Conan's Abducted Maidens

One of the greatest mainstays of the classic CONAN THE BARBARIAN series was the perpetual "Damsel In Distress", and even taking just a cursory glance at the covers over the years would tell you that being a beautiful maiden in the Hyborian Age was a high-risk occupation! Thank Crom there was always a reliable Cimmerian around to save the day!

Favorite Comics: Avengers #53

I began reading Marvel Comics’ X-MEN series during the highly acclaimed Byrne/Claremont run featuring the “All-New, All-Different” team, and so had no real knowledge of the original 1960’s team. But as my love of the “Uncanny” X-men grew, my curiosity of the Lee and Kirby team grew too, til I HAD to know more about them!

This was back in the pre-internet days when access to information of most comics was almost nil. The only real way to get info on any comic you liked was to talk to the local comic shop dealer or other collectors, and in that I was lucky because I had a couple of friends who were BIG collectors of Marvel Comics, and were always ready to educate me about any Marvel History I needed to know.

So one day after telling my friend I wanted to see what the “old” X-Men looked like, he came to class and handed me a comic. It was issue #46 of a Marvel reprint title called Marvel Triple Action, and it was here I got my very first glimpse of the original X-Men: Cyclops. Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel and Iceman, and right off the bat I was blown away- WOW! How colorful, dynamic and totally COOL they looked!

The comic also introduced me to the Avengers for the first time, and I IMMEDIATELY dived into the story, relishing the interesting dialog and powerful artwork, not knowing at the time that the tale was concocted by two GREATS of the Silver Age  (Writer Roy Thomas and Artists Big John Buscema), only knowing that the story “In Battle Joined!” was the most KICK-ASS story I’d read in awhile! Begun in the pages of X-Men #45, this was a story of the Avengers and the X-Men united against mutual baddie Magneto. The X-Men have been captured by Magneto, and the Angel has escaped to get aid from the Avengers- but they arrive just in time to see Cyclops knocking out former Avenger Quicksilver…

“In Battle Joined!"

Hawkeye, Goliath, Wasp and the Black Panther have come upon X-Man Cyclops standing over the fallen figure of Quicksilver. Not sure of the situation, they tell the youth to freeze. Cyclops, however, suspects they’re only robots created by Magneto, and isn’t taking any chances. He fires at Hawkeye, and when Black Panther jumps down to subdue him, a couple of blasts from his optic visor give Cyclops enough time to get away!

It seems that when the Angel escaped Magneto’s prison back in X-Men #45, he went directly to the Avengers mansion for assistance in rescuing his fellow X-Men. Since Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were last seem leaving with Magneto back in Avengers #49, the Avengers are happy to team up tackling the master of Magnetism.

On the Atlantic flight over to Magneto’s island, Janet discovers a miniature bugging device hidden among Angel’s wings. The Avengers now believe he’s in cahoots with Magneto, and is setting them up. While he swears he ‘s innocent, they tie him up and leave him behind when they investigate the fortress. Thus we return to our opening scene where the Avengers have just arrived to see Cyclops flee!

 Magneto is watching the entire drama play out, delighted that his plans are coming to fruition. Of course, it was all part of his plans for Angel to escape and get caught with the monitor on his wings. “ Now they and the X-Men, who might otherwise been allies- will be at each other’s throats!”

  Toad doesn’t like the idea of bringing in the Avengers…they should have been satisfied capturing the X-Men- their REAL enemies! Magneto electrocutes Toad for his doubt, and Toad questions why Magneto always abuses him when he alone out of ALL the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has been loyal. “Because I don’t NEED your Loyalty!” snaps Magneto. He explains that he’s only kept Toad around because it amused him, and now Toad is just angering him. Wanda steps in and begs Magneto to leave Toad alone, and Toad says “One day soon, Magneto shall know who his true friends are.”

  Meanwhile, The Avengers have become antsy sneaking around the hidden fortress, and as usual, Hawkeye and Goliath start to bicker and fight. Soon the Black Panther, who initially tries to STOP the fight, is involved, and it is up to Jan to step in and remind them that there is a task at hand.

This moment of discourse is just what Magneto has been hoping to hear, and he releases a machine that unleashes crackling electronic commands upon the unsuspecting X-Men.  When the sensations vanish, we realize just what the machine has done to their minds when Cyclops states, “There was something we were going to do! Yes- We were going to find the Avengers…and DESTROY THEM!”

  Any doubt that the X-Men are on the wrong side of the good guys is gone when the Avengers confront the angry teen mob and Cyclops orders: “Kill Them! Kill The Avengers!”

  Beast strikes the first blow at Black Panther, and the others follow his lead. After fighting for a while, the Avengers they find they are having a hard time beating them. Then Black Panther realizes it is because they subconsciously think of the X-Men as heroes, not villains. With this change in attitude, the Avengers make quick work of the youths, much to the confusion of Magneto, who thought the X-Men would be the victors!

