[net.comics] Responses on various subjects

boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (01/25/86)

>From: soren@reed.UUCP (Soren Petersen)

> Any ideas on what the teaser at the end of #366 means?
> (The King is dead, long live the king (or should it be the other way round)).
> It is depressingly easy to interpret this to mean that Odin is returning--
> more proof that nothing ever changes at the Marvel house of ideas.

No, "The King is dead; long live the King" is a fairly common expression
when someone ascends to the throne upon his predecessor's death. It has
the understood meaning of "The (old) King is dead; long live the (new) King".


>From: laurie@isieng.UUCP (Laurie Sefton)

> Magneto has come from being one of the typical Kirby-esque villians, to
> someone
> who has much more depth than some *real* people I know.  He has motives 
> behind his actions (and sympathetic motives), and has run the whole gamut of
> emotions.... He's no longer a one-note player--
> and that's what makes a successful characterization.
>
> How does the rest of the net feel on this?

I agree. Magneto had always struck me as a second-rate Doctor Doom until
Claremont got a hold of him. Even Claremont's first crack at him (~#104)
wasn't all that hot. It was the next meeting (~#112) that really made me
admire and respect Magneto as a character. I think the progression from
bad-guy to good-guy feels both right and natural. I also think that what
makes him an interesting character is his internal struggle between his
old, evil nature and his desire to reform.


>From: ronc@fai.UUCP (Ronald O. Christian)

> Speaking of which, has Puddle-gulp's story been told elsewhere?
> I seem to recall back in the mists of time a story in one of those
> Marvel horror mags about a man being turned into a frog by a fortune-
> teller.  Am I imagining this?

I wouldn't be at all surprised, though I don't recall any such story.


>From: jbtubman@watdragon.UUCP (Jim Tubman)

> After not doing so for about 5 years, I resumed reading comics in the
> last year or so.  My tastes run to the super-hero genre, so I didn't
> notice this until quite recently: I don't see any Harvey comics
> (Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Sad Sack, etc.) or Gold Key
> comics (the Disney line) anywhere.  Not at comics stores, nor at the
> drugstore in my home town (which used to carry them).  Have these
> companies gone under, been bought out, lost Canadian distribution, or
> what?

Gold Key folded a number of years ago. For a while, they were calling
themselves "Whitman", and in addition to their regular line, they were
also marketing 3-comic bags of Marvel & DC comics with their Whitman
logo. Eventually, they decided to give up the comic business. Their
Hanna-Barbera properties went to Marvel for a while, though no one has
them right now. The Disney titles were in limbo for a while, but are
now published by Gladstone Comics (a small outfit) and distributed
through Archie Comics.

I'm not sure when Harvey folded as a comic publisher. For a while, they
were only publishing reprint (I think) digests of their material, but
I think they've even given that up now.

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)

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