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Post by berkley on Oct 10, 2020 11:50:56 GMT -5
Cannon is great and a must-read if you're a fan of Wally Wood's artwork. The writing isn't anything special but it's certainly not dull and aslo it's an interesting window onto the mentality of its era - or perhaps rather the mentality of around 10 years earlier, since it feels to me more like a 50s-style cold war attitude than 1969, the year the series started.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 10, 2020 13:12:29 GMT -5
We lost Wood too early. It's terrible that he was depressed.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 10, 2020 13:21:55 GMT -5
I started on that Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine Lee & Kirby 40th anniversary tribute series awhile ago and now I have to see it through after reading #5-8. I expect #9-12 will have more moments of familiar names doing their best classic Lee or Kirby impersonations. I didn't expect to like this as much as I have! It wasn't always easy to find every issue either. Doctor Doom has the cosmic cube, and everyone is on hand helping the FF stop him: The Inhumans, The X-Men, Doctor Strange, Namor, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Bruce Banner, The Black Panther, Nick Fury and The Avengers so far. And Doom gets some assistance from Modok, The Sentinels and others. So you get to see all them done ala Lee & Kirby circa 1969-70.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 10, 2020 13:25:49 GMT -5
We lost Wood too early. It's terrible that he was depressed. He'd had some really bad health and his kidneys were failing. He moved to California for the easier weather and to start dialysis at a VA hospital when he decided to just check out. I bought a bunch of those self-published books one of his last assistants, Peter Hsu, was selling, but I passed on the Cannon books. The final hardcover volume of Wizard King had a lot of Peter Hsu in it. The only Cannon books I saw were the over-sized B&W 10x12" ones he published with a $4 cover price. I guess there were three of those. Sally Forth was the same format but with four issues. I still have #3 if anyone really wants it.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 10, 2020 15:22:06 GMT -5
I have that FF mini series. I don’t remember Much about it other than being a bit disappointed in the art. It was a jam between many artists aping the Kirby style and mostly failing , IMHO.
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Post by berkley on Oct 10, 2020 15:41:09 GMT -5
An FF tribute miniseries sounds like a nice enough idea but of course it would all depend on the creators and how they went about it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2020 2:16:52 GMT -5
Just finished reading the collection of Matt Baker's Canteen Kate... The basic premise is Kate runs the Canteen on a Marine base during the Korean Conflict. Her boyfriend is a private named Al, and the two are usually running afoul of Major Herringbone or some other officer because of a harebrained scheme by Kate. Most of the stories seem to be set in Japan, but a few reference North Koreans or bugging out, so seem to be set in Korea itself. All of the Canteen Kate stories are included, plus one bonus story... Leatherneck Jack from Fightin' Marines #15, which seems to be Baker's first attempt to do a good girl art story set in the Korean conflict and pre-dated the Canteen Kate material by a few months. Fightin' Marines #15 continued its numbering from The Texan (a western that featured a lot of Baler art), but then it started renumbering the next issue, which was numbered #2, and that issue featured the debut of Canteen Kate. Canteen Kate ran in Fightin' Marines #2-9, got a 3 issue run of a solo book Canteen Kate #1-3, which ran at the same time as Fightin' Marine starting at the time issue 6 was published, and then one last Canteen Kate strip appeared in Anchors Andrews #1 in January 1953. There was some material not by Baker in each of those issues, and this collection only collects the Baker material. Fightin' Army and Anchors Andrews had other features besides Canteen Kate, and the Canteen Kate book had several stories by Baker in each issue, bit also had other non-Baker back ups. The stories are fun and light-hearted. They are not serious war comics, nor are they romance comics, but feel like a situation comedy set on a military base featuring Kate and Al as the protagonists, and Major Herringbone as the primary antagonist/foil. There are other supporting cast who flit in and out of the book, and a young Japanese orphan boy is added in the last handful of