Best Of Neal Adams: Eerie #125

My friends and I started collection comics around 1978, starting with friendly titles like Star Wars and Godzilla, by 1979 we were totally into superhero genre titles like X-Men, Avengers and the like, and by 1981, we were card carrying frothing at the mouth rabid fans of everything comics related, and  one of our HUGE favorite artists was the incredible Neal Adams! 
 We loved both his Marvel and DC work, from X-Men to Avengers, to Green Lantern/Green Arrow and his Deadman series, and I guess there was a general buzz in the air that year, for that summer EERIE magazine released a special BEST OF NEAL ADAMS issue which ALL of us grabbed!
MAN, this issue BLEW US AWAY- For one thing, not only was the Neal Adams art superb, he used so many different techniques for his story depiction- (from straight pencils, to charcoal, to painting and washes, no two stories looked the same) and Two: Holy COW, the STORIES THEMSELVES were so freaking GREAT! Samples from some faves:

" The Curse of the Undead"

Always been a huge fan of Neal Adams ladies, and we start things off right with this story where a man has fallen in love with a beautiful countess whom the town believe is cursed to awake as one of the undead. Look at that pic of the woman sleeping, man what awesome artwork!

“Goddess from The Sea"

Oooooh, MAN, how I lusted after the illustrations in this story! This story tells the tale of a man who meets a lusciously curvy blue-skinned woman who claims she is from the lost undersea world of Atlantis and needs his help protecting her from warriors who want to take her back. What’s a poor boy to do!!!

“Thrill Kill”

Two Police Investigators try and find the motive behind ayoung lad’s seemingly senseless shooting spree in the middle of town. Though the crime seems at first to be no more than a frivoulus and callous attack, the more they delve, the more they feel the boy may have had other reasons…

 

“The Terror Beyond Time"

What, a myserious cave that goes to deep into the earth and comes out in a lush, prehistoric apradise where dinosaurs roam free? Where have I seen this story before? Oh Yeah., in Neal Adams’ X-eMen stories where the gang goes to the Savage Land! LOL, Neal sure does love drawing those Pterosaurs…

 

“A Curse Of Claws”

And I’ve been putting out fire with gasoline! Sorry, I’ve had David Bwoie’s “Cat people” song gojg through my mind as I re=read this tale of a safari man who crosses paths with a sultry feline- a woman part human and part cat! Makes me wondeer what it would have looked like if Neal had illustrated Hellcat!

“Fair Exchange”

I love this one because out of all of these stories, it’s the most like those traditional ‘spooky Comics” like House of Mystery, etc, and Neal's art is more like his Marvel work. The tale of a rich old man who trades his body for a young, healthy one is a tale oft trodden, in fact, I have another similar story in GHOSTS that Neal illustrated as well! Of course, these body-switching things never seem to work out…

Man,,all of these stories were so captivating, we read and re-read these over and over! And the Neal Adams renaissance continued when DC shortly released a  "Best of GHOSTS" comic in their DC Digests format, which gave us even MORE new Neal Adams art and more freaking  terrific stories! I'll have to dig THAT one out and scans some of THOSE as well!

Super-Vixens: Lorelei

And here we feature a heavenly creation of Magneto’s who gives a new meaning to the old adage “All style and no substance”! With the looks of a drop dead gorgeous woman and the mind of a naïve three-year old, entrancing Lorelei is Marvel Comics’ answer to Melody Jones!

   Oh, sure, she had a mutant power, all right- when she sang her sweet love song, all the dudes in Maggy’s secret lair immediately became transfixed and frozen in captivation,  a power that didn’t do much good when one member of the X-Men was a red-blooded American GIRL, and it was Jean Grey indeed who eventually put the kibosh on Magneto and his New Men’s plans!

 Expertly crafted by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams, Lorelei really stands out as one of the prettier mutants in a the X-Men canon (and that’s really saying something!) but unfortunately, Lorelei and her fellow Savage Land Mutates only made two or three more appearances (in the silver age), and sadly, none of them featured Neal Adams on pencils!

 Talk about rare appearances! In fact, most of my life growing up, I only had TWO things with Lorelei in it: X-Men #63 and a battered old issue of FOOM which featured the X-Men, and had some new artwork regarding Magneto’s merry mechanically-engineered mutants!

 And by the way, at the end of X-Men #63, the Mutates appear to be losing their powers and reverting back to their former selves…when Lorelei appeared next in the Avengers, she not only had her powers back- but had gone from blond to redhead! How the heck did THAT happen? I guess when Magneto fills you up with Mutant Powers, even the residue has a bit of kick!

 Oh, and interesting side note about Lorelei’s attack on the Avengers…once again, all the members became entranced when she sang her song-except for the two girls there (Scarlet Witch and the Lady Sif)…and THE VISION! Hahaha, this really screwed him up because even a synthezoid like him knew that if sexy little Lorelei doesn't turn you on, something's wrong! Ahahahaha!

