Sal BuscemaCritiques

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Bloodstone & the Legion of Monsters collects all of the original 1970s appearances of the monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, plus a few one-shots featuring his daughter Elsa, and a four-part miniseries, Legion of Monsters. It does not collect, despite what the solicitation indicated, the 2001-02 miniseries that introduced Elsa and indeed, remains inexplicably uncollected. The stories are put in a somewhat weird order here (though I can see the logic), but I will go through them in publication order.

The earliest issues are nine featuring Ulysses Bloodstone. Ulysses made his debut in Marvel Presents #1, appeared again in the second issue of that title, and then transferred over to the black-and-white series Rampaging Hulk, appearing in seven of its first eight issues. Ulysses an immortal; ten thousand years ago, he was present when the magical bloodstone was shattered, and a bit of it was embedded in his chest, granting him immortal life. He's spent his time tracking down other fragments, stopping those who misuse them—especially rampaging kaijuesque giant monsters. There's a core of a good idea here, but I didn't find it to be terribly well executed. The first two issues, in particular, a very choppy; writer John Warner clearly thought he was setting up a long epic when he wrote Marvel Presents #1, and then issue #2 has to hastily wrap up and explain everything, and completely ignores some key aspects of issue #1 in the process!

His six issues of Rampaging Hulk are fine; mostly the high point is the beautiful black-and-white artwork. I did like Bloodstone's supporting cast, a lackadaisical actor turned assistant monster hunter and a crusading journalist, but the actual stories focused too much on the tedious machinations of a globe-spanning conspiracy, and never seemed to really go anywhere. Bloodstone was always on the backfoot, bizarre twists were being piled on top of bizarre twists, new complications being introduced at random. And again, it all gets abruptly cut short, this time in a one-issue conclusion by writer Stever Gerber that somewhat tastelessly discards the characters you've spent six issues getting to know. So what was the point?

That was (spoiler) the end of Ulysses Bloodstone, and as far as I know, he's stayed dead. I did pause reading the collection at this point to read the 2001-02 miniseries, but that's outside the scope of this review. The short version, though, is that Ulysses's somewhat overcomplicated backstory was played down; no more mention of the bloodstone fragments or the conspiracy, he just became a flamboyant hunter of monsters of all sorts and his mantle passed on to his daughter, Elsa. The omission of this miniseries from this collection is, frankly, obnoxious and inexplicable. Elsa was then reinvented with a somewhat different backstory in the miniseries Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., which I haven't read yet but will next. I can see why this isn't here (it's twelve issues long and not all about Elsa) but the retooling of a retooling is a jarring thing to happen between stories.

It's this retooled Elsa who is the focal character of three short comics from 2009-10, reprinted from Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2, Astonishing Tales: Boom-Boom and Elsa #1, and Girl Comics #2. The first is kind of meh, but the other two are fun stories about her overdramatic, overviolent life and her friendship with Tabitha "Boom-Boom" Sparks. You can never go wrong with some Faith Erin Hicks.

Lastly, there's Legion of Monsters (2011-12), a miniseries where Elsa has to work with some monsters, helping defend an enclave of ostensibly peaceful monsters from an attack via plague. The art is nice to look at, dark and moody, and I certainly appreciate any superhero comic that attempts to do something different, but I found both art and writing difficult to follow and ultimately got a bit lost in the contortions of it all; I think the story assumes a deeper familiarity with Marvel's bench of monster characters than I actually possess.

So overall, it's not the best Bloodstone collection that could have been published. If I hadn't read the 2001-02 miniseries in the middle, I don't think it would have been coherent at all; as it is, it seems to be about two characters related in nothing other than their name and the vague concept of monster hunting.

Elsa Bloodstone: Next in sequence »

Claremont's New Mutants run is incredible. Overall. The beginning is a bit meh as it gets going and the characters find their voices. And my favourite New Mutant hasn't joined the team yet either, which doesn't help.

Not an unpleasant read by any stretch, but not Claremont at his best either.

What a mess. So this is where bad stories go to die. This run of Defenders seems to have been used as a clearing house to sew up crap plotlines canceled in other titles. Interestingly the more garbage that piles up the more the female Defenders come to the fore.
Sort of like how britain only elects female primeministers when their country is so far in the toilet that no man wants the thankless task of trying to clean the mess.
But still at least we have some female led storylines... except that i then noticed that not a single one of these female led plots ends well, in fact everyone of them ends in a disaster except when a male character literally swoops in to save the day. I can't tell whether its incredibly inept feminism or very efficient chauvinism, presumably the former :| .

Also the last storyline is almost the exact same plot used in Jessica Jones season1, (and presumably the comic book version but i havn't read that) including having Patsy Walker (aka Trish Walker) as the best friend, which isn't in the Jessica Jones comic from what i've heard. But with Valkyrie as Jessica and the Mandrill instead of the Purple Man (aka Killgrave). That part made an interesting comparison.

Anyway, so if its so bad why 3 stars you ask? Well 70s garbage can still be quite entertaining, its still done by writers who are clearing trying, this isn't like bad 90s comics. Also the sheer randomness coupled with occasional 70s political or social commentary is worth a look.

A decent book, my first Thor book that I have read. It pulls in several different stories, including the main line that had been occurring in Thor, plus the cross over with the mutant massacre story line. The artwork is pretty good, and I found the character building of Thor enjoyable.

Concluding appearance of Thor in the Mutant Massacre story-line. Some good material here, some of it counter to general comic procedure in my opinion. The artwork is decent, and there are several story-lines at play, which is one of my favorite things about the comics of the past.

Total nostalgia read. I remember picking up the single issues of the New Mutants from the corner store. Some decent stories here - the few issues with Team America are pretty hokey but Claremont sets up some interesting plot points that I'm looking forward to reading in the next few volumes including the Demon Bear stories.

