Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Avengers 1959 Saga

 

The New Avengers 10-13 May 2011- August 2011

Story by Brian Michael Bendis art by Mike Deodato and Howard Chaykin

Guess what?  This isn’t one story but two as we bop between the present and 1959.  (which based on the original Marvel stories were only four years before Hulk, Ant-man, Wasp, The Hulk and Thor created their team of the same name)

Following the adventures of Dominic Fortune as we are here, it’s really only the 1959 part we care about. All we need to know about the present The New Avengers are fighting H.A.M.M.E.R agents and Mockingbird is severely injured all of which are drawn by Mike Deodato.  We flashback to 1959 and Nick Fury with Dum-Dum Dugan form a black ops team with Sabretooth, Namorita, Sergei Kraven, Ulysses Bloodstone, Ernst Sablinova (Silver Sable) and Dominic Fortune.  This black ops team attack a Nazi base in Sweden where Red Skull has been reported to be located.  When the team attacks Skull’s base, a fake Captain America appears.  It appears that the Nazis also wanted their own supersoldier and made a serum as well as the infinity formula, making the recipient super strong, bullet proof and immortal. 1959 members of the Avengers Initiative stop the phony Captain America and retrieve the hybrid serum.

If you guessed that Fury busts out the confiscated serum and gives to it to Mockingbird.  Yay! No tie-in to what happened in Hawkeye & Mockingbird though.

It is nice that it ties back to Web of Spiderman 71 & 72 telling us how Fortune met Silver Sable’s father.


 

Avengers 1959 1-5 December 2011-March 2012

Story and Art by Howard Chaykin

The New Avengers story must have done well and/or fired by Chaykin’s creative juices as it came out fairly quickly after that original story.

We open with the first Avengers 1959 team celebrating their success before they go their own ways.  Ernst Sable and Ulyssess Bloodstone are off to the Savage Land for a spot of hunting.  Kraven and Sabretooth have an altercation over Namorita and after shooting Sabretooth, the couple decide that they should leave for their health.

That’s where we flash to Lousie Mason The Domino Lady -  Chaykin has her undercover spying on a rogue Nazi named Skul posing as his girlfriend.  There’s a nice visual that she is in red lingerie and wearing black framed glasses that suggest her red dress – domino mask combo.  (Now I want to do a Domino Lady/Blonde Phantom story).

A group of assassins with a Skull logo try to kill Fury, Namorita, Kraven, Dominic Fortune and Sabretooth and set up diplomatic relations with Wakanda.

Strangely the assassination attempts upset their targets and along with some other intelligence from an Englishman Powell McTeague that Skul is setting up his neo-Nazi attacks from Latveria.  Fury and Blonde Phantom investigate Skul while Fortune, Sabretooth, Kraven and Namorita attack one of Skul’s ships carrying Nazi supervillains Baron Blood and Brain Drain.  Magic Nazi pirates.  What more do I have to say.

McTeague acts and dresses like John Steed, which I guess is a fun nod to The Avengers TV series.

There’s a plot for a Nazi sympathiser to take over America but The Avengers manage to stop him with a little bit of Magic.

It’s a fun tale with several Nazi supervillains as well as magic.  Fortune doesn’t do much which was a surprise.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Hawkeye & Mockingbird 1-6 Widowmaker 1-4 August 2010 to April 2011

 

UGGGGHHHHH I am over Dom 3 let's just do the last two stories in one post.

Written by Jim McCann Art by David Lopez

And Dom 3 is back working for Mockingbird’s World Counterterrorism Agency or WCA for short (get it, get it, WCA like West Coast Avengers that Hawkeye and Mockingbird were members.)

The Phantom Rider is back and there is terrorism with William “Crossfire” Cross.  Ghostly shenanigans occur and Mockingbird is reminded of when she killed the original Phantom Rider in some timey-wimey stuff back in the West Coast Avengers.

Dom’s grown an Errol Flynn moustache which is a nice touch and he has a flirty relationship with Mockingbird.