stories. Some of the jokes/punchlines still hit home, but some fall flat but likely hit home if read when released, they just haven't aged well. Baker's art is superb throughout, and he demonstrates good visual storytelling skills, as well as a knack for comedic timing to set up the visual aspects of the humor. Body language, facial expressions, etc. all contribute to it. Some of the supporting cast G.I.s can be a bit samey at times but G.I. uniforms and haircuts contribute to that and they are at best extras and walk-one to most of the stories. Kate reminds me a bit of a Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy type in her knack for getting into trouble and predilection for those aforementioned harebrained schemes, and Al is a bit of a sad sack type, a bit lazy, a bit too easily caught-up in Kate's schemes or an unwilling accomplice at best. Reading a large chunk of these in a row is probably not the best way to go about it though, as like with some sitcoms, there is a certain formula for the stories, so they read a lot alike, but read at a schedule as they were released, they would have been fun little bits. Each story runs an average of 6 to 7 pages, so reading 2 or 3 in a chunk works well, and if I revisit these, that's hw I would do it instead of reading the entire thing in two sittings as I did. But overall, the Matt Baker art is the star of this collection and the reason to come ot the party to begin with. -M
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 12, 2020 8:45:01 GMT -5
Green Lantern (Vol 3) #13
Kind of felt like this issue was right in the middle of something and so a lot of context was lost to me. It did star Hal, John and Guy though. I forgot Guy is just so unlikeable (could be that ridiculous bowl haircut maybe) even though he's written as a tough "Guy" (ba dum tiss) even in that role he is unlikable. And everyone around here pretty much knows my opinin on Hal; leaving John. Which I've always liked John. Especially latter in his life when Kyle Rayner was GL.
Death Metal #1
I pretty much knew what I was getting but heck 50 cents, why not since I like Death's Head II. This was all the possible 90's mistakes all smashed into one 32 page comic. This was some kind of necro-science of some part of Death's Head II taken and then cursed and then made into this android to kill Death's Head II cause ... well reasons I guess, since the book wasn't forthcoming with a good origin story.
Super Solider: Man of War #1
Not one of my favorites I will probably return to like most of my Amalgam comics. Maybe I was a bit too tried by the time I tried to read this final issue, but it just wasn't working for me. For one, to me, they didn't really change the character's personality much. He was basically Cap with Superman's powers but they never really did much with the character to make him an amalgam of Clark Kent and Steve Rogers. Honestly you could see it either way, really. And Major Zemo was just like Baron Zemo. Though I will admit that I don't know much, if anything, about Major Disaster. Or a lot of the amalgam golden age characters that guest starred in the book.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 12, 2020 14:21:12 GMT -5
I got Showcase Presents: Superman, Volume Two, which reprints more than 500 pages of Superman stories from 1959 to 1961. There are a handful of Superman stories from other eras that I would place higher on any Superman Top Ten list, but for the sheer volume of great stories and great concepts, the late 1950s to the mid-1960s is my favorite era for Superman.
I’ve read a lot of these stories in various reprints here and there, but thankfully there’s a lot of undiscovered gold here! I’m especially grateful for the story where Superman adopts a pet, a giant prehistoric walrus that he calls Flippy! He takes Flippy for a walk and wreaks havoc in Metropolis ... and when the citizens complain and scream and run in fear for their lives, Superman just laughs!
(It’s not really Superman. A renegade Kryptonian has trapped Superman in the bottle city of Kandor and is impersonating him to make him look bad. BECAUSE REASONS!!)
Flippy’s urban adventure only lasts a few panels before Superman returns him to the sea. And I don’t think he ever appeared again!
Which is a shame! I’d bring Flippy back in a heartbeat!
I’m getting an idea for a JLA movie where Flippy is the centerpiece. Superman wants to keep Flippy in Metropolis while Aquaman demands that Flippy be returned to the sea. The members of the Justice League are forced to take sides in a super-hero civil war that could leave civilization in ruins.
It wouldn’t be the worst Justice League movie ever made!
