Dave Cockrum's Nightcrawler, in Bizarre Adventures 27 - a Review

Remember a week ago when I mentioned that posting might be irregular moving forward? Today's one of those days... except to avoid a big fat nothing, I'm going to subject you to a summer rerun. My sister and her kids are concluding a 10-day visit today - they live in eastern Washington, near the Canadian border. They've stayed with us for the duration and have had a great time - a couple of day trips to Chicago, lots of family meals, and she's had the chance to show her family around the places she grew up. Solid family times.

But I'm not leaving you without something good. This post originally ran on August 16 2013. It garnered 8 comments back then - we'll see if it's worthy of further conversation today. So thanks for putting up with my "dreaded deadline doom". If you came here to see my review of the final chapter of Maus, volume 1, I hope to have that up either Thursday or next Monday. For now - enjoy some Dave Cockrum art on the character he loved!

Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981)
"Show Me the Way to Go Home..."
Jo Duffy/Bob Layton-Dave Cockrum/Ricardo Villamonte

Doug:  How about this for a splash page?  That's some good Dave Cockrum X-art, isn't it?  And did you notice that Dave placed himself on the cover of the TV Guide?  Funny guy...  Today concludes our trip through this magazine.  We've previously toured the Phoenix and Iceman entries and today we'll finish the excursion with a look at the fuzzy elf, Nightcrawler.  You'll notice that Jo Duffy is responsible for the script, as she was on the Iceman tale.  I felt that that story was not terrible, but mediocre.  We'll see how this one goes.

Doug:  As the team watches an old Zorro flick an alarm suddenly goes off in the mansion.  The team recognizes it as emitting from Cerebro, but at a pitch they've not previously heard.  Nightcrawler, on Cyke's orders, "bamfs" ahead to check it out.  As the team arrives to the control room, Kurt Wagner has a wry smile on his face -- Cerebro has detected half a mutant!  So, it's into a cruiser and off to Poughkeepsie to check it out.  Upon arrival, they find the Vanisher, last seen in battle against the Champions and frozen in the Darkforce of Darkstar.  And there he stands -- half a mutant!  Cyclops warns Kurt not to touch the Vanisher, but you know how that goes -- Nightcrawler reaches out and then there's a huge "BAMF!"

Doug:  Yeah, he really shouldn't have touched the Vanisher in the middle of that Darkforce.  That loud "BAMF!" sent the two teleporters through time, space, and dimension to lord-knows-where.  As they finally slipped back into reality, there was a separation and Nightcrawler landed on a planet full of shapely females -- offering him to be their god or king!  Nightcrawler's flattered, but takes the high road and tries to teleport away.  But instead of "bamf!", we hear "poot!"  Now, in the presence of fine-looking women that's not exactly the best noise to make!  It sets in pretty quickly that ol' Kurt Wagner isn't going anywhere soon.  Some unknown distance away the Vanisher has landed and is having a similar experience.  However, being an egomaniacal villain, he's trying the high-and-mighty approach, even as he too is offered godhood and/or a kingship.  The women find him humorous, and despite his failed attempts at manipulating the Darkforce, the ladies decide to keep him.  So they literally drag him off to places yet unknown to us.

Doug:  Scene-shift back to Nightcrawler, who has been set up like a shiek or sultan with the ladies as his harem.  It's definitely a wine/women/song setting.  It gets pretty cryptic in a hurry, as Nightcrawler enjoys himself but with lots of questions.  The ladies (by the way, check out the various costumes in the story -- seems like some Legion wear might be sneaking in here and there) tell him that males are not native to their planet, so when one arrives they make him their god or king -- to further the population.  But, they also tell, the gods and kings never seem to last too long.  An oracle is mentioned, and Nightcrawler says he'd really like to see that.  So it's up from the table and off on a short field trip.  Inside the cave of the oracle, Nightcrawler is stunned to see a television!  Once turned on, a little old lady, looking like Granny from the Looney Tunes, greets him.  She tells Kurt that all he needs to do to get home is to go to the Well at the Center of Time.  It's a crater only a few miles away that can transport him right back home.  However, she cautions that if he takes anything from there, or leaves anything behind, she can make no guarantees -- he has to leave exactly as he came in.  And then as he and the escorts turn to leave, the oracle tells him to watch his tail while he's there.  Huh?

