Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 107

Powerhouse Flies Again Audio Book Now Available

Powerhouse Flies Again is now available as an audiobook from Audible, expertly narrated by Scott Wilcox.

Review: Marvel Masterworks Golden Age All Winners Squad Volume 1

Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners, Vol. 1 by Joe Simon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This Masterworks Collection Covers stories Published in the quarterly All Winners Comics from 1941-42.

Each comic features stories from five superheroes with no team up as happened in other comics such as the All Star Comics. All four issues feature the original Human Torch, Captain America and Bucky, and Sub-mariner. The first issue features the Angel and the Black Marvel. The last three issues improve this by featuring the Destroyer and the Whizzer

And perhaps, it's best to start with the Characters from my favorite to the least favorite:

The Destroyer: One of Stan Lee's earliest creations and according to comic historians, his most popular character prior to the Fantastic Four. The premise was brilliant. Most every hero for every company lent some type of hand to the war effort. However Keene Marlowe would fight the Nazis from behind enemy lines as the Destroyer. The three Destroyer stories in this book were by far, the most thrilling surprise in the book. The concept is brilliant and nearly flawlessly executed.

Captain America: Cap is the same as in his own magazine. So if you like Captain America Magazine, you'll love these stories as well. He and Bucky face their usual blend of spies and seemingly supernatural foes giving the stories a patriotic Scooby Doo feeling.

Namor: The mighty Sub-mariner is quite a bit different in these books than the broody anti-hero of the Silver Age. Here, he's glib, almost wise-cracking as he deals with his foe. While originally a pure anti-hero, Namor is fighting on the side of the angels for the duration, though some of the anti-hero tendencies show up in the third issue when he fights pirates and kills one of them underseas, then insists after securing the treasure the owners had been seeking and defeated the pirates demanded a cut for the owner but the cut was to go into defense bonds, so it was all good.

The Human Torch: Really, non-plused about this hero. His adventures were nothing special, kind of average overall.

The Angel: Character has a pretty good reputation, but the one story here didn't impress me.

The Whizzer: Stories range from below average in All Winners #2 to nearly incomprehensible in All Winners #4. The Whizzer is none too bright and unlike DC and the Flash, Timely didn't make much of its speedster hero.

The Black Marvel: The one advantage of the Whizzer was that his stories were still not as weak as the Black Marvel's.

Overall thoughts on the book:

This book contains some early work by eighteen to nineteen year old Stan Lee including two two-page text stories which put all the characters together. In Issue 1, they put on an exhibition for a young reader and Issue 2, Marvel's big 3 (Captain America, Namor, and Torch) petition the editors to allow The Whizzer and the Destroyer in the book. The stories are more precocious than enlightening. Still, it's amazing to think Lee has been in this industry for 70 years.

The book had pretty standard themes for the day with the heroes facing a mix of typical hoods and Nazi and Japanese spies. There are a lot of patriotic moments, particularly in the Captain America and Destroyer stories.

The series suffered some in issues 3 and particularly 4, as budget cuts led to people being hired who clearly didn't understand the character. In one part of the Namor Story in Issue 4, Namor has to take refuge at a house during a storm. Strange behavior for someone who lives underwater. And then there's the aforementioned Whizzer story.

The stories include the requisite Golden Age Cheesiness. In the first Destroyer story, the Destroyer walks into a German Citizen and says, "Where's the nearest concentration camp?" In Issue 3's Sub-mariner Story, Namor chides pirates for not knowing about him, by advising them they should be reading Marvel Comics.

Overall, the stories are fun, but they're a step below from the stories produced by DC and predecessor companies in the same era. Still, makes a great collection for fans of Stan Lee, Captain America, and Namor, also for those who want to meet the coolest World War II superhero you never heard of, The Destroyer.




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The Envious Avenger

The character Hawkeye has been a mainstay of the Marvel Universe for nearly 50 years. However, both his entrance and his beginning were quite rocky.

It all began in Tales of Suspense #57 (1964) when Clint Barton was working on the midway at Coney Island billed as the world's greatest archer marksman. In the middle of an exhibition, an emergency rose requiring Tony Stark to change into Iron Man. Everyone was impressed with Iron Man but Barton felt neglected. He thought, "I'm the greatest marksman the world has ever known! And yet they ignore me!! Why couldn't I do all the things Iron Man can do?? All it takes are a lot of mechanical gimmicks...and a colorful costume."

So that's the beginning of his career. However, he quickly got sidetracked when he foiled a robbery but the police mistakenly blamed him. Then he found himself attracted to the Black Widow and fell in with her even though the Black Widow as a sometime Soviet Agent at that point.

