What Classic Comic Have You Read Lately? Pt. 2

[Reptisaurus!]

Doc's prominent on the cover of FF #27, which was my first FF issue. Which one was he in before that?

Oh.

Nah, you're right, I didn't see him in the background there. I may need my eyes checked.

I'm sure he didn't make the cover of his guest appearances in Journey into Mystery 108, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2, or X-men 33, though.

[dr chimp]

Fun, fun, fun comics!!! I think I'll just keep going all the way.

He has an amazing way of making you involved in the characters so quickly in all of his best work - I can never work out how he does it - can take him just a few pages to get me hooked. Then before you know it all hell is kicking off around you for the next 20 issues. An issue of his swamp thing always takes a good 20-30 minutes to get through as well - they are always bursting at the seams with story and characterisation. DO IT - go all the way!

[Rob Allen]

You mean these?







Maybe an eye checkup wouldn't be a bad idea.

[pmpknface]

I have the ASM Ann 2 but didn't realize the good Doc was in JiM #108 or X-Men #33. I'll be adding those to my want list, just like FF #27 has been for ages. I did just get in my ST #111 though! So now I only need the #120 to complete my Dr. Strange run of that title (it skips #112 & 113 because he wasn't in those issues - talk about fighting for page space!).

I was out sick yesterday and read all 600 pages of Tezuka's Message to Adolf vol 2. Wow, what a great tale. Tezuka brings a few things back that had only happened early on in vol. 1 which threw me a bit but it all gets wrapped up well. Another masterpiece.

In the not so classic area I recently also read:

Paul Pope's One Trick Rip-off and other stories. OTRO was good, not as good as his other stuff. Some of the other tales were good too, and the art is fantastic.

The Boys vol 1-4: Man this is good stuff. I knew I'd like it too. Robertson has gotten better since I last read his stuff, and Ennis is hysterical. I need to find a vol 5 as I already 6-7.

[Richard Bishop]

Just finished moving into my new house over the weekend and had a little downtime to read a few books after the kids went to bed. Outside of catching up on the current series I buy (a number that dwindles as the years go by), I got through Marvel Spotlight #12 & 13, which is the beginning of the Son of Satan run of that series. #12 continues the story from Ghost Rider #2, while #13 tells the origin of Daimon Hellstrom (which was altered in Warren Ellis' Hellstorm issues to have a more sinister bent and be less of a cliched "innocent girl seduced by Satan" story).

[Reptisaurus!]

You mean these?




Maybe an eye checkup wouldn't be a bad idea.

I wasn't counting text-with-no-images, but I did totally miss him (again) on the Thor cover. I guess he gets no respect from ME, at least.

[Rob Allen]

Well, that is a Kirby Doc, as was the one on the FF cover. It's different enough from Ditko's Doc to be noticeable.

[Reptisaurus!]

Well, that is a Kirby Doc, as was the one on the FF cover. It's different enough from Ditko's Doc to be noticeable.

I appreciate the out.

In my defense here, it took a little while for some other folks to notice the green-tinged Doctor Strange on the FF 27 cover - (Or the reprint of such in Fantastic Four Masterworks 3.) Of my sample size of six, the two people who knew who Doctor Strange was took far longer to find him than the four who didn't. We're looking for red and blue!

[Rob Allen]

Yeah, that green color on Doc on the FF cover was odd. I knew who he was at the time because I'd picked up Strange Tales #120 the month prior.

Come to think of it, the cover of X-Men #4 two months earlier had the Scarlet Witch colored green. That confused the hell out of me. I wonder if there's any connection between these odd green-tinged characters on the covers?

[berk]

Just finished moving into my new house over the weekend and had a little downtime to read a few books after the kids went to bed. Outside of catching up on the current series I buy (a number that dwindles as the years go by), I got through Marvel Spotlight #12 & 13, which is the beginning of the Son of Satan run of that series. #12 continues the story from Ghost Rider #2, while #13 tells the origin of Daimon Hellstrom (which was altered in Warren Ellis' Hellstorm issues to have a more sinister bent and be less of a cliched "innocent girl seduced by Satan" story).

