The 39th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Battle of The Gems.

Okay, actually there won't be any battles, just me talking about some comics I found recently.  For the uninitiated, I foolishly decided to move my comics out of  a cupboard where I had been keeping my comics, that was a bad idea because I decided to take them all OUT of the cupboard and put them in my living room.  Second mistake was thinking that this would be a weekend job and if not three maybe four weeks to sort everything out.  Famous last words. Famous last words indeed.

Yeah, that's what I have to deal with.  The thing that scares me is how many comics I have found severely damaged due to my mishandling, due to the cupboard and other factors as well.  There are some great comics that I can't ever replace.  In my previous broadcast I mentioned that I bought some mylar bags and also backing boards, so when ever I'm not at work or behind the laptop, I'm bagging and boarding my comics.  As I do that, I stumbled across some real gems, some comics I forgot I bought.  So welcome to the 39th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Battle of The Gems.  Here are a few more I found today.

Iron Man # 228, Chapter 4 in The Armor Wars storyline.  I love this issue.  Iron Man Vs. The Captain.  This issue was from a time when there were some changes in the lives of both Iron Man (Tony Stark) and The Captain formerly Captain America (Steven Rogers).  Rogers assumed the identity of The Captain when he was forced to give up his identity of Captain America.  Over in the life of Iron Man, Tony Stark was tracking down and destroying stolen Stark Technology used by both good and bad guys.  All of this provided some great stories thanks to the teams of David Michelinie (plot, script); Bob Layton (plot), Mark Bright and Bob Layton (Pencils and Inks).  Over on Captain America, Mark Gruenwald, Kieron Dwyer along with a whole hosts of inkers like Allen Milgrom gave us some of the some intriguing stories.  Those were interesting times.  This issue is on good condition and since it's such a significant one, I've bagged and boarded it.   A real gem.

Ohhh a face only a mother could love.  Evil is back.  Couldn't agree more.  Captain America # 14 from February of 1999.  The cover is by Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang.  Simple cover but one that defibitely does the job, you have no doubt that The Red Skull IS evil. In this issue titled: The Red Skull In: Turnabout, we see the Skull is a valet in a fancy hotel catering to Americans and other unholy swine in the hell the Cosmic Cube has created for him; After a lethal encounter with Captain America, the Skull wins his way free of the Cube's influence and returns to the real world.  This story was told primarily in splash pages and gray tones in the Red Skull's mindscape. As verified by Mark Waid, the finished comic was, over the weekend before the Monday it was due at the printer's, rewritten in large part by staff editor Ralph Macchio at the request of Editor In Chief Bob Harras. Waid asked to have his name removed from the interior credits; the cover, crediting him, had already been printed. The first page has no art nor script, it only features the title and credits.

So yeah, as you can see, Mark Waid was not credited here as writer, although his name is on the cover.  I remember reading about what had happened, he insisted that since there was an extensive rewrite of this issue that his name should not be on the comic.  Apparently the ending that is featured in this issue is VERY different from what Waid first wrote. Waid's original ending was not liked for reasons unknown.  If anyone has the story behind this, please let me know.

Iron Man # 94 from January 1977.  Now if you look closely, you cab tell that this issue is not in great condition, plenty of nicks and cuts and a line right on the cover, a crease I think.  I believe I bought this issue because I wanted to have a Jack Kirby drawn cover.  This one is by the King Jack kirby and inks by Allen Milgrom.  Kirby did not however do the interior art for this issue.  That honor went to Herb Trimpe who co plotted this issue with Gerry Conway and he also did provided the pencils.  Inks were done by Jack Abel.  Despite the poor condition of the comic, I decided to bag and board it anyway and when I did, wow, the cover looked so good.  Yep, this one is a keeper, a gem.

Now that is one Bad Ass Cover as far as I'm concerned.  Do you remember this comic?  Ghost Rider 2099.  I can't really remember the storyline but man this cover rocks.  Pencil and Inks by Mark Buckingham.  For this comic, Chris Bachalo did the breakdowns while Buckingham did the finishes and Inks.  Ghost Rider 2099  featured a new Ghost Rider in the person of Kenshiro Cochrane or Zero.  I bought a few issues of Ghost Rider 2099 but after a while I lost interest because they changed the artist on the comic or something, I dropped the title.  Later on I found out that all the 2099 titles were cancelled and all the characters would be featured in a monthly special, like 2099 Quarterly or something.  Marvel 2099 was a good idea but in the end, it became a failed project for Marvel and the art just kept getting worse on the 2099 titles, so I gave up on them.  So is this a gem, yep, definitely, going to keep this one based on this cover alone.

Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty # 1.  After Heroes return when Mark Waid and Ron Garney returned with a brand new Captain America # 1 Marvel thought it was a good idea to release another Captain America.  I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time and apparently no one learned anything from the over exposure of the Punisher.  Sentinel of Liberty featured a gatefold cover with a two-page character profile on the inside. Mark Waid provided the script, while Ron Garney co plotted the story with Waid and he provided the pencils.  Dan Panosian did the inks.  Sentinel of Liberty was somewhat short lived, it ended with issue # 12.  I think I'm going to keep this one.

One more to go.  Now when I came across this comic, I immediately remembered how and why I had it.  A friend of mine had to sell off his collection and asked me to take it off his hands, it was a huge collection and at the time I just didn't have the money.  I instead offered to take a few comics off his hands and this was one of them.  I didn't realize this was in the box until I got home.  I saw this comic again today, here it is:

Battle of The Planets # 1.  I remember watching the old cartoons but I never read the comic.  So I was really surprised to see this issue.  I did some checking and this issue was written by someone named Gary Pool and the art and cover is by Win Mortimer.  Battle of the Planets..wow.  Never thought I would see an issue of this comic.  So I guess I'm going to keep this one.  Just for sentimental reasons.

Well that's a look at some of the comics I found today, tomorrow after work (yeah I have to work weekends) I'll go through the pile again and see what I find.  Drop by again next time for another Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast.  Thanks again and remember you are always welcome here.  See ya!