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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 15, 2020 9:47:11 GMT -5
Donald Duck Adventures #14 from Gladstone... reprinting Carl Barks' The Mummy's Ring form 1943's Four Color #29. This is just a fun romp of an adventure that takes Donald and his nephews all the way to Egypt afte rthey come into the possession of a ring withthe mark of three serpents. Classic Bark stuff and a wonderful sense of high adventure and humor. I also continued on with the JLA in B&B reading #29 and Jimmy Olsen #135. -M The Mummy's Ring is the first classic Barks adventure story. Pirate Gold came first but it wasn't pure Barks. It's also the best of the Adventure stories until, at least, Maharajah Donald.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2020 0:45:34 GMT -5
I read this a week or so ago but hadn't posted about it... Tor #1-6 by Joe Kubert The series is a mixture of new material and reworked or reprinted material from the St. John series from the 1950s. I'd read the St. John's stuff before in the first Tor volume of the Joe Kubert library, but the original material here was new to me. All in all a fun far too short-lived series. I made the mistake of glancing at the letters pages and was surprised at the rancor of several fans taking Joe to task for mixing cavemen and dinosaurs since it was unrealistic and did not happen historically. It's true, but most pop culture depictions of the prehistoric up through that time had the mixed caveman/dinosaur dynamic (as shown by the back-matter in the book which examined several movies that did so that were an influence on Joe when coming up with the concept) so it wasn't unusual or to of line for Joe to be doing so, but so many letter hacks just "couldn't take the book seriously" because of it (and some of these were names I recognized because they appeared frequently in letters pages back when I used to read them in my back issues) and were dropping the book because of it. It just seems a bit silly to me take a comic book to task for that when it never claims to be historically based but simply genre fiction using a common trope. -M
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 16, 2020 10:35:57 GMT -5
I read this a week or so ago but hadn't posted about it... Tor #1-6 by Joe Kubert The series is a mixture of new material and reworked or reprinted material from the St. John series from the 1950s. I'd read the St. John's stuff before in the first Tor volume of the Joe Kubert library, but the original material here was new to me. All in all a fun far too short-lived series. I made the mistake of glancing at the letters pages and was surprised at the rancor of several fans taking Joe to task for mixing cavemen and dinosaurs since it was unrealistic and did not happen historically. It's true, but most pop culture depictions of the prehistoric up through that time had the mixed caveman/dinosaur dynamic (as shown by the back-matter in the book which examined several movies that did so that were an influence on Joe when coming up with the concept) so it wasn't unusual or to of line for Joe to be doing so, but so many letter hacks just "couldn't take the book seriously" because of it (and some of these were names I recognized because they appeared frequently in letters pages back when I used to read them in my back issues) and were dropping the book because of it. It just seems a bit silly to me take a comic book to task for that when it never claims to be historically based but simply genre fiction using a common trope. -M What do you mean cavemen and dinosaurs never mixed historically?? Haven't you ever heard of Devil Dinosaur?
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Post by beccabear67 on Jul 16, 2020 12:37:54 GMT -5
Plus... The Flintstones! I read, for the first time ever, Iron Man #54 & 55 finally (via 'True Believers' one-shots). Is that really Moon Dragon in #54? She wears red not green and is a total 2-D evil bozo villainess. Definitely a surprise compared to the later character she became. It even looks like she caused some people to drown from a ship she hit with an exploding iceberg (Namor says/thinks 'too many have died already' before he can get there). I give Friedrich a C- on this one for writing. #55, the big Thanos intro... well it's all a bit half-baked. The Blood Brothers sure seem to get killed, and Drax is mentioned as having done away with many henchmen before. '&0s comics had a body count! Starlin plots and Friedrich scripts... maybe a B grade? I would not have been totally happy to have paid the hundreds of dollars the issue now goes for and gotten such a shaky start to the great Thanos saga(s), but Drax is definitely fully formed and looking 100% like himself even if Thanos is not totally recognizable.
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Post by spoon on Jul 19, 2020 17:45:51 GMT -5
Continuing my Doom Patrol binge read, I've read DP #98-103, plus Challengers of the Unknown #48 and Brave and the Bold #65.
Negative Man becomes the last member to go a backup story centered on him in #98, and it's story that's supposed to unfold mostly within the 60 second the radio energy entity can be separated from his body. It's pretty good, like the backups that preceded it. This is a good time to point out that although the entity seemed like it might be a manifestation of Larry Trainor in the first couple of issue, after that it's made clear that it's another being or entity that inhabits and leaves Larry's body. Larry "commands" Negative man to do various tasks; Negative Man isn't apparently inhabitated by his consciousness. It's a bit confusing because some people in the stories use "Negative Man" to refer to Larry as a superhero, but Larry uses it to refer to the entity he releases rather than himself.
