Len WeinRecensioni

This one was a mixed bag for me. Both stories contained in this volume worked on one level (story and art respectively) and failed on other (art and story respectively).

First, Book of Thoth - this is origin story of one of the Conan's greatest antagonists, wizard Toth-Amon of Stygia. We follow him from his early days of youth in a problematic family with abusing father and [for all means and purposes] no-mother. Only person he has any love towards is his sister. Living in extreme poverty and forced by his father to beg and rob passer-byes in the street he is more than willing to grab first opportunity to achieve fame and fortune even if it means killing his friend and then orchestrating complete mayhem in Stygia to dark monstrous creature from the aeons past - Set. During this process Toth-Amon will slowly lose all of his humanity and soon turn his back to all people he loved. But his eternal hunger for power will be even too much for him and it will take rather unlikely allies to save his skin.

Story-wise this was excellent story, with powers of light and darking fighting through their avatars on Earth, population that gets pushed toward darkness thanks to thoth-Amon's actions used to push Stygians more and more to the brink until finally they can do nothing else but turn towards the cosmic darkness for safety.

Art is .... lets say not my cup of tea. This type of art is something Mignola is very good at and he makes it look very easy but believe me drawing characters on a high abstract level using only geometrical shapes and shade is very very complex thing and here it just did not work for me. While covers and some wide-shots truly look awesome rest of story did not click with me.

On the other hand second story - Mask of Acheron - had very decent art but story was ..... man. I might be wrong but this one seems o be comic adaptation of last Conan movie. Last I remember i did enjoy that movie but this story seems to be missing some of the pages. I dont know if it was rushed or actually missing story parts but it just jumps from one point to another without any explanation whatsoever. Weird.....

So as a whole mixed bag. But for me even with these .... issues? .... it was an enjoyable ride, especially the Book of Toth.

If you are fan of Conan give this one a shot but it might be good for you to first check art on the Net to see if it will sit well with you. Because lets not forget, comics are primarily bought for visual art.

A very fun collection! Despite the title I actually think that the issues with Wolverine are some of the weakest (not the mention the inclusion of the ice cannibal in said issues being inherently racist). We see a lot of the Hulk and very little of Bruce Banner, which was interesting to me.½

Basically the stereotypical 70s Marvel output. Len Wein does most of the scripting here and it's...adequate. I'm still really sick of the 70s comic book writers really not knowing what to do with female characters, aside from having them call their significant others "darling" and constantly either have to plead to come along, or end up being the person the hero needs to save.

As for the art, I adore both John Buscema's and Walt Simonson's artwork. And, depending on the person he's inking, Tony De Zuniga can be quite good. But he does no favours to either Buscema and especially not to Simonson here. The basic posing of the characters is there, but the quirks of each of these very talented and distinctive artists gets buried under his inks. There's those inkers (Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin) that just brought out the best in the artists, then there's others that bury them under their own style. De Zuniga is the latter.

As for the stories, they're your typical Marvel fun. This is the stuff I ate, drank, and breathed as a young teen. As an adult, I'm still enjoying them.

Though, I'm excited to skip ahead to Walt Simonson's run on Thor that came a little later.

1403

1763

1,5
RUIM DEMAIS!!!

4,0

Crítica: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-monstro-do-pantano-especial-de-inverno-2018/

2,5

CRÍTICA: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-superman-e-os-homens-metalicos-ataque-ao-sol...

Crítica | O Incrível Hulk #179: Volta o Elo Perdido
https://www.planocritico.com/critica-o-incrivel-hulk-179-volta-o-elo-perdido/

Ah, Marvel comics in the 1970s. Big dumb fun.

I picked this up because it had the very first Thor comic I ever read, back when each visit to the spinner rack offered up more and more enticements for a stupid kid with an extra quarter in his pocket. (If you must know, it was The Mighty Thor #242, "When the Servitor Commands!", released September 9, 1975, just a few short days before my 13th birthday).

Thor, for whatever reason, has always held a special place for me. Maybe it was the hammer. Maybe it was the Shakespearean speech. Maybe it was Volstagg. I don't know, but I do know that, coming back almost fifty years later to these stories again, unlike a lot of other stuff from that time, I still enjoy the hell out of these.

A big part of that is the art by John Buscema, especially when Joe Sinnott is inking his pencils. Len Wein, while never a shocking talent, could show flashes of brilliance (such as his Swamp Thing work for DC), and here, he's obviously having a lot of fun, though, seriously count how many times Thor's all "yea, verily, I doth go forth to smite yon wretchedly evil villain" and Jane's all, "I'm coming with you, darling (and yes, there's a crap-ton of darlings in there)" and Thor says no, and Jane reminds him of the fact that she's sharing her body with Sif, and Thor relents.