Issue one has a history of Hawkeye and Mockingbird going back to their first appearances in the 60s and 70s but the story hints that Mockingbird’s debut as The Huntress took place only ten years ago.

This story feels too superhero for Dominic Fortune and with three different teams (Sable/Fortune, Vanguard and now WCA) it feels like there was no real plan for Dom 3.

Dom does a little bit in this series but look at the title of the series – most of the cool stuff has Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

We do have a revelation in issue 6 – that Dom 3 is actually Dom 1, he’d taken the version of the super-soldier serum that Bobbi Morse worked on and turned Ted Sallis into Man-Thing.  He was initially amnesiac and then recovered but the unstable serum is starting to wear off and he wants Bobbi to help him.

I wanted to like this but the whole Dom 3 as a de-aged original Dom just doesn’t work there’s nothing in the earlier appearances to make that work and ugh sliding timescale.

It just feels like things are being thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

Next up is Widowmaker – a cross over with Hawkeye & Mockingbird with Black Widow.


 

Widowmaker 1-4 

Written by Jim McCann (1& 3) Dwayne Swierczynski (2&4) Art by David Lopez (1&3) Manuel Garcia (2&4)

Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune team up with Natasha Romanov, Black Widow to investigate the death of several spies around the world by Ronin.

Blah, Blah, Blah – looks like we’ve forgotten the revelations from Hawkeye and Mockingbird that were revealed only the month before.  Dom is just there in the background, he tells Natasha that he met another blonde Black Widow, which means that Vangard is continuity with this.  Ugh, I can’t even I’ve over Dom 3– checks comics – thank goodness no more Dom 3 as revitalised classic Dom. Marvel never really seemed to know what to do with the young contemporary Dominic Fortune.  Sable and Fortune started well but the plane started nosediving with the nonsensical Vangard and couldn’t recover with next two mini-series.

So here’s the scenario – Marvel calls me in and says hey Brad we want to do a contemporary Dominic Fortune set in the Marvel universe – what do you want to do?

I say two words Howard Chaykin.  But seriously, here’s the plan we reveal that the new Dominic Fortune is Daniel Fortunov, the son of Jerry Fortunov and the original’s grandson. After the death of Jerry and bringing Wolfgang Von Lundt, the old man moves in to help raise his grandchildren. (To avoid confusion, I will refer to the Dominics by their birthnames – David, Jerry and Daniel)

David trains all his grandchildren to make up for what happened to their father.  The younger Sabbath Raven breaks out of jail and kidnaps young Daniel – David rescues him and Daniel swears he will become the new Dominic Fortune. 

I’d keep Sable and Fortune in continuity and get rid of Vangard, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, and Widowmaker.  I’d give him his own series of miniseries and oneshots that have him troubleshooting.  Have him as the guy the other heroes call when they are stuck  or have to be on the other side of the universe stopping Galactus or some such.  He investigates industrial espionage at Stark Enterprises, bodyguarding family members, bidding against Heroes for Hire for jobs. 

You could make Sabbath II and Silver Sable rivals set them up as the angel and the devil on his shoulder.

Have Old Man Dom serve a similar role to Wildcat mentoring some of the younger members of the hero community as well as Dom III

I know it’s wacky but have a plan for the character.

Next up is two Avengers 1959 stories by Howard Chaykin (thank you Mr Chaykin for coming back) and the final appearance to date of Dominic Fortune.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Dominic Fortune Max 1-4 October 2009 – January 2010

 



Art and story by Howard Chaykin

Hoo boy, Chaykin is back baby!  Inject this right in my veins.  It opens during the Paraguay- Boliva War and Fortune mentions that he has done three tours, two for Paraguay who he is flying for at the end of the war in 1935 (presumably he was in for the entire three years of the war) and with the war ending he is looking for new work.  Dom points out that he is not a patriot and politics, religion or nationality don’t drive him.  He is after the money. 

