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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 13, 2020 14:07:24 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 love the Batman story in Detective #334! Wonderfully whacky Silver Age silliness! I also love the way many fans praise the New Look for getting rid of the nutty stuff and making Batman a more mature feature. Uh, yeah. Right. Whatever.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2020 2:10:38 GMT -5
Earlier this evening, I finished Alex Toth's Bravo for Adventure, the 2019 IDW Library of American Comics Edition... Originally prepared for a European album edition, but the publisher cancelled the line before Toth's book saw print, it was originally published in serialized form as four 12 page installments in Rook #3 and 4 (2 installments per issue). Two later short stories were produced and published in 1987 with the original material by a Canadian publisher. Toth started and abandoned a few more Jesse Bravo tales, but no more material ever saw print. Set in the 1930s, Jesse Bravo is an aviator and an adventurer. The first (and longest) story features Jesse taking part in a movie production as a stunt pilot but getting embroiled in a nasty affair when a fellow pilot stiffs a gangster for $10K via gambling debts while using an assumed identity. So part crime noir, part Hollywood adventure, and all of it exquisitely executed by a visual master and a great big fun ride. The other two shorter sequences produced later are of a different nature, the first is a 4 page "origin/intro" to Jesse, telling his life story prior to that first adventure, and the second is a bit of a dream sequence taking place after Jesse has been knocked unconscious. This is a visual tour-de-force by Toth later in his career, when his technique and approach had fully matured. It is also a rollicking good fun adventure. Well-worth checking out. On a side note, I'd bet money that this was a major influence on Dave Stevens' work on Rocketeer. -M
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,057
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Post by Confessor on Oct 16, 2020 8:41:21 GMT -5
I finished up Chuck Dixon and Eduardo Barreto's fifteen issue limited series Marvel Knights yesterday. As I said a few weeks back when writing about issues #1-3, it's hard to see what I thought was so special about this series back in the early 2000s. I really liked it back in the day, but the continuing adventures of this "non-team" consisting, at various times, of Daredevil, Black Widow, Dagger, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Luke Cage, and Punisher is fun without ever being mind-blowing. The basic set up is that Daredevil tries to bring the Punisher in and gets some of his superhero friends to give him a hand. There's also an interesting sub-plot about Shang-Chi's father (who is not referred to in any way as Fu Manchu, but clearly it's him) wanting to execute his son, which provides a lot of grist to the mill, in terms of action and fight sequences. There are some other, shorter arcs interwoven throughout the series, like Dagger finding her missing partner Cloak and actually absorbing his "shadow powers", thus rendering him normal again, but these arcs never really seem to amount to anything much. Particularly disappointing for me was the fact that the ending of the series -- which was likely rushed by impending cancellation, I suspect -- seems rather ill-focused and unsatisfying. Still, there's superhero-ing galore and plenty of Marvel's trademark angst between the various members of the teams. This is a fast read and it rolls along in an entertaining manner, without ever giving the reader much substance. That said, I liked it enough that I think I'll re-read the follow-up limited series too. So, yeah... Marvel Knights: it's OK.
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Post by brutalis on Oct 17, 2020 12:47:13 GMT -5
Another issue of Twomorrow's Back Issue, #122 featuring a spotlight on DC's New Teen Titans. Most specifically the Wolfman/Perez era. Lots of articles, covers and pictures to read and enjoy!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2020 23:46:38 GMT -5
As mentioned in the Purchased thread, I picked these up recently and read them this evening... Showcase #85-87 by Joe Kubert (Firehair co-created by Joe Kubert and Carmine Infantino per Kubert's response in the letter's page of #87) Set in the Old West sometime between 1800 and 1850, Firehair features a young white man with red hair whose family was killed when their wagon train was attacked by the Blackfoot. The entire train was killed except for a squawking babe that the Blackfoot chief adopted to raise as his son. The boy, was not truly accepted by much of the tribe despite some thinking he might be the figure prophesied by the tribe's shaman. He's not accepted in the white settlement he visits either, as the settlers try to kill him as they would any other American Indian. This sets him off on a quest for self-identity, not knowing where he belongs, which is the direction of the following two issues. The second features his encounters with the Crow and his attempt to save the life of an old white prospector, and the third showcases his encounter with the Navajo in the southwest, including a vivid fever dream sequence as he recovers from injuries he endured fighting a mountain lion. There are echoes of themes we've seen from Kubert before (and will see again a few years later) in Tor (both the St. John's stories form the fifties and the DC revival of the 70s-the man who does not fit with his tribe so embarks on a journey of self-discovery finding a place where he can belong. And I will say, the second sequence of the fever dream is something that wouldn't be out of place in a Tor comic. But, that said, these are some really good comics, and a good western stories as well. Kubert's art is the star, but the stories are very solid, entertaining and readable, with enough thematic underpinnings to elevate them beyond some of the standard fare of the time. I would have liked to have seen more stories produced by Kubert, but I am guessing sales didn't warrant it. -M
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 20, 2020 8:43:48 GMT -5
I read Marvel Two-In-One #71-72, a nice little two part story with Benjy, Reed, and the Inhumans trying to cure those people who'd gotten turned into water breathers way back when. This story was nothing special, but a nice little Bronze Age team-up tale. I also read The Brave and the Bold #131. This was better than most of the other Bob Haney penned B&B issues I've read. Hardly a "WTF?" moment in it. It sorta made sense, and Catwoman was pretty clever in this one. Plus the usual outstanding Jim Aparo art. Finally, I have been reading through JLA and finished JLA #84-89, which is the Trial By Fire story arc. Meh. I haven't really enjoyed Joe Kelly's (and Doug Mahnke/Tom Nguyen) run as much as the Grant Morrison and Mark Waid runs, though he did lighten up Batman a bit, which I think is a good thing.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 20, 2020 9:08:50 GMT -5
Finally, I have been reading through JLA and finished JLA #84-89, which is the Trial By Fire story arc. Meh. I haven't really enjoyed Joe Kelly's (and Doug Mahnke/Tom Nguyen) run as much as the Grant Morrison and Mark Waid runs. I've been meaning to revisit the 1997 JLA run and I most remember the excellent Tower of Babel story more than any of the others.