Like, every couple of issues!

Overall though, while none of these stories are groundbreaking, they were enough to capture the mind of that almost-13-year-old, and they're still good enough to make this 60-year-old smile.

Good artwork, okay plot, and cheesy dialogue. For a one shot I wish the ending was a bit more clear on the motives of the terrible trio.

Like a lot of people, I first got acquainted with Swamp Thing in the 80s when the older stuff was hard to find. Catching up with it now, it seems like something from way more than 10 years earlier, old-fashioned in both good and bad ways. The good: Wein had a solid grasp of several pulp genres and hit on a premise that could be adapted to any of them, while also being perfect for morbid young people who felt like monsters, and Wrightson's art (though it's sometimes a little clumsier than I expected—he was pretty young) has Gothic style to spare and also a great cartoony expressiveness that recalls some of the EC greats. The bad: Wein writes in a time-honored tradition of endless bombastic narration that's constantly telling you what you're looking at, and the recurring human characters are pretty forgettable. Although it would take a while for them to figure out what to make the story about besides a series of one-off monster encounters, Swamp Thing at this point is already obviously a great idea and you can see all kinds of weird notions being thrown on the wall to see what sticks.

For more thoughts, here's a blog post: https://alibi-shop.dreamwidth.org/9945.html

I think it captured the voice and ideology of Ozymandias very well. He was billed as a super genius in the original story, so it was nice to see where he came from and how he ended up. His frustration with Dr. Manhattan was something that should've been explored a bit more. Loved the homage to P.B. Shelley though, especially how they integrated the poem into his exploits and psyche.

Did not enjoy Crimson Corsair. Enjoyed the Ozymandias portion only.

For the last forty years, I go time travelling every half-decade or so. I chose this edition to review, but I'm actually re-reading the 10-issue Wein/Wrightson run collected in four issues that were released from the summer of 1977 to Feb of 1980.

In 1977, my family had literally uprooted our lives and moved three hours away to a very small town where I knew absolutely no one beside my immediate family. I was a shy, introverted 15-year-old kid who'd been bullied for the past four or five years and didn't make friends easily. My escape was reading. I read everything.

And that summer, as I waited for my mother to get something done in town, I grew bored and asked if I could get a dollar to grab a snack or something. I walked across the street to the variety store, a charming place with wooden plank floors and that wonderful small town smell of fresh bakery products, paperback books and...comics.

I checked out the spinner rack--remember those? --and I don't remember anything other than the comic I eventually picked up, which was the first collection. Sixty cents bought me 48 pages, a collection of issues 1 and 2 of the original Swamp Thing saga.

I went back to where I was waiting for my mother and sat down, opened the glossy cover and began reading a comic that would, over the next twenty minutes or so, blow my mind. Len Wein's wonderful words...yes, a little overwritten, a little overly earnest, but setting the perfect tone for Wrightson's murky--shall we say swampy? --images. I finished the issue, then immediately turned back to the front and re-read it, slower this time, savouring each image, rolling each word over and around on my tongue.

And over the next three years, I picked up the next three collections, wrapping the entire Wrightson run.

Are these stories a little corny? Hell yes. Do they rely on a ridiculous amount of coincidence? God, yes. But are they magical? My God, yes.

Each story, whether treading the gothic path of Frankenstein or werewolves or mad scientists, or slipping closer to the science fiction of aliens and clockmakers who fashion humans from mechanics, or dipping a toe into Lovecraftian horror, or even bringing Batman--the best looking Batman this side of Neal Adams, by the way--into the story, Wein ensures that each story is infused with a melancholy humanity, solidly backed up by Wrightson's moody, empathetic line work.

Every five years or so, I pull out those four collections and think, yeah, I'm too old for this now. I won't enjoy them this time. And every time, for a couple of glorious hours, I'm that fifteen-year-old kid, sitting in a strange store in a strange new town, discovering an entirely new world in the wonderful smelling pages of a 60-cent comic book.

Magic.

An interesting take on two different dimensional time lines that, as the title says, converge. I read Superman: Red Son and enjoyed it, so this was especially interesting to me.

A quick two-parter of the convergence of different universes.

"I think we took the wrong bus, gang. This place sure doesn't look like Cleveland. All the insects in the air -- the overgrown jungle -- ! On second thought, maybe this is Cleveland."

I admit I have a weakness for Ozymandias, which probably bumps up the rating here more than it should. He's a fascinating character. There's some mind-bogglingly dumb things in this comic - like somehow making Bubastis on accident when trying to create a giant alien squid beast? - and it really doesn't contribute to the world or character at all - its just more of the same.


