What Classic Comic Have You Read Lately? Pt. 2

[Scott Harris]

Obviously, given my negative attitude toward just about everything Kirby touched after 1969 or so, I'll take the description of "gibberish" as the categorical opposite of "awesome." I'm not absolutely positive, but I'm pretty sure this was so ghastly that I couldn't make it even halfway through. I know some of the Kirby Kool-Aid Korps seize on this as some sort of bizarre example of his genius, but that strikes me as just ... well, a particularly puzzling example of self-delusion. Sorry.

Oh, no, don't worry dan. You're totally right: This comic is terrible. But there's a big difference between something terrible in a typically mid-70's way -- you know, Gerry Conway scripts a story with Herb Trimpe art about some kind of cosmic menace that's an allegory about Jesus -- and this kind of just totally insane nonsense. It's just kind of an amazing comic to read, I think, because it has all of Kirby's best hallmarks -- mainly incredible energy -- in service of what has to be one of the most ill-advised stories and ideas of the decade. It's like if Picasso had decided to do a series of velvet paintings about NACSAR. It's just completely wtf.

That makes it fun for me to read even though it's soooo bad.

[Polar Bear]

DC Comics Presents, smattering of issues from 50-60, including the first appearance of Ambush Bug, which was really funny! Then, a few issues later, he popped up again in an issue with the Substitute Legion of Super-Heroes. Great stuff!

Read part of it right here at CBR.



By the way, once he got his own series-of-miniseries-and-specials, I didn't read it anymore. But I liked his appearances in DCPP and, later, in Action Comics.

[Cei-U!]

The really bizarre part of that first Ambush Bug story is that AB murders the Metropolis district attorney in cold blood, a crime that is never, ever referred to again.

Cei-U!
I summon the deferred justice!

[Scott Harris]

Still working my way through my Boston Comic Con purchases. I stumbled across what has to be the most random back-up story of all time, in Hero for Hire #15:





So here I am, reading through this surprisingly entertaining issue of Hero for Hire when the story suddenly ends on page 17. I turn the page and find... this waiting for me:



Not the cover itself, mind you, but yeah: The back-up story in Hero for Hire #15 is a an eight page Namor tale from Sub-Mariner Comics #35, which was part of the short-lived Atlas superhero revival in 1954. And no, nothing in the Luke Cage story has anything remotely to do with Namor or Atlantis. Just completely random.

[pmpknface]

That is awesome!!! Totally random backup!

[SamuraiPamela]

What have you read within the last week or so?

House of Mystery
Sad Sack
Little Audrey
Man-Thing
Hot Stuff, the Little Devil
Weird Adventure Tales
The Witching Hour
(All various issues from the early-to-mid 1970's.)

Was it any good?

Yep!

What did you like/dislike?

Comics from my childhood, so it gave me the warm and fuzzies...definitely like! I dislike that I had to buy them on Ebay since I used to own them when I was a kid. Sigh!

Is it worth tracking down?

It was for me, so I'd have to say "Yes!"

[Scott Harris]

I just read Marvel Team-Up Annual #1.





The story wasn't very good, but it's surprising to me that this issue isn't more valuable or sought after. This takes place at the same time as X-Men #101, making it I believe the first appearance of the new team outside of X-Men itself. Yet I got a solid mid-grade copy for one measly dollar at the Boston Comic Con. Kind of odd.

[Raker616]

Just finished reading Darkhawk issues #8-10 over the weekend, which were alot of fun and really took me back to the days when I first started reading Marvel Comics. I've always had a softspot for the character and recently decided to start tracking down some back issues and seeing how they hold up today. I used to have most of the series collected but thanks to a fire I lost most of my 90's comic book collection, so I haven't even seen these in over a decade. Anyways so far i've bought and read the first 10 issues of the series plus an Annual and an issue of New Warriors in which Darkhawk shows up in and have been reading them as soon as I get a chance.

Overall while they weren't great like with the earlier 9 issues I read they held up very well to what I remembered. The art is very solid Mike Manley drew really good superheroes even though his regular people weren't as great as his spandex wearing counterparts. And the writting by Danny Fingeroth was also strong, I noticed how much more comfortable he was getting just in the span of a couple of issues of writting Chris Powell as a conflicted kid being granted this immense power and being thrown in the deep end as a hero. Fingeroth also did a nice job juggling between the different threads in the comic from Powell's high school drama to his complicated family life and even more difficult heroics there was a nice balance to everything going on in the series.