He met Delatriz Betancourt, also flying for Paraguay and she might have an offer for him. Delatriz, the descendant of Confederate soldiers who moved to South America, is flirty and distracts Dom enough that he gets shot down and parachutes in the hotel pool, which is surrounded by several ladies in various states of undress.  Chaykin is using the adult Max line to his advantage (just as he did in the magazine lines for many of Dom’s original appearances.)

However, that opportunity dries up when Delatriz and her business colleague Malcolm Upshaw discover that Dominic Fortune is Jewish.

However, one of the naked ladies was Heather Fontaine and when Dom gets back to LA, they begin an affair.  Fontaine’s husband, Irwin Oppenheim, a studio executive, hires Dom to baby sit three of his big stars -Jock Madison, Vaughn Lorillard and P.T. Oakley.  (disguised versions of John Carridine, Errol Flynn and, W.C. Fields) when they go to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics. 

Fortune discovers that Upshaw and Delatriz are both working with the Germans and a rogue American army unit to kill the President.  Fortune steals a plane and lands in time to rather forcefully stop the army unit with the plane’s propellor and fight hand to hand with Upshaw saving the President.

This was a great romp with several fun fights and some rather adult scenes and scenarios.  There is a lot of anti-Semitism thrown around but that was not uncommon for the time and it fit with villains who were happy allying themselves with Nazis.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Astonishing Adventures: Dominic Fortune 1-6 April – September 2009

 


Written by Dean Motter Art by Greg Scott

This originally appeared as a digital comic and was only collected in Dominic Fortune: It can happen here and now along with Howard Chaykin’s Dominic Fortune Max series and reprints of the stories from Marvel Preview 2 and Marvel Premiere #56 and a Who’s Who Entry for Dominic Fortune. 

I’ve done the reprints earlier and I’ll look at the Who’s Who at the end of this review, with the Max series next.

The story opens in 1936, Dom is working as a test pilot/private eye out of an office in Los Angeles.  Fortune is hired by Amanda Maclain to investigate the death of her sister. The investigation takes them to:

· New York where they encounter Howard Stark, Dr Myron McClain;

· Germany where they meet Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, Johan Schmidt, Baron Helmut Zemo;

· Latveria: Werner von Doom;

· Wakanda: T’Chaka;

· Casablanca: Fortune’s friend Rick is able to get them letters of transit;

· Lord Robert Plunder is mentioned.

And involves the Nazis and Stark trying to obtain Vibranium.

Rick is of course Rick Blaine from the movie Casablanca.

Howard Stark is the father of Tony Stark (Iron Man).

Johan Schmidt would later become the Red Skull and along with the Barons von Strucker and Zemo enemies of Captain America and Nick Fury.

Werner von Doom is the father of Doctor Doom.

T’Chaka is the father of T’Chala his successor as The Black Panther.

Lord Robert Plunder is the father of Lord Kevin Plunder Ka-Zar.

The crash of the Hindenberg is mentioned in issue #4.

It’s a total ride through the Marvel Universe of the 1930s and a lot of fun.

The art is quite nice with sketchy style and a pastel colour scheme.  It’s a nice story that really cements Dom in the 1930s.  The story ends with Sabbath Raven offering Dom to come and live on the Mississippi Queen.

 

The Who’s Who article gives us a good recounting of the stories up until the Vanguard story giving us Dominic Fortune’s history mentioning Jerome’s brief time as Dominic Fortune and the appearance of the third Dominic Fortune.  The stats tell us that that his family consisted of Wife (unnamed, deceased), Jerome (son, deceased), Betty (Daughter-in-law), daughter, two grandsons and a granddaughter (all unidentified).  Where did we learn about the daughter? I don’t know.  I’ve read all the stories and there was no mention of a daughter.

