Tag Archives: Marie Severin

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Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2

Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2

First Published: August 2006

Contents: Power Man #28 (December 1975) to #49 (February 1978); and Power Man Annual #1 (1976)

Key Creator Credits: Don McGregor, Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, George Tuska, Sal Buscema, Lee Elias, Frank Robbins, Marie Severin, John Byrne, and others

Key First Appearances: Cockroach Hamilton, Goldbug

Story Continues From: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 1 

Story Continues In: Essential Power Man & Iron Fist Vol. 1

Overview: The Hero for Hire, Luke Cage, is back for more cash in the newest Essential volume. Let’s be honest here, being a super-hero is expensive work. Not all heroes get a stipend from the Stark Foundation or live off of the royalties from the patent for unstable molecules to be used to make uniforms. Paying rent, buying food, and replacing those yellow silk shirts torn up in battle adds up quick for a struggling hero. Of course, you have to charge a fee for your services.

Luke Cage remains a hero of the people, working out of his office above a Times Square movie theater. He fights a lot of run of the mill one-and-done villains created specifically for this title. Outside of a fight against Moses Magnum in Power Man Annual #1, his villains do not make many, if any, appearances in any other books.

As the book comes to an end, Cage finds a lot of familiar faces from his past coming back to confront him. Crossing paths with the kung-fu hero, Iron Fist, Luke Cage is finally able to clear his name, making him a free man for the first time in many years. The two agree that working together benefits both of them, and a new super-hero duo is formed. But like any other story, that is a tale to be continued….

What makes this Essential?: This book is a step up from the first volume, but not nearly as good as it will become with Essential Power Man & Iron Fist Vol. 1, The second half of the book, under the direction of first Marv Wolfman and then Chris Claremont, starts to finally find it’s place focusing on an urban hero and not just an urban black hero. The art is serviceable, but not memorable by any means. If you are a fan of Luke Cage, this is worth the read. But I would not consider it essential to have in your collection.

Footnotes: Power Man #36 is a reprint of a story originally featured in Hero for Hire #12. The new cover for #36 is included in this Essential. 

Giant-Size Power Man #1 (1975) is a reprint collection of stories originally featured in Hero for Hire #14 to #16. The cover is included in this Essential.

Power Man #48 and #49 are also reprinted in Essential Iron Fist Vol. 1.

If you like this volume, try: the New Avengers books from the last decade. When Brian Michael Bendis relaunched the Avengers in the mid-2000s, he brought in a new line-up (Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and others) to fill the spots around Captain America and Iron Man. At that time, Luke Cage had become a peripheral character in the Marvel Universe, brought to an event to help fill out the background of a large super-hero crowd scene. Over the run of the New Avengers title, Luke Cage became one of the core members of this line-up, to a point where he became the team leader. New Avengers ruffled the feathers of a lot of long-time Avengers readers, but the non-traditional line-up allowed for some interesting storylines. This has been collected multiple times in trade paperbacks, hardcovers, and omnibus editions, so it should be easy to find these stories.

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Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2

Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2

First Published: February 2005

Contents: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #32 (July 1979) to #53 (April 1981); Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 (1979) and #2 (1980); Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 (1979); and Fantastic Four #218 (May 1980)

Key Creator Credits: Bill Mantlo, Jim Mooney, Roger Stern, John Romita, Jr., Mike Zeck, Marie Severin, and others

Key First Appearances: Marcy Kane, Dr. Morris Sloan, Steve Hopkins, Roderick Kingsley (Hobgoblin), Nathan Lubensky

Story Continues From: Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1

Story Continues In: Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 3

Overview: Welcome back to the continuing adventures of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (PPTSS). This book remains a companion book to Amazing Spider-Man, but focuses primarily on Peter Parker and his collegiate life.

