Ricky Jackson

Wow, that is an amazing channel!

Lee-Kirby Thor, up to #140 Having slogged through Journey Into Mystery 83-100 and mostly enjoyed 101-110 many years ago, I picked up Thor with JiM111, the second half of a two-parter featuring a guilty pleasure of mine, the pro wrestling-like supervillain tag team of the Cobra and Mister Hyde. This is the cusp of the book really taking off and breaking the shackles of repeat villains (Loki of course, but also, as much as I love them, Cobra and Hyde had 7 total appearances between 98-111, including 2 two-parters in less than a year) and New York-bound stories. Beginning with 114, the stories are mostly continued from issue to issue, with seeds continuously being planted that dont pay off until much later. Asgard begins to be featured more and more heavily in the main story, to go along with the Tales of Asgard backup. Another (major) positive development is the almost complete abandonment of the Don Blake alter ego and, with 136, the writing out of the book of the uninteresting Jane Foster character. She is replaced as Thor's love interest by the amazing Sif. Sif is awesome, basically Marvel's Wonder Woman, and years before Wonder Woman became a major ass kicker in her own comic. All of this is because Kirby is now unleashed, partially due to Lee increasingly stepping back from being in the weeds, just as was happening on FF at the same time. One of Lee's major faults was his insistence on his heroes being tied to one dimensional, helpless females (Foster), while Kirby had no problems creating strong female characters (Sif, later Big Barda at DC). Highlights include the Trial of the Gods (116), Loki and his flunky the Absorbing Man attempting to overthrow Asgard (122-23), and the coming of Hercules in the mid-late 120s. Then as soon as you hit the 130s the book shifts into another, more awesome, gear. You get Ego the Living Planet (what a reveal!) and the High Evolutionary back to back (131-35), then the crazy Foster swan song issue where she is given the powers of a goddess but cant handle it, AND THEN, what I just finished reading, the peak-Kirby "Asgard-Trolls War" storyline (137-39). The book is really cooking right now, arguably as good as peak Lee-Kirby FF. So yeah, I love this book. Thor kicking ass and boasting about it is awesome. Odin boasting and sometimes kicking ass is awesome. As already stated, Sif is freaking awesome. Kirby is of course awesome, and Stan's dialogue is mostly, well awesome is too strong a word, definitely really, really fun to read. Like with the other Marvel books in the 60s, Lee gives the characters a soul that makes them loveable. Well, except for Foster, but she's gone now

Hell, I want to read it. Start it. I dont think it would break any pro wrestling only rules

Update: Hulk, 1970-71 Since my last post I've read/skimmed issues 132-147, basically the second half of Thomas' run. It was a mixed bag. The main negative is the repetitiveness of certain tropes and conventions continued from the Lee issues. Multiple alien/space stories. Multiple stories set in Europe. Multiple stories featuring the Leader. Multiple far out, hip references scattered throughout, with Marvel late-60s cool peaking with a story by Harlen Ellison (introducing the Hulk's doomed lover, Jarella in 140) and one inspired by Tom Wolfe (142). And of course, tons more Thunderbolt Ross + Major Talbot + Betty Ross cut and paste Hulk/Banner obsessed melodrama. Highlights include a cool story featuring Kang and the WW I character the Phantom Eagle (135), the Moby Dick inspired two-parter in 136-37, the introduction of Doc Samson in 141, and the Dr. Doom two-parter in 143-44. Thomas arguably saves his best for last with the touching "Heaven is a Very Small Place" back-up story in 147, giving the tortured Hulk one of his most emotionally impactful moments. Like I wrote before, this is not all-time great stuff, but as always the art is strong (John Severin does a lot of the inking here, and that's very welcome since I'm a big fan of his work) and there is enough charm and fun characters/stories to make it an easy read. Archie Goodwin takes over as writer with 148 and then Englehart with 159, which is considered by some to be the start of the Hulk's 70s peak

Why Does Ric Flair Capitalize Every Single Goddamned Word In His Tweets? It Drives Me Crazy

I'm doing Lee-Kirby Thor as well and I'm mostly enjoying it. Yeah, the Jane Foster "romance" is the pits, but Thor kicking ass and all the Asgardian stuff is a blast. Loving the whole Black Galaxy storyline and the crazy Ego reveal. AFIK it only gets better, at least until Kirby decides to stop providing new characters and concepts. Not sure exactly when that happens, but maybe it's not as stark a drop off as his FF run

