From a Golden Age: The Invaders Appreciation

[MajorHoy]

Part of the story in Invaders Annual #1 (1977) dealt with another look at events in Avengers #71 (December 1969) which was a bit of a genesis for an Invaders series a few years later.

Here's a comparison between the story in those two issues:

[MajorHoy]

More comparisons Invaders Annual #1 (1977) and the previous Avengers #71 (December 1969) where three Avengers met the three Golden Age heroes (both stories written by Roy Thomas):

[Digifiend]

https://www.cbr.com/interview-chip-zdarsky-invaders/

[MajorHoy]

https://www.cbr.com/interview-chip-zdarsky-invaders/

Maybe we should discuss that stuff in the thread for that series:

Invaders (2019)

[Reviresco]

There's not an Invaders cover per se, but Phil Noto's 80th Anniversary variants have two covers that have a good portion of the Invaders.

[MajorHoy]

There's not an Invaders cover per se, but Phil Noto's 80th Anniversary variants have two covers that have a good portion of the Invaders.

Which series are these from?

(And why does the guy on the bottom right of the first cover look like the Lone Ranger?)

[Reviresco]

Which series are these from?

(And why does the guy on the bottom right of the first cover look like the Lone Ranger?)

Not a series. They are variant covers, on books that having nothing to do with subject matter, celebrating the 80th anniversary.

[MajorHoy]

Not a series. They are variant covers, on books that having nothing to do with subject matter, celebrating the 80th anniversary.

But, which books had those variant covers?

[Reviresco]

But, which books had those variant covers?

Sorry, I misunderstood. I believe, the 30s cover with Namor will be a CHAMPIONS #1 variant. And the 40s cover with Cap will be IMMORTAL HULK 11 variant. I don't think they will be more expensive / rare. Midtown has them at cover price.

From the Beat:

http://www.comicsbeat.com/art-fans-r...nts-logo-less/


From Bleeding Cool, which shows ALL the covers and how they interlock.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/12...h-anniversary/

[MajorHoy]

Sorry, I misunderstood. I believe, the 30s cover with Namor will be a CHAMPIONS #1 variant. And the 40s cover with Cap will be IMMORTAL HULK 11 variant. I don't think they will be more expensive / rare. Midtown has them at cover price.

Interesting.

[Reviresco]

I hope they release the interlocked covers as a giant poster, cause I would buy that for sure.

But looking at it all together, I'm wondering at Phil Noto's thinking behind the composition and the choices. Though, I'm sure Marvel had something to say about the choices. But the first three decades, the top row, isn't as connected as the other 'issues' / decades. Which sort of makes sense, since they aren't entirely part of the Marvel Universe, as we know it.

The bottom six, you can see the emphasis on the movie characters, and yet some non-movie choices that are odd, like Fantomex. He's a headscratcher. And then there are NO horror characters and only one 'cosmic', oh wait, two, counting Kid Nova.


BTW, who is the western character on the 30s poster with Namor and Torch? Is it Two Gun Kid with a different costume?

[MajorHoy]

I hope they release the interlocked covers as a giant poster, cause I would buy that for sure.

But looking at it all together, I'm wondering at Phil Noto's thinking behind the composition and the choices. Though, I'm sure Marvel had something to say about the choices. But the first three decades, the top row, isn't as connected as the other 'issues' / decades. Which sort of makes sense, since they aren't entirely part of the Marvel Universe, as we know it.

The bottom six, you can see the emphasis on the movie characters, and yet some non-movie choices that are odd, like Fantomex. He's a headscratcher. And then there are NO horror characters and only one 'cosmic', oh wait, two, counting Kid Nova.

As for composition, it looks like 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s for the top row of three.

Immediately below the 1950s (Kirby monsters and Western heroes like Kid Colt) would be the 1960s (FF, first Iron Man suit, original Daredevil yellow outfit, etc.), and below that the 1970s (Wolverine with other Giant-Size X-Men #1 members, Power Man, Iron Fist, etc.).



In the middle of the bottom row it's the 1980s (Phoenix, Elektra, black Spider-Man suit, etc.) and the bottom left brings up the 1990s (Deadpool, Cable, War Machine, etc.)


For the middle far-left, there's the 2000s (Winter Soldier, X-23, Sentry, Red Hulk, etc.) and the dead-center panel is the current decade (Carol as Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Gwen, and so on).

Seems pretty basic and straight-forward once you figure out the path.

BTW, who is the western character on the 30s poster with Namor and Torch? Is it Two Gun Kid with a different costume?

That's what I asked earlier.

Which series are these from?

(And why does the guy on the bottom right of the first cover look like the Lone Ranger?)

As for it being Two-Gun Kid, one didn't appear until the late 1940s (but without the mask then or the "secret identity" as shown in the 1950s panel). There was the "Masked Raider" who first appeared in Marvel Comics #1, but he had a full-face mask, not like the one in the picture. (Maybe there was a different Western hero with a feature who looked like that in other early Marvel titles?)

[Reviresco]

Oh dear. I think it is supposed to be the Masked Raider. But Phil Noto got the wrong character / info for him. That's the CHARLTON Masked Raider. Not Marvel's Masked Raider. ooops.

http://www.toonopedia.com/mraider.htm

[Reviresco]

As for composition, it looks like 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s for the top row of three.

Immediately below the 1950s (Kirby monsters and Western heroes like Kid Colt) would be the 1960s (FF, first Iron Man suit, original Daredevil yellow outfit, etc.), and below that the 1970s (Wolverine with other Giant-Size X-Men #1 members, Power Man, Iron Fist, etc.).

That's correct, but by composition, I meant, how he chose similar elements, like the middle row has the large, half face, facing each other in the 2000s and the 1960s, being Fantomex and Spider-man, respectively. They sort of reflect or are carried through in the bottom two corner covers, that have big blue and gold spheres in the same position. But I was wondering why he chose to emphasize those two particular characters.

Also in the bottom two covers, they have almost identical central team layouts. I'm surprised that Venom doesn't have a corresponding, outward looking, dominating head on the 1970s cover. In it's place we have a tiny Iron Man and that weird yellow circle.

The 2010s and the 1980s mirror each other with the giant glowing women in the center, with Captain Marvel and Phoenix. And you have two Spider-man in the same spot and size.

[Digifiend]

Oh dear. I think it is supposed to be the Masked Raider. But Phil Noto got the wrong character / info for him. That's the CHARLTON Masked Raider. Not Marvel's Masked Raider. ooops.

http://www.toonopedia.com/mraider.htm

That means DC own him - Marvel can't publish this without fixing it.

The bottom six, you can see the emphasis on the movie characters, and yet some non-movie choices that are odd, like Fantomex. He's a headscratcher. And then there are NO horror characters and only one 'cosmic', oh wait, two, counting Kid Nova.

I count five cosmic characters. Three on the 70s cover (Star-Lord, Yondu, and another person I don't recognise - another Guardian of the Galaxy?) and two on the 2010s cover (Nova and Cosmic Ghost Rider).