365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 250

Each year as I travel through the 365 days with one or some of my favorite characters, I'm on the lookout for original comic art of those heroes to collect, enjoy, and feature in this here blog feature what we call 365 Days with.... That's why I recently bought this bee-yootiful inked sketch by Evan "Doc" Shaner: it perfectly captures the immense essence, heroism, and blowhardiness of my favorite Warrior Three, Volstagg!




(Yep, Volstagg...you probably have.)

The Voluminous One will soon hang in a position of grandeur in El Casa Bully (right near the Lois Lane poster). And you can buy one of Doc's gorgeous works by stepping on over to his shop blog.

You really should: not only is Doc a genius with the pencil and pen, he's also an A-1 Top Guy in my little stuffed book. Y'know why? Well, it turns out...wait, wait, I'm not gonna tell you...yet.

But you can find out tomorrow! Tune in Thursday: same Doc time, same Doc channel, to see another startingly wonderful piece of artwork from Mister Shaner that blew my little stuffed mind. (Seriously. I was picking pieces of fluff out of the carpet all night.)

Ghost Rider's bony, bony feet don't fail him now

Hello there Mid-Day pals 'n' gals! (Which is not to say gals can't be pals.) Usually in this noontime spot we'd have another thrilling installment of Mid-Day Matinee—this week, all week: Atlas/Seaboard Week! But I forgot the first rule of blogging the Mid-Day Matinee: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stuffedbull)! I've been leading your through the World o' Atlas with so many scans that my prep time, like Batman's has skyrocketed!

So, for the rest of the week (all week), let's do a temporary switcharoo: Atlas/Seaboard Week entries will move to the evening, so look for one later tonight!

In the meantime, to keep you giggling through your lunch hour (please do not choke on your tuna sammich, though), here's

The Time That Ghost Rider Ran Away!

Panels from Marvel Spotlight #11 (August 1973), script by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Tom Sutton, inks by Syd Shores, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by John Costanza

So remember: when your freakin' head is on fire because you sold your soul to Satan and you need to get away from Satan's minions...just run away, okay? Take a clue from Ghost Rider! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! He's escaping as covertly as a flaming skulled guy in motorcycle leathers can escape.

Do Daleks Dream of Shaun the Sheep?

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 249

Panel from Thor #393 (July 1988), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Brett Breeding, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by John Workman, Jr.

Atlas/Seaboard Week, Day 2: With Great Power Comes Great Destruction

Today: The Destructor!




No, not those guys. (And if you listened to that song any further than the first scream, you're a bigger metal fan that I'll ever be.) No, I mean this guy:


The Destructor #2 (April 1975), cover art by Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia



Whoa, that pretty much looks like every single Marvel Comics cover during the mid-seventies, doesn't it?


Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #11 (October 1977), cover art by Al Milgrom



Atlas may not have had as popular a character as Spider-Man, but they did have one thing Marvel didn't have anymore: Steve Ditko!


Splash page of The Destructor #1 (April 1975), script by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Wally Wood



Yep! The creator of The Question, Hawk and Dove, and The Creeper; the co-creator of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Captain Atom, Steve Ditko turns his prodigious pencil towards 717 Fifth Avenue in 1975, co-creating with Archie Goodwin a hero "born of fury! Sworn to Vengeance! He is..." The Destructor, one of the very few Atlas mags to last past three issues. (i.e., it lasted four issues.) Destructor was a one-man felony-fightin' action hero determined to take down organized crime the old fashioned way...by throwing it into some boxes!


From The Destructor #1



Secretly Jay Hunter, Destructor gained his super powers when his scientist father...well, let's let Goodwin/Ditko tell us, okay?


From The Destructor #1



Get all that? Don't worry if you didn't. Here's another origin montage from later in the same issue.