However, Iron Man showed he was not one to hold a grudge despite Hawkeye attempting to destroy him three times. He graciously let bygones be bygones and helped Hawkeye get into the Avengers.

At this point, the original team (Iron, Thor, Hulk, and Wasp) all took a powder leaving Captain America in charge of a team with Hawkeye, Scartet Witch, and Quicksilver.

The new team avoided continuity problems with characters in the Avengers title and their own series. In addition, it did seem to challenge some Justice League archetypes with Quicksilver providing speed like the Flash and Hawkeye having the powers of Green Arrow.

However, in one way, Hawkeye was several years ahead of Green Arrow in the sense that it would take another half decade for Green Arrow to become a more annoying character than Hawkeye.

Hawkeye's career began in envy and continued in envy. This time, the target became Captain America. Hawkeye thought, fresh off being a criminal, that he should be leader of the Avengers. While Quicksilver also wanted the position, Hawkeye made an effort at cutting down, annoying, and making life difficult for Captain America as the Avenger's leader, constantly mocking and ridiculing him.

As a reader, Hawkeye was easy to loathe. Even if you didn't know the history of Captain America in World War II or been following his solo adventures in Tales of Suspense, he'd proved himself a great teammate and a natural born leader in Avengers #4-17. Hawkeye couldn't see that. All he saw was that Captain America had something he wanted and Hawkeye despised him for it. His behavior was ugly.

However, in one way, reading Hawkeye's stories can be helpful because most of us have a little of that ugliness inside us. The difference between us and Hawkeye is that he let his ugliness hang out, while many will harbor ill will towards those who achieve more, have different gifts, or are in what we think is a better position that we are. Reading of Hawkeye's behavior in The Essential Avengers Vol. 1 served as a reminder as how ugly the green-eyed monster can be inside of me.

Seeking a Cohort for the Coming Comic Revolution

The world of comics is changing. It's been coming from years, the Internet has been full of web comics. The experiment has become such an item that Mark Waid, current writer for Marvel's Daredevil and Hulk titles (and previous writer for noted series such as The Flash) has actually established Thrill Bent as an experimental comic site and published his own web comic Insufferable.

Of course, in terms of self-publishing and selling a comic, that's been a challenge, as new technologies like the Kindle Fire allow readers to enjoy comics on the tablet. This is a great time as well with Comixology digital comic story beta testing a feature that will allow artists to post and sell their comics write alongside the mainstream comics.

I'd love to have my character Powerhouse to be part of that revolution. While most comics are probably going to be known for being "grittier," Powerhouse would be unique with a Christian focus, and more family friendly superhero ideal.

Of course, to do this, I need an artist as a partner. I'm looking for someone who is talented, with great imagination and is gifted, dedicated, and committed. They also have to share the values and vision behind the series.

I'm looking for a partner in this venture, not an employee, so this will be a great opportunity for the right artist with a 50-50 split of profits.

Our first project will be adapting
Tales of the Dim Knight as a limited edition digital comic for the Kindle fire and hopefully Comixology. Beyond that, the sky's the limit. With emerging technology, there's so much that we can do to create something truly positive and fun. So, if you're interested email me.

Avengers Assemble First Usage

The Internet is a repository of useless facts and trivia. One piece that's missing as far as I can tell is the first use of the Avengers catchphrase, "Avengers Assemble!"

No one's sat down to chronicle it. Having read Essential Avengers, Vol. 1, I can now fill in that gap in our knowledge. "Avengers assemble!" was first used in Avengers #10 by Thor in a battle with the Masters of Evil and Immortus.

And now, the Internet is complete...

Is Your Church Like the Avengers?

It can mount a strong challenge and defeat the forces of evil if it can avoid being torn apart by its own petty rivalries, divisions, and personality conflicts.

This applies to the original Avengers created by Stan Lee in 1963. However, it can also apply to most churches and Christian groups in the 21st Century.

The Avengers were formed in September 1963 as Marvel answer to the Justice League. The President of Marvel had mentioned the success DC had been having with the Justice League a couple years earlier, but Stan Lee had responded with something entirely different in the Fantastic Four which was entirely different. Four friends become superheroes when exposed to cosmic rays. It's different from the Justice League's amalgamation of a superhero all-star team.

The Avengers would be that, although it would lack Marvel two great stars Spider-man and the Fantastic Four. The first Avenger line up featured Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, the Ant Man and the Wasp.

In the first issue, they came together after Thor's brother Loki had attempted to frame the Hulk. It occurs that with the Ant Man and the Wasp that with all of their diverse powers, they could make a wonderful team.