Most of the art in Doom Patrol is by Bruno Premiani, with Bob Brown drawing occasional stories and the majority of the covers. But Brown draws all of #99, which is the weakest issue thus far. The lead story is a really awful one about a villain who pilots insect-based robots. Coincidentally, the scripting also seems subpar. There's a certain level of bickering among the DP members, but suddenly it reaches a couples notches too high on the acrimony scale, which doesn't seem to fit tonally. The back-up story introduces Beast Boy (who would later become Changeling of the New Teen Titans). He's an angry punk kid. He's still funny, but with way more of a caustic edge than in NTT. At this point, only the head of the animals he transforms into is green and each creature retains some of Gar's facial features. He's only called Gar once in the first appearance toward the end of the story. Arnold Drake apparently forgot his name, because in the next issue, he's called Craig several times. Then, it's back to Gar again. So far, I don't believe his full first name or last name has appeared. Beast Boy is a bit of a pest and a foil for the team, but he livens things up. He seems to have a love-hate relationship relationship with the DP, which makes sense as he's traumatized by being orphaned and having an awful guardian.
I love Drake's humor. There aren't really jokes per se, just dialogue that's really funny. Gar refers to Chief as Santa Claus, and it's funnier than it has any right to be. In one issue, a ship captain has a thought bubble where he's looking forward to eating Indonesian food as he approaches the country. I love that random, realistic scripting instead of making the captain think of something crucial to the plot. I guess it helps set the scene.
In #100, we get Beast Boy's origin, plus the start of an ongoing back-up feature of Robotman's origin. Cliff must've become the breakout star by this point, because captions in the backup feature suggest the fans have been demanding this. Unfortunately, it also brings about an early retcon. In the first Doom Patrol story, Cliff discovers Chief is the one who performed his surgery after Chief assembled the team. But in these backup stories that take place before the formation of the team, Cliff discovers Chief was the surgeon earlier. They're good stories, but the blatant contradiction sticks in my craw.
Then, there's a two-part crossover between the Challengers of the Unknown and the Doom Patrol. COTU is by Drake & Brown, so it's a team familiar with the DP. I've read very few COTU appearances (not much beyond cameos and their origin), so I didn't know much about them. I always thought of them as boring (which was also my impression of FF growing up). Just dumb red-blooded alpha male types. It's palatable because Drake puts some sly jokes in there. A highlight is Robotman repeatedly verbally dunking on Rocky throughout the crossover.
There's a plot hole where the DP is clueless about what led the COTU into their current predicament even not knowing about the COTU very publically faking their deaths. One awesome part is that the villains are the Challenger-Haters. When the Challengers of the Unknown talk about their haters, it's not due to inflated ego. A team really built their identity around that. One of the Haters is Drabny, who Drake treats as a loser nonentity in such a funny, understated way. It's getting a bit repetitive though, as Haters leader Multi-Man is the latest in a line of characters in DP (A-V-M Man, Mr. 103, Beast Boy) who has the power to transform into a wide variety of things.
This crossover made me go down a rabbit hole of Challengers research. I learned that after their series was cancelled in the early 70s, it was revived in the late 70s with art by Mike Netzer (formerly Nasser) & later Keith Giffen. And Swamp Thing and Deadman appeared in those issues (as allies or maybe members). I'd actually be interested in checking that out.
The Brave and the Bold is a so-so team up story with the Flash, but we do get to see a new art team draw the DP (Dick Giordano & Sal Trapani). They don't fit as well as Premiani, but I like their depiction of the DP better than I do Brown.
