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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 18, 2015 20:24:02 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! 2: A rack of Marvel Universe comics with 18 boxes 11: A box of Marvel comics from Silver Surfer to Strange Tales 261: Reaching near the back, we get... The Star Brand #14 Marvel: July, 1988  "Sins of the father..." by John Byrne, Tom Palmer, Chris Ivy, and Tom Morgan My vague recollection is that the New Universe is a bit of a sad story. Jim Shooter has this grand vision to try to recapture the magic of the Marvel Universe, but maintain consistency and continuity this time, and ground it entirely in science fiction (whatever that means). However good the project was at conception, it was stillborn by the time we saw an issue, a victim of the changeover in Marvel ownership, leaving it a line without funding. Shooter found some cheap rookie talent (I think Jackson Guice came out of this) and convinced some people to work cheaply as a favor. But there was really nothing to do. At least that's how I recall the story. I owned very little of the comics and have read less. I am familiar with the Star Brand because the concept crossed over into "our" Marvel Universe and was prominent in Quasar. Handy opening narration tells me what I've missed (all sounds pretty cool actually; I am reminded of Rising Stars and the whole Crossgen universe), so let's dive in. The art is Byrne with several inkers. Looks like sketchy Byrne with several inconsistent finishers. Nuclear missles fired at an asteroid. A godlike child with many questions, who has been killing many people without care. The child finding his not-quite sane father, who still wields part of the Star Brand's power. A battle for supremacy. The child correcting an error, resurrecting a victim. In truth, I find this comic quite intriguing. If I owned the whole series, I would read it. Seems to be a trade of the first 7 issues. Hmmm.. There is also a backup story... "Family ties" by Howard Mackie, Kieron Dwyer, and Joe Rubinstein This seems to focus on the effects a previous story had on a family, the Robinsons, infected in the aftermath of a battle. They end up merging together into a single monstrous and ravenous organism. Strange little story. Grade: B Next: A top comic. Indeed, one of the best comics in America. It will leave you craving more. Remember the year it snowed in LA... Great reviews, C&C! Please keep 'em coming! Star Brand was a strange bird. Its original premise was "what if a normal man who happens to look a lot like Jim Shooter got incredible super-powers", and the first few issues were interesting, if not groundbreaking. The hero was not a scientific genius nor a great philantropist, an inventor or a statesman... he was a car mechanic. Sure, he tried to do good, but as many heroes would discover in the following years, superpowers just aren't sufficient to bring peace and happiness to the world. Roy Thomas continued in that vein, but when John Byrne took over he started deconstructing the character and its whole concept. It might have been a sorry exercise into personal getting-even (as was the scene in Legends where a John Byrne-drawn Jim Shooter lookalike shoots himself in the foot), but it turned out to be quite interesting. There was no way the book could have gone on for any length of time, but it made for a nice limited series. The book also played a significant role in my personal life (I kid you not)! At some point in my twenties, I had to make an important choice regarding my future. One choice involved more stress, more uncertainty, certainly less comfort, but also offered a great challenge; the other meant comfortable obscurity and I was very tenpted to go that way... until I read an issue of Star Brand in which the main character, making a similar comfortable choice, is told by his best friend "You're a loser!" Somehow, that prompted me to go the more difficult but more rewarding way. Thanks, John Byrne! |
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Post by coke & comics on May 18, 2015 21:52:29 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! 3: That's the Spider-Man/X-Men rack 9: A box of Spider-Man comics from Spidey and the Mini Marvels to Venom: Lethal Protector 3: The 3rd comic in the box is... Spidey Super Stories #2 Marvel: November, 1974  This comic is a tie-in to the children's televison program, The Electric Company, a show that is before my time which I have never seen. Later in the series, it will become a pretty straightforward Spidey-stories-aimed-at-kids series, but the first issues tie closely into the show, often featuring characters from the show, and sometimes adapting the Spider-Man skits which would appear on the show. The Electric Company is where I first encountered Spider-Man Yes, that is Morgan Freeman. I'll say this much for it, it was better than the live action Spider-Man series CBS gave us a few years later. Brilliant. I added audio for the Spidey vs. Mr. Measles fight to my post. |