Doug:  We cut to another part of the world where the Vanisher has set himself up as a god.  The locals are waiting on him hand and foot, but the Vanisher is stuck in his old ways.  He looks at each piece of treasure bestowed upon him and wonders how he could fence it!  Suddenly Nightcrawler steps forward from the shadows, spooking the Vanisher.  Nightcrawler tells him what he's learned about leaving, but the Vanisher rebukes him -- he ain't going!  So the X-Man says if the Vanisher won't come along peacefully, he'll have to go by force!  The Vanisher throws a vase at his would-be abductor, and then appropriates a sword.  "Swashbuckling?" says Nightcrawler, who then grabs a cutlass of his own.  The two men duel, with Nightcrawler getting the better end of it all.  He finally subdues his foe, and bodily removes him from his harem.  As the two Earthlings march out, the women tell them to be careful -- they seem not at all bothered that the "gods" are leaving.

Doug:  Nightcrawler hustles the Vanisher to the Well at the Center of Time.  Upon seeing it, the Vanisher emphatically declares that he's not jumping into that crater.  He then uses the Darkforce to craft a huge hand, pick up Nightcrawler, and drop him.  Nightcrawler is losing his patience quickly, when the Vanisher pulls a "sheet" of Darkforce from his body and hurls it at Nightcrawler.  Kurt's engulfed in the stuff, and disappears!  As it's like one big shadow, Nightcrawler did a fade-out.  However, upon returning he encourages the Vanisher to restore the Darkforce to his outer covering -- it's apparently wearing a little thin.  At that moment huge beasts rush the two mutants, forcing them to their only recourse -- jumping into the crater.  They do, and fall back through the inter-dimensional abyss.  Back in Poughkeepsie, Nightcrawler and the Vanisher reappear right where they'd "BAMF!"ed out only seconds before.  The Vanisher tries to go all Mr. Threatening on the X-Men, but his steam is lost when he notices he's... naked!  His teleporation powers restored, he gets outta Dodge pretty quickly!  Storm asks Kurt for an explanation and all he tells her is that he's been to paradise... and someday he's going back!

Doug:  This story, of the three in the book, would have looked the best in color (although it is striking in the format you see).  I imagine it would have looked something like the Thing/Hulk graphic novel The Big Change.  I thought this story was a nice way to end the magazine -- pretty light and breezy fare.  Cockrum just had a passion for Nightcrawler, and that spirit shines through the art.  It's fun.  Overall, I'm not sorry I own this magazine -- if I hadn't said it before, this was the first time I'd read any of these three stories.  They're all OK -- if I had to rank them, I'd probably go Nightcrawler, Phoenix, and Iceman.  However, the Iceman story far and away looked the best -- it was just beautiful!  Bronze Age X-Men -- that's just never going to be a horrible experience, is it?  Nope -- like golden days of yore.  Thanks for sticking with me over these past three months!

Phoenix Rises, in Bizarre Adventures 27 - a Review

In case you've been under a rock, or perhaps you're like me and you don't really care, you might know that the next X-Men motion picture drops at the end of this week. To "celebrate" (OK, really, to "observe"), today I'm featuring a post that originally ran at the Bronze Age Babies back on 13 June 2013. Hard to believe I wrote this six years ago! Have fun, and please leave a comment at the bottom. Thanks for stopping by today.

Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981)
"Phoenix"
Chris Claremont-John Buscema/Klaus Janson

I think, and don't hold me to this, I got this at a nice discount way back around 1990 when I was a subscriber to Mile High Comics' monthly service.  As I seem to remember, owner Chuck Rozanski had specials each month, and I'm almost certain this was how I acquired this magazine.  I can guarantee you I didn't buy it from a newsstand, as this was released during the time I was not buying comic books.  There are three stories between the covers, and about mid-month throughout the summer we'll be picking our way through the book.  At the beginning of each story is a one-page "data sheet" on the featured hero, and I'll run those right alongside the magazine's cover as I've done above.  So without further ado, what say we take a look at the recently-deceased Phoenix and... Attuma?