Thoughts on the Hulk, 1960s/70s... Next to Spider Man, the Hulk was most responsible for me getting into comics as a kid. I'm not sure which exactly came first, my dad bringing home comics after work or me discovering superheroes through TV, but watching reruns of the 60s Spidey cartoon and new broadcasts of the late 70s/early 80s Hulk TV show definitely helped make me a huge fan of comics and those characters specifically. As a 3-4 year old I had t-shirts, pajamas, stuffed dolls, and action figures of both characters, in addition to the monthly comics. The classic "dumb" Hulk in tattered purple pants was very appealing to me as a child. As I got older I started to get into the history of the character, first through Marvel Saga (huge influence on my lifelong love of Silver Age Marvel) and then buying cheap reprints of the late 60s/early 70s Hulk ("Marvel Super Heroes"). I was into the Peter David version of the Hulk until the beginning of the Pantheon era and then I checked out, to only briefly dabble with the character since. (looking forward to eventually getting to Immortal Hulk!) Anyway, with MU I've recently gone back to the late 60s/early 70s era. Combined with reading the original stories years ago, here are some random thoughts on the early years of Hulk comics. --Marvel Saga was my intro to the original 6 issue Lee-Kirby Hulk in the mid 80s. A few years later I got the first volume of the Hulk Marvel Masterworks as a gift, which reprinted the original 6 issues. Not much to say about these issues other than it's not surprising the book was axed after issue 6. The idea for the character is fascinating, but the execution was weak. Feels very much like the early Thor issues in Journey Into Mystery that were very uninspired. Kirby definitely wasn't super into the character like he was with others, which usually meant one was in for a dull read. The best issue of the bunch is actually the final one done by Ditko --Despite the lackluster original run, the character proved popular with enough letterhacks to be revived as a guest star time and again. He was of course a founding member of the Avengers, which led eventually to a great two part story in FF (#s 25-26) which featured the first real Hulk vs Thing battle (brief confrontation in FF #12) and a team up with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers (with a freshly thawed Captain America) in a desperate attempt to contain the rampaging brute --Eventually Ol' Greenskin joins Tales to Astonish, split at first with Giant Man, then Sub Mariner. The early issues are by Lee-Ditko and they are a ton of fun. Eventually Kirby comes back, but not for long, and things slowly become extremely formulaic after he leaves, despite good art from Bill Everett (although far from his best due to major issues with alcoholism) and Gil Kane. The great, and hugely underrated, Marie Severin takes over, but the stories are mostly one dimensional. Granted I've never read the entire Tales to Astonish run. I own the first Essential volume, which ends with #81. I've read a few random issues between 82-101, and it's a lot of Thunderbolt Ross' neverending obsession with the Hulk type stuff, which dominated the book for the worse for years. With issue 102 the book becomes the Incredible Hulk --My current Hulk-read started with #102. The next 20 issues feature great art from Severin and Herb Trimpe (plus occasional inking from Marie's equally talented brother John) coupled with some of the most formulaic and uninspired writing Stan Lee ever affixed his name to. Gary Friedrich wrote the early stories, though, and they aren't bad. When Stan takes over, yikes. But the art is great --Fortunately Roy Thomas takes over with #121 and, while not setting the world on fire, he turns the book around to the point where it becomes a very solid and fun superhero title. Trimpe really gets into a groove as one of the world's greatest Kirby imitators, the villains are a blast (including my fave, the Rhino), and with the introduction of young Jim Wilson, we are firmly into the 70s and the dawn of a new era for the character This is where I am right now (#132) and I'm relived. With the Lee written issues I was beginning to think I should've left the childhood memories alone, but Thomas saved the book and now I'm actually looking forward to reading the issues instead of just skimming them. Long live Jade Jaws!

High on my travel back in time to watch wrestling list (preferably live, because I'm assuming the tv was clipped to hell back then as well) would be the golden era of Stampede, 1960s-early 70s, with Gouldie, Sweet Daddy Siki, Abby and all the big angles and bloodbaths that sound so great based on recollections from those who were there

I've been slowly bookmarking different 90s books on Zip Comics I want to eventually tackle, like Ostrander's Spectre, JSA, Starman and a few other things. Recently grabbed the DC Alan Moore collection off Comixology to read some of his stories I missed. I was a huge Moore fan back in the 90s. Also read a fair amount of Morrison's Animal Man and Doom Patrol back then, plus Preacher. Loved the Power of Shazam graphic novel by Ordway. Read a few volumes of Sandman Mystery Theater about 15 years ago. There is so much to read! Good thing I'm a semi retired country gentleman now. Still going through classic Marvel--Lee/Kirby Thor, Tomb, late 60s/early 70s Hulk (not good, but I needed to finally go through it because I loved it as a kid and never had all the issues at my disposal like I do now), eventually 70s FF and 60s DD (mostly just skimming through like I do with the Hulk), plus still Omega and Master of Kung Fu, and soon more 2012 Marvel...

Well, there was the Boston Garden match where he's under a hood as "Piper Machine" going up against Studd and Bundy. IIRC he wrestles more like a superhero in that one though (even bodyslamming Studd!)

We've literally discussed everything when the topic turns to how the wrestlers do their laundry

I've been debating tackling Starman for a while now. It seems like something I would like. I really enjoyed Robinson's Golden Age back in the day. Probably need to go through a few more series before I start hitting up some of the 80s and 90s stuff I missed

Yeah, if New Japan is bad and lazy then what the hell is WWE?

Good to hear. Enjoyed the show, Sean

I know the bloom is finally off the rose, but they must've been doing something right in the last 5 years to garner tons of new, enthusiastic fans, fill up the Dome again and sell out MSG, among other things

Coincidentally this just dropped today

Wishing you only the best, TTK

It did come up here. I think the new matches were uploaded by request based on donation. I think I only watched the Thesz match

The Jets are definitely taking a QB. Wilson has been the consensus in mocks for quite a while now, but that doesn't guarantee anything. Hopefully whoever they take has a better fate than the last few 1st round QBs they've drafted

Poor Zach Wilson

It kinda makes sense if you add it up. His early years have a relatively low count since he wasn't working full time. Then after WCW and 1999-2005 WWF/E he came and went numerous times, often with long periods off. And last year, even though he is one of AEW's top guys, he only wrestled 25 matches

Based on the timeframe on the book, Hart would've beat both Wizard and Blassie to NY. I think he explains why it didnt happen, but who knows what the real story was

The "chapter" on NY is a joke. Hart never worked for Vince Sr, hence the chapter being blank

There's definitely a significant amount of 1980-85 AWA out there. Have no idea how difficult it is to acquire these days, but there used to be a lot between youtube and dailymotion last I checked, not to mention alternative means if one is so inclined

I'm pretty sure Heenan was always a manager/wrestler outside of very, very early on. He was a top (the top?) manager in Indianapolis when he was only 21, or maybe still 20