Jenny and her brother Butch get trapped in another dimension where they meet a teenage superhero named Zot. They go on an adventure and face all these villains and Butch gets turned into a monkey. Fun all around. The series lasted 10 issues, published by Eclipse comics, 1984-85.
A couple years passed. Finally, Zot! #11 hit the stands. Now black and white. Jenny had been a point-of-view character, a way for the audience to see themselves in Zot’s story. But by now McCloud had decided she was really the star, and that this was the story of a girl who occasionally visited a fantasy world she was starting to find more real than her own world.
But as to the real protagonist of Zot!… the true character arc on display belongs to Scott McCloud himself. He was 23 when he started Zot! and 30 when he finished. He changed a lot in that time, in terms of figuring out what he wanted from life and from the comics medium. What stories he wanted to tell. How he wanted to tell them.
“Even between good friends, there are things that are hidden.” “That is the nature of friendship, but more is revealed over time.”
Stan Sakai has been writing, drawing, and lettering the adventures of Usagi Yojimbo for 38 years and counting. A ridiculous number of comics made almost entirely by a single individual.
Usagi stories first appeared in various anthology comics such as Albedo and Critters before he finally got his own ongoing series published by Fantagraphics. Sakai has found new publishers every so often, moving from Fantagraphics to Mirage, then to almost 30 years with Dark Horse before recently starting the fourth Usagi series with IDW.
I was going to attempt to begin with a summary of Usagi’s story, but I realize I can’t do any better than the summary that opens the first Dark Horse issue, meant to serve as a starting point for new readers.
So let’s just quote it.
The close of 16th century Japan is regarded as the age of civil wars, as feudal lords fought amongst themselves for land and power. It was during the Battle of Adachigahara that samurai Miyamoto Usagi lost his Lord Mifuné to the armies of Lord Hikiji.
Finally one leader rose above the others and was proclaimed Shogun <military ruler>. The Shogun’s peace came upon the land, and samurai warriors found themselves suddenly unemployed. Many of these ronin turned to banditry to survive; others found work with minor lords or the emerging merchant class. A small number, Usagi among them, traveled the Musha Shugyo <warrior pilgrimage> to hone their spiritual and martial skills.
Usagi has made many allies on his road–including Tomoe of the Geishu Clan, Gen the bounty hunter, and Zato-Ino the blind swordspig. There have also been many enemies. Chief among them is Lord Hikiji, who, with his secret army of ninja, plots to overthrow the new government and set himself as Shogun!
Usagi continues to wander alone across the nation– over mountains, deep into valleys, through towns and farmlands, and along rugged coasts–searching for harmony.
The Anatomy Lesson
by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben
This is the place. At night you can almost see it… At night, you can almost imagine… You shouldn’t have come here.
Welcome back. As explained recently, I’ve been on a short hiatus from my reading of the Marvel Universe. Still not quite ready to return to it.
However, I find myself with a bit of time thanks to having contracted a bug that’s going around, and thought I could return to my series on reading great comics. I call it a series, though this is only the third entry. But hopefully we’ll be getting more.
The format is similar to my posts about the Marvel Universe, where I pick up a single comic and read it and write down my thoughts as I do. Except where my Marvel reading is guided by the internal chronology of those stories, I will here be picking up my very favorite comics, specifically those not focused on the early Marvel Universe. We’ve talked about a favorite issue of Sandman and Astro City… it’s time for Swamp Thing.
Featuring: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Release: March 11, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Penciller: Dick Ayers Inker: Chic Stone Letterer: Artie Simek 20 pages
“Once again, sudden death claims another victim!” reads the cover.
The “once again” refers to Junior Juniper, the first Commando to fall in battle, all the way back in issue 4. Letting us know that this was a series with consquence. It wasn’t a sure thing our heroes would make it back after each mission.
Since then, they all have turned out okay. But let’s read on.
The art is credited to Ayers and Stone, but Jack Kirby was brought in to redraw most of the famous final sequence.
The issue begins in the middle of intense action. Sgt. Fury is in his fancy duds, clearly having been on a date that’s been interrupted by an air raid.
Featuring: Avengers Release: April 8, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee (Who else?) Art by: Don Heck (Why not?) Inked by: Dick Ayers Lettered by: S. Rosen 20 pages
Here it is, the first outing of the New Avengers. How will they measure up to the old team? Lots of differences. In terms of power level, we’ve traded in a god and a man in a powerful suit of iron armor for a guy with a bow and arrows and a guy who runs fast. In terms of character strength, we’ve traded in four people who sustained their own features for 3 years now for three who have only been side characters. In terms of ethics, we’ve traded in four superheroes for three characters who were super-villains a month ago. Two members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and one lovesick Soviet stooge.
The opening tag refers to the team as the New Avengers, which is what I have always called them. Similarly if you hear me refer to the New X-Men, I probably mean the 1975 team.
It also lets us know the Avengers have begun the search for the Hulk. I’m not convinced they look very hard at all.
