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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Tales from the Longbox – Batman #400 (1986)
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.
Batman #400
“Resurrection Night”
October 1986
Writer – Doug Moench
Artists – Art Adams, Terry Austin, Brian Bolland, John Byrne, Paris Cullins,Karl Kesel, Joe Kubert, Steve Leialoha, Rick Leonardi, Steve Lightle, Bruce Patterson, George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ken Steacy, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagran.
In the fall of 1986, Batman celebrated his 400th issue anniversary and did it in style. Horror writer Stephen King penned the introduction to this issue:
“Maybe the real reason that Batman appealed to me more than the other guy [Superman]. There was something sinister about him. That’s right. You heard me. Sinister. Like The Shadow and the Moon-man of the pulps, like a vampire, Batman was a creature of the night.”
“I’d like to congratulate the Caped Crusader on his long and valiant history, thank him for the hours of pleasure he has given me, and wish him many more years of heroic crime-busting. Go get ‘em, Big Guy. May your Bat-Signal never fail, your Batmobile never run out of the nuclear pellets it runs on, your utility belt never come up fatally understocked at the wrong moment. And please, never come busting through my skylight in the middle of the night. You’d probably scare me into a brain hemorrhage… and besides, Big Guy, I’m on your side. I always was.”
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Yo Joe! Tales from the Longbox – G.I. Joe #1 (1982)
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.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1
June 1982
“Operation: Lady Doomsday”
Writer – Larry Hama
Penciler – Herb Trimpe
Inker – Bob McLeod
Marvel Comics was the first company to produce a comic book version of the famous Hasbro toy franchise. The comic book series’ launch was timed with Hasbro’s new toy line in 1982. They moved away from the single, larger G.I. Joe action figure and to a team concept with figures of 3 ¾” scale.
The first issue, as the cover described, was a Blockbuster 46-pages long and featured the first appearance of G.I. Joes: Breaker, Clutch, Flash, Grand Slam, Grunt, Hawk, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Scarlett, Snake-eyes, Stalker, and Short-Fuse. As well, Cobra Commander and the Baroness made their first appearances as well.
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Tales from the Longbox: Moon Knight – Fist of Khonshu #1 (1985)
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.
Moon Knight – Fist of Khonshu #1
June 1985
Writer: Alan Zelenetz
Artists: Chris Warner/E.R. Cruz
The first Moon Knight series was cancelled in July 1984 and almost a year later, a new series, Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu, hit the stands and was an attempt to rebrand the character. Moon Knight writer Alan Zelenetz stayed on for the new series, kicking off this new direction.
Tales from the Longbox – Alpha Flight #1 (1982)
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.
Alpha Flight #1 (1982)
“Tundra!”
John Byrne, writer and artist
I thought a look back at this landmark issue would be appropriate as I’ll be using this timeframe as a setting for our new Marvel Super-Heroes RPG campaign with fellow Biff Bam Poppers Andy and JP.
After the début of Alpha Flight, in The Uncanny X-Men #120-121 (April 1979) and several guest appearances by its member in the Marvel, Canada’s super-hero team earned its own ongoing title. John Byrne, co-creator of Alpha Flight with Chris Claremont, was handed the creative reigns.
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Tales from the Longbox – Captain America #253-254 (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.
Captain America #253-254
Writer: Roger Stern
Plot: Roger Stern/John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
The teaming up of Roger Stern and John Byrne was one of those key 1980s pairings in which the sum of their total was greater than their parts. Roger Stern was writing The Incredible Hulk and editing the Uncanny X-Men while John Byrne was hitting a creative peak with Chris Claremont on the Uncanny X-Men.
Everything about Captain America #253 screamed horror, from its creepy cover to it’s atmospheric opening to its cliffhanger ending. It started with a murder in England, apparently the work of a deadly slasher who had left the victim drained of blood. The prolog had a wonderful Hammer Horror feel to it and you couldn’t help but look for Peter Cushing to walk on to one of the panels and make a cameo.
Tales from the Longbox – Tomb of Dracula (1970s)
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.
The Tomb of Dracula
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artists: Gene Colan/Tom Palmer
In the early 1970s, Marvel Comics was in a bit of a rut after Jack Kirby had defected to DC Comics and Stan Lee had stepped down as Editor-In-Chief. The Comic Code Authority, which had driven a stake through EC comics two decades earlier, had been diluted and The-Powers-That-Be at Marvel decided to take advantage of it. The company tried to single-handedly revive horror comics by flooding the market with supernatural titles, such as Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Son of Satan, and The Tomb of Dracula.
The Tomb of Dracula was the most successful Bronze Age horror title, running for over seven years and compiling over 70 issues (including Giant-Size specials). The first few issues were written by Archie Goodwin, Gerry Conway, and Gardiner Fox and were serviceable enough, but didn’t really seem to get any traction. These early issues did set the stage for new ongoing writer Marv Wolfman who came on board with issue #7.
Tales from the Longbox – Dr. Strange (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.
A drought of horror comics stretched after the 1970s revolution which had been spearheaded by Tomb of Dracula. In the mid-1990s, edgier titles like Ghost Rider and Morbius would resurface and embraced the anti-heroes of that era. However, the 1980s were pretty sparse in terms of horror comic books, in particular for Marvel Comics. DC Comics had their award-winning Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, which set the stage for the Vertigo revolution of the 1990s. However, one title, Doctor Strange, although more supernatural than horror, kept an eye on the darker corners of the Marvel Universe.
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