Tag Archives: Gerry Conway

Posted in Fantastic Four, Ka-Zar, Marvel

Tagged Frank Giacoia, Gene Colan, Gerry Conway, Herb Trimpe, Roy Thomas

Daredevil 98 (April 1973)

Posted on 28 November 2011 | 1 Comment

This issue Daredevil fights a guy whose power is creating optical illusions. Instead of just kicking his butt, Daredevil falls victim to the optical illusions. It’s like Steve Gerber doesn’t realize Daredevil’s actually blind. His powers might make it seem like he can see… but he can’t. Unless I’m missing something.

I mean, I had no idea Matt Murdock once lived in San Francisco with Black Widow. The domestic side of the issue is actually pretty nice. Gene Colan and Ernie Chan take a lot of time on the San Francisco setting and Gerber writes Matt and Natasha reasonably well together.

Sadly, the scenery is the best part of the art. Colan’s figures are incredibly bulky–I’m assuming it’s Chan’s inks–and while they’re still fluid in movement, they look silly when motionless.

Gerber also makes Daredevil really personable. He’s practically Spider-Man he’s so personable.

It’s mildly charming though.

Posted in Daredevil, Marvel

Tagged Ernie Chan, Gene Colan, Gerry Conway, Steve Gerber

Planet of the Apes 1 (August 1974)

Posted on 7 September 2011 | Leave a comment

I guess since Marvel started their Planet of the Apes magazine after the final movie, they didn’t worry about mixing up the magazine. For example, this issue starts with a story by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog (Gerry Conway gets story credit) set after the final movie… in the new Apes timeline. But the second half of the magazine is an adaptation of the first movie by Moench and George Tuska, with Mike Esposito inking. It’s set before the new timeline.

Or I’ve completely wrong.

Moench’s got a human protagonist in his original story (with a chimp buddy). He gets in some analogies to the KKK and human racism; it works okay. Ploog’s art is great. Moench has strong dialogue here.

But he also has it in the adaptation, which he makes into a simple story of bickering astronauts. He does it well. Tuska’s better on scenery than people though.

Posted in Marvel, Planet of the Apes

Tagged Doug Moench, George Tuska, Gerry Conway, Mike Esposito, Mike Ploog

DC Retroactive: Justice League of America – The ’80s 1 (October 2011)

Posted on 11 August 2011 | 1 Comment

Conway goes out of his way to remind the reader this Justice League isn’t the real Justice League. It’s the eighties Detroit League no one likes.

But then his script presents this team overcoming a lot of odds not just to save the day, but to save the kids on a school trip to visit their headquarters. Just because the Detroit League is a dumb idea, it doesn’t mean the scene-by-scene execution is going to be dumb.

More than any other Retroactive title, in fact, this one has me wanting to check out the old issues. I assume Conway didn’t have the same negative take on the team when he was writing them originally.

All in all, it’s a good issue.

The Ron Randall art isn’t great, but Randall knows how to tell a story.

It’s fine, though way too unnecessarily negative about itself. Conway should have some pride.

Posted in DC, Justice League of America

Tagged Gerry Conway, Ron Randall

Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man (January 1976)

Posted on 30 June 2011 | 2 Comments

It’s too bad this one doesn’t work out better, but at least it fails in an interesting way. Superman and Spider-Man simply can’t work together. It’s not so much the problems with them not matching powers—Lex Luthor zaps Spidey with some red Kryptonite powers to even the odds at one point—it’s the characters themselves, they’re too different.

The comic’s split into four parts. First is a Superman prologue, then a Spidey, then Doctor Octopus and Lex teaming up before the culminating team-up between Spidey and Superman. The first three parts work great. The fourth part barely works at all. Peter Parker and Lois Lane meeting up, professionally, it works great. Morgan Edge and Jonah getting hammered? Also great.

Superman calling Spidey “web-slinger?” Not great. Though Spidey gets away with calling him “Supes.”

The art hodgepodge makes it visually interesting, but not good.

It’s sadly charmless.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in DC, Marvel, Spider-Man, Superman

Tagged Bob Wiacek, Dick Giordano, Gerry Conway, John Romita, Josef Rubinstein, Neal Adams, Ross Andru, Terry Austin

Swamp Thing 24 (August-September 1976)

Posted on 2 May 2011 | Leave a comment

Poor Alec Holland… he finally regains his humanity, hooks up with a girl (who seems to be excited at the idea of seducing a widower) and then his comic gets cancelled.

