IMAGINE IF YOU WILL - STEVE DITKO REVIVES - MACHINE MAN !!!

Image if you will, a Jack (New Gods) Kirby comic book. Then image that comic revived by -- Steve (Mr. A) Ditko. What a treat! That's what we experienced with Machine Man. Originally, Jack Kirby brought us Machine Man from the pages of his 2001 A Space Odyssey #8, first as X-51 which evolved into Mister Machine. Marv (Teen Titans) Wolfman & Ditko took over Jack Kirby's Machine Man series with issue #10.

Jack Kitby's last issue of Machine Man, inked by Bob Layton!

X-51 was originally designed to be a killer as part of a US Army project to build robot soldiers. He had solar powered batteries built into his exoskeleton. All of the other robots in the series went insane after gaining sentience, while X-51, who has been called "the Robot with a soul", survived. He was raised as the human son of his creator, Dr. Abel Stack, who later died in an attempt to protect his "son" from a bomb intended for him.

First we catch up with Machine Man appearing in the Incredible Hulk comic book, with a great surprise!

Incredible Hulk #234  Battleground: Berkeley!
"Battleground: Berkeley"
Hulk is crashing with friends at Berkeley when the Corporation sends a fake Machine Man to make off with one of his chums.
Written by Roger Stern with Sal Buscema & Jack Abel art and Al Milgrom cover.

There is a question whether Ditko worked on this cover!

Incredible Hulk #235  The Monster and the Machine!
"The Monster and the Machine"
Written by Roger Stern with art by Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito with an Al Milgrom & surprise - Steve Ditko cover!

Incredible Hulk #236  Man Monster vs. Machine Man! Kill or Be Killed!
"Kill or Be Killed"
Hulk & Machine Man versus Curtis Jackson.
Written by Roger Stern with art by Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito with an Al Milgrom cover.

Incredible Hulk #237  When a City Dies!
"When a City Dies"
Hulk and Machine Man rescue Starr from Jackson.
Written by Roger Stern with Sal Buscema & Jack Abel art.
Machine Man next app. in Machine Man #11, Hulk next app. in Hulk #13-16 and Incredible Hulk Annual #8.

Machine Man #10   All New! All Different! Birth of a Super-Hero!
"Renewal"
Written by Marv (Tomb of Dracula) Wolfman with Steve Ditko art. 
Story continued from The Incredible Hulk #237.
Letters section includes an announcement of Machine Man's revival and Steve Ditko's return to Marvel.

Machine Man #11  Battle with the Binary Bug!
"Byte of the Binary Bug"
Written by Marv Wolfman with Steve Ditko art.  

Machine Man #12 
"Where Walk the Gods"
Written by Marv Wolfman with Steve Ditko art.

Machine Man #13  Xanadu! Kublai Khan Commands "Bring me the Body of Aaron Stack!""
"Xanadu"
Written by Marv Wolfman with Steve Ditko art.  

Letters section includes letter from a younger Kurt (Avengers, Astro City) Busiek!

Machine Man #14  Strong! Yes...But in a Way You Never Expected--A Way That Could Destroy Machine Man!
"The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls"
Written by Marv Wolfman with Steve Ditko art.
Cover by John Byrne & Steve Ditko (they work so well together)

Machine Man #15  The Thing and The Torch are Whipped! Now There's Only M.M.!
"Kill Me or Cure Me"
Machine Man. The Thing & The Human Torch versus Ion (Voletta Todd.)
Tom DeFalco takes over the writing chores with Steve Ditko art.
Features The Thing & Human Torch, cameos of Mr. Fantastic & Invisible Girl.

Machine Man #16  Introducing Baron Brimstone and His Sinister Squad and Have You Meet "Gears" Garvin" Yet?
"Baron Brimstone and His Sinister Squad"
Written by Tom DeFalco with Steve Ditko art.
"Gears" Garvin introduced in issue #15.

