#kurt busiek
If you want the very definition of a forgotten gem: read Kurt Busiek and James W. Fry’s Liberty Project series from 1987, years before Busiek became a top level creator after Marvels.
The concept was, essentially, Suicide Squad: criminals are given a chance to rehabilitate themselves through public service in a superteam. But the book distinguished itself through good characterization, and a serious examination of how society makes rehabilitation and redemption difficult, if not impossible, as well as how the criminal justice system is fundamentally centered on dehumanization and humiliation, as opposed to rehabilitation. People call this “early Busiek,” like it was cruder than his later work on Thunderbolts or Astro City. To that I say he was just as good here as he was later…he just wasn’t famous yet, and fewer people were paying attention.
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Clint: –if that cab pulling up’s the one I caught a glimpse of around the corner– then I think I saw– hiya, Witchie! How’s tricks?
Wanda:Hawkeye! How are you?
Clint: Back from the dead and ready to party. And I must say, you’re looking quite ravishing, as always.
Wanda: Ah, thanks, I–
Clint: Don’t worry, I’m not hittin’ on you. I do learn, sometimes. Buthere, let me– huh? Quicksilver. Still showboatin’, eh, Pietro?
Pietro: Still tired of waiting for those whose minds move at a crawl, Barton. I see your time away didn’t improve your manners.
Clint: Aw, you’re just jealous you didn’t get to go.
Pietro: Why, you–
FromAvengers Volume 3 #01 (Kurt Busiek & George Pérez)
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![JLA/Avengers #1 - Book One: A Journey Into Mystery (September 3, 2003)[AKA Avengers/JLA #1]Written b](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d23f639d97eb4cfa9bae25b05405edcf/2c147d6bae529139-64/s1280x1920/7e2722f58f8fd37f8ce817dcea7957aeba49b310.png "JLA/Avengers #1 - Book One: A Journey Into Mystery (September 3, 2003)[AKA Avengers/JLA #1]Written b")
JLA/Avengers #1 - Book One: A Journey Into Mystery (September 3, 2003)
[AKA Avengers/JLA #1]
Written by: Kurt Busiek
Artist [pencils & inks] by: George Pérez [rest in peace]
Colorist & separator by: Tom Smith
Lettered by: Comicraft
Edited by: Tom Brevoort (Marvel editor), Mike Carlin & Dan Raspler (DC editors), Andy Schmidt & Marc Sumerak (Marvel assistant editors), Stephen Wacker (DC assistant editor)
Published by: Marvel and DC Comics
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That was a perfectly good opportunity for an “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE” and he didn’t go for it. I’m not sure if I should admire Clint’s restraint or shake my head.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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Good job staying stealthy, guys. This is what I figure crawling through ducts is actually like anyway. You try to be all quiet but everything goes THUNKTHUNKTHUNK every time you move anyway.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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Does this origin sound familiar to anyone? Person of great physical prowess and skill makes a bad choice, but redeems himself with a cause bigger than himself? I don’t think it’s dawned on Clint, but that’s basically his story, just kind of turned inside out.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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Bro, goons are not just to be growing on trees. Save the goons. Seriously, bro.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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Now it’s Clint’s turn to talk and nobody’s paying attention. Typical.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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Have fun with all that exposition, I'ma gonna nom this burger.
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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This is a terrible idea.
Thunderbolts #20, November 1998. Collected in: Thunderbolts Classic - Volume 3 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785162399
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Everybody’s out celebrating the Avengers. Good time to go AWOL from the Avengers and go join everybody’s least favorite superteam. Glutton for punishment, isn’t he?
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986. Thunderbolts #21, December 1998. Collected in: Thunderbolts Classic - Volume 3 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785162399
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Doesn’t even say goodbye, just leaves a note saying “peace out.”
“This running away thing? It's everything about you that sucks.”
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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So… Wanda’s worried about tapping into her connection to Simon, unsure if he’s real or conjured or what. She tries to go without him, but as soon as she gets decked, here comes Simon. Gosh, anybody worried about her having problems controlling her magic?
