My Marvelous Year: 1977

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• Did anyone else notice in Star-Lord that the lizard-creature from the Ariguan Confederacy, the one that killed Meredith Quill, is called a "Sith-Lord".
  It is a "summer 1977" publication...meaning it probably came out in the spring, so it must have been written late '76. How did Claremont come up with Sith-Lord? Who was first? Lucas or Claremont?
  The word "sith" was first used in the novelization of "Star Wars"("written" by Lucas), as a title for Darth Vader, the "Dark Lord of the Sith". but not in the films...
  Thoughts?

  • My recollection, and this is hazy so I might have details wrong, is that the term "Sith" and possibly "Sith-Lord" originally appeared in the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel "A Princess of Mars" which was recently remade as John Carter by Disney. Those in turn were a huge influence on Flash Gordon (which Star Wars copies a LOT from and which George Lucas has cited as a direct influence) and also on many sci-fi authors, including Heinlein who is listed as an inspiration for Star-Lord right on the cover of Marvel Preview #11.

    None of this means that Claremont didn't really write Star Wars though! :)

    • I have an pdf of “A Princess of Mars”, but have not read it yet. But I pulled it up and did a search for "sith", "Sith" and "Sith-Lord" within the file and found nothing. The mystery deepens...

  • That blew my mind too!

    There was the recent revelation that initial Star Wars drafts actually have Obi-Wan surviving his New Hope fight w/ Vader, and if I remember right, they use 'Sith' in the scripts.

    So my new completely uneducated theory is that Claremont WROTE STAR WARS :)

• 1977 was the year I started reading comics, at the age of 11, so naturally I feel significant nostalgia for these books. Of course, at age eleven I couldn’t afford to buy many comics, but a few of these I’m certain I bought off the comic racks at my neighborhood pharmacy. As a result, it wasn’t until later that I was ever able to assemble the issues necessary to actually read complete storylines; nonetheless, my tastes were forever shaped by this era in Marvel comics.

  One of those early books for me was Avengers Annual 7, and subsequently the story of Adam Warlock will always be dear to me, and therefore earns my hero of the year vote. Likewise, Thanos got my vote for villain of the year. Sadly, it wasn’t until much later that I was able to actually read the saga's finale in Marvel Two-In-One Annual 2.

  Of course, Amazing Spider-man and Fantastic Four were among my favorites, but it was Uncanny X-Men and Avengers that I really sought out. In particular, I remember the Avengers vs Count Nefaria battle extraordinarily fondly, and it stands the test for time for me, but in comparison to other work here, none of those issues earned my vote for best of the year. John Byrne’s art here and elsewhere earned him my vote for artist of the year. He’s not better than Starlin; Starlin just didn’t really put in a full year of work at Marvel in 1977. That being said, it’s nice that Marvel will finally have a tier 1 artist on staff for years to come. And George Perez is coming into his own too (YAY!).

  To be eleven in 1977 was different than being eleven now. No electronic video games, for one thing. For many at that time, Star Wars (the movie) was huge, and it was no different for me. My vote for issue of the year went to "Star-Lord" Marvel Preview 11. The story has its flaws, too short for the scale of it’s ambition, but so well executed otherwise. It was a treat to read the afterword for the story written by Chris Claremont (got my vote for writer of the year), where he revealed his fondness for reading Robert Heinlein in his youth. At eleven, I was reading Heinlein, and Bradbury. Given this context; Star Wars movie and comics, Heinlein novels and Bradbury short stories, Starlin’s Captain Marvel, Warlock and Thanos sagas, and Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men stellar adventures, it should be understandable how I have such a fondness for comics that offer a sci-fi flavor, and Marvel does cosmic the best.

  I spent some time this week reading Sean Howe’s The Untold Story of Marvel Comics. He recounts how tumultuous this period was organizationally for Marvel. In a short period of time the Editor-in-Chief role changed hands numerous times, from Roy Thomas to finally residing with Jim Shooter, who had a significant impact on how Marvel operated in the coming years. Clearly Shooter had talent as a writer, but he was somewhat authoritarian in his management style, and gradually he began to impose certain guidelines on the Marvel creative personnel that ultimately created even more turmoil (although he did last nine years). It will be interesting to observe whether his influence will be plainly evident as we read through here.

  No, I didn’t read Howard the Duck.

• A pretty cool year overall. Maybe it is nostalgia, but I don’t see a lull at all! This to me is one of the best years in a while.

