Cover Me: Frank Miller at Marvel

Before Frank Miller became Frank Miller, while he was making a name for himself on his first Daredevil run, Marvel Comics utilized Miller's talents on dozens of covers. Aside from those he's most associated with (Daredevil and the various Spider-Man titles), Miller's art did the spinner-rack boogaloo on...

Captain America...


The Incredible Hulk...


Moon Knight...


Power Man and Iron Fist...


ROM... Spider-Woman... Star Trek...


And many other titles--a few of them, I think, will pleasantly surprise you...


But wait! There's more! Miller also dabbled a bit in the indie/direct market arena during the mid-to-late 1980s. Where? Stay tuned!

STOP THE PRESSES: Marvel Comics Owns Marvelman!

That's right. You don't have to call Mike Moran "Miracleman" anymore! Here's the press release from Marvel Comics:
The biggest news of Comic Con International in San Diego was revealed moments ago and jaws are still on the floor-the world-renowned super hero MARVELMAN is now part of the Marvel Comics family! Marvel Comics has purchased the rights to MARVELMAN from creator Mick Anglo and his representatives, finding a home for one of the most sought after heroes in graphic fiction!

"It is an honor to work with Mick Anglo to bring his creation to a larger audience than ever before," said Dan Buckley, CEO & Publisher, Print, Animation & Digital Media, Marvel Entertainment Inc. "Fans are in for something special as they discover just what makes Marvelman such an important character in comic book history."

Originally created in 1954 by Mick Anglo and appearing in some of the most celebrated comic stories of all time, MARVELMAN is Micky Moran, a young reporter gifted with the power to save the world by simply uttering the word "kimota!"

"I did not think it would ever happen," said Mick Anglo. "It's a wonderful thing to see my creation finally back."

MARVELMAN is back and he's found a new home at Marvel Comics! What's next for Mick Anglo's legendary creation? Stay tuned to Marvel.com for all the news on Marvelman and this exciting new addition to the Marvel family!

Here's a link to Marvel's Marvelman page, which includes the full scoop plus your first look at Marvelman merchandise, including tee-shirts and posters.

Why is this such a big deal? Are you wondering, to quote Bugs Bunny, "What's all the hubbub...bub?" Perhaps you need a bit of background, grasshopper. There's a very good summary of the whole Marvelman/Miracleman history at the leylander.org and another at sequart. I'll wait for ya while you read all that (it's really interesting, check it out!)

...

Okay, are ya back? So the upshot is that British publisher Quality's Warrior Magazine brought 1940s British Captain Marvel clone Marvelman back in the early 1980s under the talents of Alan Moore, Garry Leach, and Alan Davis. In 1985, when U.S. publisher Eclipse got the rights to publish Marvelman here in the states, Marvel Comics threatened a lawsuit if they used the Marvelman name, so Eclipse published Marvelman under the name Miracleman. Moore, Leach, and Davis eventually left the strip and other creators, most notably Neil Gaiman, picked up the ball and carried on with the strip until it finally folded in the early 1990s when Eclipse went under.

Since that time, the rights have languished in legal limbo. Image's Todd McFarlane claimed that he had bought the rights; Gaiman had a claim to the rights; creator Mick Anglo felt he'd never been fairly recompensed for the rights and thus still had claim.

Looks like Mick was right, according to the press release.

OR, one has to wonder, does Marvel really have the rights to Marvelman/Miracleman, or does Marvel have the rights to Mick Anglo's Marvelman? Is Marvel going to create a new Marvelman from the whole cloth? Are they going to update him Marvel style and ignore the Warrior/Eclipse years? Or do they have the rights to the whole Marvelman/Miracleman library (the "pixie dust" effect in Joe Quesada's poster give us hope)? And what does Alan Moore have to say about all of this?

Only time will tell! I'll do my best to keep you updated as news is made available.

