Sal's Sunday Punch #23

Oh right, we still have this blog.  So hey, let's get our punch on.

It's Memorial Day weekend in the States, so this week we're paying homage to America's top super-soldier...times two!  See, after Steve Rogers ended up in the deep freeze, America still needed a Captain America...and there were a few of them.  One in particular, William Burnside, the Captain America of the '50s, didn't lead the charmed existence that Rogers did.  He wasn't the sanest of individuals to start with, and when a botched Super-Soldier process damaged his sanity, he went super-crazy.  Eventually the government had to put him in cryo-stasis, but eventually he got out and went on a rampage. In Captain America #156, by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, he and Rogers have their big throwdown.  As could be expected, it's the real Cap who delivers the Sal Buscema Punch:

Wait, that's not Ultimate Captain America!  He'd be making fun of the French or something.

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting paid it a nifty homage in 2012's Captain America #19, in an issue that recounts Cap #156 while Steve has another encounter with Burnside.

I guess we forgive you for giving the Avengers leather jackets now, Steve.

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 #21

Today's Sunday Punch comes from the dynamite duo of Sal Buscema and J.M. DeMatteis, who teamed for a memorable run on Spectacular Spider-Man in the early '90s - but this comes from almost a decade earlier, in 1983's Marvel Team-Up #133!

Reed Richards has had a bad day.  After fighting the Everyman, a populist super villain who was also Larry Ekler, the son of one of Reed's old friends, he traced Larry back to the Fennhoff Institute.  Once he arrived there with Spider-Man, he found the Thing, the Human Torch, the Invisible Girl, and even his own son, Franklin, physically and mentally broken by the Institute's director - the sinister psychologist Doctor Faustus!  He's trying to drive Reed mad - the FF and Franklin were androids, and Spider-Man a henchman in a Halloween costume.  Of course, the doctor isn't entirely all there himself, given that he spends the entire issue being yelled at by his dead mother.  Reed's a little better at determining fantasy from reality...

The puncher lecturing the punchee seems to be a recurring theme here.

Sal's Sunday Punch #20

And now it's time again for your favourite pal Sal to demonstrate why no one could draw a punch like him. 

This time how about we raid the pages of Rom Spaceknight again, huh?

Pow!!

This beauty comes from the pages of Rom Spaceknight #31, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by our Pal, Sal Buscema. The basics? In this issue Rom fights (and defeats pretty handilly, I might add) the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It's the lineup with Rogue, Mystique, Blob, etc. My favourite part in the entire issue is this fight with Blob.

As you know, Blob is immoveable, can't even be harmed when he plants himself in one spot. Unfortunately for him Avalache (another one of the evil mutants) caused an earthquake that sent Blob flying through the air. Well... you've already seen how that ended.

This issue leads into Rom's second fight against his nemesis Hybrid. Remind me to tell you about him some time.

--Andrew S.

Sal's Sunday Punch #19

It's a very special herpetological edition of Sal's Sunday Punch!  I've just seen Amazing Spider-Man for the second time, so I'm in the mood for some Lizard!  In 1996's Spectacular Spider-Man #237, written by Todd DeZago and drawn by Sal Buscema and John Stanisci, a now-powerless Peter Parker is in the hospital, and a certain Curt Connors has dropped by to offer his services to his old friend.  But where Connors goes, the Lizard will surely follow!  And he's looking a little...finnier than usual.  Unfortunately for Ben Reilly, he still hits as hard as he always did.

Clever girl.

Making matters worse, the Lizard's arms and legs aren't the only limbs at his disposal...

Sal's Sunday Punch #18

Well now, let's talk about Sal Buscema punches in terms of degrees. See sometimes it's a full-on massive group of monsters getting bitch-slapped by the Hulk. Like so:

From Incredible Hulk #248 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.

It's violent, it's explosive, but it's also kinda justified. After all these monsters are threatening Jarella and stopping the Hulk from getting to the real threat...

Sal's Sunday Punch #17

Hey there, fight fans.  A special treat today - it's Marvel's artistic soul of the '70s clashing with their hottest new heroes of the '90s in 1997's Spider-Man Team-Up #7, brought to you by Kurt Busiek, Sal Buscema, and Dick Giordano.