Monday, January 22, 2024

“Vanguard” in Marvel Comics Presents 1-12, November 2007- October 2008

 

Story by Marc Guggenheim and Art by Dave Wilkins

This is an usual one.  I’m not a big fan of the story which involves the investigation of the murder of a man nobody can identify but witnesses saw the Watcher, Mr Fantastic turns up, and someone tries to kill, Stacy Dolan, the cop investigating and she is rescued by Vanguard, a covert group consisting of Blade, Micromax, Yelena Belova, Dominic Fortune and Retcon.  Dom appears at the end of part 4 and the team is introduced in part 5. I’m guessing the Sable and Fortune agency didn’t work out.

The murdered man was codenamed Colonel America and was an attempt to create a telepathic supersoldier after Captain America. Turns out the Colonel is so powerful he has controlled his aging and the whole thing was done to prevent the fact that there was a clandestine team of super powered individuals. 

That idea might fly in a story set in the real world but in the Marvel Universe, where the Avengers and the Fantastic Four are running around, this simply doesn't work.  It’s like saying that the US has a covert team of special forces soldiers, I’d be more shocked if they didn’t.

And given the eight pages given to the story in each issue, not much happens. And aside from Dom rescuing the detective in parts 4 and 5 (shown from different perspectives) he doesn’t do much.

There is a nice bit were people keep calling Blade Wesley, but I can’t recommend this story.

It just feels like nobody knew what to do with Dom 3 and he was on a list of characters Guggenheim could use.

Saturday, January 6, 2024

Sable and Fortune 1-4 March to June 2006

 






Written by Brendan Cahill and art by John Burns (1-3) and Lauren McCubbin (4)

So there’s a new Dominic Fortune in town for this story.  Is he a new person taking the name? Is he the original deaged?  Let’s read and see.

The story opens with Silver Sable on a mission that goes wrong and it’s part of a string of failed missions.  Sable is furious and dissolves the Wild Pack certain she has a traitor or two. She tracks down a missing team member and finds the phrase “Single Malt Sunrise”.

She’s off to his last known location in Monte Carlo where she hears someone else try to order a Single Malt Sunrise.  Turns out it’s Dom, and if it’s a new guy he’s just as good a gambler as the original.

He introduces himself and Sable says “Wait..Dominic Fortune? As in Brigand, adventurer? Circa 1930? That Dominic Fortune? The years have been kind. “

Dom’s response “You might say that.” Neither gives a hint that they worked together 20 years ago (as seen in Web of Spider-man 71 & 72).

Dom reveals that he got to Sable’s contact before he was killed and can tell her where her rogue agents are.  Agreeing to work with him, Sable and Fortune rescue a kidnap victim but are being watched by our criminal masterminds, the kidnap victims are important.  There ends issue 1.

Issue 2

Turns out the kidnap victims are Manchurian Candidates – brainwashed to become killers with the right command and someone has given the command to the hostage they have rescued.  He attacks the pair but they knock him out and offer him the chance to help as computer support. They track a suspect and as Dom does the sneaky stuff as Sable provides a distraction, but Dom gets caught and shot as Sable jumps out the window to catch the data that Dom has stolen.  There ends issue 2.

Whew after that cliffhanger, Sable catches the data, shoots a grappling line and rescues Dom.  Jasper the rescued kidnap victim, works to decode the heavily encrypted data. They discover the network of Manchurian Candidates and the location of the handover to the buyer.

Jasper tags along and we discover that “Single Malt Sunrise” is a verbal trigger for the condition and he attacks Sable and Fortune, allowing the villains to mount an offensive. Sable and Fortune manage to stop the triggering of all the agents and destroy the laptop. Dominic gets caught on camera and the pair decide to form a partnership using Dominic’s goodwill for the rescue caught on camera  and Sable’s knowledge and contacts.

That’s where issue 3 ends and issue 4 opens with Dom meeting a woman in a bar, she tells him she lost her job in marketing and he tells her about his boss (Silver Sable) and how they tracked down the final few sleeper agents.  And wouldn’t you know it, the woman in the bar is the final assassin they have to track down.  They deactivate the programming and Dom suggests that they hire her as their new marketing manager.

