80-Pagecast 24: Hooked on Feels

The Olympics are over but this Galaxy still needs Guarding. We're doing our best by talking about New Warriors, Judge Dredd, more (surprise) Transformers talk, Amazing X-men, She-Hulk, Death's Head, and many meandering topics along the way such as our love of toys, toys, toys. Don't forget to show some love to Bill Mantlo the creator of Rocket Raccoon. Also share with Jen if you have some left over.

Sal's Sunday Punch #22

Incredible Hulk #195 Writer Len Wein, artist Sal Buscema.

 You know who my favourite Hulk villain is? It's the Abomination. I love watching the big green Russian monster fight the Incredible Hulk. So today's Sunday Punch is the Abomination and the Hulk fighting each other, from two different eras (in terms of writer) of the Incredible Hulk -- though actually it's all from the same run of Sal Buscema on the Hulk book.

Sal's Sunday Punch #16

It's been a while, and I have left you without the gloriousness of a Sal Buscema punch. To make up for that I thought I'd post something a little bit special. There's been something of a Hulk/Spider-man bias so far with the Sal Buscema punches. The reason for that is simple -- Sal had a very long relationship with both Spidey and the Hulk, with long runs on Incredible Hulk, Spectacular Spider-Man and the Defenders.

So let's look at a different character with whom Sal had a long and eventful relationship. Rom: Spaceknight!

From Rom #21 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.

Oooo! ouch, Rom!

Sal's Sunday Punch #10

So there's not an enormous amount to say about Incredible Hulk #246. It was written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Sal Buscema. It's about Hulk trying to recover the body of his dead love, Jarella... and it ends with a trapped-in-the-Microverse cliffhanger, with Hulk trying to return Jarella's body to its rightful resting place.

The best complement to a Sal Buscema Punch -- a Bill Mantlo Yelp.

There's some fighting between the Mandroid and the Hulk (in this case, the Mandroid is Glenn Talbot, a long-time Hulk rival for the affections of Betty Banner). There's some fighting between Captain Marvel and the Hulk, and Captain Marvel even ends up siding with the big green and helping him.

Really the most important part of this issue is page 19. And since I pasted the entire damn thing in up above, you can see why. It is glorious.

--Andrew S.
(Also, the sound effects are hilarious... you got that bit right? I didn't need to explain it, right?)

I felt like writing about Swarm today.

Some villains have to work for greatness.  You might think that a guy with the unlikely name of "Dr. Doom" whose primary motivation is resentment towards his college roommate might be a lame villain, no?  Well, if you would, you'd be a Communist, because Dr. Doom rules.  But some villains just have a great concept - and even if their subsequent adventures don't turn out to be world-shattering epics, they're still cool.  One such villain is Swarm - because he is a Nazi made of bees.

Don't ask how the bees support that cape.  Or, uh, how he has eyes.

Sal's Sunday Punch #2

 The thing one needs to remember about a Sal Buscema Punch is that the punch is not the most vital component. The most vital component is that the guy getting hit goes flying, flipping over backwards and screaming. What this means is that even a horse can get in on this action!!

Hulk #265, Writer Bill Mantlo, Artist Sal Buscema, Colourist our friend Bob Sharen.

Gap Fillers: An Incredible Hulk #290 review.

Al Milgrom art.

When you're collecting comic books, especially when you're collecting back issues, you always end up with gaps. There's always one or two issues that escape you. Because of the serial nature of adventure comics, especially super hero comics, this means you end up with unfinished stories.

This is worse when you're younger and don't have a lot of income, or a lot of control over how you get your comics. You end up with stories you never seem to be able to finish. And inevitably the story is the conclusion of a whole bunch of important plot threads and you're left dangling.

Incredible Hulk #290 is one of those issues for me. I had a long run leading up to it, then a bunch of issues after it, but never #290 itself. It took me about 15 years to finally get #290. You can't imagine the anticipation I had when this issue finally arrived in my hands. Here it was, a story I hadn't read that was a conclusion to a long storyline I'd loved and read about 5 million times when I was a kid.

You've all been there. You know what happens next. You read the issue, telling yourself not to expect it to be the greatest thing ever and sure enough... it's not. Usually it's not BAD, it's just that this comic you've been anticipating for years is, well, just another issue in the series. It's not a massive, super special issue. It's not a classic, world-beating story. It's just another comic.

Incredible Hulk #290 is not just another comic.

WHO THE HELL ARE -- ALPHA FLIGHT?

I bet any number of comic fans think they could answer this question right off the bat. Alpha Flight are Canada’s super hero team! Right?
 

Well, yes. That is technically true, but it is a very superficial answer to the question. Almost every super team tends to have something of a concept to it. The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel – adventurers and heroes, who act as a family. The Defenders are the non-team, a bunch of guys who do stuff as a team without ever formally being a team. The X-men are mutants who hate and fear a world that seeks to protect them… there’s concepts for every team.
 
These concepts are the root of the stories that are told about the team, and how much you like the concept drives how much you enjoy the team.

Alpha Flight’s concept is simple. They’re the most fucked-up bunch of misfits ever, trying to pretend to be a team. Or to put it another way – a bunch of dudes build a team and bad shit happens to the team.