The scientific no-goodniks at the Enclave (creators of, among other things, Adam Warlock), have created a super-robot to steal stuff.  It kinda-sorta-maybe-if-you-squint looks like Spider-Man, so when it kills a security guard during one of its heists, the hunt is on for the wall-crawler!  This is after the Avengers and the Fantastic Four sacrificed themselves to destroy Onslaught, though, so who's left to bring him to justice?  Why, the Thunderbolts!  But, of course, as we know and Spider-Man doesn't, the Thunderbolts are the villainous Masters of Evil, masquerading as heroes to gain the public's trust.  Thus, they're really excited to have a good reason to pound on Spidey - especially MACH-1, who is secretly former Spider-Man punching bag the Beetle.  But while he and Songbird fight Spider-Man, his teammates Techno and Meteorite find the robot, and it's none too friendly.

Due to recent events in Thunderbolts, at this point that may be the present incarnation of this guy, mind-wiped and altered to resemble his past self...meaning this is the second time he's been punched that hard.

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 #15

Like ASM #407, today's Sunday Punch comes from the Complete Ben Reilly Epic volume 2.  In Spectacular Spider-Man #230, from Todd DeZago, Sal Buscema, and Jimmy Palmiotti, rookie Spider-Man Ben Reilly's on the trail of David Kalen, an environmental consultant who ran afoul of a booby-trapped toxic waste dump.  Because this is comics, Kalen survived, of course, and become a horrific purple goo-man, capable of decaying anything he touches.  He's not too happy about this state of affairs, given that his brother died in that same explosion, so he's terrorizing the crooked CEO behind it.  Spider-Man is sympathetic, of course, but he's not about to let Kalen (who now goes by DK, because those are his initials and also it sounds like "decay") just kill this dude.  So DK punches him really hard.

I guess nothing can stop the Smooze.

Sal's Sunday Punch #14

 Man, it's just been way too long since we had a Sunday Punch from our old pal Sal. So how can we possibly make it up to you? Hmmmm... how about Namor punching a bunch of medieval knights?

Welcome to Defenders #4.

Sal's Sunday Punch #13

Long time no see, pugilism devotees!  At long last, it's time for another Sal's Sunday Punch!  And since I'm busy reading Maximum Carnage to complete the long-awaited (long-awaited by me, and possibly my mother) third instalment of Who Watches the Nightwatch, here's a little chin-music from Spectacular Spider-Man #202, part nine (of fourteen) of that terrible, terrible crossover.  For a little context, Carnage broke out of prison and is terrorizing New York City with some c-list supervillains, and Spider-Man's teamed up with Venom and various other guys to fight him...and that's pretty much it. It's disappointing, because it features a ton of creators I normally like (J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, David Michelinie, and of course Sal), but just doesn't earn its hefty pagecount, although the Spectacular issues, by Sal and DeMatteis, come closest to being good.  But anyway, that's a topic for another day.

For a series that's 90% fight scenes, there is a disappointing paucity of Sal Buscema Punches, even though Sal drew three issues of it.  Maybe his heart wasn't quite in it - and who could blame him?

You and me both, Spidey.
(Spectacular Spider-Man #202, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

Sal's Sunday Punch #12

Boy it's been way too long since we watched someone punch someone as drawn by the glorious Sal Buscema. So you know what that means, don't you? That means... IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!

Yup that's an evil Atlantean warlord in there! Is it Attuma?
It's not Attuma!

Oh yeah, baby! The Thing punching Nazis, Atlanteans and Nazis with sharks on their chest! It don't get any better than that.

Sal's Sunday Punch #11

It's a special pugilistic Sal's Sunday Punch!  It's 1995, and Peter Parker is accused of murder most foul!  (Unsurprisingly, the murder was committed by one of Peter's clones.)  And even though he's Peter's friend, Bugle reporter Ben Urich has to look into Parker's past.  As written by Titanic Tom DeFalco, penciled by Our Pal Sal Buscema, and inked by...uh, Ginormous Jimmy Palmiotti in Spectacular Spider-Man #225, Ben interviews Peter's high school principal about a little boxing match between Parker and his nemesis Flash Thompson...

It's the eye of the spider, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rival...

What a jab!  Now, this is a flashback to Amazing Spider-Man #8, written by Stan "The Man" Lee and drawn by Sturdy Steve Ditko.  Let's see how the original stacks up...

Prediction: pain.

Well, Sal's rendition was more dynamic, but on the other hand, I love that goofy Ditko expression on Flash's face.  Let's call this one a draw.

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?)

Sal's Sunday Punch #9

What's better than a regular Sal Buscema Punch?  Why, someone Sal Buscema Punching a Nazi, of course.

