was introduced as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s liaison to Stark Industries in Tales of Suspense #95 and I'm not expecting him to be written out of the book anytime soon but I'm hoping he will be because I don't enjoy his presence at all.

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in Whiz Comics (1940) #40-43 and Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #22-24 and America’s Greatest Comics (1941) #7-8

In this batch of classic Captain Marvel appearances I’ve gone from February 1943 to June 1943. There are 4 Captain Marvel stories per issue of Captain Marvel Adventures and 1 Captain Marvel story per issue of Whiz Comics and America’s Greatest Comics for a total of 18 Captain Marvel stories read in this batch.

Captain Marvel Adventures #22 notably contained the first chapter in the Monster Society of Evil serial which won’t be concluded until Captain Marvel Adventures #46. This story, which was written by Otto Binder and drawn by C.C. Beck, was Mr. Mind’s first appearance, but not his first full appearance. Here he’s just a voice, and he won’t be revealed as a worm until later.

Another story in Captain Marvel Adventures #22 titled “The Revolt of the Comics” was conceptually super interesting to me. Written by Otto Binder and drawn by Pete Constanza, the premise of the story was that a bunch of comic book characters quit their jobs because they were tired of what they did, which was presented as though comic book characters were real people who were paid to live the lives that they did so that comic book material could be made based off of them. Captain Marvel then went and tracked them all down and brought them back to the comic book publishing company because he felt that these characters created necessary entertainment during the war time, so they were obligated to keep working.

The Captain Marvel fan club is featured in a story written by Otto Binder and drawn by C.C. Beck in Captain Marvel Adventures #23 which was cute but also felt a little bit too blatantly commercial for me, because the Captain Marvel fan club was a real club that kids could pay money to join, and while previous stories that featured the club felt more natural to the world, this story was just more obvious in it being advertising. And I think that the club has been a little bit soured for me from reading an example of one of the letters ‘written by Captain Marvel’ that fan club members received that was reprinted in Fawcett Companion: The Best of the FCA edited by P.C. Hamerlinck because it was pretty must just Captain Marvel telling kids to buy other Fawcett comics and magazines and also the clothes in his sister Mary Mary’s fashion line that she ‘designed herself’.

The Captain Marvel story in Whiz Comics #43, the writer of which is unknown and which was drawn by C.C. Beck, was based around Nazis trying to stop the printing of a Whiz Comics issue and Captain Marvel teaming up with Spy Smasher to stop them which in some ways was conceptually charming to me and in others was uncomfortable. The story had Captain Marvel visit the publishing office of Whiz Comics where he spoke to Ibis the Invincible and Golden Arrow, a western character, and where someone spoke out loud about receiving a letter from Lance O’Casey, a sea-faring character, all of whom are published in Whiz Comics. This was really cute to me and I loved it. And the story ended with the intended Captain Marvel story getting damaged so Cap draws out the adventure they just experienced to be published, essentially the Captain Marvel story in Whiz Comics #43 was the story of the saving of Whiz Comics #43, which I also really liked. But the story pushed the idea so hard that Whiz Comics is essentially a secret weapon against the Nazis and the Nazis are scared of Whiz Comics and by purchasing Whiz Comics you are dealing a significant blow against them. It was too much to the point of feeling unethical to be telling kids that they need to keep buying this comic for the war effort.

the Hopalong Cassidy stories in Master Comics (1940) #34 and #37 and #41-49 and just the one drawn by Harry Parkhurst in Hopalong Cassidy (1943) #5

After reading through all of the Neptina, Queen of the Deep, stories last week, the best of which were drawn by Harry Parkhurst, I decided to continue on reading more comics drawn by him, starting with the Hopalong Cassidy stories he did for Fawcett Comics. Master Comics #34 was published in December 1942, issue #37 was published in April 1943, issues #41-49 were published from August 1943 through April 1944, and Hopalong Cassidy #5 was published in March 1947. The Hopalong Cassidy stories in Master Comics #41-42 were written by Otto Binder and the rest don’t have known credited writers.

What I had liked best about Harry Parkhurst’s art in the Neptina stories was the underwater scenes and the way he drew girls, which I didn’t really get a ton of in these western stories starring sheriff Hopalong Cassidy and his deputy Mesquite, but I did still enjoy them overall and I am glad I read them because I think if I’m interested in an artist then it’d be best to read a variety of their work rather than just the kinds of stories I’m most interested in. And I think that following artist’s different work is one good way for me to branch out in my comics readings. So I’m going to continue this approach for Harry Parkhurst and for other Golden Age comics artists that I’m interested in.