Machine Man #17  Madam Menace...She'll Tear You Apart!
"Arms and the Robot"
Written by Tom DeFalco with Steve Ditko art.
Machine Man versus Madam Menace (Sunset Bain)
Cover by Rich (Galaxia) Buckler & Al (the other half of Jim Starlin Gemini art) Milgrom (great imitation of Ditko)

Machine Man #18  Enter Sasquatch, North Star and Aurora...Alpha Flight!
"Alone Against Alpha Flight"  
Machine Man & Alpha Flight versus Madam Menace. 
Alpha Flight appears between X-Men #140 and Alpha Flight #1.
Features a Rich Buckler & Dave Simons cover.
Iron Man vs. The Bank Robbers Hostess ad. 

  
Machine Man #19  Complete Your Collection Special!
Features a great Frank Miller cover!
"Jolted by Jack O'Lantern"
First appearance of Jack O'Lantern (Jason Macendale, Hobgoblin II)
Last issue, unfortunately.
Letters section includes letter of comment from Timely-Atlas historian Michael J.Vassallo.
Machine Man's next appearance is in Marvel Team-Up #99.

Marvel Team-Up #99  Baron Brimstone--plus The Sandman--Equal the Worst Possible King of Trouble!
Featured another terrific Frank (Ronin) Miller (positive-negative) cover, still written by Tom DeFalco, but artist Jerry Bingham took over the pencils inked by Mike Esposito. 

"And Machine Man Makes 3"
Mr. Fantastic Hostess ad.
Reprinted in The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man, a terrific hardcover I must say! The cover reprint in this volume is by Frank Miller & Walt (Star Slammers) Simonson!

 

There was also a fantastic Machine Man four issue mini-series from Tom DeFalco, Herb (Phantom Eagle) Trimpe & Barry (Conan) Windsor-Smith. Not only was it reprinted in two issues, as Machine Man 2020, it was also collected into a nice trade paperback. 

I trust you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have. There are few artists in the caliber of Steve Ditko, that's why I enjoy highlighting his awesome work. 

Another full page Ditko masterpiece!

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

BLAST OFF WITH CHARLTON COMICS SPACE: 1999 MAGAZINE !!!

In the TV series Space: 1999, the crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon out of orbit into deep space.

As a tie-in to the hit TV series, Charlton Comics branched out with a fantastic Space: 1999 magazine, targeting an adult market for a change. For that reason, and especially the Gray Morrow art, I highly recommend this series. Writers included Nicola Cuti, Joe Gill & Mike Pellowski. Great artists included Gray (Black Hood) Morrow, Vicente Alcazar, Pat (Peacemaker) Boyette, Dick (Sgt. Fury) Ayers, Adolfo Buylla, Carlos Pino, Carl (Alien Legion) Potts, Doug Beekman & Ed Davis, with beautiful Gray Morrow painted (he did go many wonderful paintings) covers and black & white interiors.

Space:1999 #1
"How Space: 1999 was Born"
"The Last Moonrise"
Introductory story setting the stage for the series. 
"Cornucopia"

An alien ship being pursued by two others is detected, and a flight of Hawks from Alpha are sent to assist. The two pursuers destroy a Hawk and Koenig is forced to retaliate, destroying one ship and crippling the other.
Article on visiting the stars of the hit TV series.
"Endgame"

Koenig's landing party discovers what appears to be a beautiful woman survivor in suspended animation on a ravaged planet.

Space:1999 #2
Article on life on Moonbase Alpha.
"The Possessed"

Investigating an alien derelict spaceship, Alan Carter is taken over by a strange cloud creature and behaves in an odd manner 

"E Pluribus Unum" 

On the seemingly prehistoric planet Volcania. Koenig, Helena and Bergman are captured by an armed force who take them to a vast metropolis.
"The Mind of the Snark"

Moonbase Alpha encouters a space station, the USSS Snark, which apparently broke out of orbit before the Moon's departure but which has been rebuilt on a vast scale and is on a collision course. 

