While the various late 70s implosions at DC are pretty well documented, change was also the norm at Marvel. Plenty of titles came to an end during this period, as Marvel was also looking for ways to boost sales. The Invaders was one of those title to face the axe, but at least it was sent off with a double sized issue, allowing certain story arcs to finish. For me, Roy Thomas' attempts to play around in the Golden Age sandbox produced mixed results, whether at DC or Marvel. Don Glut does an admirable job with this finale. While I think that Alan Kupperberg and Chic Stone are competent artists, I really prefer these WW2 set stories to be drawn by Frank Robbins or someone else from the Caniff school. That style of artwork tends to transport me back in time. Kupperberg did a nice job on the double spread pin-up that serves as a coda to this series. It's a shame that the phrase 'Verdammt Invaders' would not be heard again. Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Exit State Left: Invaders #41
While the various late 70s implosions at DC are pretty well documented, change was also the norm at Marvel. Plenty of titles came to an end during this period, as Marvel was also looking for ways to boost sales. The Invaders was one of those title to face the axe, but at least it was sent off with a double sized issue, allowing certain story arcs to finish. For me, Roy Thomas' attempts to play around in the Golden Age sandbox produced mixed results, whether at DC or Marvel. Don Glut does an admirable job with this finale. While I think that Alan Kupperberg and Chic Stone are competent artists, I really prefer these WW2 set stories to be drawn by Frank Robbins or someone else from the Caniff school. That style of artwork tends to transport me back in time. Kupperberg did a nice job on the double spread pin-up that serves as a coda to this series. It's a shame that the phrase 'Verdammt Invaders' would not be heard again. 
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4 comments:
Roy Thomas loved writing The Invaders, and fans of the series seem to love it to death. It is therefore with head lowered in shame that I must admit the title never worked for me, in large part because of the Frank Robbins - Frank Springer combination. I just don't think Robbins' style is well suited to superheroics, and Springer's inking style doesn't mesh well with Robbins' pencils.
I haven't read this particular issue but... Alan Kupperberg? The poor man was probably my least favorite artist of the 70s and 80s, even more so than Robbins, whose art I could at least appreciate on Johnny Hazard or The Shadow. The Invaders was apparently not for me.
I should say that I did like Kupperberg's later Spider-Man/Howard the duck team-up, which I think he scripted too (he seemed to have a good sense of humor), and he did a good job on a Daredevil short story in what if...? in which all heroes had grown old. It just shows that tastes can change with time! (I once hated Gene Colan's and Hugo Pratt's art, go figure!)
I love Frank Robbins' artwork, and I stopped collecting after he left the series. His last issue was also the issue where Bucky and Toro left to found the Kid Commandoes, and I think the series lost something from their absence as well. I was surprised to read later that Roy Thomas didn't like the characters, because he gave Bucky a lot to do in the series--fist-fighting w/ Toro in issue # 3, founding the Liberty Legion in a 4 part story, and then looking for a Dr. to save Toro's life while facing off with Agent Axis in issues # 26-28. I thought it was neat that a character we knew was going to die got so much face time in the series.
I didn't mean to leave anyone with the impression that I like Kupperberg's work. It's is bland and in offensive in a 'Marvel Two In One fill in' king of way. I think Robbins was a great fit for this book - but he is divisive and I understand the views of people on the other side of the argument.
Robbins really worked on this series for me, though I wasn't fond of his super-hero work otherwise. Oddly, Invaders, like Tomb of Dracula, seems to be a book that Marvel forgot about... this double-sized last issue was released several months after the previous issue! I've never heard about this being trimmed down (as ToD was, 3 issues compressed into one double-size edition), I was sad to see it go, in spite of Kupperberg drawing it, and wish the Franks had been on it until the end.
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