Hero Histories

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

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

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...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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Avengers
Epic Collection
Avengers/Defenders War
(which includes this follow-up tale!)
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Monday, October 16, 2023

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

When Last We Left the Norse God of Deception and Trickery...

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

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Phantom Stranger & Deadman in 'Chapter 3' " Plus "Story Behind the Story"

We Have Witnessed...

Cover art by Jim Aparo

...The Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and Doctor 13 all journeyed to Rutland, Vermont on Halloween and battled mystic menaces...but the threat isn't over...yet!

Bonus: here's a kool behind-the-scenes feature about the story you just read...

NEXT MONDAY...this story didn't end two years ago!

Be Here as Rutland Faces Yet More Halloween Horror...this time from one of the Marvel Multiverse's Non-Magical Menaces!

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DeadMan Omnibus
(which reprints this tale)

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Phantom Stranger and Doctor 13 in 'Wraiths in the Rain' "

When Last We Left Our Mystical Heroes...

While Deadman battled half-human/half-demon gargoyles, The Phantom Stranger has not been idle, and now he's about to be joined by another whom he's met before...under less than ideal circumstances!

Left to right: writer Carla Conway, husband Gerry Conway (who was shown in Rutland during the Beast/Justice League/Thor crossover we presented two years ago, and wrote the Thor story which wound it up!), writer Marty Pasko, writer/editor Paul Levitz, and artist Romeo Tanghal (who drew this entire story except for the caricatures of the real-life people which were done by Joe Staton)!

To Be Concluded...Tomorrow!

Trivia: The mystic Stranger and parapsychologist/skeptic Thirteen were created about the same time in the early-1950s, though they didn't encounter each other until the 1970s.

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Showcase Presents
Phantom Stranger
Volume 2
(Which reprints this Story...but in Black and White, not Color)

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Deadman in 'Hour of the Demon' "

We Have Already Seen...

The Phantom Stranger, already in the Vermont town of Rutland, is aware of the threat of a demon named Quabal and his minions...half-human/half-demon beings who look like classic gargoyles!