  His confusion only increases when he turns and finds The Angel has infiltrated the control room! Soon, the Avengers smash in, as well! Goliath knows Magneto must be dying of curiosity to find out what went wrong with his plans, and elucidates. “We guessed the bug on Angel was a plant, and tied his hands loosely! Wasp whispered in his ear our plans, then pretended to quarrel to lure you into an ill-timed attack!”

  Magneto knows the only option is escape, and brings down a wall of metal parts onto the Avengers, giving himself enough time to get away! He orders Toad to get the escape ship, hitting him to get a move on. “He orders me to save him - and strikes me as he does so! Thus has he EVER rewarded my unwavering Loyalty!” thinks the Toad.

  With a quick move, the Toad sets the machine generators to overload- soon the entire island will be decimated by the huge explosion!  He leads the Scarlet Witch and a still dazed Quicksilver to a waiting escape ship. As the ship takes off, Magneto reaches out with his magnetic powers to lift him to the jet, but finds that his powers have no effect! Toad reminds him that he once built an entire ship out of non-metals, just to prove he could do it. As Magneto tries to hold onto the ship, He says, “Toad…Stop!! I am Your Master!” to which the Toad solemnly replies, “No Magneto. The Toad calls no man master- ever again!!”  He steps on Magneto’s fingers and sends him hurtling to the jagged rocks below!

  Meanwhile the Avengers and X-Men (who seem to have recovered from the hypno-ray) have made it back to their ship in time to witness the Toad and his crew leaving.  They quickly shove off themselves, and a few minutes later, the very horizon rocks as the entire island goes up in a fiery explosion! Soon, the ocean is littered with smoking debris and machinery from the fortress, and among the bits of twisted metal floats the remains of Magneto’s once mighty metal helmet!

*    *    *    *    *

What a STORY!! I loved and re-read this issue so darn much that not only did I eventually collect all the back-issues of Marvel Triple Action featuring The Avengers (as well as Triple Action successor Marvel Super Action) but immediately began subscribing to the current issues as well -and what do you know- John Byrne was the artist HERE, too When I got older, I made it a priority to get my hands on all the ORIGINAL Avengers issues, and I was simply beside myself the day I got my very own copy of AVENGERS #53, the issue where that X-Men/Avengers story originally ran and the very issue you see scanned here!

Besides the overwhelming “pride of ownership” that came with obtaining this piece of Marvel history, there are several other good reasons to own the actual copy, and not just that they got the COLORS of Beast, Angel and Goliath right(!) in the original comic-I was ECSTATIC when I read the original issue and found there were TWO EXTRA PAGES that Marvel Triple Action had cut out! HOLY TOLEDO! This was like the Modern-Day equivalent of a DVD bonus! If I thought I loved that story BEFORE…MAN! Now it was BEYOND LOVE!!! Ahahahaha!

To this day, those Avengers issues from around issue #46-60 are still some of my favorite stories ever; Roy Thomas is still one of my favorite writers, and John Buscema one of my very favorite artists… When you consider that back then I was simultaneously reading both Thomas/Buscema stories AND Byrne/Claremont stories, there’s no wonder I call this my own personal “Golden Age” of comic reading in my life! 

Super-Vixens: Hela

Hela…WOW! What can you say about Hela that will do her justice?

 Borne out of Thor's Asgard mythology, Hela’s the mac-daddy of goddesses- the otherworldly embodiment of DEATH!

  I wasn’t a keen reader of Thor, and for most of my life, Thor was the one major Marvel comics that I hadn’t gotten into. For one, the stories were, for a kid, REALLY grown-up, and it was hard to follow along, and TWO, Nobody I KNEW was into it, so there was no one to “turn me onto” Thor. But I knew the characters well enough, and the spectre of Hela was always known to me, along with the other major players of the comic such as Loki, Odin, Balder, Sif and Ulik.

The first Thor story I read was printed in a Marvel book called “THE SUPERHERO WOMEN”, read while sitting on the floor of our local Waldenbooks. It was a paperback collection featuring Marvel Comics' roster of Super Heroines such as the Invisible Girl, Black Widow and Medusa, among others.

In it, they had reprinted what was one of Thor’s most well-known and heralded HELA stories, culled from issues featured in THOR #186-190, called “The Icy Grip of Death”, where Hela comes to earth to hunt down Thor and take his life.

When Stan Lee came up with this story where Hela was going to don a “human” physique and appearance a la Donald Blake, It was up to Big John Buscema to come up with how she would look, and WHOA, did he deliver!

