Comments on: Comics Should Be Good Top 50 Countdown! - #42

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:10:24 +0000

"Well, one of the main reasons there seem to be so many good events post-Ditko is that maybe, just maybe, Romita did what he was told and followed the scripts, whereas Ditko went his own way? Not to say that Ditko was the lesser scripter/artist/creator, just that the working relationship between Lee and Romita was better and had less tesnion."

Couple points:

(A) They were workin' Marvel style back then. No scripts. (Which you probably knew, but I wanted to clarify for everyone else.)

(B) Romita says he did a fair amount of the plotting. At best, he says, he received a very rough outline. And not always that.

By: Jeff R.

Jeff R. — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:51:17 +0000

While the main story in Dc Comics Presents #42 is a run-of-the-mill team-up with the Unknown Soldier, the "Whatever Happened to..." backup featured the Golden age Sandman, and resolved the decades-ago dangling storyline about Sandy the Golden Boy's cursed state, and is still fairly important to JSA backstory for those characters...

By: Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:14:10 +0000

Quasar #42 features the answer to life, the unvierse, and everything. What happens when you get nullified? You go to the White Room with everyone else who's used the device, where you can never escape. And some schmuck takes your quantum bands and hangs out with the Punisher for two lousy pages, mostly so the Punisher can guest-star on the cover of your book. And Andy Smith, the poor man's Beart Sears, draws you.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:08:22 +0000

You're right, Matt, it SHOULD have been Doom Patrol 42. Except, y'know, when you go to a comic book store and talk to people who read lots of comics (not just ones by surly Brits who secretly hate the industry), and ask them to name an issue 42 that stands out, few if any will say "the origin of Flex Mentallo!" So yeah. It should have been Doom Patrol. Except the part where it shouldn't. Otherwise, you're exactly right. Cookie for you. Brian, another excellent choice... at least, for those of us that understand what you're doing, and don't accuse you of having a secret-blatant-inherent-pro-anti-Marvel-DC-Gaiman-Morrison-Miller-Kirby bias.

By: Chris Simpson

Chris Simpson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:33:54 +0000

Excellent choice.

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:59:40 +0000

Enough Spider-Man already. This should have been Doom Patrol #42, first cover and origin for Flex Mentallo. The day someone has to tell CSBG that they're not honoring Grant Morrison enough, you know the universe is really out of whack.

By: buttler

buttler — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:03:55 +0000

Who's this Mary Jane, again? I feel like I used to know her, but I can't quite recall . . .

What about Life with Archie #42? The first appearance of Pureheart the Powerful!

By: Barad

Barad — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:15:15 +0000

IIRC - that's John Jameson, JJJ's son. He gets infected with some 'space spores' or similar that give him super strength, but he has to wear the suit to keep everything under control. JJJ gets him to beat up on Spidey, and that's the cover. John eventually becomes Man-Wolf - I think he gets a funky moon rock type thing imbedded in his chest that changes him into a white werewolf character and does the hero bit in his own right.

By: Jbird

Jbird — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:13:15 +0000

Who's punching Spidey?

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:38:32 +0000

That'd be fair, but Ditko was doing all of the plotting before Romita took over. So this was the first time Lee was plotting the book in, what, years? That's why I think he was making a specific point to make the book "important" now that the book's plotter was gone.

By: Sleestak

Sleestak — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:26:45 +0000

Well, one of the main reasons there seem to be so many good events post-Ditko is that maybe, just maybe, Romita did what he was told and followed the scripts, whereas Ditko went his own way? Not to say that Ditko was the lesser scripter/artist/creator, just that the working relationship between Lee and Romita was better and had less tesnion.