Blog Archives
Tales from the Longbox – Iron Man #149-150 (1981)
Every other week, Jason Shayer will highlight an issue or a run of issues pulled from the horde of comic book long boxes that occupy more room in his house than his wife can tolerate. Each of these reviews will delve into what made that issue or run significant as well as discuss the creative personalities behind the work. “Long Box” refers to the lengthy, white cardboard boxes most comics find themselves stored within – bagged, alphabetized and numerically ordered.
Iron Man #149-150
Aug-Sep 1981
“Doomquest/Knightmare”
Writers – David Michelinie/Bob Layton
Artists – John Romita Jr./Bob Layton
Iron Man #149-150 is a great two-part story celebrating Iron Man’s 150th issue. Michelinie and Layton would revist this storyline in a sequel published in 1989 in Iron Man #249-250.
Tony discovers that an executive in his company has sold technology to Latveria, a country on Stark International’s black list. Iron Man intercepts the technology before it gets into Doom’s hands, but all that does in infurate Doom who then dispatches his minions to steal the technology back. They succeed and Tony decides to pay a “diplomatic” visit to Latveria and confronts Doctor Doom as Iron Man.
Their discussion leads to a physical confrontation: “You should not have done that, Errand boy. I was going to make your death a swift one!” But before anything can be resolved, one of Doom’s minons with a grudge, Hauptmann, sends them both back in time.
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With FF #1 Your Fantastic Future Has Finally Arrived On The Wednesday Run – November 28, 2012
Ah, the future is a fickle thing in comic book land.
Just when you think it’s become the present, the unpredictable nature of time – and time-hopping, time-altering, time-adventuring superheroes – tends to radically change all expectations.
It can be confounding, yes. But it can also make for amazing storytelling, keeping readers on the edge of their seats while following their favourite (or new favourite) characters in their tempus-inspired escapades!
That’s the premise behind the first issue of FF – the latest comic book re-launch in the post Avengers vs. X-Men, Marvel NOW! initiative.
Tales from the Longbox – Fantastic Four #252 (1983)
Every other week, Jason Shayer will highlight an issue or a run of issues pulled from the horde of comic book long boxes that occupy more room in his house than his wife can tolerate. Each of these reviews will delve into what made that issue or run significant as well as discuss the creative personalities behind the work. “Long Box” refers to the lengthy, white cardboard boxes most comics find themselves stored within – bagged, alphabetized and numerically ordered.
Fantastic Four #252
March 1983
“Cityscape”
Writer/Artist: John Byrne
You might have read my previous article on John Byrne’s debut on the Fantastic Four and for this blog entry, I wanted to follow up on Byrne’s classic run by taking a look at an issue two years after that debut.
Tales from the Longbox – Fantastic Four #232 (1981)
Every other week, Jason Shayer will highlight an issue or a run of issues pulled from the horde of comic book long boxes that occupy more room in his house than his wife can tolerate. Each of these reviews will delve into what made that issue or run significant as well as discuss the creative personalities behind the work. “Long Box” refers to the lengthy, white cardboard boxes most comics find themselves stored within – bagged, alphabetized and numerically ordered.
Fantastic Four #232
July 1981
Writer/Artist: John Byrne
Fantastic Four #232 was John Byrne’s first issue as both writer and artist and his run would last over five years on the title. Byrne had pencilled the book a few years earlier working with writers Marv Wolfman and Bill Mantlo. The Fantastic Four is more of a family than a super-hero team and no one understood that better than Byrne.
What made Byrne’s take on this title so memorable was how he handled the characters and their relationships. All team books tend to be formulaic, but what Byrne couldn’t succeed at doing with Alpha Flight, he was able to do with the Fantastic Four. He grew them from the archetypes created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and changed them subtly, but meaningfully.