From The Destructor #1



Okay, just in case you haven't been paying attention, let's go over that one more time:


Panels from The Destructor #2 (April 1975), script by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Wally Wood



Atlas/Seaboard notoriously attempted to capture the zeitgeist of Marvel Comics by creating similar-looking comics. Perhaps, in some cases, a little too closely. By now you may have spotted Destructor's vague resemblance to a certain web-slinging guy over at the House of Ideas:


From The Destructor #1



I'm pokin' fun here, but I love the art in The Destructor, especially the first two issues where Ditko was inked by Wally Wood. But there wasn't a lot tremendously innovative here: from the slim, swinging, leaping hero to his guilt-filled death of a loved one origin, Destructor was bidding for slices of those cool, crisp, Spider-Man dollars. In the following year, Marvel itself would figure out the best way to get more Spider-Man dollars with the premier of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, but until then Atlas seems to have been hoping you'd grab Destructor. Even Ditko's artwork and some solid scripts by Archie Goodwin couldn't save the series from cancellation with ish #4. But in the meantime, swell Stevarino art, lots of broken furniture, and the debut of The Atlas/Seaboard Universe's version of J. Jonah Jameson:


From The Destructor #1



Some fairly lame villains didn't help matters, I'm afraid. Umm...did Steve realize exactly what it looks like he's drawing here? Um, not that I know anything about that.


Panels from The Destructor #4 (August 1975), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Al Milgrom, letters by John Duffy



Still, hoods were tossed, beams were swung from, and chairs were broken, and eventually The Destructor could sit back, relax, and eat a healthy dinner of a delicious bowl of hard-boiled eggs.


From The Destructor #1



The Destructor! He kinda looked like Spider-Man and he got his own dad shot in the chest, but every comic fan of the 1970s still remembers his haunting battle cry!:


From The Destructor #1



"One thing I do worry about is your distribution. Your other titles are impossible to find." Uh oh...that's a bad omen.


Letter column page from The Destructor #3 (June 1975)



Big names, grand plans, eventual collapse:


Text page from The Destructor #1



Make...Mine...Atlas!


House ad from The Cougar #2 (July 1975 )


Tomorrow: a planet where vampires evolved from men?

Well, that's just plain ood.

For all you fans of Doctor Who and Bill Bailey...

An Ood with an Oud

Context:

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 248

Panels from Thor #367 (May 1986), script and pencils by Walt Simonson; inks by Bob Wiacek, Al Milgrom, and Walt Simonson; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by John Workman, Jr.

Atlas/Seaboard Week, Day 1: Et tu, Brute?

The Mid-Day Matinee this week, all week: Atlas/Seaboard! Founded by former Marvel owner and publisher Martin Goodman, edited by Warren's Jeff Rovin and Marvel's Larry Lieber (brother of Stan Lee), this brand-new four-color comic publisher burst onto the scene in 1975...and burst apart about six months later, with most of their comics only publishing three issues, despite some big names lured over to Atlas/Seaboard from the big two. But there's a few gems among the giggles, and let's look at both this week. Let's get on our polyester suits, pop in the Eagles eight-track, and cruise down to the five-'n'-dime to pick up an Atlas Comic...published by the company we now call (to avoid confusion with Marvel/Atlas during the '50s)...Atlas/Seaboard! Today: The Brute!



Nicely designed and colored covered for The Brute #1, Atlas/Seaboard's Hulk analogue:

Cover of The Brute #1 (February 1975), cover art by Dick Giordano



Panicky Larry is panicked!

Panels from The Brute #1 (February 1975), script by Mike Fleisher, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Pablo Marcos



Yaahhhh! A pteranodon attack gives Mike Sekowsky the opportunity to sneak in a swear word...

Panels from The Brute #2 (April 1975), script by Mike Fleisher, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Pablo Marcos, letters by Alan Kupperberg



Good to see they're using all the most up-to-date and authentic medical equipment.

Panels from The Brute #3 (final issue, July 1975), script by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Alan Lee Weiss, art assist by Jim Starlin and Frank Brunner, inks by Jack Abel, colors and letters by Alan Kupperberg



Grand plans for a doomed company:

Text page from The Cougar #2 (July 1975 )


Tomorrow: Ditko!

Nineteen of a Kind: Just a man with a man's courage

Let's celebrate the birth of the New 52 with a look at the birth of the Infinite Earths concept!







































(More Ten of a Kind here.)