Okay, this Saturday’s light-hearted, escapist superhero blog post will take a look at Marvel Comics’ neglected figure It, the Living Colossus.
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #14 (February 1961)
Title: I Created the Colossus
Villains: The Kigor, an alien
NOTE: It the Living Colossus was created by Stan Lee, his brother Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby
Synopsis: We are introduced to Boris Petrovsky in the Soviet Union. He is a dissident artist whose brother Ivan, a Party official, had Boris canceled for his pro-freedom views. Ivan also had his brother detained for “reeducation” and was forcing him to create a huge statue glorifying the Soviet Union to show that he had abandoned his insurrectionist beliefs.
Defiant to the last, Boris instead used the months-long period to craft a menacing, horrifying face on the mammoth statue to show how he REALLY perceived the communist government. Shortly before Ivan was due to arrive to inspect the finished statue a spaceship crash-landed near Moscow.
The sole occupant of the alien vessel was a member of the Kigor race, large crab-like creatures of great intelligence who walked erect. Outnumbered on a hostile planet, the Kigor used its alien technology/ powers to transfer its mind into the enormous statue to try surviving.
Whether via technology or radiation treatments or some other method, the Kigor made the statue capable of movement as though it was a living being who had skin and muscles made of other-worldly stone. It’s a comic book, just go with it.
Ivan Petrovsky arrived to see the statue moving around on its own and called in the military. The statue, soon labeled It, the Living Colossus in languages around the world, fought back against the army, tanks and aircraft. It rampaged through Moscow like a kaiju monster stomping Tokyo. Continue reading
For this Saturday’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post, here’s a look at the gamma-powered Doc Samson, a potentially great character that Marvel Comics never quite managed correctly. 
INCREDIBLE HULK Vol 1 #141 (July 1971) 
In a laboratory, Dr. Samson triggers the restrained Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, and uses his Cathexis Ray Generator to drain all of that gamma energy from him, curing Bruce of being the Hulk permanently. Next, Samson uses a tiny fraction of the stored gamma energy to turn Betty Ross back into her normal human state. 
Well, after last week’s 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #58 (January 1976) 
This blog post will review the first meeting of Conan and Belit, then Marvel’s depiction of their first shared adventure (featuring an imaginative “fan theory” regarding why Conan was also called Amra) and finally, the sorrowful finale of the longest romance of our Cimmerian’s life. 
The Marvel Comics run of stories based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan character from 1970-1993 helped maintain the character’s place in the public consciousness after the end of the Pulp Magazine era. 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #46 (January 1975) 
Before long he passes through the village of Sfanol, where he sees the inhabitants about to burn at the stake a beautiful young woman named Stefanya. 
Our hero saves Stefanya from this fate and learns she was being burned for her service to the late sorcerer Zoqquanor now that he is no longer alive to protect her. The panicked woman tells Conan that they must retrieve Zoqquanor’s body from the ruins of his castle, which was leveled by the same superstitious villagers who tried to burn her alive. 
Marvel has let it be known that they will be doing a Thor vs Hercules clash for the next Thor movie as they at last move the Marvel Comics version of Hercules into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY ANNUAL Vol 1 #1 (October 1965) 
The story opens up like a few other old Norse myths, with Thor and Loki on fairly friendly terms and traveling together in search of adventure. While trying to make their very first visit to the realm of the Greco-Roman gods on Mount Olympus they encounter a few Frost Giants and easily defeat them. 
ONE – While Marianne Rodgers is plagued by psychic visions, Iron Man has his first clash with the enigmatic Black Lama. The Lama’s powerful disciple Raga the Son of Fire rampages through California. Click 
Sorry about this being late. I’ve had a bit of a relapse. Balladeer’s Blog’s look at 1970s Iron Man classics comes to a close with this review of the Return of the Mandarin storyline leading up to the hero’s 100th issue anniversary. For Part One of these Iron Man 1970s classics click 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #95 (February 1977) 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #79 (October 1975) 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #75 (June 1975) 
Per the Black Lama’s ongoing War of the Supervillains, Modok plans to kill his first opponent the Mad Thinker (at right) then take on the war’s frontrunner – the Yellow Claw. Modok tosses aside the defeated and unconscious Iron Man, 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #73 (March 1975) 
The married couple ask their boss about his recent trip to San Diego, and Tony tells them about his battle with 
Balladeer's Blog 