The Ninth Day of Classic Comics Christmas 2012

[Rob Allen]

#4. Space: 1999 Magazine 1-8 Charlton

I was never a fan of the tv show, but I love these magazines with fantastic art by Gray Morrow.

Ah yes, they were good. Like Logan's Run, the comic was better than the TV show. I think this was Morrow's first major gig after the demise of Red Circle Comics, which he edited. It's interesting that Charlton, a company known as the bottom-of-the-barrel comics publisher, put out such good black & white magazines. There was this one by Morrow, and two others produced by Continuity Studios (Neal Adams, Dick Giordano & co.), except for the final issues which were done by Jack Sparling. All were among the best TV adaptations in comics.

[zilch]

On the ninth day of Christmas, I give unto thee...

Anything Goes #1-6 (The Comics Journal, Oct 1986-Oct 1987)

This just missed my list and was another anthology pick.

[Chris N]

Scene of the Crime 1-4.

This was a "I knew I could count on you" entry. I went with Goldfish as my crime comic of choice mainly for variety. I for years considered this the all-time great crime comic. Only Criminal: Last of the Innocent contends with it in my mind.

[zilch]

My last "open spot" on my list (the last three slots are spoken for)...

due to suggestions on today's thread...

Squadron Supreme #1-12

What Watchmen wasn't.

This story is one of the main reasons i love alternate universes. Things happen. Great artwork, and a story that just won't quit. I also love the first printing of the trade that has Mark Gruenwald's ashes mixed in with the ink.

[DubipR]

4. IRONWOOD
1-11 (Fantagraphics) 1991-1997



Bill Willingham made a name for himself with the release of Elementals for Comico in the late 80s/early 90s. During that run, he gave the audience a splash of sex with his Sex Special issues of his creations. Fantagraphics gave Willingham a little more leeway to make the splash of sex a full on tidal wave. Ironwood is a fun mixture of sword & sorcery mixed with ol' fashioned humping. Here, our 'hero' Dave Dragavon helps out adventurer Pandora Breedlsweet to remove a curse. From there, hilarity, action, magic, and screwing abound for 11 issues. It's a shame that Willingham doesn't draw as much these days as his detail is so good, you can see the knots in trees and so forth.

And remember...Adults Only please!

[Aaron King]

Scene of the Crime 1-4.

I will be posting this tomorrow, but for TODAY, here's some more Michael Lark:

4. Terminal City #1-9 (July 1996-March 1997)
Sure, The Prisoner and Mister X are cool, but this is my favorite Dean Motter series, hands down. Future-retro architecture, a boxing match up the evolutionary chain, crime, mystery, robots, and so much more. Michael Lark has become known as a street-level artist with his work on Gotham Central and so on, but he does an amazing job with this pulpy sci-fi stuff too.

[AZBarbarian]

I am a copy cat:

#4. Squadron Supreme (1985) #1-12

Interesting that this title hasn't yet shown up, yet appears at the same place on multiple lists. I think that is going to happen even more in the coming days as there are some super heavy hitters that haven't shown up at all. Nice write-up on this previously in the thread so I won't waste much time.

[icctrombone]

4. Savage Dragon #1-3
Image 1992
Writer/Artist : Erik Larsen






Erik Larsen was one of the original Image 7 and this is what he introduced to the world in 1992.
The original mini introduced Dragon to the world as a person with amnesia who is recruited as a cop to battle the “freaks” that have superpowers. Larsens art explodes off the pages and it’s impressive that he can actually write , unlike the other Image founders. His ongoing is currently at 183 and still going and this 3 issue series kicked it off on a solid note. I love the series and it’s the only comic that I faithfully buy every month.

Larsens Art explodes off the page. I feel like he's the Kirby of this era.

[MRP]

That was a great little series. One correction: the book wasn't a benefit FOR Fleisher...it was to raise money for Fantagraphics because they were being sued BY Fleisher. Fleisher took offense at some comments Harlan Ellison made about him in a Comics Journal interview, and sued Ellison, Groth, and Fantagraphics. Groth and co. were eventually exonerated in court.

Whoopsie. I was a wide eyed high school kid mesmerized by the Adams and Perez covers when I discovered the series and had no idea who Gary Groth or the Comics Journal were at that point, and only ever heard the benefit aspect of the book third or fourth hand, having skipped the intro by Groth when I got to the books to get to the actual comics. After all these years, my memory of it had faded and when I glanced at benefit and Fleisher in an article on it, my brain clicked to the wrong connection of the two. Mea culpa and thanks for clarifying my brain cramp.

-M

[Chris N]

...his detail is so good, you can see the knots in trees and so forth.

And so forth, eh?

[dupont2005]

The Crow #1-4 by James O'Barr

I saw the movie before I ever read the comic. I actually read it fairly recently. I absolutely loved the artwok, it brought me right back to the 80's with the style of illustration I found in so many of those bargain bin comics I used to love. Of course this one isn't a bargain bin comic. I loved the inclusion of poetry and song lyrics also. Since reading this comic a year or two back I've come to be very fascinated with Arthur Rimbaud.

[thwhtGuardian]

#4 - Devil Dinosaur #1-9 by Jack Kirby (Marvel, 1978)

I totally agree with you about this feeling like a awesome Saturday morning cartoon, and get the Land of the Lost vibe as well. If we were doing the thirteen days of Christmas this title would have made my list as it was a toss up between Devil Dinosaur and the pick I'm doing on Sunday.