Dare I ask what that new, more sinister origin involved? Not that I remember the old one all that well: I think I only started reading SoS when Gerber took over as writer, so I probably missed the origin story.

I wasn't counting text-with-no-images, but I did totally miss him (again) on the Thor cover. I guess he gets no respect from ME, at least.

It does seem a bit odd not to have the guest star playing as prominent a part in the cover illustration as he or she does in the story inside the cover. Then again, I don't recall those stories too well - maybe Strange doesn't do much in them, for all I know.

[dana franklin]

Amazing Spiderman, it actually an ebook,

[Richard Bishop]

Dare I ask what that new, more sinister origin involved? Not that I remember the old one all that well: I think I only started reading SoS when Gerber took over as writer, so I probably missed the origin story.

It's been a few years since I read the Hellstorm series, but IIRC, Ellis changed the story from Daimon's mother being seduced by this charming stranger who turned out to to be Marduk Kurios (calling himself "Satan") to Daimon's mother being sold by her Satanist parents to some cult for the purposes of having her impregnated in order to have a half-human, half-demon child; the new origin included parts about her womb being tattooed with Satanic symbols to facilitate the preganancy. It was very dark stuff, even for Warren Ellis, but it was actually a pretty good read.

[MRP]

With all the Superman reviews going on in these forums, I decided to finally crack open my copy of the Superman Chronicles and read through some of the Golden Age stuff. I have only read the first 2 Superman stories from Action 1 and 2 so far, but I am really digging GA Supes. I was amazed how many elements we just automatically associate with the origin of Superman were missing form the account of his origins given in Action #1. I had read that story before in other formats, but it never really hit home how much we assume are part and parcel of the mythos was actually absent from that story until I reread t this time. I think it may be an unexpected consequence of having checked out the New52 Superman and hearing people on both sides of the fence talk about what it retained and jettisoned of the core concepts of Superman that heightened my awareness of what was ans wasn't there in Action #1.

I was also taken aback a bit when Superman threatened to tear the munitions magnate's heart out if he didn't do as Superman commanded. Not something you'd expect to see the Silver or Bronze Age Superman do.

I only have the first three volumes of the Chronicles, but I look forward to reading the remainder of what I have as I continue to explore GA Superman.

-M

[Reptisaurus!]

Dare I ask what that new, more sinister origin involved? Not that I remember the old one all that well: I think I only started reading SoS when Gerber took over as writer, so I probably missed the origin story.

It does seem a bit odd not to have the guest star playing as prominent a part in the cover illustration as he or she does in the story inside the cover. Then again, I don't recall those stories too well - maybe Strange doesn't do much in them, for all I know.

He's a minor player in the Fantastic Four story, but he's a huge part of the Spider-Man and Thor stories.

[Roquefort Raider]

The Atlantis chronicles #3-7, by Peter David and Esteban Maroto. The first two issues had impressed me greatly; the script was engaging and the artwork very pretty indeed, with Maroto going the extra mile and drawing actual prehistoric fish in the underwater scenes (pleasing the biologist in me to no end, even if the species depicted lived millions of years apart). The rest of the series did not disappoint and is an excellent example of retroactive continuity done right. These books tie together the different versions of Atlantis seen in the DC universe, and do so while telling a story of epic proportions. More: Peter and Esteban made an effort to tie their miniseries with the works of Plato (Solon makes an appearance!) and with the Egyptian images depicting the "people of the sea" whom certain people have linked to "historical" Atlanteans. We even get to see the origin of a certain Aquaman, who remains unnamed.

I think it's a shame that it's possible to get this magnificent series for less than cover price (postage included) more than twenty years after it was published. It deserves far more recognition!