Mark Gruenwald: C/D

C: DP7 and other new U work, Capwolf and indeed the Cap run in general, short Quasar stories, Marks Remarks columns.

D: Squadron Supreme

Both: Longer Quasar stories which tended to bite off more than then could chew, cosmically.

I am very fond of his writing, it was continuity-obsessed hackwork in the best and most loving way, guaranteed solid (if occasionally corny) entertainment every month. Sometimes the entertainment was unintentional but it was entertainment nonetheless.

S: The scene in DP7 #2 or #3 where Jeff accidentally pulls off the index fingers of a bunch of paramilitary types while disarming them at super-speed.

DP7 in general is probably the best of his work, but I'd have to reread it.

His best Cap stories would make a good collection, too, although the otherwise good "Captain America -- fired!" storyline is marred by a) the difficult-to-believe John Walker character (making the new Captain a Reagan-era superpatriot is a good idea, but writing a believable and non-cartoonish one would have been even better) and b) the ham-handed attempts to be timely with militia groups, etc. Even then: its faults are no worse than the hundreds of issues of Cap that came before the run, and it's hard to fault someone too heavily for being "not better enough."

Also Classic: his reign as editor on various titles, and his coordination of the Avengers titles at a time when "coordinating multiple related titles" wasn't yet a common editorial job. Various touches here and there actually made it seem like WCA, Avengers, and Solo Avengers (and didn't he edit Iron Man, too, at the same time?) were taking place simultaneously instead of in their own little corners -- without actually needing to cross over like the bloat-era Batman/Superman/X-Men titles.

He was "Executive Editor" for a bit, but I was never entirely sure what that meant, unless it was code for "make sure the EiC doesn't fuck up." (I know when Roy Thomas was given the EiC job, he could choose his own title between those two, so maybe Exec Ed really was a sneaky way of patching up the work of whoever was EiC.)

Actually though his Cap run in general was good his final 'saga' with Cap dicking around in a suit of patriotic armor was a stinker, the work of a man trimming his style to fit a perceived new readership he plainly wasn't comfortable with.

S: David beating the snot out of Stephanie's abusive husband and the subsequent tongue-lashing she gives him for interfering with her family.

There are lots of good ethical conundra in the early issues of DP7. I don't know whether it was Gruenwald's intention or not* but re-reading it leader-guy Randy did come across as well-meaning but totally patronising (like most 'everyman' superheroes might when the 'every' aspect includes whiteness, maleness and a degree of economic privilege).

*it definitely became his intention, I think - the whole 'no interracial dating' plot thread in the identity-politics-on-campus stuff in the last days of the Clinic. Which reminded me a lot of Morrison's "Riot At Xavier's" arc.

The issues immediately after The Pitt are superb, too. Then the quality stays fairly high but the comic becomes more and more depressing, until the last issues turn things around a bit but seem more perfunctory.

I only know MG through his Cap work, mostly (though I'm surprising myself by remembering the DP7 scenes Dan's talking about) (David was the large balding guy, right?), but he was on that book forever (over 100 issues, I think!), and it's probably to his credit that Robert Kirkman's 4-issue Disassembled run was essentially an homage to MG's run, which in & of itself was often an homage to what preceded it.

Kid Dave recommends: the run of issues beginning w/ the intro of the Serpent Society (#313?), progressing through the Scourge stuff, the Nomad / Slug stuff, the WHERE IS CAP? stuff, the Kieron Dwyer stuff, the Bloodstone Saga stuff (6-part bi-weekly jungle adventure shenanigans!), the Acts of Vengeance stuff, and probably ending w/ the CAP ON ICE (AS IN DRUGS) stuff (around #370), as that's where I stopped reading. That's about 4 years worth of biff bang pow goodness, with the art being readable in about half those issues (Paul Neary was OK, but Kieron Dwyer was IT). No Batroc or Madcap, though there IS Armadillo action, and YOUNG CAP.

I think Flag-Smasher's in there, too, and although -- like I said about some other stuff -- he was too oversimplified, having an "all national governments suck" villain was a good alternative to the right-wing/left-wing Nazi/commie villains who'd come before.

(General dud vis-a-vis Cap: Nazis. If I were Editor-in-Chief, no Nazi, former Nazi, neo-Nazi, etc., would show up in the book for another ten years, just to force people to write something else.)

Yeah "oversimplified" is a bit of a Gruenwald achilles heel I think, it's what turns me off Squadron Supreme. I think the New U setup liberated him from that a little.

Ha - Tep, that's probably one reason why Brubaker did what he did in his first issue of Captain America!

Have we had a general Cap thread?

I don't think so!

S: The aforementioned interracial dating situation and the following murders/rioting.

Squadron Supreme is classic though, if only to brag that you have a bit of Mark Gruenwald in your room…

…I've only done it once, I swear…

Should I buy the first 17 issues of Quasar for $9.95 (plus postage)? I'm feeling nostalgic for that era of Marvel, when they were right on the precipice of McLiefeldization. Plus Gruenwald's Captain America was my favorite book in middle school.

I bought Quasar religiously when it first came out and I was in elementary school (I think). I think even at time I was aware that it was a geeky title, though in some ways that might be a good thing: It's certainly one of the most DC-like Marvel titles. (My DC-collecting friend vowed that GL would still beat his Marvel rip-off, even though Quasar's bands are yellow.) Looking back on it, though, the stories are surprisingly stuffed with subtext, stuff happening, human touches: Quasar's Dad becomes best friends with EON; Quasar tries to rent an office in the Fantastic Four's building; etc. There seems like some recognition--unlike in the stereotypical bad comic after IMAGE--that Quasar and his Dad are humans, living in a house, think about money, etc. There's also a sketchy romance--even though Wendell Vaughn is surely one of the gayest characters ever to have his own title!

Anyways: (1) interesting guest stars: Human Torch, Spiderman; (2) the interesting twist that although the stories are cosmic, the overwhelming feel is much more street level, more like Denny O'Neill Green Arrow than Silver Surfer; (3) cool villains: such as Death Urge (who at one point, I think, does his best Black Racer impression by pulling skis outside of his body and riding them).

It's also a very straight-forward, "solid," earnest title. Quasar is always worrying about stuff, checking up on things, and when he makes things out of his QUANTUM ENERGY BANDS, they're not wacky camp objects like boxing gloves or giant dinosaurs, but dumb practical smart ones, like a vice or nunchucks.

Also: Issue 1 or 2 has some cool visuals of him flying through space with only a oxygen facemask.