The best issue of the bunch was #10 which had the start of the Heart Of The Hawk storyline featuring Tombstone, that was probably the best written issue of all the ones i've read so far. But it did have some artistic mistakes that stopped it from being the best it could have been, which surprised me since the art has been very solid up to that point. I'll probably pick up another handfull of Darkhawk backissues in the next couple of weeks, really looking forward to reading the rest of Heart Of Hawk issues since even back in the day I didn't have full story so i'll actually be reading that for the first time in full.

[Mormel]

I've been reading the first series of She-Hulk, from the early '80s, and have been quite enjoying it... but I came across a particular issue yesterday, namely issue 15, 'Delusions'. It's not a standard superhero story. It stands on its own, doing little to advance the plot threads in 'She-Hulk'. It's about this girl singer who sues She-Hulk's friend Dr. Ridge because she thinks he did her wrong. It turns out the girl is a diabetic and also a pathological liar who deludes herself when it comes to facing up to the problems in her life. At the end of it, She-Hulk has to rescue her from a diabetic shock.

It was by no means a perfect story. Maybe it would have benefited if it had 30 pages instead of 22, but I've seen stories that get more out of 22 pages. Nevertheless, for all its flaws, I found I was touched by the story. It was a strange break from all the previous She-Hulk issues in which she smashes a lot of baddies. There really was no real villain in this. So yeah, I think I'll probably re-read this issue a lot in the future.

[shaxper]

Just read Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #69. I generally don't post my thoughts on these issues because they're fun but seldom stand out. However, this issue featured a Bill Walsh/Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse story entitled "Mickey Mouse in the World of Tomorrow" (not to be confused with the more recent Casty epic "Micky Mouse and The World of Tomorrow").

Anyway, in this story, Mickey Mouse is whisked away from 1946 into 1970 and views all the wonders of what he refers to as "The Post-War Future." It's both wondrous and, in hindsight, depressing all the wonders Walsh and Gottfredson seemed to believe we could achieve if we'd stop diverting our resources toward war. Apart from the cliche flying cars and stratosphere cities, some real science is embedded into the vision, including dehydrated/rehydrated foods, video phones (as well as the problems they present), and commercial appeals to instant gratification even including schools set up like movie theaters. I've spent a lot of time reflecting upon how much further along 1939 expected us to be at this point in the future, but this was the first story I've come across to present the argument that all that was holding us back was a war and, by extension, that there was no excuse for us not to make building a better world our first priority once the war came to an end.

Probably a far more powerful story than it was meant to be, and yet the message about what we should be doing with our resources once the war was concluded seemed purposeful and clear.

[FanboyStranger]

Someplace Strange OGN by Ann Nocenti and John Bolton. As befits its title, this is a really odd book, firmly within the "weird '80s" category. The story features two young brothers with over active imaginations (one obsessed with mutually assured destruction, the other with magic and monsters) who sneak out of the house to patrol their neighborhood for the Bogeyman, encounter a cynical punk squatter, and end up in a bizarre dimension that's fueled by their preoccupations which may or may not be ruled by the Devil as Bogeyman. Yeah, it's that kind of story, with all the positives and negatives that suggests. Nocenti is a polarizing writer-- and this book would do nothing to sway you to one side or the other-- but one thing she's always had a gift for is writing "realistic" pre-pubescent children with neuroses and attitudes that seem true to life. Someplace Strange continues that trend. It also fully displays the obtuseness that plagued some of her post-Daredevil work like the ongoing Kid Eternity series. Nowhere is this more evident than the epilogue of the story where the Bogeyman/Devil explains the truths of existence, taking credit for all human advancement, blasting imagination, and telling the reader to grow up as his body twists and contorts across double page spreads. (Don't believe him-- he's the devil.) Bolton's art is what you'd expect from a painted Bolton work, although it did strike me how much it resembled his more photorealistic computer-aided painting of the past decade than his chapter of Books of Magic which came out a year after Someplace Strange. I'd say Someplace Strange is more an interesting work than a good one, but I only paid a few bucks for it, so I'm satisfied with it as a curiousity.

[adam_warlock_2099]

When I got home from work yesterday I read Alien Legion #6-8. Really good space drama with aliens, monsters, murder and conspiracy. Plus I've always enjoyed Stroman's art. I was exposed to it a 90's issue of What If? starring the Hulk. Chuck Dixon does good with the story so far and tempts me to order the missing issues I have so I can read it in succession. But I've thought of Chuck Dixon as a good story teller of the stuff that I have read of his.

[CromagnonMan]

I am at my parents house where my run of Jonah Hex is stashed, so am picking up reading this from #16. I can say the series has definately seen an improvement in the stories once Michael Fleisher takes over, i think #16 was a nice turning point. there was also a memorable story in # 18 or thereabouts where Jonah has an adventure in a Brazilian jungle involving shrunken heads.