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 20, 2020 9:19:33 GMT -5
Finally, I have been reading through JLA and finished JLA #84-89, which is the Trial By Fire story arc. Meh. I haven't really enjoyed Joe Kelly's (and Doug Mahnke/Tom Nguyen) run as much as the Grant Morrison and Mark Waid runs. I've been meaning to revisit the 1997 JLA run and I most remember the excellent Tower of Babel story more than any of the others. Yeah, that and Grant Morrison's opening story, New World Order, stick out in my mind as the best stories of the series.
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 20, 2020 12:11:34 GMT -5
I read Fantastic Four Annual 1998. It's a possible Oz dream/possible alternate reality story starring The Thing. He visits a reality where the FF started in 1961 (I guess this is not the normal timeline for 'our' 1998 Thing?) and Johnny has married Crystal and they have two super-powered kids, Franklin is Zero Man (a portal to the negative zone) and married to a pregnant royal Wakandan woman, and Reed and Sue are middle aged. They all think he is their Thing for awhile. He even drops in on the weekly poker game at Avengers mansion (Thor, Wolverine, Doctor Strange and Jarvis are the only ones there) and learns more alternate world events like Captain America dying stopping the Oklahoma City bombing and that Spider-Man hasn't been seen since the deaths of Gwen Stacy and The green Goblin on the Brooklyn Bridge. All goes back to 'normal' for Ben as there's no place like home and he is glad to be back where things make sense. Not a scary alternate Marvel, maybe meant to show the Marvel of older readers is still going in a different dimension? Oh well, it was a diverting if inconsequential stand-alone story. There being a villain with a plot including duping Johnny and cry's Medusa-like daughter was more of a required element; the real fun is the different reality with the Baxter Building (not the pier headquarters of the late '90s FF).
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 20, 2020 13:36:21 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. I'm starting to read this. I've read the first two issues. It's pretty good. I think it captures that era of the FF reasonably well. The art is obviously a mixed bag, with so many artists working on it. Some pages are Kirby-esque, and some pages aren't so good. I also appreciate that the coloring seems to have been done in the style of the time, with the good ol' 4 color magic.
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 20, 2020 15:07:22 GMT -5
I read Batman/Captain America. It was quite good! Good to know some worthwhile comics came out in the 90's.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 20, 2020 15:43:59 GMT -5
I read Batman/Captain America. It was quite good! Good to know some worthwhile comics came out in the 90's. There were tons of great comics in the 90s. This is probably the only intercompany team-up I actually like. Super fun book.
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Post by Batflunkie on Oct 21, 2020 10:29:24 GMT -5
Good to know some worthwhile comics came out in the 90's. The 90's, as far as comic books go, gets unfairly crapped on a lot by a ton of people. I love DC, Valiant, and Malibu Ultraverse from that period. Marvel was just kind of a lost cause until the crash hit and made it re-evaluate itself
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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 21, 2020 11:20:24 GMT -5
Good to know some worthwhile comics came out in the 90's. The 90's, as far as comic books go, gets unfairly crapped on a lot by a ton of people. I love DC, Valiant, and Malibu Ultraverse from that period. Marvel was just kind of a lost cause until the crash hit and made it re-evaluate itself 90's Marvel is really terrible. DC has some good stuff and some garbage, but definitely better than Marvel. I've never read any Valiant or Malibu.
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Post by Batflunkie on Oct 21, 2020 11:54:21 GMT -5
The 90's, as far as comic books go, gets unfairly crapped on a lot by a ton of people. I love DC, Valiant, and Malibu Ultraverse from that period. Marvel was just kind of a lost cause until the crash hit and made it re-evaluate itself 90's Marvel is really terrible. DC has some good stuff and some garbage, but definitely better than Marvel. I've never read any Valiant or Malibu. Valiant was created by Jim Shooter as an attempt to carry on from New Universe by building the company around old Gold Key characters like Magnus Robot Fighter, Solar Man Of The Atom, and later Turok. Unfortunately Shooter was gotten rid of due to backdoor politics and left just as the Unity event was wrapping up. There's not a huge drop in quality after he left, but when Acclaim bought the company out it did Malibu is an interesting story. After helping Image get off the ground, Malibu had all this money laying around, so they decided to invest it in a cutting edge computer coloring process as well as a new line of comics, the Ultraverse. Stlying itself writing wise after Valiant, It was a great three year ride to be sure. Marvel just totally gutted it for the sake of the coloring process
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