  I have a lot of the issues from this year in my collection. Including: The Warlock finale (reprinted in Special Edition Warlock); a well-worn copy ASM #174 (I have 173, too, great issue, but never got 175…); all of the X-men issues (in Classic X-Men form); Star-Lord Special Edition, reprinting Marvel Preview 11 (in color); Captain America 208-213 (minus 211); and all of the Byrne Avengers issues (I was a Byrne fanatic in my youth).

  The combination of Jim Shooter, George Perez and John Byrne make this era of the Avengers a real treat. Loved ‘em. I had to give Shooter writer of the year, as anyone who can rekindle my interest in the Avengers after Steve Englehart has got to be good. And Byrne is penciler of the year thanks to his stand out work on Avengers, Star-Lord and X-men. Not to mention Team-Up and Champions and Iron Fist.

  The wrap up of the Warlock saga has always been a favorite of mine. I’ve read and re-read it a least a half-dozen times. Though it’s been at least 20 years, so it is nice to re-visit. The same can be said of the X-Men. First read these when they came out, as my buddy collected them. Then again when they were re-printed in Classic X-Men. I find the art to be a real pleasure, I really owe Dave Cockrum an apology. I’ve been bad-mouthing him for years, but now that I look at his early work I realize how good he was. I’ll have to give his later run a second look, too. I would have gone with Claremont as writer, but I find 108 to bit a little overblown.

  Issue of the year has to go to Marvel Preview. What a great story. Haven't read that one since I bought it, maybe late 80s. I find it to be the only really good stand-alone issue this year. There were a few good runs, ASM, Avengers, X-Men, but single issues, while being important, were pretty weak: Ms. Marvel, Panther, Deathlock.

  Villain was a hard choice. I went with Thanos because I guess he won’t get another chance for a decade or two. Same for Hero, I gave Adam a nod, as I think this may be his last chance for long while.

  I’ll be honest, I completely skipped Howard the Duck, so I bear no animosity towards Dave. I did not like Howard in the 70s, did not like the movie. Did not like it last week, so decided my time could be better spend on a few extra ASM issues and perusing other offerings from ’77:
  - I found a few issues of Logan’s Run buried deep in my long boxes. Astonished to see it was penciled by George Perez. Much more Perez-y in style than the Avengers issues, oddly enough.
  - I also have a couple of 2001: A Space Odyssey written and drawn by Kirby. Wow, Wild and Wacky stuff.
  - And a few issues of the black and white Rampaging Hulk magazine. Not really anything outstanding, but nice art and the stories fall more in the TV show style. Done-in-one/monster of the week. But readable.
  - And if that is not odd enough, I also found an issue of Marvel Premier. #35 with the 3D Man. No reason anyone should have heard of that. Poor all around if somewhat interesting. If I remember correctly I won it in a bet with another kid at school.

• I found most of the year's offerings to be fair to middling. I did like Avengers Annual #7 quite a bit, and I wish I could read Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 on the MU service.

  The Thor bonus was probably chosen for having Simonson on art duties. It's a decent issue, but the true greatness comes when he takes over writing and art.

  The X-Men face Magneto and Firelord, and they go into space. The conclusion in #108 is so masterful and epic that I could not believe it was a mere 17 pages of story. Once more, it has the welcome cameos by other Marvel characters to show what a big deal this problem is. The best part has to be the time spent inside the M'Kraan Crystal. Those sequences have nobility, beauty, heart, and poetry in both words and art. I wonder what sort of remembrance this issue would have if #129-#137 had never happened. Jean/Phoenix saves the universe in an awesome way, and I highly recommend that any comics fan should read X-Men #108. It got all my votes for the polls this week (hero, artist, writer, villain, and issue).

  • We're definitely hitting a late 70's lull. Goodness, imagine the last couple years without Uncanny X-Men hitting the scene!

    Good times are just around the corner, though...

• First off, Dave, I love you man, but I had to put you in for Villain of the Year just for the hell of it (and because of Howard the Duck). No hard feelings, right?

  I found this year to be not particularly great overall, and only a couple of issues really stood out. The X-Men continue to be excellent, but I wasn't as in love with the artwork as I was from last year (though that Magneto solo drawing was excellent). However, Issue #108 with the tripped out Phoenix journey through the crystal was unbelievable and my head tells me that should have been Issue of the Year hands-down. However, I was stunned by the storytelling of Marvel Preview #11, and my heart told me I had to give it Issue of the Year. That was pretty much a complete saga done in one 50 page comic, and it was really great reading and pencil work. I assume that was Starlin writing.

