The Sixth Day of Classic Comics Christmas 2012

[mrc1214]

7. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

This is the start of the great Mike Grell run. No more gadget arrows and a more gritty dangerous GA. It has effects on story lines in GA for his because of how Oliver deals with the person who tortures Canary. It's a real shame that this version of GA wasn't keep around and changed I believe after Zero Hour. I'm am almost positive this will be picked again.

[DubipR]

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

Good one. I forgot about this series. Glad to see someone besides myself that has the smut on their list.

I have a few more smut runs on the list coming up....

[foxley]

7. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

This is the start of the great Mike Grell run. No more gadget arrows and a more gritty dangerous GA. It has effects on story lines in GA for his because of how Oliver deals with the person who tortures Canary. It's a real shame that this version of GA wasn't keep around and changed I believe after Zero Hour. I'm am almost positive this will be picked again.

Oh, it will. *innocent whistle*

[hondobrode]

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

I wholeheartedly agree with Dan.

MDG, I darn neared pick that. I'm with you that Englehart / Rogers on Detective was as perfect as it gets IMO.

JKC, Worlds Below is a brilliant pick ! I have a few issues and thoroughly enjoyed what I have. We all instantly think of Concrete when we hear the name Paul Chadwick, but this, along with the upcoming DC series he's working on with Harlan Ellison reminds us of how versatile he is.

BTW, a quick pick from said forthcoming series, 7 Against Chaos :

[shaxper]

7. Space Usagi Vol. 2 (3 issue limited series, Mirage 1993).




If you don't already read Usagi Yojimbo, then you really need to start.

And, if you do, the three Space Usagi limited series volumes will come as an incredibly pleasant surprise. On the one hand, this is an in-continuity series taking place in the far future, and starring a great descendant of Usagi's who happens to look like, act like, and respond to the same name as the character we know and love from the regular series. Viewed in that context,these series are a fun little aside in which we get to see an Usagi-like character blast laser guns and pilot space ships while combating alien hordes with electric daisho (samurai swords).

But, on a far more worthwhile level, this series reads as an extended imaginary/elseworlds tale, in which the regular Usagi cast is thrust into a new environment and the usual restraint is removed since this is an imaginative tale in which there are no long lasting consequences. As a result, much like some of my favorite Weisenger era Superman imaginary tales, characters in this story are free to fall in love, win bigger than they ever won before, lose bigger and fall harder than they have before, and even die. Volume 2, in particular, parallels the most exciting and satisfying victory we've ever seen Usagi achieve contrasted against the darkest loss we ever could have imagined for the character and series. It's the kind of thing you know you'd never see in the regular series, but which you always supposed was possible, and that creates a whole new level of excitement for the limited series in which all bets are off and you have absolutely no idea what remains sacred and what's open to whim and circumstance. Chris N. was right in calling this The Empire of the trilogy, powerful in its sense of uncertainty and potency.

Nothing will ever beat the regular Usagi Yojimbo comic, as far as I'm concerned, but Space Usagi is a darn memorable read in its own right, as well as a great stand-alone experience for anyone foolish enough to avoid exploring the regular series.

[icctrombone]

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

Attachment 105882

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.)

Yeah, REAL good luck with that. Rogers died in 2007.

[Cei-U!]

Yeah, REAL good luck with that. Rogers died in 2007.

I think Marty meant DC should've paid Rogers to redraw the stories at the time the reprint was published in '85 (an opinion I don't share, as I thought Simonson's art was just fine).

Cei-U!
I summon the do-over!

[icctrombone]

7. The Mighty Magnor 1-6
Malibu Comics 1993
Writer: Mark Evanier Artist: Sergio Aragones

Authentic fold out cover



I consider this to be their best collaboration. After years of working together on Groo, They created this 6 issue mini series that spoofs the comic collector/speculation craze of the 90’s all the while making a great book with many laughs. The plot is about 2 guys ( Gil and C.J.) trying to break into comics and , after getting rejected stumbling into a robot sent from another planet. It seems that an extremely paranoid ruler sent him to earth to see if they were planning to attack his planet. Well, apon entering the atmosphere, he malfunctions and is used as inspiration by Gil and C.J. to create a marketable character. You will see just about every comic controversy addressed in a humorous way and this mini wont fail to bring a smile to your face.


