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Post by tonebone on May 1, 2023 11:48:04 GMT -5
Yeah, the Fantagraphics Popeye set from 15 years ago or so is only 6 volumes, a very reasonable goal to complete, compared to IDW's Dick Tracy for example (29 volumes), and other classic newspaper reprint collections. Well, it would be reasonable other than the fact that volumes 5-6 are near impossible to find online for anything even close to a reasonable price ($250 each, f*** off). Oh well, at least I have volumes 1-4 There's an earlier set from Fantagraphics that is 11 volumes, 1-3 collecting the Sunday pages, 4-11 the dailies. I have the eight-volume daily books. The later, more expensive collection integrates the two in chronological order but, since the dailies and Sundays feature separate continuities, you may find it more economical to seek out the original releases.
Cei-U! I summons me spinach!
Note that Fantagraphics is currently reprinting only the Sunday color comics in pretty affordable volumes. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 3, 2023 17:04:30 GMT -5
 Superman: The Dailies, 1939-1940 by Siegel & Shuster, et. al. Yes, I know, I hate Superman. But, as I've said before, I don't mind the earliest iteration of Superman. He's strong, but not omnipotent. He can't fly. He fights slumlords and gangsters and is generally a pretty good force for progress during the depression. It's the Weisinger era Superman that I absolutely despise. This is pretty good stuff. It's definitely not a patch on the the better adventure strips of the time, but I can definitely see a kid wanting to read the next installment. You can definitely tell when Shuster gets too busy to work on the strip and assistants (probably Paul Cassidy) start taking over. Shuster was not a great artist, but there was an energy there that was endearing. It was a little jarring when The Daily Star suddenly became The Daily Planet. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 4, 2023 17:50:48 GMT -5
Ka-Zar #3 (1974).  Oh boy, what a weird journey into "my" golden age of comics! Mike Friedrich, whose work I usually enjoy, does not craft his best tale here, and that's a polite euphemism. On the positive side, this is an inadvertently "so bad it's good" comic-book that I enjoyed laughing at it a whole lot, and readers who are into that sort of thing might give it a try. It's certainly not pretentious in any way! Just clean, silly comic-book fun! The artwork, provided by Don Heck and Mike Royer, could be called serviceable only if we like the creators so much that we can't bring ourselves to say something bad about their work. Why, oh why use Don Heck on such a title? The man would be great illustrating a tale of espionage featuring suave playboys in tuxedos and beautiful femmes fatales but he's absolutely not in his comfort zone when it comes to brawny savages and sabretooth tigers! As for Royer, whose clean lines I love of Jack Kirby's pencils, here he uses a scratchy style that looks as if he was faithfully following Heck's rough sketches instead of embellishing breakdowns. The combined result has little energy and looks badly rushed. That Gil Kane cover was a case of false advertising! Even a centerfold map of the Savage Land is a disappointment. Although it provides some useful info (we get to see where in Antarctica the Savage Land lies), the rest is pretty pointless or downright silly -and I say that as someone who usually love maps. We learn for example that the Savage Land, which is below sea level, has a great salt lake right in its centre, connected to the ocean by an underground tunnel. How the ocean doesn't flood the Savage Land until the lake is level with it is not explained, and would cause any high school student to raise an eyebrow. We also learn that animals in the Savage Land are distributed in concentric circles, with humans occupying the circle around the lake, mammoths and the like are found in the second, then Cretaceous dinosaurs in another, Jurassic ones in the next and Triassic beasts in the next. Wanna bet that we're still going to see a complete mix of all these animals wherever writers send Ka-Zar? But on to the story, which is the highlight of this Plan 9 from Outer Space-level comic-book. Ka-Zar and Zabu, recently returned from New York city, start by fighting a big snake. Ka-Zar disposes of the beast using his trusted knife called “Blood tooth". Strange that the knife would have a name at all, since just two issues ago Ka-Zar broke his knife on the back of a robot pterodactyl; it must be a brand new one. (And yes, robot pterodacyls are a thing in the Marvel Universe. They can carry Shanna from Benin to Antarctica in one go, without her freezing to