The Hulk, constantly threatened and on the run sees hope that this new team will allow him a better life declaring, "I'm sick of being hunted and hounded. I'd rather be with you than against you." Thus a great team is formed to fight evil in the Marvel Universe.

That's in Issue 1.

Well then comes Issue 2, and the team is quickly picking at each other. Thor is going after Hulk's dress. Though, at the same time Wasp is hinting that Thor needs a haircut. Then along comes the Space Phantom. He's a shapeshifting alien that plans to destroy the Avengers. He is able to take on someone's physical characteristics while they disappear elsewhere. His plan is to get the Avengers at each other's throats while impersonating Hulk. He then moves on and replaces most of the Avengers. Of course, they don't know the Space Phantom's game and so his fellow Avengers ended up fighting him.

The Hulk declares at the end of the issue, "I never suspected how much each of you hates me deep down! I could tell by the way you fought me...By the remarks you made." The Hulk then returned to his lonely life and would end up batting his Avengers in Issue 3.

Reading this, I couldn't help but be struck with a sense of de ja vu. No, I don't turn into a green creature who wears Purple Pants or have my own suit of armor. But I've seen and been in these situations in Christian contexts where petty issues and jealousies hinder what could have been a great work as the main thing becomes the secondary thing.

The story in Avengers #2 spoke to me so much when I read [book:Essential Avengers, Vol. 1|555896 because the Space Phantom had the same aims at Satan does in fighting good devices by the church: He gets us at each other's throats rather than the work God intended us to do.

And some of us have been Thors, picking at differences and treating some people poorly and with suspicion rather than grace. Some of us have been Hulks who turned to a church or ministry to find rest for our souls and an opportunity to serve, but instead found gossiping and suspicion instead.

The good news is that unlike the Avengers, we can turn to God for forgiveness, healing, and the wisdom to be wise in our relations with fellow believers.

Book Review: Essential Avengers Volume 1

The Essential Avengers Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Launched in September 1963, the Avengers were Marvel's answer to the Justice League. However, there were some marked differences from the Justice Leagues. For starters, neither of Marvel characters, Spider-man or the Fantastic Four found their way into the Avengers. Instead, the Avengers featured characters who didn't actually have their own comic book but shared their titles with other characters. The first line up included Iron Man from Tales of Suspense; Ant Man, the Wasp, and the Incredible Hulk from Tales to Astonish, and Thor from Journey Into Mystery.

The first line up comes out almost through serendipity as a result of the mechanizations of Thor's brother Loki to frame the Hulk. They decide to form a team, but quickly it becomes clear that the Avengers are no Super Friends. After the 2nd Issue, the Hulk leaves and by the third issue, the Hulk has joined with Namor to fight his former allies.

The Avengers are a team that struggles for cohesiveness with personality conflicts cropping up everywhere. Wasp even suggests that Thor get a crew cut!

However, in Issue 4, the Avemgers changes forever with the re-awakening of Captain America, who subsequently joins the team. The whole feel of the Avengers changes and the next thirteen issues are delightful as a truly great Avengers team goes to war on evil.

In Issue 17, after yet another battle with the Masters of Evil, Iron Man, Giant Man, and Wasp decidesto take leaves of absence while Thor flies off for "The battle of the Gods," and the remaining Avengers choose three new team members in former bad guys Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver with Captain America leading the team.

The last 7 issues leading up to Issue 24, feature an Avenger team where personality conflicts come fast and furious as Quicksilver and Hawkeye have an eye on replacing Cap, and the Avengers' reputation is put at risk thanks to the work of the Enchantress, and finally Cap quits in frustration but comes back when he realizes the Avengers need him.

There is much not to like about the book. Even at its height, the Avengers are not the nicest group in comics. When Ant Man summons the Avengers based on information received from the ants, he's laughed to scorn. When Iron Man misses a meeting of the Avengers, a board of inquiry is convened and he's given a one week suspension by Thor and Ant Man. And when you get into the last seven issues, I had moments where I wanted to smack Hawkeye swarmy arrogant face.

That said, there are two great reasons why this book earns five stars. A secondary reason is the villains. The Masters of Evil are a great team, as led by Baron Zemo, and the Enchantress does pretty well on her own with the aid of Powerman. In addition to that, a visit from the Mandarin and the Swordsman are highlights.

The second and overwhelming reason is Captain America. Captain America has no special powers or even a nifty bow and arrow, but he is the heart of the Avengers, and the true natural born leader. He gets testy at Hawkeye (who wouldn't?) and the contempt of the new male Avengers for him, but the fact is that he's the go-to guy, the role model. He has some moments of moodiness, but there's no one better to have by your side in battle. There's no one who's a better Inspirational leader than Captain America. And that's why the Avengers are able to continue to beat foes even after the massive power loss that Issue 17 represented.

