Episode 1636 Talkback - Marvel Cosmic Triple Action w/Silver Surfer, Capt. Mar-Vell, & Adam Warlock
Adam_Murdough
Posts: 506
Face front, ye star-sailors and psychonauts! Make room in your minds and iPods for a three-hour tour through the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe, as our spirit-guide Chris Eberle introduces us at length to three of Marvel's most sensationally sidereal spacefaring stalwarts: Adam Warlock, Captain Mar-Vell, and the Silver Surfer! Learn the fundamental facts about these sentinels of the spaceways: their creative provenance, their cosmic powers, their awe-inspiring origins, and the most significant chapters in their star-spanning sagas. Download now and embrace infinity!!! (3:32:24)
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Comments
Right then, moving on...
Just finished the Silver Surfer portion of our program and will be moving onto Captain Mar-Vell later today. The "Silver Surfer: Requiem" story line by Stryzinski, btw, was published under the "Marvel Knights" banner, so I believe all of those fall out of continuity.
Also, small (selfish) favor to ask ... as I only listen to he podcasts and don't watch them, on ones like this, is there any chance of including the indicated artwork that the Geeks refer to? Chris references quite a few pieces of Surfer artwork that I'd be interested in seeing.
A quick aside. Brancusi is the author of my most favorite quote, " Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave."
I liked Silver Surfer: Parable—picked it up as it came out (though it wasn't titled “Parable” at the time). I haven't read it in a loooong time, so I don't know how well it holds up, but at the time I thought it was very similar to the Kirby/Lee graphic novel—beautiful to look at, with an “I’ve read this before” quality to the actual story. Worth picking up just for the artwork though.
Re: the Buscema vs. Kirby question, both did outstanding jobs with the character. Silver Surfer contains arguably Buscema’s best superhero work, which is saying something. The difference for me would be that I would rather read a Silver Surfer comic written by Kirby than the one written by Lee. I like melodrama as much as the next guy, but Lee’s Surfer is just too emo for me to take for long periods of time. Lee wrote some nice moments with the character, but Kirby likely would have had Surfer roaming the galaxy, encountering new alien races with every issue. It could have been the ideal vehicle for his creativity.
I'm sure it will show up eventually. Heck, I've waited this long :) I'm sure it's great.
A truly excellent episode, gentlemen. I only recently read the whole of Thomas and Starlin's Warlock runs for the first time, and was particularly smitten with the latter, so this episode was a real treat. Mar-Vell is something of a blind spot for me too, so I greatly appreciated the primer, and really must explore some of his comics.
Two things to address:
One, I'm shocked that Adam's not that familiar with John Buscema! Outside of Silver Surfer, I think of him as perhaps the definitive Avengers artist. Well, him and Perez. Buscema is also one of those artists whose touch is particularly evident in specific body parts. There are Liefeld tiny feet, Kirby square fingers and Buscema high cheekbones.
Second, much as I'd like to see Adam Warlock in upcoming MCU movies, I can't help but think that the cinematic Vision is to some extent fulfilling the Warlock role – an artificial man, conceived in a cocoon, an infinity gem upon his brow, questing to discover the nature of humanity. It'd be nice to be proven wrong, though.
I'm about half way through the episode and am really enjoying the overview of these three pillars of the Marvel Cosmic Universe.
Thoughts so far:
I always preferred the earliest version of the Silver Surfer in the FF, especially the eerie presence Kirby imbued him with. Allred's Surfer does a good job of recapturing a bit of that visual element, despite the lighter tone of the overall series. I never had much use or affection for Stan Lee's "Pontificating Whiner" take on the Surfer, although John Buscema's artwork on the Surfer's solo title is probably the very best of his long and varied career (I'm still a bit stunned Murd wasn't familiar with his work).
I'm much more of a Captain Marvel fan...or, more accurately, the Starlin-era Cap...whose abdominal muscles have yet to be surpassed ;-) . Seriously, though, Starlin's mind-warping visuals, paired with his dizzying cosmic concepts, made the Captain Marvel one of the truly trippiest experiences of Bronze Age Marvel.
Still need to listen to the Warlock portion...but a question before I sign off: What is that plastic crinkling sound I'm hearing in the middle portion of the episode?
PS: Let's not forget Moondragon's original (villainous) name was "Madame MacEvil"!
I will be listening to this later tonight!
First, THANK YOU!!! A few of us have been calling for a spotlight of some sort on Marvel cosmic and I think you guys did a great job by covering three of the heaviest cosmic hitters.
As a youngster I was pretty much exposed to mainstream Marvel and DC comics. I had no idea what else was out there until, much like @Adam_Murdough , I was shown the Marvel trading cards. In fact a friend of mine gave me a large three ring binder full of them. When I saw Warlock, Captain Marvel, and Surfer..along with characters like Ego the Living Planet, Eon, Quasar, etc... my mind was blown. I have been a cosmic fan ever since.
Quick addition: Phyla-Vell was a character introduced towards the end of Peter David's Captain Marvel run. She was Genis-Vell's sister and also ended up going by the name Captain Marvel for a short time. She is probably more known for being the new Quasar post Annihilation.
Murd mentioned the podcast but I'd like to add that it's the forum's own @bats00 who is the host of the Resurrections- An Adam Warlock and Thanos Podcast ... He goes over Warlock's history issue by issue and I think it's worth a listen for anyone interested in the character.
It was mentioned that Marvel didn't do much good with the Silver Surfer in the 2000's and I can agree with that to an extent. However I think he was well used during Annihilation and the Greg Pak written Silver Surfer: Devolution mini series was really good.
Personally, I don't really care for Slott's take on the character..call me crazy but I'd rather just read a Doctor Who book.
All that said, I think it's time for the Slott Surfer series to take it to another level beyond the Groovy-Cat-Hipster-Teletubby-Jazz-Club-Through-the-Looking-Glass-Wango-Tango stuff we've been getting for the last several years.
Like many others, I'm a HUGE fan of Marvel's cosmic arena, and have really been looking forward to a discussion from you all on the subject.
Truly, this should go down in CGS history as one of the all-time greats.
I tip my hat to you, sirs.
I should say I really appreciate all the time you guys put into the Spotlight episodes. Whether the next few are more Marvel characters, DC characters, or from another publisher altogether, I look forward to them all. Thanks.
For the record, I'm one of the guys who has been wanting the Marvel Cosmic Spotlight treatment for years, and cannot say how delighted I am that it's now done. I still haven't had time to listen yet...