Featuring: Hulk Release: April 1, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Hulking story by: Stan Lee Hulksome art by: Jack Kirby Hulkish inking by: Mickey Demeo Hulkable lettering by: Art Simek 10 pages
This is the 10th chapter of the Leader Saga. For 9 issues, Leader has been lurking in the background, secretly behind various threats Hulk has faced. Now they finally meet.
This weird scene weird Hulk is being transported by magnetic waves is notable as it directly ties into Avengers #17, which we will read next.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: April 1, 1965 Cover: July 1965 12 cents Edited with perfect control by: Stan Lee Written with all bases covered by: Al Hartley Drawn with the impact of a line drive by: Bob Powell Inked with the beauty of a three-bagger by: John Giunta Lettered with only a few errors by: S. Rosen 12 pages
All good things must come to an end, and so must this series.
Giant-Man is reduced to a small corner of the cover, with Hulk hogging the space. No mention that this is the epic finale to the adventures of Giant-Man and the Wasp.
Hulk’s solo series ended after only 6 issues, but then he returned as the backup feature in this title and has been a monthly fixture for going on 60 years. He returned by ending the Wasp’s solo series. Captain America’s return to a solo series caused the Watcher to lose his.
Marvel has had distribution problems for as long as we’ve been reading them, keeping a tight limit on the number of titles they can publish. So for every new title, something has to go. They’ve been trimming the western and humor lines, but ultimately it’s time to let go of some superhero titles.
We read the final Human Torch story a while back, but it was actually released just a week after this. Both Human Torch and Giant-Man lose their series at the same time. Both to make way for better things.
They found the weakest two series in terms of story to ax, and presumably the sales reflected that. Thor stories are good now, so it’s good they’ll stick around. Iron Man stories aren’t any good yet, but maybe they will be one day. Either way, he gets to stick around, now with the dubious honor of being Marvel’s worst remaining title.
We’ll have to wait until next month to see who these cancelled titles are making room for. Neither character will be new to us. One just hasn’t had a title for a while, and the other will get a second title with a very different focus.
Before we get to the final issue of their series, I think it’s worth pausing to reflect on the entire 36 issue run of Henry Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Wasp stories.
Featuring: Hulk Release: March 4, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Story and art by Marvel’s modern masters: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inking: Mickey Demeo Lettering: Artie Simek 10 pages
With Ditko off the title, Kirby is back to take another shot at his co-creation. Stan shares the top billing with Jack for this triumphant return. The original Lee/Kirby run on Hulk lasted 5 issues. This one will make it around 15 or so. I’m expecting it to be largely immemorable.
We open with a trick out of the Ditko run. The last issue ended with Banner facing impending death and transforms to the Hulk just in time to be saved. Banner and Talbot are falling to their death when Banner transforms.
Hulk crosses the Pacific with leaps. Isle to isle, plane to plane.
That’s… a very long distance, even if you can jump very far. Maybe there are enough islands between Japan and Hawaii to hopscotch it, but it’s 2500 miles from Hawaii to California with nothing in between.
Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp Release: March 4, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Stupefying script by: Stan Lee Stereophonic art by: Bob Powell Stultifying inking by: Vince Colletta Schizophrenic lettering by: S. Rosen 12 pages
Who is Giant-Man’s #1 archnemesis? I had previously suggested it was Egghead, and my friend Dan countered with the Human Top. His original run only featured three repeat super-villains, Porcupine being the other. He fought Egghead 4 times and now Human Top 3 times. But two Human Top stories are 3-parters so Human Top appears in 5 different issues. They’re both strong contenders. Maybe we’ll see which are in more significant stories in the decades to come. So far, neither has been in any story I would call particularly significant. The possible exceptions are issues 57 and 59. 57 is significant for guest-starring Spider-Man and happens to feature Egghead. 59 is significant for guest-starring Hulk and happens to feature Human Top.
Neither is a particularly good villain.
Honestly, I would argue Porcupine is the best of the 3 villains, which is why he will go one to find better nemeses than Giant-Man and Wasp.
The issue opens with Human Top crashing a plane into Giant-Man to knock him unconscious. He’s stumped as to what to do next. Even unconscious, Human Top can’t figure out how to harm a giant.
The last time Human Top had Giant-Man at his mercy, he didn’t want to harm him. He thought locking him in a closet would be enough satisfaction.
Featuring: Hulk Release: February 4, 1965 Cover: May 1965 12 cents Script by Stan Lee, who created [sic] the Hulk! Art by Steve Ditko, who adopted the Hulk! Inking by Frankie Ray, who fears the Hulk! Lettering by Art Simek, who looks like the Hulk! 10 pages
Hulk remains in the unnamed “iron curtain nation”. We will learn this nation borders Mongolia.
We see an impressive battle with the Soviet military. Hulk’s been fighting the US military since issue 1, but this is the first real all-out battle between Hulk and a bunch of tanks.