  Other highlights included the Thanos conclusion, Bride of Ultron, The Punisher with some wicked puns, and I actually quite enjoyed the Thor comic, though there was no context to it. I did actually really like Kirby's Cap this time around, with Zola and the Red Skull portrayed very well and with some nice artwork (though the plot ran way too long). It was also really amazing to read the Star Wars adaptation, especially with some deleted scenes and the super weird original look of Jabba! Finally, while I didn't love the issue per se, it was very cool seeing the origin of Ms. Marvel.

  Moving to lowlights, Howard the Duck continued to be interminable to read (though I kind of loved his campaign speeches), Omega continued to just be weird and kind of aimless (and featured an inexplicable Nitro return), and Kirby's Black Panther was really rough (practically any super hero could have replaced Black Panther in that story and we wouldn't have known the difference). I was also let down by the Doom/Magneto team-up, which didn't really make any sense and felt forced to me. Deathlok was also really hard to follow, though it kind of tied together in the end, but that was not a fun read for me.

  Looking forward to 1978!

  • Haha yeah, I get it. I had to sacrifice myself as villain just so the write-in campaign didn't take me by surprise.

    I should mention here as well, I totally missed Iron Fist #14 (Sabretooth!) and Marvel Team-Up #63 to #64, which gives you more Iron Fist from Claremont and Byrne! This is basically all the Iron Fist we can get in MU until the 2000's, so get your K'un L'un on.

    • Read the Iron Fist comics and mostly enjoyed them, but wow, was that really Claremont writing the Marvel Team-Ups? Spidey's typical sense of humor and wisecracks were nowhere to be found, and that incredibly bizarre thing with Steel Serpent telling Misty Knight to go back to the kitchen was so awkward and off-putting, especially for a writer known for creating strong female characters. I know it was meant to make Serpent even more evil than he was already coming across as, but at least to me, it fell flat and felt like inferior writing from someone as gifted as Claremont.

      • Oddly, Claremont writes more of a template for the 90's animated series Spidey than anything. Pretty serious, high on drama, yells "Marrryyyy Jaaaaane" a bunch (ok, that might be more the animated series).

        It's too bad there isn't more Iron Fist available in MU, as I'm curious how Misty Knight and Colleen Wing develop during these years. I'll be honest, I had completely forgotten Misty even shows up in Uncanny X-Men. There's a whole Claremont-verse outside X-Men (Iron Fist, Daughters of the Dragon, Spidey Team-Ups, Captain Britain, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman) that was pretty far off my radar, and remains under represented in MU.

• This is the first time I'm really reading comics from this era, and it's a noticeable difference. I'd be lying if I said it was easier to read these old books, because I find it quite the opposite. I'm about halfway through the reading this week (my first week of My Marvelous Year), and I notice that there is a lot more text than I'm used to seeing. That isn't a problem in itself, obviously, but I find that reading the characters thoughts is a bit unnecessary a lot of the time, and it just slows down my progress. I do love seeing some characters I've only known thanks to the films (like Ultron, The Vision, and Magneto). This is a great history lesson for someone like myself who has gained most of my knowledge of the comic book world through films, and, when reading, generally sticks to the big name storylines (I've read Civil War and am making my way through Wedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, for examples in the Marvel universe).

  The only comics I've genuinenly disliked so far have been the Howard the Duck comics. Specifically, #12 has been my least favorite. The following book - #19 - where he turns human was pretty interesting, but I'm not looking forward to going back to those books any time soon (which is odd because I loved the movie when I was a kid). On the flipside, the Avengers books have been my favorite of the year so far. Again, this is probably because of my familiarity and adoration of the films more than anything.

  I'm looking forward to reading the rest, and getting to the later years!

  • welcome, Branden, thanks for the comment!

    I totally get where you're coming from on the differences in reading Bronze Age Marvel and more modern books. I mixed in some Ultimate Universe and Civil War during the last couple week's reading, and it's like jumping into a pool on a hot summer's day. In the hands of some of Marvel's more premiere writers, that extra text adds a lot of value, for example Claremont's X-Men, or Don McGregor on Black Panther (not in MU sadly!). But yes, a lot of times, I find my eyes glazing over the action sequences text.

    In general, though, there's a lot of solid history and big picture story telling that can be a lot of fun. Plus, Punisher makes puns with Spider-Man, so good luck finding that on the comic rack today :) And of course, we'll see a lot of stylized changes as we rapidly approach the 80s. I'm looking forward to it.

• Iron Fist 14 is Claremont/Byrne and I'm pretty sure the first appearance of Sabretooth. It's on MU.