death, as we learned last issue... a distance exceeding 10,000 km. But I digress). Meanwhile, the man-ape Maa-Gor emerges from the ruins of a castle that collapsed in issue #2. Maa-Gor is an old foe of Ka-Zar's, as seen in Astonishing Tales #11; he's the one who killed our hero’s father and the last of Zabu's sabretooth brethren. In later years, Ka-Zar would destroy Maa-Gor's own tribe in turn, leaving the villain all alone as well. The brute lives solely for revenge, from what we can tell. Walking into the Valley of Mists, which used to be taboo to his people, he is magically transformed into a golden skinned god because why not. Now being super strong (he can punch granite into ruble) and possessing incredible mental powers like teleportation, telepathy and molecular manipulation, Maa-Gor decides Ka-Zar is to blame for his transformation and swears revenge once again! (Man, some people are NEVER satisfied). He also decides that he is destined to rule the world of men. But to attain that lofty goal, he somehow needs an ally. (“But why?” one could ask. That will remain a mystery for the nonce, and perhaps forever). That ally will be found in South America, as Maa-Gor has selected as his mortal pawn the one villain from the X-Men comic-book who inspires awe and fear in the hearts of men whenever his name is uttered... none other than El Tigre! Communicating with El Tigre telepathically, Maa-Gor invites him to join him in the Savage Land. Sometime later Ka-Zar and Zabu meet the dastardly duo because they're currently living in the same ancient buildings (from some advanced civilization not mentioned in the history of the Savage Land told last issue) that Maa-Gor has selected as his new base of operations. Let there be fisticuffs! While he’s trading punches with Maa-Gor, Ka-Zar hears something behind him (*snap*) and turns around, uttering the required cliché "what was that sound behind me?" Maa-Gor takes advantage of his opponent imprudently turning his back to him and hits him with the shaft of a spear, sending the lord of the jungle into Morpheus’s arms. Meanwhile, since El Tigre has apparently been given the mental ability to control animals by his new godly ally (talk about a useful ad hoc revelation!), he subdues Zabu telepathically. Ka-Zar is simply left lying on the ground, because it wouldn't do for a revenge-crazed man-ape turned into a golden god to kill his enemy right then and there. The bad guys move away, indulging in their visions of a bright future where they rule everything. Luckily for our hero, who would then show up but Bobbi Morse, wearing a miniskirt outfit? Bobbi, of course, is the SHIELD agent and erstwhile potential love interest that Ka-Zar jilted three issues ago. She wakes Ka-Zar while simultaneously explaining her convenient presence: she had been instructed by Nick Fury to tail El Tigre (that world-class menace!) when she had noticed him acting all weird all of a sudden and commandeering a propeller plane. She had then followed him (he had been bugged, the poor man!) all the way to the Savage Land. She must have been in a rush too, because she didn't even take time to change into an outfit more suitable to the great outdoors teeming with dinosaurs. It's nice to see Bobbi again so soon, don't get me wrong, but it feels incredibly forced. What was the point of having her and Ka-Zar split if it was to reunite them almost immediately? And to avoid the massive coincidence of having Bobbi on the tail of El Tigre just at the right time and the logistic improbability of her managing to follow him to Antarctica and arrive just in the nick of time, couldn't her role have been played by some Savage Land resident who just happened to be around? But anyway. Meanwhile, Maa-Gor shows El Tigre that there is oil underground! Mwaah-ha-ha-ha-ha! No matter that the exploitation of natural resources from Antarctica is illegal and that said oil could probably not be sold on the open market, this is apparently a game-changer of some kind. (In all honesty Maa-Gor does mention "other resources", but never actually says "vibranium". Which as everyone knows should be THE resource making the Savage Land valuable). But it’s now time to rumble, even if Bobbi wants to play doctor. Ka-Zar so infuriates Maa-Gor with his refusal to stay beaten that the man-ape turned god starts to revert to his more primitive mindset, making him more vulnerable to punches. Things won't be that easy, however, as Zabu attacks his own master! Kevin and his pet wrestle for a while while Emma Peel/Bobbi Morse practices her karate on Maa-Gor and El Tigre. This distraction causes Zabu to awake from his trance, and he and his human brother jump on their enemies, vowing to kick ass! To be continued!!!
