Set Description:
When the day is all done - I'll I'm interested in here is my sword swingers. So once again, not really competitive to be the top set, as I just don't have that passion - but Kull, Warlord of Mars, and Thongor - yeah. Definitely. I mean, thematically this isn't even really a comic run. First it's here, then it's there, then it's Man-Wolf. Grr. Woof. That's OK, it's the 70s, a lot of runs only made fewer than a dozen issues, right?
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 10 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 10 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0202081005
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Owner Comments
"The Skull of Silence!" OK - let's start with the kudos here: no word bubbles. Of course that makes sense with a title like this. But, let's be honest, we've seen editors do stupider things. An interesting cover by Trimpe & Severin - interesting because it doesn't look that much like a Herb Trimpe drawing. There's a lot of Severin in the image. I do have to say I like it - it's really strong in the pose, left leg planted hard against the pull of the tentacles and supporting a huge backhanded cut with the blade. It really supports the idea that the swing was forceful enough to sever the tentacle near Kull's face. The other thing a really like about the image is Kull's face - like, you can tell he's into it. He's really enjoying the challenge he's facing and the opportunity to cut loose (haha). None of this namby-pamby fighting of men who might be good or might be evil; no, it's full on whack a monster time. The background is simple, but complete enough to set the scene for us. Other barbarians have been here before and failed, Kull will not fail.
The blue sky is a good shade to set the depth of field and make the oranges and pinks of Kull and the beastie come to the forefront of the image - really highlighting the important people. Plus there's pretty good circular flow to the image. Now...the text box. Really? We needed this why? And right on top of the monster? So dumb. Bad editor. You should be beaten with a broadsword.
Overall? Really? I get all this for 15 cents. Yeah - take my money. But don't you disappoint me next month with some pre-hero Marvel reprint.
I'm a big Bernie Wrightson fan - I love his art. To find out why the Skull of Silence was the last story he illustrated for Marvel, even though their page rate was higher, I highly recommend reading about it in his own words in the book, A Look Back : Bernie Wrightson.
I could copy all the text here and I considered doing that, but I think it's best if you want to know that you read it for yourself (starting on page 65 of the paperback version)
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 22 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 22 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2130242001
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Owner Comments
"The Demon of Zangabal!" As bronze age first appearances go - poor Thongor just doesn't get any credit does he? Look at him in all of his Warrior of Lost Lemuria glory! He's totally as cool as Kull, who had his first full appearance just a dozen issues ago. But Thongor just didn't get any traction. It's a little hard to see what Steranko was going for with the cover image - the masthead is a full quarter of the image, and then there's text boxes everywhere muddying up the field. But, we got Thongor and his sword & shield - although his sword is in a weird position and his shield isn't defending him from anyone - and he's protecting our mandatory bikini chick from being sacrificed to the three-headed snake beast & a skeleton with an axe. Nice axe, by the way, and the skeleton has better fighting form than Thongor does. I do really like the detail on our bikini chick & the flaming eye-of-Sauron, cat-demon headed thing in the background. In fact I'm pretty upset by the text circle ruining that part of the image. Thongor looks like he's in a really weird position though. Not just his sword. Part of the problem lies with the stairs/steps/alter being displayed square to the viewer - so it's impossible to tell if his left foot is down one really big step or three small steps - in either instance it feels like a long way to have any balance and it needlessly exposes his unarmored shin. Combined with the weird leaning and the weight of a steel shield - he's really off balance for fighting anything.
Overall - there's a lot going on here, and maybe more of it is good rather than bad - I'm of a mixed opinion on whether or not the cover image would have been enough to separate me from my hard earned 20 cents.
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 23 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 23 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3906730013
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Owner Comments
"The Man-Monster Strikes!" So Romita, much tension. OK - enough joking - it's a really solid cover with a lot of tension in it. I love the way our protagonist is bent nearly in half, but he's still grabbing some sort of iron torch stand and getting ready to ram it down ol' green-boy's throat. I mean, you can't count Thongor out until the fight is all the way done. I'm not impressed with the big "title circle" nor the black box on the cover as they both distracting from the cover image, and ol' mean green isn't super memorable looking as an antagonist, but overall the cover is pretty solid. The use of color is good and the setting in a basement/dungeon is clear - although I'm not sure if Thongor is trying to sneak in or trying to slip out.
Overall? Pretty solid cover that I think would have separated me from my hard earned twenty cents - it looks like something a good GM might try to describe happening at your monthly DnD night and I like it.
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 24 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 24 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0962859010
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Owner Comments
"Attack of the Lizard-Hawks!" - you know because they couldn't just be wyverns or something. Too cerebral that. Or dragon. We wouldn't want to fight dragons in a sword & sorcery book. Night dark wings versus blood red sword, is how it reads...but, the wings are green, with PINK highlights - so that's some interesting night sky they have in Lemuria; but then...wait for it...the blood is black. *seriously* OK - so the editor is an idiot. At best.
But, let's take a look at the cover art, shall we? As much as it might seem counter intuitive, I found that the most important part of the cover image was the little grey beast in the muddy water at the bottom of the image. Why? Well, because I couldn't figure out what the protagonists were doing in a flying car from Buck Rogers, that's why. The metallic color and rivet-like attachment points didn't look like a boat, and the mud didn't look like a liquid. Not until I realized that the grey dude was hip deep in some fluid. Bad color choice for the muddy water, maybe blue would have been better. The green & pink combination on the wyvern is awesome, combined with the bright yellow background it really makes the cover stand out. I bet it looked sweet (if confusing) on the spinner rack. Looking at Thongor and his mighty sword swing - I gotta say I'm happy he's holding on to something on the rocking boat/air car/transport. The sword swing looks strong, if a little overextended - and probably torqueing on that poor arm that is gripping the boat frame. Combined with the wyvern taking a big ol' chomp on his exposed arm - I gotta say, he should be going for a swim. As for the obligatory bikini chick in the background - at least she's a redhead, which is the best. But she looks useless, and massively out of balance. She should be going into the drink as well.
