The Sixth Day of Classic Comics Christmas 2012

[hondobrode]

Dark Horse's reprint series of one of my favorite, and very distinctive, artists :

Spacehawk # 1-5



This irregularly published series reprinted Basil Wolverton’s Spacehawk stories which originally ran back in the 1940’s Target Comics, along with new Spacehawk stories by contemporary creators Jerry Prosser, Rich Hedden, Tom McWeeney, and Gary Davis.



The stories are very much in the “boy’s adventure” genre, with the square-jawed hero acting as a galactic sheriff. Spacehawk is full of enough action to keep things interesting. In just one issue, he does battle with space pirates, stops a wide array of monsters, and deals with a lovesick femme fatale who dreams of turning him into a planetary tyrant, with her at his side, naturally.

[berk]

#7. Marvel Feature #1-12


Hulk. Sub-Mariner. Dr. Strange. Defenders. Ant-Man. Wasp. Thing. Iron Man. Thomas. Andru. Everett. Friedrich. Trimpe. Russell, Wein. Starlin. Sinnott. Nuff. Said.

Cei-U!
I summon the Readers Digest condensed version!

I'd like to get this for the Defenders alone, but their first issue is always ridiculously over-priced, so I'll probably forego that one and look for the rest. I think I can get that 1st Defenders in a cheap reprint anyway.

Marvel Universe #1-7 (June 1998-Dec 1998)

First I ever heard of this and I'm tempted to have a look at it, even though I'm extremely sceptical of the quality of anything Marvel produced from the mid 80s and 90s.

7. Amazing High Adventure #1-5

This one is totally new to me as well, but based on the line-up of (John Severin, etc) I'm interested.

. The adventures of Luther Arkwright #1-9, published by Valkyrie Press in the UK and by Dark Horse in the US, with different covers.

I have this in trade but haven't read it yet. Soon!

Dark Horse's reprint series of one of my favorite, and very distinctive, artists :

Spacehawk # 1-5 .

I'm tempted to get the new Fantagraphics volume, mainly for Wolverton's artwork.

[Scott Harris]

First I ever heard of this and I'm tempted to have a look at it, even though I'm extremely sceptical of the quality of anything Marvel produced from the mid 80s and 90s.

The series Kurt selected is from the early 70's.

I summon the... 70's.

[hondobrode]

7. Doll #1-8 by Guy Colwell, 1989-1992

The kind of science fiction that most intrigues me is the kind that takes a single technological advance and uses the that advance's projected effect on society to explore human nature. This adults-only series does just that.
Doll is about an extremely realistic sex doll. One of a kind, "fully functional", hypernaturally realistic in both look and feel, authentically articulated and completely poseable.

Colwell takes this premise, which could inspire so many responses, and explores them all, as Doll changes hands from the artist who creates her, to the wealthy-but-disfigured man who commissioned her, to the various people who steal, find, or otherwise gain access to her, exploring big concepts of human sexuality, power, obsession, greed, and commerce, to name but a few.

Lest that scare you off with the suspicion that this is some dry, feminist polemic, Colwell manages to wrap all these grand sociological and psychological investigations inside the threads of a riveting story, with memorable, richly conceived and rendered characters. He doesn't have to hit you over the head with anything, because the reader responds to every twist, every betrayal, every desperate act with immediate realizations that, yes, there would be some people exactly like that who would do exactly that kind of thing. And with those realizations come insights into ordinary human experience and personality, along with, quite probably, introspective exploration.

Doll is some of the best of what comics can do. It's the epitome of "serious pornography." It has to include the explicit stuff, because that's what it's all about, and what it's all about has genuine, indisputable merit and importance. It's one of the only non-salacious mechanisms by which I can imagine an artist addressing the breadth of issues Colwell does here.

You can read this story, and its sequel ("Further Adventures of Doll") in collected editions or in back issue form. A quick look at amazon shows some incredibly low prices for used copies right now. For those over 18 who don't object to this sort of content, it's worth sampling.

Superb pick ! I wish I'd thought of it. I don't have the entire series, but have loved would I've come across.

It's nice to see some undergrounds getting the spotlight here !

[berk]

Day 6: Watchmen

No need to post an image for this, probably the most famous limited series in recent history. I read it as it came out (starting with issue #2 - it was some time before I ever found a copy of that first issue) and in that serial form it was one of the most riveting reading experiences of my life. I think it's hard for us to remember, and for readers who come to it later to appreciate, just how new and different this felt at the time: how much of a quantum leap forward it seemed in terms of literacy, depth and texture. For example, the text pieces at the end of each issue - so done to death now - were absolutely devoured by this reader. Any other comic, you got to the end of an issue and that was it. This comic, you got to the end of an issue and there was all this extra material, not just added on as a bonus, but actually providing background and new understanding of the world these characters lived in and the world they had come from, often giving a whole new perspective on the story you'd just finished reading.

Anyway, no need to go on about this one: by now everyone's made up their minds about it. I'll just say I was tempted to leave it off my list for the very reason that it is so well-known, but in the end decided it had to be there.

