It's time for another of my weekly look at some of my birthday books.
The Mighty Avengers #68
Grade - ?
Cover - Sal Buscema/Sam Grainger
Story - Roy Thomas
Story - Roy Thomas
Art - Sal Buscema
"...And We Battle for the Earth!"
This issue begins with The Avengers and a Shield team storming the underground base of Ultron-6, just before they reach the evil megalomaniac robot he pulls a switch to engulf Manhatten in a fiery cataclysm!! Luckilly it doesn't trigger properly and he manages to escape. It turns out it was Vision who destroyed Ultron-6's bomb, he been forced by a type of post-hypnotic command to re-construct Ultron back in Avengers #66. The effort of some recent battle causes him to collapse, Hank Pym tries charging him with solar energy to no avail and so uses a rudimentry mind probe to skim his mind looking for a weakness to destroy Ultron. They discover he is picturing the Molecular Rearranger the only device able to shape Adamantium, the metal of which the robot is made. Pym makes a trip to Wakanda to borrow some Vibranium from Black Panther then sets an obvious trap for Ultron using eminent physicist Dr. Myron MacLain the only man who knows the formula for Adamantium as bait. Ultron sees through it but assured of his own power he decides to trip it so he can get the Dr. and force him to make an army of Adamantium robots under his command. The trap is set in the U.N. building, calling himself the ultimate Ultron now the megalomaniac mechanoid attacks and is met in battle by The Avengers. He is a match for their power and captures Dr. MacLain and uses a mind draining device built into his body to steal the knowlege from his mind. This turns out to all have been a more intricate trap though than Ultron could have envisioned, the Dr. is Pym in disguise, his sub-conscious mind filled with a short phrase that causes Ultron to go mad and explode. (The Vibranium they borrowed was used to shield the blast.) The phrase is revealed to be from the bible, the commandment "thou shalt not kill".
Black Panther's chief advisor, Taku debuts in this issue.
The Twilight Zone #30
"...And We Battle for the Earth!"
This issue begins with The Avengers and a Shield team storming the underground base of Ultron-6, just before they reach the evil megalomaniac robot he pulls a switch to engulf Manhatten in a fiery cataclysm!! Luckilly it doesn't trigger properly and he manages to escape. It turns out it was Vision who destroyed Ultron-6's bomb, he been forced by a type of post-hypnotic command to re-construct Ultron back in Avengers #66. The effort of some recent battle causes him to collapse, Hank Pym tries charging him with solar energy to no avail and so uses a rudimentry mind probe to skim his mind looking for a weakness to destroy Ultron. They discover he is picturing the Molecular Rearranger the only device able to shape Adamantium, the metal of which the robot is made. Pym makes a trip to Wakanda to borrow some Vibranium from Black Panther then sets an obvious trap for Ultron using eminent physicist Dr. Myron MacLain the only man who knows the formula for Adamantium as bait. Ultron sees through it but assured of his own power he decides to trip it so he can get the Dr. and force him to make an army of Adamantium robots under his command. The trap is set in the U.N. building, calling himself the ultimate Ultron now the megalomaniac mechanoid attacks and is met in battle by The Avengers. He is a match for their power and captures Dr. MacLain and uses a mind draining device built into his body to steal the knowlege from his mind. This turns out to all have been a more intricate trap though than Ultron could have envisioned, the Dr. is Pym in disguise, his sub-conscious mind filled with a short phrase that causes Ultron to go mad and explode. (The Vibranium they borrowed was used to shield the blast.) The phrase is revealed to be from the bible, the commandment "thou shalt not kill".
Black Panther's chief advisor, Taku debuts in this issue.
The Twilight Zone #30
Grade - VG
Cover - George Wilson
The number on the cover is 10016-909 but apparently this is #30. It's a very strange way of numbering but that's the Twilight Zone for you I suppose. This is an anthology type comic with suspenseful, mystery, and spooky stories done in the style of the classic TV series "The Twilight Zone" which starred Rod Serling as it's host.
Tall Timber
The number on the cover is 10016-909 but apparently this is #30. It's a very strange way of numbering but that's the Twilight Zone for you I suppose. This is an anthology type comic with suspenseful, mystery, and spooky stories done in the style of the classic TV series "The Twilight Zone" which starred Rod Serling as it's host.
Tall Timber
Art - Joe Certa
A logger Madera climbs an ancient redwood, an "immense sentry of time" intending to cut it's branches, he feel dizzy on his ascent then spots a forest fire below. He climbs downs and finds that he has been transported into the past somehow. He is captured by natives and imprisoned alongside a spanish conquistador. The pair are tied up to a tree and left to die as sacrifice. They manage to escape and Madera discovers that the conquistador is his ancestor. He climbs back up the tree and upon descending finds he is back in his own time, he refuses to cut down the tree.