This volume breaks out into two separate sections – the first is written by Bill Mantlo, continuing the stories he started in Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1. Mantlo wraps up the Carrion storyline, but not before bringing in the Lizard, the Iquana, and the Swarm. Following another appearance by Morbius, Mantlo concludes this run of PPTSS with a crossover with Fantastic Four, another title he was writing at the time.

The second section picks up with issue #43, as Roger Stern takes over writing duties on the title. Stern brings back the Vulture and the White Tiger, and introduces two new characters into Peter Parker’s life – Nathan Lubensky would become a long-time tenant at Aunt May’s boarding house, and Roderick Kingsley, a background character in PPTSS, but will don the Hobgoblin costume when Stern moves over to Amazing Spider-Man.

What makes this Essential?: I really want to give this a strong recommendation. I do. I like to think of PPTSS as the little book that could. But, the simple fact remains that this title plays second fiddle to every other book that Spider-Man appears in each month. You need to be a hard-core Spider-Man fan to want this volume. The stories are not bad, per se. Some of them are quite good. But each issue just reminds the reader that there are other stories you should be reading, which can be found in the Essential Spider-Man and Essential Marvel Team-Up books.

Footnotes: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 were also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man 9.

If you like this volume, try: the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip, which started in January of 1977. Originally done by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr., this was a syndicated comic strip that told stand-alone stories not set in the continuity of the Marvel Universe. Other comic notables, such as Larry Lieber, Paul Ryan, Alex Saviuk, Joe Sinnott, and Roy Thomas, have helped out on the strip over the years. There have been a few collections of the early years of the newspaper strip. If your local newspaper does not carry the strip, it can still be read online at several websites.

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Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 1

Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 1

First Published: January 2002

Contents: Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #110 (July 1963) to #111 (August 1963) and #114 (November 1963) to #168 (May 1968)

Key Creator Credits: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neil, Bill Everett, Marie Severin, Dan Adkins, Herb Trimpe, and Jim Lawrence

Key First Appearances: Dr. Stephen Strange, Ancient One, Wong, Nightmare, Baron Mordo, Victoria Bentley, Clea, Dormammu, G’uranthic Guardian, Mindless Ones, Eternity, Kaluu, Umar, Living Tribunal, Yandroth

Story Continues In: Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 2

Overview: Doctor Stephen Strange was a brilliant surgeon, whose skills in the operating room were only surpassed by his greed and ego. After a horrendous car accident, Strange finds that the nerve damage he suffered no longer give him the motor skills to perform surgeries. Strange burns through his fortune, traveling the world looking for a cure. One name keeps coming up in his search – that of the Ancient One. Tracking him down, the Ancient One is unable to heal Strange’s body, but does offer to train him in the ways of the mystic arts. Strange stops the Ancient One’s assistant, Baron Mordo, from stealing the power from his master, and he realizes that maybe he has a new calling in life. So begins the adventures of Doctor Strange, master of the mystic arts.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko place the building blocks that will dominate Marvel’s mystical world. Besides Baron Mordo, Doctor Strange battles a cadre of mystical beings intent on defeating Strange so that they could take over the earth, such as Nightmare and Dormammu. With his faithful servant Wong, and the romantic interests of Victoria Bentley, a normal human with passing skills in magic, and Clea, a sorceress from another dimension, Doctor Strange is prepared to defend Earth from any threat, magical or otherwise.

What makes this Essential?: Doctor Strange has been one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics from the earliest days. Lee and Ditko were more than creators; they were architects, building the framework that would become the Marvel Universe. Any work by Ditko in this era is worthy of being collected as an Essential. Like many stories from this era, the plot points may not stand up, but they are still worth a read.

