Annihilation: Ronan #3 of 4

Simon Furman // Jorge Lucas
August 2006
***

In battle w/ Gamora (a ’70s Marvel babe), Ronan’s gavel throws off so much energy, it reshapes a scruffy desert planet! At least, that’s a godlike terraformer’s plan—but a cloud of space locusts intervenes. Btw the stakes & the bravado, this mini recalls the mad, mythic epics of Kirby & Starlin.

last issue: Annihilation: Ronan #2 of 4
next issue: Annihilation: Ronan #4 of 4

also indexed for Aug. ’06
Annihilation: Nova #3 of 4
Annihilation: Silver Surfer #3 of 4
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 of 4
Astonishing X-Men #15
Civil War #2 of 7
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #6
Young Avengers #12

Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles #1 of 1

Jack Kirby
June 1976
****
Kirby fetes his first & most popular hero as well as the US Bicentennial in a King-size special. The issue’s plot sends the Man Out of Time thru his country’s history, courtesy of a mystic yogi. Its best moments see Cap connecting w/ the downtrodden, like miners, Indians, & an escaped slave, or shaking his head at a lunar war & at patriotic pomp. Like a lot of Kirby’s work in the late 1970s, it’s uneven but sections inspire awe. Take the first dozen pages: Windsor-Smith’s inking adds dimensional contours to Kirby’s pencils. This Cap kinda resembles Jack’s WW2-era collab w/ Joe Simon!
[see also Captain America & the Falcon #198]