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Post by coke & comics on May 19, 2015 3:35:10 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! 6: Leaving the racks behind, we roll a D5. 1-4 will take us to the bookshelves. 2: Now we roll for a shelf... 2: This shelf features the work of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, plus some Sandman spinoffs...  11: The 11th book on the shelf is... Top 10: The Forty-NinersDC (Wildstorm): 2005  by Alan Moore and Gene Ha I consider Alan Moore the best writer in comics. The testament to this is comics like Top Ten. It's probably second tier Moore, but top tier anybody else. The police force in a city full of every type of fantasy or science ficiton hero you can imagine. Fine high concept. Brilliantly executed. Great characters, genuinely hysterical moments, and genuninely poignant ones. The 49ers is a prequel to Top Ten, set in 1949, around the founding of Neopolis. I've only read this once before, so am less familiar with it than the original miniseries. But this too is a great comic. As Moore does, he works on several levels, so many comments can be taken as part of the story, as commentary on American history at the time, or as commentary on pop culture of the day. The landlord in the story is Betty Doesgood, and old woman who once starred in a comic strip where she gave good advice. On being relocated, she says, "We were ordinary people... me, Bootsy and Toots, Sloppy Sullivan... but we were funny or smart, and that was enough for people back then." The line fascinates me. Within the story she is talking about how her popularity wained as that of the action heroes rose. This is obviously meant to reflect pop culture trends, as comic strips like L'il Abner gave way to Superman. But there is even more to it, as it raises the question of why they got relocated to this city of action heroes on an in-story level. And the implication is that the government was afraid of her, afraid of people too smart or clever. It gets at the old question of when running fast becomes so fast that it's a super power. That strange line somewhere between the Olympic gold medalist and Quicksilver. And that's just one line. In the story, the government has a relocation program to move all their curiosities to a single city. We follow the story of Jet Lad and Skywitch, as they settle in to Neopolis. I'm never all that good at critiquing art, so let me say simply that Gene Ha's work is beautiful. And Art Lyon's coloring adds at once a texture and old-school feel that sets this book apart from Top 10, and gives it its own presence. It is simply a gorgeous comic. Grade: A Next: A story about a surfer... who is silver... look, these riddles are hard to come up with, okay. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 3:37:09 GMT -5
Next: A story about a surfer... who is silver... look, these riddles are hard to come up with, okay. But will you be Breathless reading it out loud...?  -M |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 19, 2015 6:52:54 GMT -5
ABC really didn't last long enough. Promethea got too weird for me, but Tom Strong and Top Ten were both awesome, and the anthology title had some great moments.
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Post by coke & comics on May 19, 2015 13:57:09 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! 6: Leaves the racks behind. We roll a D5. 2: Takes us to the second bookshelf. 3: Takes us to the 3rd shelf, filled with Marvel Omnibi and other large hardcovers  4: That's the Silver Surfer omnibus. Let's pick out an issue. 13 it is! Silver Surfer Omnibus Silver Surfer #13 Marvel: February, 1970  "The Dawn of the Doomsday Man!" by Stan Lee, John Buscema, and Dan Adkins I know there are some here who aren't a fan of this series and often slam the Surfer's introspective nature, calling him mopey. But I love this series. Buscema just nails the Surfer, and, well, I like his reflections on humanity. Sure, some may call his prose purple, but it always seems to be heartfelt. In this issue, the Surfer rides the subway! To the United Nations, where Stan gets in some political satire in his depiction of world leaders. And Surfer battles the Doomsday Man! The Doomsday Man was built to aid man in his conquest of other worlds. But they created him too powerful, too indestructible, and feared their own creation. So the US military locked him away on an island. But now he is about to bust loose. Or so we are led to believe. Unstoppable robot. Worldwide peril. And at the end, after Surfer saves everyone, still they do not trust him. Still humanity fears what it does not understand. Grade: B+ Next: We battle some Nazis and vampires... |
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Post by coke & comics on May 19, 2015 13:58:09 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! Rack 1, Marvel Universe Box 18 (Hulk through Invaders) 258: Reach toward the back and find... Invaders #7 Marvel: July, 1976  "The blackout murders of Baron Blood!" by Roy Thomas, Frank Robbins, and Vince Colletta The image above is a picture of my copy of the comic taken with my cell phone. It has seen better days. Seems to be some permanent damage from a liquid of some form. It actually makes it obnoxious enough to read that I may want another copy. I'll confess that Robbins/Colletta is not quite my cuppa when it comes to art. I appreciate a little cartooniness or exaggeration here or there, but I find Robbins puts it in all the wrong places and all the wrong ways for my taste. Thomas I am generally a fan of. His main failing I find, most evident in a lot of Conan work, is an overreliance on narration and an unwillingness to let the art speak for itself. He worked with some great artists, but never quite seemed to trust them to tell the story. That said, I remain a huge fan, particularly for his work on Avengers and Conan. Invaders is likely a passion project for Roy, given that he also wrote a cousin comic for DC in the form of All Star Squadron. The Invaders in this issue features Captain America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, and Spitfire