The Six Million Dollar Man & MACH 1 - Origins

Let's compare & contrast the origins of the two premier artificially induced supermen of the Bronze Age, as suggested this time by pal of this here blog Nefarious Neil Hansen ( or Friend Of Old Bronze Age as I'm now calling you lot. We're completely FOOBA, every one of us! )
The Six Million Dollar Man magazine was from Charlton, by way of Continuity Associates, or in other words Neal Adams & Dick Giordano, and though it was short-lived ( 7 issues and out ), it was all solid stuff, with some magnificent covers. Not to mention better special effects than the TV show.
Here's Steve Austin's origin, courtesy of uncredited Continuers, and Charlton's hardest working writer, the ubiquitous Joe Gill. Race you round the playground in slow motion.

Pat Mills, of course, never met a TV show he couldn't do a harder, cooler, nastier version of.
Initially, to me at least, MACH 1 actually seemed like the least interesting of the early 2000AD's strips, being as it was absolutely the most derivative. John Probe, the secret agent with the vaguely porn star sounding name, was of course Steve Austin crossed with Deathlok, except he was British and he got to kill people.
Later on, of course, the strip rang the changes with the introduction of the Hulk-like Mach Zero, and Probe himself started to question just who and what he was busting a gut for, particularly in a superb serial where his sleazy boss killed a couple of friendly aliens.
But before that, we got a series of short, brutal adventures for the Hyper Hero, which very quickly convinced me about this guy, being as they were increasingly similiar in tone to Dredger's early exploits over in Action. In fact, clearly I was wrong by dismissing Probe out of hand as, if anybody was the inheritor of nasty, vicious two-fisted action from Action's secret agent, it was him.
And looking back on his adventures now, I can't help going 'Ah yeah! Remember the one where he kills the guy with one karate chop to the neck?!'

Neal Adams' One Hungers

If you've been reading the comments sections here, especially in the Lady Cop post of a few days ago, you know we've been talking about long lost comics, those issues you might only remember a couple of panels of, and that have driven you mad for years trying to figure out what they were.
Our pal Turbo Ghost, for instance, has three like that:
There's two that may've appeared in House Of Mystery or House Of Secrets, one about a mermaid in a wheelchair who shows up in a small harbour town, and who everyone loves until they see a movie about a woman who controls a sea serpent, so they turn on her.
That sounds to me like it may be two stories mixed up, but I could be wrong.
The other is a winter murder mystery where a guy dresses up as a snowman to get a confession from the suspected killer.
But the one from TG that really intrigued me was a piece involving waterfalls, cavemen, and a blob-like creature that feeds on screams....
Found it! It's One Hungers, from the 2nd issue of Tower Of Shadows, and it's by Neal Adams. Come on, I'm good, ain't I?
Still working on the other two, but if they do ring a bell with anyone, obviously let us know, and if you've been driven mad by a half-remembered comic, let us know that too. You never know, if I can't find it, maybe somebody else can...

Solomon Kane: Hills Of The Dead Part 1

Here's the first part of one of the best Solomon Kane stories, adapted by Alan Weiss, Neal Adams and some guy called Roy Thomas.
As I say repeatedly to anyone who'll listen, Alan Weiss should've spent his entire career drawing Solomon Kane, then the world as a consequence would now be a much brighter and happier place.

Neal Adams' A View From Without

A View From Without was first published in a semi-underground called Phase in 1971, published by Hot Stuf's Sal Quartuccio, then picked up by Roy Thomas for the first issue of Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction.
It's Bronze Age Neal Adams at the peak of his powers, and as statement on the Vietnam war ( then still ongoing ), it's incredibly visceral and maybe a little bit shrill, depending on your taste.
It was too much for some people, as seen by UWOSF's letters page:

But looked at purely as technique, it's pretty mind blowing ( which was, of course, the point ). And Neal as the alien looks like he's stepped out of La Jetee.

Batman & Enemy Ace: Ghost Of The Killer Skies

I'm back! D'ya Miss me?
And we're returning with an absolute belter. Batman meets Enemy Ace by Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams? Oh, hell yeah. Rush me my ticket, I am over 18, as they used to say. Sadly, this tribute to Kanigher & Kubert's WW1 anti-hero doesn't quite play fair, and Bats doesn't really adventure with The Hammer Of Hell. At least, not how we'd like them to.
So it's a bit of a missed opportunity here. After all, when Bob Haney had to get Bats and Sgt. Rock together in the pages of Brave & The Bold, he just did it, and ignored continuity. ( And don't bother telling me that was the Earth 2 Batman - you know Bob couldn't care less about that ).
However, this one is still a lot of fun.
And isn't it weird how many movie projects Bruce found time to get personally involved in?