Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Let The Cries Ring Forth...!


Shed no tears for these Marvel covers that seem fixated on the word "cry"--because frankly, it looks like they're doing well enough without you. Have a look at these cover promos over the years that have urged you to give a shout out to warn against impending danger!

(Perhaps it's important to point out that the impending danger came on ahead anyway.)

First, I thought that "Cry Havok!" would chalk up more than a few hits in this survey--but amazingly, Havok only scored one hit, while the other instance referred to the actual word that's generally used for widespread destruction. (Thought the Hulk title gets a bonus point for using the word twice.)



A Spider-Man cover also scores such a bonus point. Frankly, I don't know why it took so long for Spidey to become an Avenger, since it seems he's well-acquainted with exacting vengeance.



He probably picked it up from Captain America.



And let's give credit to Dr. Doom for meriting his own warning cry, even when he's not even present on the cover in question. I also believe this is the first instance where a planet has cried out--and it's not even Ego we're talking about.



Naturally, the word "monster" has been cried out a lot in comics--heck, if a monster was bearing down on me, you'd better believe I'd be shouting out the word until I was hoarse, brother.




Iron Man's covers come in with a tie, also with three hits. Which begs the question: What does Iron Man have to be alarmed about?




Thor and the Defenders have certainly had their share of alarmed and alarming antagonists--though as long as Thor can hear the cry of battle being issued, he's probably happy.



Nor is Nick Fury a stranger to that particular cry.



Even in the far-distant future, when your planet has been devastated by alien invaders, you know you've succeeded in becoming a force to be reckoned with when your foes are crying out your name.



Finally, can we agree that crying out the name of your opponent does squat to distract them?


2 comments:

  1. I'm intrigued as to why the Falcon is calmly looking on as Cap and Mr. Hyde go plunging out of the window. And I'm wondering why one of those FF covers doesn't have the usual circles containing the team's faces (I suppose the floating heads on the cover make up for it). That Defenders cover appeared on the cover of Marvel UK's Rampage #6 in November '77 but I don't think the blurb "Cry Yandroth" was on it - I don't recognize it anyway. And the War Of The Worlds cover is more familiar to me as the cover of Marvel UK's Planet Of The Apes #30 - when Killraven was infamously renamed Apeslayer and all the Martian heads were redrawn as ape heads - they'd briefly run out of apes material to print so that was their solution !!

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  2. Colin, the "special note" mentioned on the cover reportedly addresses the scene you're referring to, where it appears that the Falcon is standing impassively on the sidelines while watching Mr. Hyde take Cap through a window. The actual fight and the circumstances of the Falcon/Sharon conversation just went down a little differently than the cover would have us believe; in the story, it's Sharon who wants to intervene and help Cap, but it's Falc who holds her back, stressing that this is a fight that Cap has to win on his own (and he does).

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