The Vanishing Hero
Art by Joe Certa.
text story
A 1 page article/story about a ghost soldier Marshall Dickerson alleged to have shown up during various wars in history.
In The Cards
Art - Bob Jenney
Another article/story based on the life of World land and water speed record holder Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald who followed him in the pursuit of speed records. It's alleged that the night before he died attempting a new water record he was playing Solitaire and drew a Queen and Ace of spades apparently mirroring the cards that Mary Queen of Scots drew the night before her beheading. He sees this as an omen of his own death and the next day his premonition proves to have been correct!
Made In Hong Kong
Art - Win Mortimer
Bill Portland is having an odd day, he has headaches, memory loss and blackouts. He feels a strange urge to buy a TV and has a strange feeling when he finds it was made in Hong Kong. Still dizzy he turns on the set to see a the face of a man he knows to be Won Lee which prompts him immediately to get a flight to Hong Kong. Whilst on the plane he seems to go back in time, he's flying a plane during war and is shot down over China by a Japanese pilot. Concussed he is pulled from the plane and delivered to allied Chinese soldiers by Won Lee. As Portland is carried off he tells Lee that, "I have seen a time many years from now! A time when a message will come from you and I will come for you!" I take this to mean that the start of the story is him having a concussion vision of the future!
The Phantom Balloon
Art - Win Mortimer
This is the end of a trio of time related stories in this issue. This time a solo hot-air balloonist Ernie Greco rises through the clouds and veers dangerously towards a deadly storm cloud. He sees another balloonist seemingly in an old style vintage balloon named The Grey Eagle. Just then a fire starts on his balloon dooming him but Grey Eagle's occupant throws him a rope rescuing him. Grey Eagles pilot is silent and dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Greco awakes suddenly back on solid ground with no sign of any balloons in the sky, a passing old-timer tells him that there was once a balloon about 2 hundred years ago called Grey Eagle that "Folks say he went up and never came down!"
I mentioned my Heavy Metal podcast in the video, you can check it out HERE
Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner #17
Grade - ?
Cover - Marie Severin/Joe Gaudioso/Sam Rosen
Story - Roy Thomas
Story - Roy Thomas
Art - Marie Severin/Jay Hawk
From the Stars.. The Stalker!
A traitorous priest Kormok with designs on ruling New Atlantis says that a vision from Father Neptune requires Namor the Sub-Mariner to take the sacred trident to be reforged in the brazier of the living flame on the site of the original Atlantis. Kormok has forged an alliance with an alien race the Alpha Centaurians, they will take out Namor for him to allow Kormok to usurp him in his abscence. Little does the traitor know of their real intention, to steal the Earth's water. Dynorr the Stalker is waiting for Namor along his journey to ambush and capture him. Namor is able to best him twice in battle but Stalker has allies aboard a spaceship which is able to capture "The Avenging Son" Namor using a funnel beam that we see is suctioning him up from the water up into space. Stalker is seen in the last panel gloating "..you shall NEVER return!!" If he ever should return he will have to face Kormok who has wasted no time in usurping his crown.
This issue has a lot of 1st appearance's in it; Kormok, Dynorr the Stalker, Yennon, Obtu, the Alpha Centurions and their planet Alpha Centauri A. I don't think any of them went on to have more than a handful of appearances in Marvel comics.
So that's the books for this week, tune in next week for a look at 3 more of my birthday books.
From the Stars.. The Stalker!
A traitorous priest Kormok with designs on ruling New Atlantis says that a vision from Father Neptune requires Namor the Sub-Mariner to take the sacred trident to be reforged in the brazier of the living flame on the site of the original Atlantis. Kormok has forged an alliance with an alien race the Alpha Centaurians, they will take out Namor for him to allow Kormok to usurp him in his abscence. Little does the traitor know of their real intention, to steal the Earth's water. Dynorr the Stalker is waiting for Namor along his journey to ambush and capture him. Namor is able to best him twice in battle but Stalker has allies aboard a spaceship which is able to capture "The Avenging Son" Namor using a funnel beam that we see is suctioning him up from the water up into space. Stalker is seen in the last panel gloating "..you shall NEVER return!!" If he ever should return he will have to face Kormok who has wasted no time in usurping his crown.
This issue has a lot of 1st appearance's in it; Kormok, Dynorr the Stalker, Yennon, Obtu, the Alpha Centurions and their planet Alpha Centauri A. I don't think any of them went on to have more than a handful of appearances in Marvel comics.
So that's the books for this week, tune in next week for a look at 3 more of my birthday books.
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