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Post by brutalis on Oct 12, 2020 14:51:18 GMT -5
I got Showcase Presents: Superman, Volume Two, which reprints more than 500 pages of Superman stories from 1959 to 1961. There are a handful of Superman stories from other eras that I would place higher on any Superman Top Ten list, but for the sheer volume of great stories and great concepts, the late 1950s to the mid-1960s is my favorite era for Superman. I never collected Superman in my youth, but read TONS of the 50's and 60's Superman as my dad's best friends brother had them. He left them with his bother while he went off to college in another state. So whenever my family spent weekends with my "uncle and aunt" I had free reign for reading all of his amazing collection. This along with the television Superman live and animated shows helped "build" my viewpoint and ideals of the iconic version of Superman. Combined with the Swan art in the 70's and early 80's and I have a very specific LOVE of classic Supes. Even with all the cliches, dumb, silly, super dickery one will find, there is lots of great and superb stories to enjoy. The Showcase Presents Superman's, Batman's and Brave and the Bold are some of my most favorite, go to comfort reads now.
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Post by Duragizer on Oct 12, 2020 21:35:36 GMT -5
Batman: Year 100The art's interesting, if not exactly pretty. Story's underbaked. 6/10
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Post by MDG on Oct 13, 2020 7:45:25 GMT -5
Read the first Darwyn Cooke Parker adaptation via Hoopla. Wow! The most impressive graphic novel I read this summer. Also been reading, also Hoopla, Blake and Mortimer. Through three volumes so far: both parts of The Mystery of the Great Pyramid and The Yellow "M". Very well done. Also like the restraint of the coloring, compared to many American books--enhances mood and clarifies storytelling.
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 13, 2020 7:56:01 GMT -5
I read Detective Comics #334, where Batman battles his deadliest foe - the Grasshopper! Actually, as silly as the Grasshopper looks, his plan wasn't all that bad, and this was better than most of the other Silver Age Batman stories I've read. The main reason I read this was for the Elongated Man story. I love me some Ralph and Sue and am trying to read all of the Elongated Man stories. I've enjoyed them so far, but this one was a disappointment. I also read The Flash #61. Wally's mom gets married. This is the last Messner-Loebs issue, and it's a good one. I also read The Brave and the Bold #125. I've been reading through this series, and this is yet another example of gorgeous Jim Aparo artwork undone by an insane Bob Haney script. Finally, Fantastic Four #119. Roy Thomas makes a nice anti-apartheid statement with this issue (where T'Challa is now the Black Leopard!) but there were just too many plot holes and silly goings on for me to fully enjoy it. Some nice John Buscema/Joe Sinnott art,
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2020 12:44:15 GMT -5
Read the first Darwyn Cooke Parker adaptation via Hoopla. Wow! The most impressive graphic novel I read this summer. Also been reading, also Hoopla, Blake and Mortimer. Through three volumes so far: both parts of The Mystery of the Great Pyramid and The Yellow "M". Very well done. Also like the restraint of the coloring, compared to many American books--enhances mood and clarifies storytelling. Those Parker adaptations are among my favorite comics storytelling ever done. I also quite enjoyed the Yellow M, but haven't gotten back to any other Blake & Mortimer yet. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 13, 2020 13:18:01 GMT -5
Read the first Darwyn Cooke Parker adaptation via Hoopla. Wow! The most impressive graphic novel I read this summer. Also been reading, also Hoopla, Blake and Mortimer. Through three volumes so far: both parts of The Mystery of the Great Pyramid and The Yellow "M". Very well done. Also like the restraint of the coloring, compared to many American books--enhances mood and clarifies storytelling. I absolutely adore Cooke's Parker adaptations. I particularly love Slayground as it's probably the least formulaic of the Parker novels. Cooke, as well as being one of my favorite artists, may be my favorite colorist. I keep meaning to read Blake & Mortimer and never seem to get around to it.
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