Beast Boy and Mento are back in #103, and the issue ends with a tease of Rita Farr (Elasti-Girl) and Steve Dayton (Mento) possibly getting married next issue.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2020 2:35:58 GMT -5
Read the six-issue 2008 Tor series by Joe Kubert from DC... This is essentially a reboot of Tor, a slightly modified origin, and a slightly more sword & sorcery-esque feel, with subterranean horrors, shamans, and other monstrosities added to the list of adversaries to supplement the prehistoric mammals and dinosaurs. Chee-chee has been updated as well to a less comic-relief character. The entire story has no dialogue. It's all told in pictures and captions. Here's a sample page that demonstrates both the dialogue-less technique and the sword & sorcery feel of the story: The tale is told over 6 issues and is far less episodic than previous incarnations of Tor. Each issue is a chapter of the longer tale, and each ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Even the ending in #6 is open-ended to allow for more of the story to be told, though Kubert never did return to it before he passed. I really like this incarnation of Tor. I need to digest it for a little while before I make any kind of final assessment, my initial reacton to it is very positive. -M
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2020 3:21:09 GMT -5
Showcase #76 from 1968, 1st appearance of Bat Lash by Cardy & Aragones Welcome to Welcome, the not-so-welcoming town, Bat Lash. A fun western romp with an extremely likable protagonist. My first substantial encounter with Bat Lash was in the Guns of the Dragon mini, but the Cardy covers for the short-lived 60s series always caught my eye, and I finally put together a run of the series plus the Showcase debut last year, and finally sat down to start reading it. Oh my, was that debut a sheer joy to read. Can't wait to dig into the regular run. -M
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2020 4:56:34 GMT -5
last read of the day (I think)... Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1 The Ronin (Fantagraphics; 1987 collects Usagi stories from Albedo #2-4, Usagi Yojimbo Summer Special #1, Critters #1,3,6, 7, 10, 11 and 14; Doomsday Squad #3) I've read large chunks of Usagi, but not all of it. I hope to read through the entire series of series over the course of the rest of the year, so reread the first Fantagraphics Special. I read a lot of these stories in the late 80s after discovering Usagi in the Anything Goes anthology. The first I read was Village of Fear as that appeared as a back up in issue #3 the reprint series of Byrne's Doomsday Squad (Doomsday +1 as it was called at Charlton) and that lead me to pick up the Summer Special and a couple issues of Critters when I found them in a discount bin circa '87. I did not however pick up Usagi regularly, as indies were more expensive than mainstream books then and my budget was limited and became more limited while I was at university. I didn't rediscover Usagi until many, many years later, mostly due to folks at out old home talking about the book circa 2012 or 2013, and I picked up the first Fantagraphics series and read it around that time, revisiting these. Now I have revisited them again and they still bring joy and a sense of freshness every time I read them. -M
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 20, 2020 9:06:05 GMT -5
I've been picking up a lot of Thor books over the last few years and I decided , instead of starting a review thread that I might not want to devote time to, I just post my impressions in this thread. Thor # 106 This is a second part of a 2 parter where the Thunder God takes on Mr. Hyde and the Cobra. It's been a while since I've read a silver age Thor book , but immediately I remember that the book often used the trope of he worrying that he will turn to Don Blake when separated from his hammer. I happens 3 times in this book alone. I'm guessing that it's the only way to even the odds between him and his opponents. Hey, he's too powerful with that hammer. In this issue, there's also the secret ID worry that he will be seen changing from Blake to Thor. I'm glad writers got away from that device, as it usually involved dumb events. Example: He turns unto Thor but Hyde is looking out the window and doesn't see it. . Again, it's been a while but I had no idea that ANYONE, could stamp the hammer on the floor and Thor would appear. It happens twice in this issue. The issue is about a 4 /10 but it's one saving grace is these two panels.Hyde is bragging that he could take Thor if he didn't have his hammer. Thor obliges. It's so cool that he Thor says he's not worthy of the name if he can't beat him without the Hammer. One of the things that make Thor one of my all time favorites is his ego.
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Post by rberman on Jul 20, 2020 9:35:29 GMT -5
Hyde and Cobra, what a weird pair. They showed up in early Daredevil. DD disguised himself as Thor to lure them out, But that drew the ire of the real Thor, who did not appreciate the impersonation. Hyde and Cobra bickered with each other as much as they fought DD.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2020 12:30:04 GMT -5
I finished the Gerry Conway Batman/Detective issues and have finally reached the beginning of Doug Moench's run on the character. I really enjoyed the Conway run but I am excited to be just over a year's worth of issues away from where it all began for me with Batman #373.
With the DC Universe rewards program, you get points for reading issues each day and that has actually helped me quite a bit as I've been reading at least one Detective and one Batman issue each day. It's a nice incentive to complete a goal I had set for myself many years ago.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jul 20, 2020 18:19:20 GMT -5
I just read Secret Origins #6 by Roy/Dann Thomas and Gene Colan. It was really good! It's go me wanting to read the Crimson Avenger miniseries by the Thomases.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 20, 2020 18:25:12 GMT -5
I just read Secret Origins #6 by Roy/Dann Thomas and Gene Colan. It was really good! It's go me wanting to read the Crimson Avenger miniseries by the Thomases. It's been a long time since I've read the mini-series but I recall it being a major let-down.
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Post by brianf on Jul 21, 2020 0:03:28 GMT -5
Read David Laphams STRAY BULLETS from the 1990s #1-9 tonight - so good. Nior-ish, violent, heartfelt, funny. Good times
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Post by berkley on Jul 21, 2020 1:34:28 GMT -5
I just read Secret Origins #6 by Roy/Dann Thomas and Gene Colan. It was really good! It's go me wanting to read the Crimson Avenger miniseries by the Thomases. It's been a long time since I've read the mini-series but I recall it being a major let-down. This is totally subjective, I've never read anything that supports it, e.g. a quote from the artist himself or someone who worked with him, but I've always had the feeling that by the time he started working for DC Colan wasn't really much interested in drawing superheroes any more. His work in other genres looks consistently and markedly superior to me from some time in the mid to late 70s onwards, so actually a little before he moved to DC.
He'll always be my number 1 Daredevil artist, though. And probably shares the top rank with Ditko and Brunner for my favourite Doctor Strange artist.
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