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2023 21:06:51 GMT -5
Ka-Zar #3 (1974). Oh boy, what a weird journey into "my" golden age of comics! Mike Friedrich, whose work I usually enjoy, does not craft his best tale here, and that's a polite euphemism. On the positive side, this is an inadvertently "so bad it's good" comic-book that I enjoyed laughing at it a whole lot, and readers who are into that sort of thing might give it a try. It's certainly not pretentious in any way! Just clean, silly comic-book fun! The artwork, provided by Don Heck and Mike Royer, could be called serviceable only if we like the creators so much that we can't bring ourselves to say something bad about their work. Why, oh why use Don Heck on such a title? The man would be great illustrating a tale of espionage featuring suave playboys in tuxedos and beautiful femmes fatales but he's absolutely not in his comfort zone when it comes to brawny savages and sabretooth tigers! As for Royer, whose clean lines I love of Jack Kirby's pencils, here he uses a scratchy style that looks as if he was faithfully following Heck's rough sketches instead of embellishing breakdowns. The combined result has little energy and looks badly rushed. That Gil Kane cover was a case of false advertising! Even a centerfold map of the Savage Land is a disappointment. Although it provides some useful info (we get to see where in Antarctica the Savage Land lies), the rest is pretty pointless or downright silly -and I say that as someone who usually love maps. We learn for example that the Savage Land, which is below sea level, has a great salt lake right in its centre, connected to the ocean by an underground tunnel. How the ocean doesn't flood the Savage Land until the lake is level with it is not explained, and would cause any high school student to raise an eyebrow. We also learn that animals in the Savage Land are distributed in concentric circles, with humans occupying the circle around the lake, mammoths and the like are found in the second, then Cretaceous dinosaurs in another, Jurassic ones in the next and Triassic beasts in the next. Wanna bet that we're still going to see a complete mix of all these animals wherever writers send Ka-Zar? But on to the story, which is the highlight of this Plan 9 from Outer Space-level comic-book. Ka-Zar and Zabu, recently returned from New York city, start by fighting a big snake. Ka-Zar disposes of the beast using his trusted knife called “Blood tooth". Strange that the knife would have a name at all, since just two issues ago Ka-Zar broke his knife on the back of a robot pterodactyl; it must be a brand new one. (And yes, robot pterodacyls are a thing in the Marvel Universe. They can carry Shanna from Benin to Antarctica in one go, without her freezing to death, as we learned last issue... a distance exceeding 10,000 km. But I digress). Meanwhile, the man-ape Maa-Gor emerges from the ruins of a castle that collapsed in issue #2. Maa-Gor is an old foe of Ka-Zar's, as seen in Astonishing Tales #11; he's the one who killed our hero’s father and the last of Zabu's sabretooth brethren. In later years, Ka-Zar would destroy Maa-Gor's own tribe in turn, leaving the villain all alone as well. The brute lives solely for revenge, from what we can tell. Walking into the Valley of Mists, which used to be taboo to his people, he is magically transformed into a golden skinned god because why not. Now being super strong (he can punch granite into ruble) and possessing incredible mental powers like teleportation, telepathy and molecular manipulation, Maa-Gor decides Ka-Zar is to blame for his transformation and swears revenge once again! (Man, some people are NEVER satisfied). He also decides that he is destined to rule the world of men. But to attain that lofty goal, he somehow needs an ally. (“But why?” one could ask. That will remain a mystery for the nonce, and perhaps forever). That ally will be found in South America, as Maa-Gor has selected as his mortal pawn the one villain from the X-Men comic-book who inspires awe and fear in the hearts of men whenever his name is uttered... none other than El Tigre! Communicating with El Tigre telepathically, Maa-Gor invites him to join him in the Savage Land. Sometime later Ka-Zar and Zabu meet the dastardly duo because they're currently living in the same ancient