Cap made the Avengers a great team when he joined in Issue 4, and he kept it a great team despite its comparative weakness after Issue 24. Add to that a good Commie-smashing issue and an issue where prayer was referenced repeatedly in a mainstream comic, and this book is a winner.



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When Stan Lee Ran Out of Gas on Iron Man

I've been through the early Iron Man stories from Tales of Suspense on my Iron Man Complete Complete Collection DVD from GIT and have finished the entire run prior to his getting his own series with Iron Man #1.

However, Stan Lee didn't last on the series that long. He began writing Iron Man with his premiere in Tales of Suspense #39 and continued through Tales of Suspense #98. Along the way, Lee created such great Iron Man villains as the Mandarin, the Crimson Dynamo, and Titanium Man. Within the limits of the 11-13 page stories that were reserved for Iron Man's shared magazine with Captain America, Lee put out some great story lines. My personal favorite was the three part arch featuring a battle between Titanium Man and Iron Man from Tales of Suspense 69-71 as well an epic battle with the Sub-mariner.

However Lee's leaving was a bit overdue. In my mind, his run jumped the shark with Tales of Suspense #89, when he had Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan married and no longer working for Stark. At that point, Stark essentially had no supporting cast, no ongoing issues with him "settling down" to the life of a happy playboy. Instead, we were treated to a series of supervillain battles that seemed to be Iron Man saving himself. Each plot would be very familiar. In part 1, Villain attacks Iron Man and we end with, "Will he survive." In the next Issue, Iron Man triumphs only to be confronted with a newly deadly foe in the next issue.

It's understandable that Lee would burn out. The most amazing thing about Lee's career in the 1960s was that he was involved in writing a dazzling array of characters including Spider-man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, the X-men, and Doctor Strange. One of my favorite pieces of Marvel art is from Amazing Spider-man Annual #1 which portrays Lee with all of these characters crawling around him and over him. It's a dizzying array of characters and no one could keep up.

As the 60s came to an end, Lee began to relinquish the writing duties on these titles, sticking the longest with the Amazing Spider-man and the Fantastic Four. As for Iron Man, he gave the character his first five years and four of them were good ones. Give everything else he was writing, no one could really expect more.

Beyond Powerhouse

I've just recently finished the first draft of Powerhouse: Hard Pressed. This is the third of eight Powerhouse stories.

Yet, Powerhouse doesn't remain the sole superhero project I have on my mind.

I'm toying with doing a kind of novella/novelette collection following six women who form a hero team, led by Miss Invisible. And we introduce the characters into her world one at a time. I'm not certain whether I'll do this before the 4th book Infinite Mid-life Crisis or after, but it's something that's on my mind.

Also on my mind is an interdimensional travel parody (quite apart from the Powerhouse world) where a hero and a villain who lives in a modern comic book universe trades places with his counterpart in a silver age universe and it just absolutely stirs everything up.

I also have yet another hero universe that I wrote some stories in for Laser and Sword Magazine. All that I need to is do some editing and compile it together. One character I'd like to expand upon is the character of Small Packages, my wise-cracking 18-inch tall hero. Unlike other small heroes such as Ant Man, the Atom, and Doll Man, that's his normal size. However, he's pretty fun to write and I'll be reading other little heroes to get ideas for him as time goes on.

Review: Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown

Showcase Presents: Challengers of the Unknown, Vol. 1 by Dave Wood

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This collections follos the Adventures of the Challengers of the Unknown, originally created for DC by the great Jack Kirby. The basic plot: Four adventurers survive a plane crash, declare they are on borrowed time and set off on a series of fantastic adventures. They later are jointed by a woman named June who becomes an honorary Challenger.

The collection is a bit hit and miss. On the plus side, most of the stories represent the truly amazing fun of 1950s Science Fiction with strange monsters, aliens, weird magic, etc. One of the highlights of this book is the introduction of Multi-man. In addition, the art of Jack Kirby makes these stories a treat. In many ways, the series would seem to be a precursor to the Fantastic Four which he'd create just a few years later with Stan Lee.

The downside is the lack of characterization. With the books in black and white, it could be a challenge to tell the characters apart, although the pugnacious Rocky became fairly easy to distinguish. As for the rest of them forget it. They also seemed to think the same and talk the same. So this was Fantastic Four minus superpowers and characterization. In addition, some of the plots could get repetitive as someone was changed into creature/given Amazing powers and then Challengers defeats them and destroy whatever technology/magic was at the root of it.

So, mixed feelings. There were some fun moments reading this collection, but it didn't leave me wanting to read Volume 2.



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