The final issue of Swamp Thing is a hideous affair—so bad no one’s ever revisited it, not even as a joke. These last two issues establish an all new secret organization out to get Swamp Thing and this issue reveals more about them. Hostess Fruit Pie advertisements had better villains.

The art—from Ernie Chan and Fred Carrillo—is a little better than I expected. It’s genial DC seventies stuff (about as good as a Hostess ad); Swamp Thing never actually shows up so they only have flashback shots of him. Otherwise, the pair’s art looks like they’re aping Infantino.

David Anthony Kraft’s script is bad, but not in any extraordinary way… nothing could make this comic good.

CREDITS

The Earth Below; writers, Gerry Conway and David Anthony Kraft; penciller, Ernie Chan; inker, Carl Gafford; colorist, Carl Gafford; editors, Paul Levitz and Joe Orlando; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in DC, Swamp Thing

Tagged David Anthony Kraft, Ernie Chan, Fred Carrillo, Gerry Conway

Swamp Thing 23 (June-July 1976)

Posted on 2 May 2011 | Leave a comment

Who could predicate this turn of events… Alec Holland’s got a brother no one has ever mentioned before and he cures Swamp Thing….

Maybe the lame Ernie Chan cover sets it up. Or maybe Conway bringing in some obscure character from ten issues previous—I remember the name, but not the character—to turn into this idiotic villain with a sword for a hand.

It’s incredibly lame.

Most of it, anyway. Actually, the stuff Conway does with the smarter Dr. Holland’s female assistant—it turns out Alec is the dumb brother—is quite good. Conway brings some humanity to the comic, even as he slowly returns the physical manifestation of it to Swamp Thing.

Conway fills pages like mad too—pointlessly retelling Swamp Thing’s origin.

Redondo does okay, but more in his panel composition than in the actual art. The other Dr. Holland, for example, never gets a consistent face.

CREDITS

Rebirth and Nightmare; writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Nestor Redondo; colorist, Carl Gafford; editors, Paul Levitz and Joe Orlando; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in DC, Swamp Thing

Tagged Gerry Conway, Nestor Redondo

Swamp Thing 20 (December 1975-January 1976)

Posted on 1 May 2011 | Leave a comment

Conway gives Bolt a first name (or, at least, uses it), which is nice. In fact, Conway gives Bolt a whole reflective moment here, a lot more than any writer has done before. Abby and Matt, however, are incredibly distant. It doesn’t much matter, because the ending of this issue suggests Swamp Thing is done with its supporting cast for a while.

There are a lot of plot threads this issue and it’s unfortunate they didn’t publish it as a deluxe issue as planned. It would have been somewhat more impressive. Conway’s not as concerned with the Swamp Thing parts of the story—the Alec Holland parts—as putting together the rest of his narrative. It makes for a better comic book, but not really a Swamp Thing one… It’s hard to explain.

Redondo does a great job.

The finish is a little weak though; Conway doesn’t have enough space.

CREDITS

The Mirror Monster; writer, David Michelinie; artist, Nestor Redondo; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, Marcos; editors, Paul Levitz and Joe Orlando; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in DC, Swamp Thing

Tagged Gerry Conway, Nestor Redondo

Swamp Thing 19 (October-November 1975)

Posted on 1 May 2011 | 1 Comment

You’ve got to love a comic book with an apology in leu of a cliffhanger. This issue of Swamp Thing—Gerry Conway’s first—was supposed to be double-sized. Instead, they split it in two… and this one ends uneventfully. Stops might be the better term.

Still, it’s a decent issue. Conway’s execution is stronger than the comic has had in a while and Redondo comes up with some great layouts.

There’s a rogue Swamp Thing—grown from the original’s arm (which almost foreshadows the character’s future under Moore)—and a possibly evil Indian befriends it. There’s a cute little Bride of Frankenstein feel to it.

But Abby, Matt and Bolt are around too. Abby’s clairvoyance is mutedly implied again, but it’s getting old, regardless of Conway being better at the narration than his predecessor on the book. Bolt’s still a lame character… Conway can’t magic all the problems away.

CREDITS

A Second Time to Die; writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Nestor Redondo; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, Marcos; editors, Paul Levitz and Joe Orlando; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in DC, Swamp Thing

Tagged Gerry Conway, Nestor Redondo

Cinder and Ashe 4 (August 1988)

Posted on 7 March 2011 | 1 Comment

Conway partially succeeds at getting a good finish for the series. He tries really hard and some of that trying hurts the issue. He does these alternating first person narration boxes; they’re well-intentioned and I have no idea another way he could have played the scene, but they don’t work. Luckily, he’s got Garcia-Lopez on the art and it at least gives the impression of being right.