[Polar Bear]

Re-reading Freedom Fighters #1-15 and DC Comics Presents issue that guest-stars them and wraps up the storyline. It has the perennial 1970s DC problem of not being able to keep the same creative team for two issues in a row. I'm so much more critical now! I notice the art errors, continuity problems, cheesy dialog, etc. When I was younger, completing my collection from used book stores and such, I was just so happy to be able to read the stories! I'll persevere.

[shaxper]

Creepy #7

As a correction to my reviews of Creepy #6 and Eerie #2, it looks like Eerie #2 was actually published one month after this issue of Creepy. Creepy #6 was just providing early solicitation.

"Duel of the Monsters!"
art: Angelo Torres
script: Archie Goodwin
grade: B

I have to give them credit in that their first monster crossover (vampire vs. werewolf) avoids providing what you'd expect. Instead, we're in a small Spanish village (in the late 1800s?), and our story concerns a vampire posing as a Spanish militia man on night watch who believes the new werewolf in town is after him. It's not a great story, and the twist ending seems a bit random, but Torres does an excellent job on the art, providing some truly memorable panicked faces.


"Image of Bluebeard!"
art: Joe Orlando
script: Bill Pearson
grade: B

A young bride becomes increasingly suspicious of her husband and convinced he is the legendary Bluebeard murderer who is currently at large. Yeah, you know exactly where this story is going, but it was still fun, nonetheless, and Orlando's ghost artist is quite competent, creating an almost dreamy quality with his soft shading.


"Rude Awakening!"
art: Alex Toth
script: Archie Goodwin
grade: B

Toth seems attracted to stories about guys having weird dreams that end up becoming their reality. However, unlike in "The Stalkers," this one didn't end up making all that much sense. Still, I always love Toth's artwork.


"Drink Deep"
art: John Severin
script: Eando Binder
grade: C+

Ah, the cliche "Dude is asking for it and finally gets ghostly payback" schtik. I thought Creepy was better than that. This time around, our spoiled rotten millionaire who takes glee from abusing the crew on his yacht and brags without a hint of remorse about how his pirate ancestor earned the fortune he enjoys through villainy, even stopping the party on his yacht to to tell stories about it, is just so far over the line it exceeds the limits of believability. The end doesn't make sense either. Still, the sight of Uncle Creepy in an eye patch and pirate hat -- classic.


"The Body-Snatcher!"
art: Reed Crandall
adapted by: Archie Goodwin
original story by: Robert Louis Stevenson
grade: C

These Creepy Classics are always audacious experiments -- assuming that the creative talents at Warren can bring as much or more justice to a literary classic by reinventing it for a new genre. though I've never read this story, I'm almost certain this effort can be chalked up to another fail. It's a barely adequate story by Creepy standards and certain doesn't have any hints of being a literary classic. I can only assume a lot was lost in translation on this one. Perhaps the character of Gray had some greater significance as a symbol of the main character's doubt or fear in the original story. Here, he's just a guy who comes back to haunt in the end. Minor detail -- Gray always calls the main character's boss "Toddy McFarlane."


"Blood of Krylon!"
art: Gray Morrow
script: Archie Goodwin
grade: B+

As Uncle Creepy's intro to this story outright admits, this crossover story about a vampire in space was designed to win over the multitude of fans writing in because they dislike science fiction stories. Morrow's art is breathtaking, and the concept is fantastic: a vampire who can no longer operate in a future in which security and police response have advanced considerably, decides to move to Earth's first colony, feasting on colonists aboard the shuttle on the way. Unfortunately, the ending feels rushed and arbitrary, being a twist that lacks any sense of irony or poetic justice; it just comes out of nowhere. Oh well.


"Hot Spell"
art: Reed Crandall
script: Archie Goodwin
grade: B

Why does Crandall always seem to get the lion's share of work in this title when his art rarely impresses me? It's not bad, but it's certainly only "adequate" by Creepy standards. However, it seems like someone else ghosted the first page prologue -- it's done in a totally different style. Anyway, the story to this one, in which the curse of a man from hundreds of years earlier leads a town to turn into a mob and kill an innocent young couple out of fear and suspicion. The ending is both predictable and corny, but the sheer ugliness of this mob depicted in these pages is striking, particularly as they leave a helpless innocent woman to burn in her home from a fire they started. Of course, more than anything, this feels like a Twilight Zone episode (Probably "Monsters are Due on Maple Street") so you can't give it much credit for originality -- just the lengths to which it takes its depiction of man's inhumanity to man.