#tony isabella

[marvelousmrm]

What If…? #24 (Isabella/Kane, Dec 1980). Pete dives after Gwendy on the fateful bridge. She lives, and what follows is somehow even more tragic than the alternative.

#marvel #marvel 7736 #what if #peter parker #spider man #gwen stacy #tony isabella #gil kane

[dailydccomics]

Jeff's energy >>>> Black Lightning (1977-78) #1

#jefferson pierce #dc comics #black lightning #joey toledo #dc #vintage #tony isabella #comics #classic

[balu8]

Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction: Slow Glass

by Tony Isabella: Gene Colan and Tom Palmer

Marvel

#marvel comics #Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #gene colan #tom palmer #tony isabella

[evilhorse]

I want those motherless superheroes wasted!

(Captain America #190)

#captain america #nightshade #deadly nightshade #tilda johnson #s.h.i.e.l.d. #shooting #blam #uh oh #dat rack #tony isabella #frank robbins #marvel comics #comics #70s comics #bronze age comics

[cantsayidont]

April 1974. The Boris Vallejo cover painting and "Night of the Snow Vampire" caption allude, somewhat vaguely, to this issue's adaptation by Tony Isabella of the 1939 August Derleth short story "The Drifting Snow," exquisitely drawn by Spanish artist Esteban Maroto:

#comics #vampire tales #boris vallejo #tony isabella #esteban maroto #august derleth #the drifting snow #vampires #as always the morbius stories are a waste of time and paper

[comic-covers]

(1976)

#Black Goliath #comic book #1976 #Tony Isabella #Rich Buckler #cover #Bill Foster #super hero #comics #1970s #Marvel #comic books

[onlylonelylatino]

Sgt. Rock by Joe Kubert

#sgt rock #iron major #easy company #joe kubert #dc comics #modern age #whos who #tony isabella #paul kupperberg #paul levitz #bob rozakis #e nelson bridwell #greg weisman #todd klein #peter sanderson

[ironmandirectorofsword]

Moon Knight 35 (1983) by Tony Isabella & Kevin Nowlan 

Cover: Carl Potts

#Moon Knight #Human Fly #Tony Isabella #Kevin Nowlan #Carl Potts

[aboutzatanna]

Leave it to Tony Isabella (creator of Black Lightning) to have Zatanna guest star in Hawkman Vol 2 #4 because her debut was in Hawkman Vol 1 #4.

Also Richard Howell's art paired with this lovely quote:

"The very first time she performed he told her, you give your children two things; one is roots; the other wings."

Even though they don't get to interact as much as they should, the Hawks and Zatanna are still pretty close, especially Zee and Shayera. Even Hawkman noticing that Zatanna is putting up a cheerful face to mask the pain of her father's death:

Hawkman Vol 2 was kicked off after the amazing Shadow War of Hawkman mini series (highly recommended if you're interested in the Thanagarian versions of the Hawks).

#zatanna #zatanna zatara #hawkman #katar hol #hawkgirl #shayera hol #tony isabella #richard howell #the hawks

[intrapanelreturns]

MARVEL PREMIERE #22 1975, Marvel Comics Tony Isabella writer, Arvell Jones art, A. Bradford inks, Karen Mantlo letters, George Roussos colors

#marvel premiere #iron fist #1975 #comics #marvel #tony isabella #arvell jones #a bradford #karen mantlo #george roussos #count dante #kung fu #i know kung fu #ralph maccio

[cryptocollectibles]

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2 (October 1975) by Marvel Comics

Written by Tony Isabella, drawn by Sal Buscema and Fred Kida, cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

#Giant Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1975 #Marvel Comics #Tony Isabella #Sal Buscema #Fred Kida #Gil Kane #Frank Giacoia #Sub-Mariner #Attuma #Dr Dorcas #Tiger Shark #ETsy #Vintage Comics #Comic Books #Comics #Prince Namor #Nmaor #Doctor Doom #Dr Doom #Victor Von Doom

[marvelousmrm]

Ghost Rider #18 (Isabella/Robbins, June 1976). I’m truly stunned how often Jesus Christ appears as a supporting character in this book.

#marvel #marvel 616 #ghost rider #johnny blaze #daimon hellstrom #son of satan #the stuntmaster #death’s head #tony isabella #frank robbins

[blackwolfmanx2]

"Would have punched him out" | Black Lightning creator MAD I was at Comi...

Tony Isabella takes unprovoked shots, runs away and blocks Eric July. Another case of BBS, Bitch Behavior Syndrome.

#blackwolfmanx2 #ancap #libertarian #youngrippa59 #eric july #monetize your haters #tony isabella #bitch behavior syndrome #san deigo #comic con #make entertainment great again #Youtube

[dirtyriver]

First appearance and origin of Tigra! Yeah, this name Hellcat is good, maybe you could use it some other time, for another take on the Cat, maybe?

Giant-Size Creatures featuring Werewolf #1, July 1974, written by Tony Isabella, art by Don Perlin (pencils) and Vince Colletta (inks)

#Comics #Werewolf by Night #Tigra #Don Perlin #Vince Colletta #Tony Isabella #Defenders #House ad

[evilhorse]

That’s where you come in, handsome.