Lorelei

First Appearance: X-Men #63

Created by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams

Green Lantern #76 Another Side

Everyone knows that famous scene from the Denny O'Neil / Neal Adams' run on Green Lantern / Green Arrow, but I had to chuckle when I saw what the Madmen over at Apokolipse Werks  posted up this past week- A decidedly un-PC (and yet, they may have a point!) take on the classic exchange of words between man and superhero...

Green Lantern 76

Super-Vixens: Medusa

One of my earliest memories of Medusa came through an unusual item of interest pointed out to me by a couple of my friends. These guys were fervent Fantastic Four fans, and it was through them that I learned of the “history” of a lot of Marvel’s greatest icons.

Anyway, Marvel had just released this paperback book reprinting several Fantastic Four strips in B&W, and on the cover they depicted Doctor Doom fighting the Fantastic Four in spectacular fashion, with Doom blasting the Human Torch as the rest of the FF looked on. Passing around the paperback, one of my friends said to the other, “Hey look, they drew Sue over Medusa!” I didn’t understand, until they explained to me that the picture was taken from Fantastic Four issue #146, and at that time a character named Medusa was temporarily filling in for the Invisible Girl. When they used the pic for the Paperback, they’d changed Medusa to Susan so the cover would reflect the “real” line-up featured in said book.

When we got home, they showed me the issue, and that’s my first recollection of the gal with the unmanageable hair. Of course later she would be very well known to me as a member of the Frightful Four, the Inhumans (and bride of Black Bolt), and I really dug her guest appearance in Amazing Spider Man #62, but she didn’t hit the “babe” mark til I managed to collect the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams stories in AMAZING ADVENTURES…

Neal’s artistic take the Inhumans was probably one of the most original, as he REALLY depicted them as “real” people, additionally, this was the first time I saw Black Bolt, Gorgon and Karnak in civilian clothes! In this storyline, the Inhumans are in the real world, and to go unnoticed, “borrow” clothes from the Muscle Beach locker rooms. When It came time to illustrating Medusa, he drew her as the sexiest swingin’ chick this side of Barbara Eden!

Medusa

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #36 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Favorite Artists:

Jack Kirby

John Buscema

Neal Adams

Super-Vixens: Black Canary

My first exposure to Black Canary was during the Alex Savuik / Mike Grell art run of Green Lantern / Green Arrow, and one of my first memories of seeing Dinah Lance out of costume was of her trying to down some of Ollie’s hot chili recipes- tears are streaming down her cheeks as she gasps something like “Best paint-remover I ever tasted!” Ahahahhha! I remember thinking, “Wow, Her hair’s BLACK! Nice!”

Another memory I have of Black Canary being particularly alluring was in some old issue of I think the BRAVE AND THE BOLD that my friend had because he liked BATMAN. In this issue, Bats and Dinah teamed up to fight the Penguin, at some point, Black Canary gets captured, the baddies strip her down to her bra and panties(!) and tie her up to a chair. I remember later telling my friend that I had to pick up that issue, and he laughed and said, “Ahhh, you only want it ‘cause Black Canary’s in her underwear!”

Well….it was true, but in the end, the issue had already sold out and I never got a copy for myself, otherwise it’s probably a good bet that a scan from that comic woulda been posted here!

Black Canary

First Appearance Flash Comics #86 by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.

Favorite Artists: Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Alex Savuik

Super-Vixens: Marvel Girl

Okay, at first glance, Jean Grey’s outfit seems to be nothing more than a green dress with yellow gloves and boots.Then looking closer, you realize…Yep, It’s a dress, alright!

So why do I love this costume so much?!

I don’t know, but I WILL say that in the era where Sue Storm was wearing the same outfit as Reed Richards and Wanda Frank & Janet Van Dyne were wearing their respective one-piece bodysuits, Jean’s dress outfit was positively original and sexy!

I know that a lot of people had an aversion to the new costumes of the Original X-Men, especially John Byrne ,who seemed to be obsessed with the original outfits (Kitty Pryde and later Jean in the Hidden Years reflect this) and Neal Adams, who quickly changed the Angel’s Yellow ‘n’ Suspenders look to a more sleek style, but, hey, one of the first classic comics I read was Avengers #53, and John Buscema’s depiction of the X-Men will always be THE defining look of the group for me.

One of the first 12¢ comic back issues I bought was Issue #39, which, of course, featured the X-Men for the first time in their “new” outfits, as illustrated by Don Heck, but it wasn’t til my friend James got this hardcover X-Men book published by Grandreams which reprinted the Neal Adams Sentinels stories that I really fell in love with Jean’s Marvel Girl outfit. He really made her look terrific in that dress!

For some reason, the original Marvel Girl outfit is one of the things that IMHO Byrne didn’t seem to care much for, and as I’d mentioned before, he couldn’t wait to find a reason to get her out of the green dress and back into the yellow and black suit in his HIDDEN YEARS strip. But that’s okay, because Jean gave the costume to Candy Southern to wear, and my didn’t she look nice in it!