Reading these stories (at this writing, I've obviously read today's fare, but also the next tale which is of Iceman), one has to wonder why they were created.  Just after the table of contents is a short editorial from Denny O'Neil where he touts the X-Men as Marvel's breakout stars and how he knew them way back when.  He also says that Bizarre Adventures will contain lots of new and exciting material.  But he makes a comment which prompted my statement just above; he writes, "Certain X-Men stories we wanted to tell were, for various reasons, not suited to the color format.  The answer?  Good old Bizarre Adventures."  So I don't know if the three stories within were made just for this publication, if they were stock waiting for a chance to see daylight at the back of an annual or in something akin to Marvel Fanfare (which, if you're like me and wondering when that debuted, it was in March 1982).  As there are references to past continuity, 'tis a mystery.

We open in a cemetery, at the grave of Jean Grey.  Her sister Sara Grey is visiting again, and today is the first anniversary of Jean's death on the moon.  Sara kneels to place flowers and talks to Jean.  Sara is concerned because her own son is 11 years old now, and will soon begin adolescence -- the age of manifestation for certain mutants.  Sara worries about that -- what would it be like for her boy Tommy?  She says to Jean -- "Your powers killed you, Jean.  Will they kill my son?"  And then her mind wanders back to a time two years prior, when she and Jean headed to the docks to spend a day sailing before meeting their significant others for dinner.  But all is not without incident, as two young bucks make a play on the women.  Jean flirts momentarily before telekinetically pushing one of the guys into the drink.  They aren't hassled any more as they board their small craft.  Out on the water the sisters talk, Sara wanting to know about Jean's powers and why she's a mutant and not Sara herself.  Jean has no answer.  This is a very vivacious Jean Grey, funny and loving life.  It's interesting to see Chris Claremont write her free from the bounds of the sullen Scott Summers.  One could almost imagine this Jean Grey being the woman to tame Wolverine...

Jean continues to play around with Sara, telekinetically drawing out the lunch cooler and then emptying it by ejecting the sandwiches and drinks like little missiles.  Sara isn't all that comfortable.  Suddenly they are aware of a fog bank, one that shouldn't be there.  It spreads across their course, seemingly creating a barrier to their travel.  Sara attempts to radio to shore, but the transmission is blocked.  Suddenly Jean is aware that Sara has passed out, and before she can mount a defense of her own she also succumbs to the attack, and slumps over the side of the boat and into the ocean.  Once unconscious, her mind dreams back to a time when she was 10 years old, and playing with her best friend Annie.  They were playing frisbee in the front yard of the Greys' home.  The Greys lived on a blind curve, and the frisbee that Jean threw got away from Annie; Annie chased it into the street where she was struck by a passing car.  Jean rushed to her side, and as she cradled Annie's dying body Jean's own mind reached out and into Annie's.  This was the first manifestation of Jean's mental powers.  She wasn't able to save Annie Richardson on that day, but she experienced her death by her side.  This was very traumatic for Jean, and eventually served as a catalyst for joining the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.  There she learned to use her powers, and Charles Xavier protected her from those horrible memories until they could work through them together.  It was also at the School where she met Scott Summers and fell in love.  It was after graduating from the School that she died and was resurrected by the Phoenix Force, forever changing her.

Jean groggily wakes, but is shocked to find herself clothed as some sort of consort of plaything.  Sitting up, she notices that her skin has turned... blue!  I thought that was sort of a funny concept, in a black and white mag, but then whenever we read novels and the like I guess we have to do the imagining ourselves, huh?  She also becomes aware that she is underwater, and breathing!  Her mind races, going first to Prince Namor and a previous meeting between he and the X-Men.  Suddenly she hears someone scream (under water?) and takes off in that direction -- running at first and then swimming.  Entering the next chamber, she finds Sara overcome with shock and horror at their circumstances.  Jean gives her sister a telepathic bolt to put her down, and then enters her mind to calm her.  Sara thanks her, her previous fears set aside.  At that point armed guards enter and inform the Grey sisters that they are now brides, and are to accompany the men to their master.  And he is?  Attuma, Scourge of the Seven Seas!

