IRON MAN 3

With Free Comic Book Day tomorrow, it's a great weekend to be a comics fan!

See it in 3-D if you can.

YouTube: Iron Man & the Mandarin: the Early Years!

Art by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky

It took almost 50 years, but Iron Man finally gets a crack on the big screen against The Mandarin.

But, the Golden Avenger battled his arch-enemy several times in his first screen appearances on the 1960s Marvel SuperHeroes Show, based on scripts by Stan Lee and art by Don Heck and Gene Colan (with a few inserts of Jack Kirby's art)

Art by Don Heck

(Yes, the subtitles are non-removable, but they're the cleanest copies I could find.)

The Avengers are HERE!

Variant Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

The Avengers opens today.

So why are you sitting around reading this blog?

Get out there and see it!

I've seen it, and it's KOOL!

NOTE: Stay for the whole end-credits sequence!

There's two tag-scenes, one at the very end of the credits!

Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

And don't forget Free Comic Book Day tomorrow...

YouTube Wednesday Reux: IRON MAN "Enter Hawkeye" (& Black Widow)

While everyone's familiar with Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America, most don't know...

Hawkeye and the Black Widow!
Hawkeye the Marksman first appeared as a misunderstood hero in Iron Man's series in Tales of Suspense #57, where he met the already-ongoing villainess (yes, villainess) Black Widow!
That story and it's follow-ups in Tales of Suspense #60 & 61...

...were the basis for the cartoon from the Marvel SuperHeroes Show (1966) below!

The previous episode in the Iron Man series had introduced the Black Widow in a tale adapted from Tales of Suspense #46 (the first Crimson Dynamo story)...

  ...and Tales of Suspense #52 (the sequel which featured the Black Widow's first appearance)!

The episode features one of the characters actually dying on screen (A rarity in 60s cartoons)!

Enjoy!

YouTube Wednesday: THE AVENGERS "Molto and the Invasion of the Lava Men"

Adapted from Journey into Mystery #97..

 and Avengers #5 (1964), this combined tale was done as an episode of Mighty Thor! on the Marvel SuperHeroes Show (1966)!

Avengers-based stories were adapted into all the heroes' series except Sub-Mariner! (who was edited out of the animated versions of stories he did appear in, like "Return of Captain America", which adapted Avengers #4!)
Featuring Mighty Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Giant-Man & the Wasp (who I really wish were in the movie since Hank Pym is my favorite Marvel character...)
Both tales by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
(The animated version also uses some Don Heck and Joe Sinnott art to fill in continuity gaps.)

and go see the movie this weekend!

What's wrong with this cover?

Look closely...
Figure it out?
Clue: One of those Avengers (as shown) doesn't belong there...
Ready for the answer?
Iron Man!
"But..." you say, "Iron Man was one of the original Avengers!"
Quite correct!
But...the all-gold armor Iron Man never appeared with Captain America!
By Avengers #4, when Cap was defrosted, Iron Man was wearing his first red-and-gold armor...

...so this particular assemblage of Avengers, as shown, never occurred!
You could say the cover is "symbolic", but shouldn't "accurate" transcend "symbolic", especially when it's easy to do and would look equally-dramatic?
(The red-and-gold armor was less-bulky and looked kooler!)
Yeah, it's nit-picking, but I expect better from "professionals" who are paid to "get it right".
Hell, it's what I did when I was working full-time in the business...

Fantastic Femmes--Jeannine Kaspar

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

What will the Marvel / Disney merger produce? (part 2)

Another piece submitted by Jack "King" Kirby to Craig Yoe's book The Art of Mickey Mouse.
This one, believe it or not, was NOT used in the book!
I'm not sure if it was a case of only one contribution per artist or lack of space, but it's as kool (if not more so) than the previous piece!
This piece by another comics legend, Wally Wood, was used in TV Guide back in 1966-67 for an article about superhero cartoons dominating the previously funny animal-oriented Saturday morning cartoon schedule due to the success of the live-action Batman tv series!
(Remember when there WAS a Saturday Morning cartoon schedule?)
Note the Marvel characters get the primary focus.
Oddly, while Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four both had Saturday morning cartoons, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, (along with the Hulk in the background) were actually part of the Monday-Friday Marvel Super-Heroes show!
Plus, Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman were just segments in the Superman / Aquaman Adventure Hour (Come to think of it, where is Superman? Aquaman can be seen between Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch...)
And, you'll note the ONLY funny animal / humor character not fleeing in terror is Mickey Mouse!