Jean Grey:

First Appearance: X-Men #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

First Appearance in new Marvel Girl Costume:

X-Men #39 by Roy Thomas and Don Heck

Favorite Artists:

Werner Roth (X-Men 48,49)

John Buscema (Avengers #53)

Neal Adams (X-Men #56-65)

Super-Vixens: Talia Al Ghul

Okay, I’m going to go ahead and get Talia Al Ghul out of the way, as there’s probably no list of comic babes out there that doesn’t list her! Saying Talia is on your list of Comic Book Babes is a remark that is usually answered with a resounding “duh”.

First exposure to Talia was in the oversize Treasury Edition of Batman (and you all know which one I’m talking about…that awe-inspiring classic cover featuring Batman screaming in anguish over the fallen figure of Robin, with a very lackadaisy Talia in the background.)

…Who WAS this gorgeous mystery girl, and why did she have it “on” for Bats?

In later issues I would find her to be just as ruthless (even moreso, actually) than her father Ras Al Ghul. She had all the fire and drive as her father, but none of the finesse, generally just ass-kicking her way to her goals.

In fact, that’s one of the major differences in the Neal Adams Talia and subsequent depictions of her as drawn by folks like Dick Giordano or Irv Novick – Neal always drew her kind of naïve and spacey looking, while the other artists drew her as the threat she actually was! And who can ever forget that backside featured on the cover of Batman #330?

First Appearance: Detective Comics #411 by Denny O Neill and Bob Brown with Dick Giordano

Favorite Artists:

Neal Adams

Irv Novick

Dick Giordano (The DC Comics go-to man!)

Super-Vixens: Polaris

While Ororo’s STORM costume has the distinction of being my favorite Super-Heroine costume of all-time, My SECOND favorite costume goes to another mutant in the Uncanny X-Men pantheon, Miss Lorna Dane, better known to the superhero world as POLARIS.

Ms. Dane has had quite a few costume changes over the years, but the outfit I’m referring to is her original green silk “harem” style costume that was first introduced to us all the way back in X-Men #50, as conceived by writer Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko.

My introduction to Polaris came during the Byrne / Claremont run of the X-Men. My very first issue was #125, in the first part of the Mutant X storyline. The issue ends with Lorna on the phone telling Scott that they are being attacked by someone or something on Muir Isle and would appreciate the back-up. At this time, I didn’t know she was a super-hero, and simply thought she was the (green-haired?) girlfriend of Havok. A few issues later, when the group is getting ready to have a showdown with Proteus, she is seen in the background taking off her sweater to reveal that sexy costume underneath. (What a shot…I’ll never forget it!)

At some point I fell in love with the artwork of Jim Steranko (and really, which Silver-Age Marvel Comics aficionado hasn’t?) and really wanted to get X-Men issues #49-51 which he’d done these gorgeous covers for. When I finally got my hands the issues, I was stoked to find that this was the first appearance of Lorna! I eventually got the Neal Adams issues as well, finding out how she and Alex hooked up (by dumping poor Iceman on his butt!) as well as seeing her character develop.

When Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum revived the X-Men in ’76, she was given a new costume that I truly despised, supposedly of Shi’ar origin but looking a lot more like Shrinking Violet’s costume in DC’s Legion of Super Heroes.(which was also designed by Mr. Cockrum) Fortunately Byrne had the kindness to drape her in my beloved costume instead when he took over the run.

You know, one thing I’ve always felt was that John Byrne liked Lorna’s character a lot. After all, it was the Byrne/Claremont team that did that Marvel Team-Up story, but even more proof came to me when Byrne did his stint on the short-lived “X-Men Hidden Years” strip. He really fleshed out Lorna’s character,including her as much as possible and even giving her a well deserved solo arc in”The Promise”.There’s this one passage that’s really great when Bobby pushes Lorna too far with his “You’re MY Girl “ schtick and she really lets his have it!

After Byrne left the original X-Men run, they immediately changed Lorna’s costume back to the Shi’ar outfit, one that I had to endure till she was outfitted with a far more sensible one in the Peter David “X-Factor” run (a run I rather liked as it utilized three of the “Muir Isle Gang" members!).

Nowadays I’m not sure just what kind of costuming Lorna is running around with, but a (relatively) recent glance at a cover of Ultimate X-Men #61 reassured me that all those involved are still doing their duty of keeping Lorna a Cute and Sexy Marvel Commodity, no matter what the costume!

First Appearance: X-Men #49 by Arnold Drake and Werner Roth

First Appearance in costume: X-Men #50 by Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko

Favorite Artists:

Werner Roth (X-Men #49)

Jim Steranko (X-Men #50)

Neal Adams (X-Men #57-65)

John Byrne ( Uncanny X-Men #119-129)