Overall - I think the use of color and the great conflict really outweigh the negatives on this cover. Most likely I would have blown my hard earned 20 cents to take this home from the spinner rack
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 25 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 25 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2130722005
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Owner Comments
"The Wizard of Lemuria!" Thongor just gets no respect from comic collectors. I mean really - he's as cool as Conan or Kull or Red Sonja or Claw (ok maybe not Conan, but also - he doesn't have Roy Thomas scripts & BWS cover art), plus he's totally cooler than say Stalker. OK - nobody likes Stalker. Hey - enough - anyway - here's a sweet cover by Gill Kane, Thongor vs. the Wizzzzard, and it's a pretty solid cover due to the great use of color on an otherwise static cover image. And how exactly is it that the image is both static & busy at the same time? Like there's no sense of motion, not even in Thongor's crouched position, yet there's so much going on with the competing images of the scene and the scene in mirror, that it's busy. Alrighty tho - mirror scenes are difficult for that very reason, so lets look at the primary scene, Thongor v. The Wizz - we got a screaming red castle wall, which is very difficult to push to the background due to color theory stuff, but it works because the Wiz is wearing bright yellow with orange highlights - bringing him to the fore. Thongor's all in his "I'm going to stab your magical ass crouching position" and the Wiz is standing tall in a moment of stabby stabby versus psychobabble wizardry (look at this, you're going to die one day). Yeah, Whatever - like, I'm a barbarian, of course I'm going to die. Plus I get a hot bikini chick to help me at the time of my death. Probably those are the steps from her bedroom and I died of heart failure. You don't frighten me. I'm not so sure about Thongor's crouch though, he looks off-balance, his weight isn't centered as needed for a good thrust into the Wiz's gullet, plus I'm just not sure what is up with his forearm. Not the best positioning for a stab and a totally useless position for a swing. So. Yeah. Hey, lets look at the image in the mirror, although I've already covered it briefly. So - in the mirror Thongor's wearing the same clothes (does he have other clothes?), but he has a different sword? what's up with that? The sword in the main image is a flat blade and the one in the mirror is a diamond blade. Anyway, and then...what is up with the bikini chick? Are those supposed to be a little belly roll? I can't tell and it totally needs to not be there. Very confusing visually.
And finally, words. Like two word bubbles from the Wiz. Totally it could have been one, tucked up above the mirror. The second word balloon really does fight the image.
Overall? I'm going to give this one a maybe on separating me from my hard earned 20 cents based solely on the cover image.
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 26 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 26 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2130722006
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Owner Comments
"Doom of the Serpent Gods!" Okay, if they're supposed to be the serpent gods why the hell does the creature have legs? I mean seriously, WTF? This cover is sooooo Romita its hard to look at. 100% he mailed this in. The obligatory bikini clad damsel in distress looks like utter crap, I'm not sure how her head is attached to her body and I've got serious questions about how she's tied to the post. At least we know now, definitively, that bondage wasn't Romita's kink. Nope. The kindest thing I can say about this cover is that the creature isn't rendered poorly. Everything else is pretty much shite. Normally, I would spend some time discussing Thongor's evident fighting prowess, based on how he's standing and handling his weapons - except there's nothing to say here, that's an all or nothing maneuver that only a total novice would even consider.
Overall - crap. 100% Romita garbage.
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 27 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 27 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3906730009
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Owner Comments
"Demons Dwell in the Crypts of Yamath!" I always thought Vicente did awesome covers. And this is no exception. The awesome strong diagonal of the horizon line with the orange sky is very eye catching, Thongor looks like a menace that I would not like to face in combat, the demons and their asinine horned helmets are a work of beauty - particularly the dude in the foreground who looks terrified, and we have an obligatory damsel in distress in her bikini top and sideless skirt.
If I had to voice a complaint, it would be the sword, which for some reason is in a sword turned at a weird angle in hand so as to bludgeon the demons to death - I mean the cross-piece is 90 degrees to the arm and it should be in line with the arm. That's just kinda not knowing anything about swords. In close-up, it's obvious Thongor has to be careful which way he moves too - otherwise his junk is gonna come flying out of his diaper wrap - I mean, if you could see that much of my groin muscle, something would be peeking out. Seriously.
Overall? Pretty damn awesome and 100% would have separated me from my hard earned twenty cents.
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| Slot: |
Creatures on the Loose 28 |
| Item: |
Creatures on the Loose 28 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3906730008
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Owner Comments
"Against the Hordes of Hell!" There sure is a lot going on in this cover by JR - we're breaking the chains that bind us, and fighting three very ordinary looking horde-lings in armor, while the wizard pitches in to help and the obligatory bikini clad damsel in distress is, uh distressed. I'm not 100% what is going on with Thongor's head, which doesn't appear to be attached to his torso, but he is apparently vocalizing with much enthusiasm as he breaks free - plus he's somehow managed to arm himself before he's free. He's good like that. There's just so much, it's hard to focus on any one thing - so I guess the cover does really manage to depict the chaos of melee. I'm distracted though. I think its the yellow. There's too much yellow in the cover and it is scattered all throughout the image.
I don't know. This is a hard cover to love.
Overall? eh, maybe. Maybe I would have spent my hard earned 20 cents on this.
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