The End.

It appears that there were some problems with the miniseries, Issue 1 was labelled as 1 of 6 but issue 2 was 2 of 4. And the fourth and final issue had a different artist.

The letter column in issue three says that “circumstances dictated the miniseries be cut down but the final two issues were a stand alone story.”  And that John Burns had to return to the UK for pressing matters. No further details were given.

I’m ok with the shortening of the miniseries – sales may not have justified running the full 6 issues.  I do have more of an issue with the replacement for John Burns.

Burns is a UK artist who worked on many comic strips based on TV series like UFO, Dr Who, Mission Impossible, Magnum as well as stories in 2000 AD and Judge Dredd and most interesting to me Modesty Blaise.  For this series he has a painted realist style that just looks lovely.  Burns just recently announced his retirement.

Stylistically McCubbin couldn’t be more different.  I’m not saying it’s a bad style (and I am intrigued by Quit City that she drew for Warren Ellis’ Apparat line of comics) but it is a very different style.  More cartoony, abstract and expressionistic.  Where Burns paints, McCubbin uses heavy lines.  Burns uses a dark and rich palette, McCubbin (and her colourist) use pastels.  It’s a tonal whiplash and while I wasn’t asking for an artist who imitates Burns, I would have preferred one that had a closer aesthetic.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Marvel Super-Heroes Fall Special #3 “Who Saves the Hero?” September 1990

 



Story by Danny Fingeroth and Art by Gary Hartle and Tony DeZuniga.

CBR runs an occasional series “Foundationed Deep” which talks about connections between characters so stuff like Bruce Wayne was the first Robin, Wolverine knew Captain America in World War 2 and had helped Peter Parker’s parents on a mission.

This is a story about how Dominic Fortune had met Captain America and how their lives interacted.  It’s a nice story and given that it doesn’t have a connection to the Steele saga it appeared 3 months before the final Web of Spiderman stories I decided to talk about it after that two parter.

The story opens with Captain America foiling truck hijacking and getting assistance from Dominic Fortune. Both Cap and Old Man Dom recognise each other having met a couple of times. 

And we flashback to the early 1930s and a gang of bullies are picking on scrawny Stevie Rogers and Davey Fortunov rescues him.  The bullies are scared of Davey and run off.

We then jump forward to 1940 and Stevie is watching newsreel footage of Dominic Fortune and recognises Davey Fortunov.  At the same time Fortune is being recruited by Phillips (who I presume was played by Tommy Lee Jones in Captain America: The First Avenger) for Project Rebirth. 

As Fortune is tested, there is a discussion about his suitability as a candidate for the project.   One thing discussed here is the fact that he is Jewish and how that would be a big propaganda win against Hitler, but that America might not be ready for a Jewish hero, not that anyone was prejudiced you know.  But ultimately his moral character is lacking, he gambles and is living in sin with Sabbath Raven, so we head to the next candidate.

Wouldn’t you know it Stephen Rogers gets the call up. As Steve is being tested, Dom is showing Sabbath where he was staying and wouldn’t you know it Nazi saboteurs try to kill young Rogers and Fortune comes to the rescue.  One of the soldiers commandeers Sabbath’s car (Sabbath is depicted with red hair rather than her usual black hair).

Sabbath goes to help Dom and after another Nazi attack Rogers goes back to help Dom and Sabbath.  The cavalry arrives and Rogers takes the supersoldier serum and becomes Captain America. 

We then see Sabbath and Dom watching a newsreel of Captain America and recognising Steven Rogers.

The story ends with Fortune chasing off another gang of bullies and Captain America finding him – the pair then catch up over a malted milk.

This is a nice little story that adds Dominic Fortune into the history of Captain America.

(I consider this the second story in the Secret History of Captain America Trilogy – the other 2 being Doc Savage/The Shadow – The Case of the Shrieking Skeletons and The Sting of the Green Hornet)