We'll return to our regularly scheduled Frank Miller/Cover Me feature next week--unless I learn that Marvel has gotten the rights to Garfield or some other "Internet breaking" news.

80s Essentials: Captain America #250

Since this is the Fourth of July weekend, I thought of doing an overview of Roger Stern and John Byrne's run on Captain America. The more I read those classic issues, the more I thought they deserved more than one post. Although their stint as the writer/artist team on Cap was a short one (issues 247-255, April-December 1980), it was incredible in its scope, execution, and influence. Needless to say, I'll be doing several more posts regarding the Stern/Byrne Cap.


With that in mind, I decided to zero in on Captain America #250, which came out (I can't believe this, but it's true!) 29 years ago this month! This mag is truly one of the Essential comicbooks of the 1980s. Here's why...

In July of 1980, the United States was still reeling over the Watergate scandal. Trust in the government (along with Big Corporations) was low-to-zero (sound familiar?), yet election season was in full force. President Jimmy Carter and California Governor Ronald Reagan were about to battle it out for the White House, but there was a feeling going around that the citizens of the U.S. would have loved to had an alternative candidate--one, preferably, who was not a politician. None stepped forward, and Reagan would go on to defeat Carter. Roger Stern and John Byrne captured this feeling of wanting more and turned it into a though-provoking, heart-tugging comicbook classic.

Before I go on, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the whole "Cap for Prez" idea was sparked by Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin, the writer and inker, respectively, on Captain America during Roger Stern's tenure as that title's editor. Sterno, being one classy guy, wasn't about to let that fact go unnoticed, so he named McKenzie and Perlin in the credits, and then told the whole "behind the scenes" story on the letters page:

"Cap for President" begins with our hero rescuing a congressman and his hostess from a hostage situation, which, besides providing the only real action in this issue allowed Byrne and inker Joe Rubinstein to really strut their stuff. The scene also allows Cap to meet Samuel T. Underwood, the New Populist Party's convention chairman. Underwood quickly goes from thankful bystander, to Cap-fan to hatching the idea of Cap running for President. Cap good-naturedly laughs off the idea, "Ha-hah! Thanks for the offer, Sam--but I'm afraid I'm not much of a politician!" Underwood quickly replies, "The people don't want a politician...they want a leader!" The following page sums up the national mood and this issue's plot quite well...

Cap returns home to his Brooklyn digs, where, as Steve Rogers, he and his neighbors are helping the lovely Bernie Rosenthal move into her apartment. It's there that one of Steve's friends shows him that morning's edition of the Daily Globe...

I love the way Byrne drew Steve's reaction to the news. Naturally, Steve's friends love the idea of Cap running for President.

The next day Captain America heads to the Avengers' mansion to find a mob of Cap supporters and media waiting to bombard him with congratulations and questions regarding his upcoming White House bid.He politely brushes them off to find his fellow Avengers...

Iron Man's attitude is especially interesting in light of the recent goings on in the modern Marvel Universe, is it not?

Cap, as always, searching his soul to find the right thing to do, finds his way back to his old school. It is the memories of what he was taught here that help him cement his decision.

Hours later, Cap appears at the NPP rally, ready to tell the world of his decision...

It's not the decision anyone wanted to hear, but it's the only one Cap could really have made. Stern's use of the JFK quote makes the ending especially poignant.

Captain America #250 was an immediate hit, so popular that Marvel quickly produced an issue of What If...? (#26, January 1981) detailing what would have happened if Cap had, indeed, run for President.

Marvel Super-Special=Marvel At the Movies

Remember Marvel's big full color magazine, Marvel Super Special and all its movie adaptations? Well, due to another day of freight-train style thunderstorms trucking through Groovyland, Ol' Groove doesn't have much time for posting, so here's a quick refresher course on the best--and the worst--of 80s movies in comicbook form...

I'll tackle these in more detail in future posts, Groove-ophiles, but in the meantime, how about your thoughts on what you thought were the best and worst?