Avengers Vol. 3 #9, October 1998. Collected in: Avengers Assemble, Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785144986
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From Maximum Security #3 by Kurt Busiek and Jerry Ordway
Little dungeon scene there for you. Close your legs Quasar.
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From Avengers Vol. 3 #35 by Kurt Busiek and John Romita, Jr.
I wanted to make it clear (and this is as good a place as any) that I’m not just going to be posting every single time a hero or heroes is tied up by a villain, that would be ridiculous.
In fact, I may post one that wouldn’t come under the purview of this tumblr just to show the distinction. But not every scene of a hero (or what have you) captured necessarily has any sexual or BDSM undertones.
However, as in the image above, other scenes quite clearly have BDSM undertones. The position of the bodies, the placement of the restraints, I mean, look at Tigra, her breasts and crotch are both exposed.
So no BDSM definition for this post, just a point being made.
Not every scene of comic book defeat is sexual.
But some definitely are.
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And I’ve just finished the Tarnished Angel arc, the whole comic’s been incredible so far and it definitely deserves it’s reputation, but there’s something that popped up during said arc, revolving around the villain of that arc, that I wanted to talk about. Spoilers ahead.
So, a lot of Astro City revolves around archetypes familiar to superhero comics and what influences said comics, and there’s plenty of direct shout-outs to existing creators in the city’s locations, sometimes related to the subject of the stories. A giant mountain called Mount Kirby, a streetpass named after Shuster, Kiefer Square named after Henry C.Kiefer, etc. During the Tarnished Angel arc, we’re following Steeljacket, our ex-con supervillain turned detective, as he’s trying to uncover who’s been killing supervillains in his hometown, and he ends up meeting an old superhero named Hidalgo, who used to be a Zorro / Batman / Oliver Queen type of character. The story hints at Hidalgo’s nature as Steeljacket lists the places he’s crossing before he’s taken to the mansion, referencing both Bob Kane (Batman’s bastard dad), as well as Walter Gibson (The Shadow),
And sidenote, it’s pretty funny that Steeljacket’s meeting this character at a place called Patterson Heights, considering James Patterson would write The Shadow about 25 years after the release of this story. But moving on,
It’s revealed that Hidalgo used to be a great hero who was distraught and tormented over his repeated failings and unpopularity and his growing awareness of his own problems, so he ended up hatching a plan. He had a mad scientist enemy of his named The Assemblyman create a giant rampaging robot he could easily defeat to win back the crowd;
(Man, that scientist’s haircut and goggles sure look familiar…)
It didn’t work, people died, and his involvement was discovered, which led to his downfall. Eventually Steeljacket encounters a mysterious robotic supervillain by the name of Conquistador, who’s been hiring villains from Steeljacket’s hometown Kiefer Square for one big job across the entire city. He very quickly figures out that it’s Hidalgo setting up a trap, and later, Hidalgo tells him he intends to kill all the villains under his employ in order to make a grand debut under a new identity.
Eventually Steeljacket holds him off long enough for the heroes to arrive and stop him for good and so on. But just to recap here, here’s the story of Hidalgo / El Hombre / Conquistador:
He used to be a heroic masked vigilante who fought crime on the streets, explicitly modeled after the pulp heroes who would most heavily influence urban superheroes like Batman, but who eventually committed great failings and/or underwent terrible tragedies that caused them to “die”, in ways figurative and literal, and eventually be reborn as cybernetic supervillains.
(Images from Al Ewing’s El Sombra trilogy, and Venture Bros)
Is this enough of a pattern for this to be a thing? I don’t know why this keeps coming up, nevermind those times the actual Shadow was turned into a cyborg or was seemingly used as a basis for cyborg characters
(Pictures from Bob Morane and Yu-Gi-Oh)
(Covers from Andy Helfer’s Shadow run and Masks 2)
Why this? Why cyborgs specifically keep cropping up in these contexts? Wouldn’t vampires or ghosts make more sense? What is it with Dark Avenger pulp heroes and killer cyborgs?
Something’s going on, man.
The Autumnlands: Tooth & Caw #4, out this week! Wednesday, February 18th.
Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey, Comicraft and myself!
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The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw #3 out this Wednesday, January 21st!
Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey, myself and Comicraft!
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