comic books that have changed my life #6

Returning to the long left idle series on some of my favorite comic books, I will focus on The Avengers #164. This is the second issue of The Avengers' title that I will examine. (The previous one was #171 which I reviewed way back in February 2006.) Issue #164 features guest penciler John Byrne. John Byrne is one of my all time favorite comic book artists. This issue was one of his early efforts for Marvel Comics, but he would soon make a huge splash in the comic world when he became the regular penciler for the X-Men (starting with issue #108 of that series).

I love Byrne's work. For quite some time he was the top artist at Marvel. George Perez was a close second, but Byrne's work just had something that impressed the hell out of me. He continued to produce great work for many years until he began writing titles as well as drawing them. Then he seemed to hurry his drawing.

Anyway, The Avengers #164 was early in his career at Marvel, but he was already showing those signs of greatness. His inker was Pablo Marcos for this three issue story that John would being drawing, giving George Perez, Avengers' regular artist, a break. And I am focusing on the first part of the three issue story, because as I've said previously, the set up issue seems to be more interesting then the conclusion issue of a storyline.

The synopsis of this issue tells of an old Avengers' villain, Count Nefaria, recruiting three other villains: Power Man, Whirlwind, and the Living Laser, to help him defeat the Avengers once and for all. Through the efforts of the team of scientists he employed, Count Nefaria enhances the powers of the three recruited bad guys. But only temporarily. This reunited and boosted Lethal Legion rob a bank, the Avengers try to stop them, but they get away and regroup and counterattack. In their counterattack, the Legion appear to have the upper hand and are about to become victorious when their powers begin to mysteriously disappear. Enter Count Nefaria, crackling with the super powers he'd just stolen from the Lethal Legion. That dastardly double crosser!

Ok, it ain't Tolstoy, but it's good comic book fun.

Now to look at the art...

The cover (see above) was draw by George Perez and it depicts the Lethal Legion putting the beat down on the Avengers. Power Man states that the Avengers are finished, but someone is shouting, "Not all of them!" But who is it? We do see a pair of gloved hands, but the story doesn't let us know who it is. Is it Yellow Jacket? The Wasp? The Scarlet Witch? I guess we aren't supposed to know. It was a common practice in comic books to have cover art that didn't exactly fit the story inside.

The first frame I'm including is the beginning of the second battle between the Avengers and the Lethal Legion. The three bad guys decide to use the old attention getter of throwing a car through the window of the second story conference room of the Avengers' mansion. How the Legion knew our heroes were gathered there I don't know. Still it is a dramatic shot with the great sound effect "KA-SMA-A-ASH!" Marvel always did pride themselves with their uncannily descriptive sound effect words.

Next is a two frame sequence in which we get to see just how much more powerful Power Man has become. At the expense of the Beast, unfortunately. Poor Beast, that looks like it hurt.

Then I have the last page of the issue. Here is where Count Nefaria makes his dramatic entrance. He tears up the street under the Avengers' feet, sending them all down to the ground, stunned. A shocked Capt. America recognizes the villain and can't believe Nefaria is capable of such a display of power.

And doesn't the Scarlet Witch have quite the nice behind?

I'm also including another two frame segment that always bugged me. It shows the Whizzer (yep, that's his name) speeding through his apartment. He's heading off to get into the action, but he really shouldn't because he's an older fellow and he's got heart trouble. Anyway, he's using his power of traveling at super speed when his daughter, the Scarlet Witch, (she wasn't really his daughter. It's complicated, so just take my word for it.) gets in his way.

He grabs a trellis rod and spins himself backward into the wall to keep from colliding with his daughter. I always thought the drawings were confusing. Why would he go backward? Looking at it now, I think I understand what happened. The Whizzer (Yes! That is his name!) must have reached to the left side of the frame to the "off camera" trellis rod and that's why he's flung backward into the wall. I guess Byrne had difficulty fitting the trellis into the frame.

Yes! He was called The Whizzer!

I'll do more writing on the comic books soon. I hope.

craig ferguson doesn't have a band... that's awsome

When did the bands on the late night talk shows become so domineering? I’m old enough to remember Johnny Carson and I remember that he had a great band, but the band did not dominate the show the way today’s late show bands tend to do. Johnny’s band played the intro, the cuts to commercial, the guest entrances and the end of the show. Yes, they had a bit more involvement than that. “Is Doc here?” “Doc’s not here.” Johnny would poke fun at whatever Doc Severinsen was wearing or how dull Tommy Newsom could be. There was the ‘stump the band’ bit and the occasional rim shots, but the band fit right in its place.

For some time now,however, the bands have been becoming bigger and bigger and more intrusive. I don’t know exactly where to put the blame. Was it Letterman’s or Leno’s fault?

When David Letterman started NBC’s ‘Late Night’, he had the very talented and funny Paul Shaffer and what would later become ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Band’. At first, as I recall, Paul and the band had about the same involvement as Johnny Carson’s band. Soon, it was discovered the Paul Shaffer was funny and worked well with Dave and the band took on a little more significance. Still the band did not take over the show. It was a very good four piece band that entertained the audience during the breaks and Paul would get some laughs.

Then, Jay Leno took over the ‘Tonight Show’ and things started to change. Johnny’s band was pretty sizable and so was Jay’s. Leno’s first bandleader was Branford Marsalis. Marsalis left after two or three years because he didn’t have much of a sense of humor (that’s just a guess on my part) and Kevin Eubanks took over. Kevin is good, but not nearly as funny as Paul Shaffer. (None of the late night bandleaders are.)

Letterman left NBC and started up the ‘Late Show’. That’s when Dave’s band got much bigger to match the ‘Tonight Show’. Leno had a gal who started singing during the breaks, so Letterman got one, too. The bands started getting louder and more showy.

Conan O’Brien now helmed ‘Late Night’ and he had the Max Weinberg 7. Another good band, but Max Weinberg was really no Paul Shaffer. Max just isn’t funny. I do like the ‘In the year 2000’ bits, which utilize one of the band members. The main problem with O’Brien’s band is the brashy loudness of it. Just listen to how they play on Conan’s entrances now that he has the ‘Tonight Show’. The squealing trumpet is enough to give me a headache. Squeeeeeal! Squeeeeeal! Squeeeeeal! Isn’t it exciting?! No! It’s just loud.

Now Jimmy Fallon is hosting ‘Late Night’. And his band is an already established band from Philadelphia called The Roots. They’re also a good band and Fallon really uses them a lot. He is new to the format so they’re working on it. But every night Jimmy yells for me to “give it up for The Roots!” Well, I don’t want give it up for The Roots and why are you yelling so much, Jimmy. Seriously, every time he introduces a guest it’s as if he’s giving the “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” yell.

Jimmy Kimmel has a late night talk show. The show has a band, but I never watch much of the show so I really can’t say anything. So, I won’t.

Maybe I’m just being a traditionalist crank here, but I liked the way Johnny’s and Dave’s bands used to be. There’s just something annoying about the shows coming back from commercial break and seeing one of the band members singing. It just bugs me.

On the other hand, CBS’s the ‘Late, Late Show’ with Craig Ferguson doesn’t have a band. It doesn’t need one. Craig frequently complains about not having a band, but I disagree. He is probably the only late night talk show host today who can do an hour long show without a band or a sidekick. He could almost do the show without guests.

I hope Craig Ferguson never does get a band. It would diminish the show. As my wife said when I remarked that Craig doesn’t have a band, “That’s awesome.” It is awesome. Please, CBS, no band for Craig.