I was never a fan of Tales of the Black Freighter in the original Watchmen, but I understood and appreciated how it mirrored the narrative of the book. Crimson Corsair doesn't do that - its just filler to me, and uninteresting.

I was surprised how much I liked Dollar Bill's story. It was simple but actually felt new.

Actually, I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, but as I have said before, no fractions here on GoodReads.

You can read my full review on my blog. Click on the link: http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2013/08/booknote-before-watchmen.html

This was more like a long comic book than a graphic novel, but I liked it a lot. I haven't visited "the Dreaming" in a year or two, so it was nice to visit with all the characters. I also thought the plot was brilliant and fun.

Len Wein and Marv Wolfman’s The Amazing Spider-Man: Mayhem in Manhattan was Marvel Comics’ third novel and the first since 1968, making it a decade between attempts to transition their characters to a different medium. This book was the first of a series of eleven from Pocket Books that appeared between March 1978 and October 1979. Following this series, Marvel only published a single novel in the 1980s (an adaptation of the Howard the Duck movie) before their novel line again took off with Diane Duane’s Spider-Man: The Venom Factor in October 1994. Since then, they’ve published multiple novels a year, every year. In light of that, Wein and Wolfman’s novel represents an opportunity to imagine what might have been had Marvel’s attempts to license its characters in novels continued uninterrupted since the 1970s. It’s also remarkable as, of the previous two novels from the 1960s, only one was written by a comic book writer (Otto Binder). For 1968’s Captain America: The Great Gold Steal, Marvel instead chose science-fiction author Ted White. With the novels that followed The Amazing Spider-Man: Mayhem in Manhattan, Marvel alternated between science-fiction authors such as William Rotsler & Ric Meyers and comics insiders like David Michelinie & Paul Kupperberg, with comic writers Wein and Wolfman writing or editing four of the eleven Pocket Books.

The story of Mayhem in Manhattan focuses on Spider-Man being wrongly accused of a murder after he found the body of a man thrown from his penthouse apartment. Meanwhile, in his secret identity as photojournalist Peter Parker, he follows J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson to the site of a meeting where all the world’s oil producers are gathered. Someone has irradiated their oil supplies and is holding them hostage, demanding they pay for a clean supply of oil for one year or else risk the information of their tainted supply going public, thereby driving the world’s governments to invest in alternative energy sources (pg. 62). The story itself works particularly well as it appeared only four years after the end of the OPEC oil embargo. Furthermore, J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson’s distrust of major corporations and investigation fit in well with 1970s skepticism of traditional power structures. As part of this, Wein and Wolfman include a reference to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (pg. 121). Like Ted White’s Captain America and the Great Gold Steal from 1968, Wolfman and Wein initially attempt to hide the big reveal of the villain orchestrating the oil scheme. Unfortunately for their efforts, their description of him attacking the first victim at the story’s beginning somewhat gives it away: he has “a soup-bowl haircut” (pg. 19) and a “grip of steel” (pg. 20) and wears “an olive-green opera cloak” (pg. 18) and “thick dark glasses” (pg. 19). Though they try to obfuscate it, he’s obviously Doctor Octopus.

In tone, the story closely resembles the comics at that point, though Wein and Wolfman do take advantage of the longer format of the novel to add more detail, character development, and even the occasional mild profanity and possibility of characters actually dying. That said, the novel’s third act is pure comic-book action and the story never feels as far removed from the medium that birthed Spider-Man as the previous Marvel Comics novel did from its comics forebears. As a bonus, Wein and Wolfman also include a nice reference to Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko (pg. 121). Finally, through Joe Robertson, Wein and Wolfman perfectly sum up Spider-Man’s importance, writing, “So long as he wears that mask, he could be anyone. He could be you, he could be me – he could even be someone like Peter Parker. So long as he wears that costume and that mask, Spider-Man remains a symbol – a symbol of what any man who hates injustice and who fights for the good can become” (pg. 171).

‘Essential Thor volume 7’ collects, in glorious black and white, The Mighty Thor # 248-271 and The Mighty Thor Annuals # 5-6. It opens with Annual # 5, scripted by Steve Englehart, in which the Asgardians have a war with the gods of Mount Olympus. It’s well done and Odin the All-Wise actually demonstrates some sagacity for once. Usually, he behaves like a spoiled six-year-old.

Len Wein was scripter on the closing issues of ‘Essential Thor volume 6’ and he carries on in this collection. Ray gun Mjolnir puts in an early appearance on page three of issue # 248 but is thankfully absent thereafter. Captain Kirk doesn’t hit people with his phaser and Thor shouldn’t shoot rays from his hammer. It’s most unsuitable.