The promise of great stories eludes me. I wanted so much more, spoiled by more recent comics, wanting back stories, glorious beginnings, and splendiferous space and alternate realities. What I got was strained stories that were rarely brilliant in idea, and never in how it was pulled off. It was very hard to get through the old art, as well.

(Waits patiently until a fanboy froths at the mouth at me).

When it's good, it's very good. When it's bad, as most of the early stuff is, it's really bad. I cannot believe I got through it all. I found myself rewriting it all in my head as I plowed through them, paraphrasing much, and drawing out others. It was hardly worth the effort, especially since so much of the work had been done for me in more recent attempts.

The joke is on me, though, because I'm planning on continuing the tales to get to the tantalizing glimpses of those old epic tales I had missed.

Extremely contrived crossover that spanned the Avengers and Defenders titles in 1973. Dormammu, looking for a loophole by which he can invade Earth (he had promised Doctor Strange that he wouldn't), tricks the Defenders into retrieving for him parts of a magical artifact. Sensing duplicity, his erstwhile ally Loki tells the Avengers that the Defenders are a threat to the planet...and they believe him! (Loki, of course, is well-known as the god of lies and mischief; it was his trickery that brought the Avengers together in the first place, and Thor had just defeated him in battle before this story began.) Several ill-conceived battles ensue. The writing might be acceptable for very young readers but is otherwise embarrassing, and even Sal Buscema's art is not as good as it usually is. Two stars for a vague sense of nostalgia.

Stan Lee Presents: Spider-Woman contains Marvel Spotlight #32 (Spider-Woman's first appearance) and Spider-Woman #1-8. In the original story, writer Archie Goodwin and illustrators Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney introduce the character, here named Arachne and working for HYDRA against the forces of SHIELD. She learns the secret of her origin and rethinks her alliegences. Though a brief origin, Marvel primarily created her to pre-empt Filmation's plan to create an animated Spider-Woman who would capitalize on Spider-Man's fame. Despite these motives, the character was a hit and writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Carmine Infantino developed a stand-alone series. This reprints all of Wolfman's stories as he added details to Spider-Woman's origin and tried for a tone between action and horror to define the character. This Pocket Book serves as an early collected edition prior to Marvel's Essential or Masterworks Editions and also works as a comics digest. Those looking to read Spider-Woman's early adventures will enjoy this, though the format does shrink the lettering a bit so that it may be more difficult for some readers.

Mmm, mid-70's Marveldom. Random matchups of heroes (some obscure, some less so) with the Thing.

Having grown up reading black and white Marvel UK reprints, I love the Marvel Essential collection. It's great to read a series through in big chunks, filling in the gaps from stories I've read only partly before. Among my favourites in the series is Incredible Hulk. While other Essentials sit on the shelf for months if not years waiting for me to get round to reading them, I generally have to crack on with the next Hulk volume as soon as it arrives. As much as I enjoyed Peter David's psychologically challenging run on the character in later years... or the big dumb joyfest that is Jeph Loeb's current run... my favourite Hulk will always be the "Hulk smash!" one. I love everything about this character, despite the fact that his adventures follow a very predictable pattern. I'll let him explain...

"Hulk just wants to be left alone. If puny humans leave Hulk alone, Hulk will be happy."

"No, now puny humans are attacking Hulk - puny soldiers or stupid villains..." (who Hulk always gives a funny name to such as "Little Man", "Big Head", "Clock Man", "Stupid Magician", "Bug Man", "One Eye" etc. etc.) "...leave Hulk alone, puny humans or Hulk will smash!"

"Now Hulk is angry - puny humans think they are stronger than Hulk... but Hulk is strongest one there is - now Hulk will SMASH!"

In essence then, on completing Essential Hulk Volume 6, I have just read 26 variations on the plot above. And I love it. It's curiously cathartic.

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As with any of Marvel's "Classic" collections, you will probably appreciate this graphic novel more if you originally read it when it was first released. Chris Claremont repeats his Uncanny X-Men-style team origin, with the New Mutants being a geographically diverse team (a Brazilian, a Scot, a Redneck, an American Indian, and a Vietmanese, in this case). There is some cheesy stuff in here and some overly dramatic dialogue--Professor X vowing that these kids will not be made into heroes and be put in harm's way is laughable, as in the same scene he outfits them in uniforms, gives them code-names, and tests them in the Danger Room--but this is the groundwork for many great stories to come, and thus is essential reading for any X-Men fan.

Possibly the first US Fantastic Four comic I ever bought was FF #212. Originally published in 1979, I probably didn't lay my sweaty little hands on it till a year or so later when I found it in a spinner rack in a newsagents in Filey. One of the highlights of my childhood seaside holidays was searching for old comics in paper shops, book shops and junk shops up and down the east coast of Yorkshire; I can still remember how exciting it was to find gems like the one pictured above. I was already familiar with the FF from their cartoon show and British Marvel weeklies, but the US comics looked so much cooler - full colour for a start, and packed with exciting ads for Hostess Twinkies, X-Ray specs and other exotic novelties I could only dream of.

This issue lies towards the end of a massive eleven-issue epic written by Marv Wolfman, and drawn by Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema, and by the time I joined in, John Byrne. A year or so later I'd start collecting the US FF comics every month, early into Byrne's acclaimed run as both writer and artist (#241 was my first "hot off the stands" issue - though back then, "hot off the stands" meant three months later than the comic had been sold in the States). When talking about Byrne's FF, many forget that he was a regular artist on the book for almost a year before he also started writing it. It's obvious now that he learned the ropes from working with Wolfman.

Read the full review at my blog½