Footnotes: Doctor Strange  was just one of the tenants in Strange Tales during the 1960s. Initially, Doctor Strange shared the book with the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four. In 1965, the Human Torch feature was replaced by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If you like this volume, try: Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko. Nearly any comic book fan could tell you that Steve Ditko was the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. A comic aficionado could tell you that Ditko left Marvel Comics in 1966, and split time between Charlton and DC Comics, with memorable creations like The Question, the Creeper, and Shade the Changing Man. It would take a die-hard Ditko fan, or a reading of this Visionaries volume, to know that Ditko returned to Marvel in the 1980s, with runs on The Incredible Hulk and ROM, and co-creating modern characters like Speedball and Squirrel Girl. For years, Ditko has declined interview requests, preferring to let his work speak for itself. Consider this a brilliant interview reviewing the many highlights of Ditko’s many years at Marvel Comics.

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Essential Hulk Vol. 2

Essential Hulk Vol. 2

First Published: September 2001

Contents: Hulk stories from Tales to Astonish #92 (June 19674) to #101 (March 1968), Incredible Hulk #102 (April 1968) to #117 (July 1969), back-up story from #147 (January 1972), and Incredible Hulk Special #1 (1968)

Key Creator Credits: Stan Lee, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas

Key First Appearances: Timberius

Story Continues From: Essential Hulk Vol. 1

Story Continues In: Essential Hulk Vol. 3

Overview: The tales of the angry green goliath continue in this second Hulk Essential volume. We see Bruce Banner still being hounded by General Ross and the U.S. Army. Betty Ross must rebuff the interest shown by Major Talbot, as her heart still remains true to Bruce. And the Hulk shows that most times the true monster in the book is not him, but the humans fighting him.

With these stories, we see the Hulk start to crossover with characters from other books. There is a multi-issue arc where the Hulk teams up with Thor and the Warriors Three; Bruce Banner and his alter identity cross paths with Ka-Zar in the Savage Land; and another story line features the Hulk battling the Mandarin, which leads to an obligatory appearance by Iron Man.

A highlight of the book would be the inclusion of the first Incredible Hulk Special (Annual). Written by Gary Friedrich with art by Marie Severin, the Hulk encounters the Inhumans, which had been exclusively supporting characters in the Fantastic Four book until this point. What makes this memorable is the cover by Jim Steranko, which shows the Hulk bent over while holding up the book logo made out of rock. The image has been the subject of numerous homages over the years.

What makes this Essential?: This should be a better book, given the talent of the creators. That said, this collection of stories feels very average. My opinion here, but it feels like Marvel was more concerned with just having a book on the newsstands each month compared to the content of the stories. If you are a Hulk fan, get it only if you are wanting to read his complete journey.

Footnotes: This Essential also includes a back-up Hulk story from Incredible Hulk #147. It is uncredited on the front cover of the Essential, but it is listed in the table of contents. The back-up story was also reprinted, along with the original story, in Essential Hulk Vol. 4.

The Hulk was one of two features printed each month in Tales to Astonish. Since issue #70, the other back-up feature was Namor, the Sub-Mariner. For issue #100, the two characters teamed up for a full-length story.

Tales to Astonish ends with issue #101 (March 1968). The following month, the title was renamed The Incredible Hulk, and continued with the same numbering. Namor jumped to a one-shot special, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1 (April 1968), before moving into his own solo book, The Sub-Mariner #1 (May 1968).

If you like this volume, try: Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics by Dewey Cassell. This book was released by TwoMorrows Publishing in the summer of 2012. Right or wrong, comics are perceived to be a man’s interest. Men are the primary creators (writers, artists, colorists, etc.) of primary male characters printed in books aimed at boys and men. The truth is that while men constitute the majority of creators, there are many female creators in the comics industry. Marie Severin got into the industry in the 1950s, when her brother John Severin needed help getting a project colored for EC Comics. From there, Marie pitched in as colorist, inker, penciller, letterer and whatever else needed to be done. She was a mainstay in the Marvel Comics offices for three decades, working on a variety of titles including The Incredible Hulk, The Sub-Mariner, Kull the Conqueror and others. She even colored the first issue of Marvel’s adaption of Star Wars in 1977. This book provides a detailed look at Severin’s career.