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Time traveling KC Carlson
a KC Column by KC Carlson
(first of a series)
I’ve always been intrigued by historical stories. You understand the ones — where new details are brought to light, or something important in the past happened, yet we don’t discover out about it up until now. In comic books, this is often referred to as a continuity implant. Or, more frequently, a “lost” story.
It’s only in comics that you have these kinds of retro tales. No other medium has the type of long-running continuity as well as characters (and the resulting years of stories) where it would even make sense to look backwards instead of forwards. That’s what’s fascinating about these stories I’ve been reading lately. They aren’t structured to state “and this is the hero’s next adventure”; instead, they tuck a new experience into a previous time period.
I’m not speaking about retcons or stories geared to tell you “everything you believed you understood is wrong!” I’m mainly speaking about period pieces, stories flavored with nostalgia for a time further back. perhaps one where great as well as evil were more obvious as well as moral decisions not so grey.
A short history OF STORYTELLING ERAS
There’s a difference, though, between stories set then as well as written now as well as those originally written in those older time periods. Marvel, in their earliest timely era, didn’t tell stories like they do today. Now, we get multi-part epic storylines that ultimately ended up being blockbuster movies. even simple stories may be overly stretched out to fill a TPB collection. Back then, comics were full of quick, action-filled dispute stories, with little space for characterization or even continuity — neither of which were truly used to comics in that era.
Sub-Mariner in the golden Age
There’s something to be stated about pure action tales. They’re like a sugar rush, keeping your head spinning, even beyond what’s great for you. however eventually, a diet plan of pure action gets repetitive — even tiring — as well as a specific sameness creeps into things as well as you keep plugging along. perhaps that’s why the golden Age ran out of gas eventually. Sure, it’s usually stated that most superheroes died out after the war ended since there was nobody important to fight anymore. however what if it was that, plus the stories got tiring as well as unfocused? Hitler as well as Tojo were not only scary — they were real.
So, time passes as well as comics got tiring except for little bumps (like horror comics which were ultimately squashed by government oversight) as well as things got even more boring. Superheroes lastly make a comeback, however the genuine buzz about them comes from the (slightly) more advanced relaunch of marvel Comics in the early sixties, mainly by guys named Stan, Jack, as well as Steve, as well as next thing you understand the Hulk is the darling of American college campuses (if not actual comics sales). There are articles in leading newspapers as well as magazines about exactly how advanced (and groovy) comic books now are. The publicity saves marvel Comics from decades-long distribution as well as sales problems, as well as even other publishers are great by association. then Batman hits TV, as well as it’s a whole new sphere game, at least for a few years.
Skip ahead one more decade or two, as well as comics have gotten even more sophisticated. artwork is amazing, as well as artists are lastly pushing against the limitations of decades-old bad printing on crap paper. more as well as more writers are telling more as well as more advanced stories.
Yet in the contemporary age, there’s likewise space for throwbacks. Some writers discover the older, visceral characters much better fit for new stories, even though the characters date from their (or even their parents’) childhoods.
But this doesn’t occur immediately. First, The Invaders have to be (re-)created.
THE INVADERS: HEROES OF any type of ERA
The Invaders
Among the earliest of these kinds of stories were The Invaders, the team that officially debuted in 1975 in Giant-Size Invaders #1, by Roy Thomas as well as Frank Robbins. The special was quickly complied with by an continuous series later that year, set in the 1940s as well as starring Captain America (and Bucky), the original (Jim Hammond) Human Torch (and Toro), as well as Namor, the Sub-Mariner. all of these characters were early marvel stars when the business was called timely back in the ‘40s, back before team books were the rage. It should be noted that there was a prototype debut for the team in a 1969 problem of The Avengers (#71, written by Roy Thomas), where a time-displaced Captain America, Sub-Mariner, as well as the Human Torch all appeared as well as briefly battled The Avengers, Kang, as well as the Grandmaster.
Another team of Timely-era characters really banded together in the 1940s (post-WWII). The short-lived All-Winners Squad’s membership included all five of the future Invaders, plus the super-speedster with the unfortunate name — The Whizzer — as well as miss America. These last two were quickly re-introduced into the 1970s The Invaders series, ultimately ending up being short-term members. The strange thing about the All-Winners Squad was that it didn’t last long. The team had only two golden Age adventures together in All-Winners Comics #19 as well as #21 in 1946. (Before you ask, there was no All-Winners Comics #20. Gotta like golden Age comics publishing…) Also, since this team was post-war, their original adventures didn’t factor into any type of 1970s Invaders stories, since that team was all about WWII!
Marvel Premiere #29
This didn’t stop Roy Thomas from producing one more timely WWII-era super-team. The liberty legion was produced in 1976 (beginning in The Invaders #5-6 as well as crossing over to marvel Premiere #29-30), however their actual adventures took location during WWII alongside the Invaders. liberty legion members the Whizzer as well as miss America were retconned into satisfying as well as teaming with the Invaders characters in “1944” before they were really produced (real world) in 1946.
