We miss one of Howard's appearances, in Giant-Size Man-Thing #5, but it's another one-off. What really gets the ball rolling is today's issue, Howard's first. It's, I will say, a bit of a rocky start. Don't get me wrong: I love this comic. Howard meeting Beverly for the first time, his rage over losing a cigar, his already-cynical response to the cries of "You're a duck!" All the elements of Howard are there. But the series takes a few issues to really get going. Today, we have the obligatory Spider-Man appearance. If you think I'm overstating by calling it that, remember that Marvel so loved having their media darling in every comic that he even meets up with the Transformers in their eponymous series just under a decade after this comic comes out. Like his namesakes, that dude is everywhere.
Today's story parodies the popular sword and sorcery comics that Marvel was publishing around the same time. The genre had a slight renaissance in the 70s, and comics were not immune to its charms. And it definitely is parody. Mr. Gerber's penchant for ridiculous names (the villain is Pro-Rata, the Chief Accountant of the Universe!) makes it's first appearance, and there's plenty of set-gnashing and cynical dialogue that we are certainly led to read this as a playful jab at that other genre that everyone's enjoying a lot. And that's sort of the series, at least for a few issues.
So, good, verging on, but not quite tipping into, great. Do away with the media parody, Howard. Get on to skewering culture. More to come...
No comments:
Post a Comment