A look at a Comic Con complete with Jack Kirby appearance

[thwhtGuardian]

7. Space Usagi Vol. 2 (3 issue limited series, 1993).





Nothing will ever beat the regular Usagi Yojimbo comic, as far as I'm concerned, but Space Usagi is a darn memorable read in its own right, as well as a great stand-alone experience for anyone foolish enough to avoid exploring the regular series.

I've read Usagi off and on through out the years but I never knew something like this even existed, I'm going to need to track it down.

[dan bailey]

[B]7. The Mighty Magnor 1-6

Never even heard of this ... but by god I'll be seeking it out. (And while I ultimately wouldn't have included it, having decided against choosing any deliberate miniseries, I now feel like an idiot for not having previously thought of the same team's 6-issue Fanboy for DC back in '99.)

[Red Oak Kid]

#7. Time Warp 1-5 DC

Some good stories and lots of good art. I've always like anthology books because you could always find a few things you like in them. Mainly I like this series because of the Mike Kaluta covers.

[Reptisaurus!]

7. Stray Toasters 1-4. Bill Seinkiewicz (w) an' (a). Marvel/Epic, 1989.



Is pretty much what the title says... It's a comic about evil toasters that kill people.

And broken relationships and a traditional murder mystery (The Amazon description has "framed for a murder he didn't commit" in the first sentence) and an American travelogue written by a demon...

Psst. Here's a secret. This book is just a little strange.

It's written in first person internal monologue and narrated by a host of different characters, most of which are human - And this isn't the most instantly coherent way to tell a story in the first place. And the art is concerned with showing the world as the characters experience it... not really how they see it. And since this is, among other things, a fairly grizzly murder mystery there aren't a lot of drawings of fluffy kittens frolicking underneath a rainbow. The drawing - from fully painted covers to multimedia interiors - is dark, fragmented, abstract, scattershot and not always easy to follow - We're looking through the eyes of some deeply #$%^ed up individuals who see the world in deeply #$%^ed up ways. IOW: It's disorientating and uncomfortable, and it's supposed to be that way. It's never explicitly gory, but there's a lot of disturbing imagery.

But it's not JUST a horror comic. Beneath all the killer appliances and crazed, paralytic scientists who are fed by birds (!) there's a thoughtful meditation on families, and all the horrors and wonders of being bound to other people forever. And... um.. it's pretty funny, too. (See the "ad" above where Bolle-Happel (tm) Toaster Maintenance Centers offer "Quality and Service. Loads and Loads of Service." While they let us know what they really think of their customers.)

It's definitely a mite challenging, and requires more of an "I want to have an experience" mindset rather than an "I want to be able to follow the plot on the first read-through" mindset. (It took me three tries to really figure out exactly what happened.) Still, the story does hold together well, and I definitely got something interesting to think about after every readthrough - even if it did keep me up some nights and made me unplug my damn toaster before going to bed. Because you never know.....

[Aaron King]

It's definitely a mite challenging, and requires more of an "I want to have an experience" mindset rather than an "I want to be able to follow the plot on the first read-through" mindset. (It took me three tries to really figure out exactly what happened.) Still, the story does hold together well, and I definitely got something interesting to think about after every readthrough - even if it did keep me up some nights and made me unplug my damn toaster before going to bed. Because you never know.....

Definitely a great book. It's one that didn't even cross my mind to include since I view it as such a single entity. Your write-up was spot-on, too. The narrative in Stray Toasters is there, but it's buried under so much visualized emotion and metaphor that it can be hard to extract... but this isn't the sort of comic I'd go to if I wanted pure narrative.

[AZBarbarian]

7. Tales of the Zombie (1973) #1-10

This will not be the last magazine size entry in my list. This series was really cool. I especially like the cover of issue #1, which was done by Boris Vallejo. I really love the traditional voodoo zombie and I will always remember the methodology in which he was animated - that was sweet. Now that zombies are in vogue, who could resist this series. Everything about this series is excellent.

[DubipR]

7- YEAH!
1-9 (DC) 1999-2000



Meet Krazy, Honey and Woo Woo, the galaxy's great rock band, despite them not getting a good gig on Earth. Hate creator Peter Bagge and Love & Rockets own Gilberto Hernandez created this all-ages story for DC's Homage line. Bagge's underground humor along with Beto's linework makes for mirth that's should be read. With the exception of Wally Wood, I don't think anyone else draws aliens as well as Beto. Just all around fun.

Last year, Fantagraphics put out all 9 issues is mega-swoo trade. Like the cover says, for aliens of all ages from 6 to 6000!