#comics read this past week #my posts

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antiquery · 6 years ago

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el’s guide to the lovecraft mythos

hey! so this is mostly a post for my dear friend will @wellsforboys, who asked for a primer of sorts on the best lovecraft stories, because his collected works are such a doorstopper, and reading them all in chronological order is quite an intensive task. these are, in my opinion, the cream of the crop; keep in mind that, for a lovecraft fan, my tastes tend towards the unconventional, and if you ask someone else you might get a very different list. i’m going to try my best to avoid the most intensely, egregiously bigoted, but if there’s something i feel merits inclusion despite the aforementioned bigotry i’ll include a warning. i’ll also provide links to all of these stories through the free online archive, but if you’d like to get a hard copy and delve deeper, i recommend this one from arcturus or this one from barnes & noble. if you’re strapped for cash and/or would prefer to read more online, here’s the link hub for the complete works. let’s get started!

lovecraft stories are typically broken up into two categories: the “mythos” stories, and the “dreamlands” stories. the former are the stories you typically think of when you think of lovecraft, if you know weird fiction— they tend more towards hard sci-fi, and usually deal with doomed scholars, hubris-ridden scientific exploits, the massachusetts countryside, outer gods, and various types of aliens. they’re far more famous than the latter, most of which concern the adventures of various vaguely keatsian protagonists in a narnia-ish realm dubbed the dreamlands, which is internally consistent and frequently cross-referenced. the distinction between these two types of stories is only a very broad one, though; characters, locations, and themes. frequently appear in both. the term “mythos” is rather misleading— all the stories take place in the same ‘verse, with the same gods and the same cosmology. really, it’s a division of style and subject material. personally, i prefer the dreamlands stories, but most lovecraft fans (unsurprisingly) prefer the mythos tales (which i will admit are more technically, narratively apt). i’ll try and include a roughly equal amount of both, so that you can get a feel for what you prefer.

so, without further ado, here’s the list! in chronological order:

the statement of randolph carter: first story, first appearance of my boy! here he’s wracked by ptsd from the great war and the recent eldritch demise of his boyfriend research partner; the story is told in the form of a police statement. this is one of the most gothic of lovecraft’s tales, and also the one with Alternate Universe Florida. it’s a fave.

celephais: sort of a dry run for the dream-quest of unknown kadath, but clever and unique in its own humble way. it’s got the same themes of refuge in dream, and it’s got a sweet ending that’s cleverly subverted by the protagonist’s later appearance in the dream cycle.

from beyond: people have mixed opinions on this one, but i’m fond of it. while usually classed as a dream cycle tale, it has that element of scientific hubris that pops up so often in mythos stories, and an absolutely chilling central premise.

nyarlathotep: first appearance of probably the most well-known mythos baddie after cthulhu. here he’s terrorizing innocent humans in the guise of Eldritch Modernist Nikola Tesla. will, for you specifically— if you like nikola orsinov from the magnus archives, you’ll like nyarlathotep (both the character and the short story).

the nameless city: this might just be my favorite one-off tale (though i am fond of the lovecraft reread’s hypothesis that the unnamed protagonist might be our boy randy carter, because this is precisely the kind of stupidity he’s so prone to). top-notch archaeological horror about exploring a deserted city that might not be as empty as it seemed.

the music of erich zann: lovecraft doing chambers, basically. it’s a clever little tale, and has an innovative use of auditory horror, which wasn’t all that common for hpl.

hypnos: probably the second most homoerotic story lovecraft ever wrote (though there are a lot of those, surprisingly enough). local keatsian meets a supremely beautiful, nameless man, they fall into dreaming (and opium addiction) together, things go downhill from there.

herbert west— reanimator: this one’s a bit longer, but it’s a cult classic, adapted into a delightfully campy 1985 film starring jeffrey combs. it’s about a scientist who goes Too Far, in the frankenstein sense, in pursuit of...well, you can guess from the title. it’s a fun modern (for the twenties) twist on the gothicism of mary shelley, and the title character is so much fun.

the hound: another super-gothic tale, and probably the single homoerotic story lovecraft ever wrote. actually, it’s kinda like a mini the secret history via poe. local decadents get into the occult over their heads, pay the spooky spooky price. gotta love it.

the rats in the walls: this one’s another classic poe-esque story, pretty clearly a riff on fall of the house of usher. it’s a wonderfully psychological piece of gothic horror, but huge trigger warning for The Infamous Cat Name. aside from that bit of unpleasantness, this is one of the first pieces where lovecraft handles the horror of ancestry well, with the classic conceit of a literal decaying house (or priory, as the case may be), and it’s pretty cool to see him really come into his own with something that’d so fundamentally define his work.

the unnameable: another carter story! this time he’s acting pretty transparently as lovecraft’s author avatar, talking about the value of horror fiction and, uh, fainting in terror at the slightest hint of any actual horror. better luck next time, randy. we’ll check in with him again in a few.

the festival: first canon mention of the necronomicon! exciting! and, if i recall correctly, the only story actually set in kingsport, one of the small massachusetts towns (along with arkham, dunwich, and innsmouth) that make up the major landmarks of lovecraft country. it’s about, as the title suggests, a Nefarious Ritual, and also astral projection? cool. it’s a pretty neat bit of creepery, nothing really special, but a good example of the kind of regional horror lovecraft was starting to handle particularly well.