buildings (from some advanced civilization not mentioned in the history of the Savage Land told last issue) that Maa-Gor has selected as his new base of operations. Let there be fisticuffs! While he’s trading punches with Maa-Gor, Ka-Zar hears something behind him (*snap*) and turns around, uttering the required cliché "what was that sound behind me?" Maa-Gor takes advantage of his opponent imprudently turning his back to him and hits him with the shaft of a spear, sending the lord of the jungle into Morpheus’s arms. Meanwhile, since El Tigre has apparently been given the mental ability to control animals by his new godly ally (talk about a useful ad hoc revelation!), he subdues Zabu telepathically. Ka-Zar is simply left lying on the ground, because it wouldn't do for a revenge-crazed man-ape turned into a golden god to kill his enemy right then and there. The bad guys move away, indulging in their visions of a bright future where they rule everything. Luckily for our hero, who would then show up but Bobbi Morse, wearing a miniskirt outfit? Bobbi, of course, is the SHIELD agent and erstwhile potential love interest that Ka-Zar jilted three issues ago. She wakes Ka-Zar while simultaneously explaining her convenient presence: she had been instructed by Nick Fury to tail El Tigre (that world-class menace!) when she had noticed him acting all weird all of a sudden and commandeering a propeller plane. She had then followed him (he had been bugged, the poor man!) all the way to the Savage Land. She must have been in a rush too, because she didn't even take time to change into an outfit more suitable to the great outdoors teeming with dinosaurs. It's nice to see Bobbi again so soon, don't get me wrong, but it feels incredibly forced. What was the point of having her and Ka-Zar split if it was to reunite them almost immediately? And to avoid the massive coincidence of having Bobbi on the tail of El Tigre just at the right time and the logistic improbability of her managing to follow him to Antarctica and arrive just in the nick of time, couldn't her role have been played by some Savage Land resident who just happened to be around? But anyway. Meanwhile, Maa-Gor shows El Tigre that there is oil underground! Mwaah-ha-ha-ha-ha! No matter that the exploitation of natural resources from Antarctica is illegal and that said oil could probably not be sold on the open market, this is apparently a game-changer of some kind. (In all honesty Maa-Gor does mention "other resources", but never actually says "vibranium". Which as everyone knows should be THE resource making the Savage Land valuable). But it’s now time to rumble, even if Bobbi wants to play doctor. Ka-Zar so infuriates Maa-Gor with his refusal to stay beaten that the man-ape turned god starts to revert to his more primitive mindset, making him more vulnerable to punches. Things won't be that easy, however, as Zabu attacks his own master! Kevin and his pet wrestle for a while while Emma Peel/Bobbi Morse practices her karate on Maa-Gor and El Tigre. This distraction causes Zabu to awake from his trance, and he and his human brother jump on their enemies, vowing to kick ass! To be continued!!!
Agree on Heck: a good artist caught in the wrong place in the wrong era for his talents.
Are you reading the whole Ka-Zar run from the start? I'd be interested in hearing about those comics, starting from the Astonishing Tales stories drawn by BWS and carrying on through the solo series that was regrettably cancelled in the middle of an excellent Moench/Mayerik fantasy epic that I thought was better than Moench's dedicated fantasy series, Weirdworld. The earlier issues of the solo Ka-Zar series especially I think I've read only a few of up to the point when Moench took over the writing.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 5, 2023 7:12:38 GMT -5
Are you reading the whole Ka-Zar run from the start? I'd be interested in hearing about those comics, starting from the Astonishing Tales stories drawn by BWS and carrying on through the solo series that was regrettably cancelled in the middle of an excellent Moench/Mayerik fantasy epic that I thought was better than Moench's dedicated fantasy series, Weirdworld. The earlier issues of the solo Ka-Zar series especially I think I've read only a few of up to the point when Moench took over the writing.