(Captain America #190)

#captain america #steve rogers #nightshade #tilda johnson #handsome #flirting #dat rack #tony isabella #frank robbins #marvel comics #comics #70s comics #bronze age comics

[cantsayidont]

May–August 1985. Conceived before the Crisis on Infinite Earths but published concurrently, THE SHADOW WAR OF HAWKMAN was an ambitious attempt by writer Tony Isabella and editor Alan Gold to forge a new direction for Hawkman and Hawkwoman, who'd been stumbling along since the late 1960s in a series of backup features and guest spots. The story borrows a page or three from the lexicon of paranoid '70s conspiracy thrillers, revealing that agents of the Hawks' homeworld of Thanagar are now on Earth, working in secret to lay the groundwork for a military invasion by using the Absorbacon, a Gardner Fox gimmick capable of gathering all the knowledge of a particular world, to gather exploitable secrets from the minds of Earth people. Thanagarians are immune to the Absorbacon's mind-reading powers, but the Hawks are cut off from most of their friends and allies, fearing that any information they share with their JLA comrades might immediately fall into enemy hands. The infiltrators, meanwhile, target the Hawks in hopes of seizing their now rare and valuable Thanagarian technology.

In the Silver Age Hawkman stories, Thanagar had been presented as a typical scientifically advanced post-scarcity society, where crime is mostly limited to a handful of thrillseekers and alien invaders. However, it had suffered a series of major crises in the '70s, which the miniseries helpfully summarizes while filling in a few blanks:

(Inevitably, a few key points of the original stories have gotten lost in translation: In the original Equalizing Plague storyline in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #117–119, Katar and Shayera are both infected, but Katar is able to cure himself and later Shayera, albeit not anyone else on Thanagar. The cure provided by Hyathis, an old JLA villain, is not part of that story, but is revealed in the 1978 Adam Strange/Hawkman crossover in SHOWCASE #101–103.)

The original Equalizing Plague storyline is a weirdly reactionary effort for the usually humanistic Elliot S! Maggin, about a silly-looking space villain (the dude with the red helmet and the mustache in the first page above) whose desire for universal equality destroys whole societies by transforming everyone into nebbishes. Even Gene Roddenberry might have balked at that one, and a central problem with Isabella's "Shadow War" storyline is that it requires readers to not only take that story seriously, but even empathize with how it has left Thanagarians susceptible to fascism. (The villains are never very sympathetic, but you're supposed to see where they're coming from, which would be a lot to ask even in less ridiculous circumstances.)

Despite that, the SHADOW WAR miniseries is a decent effort, with higher-than-usual stakes and an effective sense of menace. The scripts are a bit florid — albeit fairly restrained for Isabella — but the art suits them very well, with Rich Howell's Murphy Anderson-like pencils given moody atmosphere by Alfredo Alcala's inking. It sold well, leading to a 1986 HAWKMAN SPECIAL by Isabella and Howell with new inker Ron Randall. This has Katar agonizing over the Thanagarian agents he's killed, which is most interesting for Isabella's novel take on the Gentleman Ghost, an old Hawkman villain who unexpectedly becomes the Hawks' new ally.

Unfortunately, what Isabella and Gold had intended as a five-year saga quickly ran into trouble in the new post-Crisis HAWKMAN series that followed the SPECIAL. According to Isabella, the bigger problem was that new editor Denny O'Neil, who took over soon after the launch of the new series, was annoyed that Isabella would attempt something so grandiose and demanded that the "Shadow War" be wrapped up quickly. Isabella soon bowed out, leaving Dan Mishkin and co-editor Barbara Randall to tie things up.

The dismaying resolution, in HAWKMAN #12, ends (temporarily) Thanagar's adventurism on Earth, but culminates in Katar deliberately choosing to leave the planet's new military government in power, with his father's old friend Rul Pintar taking the place of the previous ruling junta. Conceding that the Thanagarian people will be "helpless" without a dictatorship, Katar announces, "You lead them, Rul Pintar! Then at least their next dictator will be a benevolent one who remembers Thanagar's greatness--and can perhaps give a little bit of it back to them!" Thus, what had begun as a paranoid thriller about a secret alien invasion concludes with Hawkman's explicit endorsement of fascist dictatorship, after which he and Shayera fly back to Earth so it won't be their problem. Yikes!

Having lost any sense of narrative direction along with its moral compass, the book lasted only five more issues and was canceled in late 1987. Isabella says some of his original ideas were later recycled for "other company-wide crossovers," which I assume refers primarily to the 1988 INVASION! event, in which Thanagar was one of the invaders.

#comics #the shadow war of hawkman #tony isabella #rich howell #alfredo alcala #dick giordano #alan gold #denny o'neil #dan mishkin #gardner fox #hawkman #katar hol #hawkwoman #shayera hol #thanagar #thanagarians #elliot s maggin #the text pages of the miniseries waste some time #trying to arbitrarily retcon some past hawkman stories #i don't necessarily dispute the rationale #but it was something that would become a major problem #for dc in general and hawkman in particular #so it did not set a good precedent in that respect