So it's like this -- Attuma ain't so dumb after all.  Tired of being second tuna to Namor, Attuma has decided to kidnap mutant women (yep -- he's got Sara Grey all wrong) for breeding stock.  After some time, he'll have created his own Atlantean mutant army, strong enough to finally defeat Prince Namor.  But Attuma's biggest problem (among many) is that he thinks Jean is Marvel Girl and has erected psychic dampers to keep her in check.  It's a pity, because his plan may have succeeded -- if Phoenix had not exploded on his scene, blasting him into a wall while destroying the machines that had clouded her mind earlier.  It really isn't even fair; Jean makes short work of every warrior that enters the barbarian's chamber.  She and Sara flee, but are soon cornered by Attuma himself.  You know how these things go -- if he can't have it his way, there'll be hell to pay!  Attuma wields a mighty large blade, and flails it about wildly.  His strength is surprising to Jean, and she's actually forced back.  Yeah, that lasted for about two seconds and then Blammo! again.  She literally brings the house down this time.  Swimming like crazy for their liberty, the sisters make it to the surface -- only to discover that Sara's infection with Attuma's virus has left her a water-breather.  She nearly suffocates once she hits the atmosphere.

Jean takes Sara back underwater while she thinks of what to do.  Sara laments that she might actually like the adventure of Attuma's offer (man, I thought this scene was weird -- "The things, I could learn down here, the places I could see.  I could spend a lifetime just talking to those dolphins.  If I was single."  Really??  Be Attuma's love slave?).  But Jean tells her that she thinks she can return her to her human attributes, but it will basically require a reworking of Sara's DNA.  It works, and Sara surfaces.  But where's Jean?  Sara dives back down, to find her sister being nudged toward the surface by the dolphins.  Sara's able to haul Jean ashore and revive her.  The two ladies build a fire and warm themselves.  Jean sent Scott a telepathic S.O.S., and told he and Sara's husband of their location.  They continue to talk about Sara's fears for her children.  Jean reaches out one more time, and mindwipes Sara's memories of their Atlantean adventure, and of Phoenix.  As far as Sara will know, they had a boating accident and Sara saved Jean's life.  She also thinks that she'll ask Professor X to have the kids genetically scanned.

Back at the gravesite, Sara thinks that the mind block disappeared when Jean died.  She thinks that Jean shouldn't have done it in the first place, but she's glad that Jean loved her.  She also knows that Jean never got around to asking the professor to see about Sara's kids.  But in the end, Sara thinks that she's not quite as afraid as she used to be; after all, if her kids are mutants and turn out like their Aunt Jean, that wouldn't be all bad.

This was an interesting story.  I warmed to it more the second time I read it, which was for this writing.  My initial reaction was that it was pretty far out there -- Attuma??  But he merely served as a vehicle for Claremont's bigger issue, which was an examination of Jean Grey in a snapshot taken a year before she died.  It was also a tale of those affected by mutants and how they deal with those issues.  Metaphorically, I suppose the script plays into our hopes and fears for all sorts of relationships and life situations.  John Buscema's art is pretty typical of his output in the early 1980's -- it's obviously Big John's greatness, as we have grown used to seeing him in his main B&W venue, Savage Sword of Conan.  I'm pretty sure these are tighter rather than sketchy lay-outs.  Klaus Janson does wonders on the inks and with wash; there's no zipatone, but what there is is a ton of backgrounds!  It's really a pretty lushly-illustrated story.  So for fans of both artists, I think you get the best of both worlds.  This won't necessarily be my stance in mid-July, when I'll treat you to the second story in this magazine.  The Iceman tale was drawn by George Perez and inked by Alfredo Alcala.  I'll challenge you then to pick out the Perez influence.  Nuff said.

Paul Gulacy's Black Widow, in Bizarre Adventures 25 - a Review

Bizarre Adventures #25 (March 1981)
"I Got the Yo-Yo... You Got the String"
Ralph Macchio-Paul Gulacy

Let's just start this off with a "Bad", because you know I'll end up there eventually. That title definitely gave me a "Huh?" when I opened the book. More on this later. OK, now that I'm past that, let's move on.