I only have one issue drawn by Barry Smith, but it is a thing of beauty. I love the early BWS style, despite its obvious technical problems; it has a unique fresh and exotic feel to it. I'd go so far as to say something was lost when he became the phenomenal artist who gave us Red Nails or the Song of RedSonja! We can't have ur cake and eat it too, nor can we at the same time be a naive newcomer and a seasoned artist. The early Ka-Zar stories in Astonishing Tales introduced us to Garokk the sun-god and Zaladane, characters who would later play a major role in the Moench-Mayerik issues you mention. My continuous run of Astonishing Tales begins with issue 11, and it's a very good run featuring Ka-Zar in the United States. Helping Bobbi Morse and SHIELD deal with miscreants who want to get their hands on a new experimental version of the super-soldier serum, Ka-Zar faces the Man-Ting (in what is, I believe, his first interaction with the regular Marvel Universe), those great bucket-heads from AIM, and a few villains who manage to hold our interest. Of note during that period is the very nice art by Dan Adkins on several issues. Right now I'm re-reading the Ka-Zar title. It begins with material resembling issue #3 reviewed above, then switches to a new writer (Gerry Conway) who basically turns the Savage Land into Pellucidar. I've yet to reach the point where Moench resumes his Zaladane/Garokk story (the one that would be concluded in Uncanny Men). I agree with you: that fantasy-oriented arc was better than Weirdworld. It's a pity it wasn't allowed to run its full course in the pages of Ka-Zar itself; it deserved more than a three-panel conclusion in another book! |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,187 
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Post by Confessor on May 5, 2023 8:28:04 GMT -5
So, I read Valerian: The Complete Collection Volume 1...  This book collects the first three stories of the French series: Bad Dreams (1967), The City of Shifting Waters (1970), and Empire of a Thousand Planets (1971). I've wanted to read Valerian for a long time, having heard so many folk – including some in this very forum – wax lyrical about the series. I understand that the series gets better and better as it goes on, but I figured that reading these early stories would at least give me a good sampling of the series. The first adventure, Bad Dreams, does a decent job of introducing Valerian, who is a time-travelling spatio-temporal agent of the 28th century. In this inaugural mission he is sent back to Medieval France to apprehend the time criminal Xombul, and along the way he meets the beautiful and feisty Laureline, who quickly becomes his companion and sidekick. Jean-Claude Mézières' artwork in this first adventure is kinda cartoony and reminded me a little of Albert Uderzo's work on Asterix, but it's also rather beautiful at times and much more detailed than it might appear at first glance. The scenes set in the gloomy, enchanted Arelaune Forest in Normandy were particularly gorgeous. In The City of Shifting Waters, Valerian again pursues Xombul through time, following him back to New York circa 1986, at which time the world was in the grip of a post-apocalyptic flood, following the accidental explosion of a cache of hydrogen bombs at the North Pole, which caused the ice cap to melt. Most of civilization was been destroyed by the accident and Valerian and Laureline have to contend with marauding criminal gangs, a tsunami, killer robots, and an African-American gangster-musician named Sun Rae, who is clearly based on jazz musician Sun Ra. In all honesty, the plot of The City of Shifting Waters isn't terribly interesting – they chase a bad guy and that's about it! However, the artwork is definitely superior to the first book, with some hauntingly atmospheric scenes of a flooded and vegetation choked New York City. Although, hilariously, Mézières has everybody in 1986 New York dressed in late '60s/early 70s garb, which of course betrays the era in which the comic was produced. The third book, Empire of a Thousand Planets, is another pretty simplistic tale, in which our hero and heroine explore Syrte, the capital planet in a system of 1,000 worlds. Our heroes' rather flimsy mission is to ascertain whether the Syrtians are a potential danger to the Earth, which they do, while avoiding the shadowy agents of a religious sect known as "the Enlightened" and helping to inspire a revolution. The art is good again here, though maybe a step down from the previous book in the series, but the plot is sadly rather predictable and not terribly interesting. Overall, I'm glad to have finally read some Valerian, but none of these stories really blew me away. They were a pleasant pastime, and are really fast reads, but they are all quite slight plot-wise. There's much more humour in Pierre Christin's script than I was expecting, which, like Mézières' artwork, again kinda reminded me of Asterix in some ways. As for Valerian and Lauraline themselves, they're both pretty bland characters; likeable characters, certainly, just not terribly interesting ones. Their relationship is strictly platonic in these stories, but I've no idea if a romance grows between the pair in later volumes? Ultimately, these are some pretty enjoyable time travel-themed space opera tales, but I can't honestly see myself hunting down subsequent volumes. |
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Post by Batflunkie on May 5, 2023 9:03:07 GMT -5
Monsters Unleashed #8-#9 (Man-Thing stories)
Been enjoying my Man-Thing omni, when I turned the page to the Monsters Unleashed stories which were 4 or 5 pages in length with nothing but walls of text by Gerber (which has me wondering if this was the was the start of the start of that for him)
The story was decent. Not sure how to describe my feelings other than it was little more than a "shambling monster" creature feature, which I don't mind even if the first two giant-size books were like that. I just feel like at that this point, Gerber has shown that he can do more with a comic than that
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Post by Hoosier X on May 5, 2023 23:05:50 GMT -5
I got a few comics at the comic book shop in Fullerton today, including Superman #277. The “Clark Kent” back-up reveals that Kaye Daye is Steve Lombard’s aunt.