  Hela’s mortal form, in my opinion, is SPOT-ON PERFECT! Looking at her, my first thought was, Oh my God, YES! Adopting a sultry Greta- Garbo-ish outlook ijust has to be the PERFECT container for her, for if anyone has to imagine what Hela’s voice would sound like, Garbo’s husky swedish voice ABSOLUTELY fits the bill! I was BLOWN AWAY!

Besides that, even Garbo’s PERSONALITY was akin to Hela, with her “I Vant To Be Alone” mythos…imagine the swedish Sphinx uttering Hela’s lines “Why speakest thou to me of...Love?"

It would be many, many years later til I collected the actual issues in that impressive THOR run, but even back then I knew what I had read was a classic story that would continue to shine as one of the great cornerstone THOR tales for years to come!

Hela

First appearance: Journey into Mystery #102 (March, 1964)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Super-Vixens: The Enchantress

I don’t really remember too much about The Enchantress growing up. She didn’t make too many appearances in the so-called “bronze age”, at least in the comics I was reading at the time. The first time I actually took notice of her was in the Jackson Guice pencilled Dr. Strange, and man, after that I was constantly vigil about noting whenever she was in any issues I read!

As I slowly started buliding my back-issue library of the Marvel Comics Silver age, I was actually kind of surprised at how often she appeared in key issues. My first exposure to her was as the sassy and sexy gal in Dr. Strange, so I had no idea she was such an established and respected villain in the Marvel Pantheon! It wasn’t until I finally completed my Avengers collection that I discovered the “golden era” of The Enchantress. I’m talking the Avengers run from about issue #9-30 or so.

In those early Avengers issues, the only “feminine touch” the group had was the Wasp. And not to knock on Jan too much, but she really never struck me as the sultry type. She was firmly set as the wife to Henry Pym, (yeah, yeah, I know, they weren’t married at that point, but you get my meaning) and that left a space to fill for an “alluring” female character.

Enter The Enchantress! As a member of Baron Zemo’s Masters of Evil, she was hands down the sexiest and most intriguing character in the strip, and would continue to dominate that role until Wanda joined the ranks in issue #16. Back then, The Enchantress (and her right-hand man The Executioner) appeared in so many issues, it was almost like they were co-stars of the book!

While I loved Jack Kirby and John Buscema’s depictions of Ms. Amora Incantare, the artist that really did it for me was Don Heck. If there was one thing illustrator Don Heck could do, it was draw exotic girls, and his interpretation of Amora just has to be the DEFINITIVE version in my book- In fact, the illustration above (the far right head shot) is probably my very favorite drawing of The Enchantress, ever! Don’s take infused shades of Veronica Lake into Jack Kirby’s creation, and to me it was the perfect amalgam.

Of course, once Wanda joined, there were TWO exotic chicks Don Heck had to draw, and those stories that featured both the Scarlet Witch AND the Enchantress were just as good as it gets!

The Enchantress

First Appearance: Journey into Mystery #103

By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

Favorite Artists:

Don Heck

John Buscema

Jack Kirby

Jackson Guice

Super-Vixens: Black Widow

The first time I ever laid eyes on Ms. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was in the first issue of DAREDEVIL that I ever bought, Issue #161, against Bullseye. All I could make out at the time was that this girl was somehow linked with DD, perhaps even romantically, but she never stood out for me in any way.

Later I was to collect the back issues of Daredevil, and I was to find out she was a major character, in the pages of Daredevil (at one point the comic was even called Daredevil and Black Widow) and other group mags. One thing though, was that she never struck me as a “looker” in those Gil Kane / Gene Colan / Frank Miller issues, although I DO recall thinking she looked nice in some Colan or Miller issue where she’s wearing this pretty green dress in this one splash page …(I strangely recall that at the time she was wiping blood off her mouth!)..but that was about it.

Anyway, it wasn’t until I read the AMAZING ADVENTURES series that I saw her in a different light. I was so used to seeing her as Matt’s partner in DAREDEVIL or nagging Hercules in The CHAMPIONS and AVENGERS, that it was quite a surprise to finally see her as the sleek siren she was supposed to be!

And although all of John Romita’s gals tend to resemble Mary Jane Watson*, when I finally got around to purchasing a copy of legendary Amazing Spider-Man issue #86, that is where I found THE artist for depicting the Black Widow. John Romita’s take of Natasha just had the look that really (to me) defined what she was all about, tough, mysterious, and alluring.

•There was even this Not Brand Ecch gag where they colored the hair of Romita’s girls all different colors; red, blonde, green, blue, etc, and said: Fun Page: which is Mary Jane Watson and which Is Gwen Stacy?! Hahaha…!

Black Widow

First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #57

First Appearance (New costume) : Amazing Spider-Man #60 by Stan Lee and John Romita

Favorite Artists:

John Romita (Amazing Spider-Man #86 )

John Buscema ( Amazing Adventures #1-8)