From Spectacular Spider-Man #196, courtesy of JM DeMatteis and Sal Buscema, geneticist/jerk Baron (Helmut) Zemo has captured Edward Whelan (who he'd mutated into the cannibal rat-man Vermin) and Whelan's psychiatrist Ashley Kafka.  He's trying to make Edward turn back into Vermin, and he's also stopped wearing his mask, letting everyone see his gross melty face (courtesy of a dip into a vat of boiling glue). It all goes pear-shaped, and he tried to make his getaway, but Spider-Man is not about to let a Nazi face go unpunched.

Don't worry, he looked like that before Spider-Man punched him.

It ends well for pretty much everyone - Whelan gets cured, Spider-Man gets to punch a Nazi and also doesn't get eaten by a horrific man-rat, Dr. Kafka de-ages like 20 years and loses 40 pounds before the next time she turns up (seriously, it's weird), and even Zemo, a few years later, sets himself on a path to become...well, an anti-hero at least, as leader of the Thunderbolts.

Sal Buscema Punch #8

So let's get back into some good old fashioned Hulk style punching. So we have this story in Hulk #211 where this old wizard dude (named, I shit you not "Maha Yogi") is holding gladiatorial matches, mostly just to get his jollies. He has this champion called Mongu who is insanely powerful, and Mongu has beaten just about everyone.

Then this happens:

Continued after the read more button, more like.

Well... you just know it wasn't going to end there.

Sal's Sunday Punch #7

It's a very special CLONETASTIC Sal Buscema Punch!  In 1996's Spectacular Spider-Man #234, amidst the 6-part Blood Brothers storyline, Ben Reilly's been framed for arson after the Daily Grind, the coffee shop where he worked, burned down.  To clear his name, he's got to find the real arsonist - the Hobgoblin!  After fighting past his cyborg flunkies, he faces Hobgoblin, the recent recipient of a highly-unfortunate '90s cyborg makeover...

Save me, Tim Burton!
(Spectacular Spider-Man #234, written by Todd DeZago, art by Sal Buscema and John Stanisci)

Unfortunately, it turns out that the Hobgoblin isn't the real mastermind - he's working for the shadowy Gaunt!  Who it turns out was working for an even shadowier guy, but that's another story...

Sal's Sunday Punch #6

Y'know sometimes you need more oomph to your punch. Sometimes you need to really really knock it out of the park. The best way to do that, of course, is to get Sal Buscema to draw the thing. But if you want to really take it over the top there's only one way to do it.

You gotta go for the Double Sal Buscema Punch.

From Captain America #150, written by Gerry Conway, drawn
by Sal Buscema and inked by Tony Mortellaro and John Verpoorten.

So in this story Cap and his sidekick The Falcon fight alongside Batroc the Leaper against an evil doppelganger of The Stranger, who actually wants to die and is trying to get the heroes to kill him. Sorta.

But none of that is important. What's important is that two dudes at once punch the Stranger and he goes flying, flipping over backwards and screaming. Sal Buscema style.

--Andrew S.

Sal's Sunday Punch #5

Because it's still Sunday somewhere, it's a special COSMIC-POWERED Sal's Sunday Punch!

In 1990's Spectacular Spider-Man #160, written by Gerry Conway with art by Sal Buscema, we're in the middle of Acts of Vengeance, the Marvel event where the villains swapped heroic enemies, in the hopes that, say, if Boomerang couldn't beat Spider-Man, maybe he could beat Hawkeye.  Spoiler: no, he cannot.  Anyway.  Further screwing up the plan is Spider-Man getting crazy-powerful cosmic Captain Universe powers.  See, Captain Universe isn't one guy - there's this powerful energy entity...thing, the Uni-Power, and it gloms onto someone who needs it for some nebulous purpose.  Anyway.  Dr. Doom's noticed this, and he's all about stealing cosmic powers from guys, so he's hauled TESS-1, a super-robot from the '40s, and he's sent it to fight Spider-Man.  See, it was built in case guys like Captain America turned against the government - TESS stands for Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers.

Anyway.

What's important is that there's this robot, and Spider-Man has to punch it really hard.

So hard.

Sal's Sunday Punch #4

Well it's that time again, so what's say we take a stroll down kick-butt lane with our fine friend Sal Buscema? How about a battle between brothers? Being brothers is great, but there's always a bit of sibling tension. Especially when there's a woman involved.

But what happens when one of the brothers is a photonic man, and the other one is an android? What happens when the woman is a witch who dresses all in sexy, sexy red? Surely any tensions would be resolved rationally -- between friends.

I know, Viz. What kind of BEAST would be
friends wth Wonder Man?

Guess not...