KAYE DAYE IS STEVE LOMBARD’S AUNT!!
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2023 5:39:39 GMT -5
I read Web of Spider-Man #44 over breakfast. I like the way they did the credits:  |
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Post by Hoosier X on May 6, 2023 8:32:39 GMT -5
In addition to Superman #277, I also got ...
Superman #279, guest-starring Batgirl.
Jimmy Olsen #104, an 80-page giant full of dumb reprints.
The Brave and the Bold #182, guest-starting the Riddler
I had to get that Brave and the Bold. A Bronze Age Riddler story I've never read. I read it last night. The art is by Carmine Infantino and Mike DeCarlo. The whole package is rather underwhelming. The back-up is Nemesis. I read The Brave and the Bold regularly for about a year at the end of the run and the main thing I remember is that I never read Nemesis. Which is very rare for me! I usually read every story in every comic as soon as I get it.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 6, 2023 10:45:23 GMT -5
I read Web of Spider-Man #44 over breakfast. I like the way they did the credits: There's some issue of Captain America I think where they have the credits as gravestones?
Speaking of, I've read Captain America #415-#439
"Fighting Chance" was an interesting storyline with Steve's body slowly deteriorating from the Super Soldier serum (even if it's been the third or fourth time he's lost it). I did like the introductions of Free Spirit, Jack Flag, and Americop
Inching closer and closer to the end of Volume 1 you guys, very excited
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Post by Hoosier X on May 6, 2023 11:14:50 GMT -5
I read the Nemesis story in The Brave and the Bold #183. It’s pretty good! It ends with a cliffhanger as the assassin Greyfox has lured Nemesis to the airport and is about to kill him.
And by a complete coincidence, I have most of the next 10 to 12 issues of The Brave and the Bold from when I was collecting it in the 1980s. I’ll have to pull them out and finally read the Nemesis back-ups after all these years.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 6, 2023 11:34:36 GMT -5
Now I am reading a few stories from Jimmy Olsen #104. Jimmy Olsen cracks me up, but to be honest, a little Jimmy goes a long way. This is an 80-page giant. Just for my sanity, I’ll probably be spreading it out over a couple of weeks.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 6, 2023 12:05:33 GMT -5
I read the Nemesis story in The Brave and the Bold #183. It’s pretty good! It ends with a cliffhanger as the assassin Greyfox has lured Nemesis to the airport and is about to kill him. And by a complete coincidence, I have most of the next 10 to 12 issues of The Brave and the Bold from when I was collecting it in the 1980s. I’ll have to pull them out and finally read the Nemesis back-ups after all these years. Nemesis was a great little series, with terrific art by Dan Spiegle and, in the concluding chapter, Jim Aparo. The character later popped up in the Ostrander/McDonnell Suicide Squad run.
Cei-U! I summon the thumbs up!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 6, 2023 12:41:21 GMT -5
I read the Nemesis story in The Brave and the Bold #183. It’s pretty good! It ends with a cliffhanger as the assassin Greyfox has lured Nemesis to the airport and is about to kill him. And by a complete coincidence, I have most of the next 10 to 12 issues of The Brave and the Bold from when I was collecting it in the 1980s. I’ll have to pull them out and finally read the Nemesis back-ups after all these years. Nemesis was a great little series, with terrific art by Dan Spiegle and, in the concluding chapter, Jim Aparo. The character later popped up in the Ostrander/McDonnell Suicide Squad run.
Cei-U! I summon the thumbs up!
I probably didn’t read Nemesis because of the art. That’s not a style I appreciated until much later. And plus it wasn’t super-heroes! When Green Arrow was the back-up in Detective, I hated it. But I read it every agonizing month. Because he was a recognizable super-hero. |
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