[shaxper]

4. Magik (4 issue limited series, Marvel 1983)




Claremont is inevitably going to get a lot of representation in these threads, but I wonder if anyone else is going to pick this one. Truth be told, I didn't pick this one to be unique. It's always been a favorite of mine, even upon multiple re-readings, and I don't understand why others don't feel the same.

Back in the early 1980s, Marvel seemed to be churning out as many limited series as it could, especially related to the X-Men. Most of these series were decent though forgettable (Iceman, Nightcrawler, Firestar, Obnoxio the Clown, etc), a few stood out (Wolverine clocked in at #10 on my list, and Kitty Pryde and Wolverine and X-Men vs. Fantastic Four and Avengers have appeared on others), but Magik felt like a series Claremont was truly passionate about telling, not just another launching point for a new property that might make a few more bucks.

For those who don't know, Magik is the follow-up to a brief moment in the regular X-Men series in which the team is teleporting between dimensions, and Illyana Rasputin (Colossus' young sister) gets snatched away for a moment, only to reappear a moment later having aged into her teenage years. This series then takes four issues to chronicle all that happened in between as, in fact, many years pass for Illyana in what, for the X-Men, comes to less than a minute.

What's most memorable to me about this series beyond the concept, the scope (this story easily could have been told in 12 issues instead of 4, and yet the pacing works well), and the fact that it launched my favorite character in my third favorite superhero team of all time (Magik of the New Mutants) was how brutally dark the series was. We saw a small child confronted with the darkest X-Men story I've ever seen and left to fend on her own, aided by many who wanted to help her, but none of which she or we felt she could fully trust. A deep sense of paranoia and disturbing unfamiliarity pervades the entire series, especially as we meet fallen X-Men from a parallel universe who are just as dark at the core as the villain Magik must ultimately confront in some extra-dimensional version of Hell. We see Storm as a demonic witch fighting to reclaim her soul, Kitty Pryde as a mutated half-beast who's every thought is rage and violence, and finally, a thoroughly turned/corrupted Nightcrawler that absolutely took the cake for me. These were the kindest, most loving, most familial members of my favorite superhero team, and yet here was a fully believable depiction of them as fallen from grace, and this is not a world that is undone by the end. We're left knowing that, given the right set of circumstances, the real X-Men COULD have become these characters and, worse yet, that a version of them actually did.

As a result, this is a series that continually thrills and haunts me upon every re-reading. Nevermind the fact that it produced a bad-ass, seriously dark and haunted teen with a tragic backstory in which she is robbed of her youth and innocence over the course of many brutal years, only to find a tragic curse in her victory as she must now rejoin a world that only lost her for less than a minute -- a world containing the very loved ones she saw perverted and corrupted in her alternate world.

And really, the ability to summon teleportation rings, a soul sword, and any number of arcane spells from her mind while also knowing she is now the rightful ruler of Belasco's dimension of the damned didn't hurt either.

This was one bad-ass premise, and an even badder-ass series.

[benday-dot]

Kurt, you are obviously a man of distinguished taste (your opinion on Bulanadi over Kane notwithstanding ). Kull the conqueror is indeed something apart; a milestone in comic-books as an art form (although it never sold all that well). I didn't include it here because the name change to "the destroyer" didn't strike me me as warranting considering the first 11 issues as a finite series (and I wanted to keep room for the admittedly inferior Kull & the barbarians), but I'm glad to see it mentioned.

My own #4 is something quite different, though...

4. From Hell #1-11, Mad Love publishing, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Eddie Campbell.

I could have gone with any number of Alan Moore series here, but I figured someone else would cover the brilliant Watchmen and League of extraordinary gentlemen. Besides, From Hell is the only one I actually read as a series.

What fascinated me here is how Moore manages to blend heavily researched history with conspiration theories, pure speculation and an engrossing story. It's no small feat to keep tension up for 10 issues (#11 is an epilogue of sorts) despite showing us right from the start who Jack the ripper really was.

The dire living conditions of Victorian-era London slums are remarkably believable; the squalor and povery made even more poignant by Campbell masterful use of the pen. (Campbell looks as if he's working straight to ink, which gives the work a spontaneity not possible otherwise). Great job.

I ddn't see the Johnny Depp movie and don't intend to; no way could it come even close to this excellent comic series.

Others have set their own personal "rules" or guidelines for this CCC, and for my part I made a "no Alan Moore comics" stipulation. Silly yes, but otherwise I think I would have ended up with Watchmen, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and 1963 on my list. But From Hell would have led the whole pack, and probably would have been my no.1.

[benday-dot]

On the ninth day of Christmas my LCS owner gave to me...
[/CENTER]

Tor is a book that has a publication history that matches the titular character; for just as within the pages of the book itself so too did the book migrate from place to place being published over the years by St. John's Press, DC, Eclipse, Marvel and then DC once more. For a character so dear to my heart I haven't read half as many of those books as I should, but I have loved what I have read beyond reckoning, though for the purposes of this list I shall stick with my favorite iteration: Tor published by Epic Comics in 1993 and written and illustrated by Joe Kubert.

Awesome! I have promised myself not to buy anymore comics next year, because I have to many already, but I swore I'd track down an affordable set of the 4 issue Tor series from EPIC before I made good on my pledge, I finally did just last week. They haven't arrived yet, but your post makes me anticipate reading them even more keenly.