Most of the issue is flashback stuff, recounting the lives of the characters once they got to the States from Vietnam. It’s all interesting backstory stuff, but it doesn’t jibe with the present action, which is basically an action issue. Maybe Conway needed more space.

The art is in some ways the best while also being the least ambitious of the series. Garcia-Lopez doesn’t have a lot of flashy content here, just story.

The series is a good, problematic effort.

CREDITS

Writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; colorist, Joe Orlando; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Pat Bastienne; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in Cinder and Ashe, DC

Cinder and Ashe 3 (July 1988)

Posted on 7 March 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s the first issue where nothing incredibly awful happens. Or maybe Conway’s just numbed the reader at this point. It’s also the first where the dialect is presented as a language. There’s no more painful translating from French to English.

Garcia-Lopez also gets in his best art of the series so far. He’s had the opportunity for emotive panel layout before this issue, but here his layouts are sometimes startling. It’s an amazing looking issue.

Conway gets around to revealing the big conspiracy behind the story and he handles it very well. It’s not a subtle thing, but he never lets it get out of hand. While it’s a relatively common conspiracy revelation, it’s never predictable before this issue (though there’s a giveaway early on in these pages). Conway’s finally found the perfect formula for Cinder and Ashe.

It’s amazing how not translating the French makes the narration work.

CREDITS

Writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; colorist, Joe Orlando; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Pat Bastienne; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in Cinder and Ashe, DC

Cinder and Ashe 2 (June 1988)

Posted on 6 March 2011 | Leave a comment

Conway and Garcia-Lopez definitely get an “A” for effort. They both are very deliberate on Cinder and Ashe but Conway tells the story in alternating first person narration and it just isn’t going to work with this kind of thing.

As awful as the events in this issue—and there are two or three really rough moments—first person narration isn’t going to work. Conway’s characters don’t react naturally to the visuals. There are flashbacks, usually transitioned from visual cues, but they’re expository. It’s never believable the characters think back to informative scenes in their pasts when events occur. There’s one moment where he does it just in narration and it works a lot better.

The narration also blocks the reader from really getting to know the characters—we only get to see what Conway wants us to see.

Still, he’s doing something very earnestly. Good intentions help here.

CREDITS

Writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; colorist, Joe Orlando; letterer, Agustin Mas; editor, Pat Bastienne; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in Cinder and Ashe, DC

Cinder and Ashe 1 (May 1988)

Posted on 6 March 2011 | Leave a comment

Conway uses a lot of dialect in Cinder and Ashe for his Cajun character. I understand why he uses it—and for a Cajun accent, it makes more sense than for something else, I suppose—but it’s still… dialect.

The issue starts off as an action book, not a private investigator book (the characters are troubleshooters, think “Magnum, P.I.” set in New Orleans with a duo who have a complicated backstory) and the Garcia-Lopez artwork is lovely.

Conway pushes hard to establish his characters as good guys in a bad world, which comes off as a little heavy handed in the first ten pages, but then things get complicated and his writing becomes a little more subtle and affecting.

He seems to be trying to do a serious action crime comic book and he succeeds overall. He’s got three more issues to go though.

Having Garcia-Lopez doesn’t hurt.

CREDITS

Writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; colorist, Joe Orlando; letterer, Agustin Mas; editor, Pat Bastienne; publisher, DC Comics.

Posted in Cinder and Ashe, DC

Detective Comics 526 (May 1983)

Posted on 17 November 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s a gorgeous issue. Newton and Alcala doing Batman’s rogues gallery is possibly an unsurpassable event. Maybe eight pages in, they have this incomparable Joker close-up. DC ought to reprint the issue oversized just so one can really look at it.

But it’s also a really good issue. Besides Jason Todd’s endless thought balloons–not bad, just too many of them–it’s a perfect Batman comic. Conway splits the action–Batman, Talia and Catwoman go one way, Batgirl and Robin go another. They meet at the end with Jason Todd, in a Robin outfit, joining.

Batman with the two women makes for good stuff (oh, Vicki Vale gets dismissed without a thought from Bruce), since they’re all very aware of each other. Similarly, Robin and Batgirl work well as a team.

The end, with Bruce, Dick and Jason Todd, brought a tear to my eye. It’s way too simple, but also undeniably effective.

CREDITS

All My Enemies Against Me!; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Don Newton; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda; editors, Nicola Cuti and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.