John Byrne - Sketches Across the Marvel Universe

Few creators in comics history have been the beneficiaries of an adoration for their work as most collectors hold for John Byrne's run on the X-Men. Following a wonderful run by Dave Cockrum, Byrne (in collaboration with inker Terry Austin) launched Uncanny X-Men into the stratosphere. From that point, Byrne parlayed his success into lengthy runs illustrating the Fantastic Four and then on to DC where he was allowed to revamp the Superman mythos. At times controversial, Byrne never shied from either the spotlight or from speaking his mind (or from creative decisions such as his dismantling of the Vision).

Today I am featuring sketches of Marvel characters (and thanks to the various owners of these pieces for making them available on the Web); perhaps at some future point we'll take a look at some DC characters as rendered by Byrne.

From the standpoint of my own satisfaction, I tended to enjoy Byrne's work most when he had an inker who would exert some degree of positive influence. Whether Joe Sinnott, Austin, Bob Layton, or Dick Giordano, I wanted an inker to add some boldness to Byrne's lines. During his Fantastic Four tenure, and then on into some creator-owned projects like Next Men, I felt that Byrne left to his own devices could produce work that seemed a bit scratchy. My eyes prefer "polished", and that is what Austin, et al. lent to Byrne's pencils. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments below.

Onward!

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.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale. My Father Bleeds History, Chapter 5 - a Review

Maus: A Survivor's Tale. My Father Bleeds History (1986)
"Mouse Holes" - Volume 1, Chapter 5
Art Spiegelman

We are nearing the climax of volume one of Art Spiegelman's biographical/autobiographical classic. In today's review, we'll see events that will eventually lead to the fate of the Spiegelmans as the Holocaust deepens. But prior to that, through a lot of luck, Vladek's ingenuity, and several opportunistic allies, the Spiegelmans will stave off that which seems inevitable.

100-Word Review: 

Art and his wife, Francoise, are awakened by a call from Art's stepmother, Mala. She is alarmed that Vladek has been on the roof to make a repair. Art puts off helping his dad, but in doing so relates to Francoise some of the animosity he's felt toward his dad. Later, he finds that some of his true feelings of yore have been exposed to Vladek. But as they talk later on a walk to the bank, Vladek relates more of the events that have made him the person he is in the present: resourceful, miserly, mistrusting, and often obsessive-compulsive - consequences of survival, schemes, and deceit.

On straightaway to my thoughts on this chapter...

The Good: This block of 30+ pages seems to me to explore relationships -- Art to Mala, Art to Vladek, Vladek to Mala, Art to Anja, Vladek to Anja, Art to Anja's memory (and Mala and Vladek in this regard, too), Vladek to his family during the war, and so on. From the opening page, we find Art agitated with Vladek seemingly disrespecting Art's and Francoise's schedule/sleeping habits. At the same time, Vladek could be said to disrespect his own shortcomings and also Mala's feelings for his well-being. As I've mentioned in previous reviews, there is always tension when Vladek is "on screen", and this chapter is certainly no exception. I felt that the power in this section was Art's decision to reprint in full a 4-page "underground" comic he'd created in 1972. "The Prisoner on Hell Planet" was autobiographical, detailing Art's memories and reactions to his mother's suicide in 1968 when he was 20-years old. Vladek later found a copy of the story and read it. This created emotional stress between and among Art, Vladek, and Mala, and was a pretty uncomfortable scene.

  

Another source of weight that appears here are two diagrams that show hiding places that people used to preserve their lives another day. We'd seen this used in the previous chapter, when the Zylberberg grandparents were hidden in an outside bunker. Here Vladek tells about two bunkers - one in a cellar beneath a coal bin and another in a ceiling - with access through a chandelier. From the time I first read this, hot off the bookshelves at the student center on the campus of Illinois State University, I've felt his was incredibly important information. Steven Spielberg also showed viewers of Schindler's List several innovative ways people went into hiding. There can be no value placed on skill and knowledge, opportunity and execution. Some might argue that hiding generally only delayed what many consider certainty. To my understanding, any form of resistance is worthwhile.