Sub-Mariner There is a lot of back and forth amongst fandom and in the comics themselves about whether Cap ever killed in WWII. Here it's pretty clear he does. But every life weighs on him. He easily shoots down an enemy plane, but does not cheer its destruction as Bucky does. He instead reflects somberly on the incident. The issue introduces the vampiric Baron Blood. I am quite amused that Human Torch is not shocked to learn vampires are real, but merely shocked to learn they are still around. "A vampire," he shouts, "in this day and age? In 1942?" This issue also introduces Union Jack, the famous masked spy of WWI. He tells the Torch of his adventuring days with "Freedom's Five". I believe this issue marks the first mention of Freedom's Five: Union Jack, Phantom Eagle, Crimson Cavalier, Sir Steel, Silver Squire. I know Phantom Eagle from an issue of Marvel Superheroes. The others seem pretty obscure. I believe this is the first mention of them. Perhaps somebody can correct me. We learn Baron Blood was their greatest foe.  Generally speaking, this is a great issue. I love learning about the prehistory of the Marvel Universe, and it's hard to argue that a vampire Nazi isn't darn cool. Plus it ends with a shocking twist! Grade: B Next: The comic which inspired the upcoming Netflix series... |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 19, 2015 14:18:10 GMT -5
I really loved Baron Blood... he seemed like just the right evil guy for the Invaders somehow, which is weird because I'm usually not a vampire guy at all.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 19, 2015 15:12:57 GMT -5
I was just cataloging my books some more this weekend and went through my Cap American books and saw #253 and #254 and remembering I really never got into finding out more of Baron Blood's whereabout in comics, since I bought those issues out of back issue box in the 90's just because of the covers. I never knew he originated as an Invaders villain.
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Post by fanboystranger on May 19, 2015 16:03:28 GMT -5
Guice had been working steadily for a few years prior to the New Universe. He worked on Micronauts: The New Voyages and was the original penciller on X-Factor, plus a bunch of other stuff here and there. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on May 20, 2015 3:40:29 GMT -5
Shuffle: Top Ten Top 10: The Forty-NinersDC (Wildstorm): 2005 Never heard of this. But I love me some Alan Moore, so I might have to check this out at some point. Your review of it definitely has me intrigued. |
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Post by coke & comics on May 20, 2015 4:10:14 GMT -5
Shuffle: Top Ten Top 10: The Forty-NinersDC (Wildstorm): 2005 Never heard of this. But I love me some Alan Moore, so I might have to check this out at some point. Your review of it definitely has me intrigued. I would definitely read the original miniseries first. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202
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Post by Confessor on May 20, 2015 6:38:04 GMT -5
Never heard of this. But I love me some Alan Moore, so I might have to check this out at some point. Your review of it definitely has me intrigued. I would definitely read the original miniseries first. Noted. Thanks. |
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Post by coke & comics on May 21, 2015 3:08:21 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! Rack 1 Box 1 (Abominations through Astonishing Tales) Reaching in for the 50th comic (give or take) Alias #9 Marvel: July, 2002  by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos In 2002, I thought Bendis could do no wrong. He was easily my favorite writer of the time. 13 years later, I'm sick of hearing his name. I first became aware of him through Ultimate Spider-Man. In my years of being a stack-of-new-comics-every-Wednesday guy, there was no comic I looked forward to as much as Ultimate Spidey. Always went to the top of my stack. His work, along with the work of Rucka and Brubaker led me to explore the genre of crime comics, with Bendis' Goldfish, Jinx, and Torso being amongst the best of the genre I've ever read. Throw in Powers, a great Daredevil story with David Mack. This guy was on fire. He was perfectly suited for Daredevil. This wasn't obvious to me from his first arc, but his second arc, the Out story sold me. So, now sold on Bendis and the crime genre and the crime/superhero hybrid genre, and especially the crime/superhero hybrid genre as written by Bendis, I was pretty enthusiastic for Alias. And it was awesome. I had some concerns. Retroactive continuity always made me a bit skeptical and sloppy retroactive continuity always bugged me. And sloppy retcons are all Bendis knows. Kurt Busiek, he ain't. This isn't meticulously researching what space there was between the Spider-Man stories and figuring out what can fit in the gaps, this was creating a superhero, a history, interactions with the Avengers, and just pretending it all fit. But, you let that go. You pretend this exists on a different earth than all the old Marvel stories and appreciate the series on its merits. It bugged me only because the series could have been handled without retcons. Claremont had turned Jessica Drew into a private eye, so we already had a retired superhero-turned-private eye. I feel like this series should have been about Jessica Drew. Heck, maybe it even was in the planning stages for all I knew. I don't recall the details all that well as it's been over a decade since I've read this, but