There’s nothing new in the stories but old plots are given a fresh outing. At first, it seems that Odin has gone mad. Then there’s a long quest through space to find the real Odin. Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three, Fandral, Hogan and Volstagg, ride around the stars in their little sailing ship meeting bad aliens. They are accompanied by the Recorder of Coloniser fame, who precedes his statements with the word ‘statement’ and his observations with the word ‘observation’ but is a loveable chap really. While they’re away, Loki plots against Asgard.

The appeal of quests as stories is lost on me as I usually find them very dull. This one’s not too bad and when the good guys return to Asgard, the action picks up. Len Wein was either a fan of the older ‘Thor’ comics or did some diligent research because he revives a couple of old villains. Artist Walt Simonson adds to this by reintroducing the old costumes, including the more decorative look that the Destroyer sported in his first appearance.

The pencils on issues The Mighty Thor # 248-259 and The Mighty Thor Annual # 5 are by John Buscema, so obviously they’re great. On # 260-271, the graphite is wielded by Walter Simonson and it’s a different look but nearly as good. It’s all inked by Tony De Zuniga, a perfectly good artist in his own right. This gives the volume a sort of unity but also makes all the pages look a bit like Tony De Zuniga’s work, which is not the worst thing I guess.

There’s a pleasant interlude with The Mighty Thor Annual # 6, pencilled by Sal Buscema and inked by Klaus Janson. Perhaps because of brother John’s towering reputation, Sal is often underrated but I think he’s very good, especially with a skilled inker like Klaus Janson. Thor teams up with the Guardians Of The Galaxy for an epic adventure in the stars where their starship, it must be said, looks more at home than his Viking sailing boat.

In the last few issues of the regular title, Thor goes back to Earth and resumes his identity as Doctor Don Blake. This, too, harks back to those halcyon days of yore on this title. Lee and Kirby used to alternate a big Asgardian epic with a few Earth adventures and it’s a good pattern to follow. You can’t have the imminent end of the universe every other issue and even Odin can only sleep so much.

These stories first appeared in the very different era of 1976-1978. All in all, it’s a satisfactory slice of past Marvel at a bargain price which will give hours of mild, low-level pleasure to old fans and perhaps some new ones, too.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/

Maybe I shouldn't have read Ozymandias's prequel first.

He was the most interesting character to me in Watchmen--he's an incredibly smart guy who makes such irrational, stubborn decisions. Which is one of those big traps for people who like to think of themselves as giftedly intelligent; thinking that you are too smart to be irrational, make mistakes, listen to people. And haha, that's exactly when you make irrational mistakes that you could have avoided if you just listened. And if you do that enough times, it's enough to make a "good guy" the big bad. Or is he? Was he right? Bwahahhahaha! Oh Ozymandias, I look upon your works and despair.

But anyway, Before Watchmen: Ozymandias, though it has really beautiful art, was just kind of a blah story. Like, he misses his mom, his girlfriend got fridged, he travels Asia, becomes super rich, like... if I didn't know anything about a superhero in any given comic book I would make the same story, basically... which I guess, is Batman? But still, nothing too exciting. It was like, "Well, I don't really have an idea for the Ozymandias prequel, but I can come up with a story that's not terrible," and it was like, okay, good enough.

Received free from Netgalley
BUT the other two stories here, about the Crimson Corsair and Dollar Bill, were very entertaining! If you thought that kids reading pirate comics instead of superhero comics in Watchmen was kind of weird, well, they were reading Crimson Corsair comics and Crimson Corsair comics are fuckin' badass. More badass than any superhero comic I can think of, with escalating levels of awesome ludicrousness. Dollar Bill's story was pretty good, but... really his story could be told in six words: "Superhero's cape gets caught. Gets shot." And that would be all you needed to know about this hapless, sweet guy.

The winner of many industry awards, the basis for Wes Craven's cult film, and the original incarnation of the series that introduced [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1182935774p2/3961.jpg] to American fans, Roots of the Swamp Thing collects for the first time in hardcover the initial fourteen appearances of the legendary muck monster. Printed on a non-glossy paper stock, this volume offers perhaps the finest quality renditions of these oft-reprinted tales. As beautifully grotesque as when they first appeared, these Wein and Wrightson stories remain some of the best comic book horror stories.

Solid recap of the 70 year continuity (or what it's become over time with the many reboots and revamps since 1985), with no real surprises, honestly.

The weakest part was simply showing how often since the Crisis that DC has relied on "deaths" or serious injuries to characters to drive "event" stories. Lumped all together, it reads like something took the fun and morality out of comics, threw in blood and uber-violence, and hit frappe.