Although I'd largely consider it a negative element of this section of the book, the depiction of self-preservation in terms of family bribing family, friends taking payment and then not following through and so on. I think we as readers, living under whatever passes for "normal" in our own day-to-day lives, leap to judgement on the choices and deeds of people in Vladek's sphere of influence. The reality is that we (thankfully) cannot begin to grasp the enormity of the pressures faced by victims of the Holocaust. Our values could not possibly be their values. Might they have been in the years before the German invasion? Highly likely. But by 1943 there was no rule in society that could be counted upon to play out as expected.

It's almost a throwaway vignette, but there is a scene in which Vladek mentions the ghetto residents eating the bad cake - I felt it was important. Treats like desserts are something so many of us take for granted. But Vladek tells that it had been a long time since anyone had had such a thing, so consequently the seller was able to charge a handsome price for each slice. And people paid it. Think about that...

The Bad: As has been my position in prior reviews, I have absolutely no quibble with anything Art Spiegelman has presented. I do, however, find myself impacted by elements of the story. As mentioned above, the various dynamics within Art's family in the "present" are difficult to watch. This is dysfunction night and day. But we can see the whys and wherefores of it all - we are witness to Vladek's life unfolding and the things that were done to him and around him. We watch as decisions he makes, or choices that are forced upon him, groom the man he will go on to be. And Art? Seeing the path upon which Vladek and Anja were forced to walk, it's no wonder that Art felt so much pressure as a child. He wasn't their first, but he had become their only. Art will make a comment to Francoise near the beginning of volume two that gets to me every time I read it. I'll highlight that when we get to it later.

The Ugly: As a parent, it's difficult to watch the scene where the German soldiers murder children, and also the fate of Richieu. From near the beginning of Maus, we know where it's headed. There's a reprieve, if only temporary, earlier in the story when Anja refuses a deal to hide their baby boy. But as the Germans close in and the war goes on, the Spiegelmans decide their only recourse is to give Richieu away. It's heartbreaking as Vladek tells Art his impressions of finding out about his firstborn's demise.

Come back at the end of June for the closing chapter of volume 1 of Maus. If you've not read it, I can attest to the presence of not one, but two climactic scenes. Both are quite powerful.

That Cape... An Appreciation of Marshall Rogers

Love, love, love Marshall Rogers's rendition of The Batman. I was in on the legendary Englehart/Rogers/Austin Detective Comics run. Although I did not have the entirety of that masterpiece, I did have the "Joker fish" issue, and maybe two others. Fabulous!

Rogers is of course best known for the seemingly-endless cape sported by our hero. "No capes!" was not a slice of advice toward which Rogers's Bruce Wayne adhered. Instead, he seemed to have a garment that flowed (sometimes endlessly) in its own way, depending on how much room was in the panel.

I am happy to own the Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers hardcover. In addition to the aforementioned 'tec run, it also reprints the Batman: Dark Detective mini-series and some other goodies. There is a newly-issued version of this material; I'd recommend any collection you can get yer mitts on!

Pablo Marcos, Penciler, Inker... Artist

Pablo Marcos is one of those inkers whose work I can spot a mile away. Similar to Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta, or Tony DeZuniga, there are just aspects of Marcos's style that speak loudly to me. And I'll admit... as a kid I didn't appreciate Marcos's influence over several pencilers. My apprehension generally centers around the Avengers in the mid-1970s. Spanning penciling runs by Sal Buscema, George Perez, and John Byrne, Marcos did serve to unify the look of the title. However, I found his faces somewhat distinct, and not as pleasing to my young eyes as other inkers might have been over those same pencilers. Now much older and wiser, my appreciation for Marcos and his work has grown. It's still distinct to me, but I've embraced it as uniquely his own style.

Thank you in advance to the collectors and purveyors of comic book art who have been kind enough to post the following images on the Internet so that we can all enjoy.