Space:1999 #3
Text article on the moon.
"The Old Gods are not Eternal" 

An Earth-like planet offers more hope to the Alphans but a valley close to the landing site reveals structures identical to the Mayan civilisation.
"Spores" 

Carter leads a flight of Hawks to intercept and destroy a meteor on a collision course, but the missile burst the meteor like a seed pod, dispersing large alien spores over the Moonbase.
"Dawn of Extinction"

On a lighter note, the Alphans are seen socialising with aliens.

Space:1999 #4 
Behind the Scenes, Early Theories on the Universe & Space Suits articles.
"A Lonely Emperor" 

The Moon is approaching planet Epsilon Rudea IV, and conflicting information from Doctors Mastambi and Edwards mean an Eagle mission. 

"Class Determination: Alien Insecta"

Approaching a planet, Alpha is attacked by giant bees which are intercepted by a flight of Hawks. 

"Another Name for Hell"

On a world which can support life but doesn't, Koenig, Helena, Bergman and crewman Lonnie find a strange doorway to nowhere.

Dick Ayers Space: 1999 art! I'd forgotten this gem in the series.

Space:1999 #5
How the Universe Came to Be & Behind the Scenes articles.
"The Strange Ones"

With morale at an all time low on Alpha, the Moon's passage close to a new solar system offers little more hope to the depressed Alphans. This turns out to be more so, as the atmosphere of one Earth-like planet proves to contain a poison which has killed the inhabitants.
"An Alien Charm" 

Investigating a small derelict ship, Koenig finds a beautiful alien woman. 

"Undisturbed"

Strange readings and an ore sample from the Cordillera mountain range leads the Alphans to discover an artificial environment in a vast cave. 
Gray Morrow substituted himself for one of the crew in the story.

Space:1999 #6
Text articles on Mars & Nuclear Power.
"Just Like Home"

Signals from an Earth-like planet the Moon is approaching bring a strange surprise as morale hits a low point on Alpha. 

"Snowball"
Surveying a frozen world which Carter has dubbed 'Snowball', the Eagle comes under attack from giant horned creatures.
"The Paradise Progression..."

On a large asteroid which sustains a habitable atmosphere, Koenig's landing party find two barely clad humanoids - a man, Adan, and a woman, Eva - in a lush paradise.

Space:1999 #7
Articles on Nuclear Power & the Atom.
"The Perpetual Metamorphosis"

A Sky Lab from Alpha encounters an alien satellite and, retrieving it, Alan Carter returns with it for closer examination. A hatch reveals an organic cocoon from which a small creature emerges.
"The Cosmic Headache"

Koenig leads Helena and Bergman on a covert mission into an enclosed city, to discover the fate of an earlier expedition led by Karen Lanford on an Earth-like planet.
"The Infinity Mechanism"  

A spaceship brings a sole alien who claims to be the survivor of a dead world, but on landing Infinity is found to be a cyborg - part organic, part android - from a planet called Xeron. 

Space:1999 #8
Behind the Scenes, Man Made Moons & Scanning the Solar System articles.
"The Metamorph"
Faithful adaptation of the origin of Maya from the 1st episode of the 2nd season.
"The Primary Life Form"
Erratic sensor readings act as a prelude to the arrival of Nucleon, an immortal elemental being with god-like powers. 

It's art like this that I love Vicente Alcazar for!

Nicola Cuti had a comment on the changes in the 2nd season: "I felt it had run out of steam by then and was attempting to rejuvenate itself with the character (of Maya). It is unfortunate, but when the fantastic becomes commonplace then space opera becomes soap opera."
 

The Space: 1999 comic book running at the same time!

Newer Space: 1999 comic book with Gray Morrow art!

 

Original Pay Boyette painting for the cover of the Space: 1999 comic book!

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

Gray Morrow did a number of covers for this great sci-fi series!

Gray Morrow painting for the cover of Illustrated Roger Zelazny!