Showing posts with label Steve Englehart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Englehart. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 AVENGERS "Night of the Collector" Conclusion

...The Mighty Avengers, exhausted from the epic "Avengers/Defenders War", answer a psychic summons of danger at the Rutland Halloween Parade.
While half the team falls prey to The Collector (disguised as the parade's founder/host Tom Fagan), the other half of the group is exploring the hamlet, looking for clues...
Loki eventually got his marbles (well, most of them) back and continues to bedevil the Marvel Multiverse to this day.

Who is...
...and What Part Does He Play in Our Final Rutland Halloween Parade Tale?
Find out on Monday as We Explore Another Corner of the Multiverse!
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Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 AVENGERS "Night of the Collector" Part 1

...well that (and our LINK) certainly-covered those plot points, eh?
So let's get to the action from Marvel's Avengers #119 (1973)...
Who, in 2023, can't sympathize with forgetting to turn off the burglar alarm after a long day?
Fanboy Footnotes:
1) You'll note the footnote reference in panel 1 to the previous Marvel heroes'/heroines' visits...including the one which overlapped Thor and The Beast with the Justice League of America!
2) The real-life Tom Fagan was one of the founders of the super-hero incarnation of the Rutland Halloween Parade.
His comic multiverse counterpart appears in almost every comic set at the parade.
In DC books he dresses as The Batman.
In Marvel titles, he wears the garb of NightHawk, originally a member of the Squadron Sinister, later a member of the Squadron Supreme (both created to be a counterpoint to DC's Justice League of America, so Nighthawk is Marvel's Batman surrogate!)
Wow, that was fun...

Note: at this point in Marvel continuity, neither The Collector's real name (Taneleer Tivan) nor the fact he was one of the Elders of the Universe, were known!
To Be Concluded TOMORROW!
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Monday, October 16, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 PROLOGUE: "Alliance Most Foul!" & "To the Death!"

Wow!
This scene from Marvel's Avengers #115 (1973) gives new meaning to "cliffhanger", doesn't it?
Amazing how cosmic-level villains have a moral code!
This short story lead into one of the earliest "Big Events" in comics history, crossing-over between The Avengers and The Defenders comics through the summer of 1973 (My Lord, that was a half-century ago, and I read it when it was brand-new!)as the two teams were manipulated into battling each other for possession of the parts of The Evil Eye!
In the conclusion, the baddies were revealed as they assembled the parts, and the groups joined forces against them...
...but even their combined might proved insufficient as they fell against the power of the deadly duo who began reshaping the multiverse with the reassembled Evil Eye...involving everyone from Spider-Man to Dracula to Nick Fury to Thanos as reality collapsed!
At the battle itself, only one remained standing, and in a classic final, desperate, gambit...
As the two teams pick up the pieces, The Watcher, who was standing around watching (and, surprisingly, not interfering), explains...
And that leads into this month's Rutland Parade entry involving Marvel characters, which you'll see...
TOMORROW!
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Avengers-Defenders War
The Complete Saga

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Heroic Halloween in Rutland THE BEAST "...and the Juggernaut Will Get You...if You Don't Watch Out!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Henry McCoy, aka the X-Men's Beast passing through Rutland on his way to Canada on a vital mission.

He meets several comic book professionals who have arrived for the annual Halloween Parade, which features participants dressed as superheroes!
Unfortunately, long-time X-Men foe Juggernaut is also there, projected from a mystical dimension he had been exiled to, due to the supernatural properties inherent to the Rutland area as shown in the previous year's Marvel Feature #2 when the dread Dormammu tried to sacrifice Dr Strange on a nearby mountaintop on Halloween (long story we won't get into here)!
When the Juggernaut appears, Hank becomes The Beast to stop him...
Real-life Parade organizer and party host Tom Fagan appears in almost all Rutland-themed comics, dressed as Nighthawk (if it's a Marvel book) or Batman (if it's a DC book).
You'll see him in this trilogy again!
The two blondes in panel 2 are Marvel's own writer/editor Roy Thomas and writer Jeanie Thomas, who appeared in both the previous Marvel Rutland comics.
To clear up several things...
The Juggernaut got better, and returned...and returned...and returned!
(You can't keep a classic baddie down!)
Hank did get to Canada, where his expertise helped save the world!
But those are stories for another time and blog...
OTOH, keep an eye on Steve's beat-up jalopy, which plays a role in the remaining tales!
And, Glynis did have a rather exciting time while she was separated from the guys, as you'll see...
Hint: It has to do with her wearing a Supergirl costume!
Seriously!
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Monday, October 4, 2021

Heroic Halloween in Rutland THE BEAST "...and the Juggernaut Will Get You...if You Don't Watch Out!" Part 1

We presented some basic info HERE, so read that before you begin this trilogy of terror!
Don't worry, there'll also be footnotes as we go along...

The three real-world comic writers we see here are Steve Englehart (balding blonde), Gerry Conway (long brown hair) and Len Wein (goatee), as well as Len's wife Glynis (whose real-life counterpart colored this story)!

In-joke: the real-life Steve Englehart had been writing The Beast's strip for the last five issues (as well as this story), so it's not unreasonable for "Marvel Universe Steve" to find Hank McCoy "familiar"!




Glynis is dressed as DC's Supergirl, which figures into the storyline in the other tales in the trilogy!
Also Marvel had to modify her costume insignia from "S" to "G" for legal reasons.


And on that ominous note, we end the first part of this re-presentation!
The explanation for Glynis' disappearance is in another of the stories in this trilogy.
Written by Steve Englehart, panciled by Bob Brown, and inked by Frank McLaughlin (with caricatures of the real-life comics creators by Marie Severin), this tale will conclude...
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