[berk]

The series Kurt selected is from the early 70's.

I summon the... 70's.

oops, you're right - I was mixing up Marvel Feature with the Marvel Universe just below it. Let me go back and edit that.

[dan bailey]

The series Kurt selected is from the early 70's.

Except that berk was referring to MRP's Marvel Universe pick (the unusually high quality of which I can vouch for; as noted, it'll be among my top choices).

[thwhtGuardian]

On the sixth day of Christmas my LCS owner gave to me...

Ronin

This six issue mini series was published in 1983 by DC comics and written and illustrated by Frank Miller with colors by Lynn Varley. This book is, for me, a land mark in comics, with its' glossy, magazine-stock pages and no advertisements it was a major turn in the way comics were published. I know Camelot 3000 had a similar set up but I think the flashier coloring and more mature themes of Miller's Ronin really influenced the comic book medium to a much larger extent.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it follows a nameless Ronin from feudal Japan, whose battle with a shape shifting demon has brought him into the beginning of the 21st century. If this sounds similar to fans of Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack that would be because he is a self professed superfan of Miller's Ronin and based much of his concept for Jack on the book.

Other than the stunning art that invokes both the artwork of Japanese tapestries and the precision machine cut look of a Ford assembly line what I really loved about Ronin was the message it conveyed about the dark dangers of a violent protector. Contrary to the message present in some of Miller's latter works that seem to glorify violence Ronin illustrates that although two-fisted justice is effective that it’s also part of a spiral of escalation that ultimately leads to the destruction of one's soul. The titular Ronin ,though first presented as a stand out hero, becomes more and more unhinged as the story progresses and the violence escalates until in the conclusion we find out that the Ronin was never real; he was but an imagined power fantasy brought to life the rage and frustration of a mentally handicapped individual. To top it all off, when the Ronin is then resurrected at the end it is not presented as a triumphant return but rather an ominous one.

It's a slow burn realization that only comes about with multiple rereadings, which is why I love it. Sure, it can be enjoyed as a simple revenge/action story but it offers greater rewards beyond that for further readings and both interpretations are fully enjoyable.

[Scott Harris]

Except that berk was referring to MRP's Marvel Universe pick (the unusually high quality of which I can vouch for; as noted, it'll be among my top choices).

But he edited it, which is cheating.

See?

oops, you're right - I was mixing up Marvel Feature with the Marvel Universe just below it. Let me go back and edit that.

Just like an editor to defend editing. Sheesh.

[dan bailey]

If I never saw it, it didn't happen.

And if I did see it but am offered the right amount of hush money, it also didn't happen.

[Scott Harris]

If I never saw it, it didn't happen.

And if I did see it but am offered the right amount of hush money, it also didn't happen.

I wish I could say the same about Bendis' Avengers.

[MDG]

7. Shadow of the Batman #1-5 (DC, '85-'86)



I think this has made just about all of my Xmas lists here in some form. Shadow of the Batman reprints the Englehart/Rogers (or, more correctly, the Schwartz/Englehart/Rogers/Austin) run from Detective.

Would that it was "pure," though. The first two issues of the original run, introducing Dr. Phosphorus and setting up the Silver St. Cloud and Boss Thorne subplots were drawn by Walt Simonson and (inexplicably) inked by Al Milgrom. (In an ideal world, DC would've paid to have Rogers redraw these, but good luck with that.) Then DC tacks on two Len Wein issues introducing Clayface III. And every issue has random mystery stories drawn by Rogers to fill out the page count.

But the Englehart's pitch-perfect eight-issues probably represent the best sustained run on Batman.

[berk]

But he edited it, which is cheating.

See?




Just like an editor to defend editing. Sheesh.

Let me go back and edit that post where I said I was going to go back and edit that post.

If I never saw it, it didn't happen.

And if I did see it but am offered the right amount of hush money, it also didn't happen.

Your $2 (Can.) is on its way.

[JKCarrier]

7. The World Below
(4 issues, 1999)
Paul Chadwick took a couple of breaks from Concrete to do this more action/adventure-oriented series. A wealthy industrialist discovers a vast underground world filled with exotic lifeforms and futuristic technology. He sends a team of six explorers down there to scavenge some of that tech, so he can reverse-engineer and sell it. Each issue, the team has to contend with a different weird menace, either biological or technological (or both!), in the course of their quest. The premise is straight out of an old pulp mag, but Chadwick brings a modern sensibility to it -- the characters are explored in depth, as the pressure-cooker environment of the underground world brings out their secrets and insecurities. There are some great monster designs here, grotesque and disturbing. There were two 4-issue runs of The World Below, but apparently it never took off, and the last issue ties up the storyline rather abruptly (albeit with room for a sequel). But what we got of it is great, and highly recommended.

[dan bailey]

Nice pick (in a thread, as usual, chock full of 'em), JKC -- yet another one that definitely made my preliminary list of possiblities.