Bronze Age Beauties - Sorcerers, Spies and the Supernatural

I haven't posted anything about comics here for a while ( in fact, I haven't posted much full stop ) so I thought I'd share a few recent-ish purchases with you, Dear Readers. ( See, I still kid myself that people actually read this 'ere blog... )
We'll start with Doctor Strange's last appearance in Marvel Premiere from March 1974, just before the Sorcerer Supreme regained his own comic book. This is the finale of the Cagliostro / Sise-Neg / Genesis epic by the titanic team of Steve Engelhart and Frank Brunner.

Doc and arch nemesis Baron Mordo are on a mind-bending trip back in time with the futuristic magician Cagliostro ( aka Sise-Neg ) who is absorbing magical energy as he goes, becoming stronger all the time, with the ultimate ambition of arriving at the beginning of the universe and becoming God. A very cosmic, quintessentially 1970s story which would probably have been unthinkable a decade before under the then restrictions of the Comics Code... or indeed a decade later when the so-called Moral Majority were making their censorious presence known in the USA. This is a fine example of Bronze Age Marvel at its peak with plenty of Engelhart's philosphical musings amidst all the psychedelic action and some beautiful artwork from Brunner and inker Dick Giordano...

And, for a change of pace, next are a couple of issues of Marvel's most successful entry into the martial arts craze The Hands Of Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu  -  or MOKF for short...

Issue 28 ( May 1975 ) has a striking ( literally! ) Gil Kane cover but unfortunately the interior artwork is by a committee of second-tier artists, due of course to the ever present Dreaded Deadline Doom which affected so many Marvel Comics of the time. Luckily the story by MOKF stalwart Doug Moench makes up for the weak artwork, giving us insights into Shang-Chi's past and his relationship with his devious half-sister Fah Lo Suee...

The next issue sees the series back on track with the return of regular artist Paul Gulacy and a change in direction as the strip becomes more espionage-based and less about Shang's war with his father, the Devil Doctor himself, Fu Manchu.This is the point at which Gulacy's artwork goes full Steranko and also, seemingly, full Bond  -  secret bases, evil masterminds and glamorous women all become mainstays of the series from here on in...

Incidentally, both of the covers of these two issues depict scenes that don't actually happen in the comics themselves  -  par for the course for the times, but at least they're eye-catching, exciting images that almost command you to hand over your money and buy the damn things...

As a contrast to all that Marvel-ous action here's a moody masterpiece by the great Neal Adams for DC's Phantom Stranger no. 16, Nov-Dec 1971. A classic example of the "clutching hand" trope, this is a restrained but still effective image with Adams' flair for design in evidence. ( Notice the Stranger's shadow looming across the logo. ) The interior is nothing too special, unfortunately. The lead story has some nice Jim Aparo artwork but a fairly humdrum plot, and there are a couple of back-up strips  -  a Doctor Thirteen tale by Len Wein and Tony DeZuniga and a Mark Merlin reprint from the '50s  -  neither of which start the pulse racing.

Over at Charlton Comics we find Ghostly Haunts no. 31, April 1973. Although not one of the best examples of Charlton's horror comics it's a fun issue with some typically idiosyncratic artwork from Don Perlin, Steve Ditko and Jack Abel. The cover's by Abel too and is a beauty  -  check out that eyeball on the giant squid thing! And isn't "Sewer Patrol" a job we've all wanted at one time or another? No? Just me then...

Finally, the pick of the bunch for me: Haunted Love no. 6 from October 1974. This short-lived excursion into Gothic romance is always difficult to track down so I was pleased to pick up this issue.  ( I actually bought the two Charltons and the Phantom Stranger for £1.50 each in a junk shop in St. Ives. ) The main draw was of course the fantastic cover by that madman Tom Sutton  -  very spooky! The witch alone is enough to give you the cold sweats...

Sutton illustrates the main story that this cover is based on and it's a suitably overwrought tale of cursed love in Fin De Siecle Paris, with the occasional nod to Aubrey Beardsley  -  great stuff!

And here's the Wuthering Heights-esque corner box by the stupendously talented Joe Staton...

Right, I'll have to go now  -  I need to read some comics...