The Invaders of this age was never a advanced superhero series (because it truly wasn’t designed to be), however it was a extremely important link to future creators who did extremely fascinating things with a few of the characters in coming decades.
If you’re not confused sufficient by now, I’ll most likely come back to this later when I do a whole column on The Invaders. Betcha can’t wait!
OUTTA TIME, OUTTA PLACE
The Invaders are just the beginning. There’s a great deal of forgotten out-of-time, continuity implant marvel series as well as characters that I’m going to take one more look at, including:
Marvel preview #20 featuring Dominic Fortune
Dominic ton of money is a quite unique character in marvel Comics. He’s a self-defined “Brigand For Hire” who has appeared in stories set in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, as well as so on to the contemporary era. (And, yes, he’s depicted as a extremely old guy when he appears in stories set in “present day”.) ton of money is a Howard Chaykin-created character (technically co-created with Len Wein, however there’s an even deeper history there to be explained later). He likewise very first appeared in 1975, however he’s been published off as well as on every decade since. Plus, he’s a difficult character to follow, as many of his Chaykin episodes were published in strange anthology magazine-format publications, seldom in common style comic books. (That’s where the older version of the character generally appears.)
Chaykin prefers to tell ton of money stories set in the character’s (and Marvel’s) colorful past, while the rest of the (until recently) present marvel U. depicts him as an elderly, however still extremely capable, guy with little input from Chaykin. ton of money is a traditional Chaykin character: a tough-talking, somewhat befuddled, swashbuckling man’s man, who attracts lovely women that are much smarter than him, however autumn all over him anyway. I can’t wait to tell you more about him as well as his adventures, which are scattered all over the marvel world as well as its history, like buried treasure.
Agents of Atlas
The Agents of Atlas were one of Marvel’s more quirky super-teams. the most present “series of miniseries” (beginning in 2006, complying with a one-shot appearance in What If #9 from 1978) depicted them as current-day characters, however their roots really stretch back to the not-so-well-depicted by marvel in the 1950s. It’s one more excellent series/team that should have had more fans. thanks to well-curated collections, it’s not as well late to get to understand them.
Marvel: The lost Generation #12
If you want truly obscure characters as well as adventures, you’ll want to inspect out Marvel: The lost Generation (2000-2001), a 12-part restricted series by Roger Stern as well as John Byrne which has criminally never been collected by Marvel. Granted, it tells the tale of the most unsung, unknown characters of the marvel world (the team called very first Line), as well as some fans complained about it being told “backwards” (the story starts in problem #12 as well as counts down to #1). It likewise defines the age of the marvel world that I discover so interesting — the post-WWII period of obscure superheroes, (Kirby) monsters, as well as other strange goings on — that as long-time marvel visitors know, we didn’t discover out about up until much later. a few of that starts here. The end of that age is marked by amazing four #1 — both as the beginning of “modern” marvel continuity, in addition to the real-world publishing landmark that it has become.
There are a great deal more of these hidden/unrevealed stories from this age that I’m dying to introduce you to.
The Marvels Project
The Marvels job (2009) by Ed Brubaker as well as Steve Epting stars Marvel’s 1940s super-heroes.
The Twelve (2008-2012), by J. Michael Straczynski as well as Chris Weston, is set in the exact same time period however stars 12 obscure characters from that era.
Writer Robert Morales as well as artist Kyle Baker teamed for Truth: Red, White as well as Black (2003), a series influenced by the us Government-sponsored Tuskegee Experiments, recasting them into an examination of Marvel’s famous super Soldier experiments in WWII.
If all goes well, I’ll likewise ultimately get to things like Monster Hunters in marvel world #4-7 (1998), Captain America: Sentinel of liberty (1998), other interpretations of The Invaders, as well as potentially even looks at pre-Fantastic four #1 FF as well as X-Men characters (like Wolverine as well as Magneto), who had interesting pre-FF adventures, as told by more contemporary creators. many of these I’ll be reading for the very first time, since they originally slipped with the cracks in my reading in the days that I favored DC’s series over Marvel’s.
Consider it type of the Underground history of the marvel Universe. I’ll be your mysterious host, Zemu/Xemu. (Well, which is it, dude?…)
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Xemu
XEMU CARLSON is a would-be conqueror from the fifth dimension (“Up, Up as well as Away! In My lovely Balloon!”). I have a terrible complexion, however I have a great metal hat as well as harness that plays little Steven’s Underground Garage 24/7. I’m likewise produced by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, as well as Jack Kirby, so there! I must have been hung-over when I designed my outfit… eco-friendly as well as purple! who would do tha— Oh, hello, Mr. Hulk! nice pants!
WESTFIELD COMICS is not accountable for the stupid things that KC says. particularly that thing that truly irritated you. Forbush.
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.