I've had the Marvel Premiere Hardcover pictured at right for many years - too many to remember when or where I bought it. To be honest, I knew it contained the George Perez-illustrated Marvel Fanfare story and an early 1980s graphic novel, but had no expectation that I'd turn a page and find this black-and-white beauty that I set before you today. So to now say all these years later that this was a good score is only magnified by the advent of the BWBC. Let's quit wasting time and get on with the commentary.

100-Word Review: 

After an alcohol-fueled tryst, Natasha Romanoff awakens to an alert from SHIELD. She is to assassinate her mentor, a Soviet operative name Irma Klausvichnova. In a plot that involves commando raids, a battle aboard a speeding train, and -crosses and double-crosses, the Black Widow is drawn deep into a mission that is ultimately not what it seems. No character is who they appear to be, and just when Natasha thinks she's uncovered the truth, enter: her lover. And he most certainly owns a truth that is unlike any other.

Seriously, this story, though only 20 pages in length, was like a thriller/mystery movie. Reads just like those play out. Which brings us to...

The Good: Ralph Macchio had shepherded the Black Widow through the Marvel Fanfare 4-parter (presented as the first story in the hardcover that was my resource), which was more akin to standard superhero fare. This story, told two years earlier, was nothing at all like the "Web of Intrigue" arc. This really did play like a film, or at least a television show. Did any readers watch the very short-lived ABC series The Catch? It was about con men constantly scamming everyone, including each other. Everyone was sleeping with multiple people, there were capers aplenty, and the viewing audience was kept guessing who was allied with whom, and which character would be stabbed in the back (perhaps literally) next. I read today's story twice - once around six weeks ago when I read the Marvel Premiere Hardcover (part of my almost-nightly comics reading program. Well, it's not really a program, but I do try to get after it pretty regularly), and then again to refresh my memory and to further soak in the goings-on of this story. It gets super-heavy on exposition near the end, but it's a good exposition.

It's good because this sort of reads like a crime novel but with pictures. In fact, Paul Gulacy's art is so strong, this actually seems more like watching a film with the closed captions on. The art is photo-realistic, and it really works with Macchio's script. It's photo-realistic to the point that I think you'll immediately recognize Natasha's lover, Langely. It just adds a further element of fun to the story. I even liked Natasha's Farrah Fawcett hairdo - it seemed right, given the time this was published.

The opening of the story, with spies doing their spy thing and then silencing an enemy, was a great way to begin. Later, that there was a train scene - and of course, with characters running along the tops of the cars, was very Hollywood-esque. Great touch. I just really liked this story and its execution!

The Bad: I literally did some Internet searching in the middle of writing this post. That story title is so odd, I figured it had to be a reference to something else. Sure enough - from this website:

In June 1966, "The Dean Martin Summer Show" debuted, hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. This was a different format from the "Laugh-In" that followed, with comedy occupying the center stage.
They had regulars Dom DeLuise, Lainie Kazan and Frankie Randall to provide sketches and musical numbers, but the boys still offered their comedy bits such as a spy spoof with the two in trench coats exchanging this pair of countersigns, Dan -- "I've got the yo-yo," Dick -- "I've got the string." I guess you had to be there.

So now I say, "A-ha...!" - and the title doesn't rankle me as I previously thought. In fact, kudos to Ralph Macchio for his memory. That Rowan & Martin bit must have really stuck with him. Now I feel like I should stick this in a "The Good 2.0" section.

To the bad, though, and maybe this is just me. I don't want to sound prudish, and bear with me on this. I am not naive enough to think that Natasha didn't sleep with Matt Murdock. I'd not be as certain she slept with Clint Barton, as it was years until anyone even knew ol' Hawkeye's name! But when this story begins and Natasha wakes up and reminisces on her night's activities, I was a little taken aback. This might just be me, but I felt, "Hey! That guy's name isn't Murdock, you hussy!" Whatever. Yeah, I think it's just me.

For those allergic to words in a comic book, that last three pages are really going to tick you off.

The Ugly: Zilch. Time well spent. Both times. I'd recommend this to fans of many genres of literature.