Editor’s note: This review was originally published on Mar. 24, 2009.
MARVEL PREMIERE #41
(Cover by Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott)
Published and © by Marvel, Apr. 1978
[Buy from Mile High]
“The Dying Sun!”
Synopsis: With humanity’s future hanging in the balance, the crew of the Seeker 3000 rebels against Jason and the Six.
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciler: Tom Sutton
Inker: Sutton
Review: In this issue’s “Bullpen Bulletins,” Marvel all but admits Seeker 3000 is the result of the company’s inability to land the license for a Star Trek comic. Of course, that would change by early 1980, which might explain why this outing would be the last for Captain Jordan Shaw and crew, at least for the Bronze Age. That’s a shame, because writer Doug Moench does a great job setting up a potential long-term series here. This issue is chock-a-block with concepts, mixing and matching popular sci-fi tropes. Tom Sutton turns in some spectacular art, too.
Grade: A-
Second opinions: “ ‘Seeker 3000’ is good science fiction by comic books standards …” — Kim Thompson, in The Comics Journal #40, Jun. 1978 … “… immature and scientifically inaccurate.” — The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition).
Cool factor: The Dave Cockrum cover. Comics Bronze Age loves Dave Cockrum covers!
Notable: First appearance of Seeker 3000.
Character quotable: “You hate me and you despise yourselves. Now we have a chance to do something about it.” — Jordan Shaw, captain of the Seeker 3000
This was a cool issue; I have nothing to add to your comments, I just have to say how much I loved Marvel Premiere for gems like this (or Chaykin’s Monark Starstalker, or that 2-issue Man-wolf story, followed by the 2-issue introduction to the new Ant Man…)
By the way, I found the Slings & Arrows criticism quite amusing: “immature and scientifically inaccurate” can probably be used to describe pretty much all SF comics, and big chunk of SF in general…
Edo:
I agree, Marvel Premiere was a great series. Even the early, longer runs of Warlock, Doctor Strange and Iron Fist were all good fun, too. I’ve got all but a handful of issues of this series, and will eventually get around to reviewing all of them!
Cheers,
Andrew
I had forgotten about this comic until seeing it again here. I don’t have vivid memory of the details of the characters or story. I do remember that the 12 year-old me I thought it was awesome!
Andrew: You and I seem to share a lot of the same favorite artists: Cockrum was a master.
John:
Yes, Cockrum was a very good artist and an exceptional designer. His covers were almost always strong and I really love his costume design. I miss his work today; I would have loved to see more of his creator-owned Futurians characters.
Cheers,
Andrew