Robserecaps Forty One – Rise of the Guardians part 1
This episode, the Rob is gonna talk about the pre-James Gunn, pre-Abnett and Lanning success of the Guardians of the Galaxy! While it was the book that brought Jim Valentino to prominence, it’s not quite remembered the same way the Spider-Man and X-Books from that same early 90’s era are remembered. But the Rob had a front row seat for it, so let’s dive in, shall we?
- the Rob starts off by stating this version of Guardians was selling better than Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man and Green Lantern. All of which is kinda incorrect, as I actually have the early Diamond numbers. Issue 1 debuted at 19th place, below Avengers and Green Lantern, which also had a new number one that month. Issue 2 dipped to 45th place, issue 3 fell to 58th place while issues 4 and 5 saw a rise to 50th and 39th place respectively, but all issues ranked below the aforementioned books. NOW, late in the episode, the Rob cites 1991 sales numbers, which were not included in Previews at that time, but the last one I have for November 1990 shows Guardians 10 in 28th place, above Green Lantern, but no other book the Rob mentions.
- Due to Jim Valentino posting about an illness on Facebook (please don’t overshare on Facebook), the Rob rushed this topic to the front of the list
- The two words that the Rob uses to describe Jim Valentino are “relentless” and “won’t be denied” which is four words, but who’s counting
- Art Thibert introduced Jim and the Rob in 1986 before the Rob broke in and they hit it off immediately due to their love of Star Trek & excitement for the upcoming TNG show
- The Guardians in the early 70’s were featured in books like Marvel Two in One, Marvel Comics Presents, the Korvak Saga but never their own book
- When the Rob was working for DC, the Rob would get the company FedEx account to send his pages. Jim would ask the Rob to send his samples in with his pages to try and get a job at DC. Then Editor in Chief, Mike Carlin, who the Rob calls a creep, someone who’s behavior then would never fly in today’s comics, scolded the Rob for doing this
- TANGENT! We now get a detailed explanation of the size, location, and other granular details of the first office space the Image boys had
- the first thing the Rob and Jim got to work on together at Marvel was What If #7, what if Wolverine was an agent of SHIELD, a very iconic cover/issue
- In retelling how Jim’s Guardians came to be in Back Issue Magazine issue 118 or 119 (the Rob says both, but 119 is correct) both Jim and editor Tom DeFalco had little memory of how it came together but since the Rob was there, he remembers it all! The meeting at Wonder-Con, the baseball game followed by the Italian restaurant and the masseuse helping the Rob with his headache, all of it!
- Before this, Jim and the Rob had a Young Avengers pitch based on the Rob’s love of Namorita, but due to the Rob’s admitted “squirrel tendencies” Mark Gruenwald wanted the Rob to remain focused on the upcoming New Mutants revamp he was part of
- If you are unfamiliar with this era of the Guardians, it’s set place in the 31st century focused around the quest to find Captain America’s shield ala Excalibur
- The Rob genuinely has real affection for Jim Valentino, the big brother/mentor the Rob needed in those formative days in business
- Since you cannot leave reviews on Spotify for podcasts, you can send your reviews to the Rob, only if you agree with him of course!
- Why is it that every negative person on Twitter is a bot with 42 followers?
- the Rob’s new book is being announced in less than two weeks on WhatNot, so get ready!
- Also, no review of that milkshake place, I may have to ask directly!
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