the issues fills you in. Apparently Jessica Jones had been hired to find Rick Jones (no relation-- or is there?). The issue opens with panels of her walking while reporting her concerns about Rick to the Avengers hotline. The credits slowly appear across the bottom of the panels. Bendis is big on mimicing movies for his comic-making. He may be better off just making comics. That said, something I do appreciate is that he includes a lot of dialogue and figures out how to make that work in the comic format. Bendis has an ear for dialogue. Well, the dialogue of private eyes and such. Perhaps not the dialogue of superheroes. As I mentioned in the Gotham Nights entry, I'm fascinated by these stories about the superhero world from other perspectives. People outside of it, or in this case, somebody who used to be a part of it, but now is on the outside looking in. I like the perspective on the Marvel Universe. This is an introspective issue, with a thematic core framed around the repeated line, "The peasants want the kings to come down and play." It gets to the heart of Jessica's struggle adjusting to being ordinary in this crazy world. I think it's a great issue in a great series. Michael Gaydos is basically a perfect noir artist. A story that's just people talking, built around people's faces and their expressions is something not every artist can do. And Gaydos' people are not beautiful in any traditional sense. They have a grit and grime to them that matches the tone of the story. The issue also features a preview of the Chuck Austen/David Finch Call of Duty series. It's... not good. Grade: A Next: A team of heroes in a league of their own... |
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Post by coke & comics on May 23, 2015 4:04:03 GMT -5
Let's roll the dice! 4: The DC rack Box 6: Justice League through LEGION The 9th comic is... Justice League America #71 DC: February, 1993  "A new look" by Dan Jurgens, Sal Velluto and Rick Burchett I love superheroes. I love comics. I've read tens of thousands of comics, every issue of the first 44 years of Avengers comics, literally thousands of Spider-Man comics, hundreds of Batman comics... given all that, I find it strange just how few Justice League comics I have read. I haven't read none. I've read some modern stuff. Some of Grant Morrison's JLA. And then some of Waid's. A couple modern graphic novels here and there., some Elseworlds one-shots But as far as Justice League older than Grant Morrison's, I've only read a couple of issues, and none I have any clear memory of. I don't even know how the series work. The original was Justice League of America. Then there was the Giffen/Demateiss Justice League (which people seem to love, and Demateiss is one of my favorite comic writers, so why not just read it?), then Justice League Europe spun out of that. I think. Maybe that turned into Justice League International? I dunno. Anyways, this comic seems to be called Justice League America and comes in the wake of the Death of Superman. I read that story. Because that's what you did in 1993. All the cool kids were doing it. And because of that I read Justice League #69-70, part of the Doomsday and Funeral for a Friend stories respectively. Never this issue, though. Now, I'm not that familiar with Justice League, but I know my Avengers, and thus I recognize this issue. This is the "new team" issue that Avengers does every few years. Even the final scene with Booster Gold walking away sad to not be a part of the team with the final panel showing the new team posing. I can think of nothing so much as Avengers #16 and Iron Man reflecting on just how much the phrase "Avengers Assemble" means to him. Now my comic has an outer layer to the cover, hiding most of the image above, showing only part of it through a big question mark, and asking "Who will join the new Justice League America?" Not even sure how well I'd do naming all these characters. I was struggling with "Maxima" until the dialogue revealed her name. It was on the tip of my brain. The opening splash page has her in a new outfit, striking a perhaps? sexy pose with her body contorted in ways that make no sense to me. Her boobs seem to face one way, her belly button and crotch another, her head yet another and her legs yet another. How many directions are there? Let's see. Maxwell Lord I know. Obviously I know Booster Gold. He's upset that his costume was damaged by Doomsday, beyond repair. And he's not a superhero without it. He's talking to Oberon, who I know from Fourth World, but may not have recognized if Booster hadn't said his name. Blue Beetle I of course know (Ditko!). He's in a coma. Guy Gardner doing some good old-fashioned recruiting. He finds The Ray. Who I know mainly because I own a few Ray comics I haven't read. Bloodwynd I only know from the aforementioned Death of Superman comics. He recruits Black Condor. Who I recognize because I own a couple comics with his name on them. Maxima recruits Agent Liberty. Him I'm sure I've never heard of. Fire I know. She goes with Ice. She appears to have lost her powers. And Booster apparently tried to sell a calendar of her in sexy poses without her knowledge. She destroyed the calendars but otherwise seemed unphased by the incident. Ice also quits, too shaken by Superman's death and the other injuries. And Wonder Woman shows up to lead the new team. Simple enough issue. Thought the art and dialogue were rough here and there, though. Grade: C- Next: A comic based on a true story, or so the author swears... |
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