the call of cthulhu: i’m basically obligated to include this one, though to me it’s not really a standout, because it’s so damn famous. it does get points for a clever and thematically intelligent narrative structure, and the astoundingly creepy idea of artists’ dreams being influenced by an Imminent Horror.

pickman’s model: another super chambers-esque story, and one where the monologue formatting works loads better than it did in statement of randolph carter. like in music of erich zann (and, to some extent, call of cthulhu) this is lovecraft wrestling with the cosmic-horror implications of the fine arts. it’s also got a lovely twist at the end, one of those really chilling clincher lines lovecraft is starting to develop a knack for.

the silver key: chronologically the third carter tale, though no one’s entirely sure where it fits in the narrative sequence of his stories. it’s basically a modernist diss track, wherein our boy wrestles with the ennui that comes from, uh, reading t.s. eliot? (funnily enough, this is basically “the hollow men” via keats.) it’s not really a horror story, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless.

the dream-quest of unknown kadath: FINALLY, we get to my favorite. this is a short novel chronicling randolph carter’s adventures in the dreamlands as he seeks out a dream-city that the gods have denied him. it’s the odyssey via lord dunsany, with a few twists— carter’s not really an epic hero, polutropos or otherwise, and it’s fun to watch him navigate a treacherous landscape in such an unconventional fashion. it has an excellent, atypical twist ending, and my favorite appearance of nyarlathotep ever. it’s also the chronological end of the carter cycle,* and our boy goes out with a very pratchett-esque bang.

the case of charles dexter ward: a lengthy slow-build tale of an evil necromancer and his impressionable descendent. it moves somewhat slowly, but it’s so delightfully atmospheric that you don’t really mind. bonus points for the clear riff on wilde’s the picture of dorian gray. also, first appearance of mythos deity yog-sothoth!

the dunwich horror: aaaand now we get into the string of very well-known mythos tales that lovecraft wrote around 1930. this is a classic, about an insular family with a destructive predilection for the occult.

the whisperer in darkness: a lovely slow-build and partly epistolary tale, featuring the classic Intense Stupidity of mythos protagonists. also featuring aliens from...pluto? and the first real appearance of the theme of bodily dissociation, which lovecraft got super into near the end of his career.

at the mountains of madness: this one’s so good. it’s more of a novella than a short story, about a doomed expedition to the antarctic sponsored by our favorite Dark Ivy, miskatonic university. it’s an awesome piece of worldbuilding about the pre-human earth, and a near-unique bit of sympathy for the non-human. it was also the inspiration for john carpenter’s 1982 classic the thing, as well as a tragically abortive guillermo del toro adaptation.

the shadow over innsmouth: i’d call this the climax of lovecraft’s writing on hereditary horror, and it’s brilliant. the ending is one of my favorite final paragraphs in all of lovecraft, maybe surpassed only by dream-quest. the story proper is about a young massachusetts native investigating the strange coastal town of innsmouth, and just why, exactly, something isn’t quite right about it. it loses points, though, for a truly horrible and lengthy application of dialect, and for being a very obvious metaphor about interracial marriage. sigh.

the dreams in the witch house: probably my favorite story after dream-quest of unknown kadath. it’s...kind of dark academia-y, actually, about a miskatonic undergrad who moves into a house formerly owned by a famous witch and discovers a method to travel to other dimensions— at a price, of course. lovecraft was never good at character building, but he did manage to create a genuinely sympathetic protagonist in walter gilman, which makes the ending all the more chilling. there’s also an awesome rock opera adaptation of this story, which i highly recommend.

the shadow out of time: another favorite! it’s the culmination of lovecraft’s late-career fondness for body-swapping horror, and as well as being genuinely cosmically terrifying (and wondrous) it’s quite psychological, in a way lovecraft wasn’t usually very apt at. it’s got alien civilizations! anticipatory soviet terror! the horrors of interplanetary colonialism! awesome libraries! what’s not to love?

the haunter of the dark: the last independent story lovecraft wrote before he died in 1937, it’s a beautiful send-up of providence, hpl’s hometown, and a delightful final appearance of my man nyarlathotep (albeit in a new form). plus...eldritch journalism? it’s great. also, i can’t mention this story without referencing this fic, which you should absolutely read immediately after the actual tale.

and that’s it! happy reading!

* you can read “through the gates of the silver key” if you want, it’s technically the culmination of the carter cycle, but it was mainly written by e. hoffman price and edited by lovecraft, and i (along with plenty of other hpl scholars) don’t really consider it canon. it was lovecraft’s first real foray into body-swap horror, but because he’s trying to shove it into a character arc that’s already over and done with it doesn’t do very well. you get essentially the same narrative with “the shadow out of time,” done much more skilfully. to me, “gates” smacks intensely of derleth, lovecraft’s “posthumous collaborator” and Mythos Manichaean, which...ack.

#bookshelf blogging #o do not ask what is it #sorry will this took foreeeeever to get down on rhetorical paper but It Is Here #it's time for elizabeth's opinion!#mine

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