1977: Star Wars (The Marvel Comics Series) Mini Post

When Star Wars came out in 1977, it didn’t come out alone. A slew of toys, and collectables came out, as well as a novelization and (more importantly to me) a Marvel Comics adaptation. Consisting of the first 6 issues of what would become a very successful ongoing series, this retold the events of the first film. Episode IV, A New Hope.

The story remains the same, Luke Skywalker teams up with Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia and get the Death Star plans to the Rebellion and destroy it. Each issue covers a portion of the film as follows.

1974: Iron Fist

As I enter into my second decade of focus I look at another Man Without Fear. While he only wore the Daredevil guise for a fraction of the time that Matt Murdock has, Danny Rand truly embodies, as a hero and as a man, the sense of justice and valour needed to fill that position. He has that because he has been playing the hero game for years as well. As Iron Fist, Danny has been playing a role in the Marvel Universe for a long time. After helming his own series, he was half of the Heroes for hire team, joining Luke Cage/Power Man for 75 issues of his 125 issue run.  We look, today, at Danny’s first appearance, from Marvel Premiere #15. The issue was written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane.

1973: Iron Man #55 – Thanos, Drax and Jim Starlin

A couple of years back, I got a text from my friend John asking who Red Hulk was. I told him “Oh, Red Hulk is awesome. He’s General Ross, but Hulked out, so he’s just as powerful, but also a very tactical enemy. He’s a villain to Hulk, but eventually he became an Avenger. I like him a lot.” His response was “Ok, so what was he doing at the end of the Avengers movie?” “RED HULK???? YOU THOUGHT THAT WAS RED HULK???? HE’S NOT EVEN RED, THAT’S THANOS” I then had to tell him all about Thanos. But my friend wasn’t the only one who had no idea who Thanos was. Much like The Guardians of the Galaxy, only comic people knew who he was. The majority of people who saw that mid-credits scene didn’t know what they were watching. I, myself, knew who he was for years, but had only recently read up on his biggest adventures. So if you come with me, I will take you back to his beginning so that we can get to know him a little better.

1968: Ultron and The Vision

Show of hands, who here likes robots? If you don’t, whatever you do, don’t go see Avengers: Age of Ultron. Why not? Because they’ll be everywhere. Star Wars will probably have one or two as well.So don’t see that either. Who am I kidding, of course you’ll go see them. Everyone will. Which is good, because I’ve heard Disney could use the money. I’ve heard they are going to have to release all of the old classic films from the Disney Vault so they have room for more money.

Anyways…Robots…Age of Ultron (don’t worry, we WILL get to Star Wars for sure)… You may ask “Who is Ultron?” and “Who is this Vision I keep hearing about, but hasn’t been in ANY marketing?” Well, everything you need to know is contained in Avengers #54 and 55, and #57 and 58.