|
Post by Icctrombone on Feb 3, 2024 17:13:34 GMT -5
My ego isn't so big that I can't admit when I'm wrong. I bought this last year and I laughed so much reading this. shaxper, Cei-U! and Slam_Bradley gave praise to this Disney properties in various Classic Christmas surveys and they were right. The Beagle Boys was a fun book. The book didn't have any credits but indicia says it's a 1966 book. I like the novelty that they all have numbers on their shirts , making them like an unlimited supply of crooks. Good stuff.
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Feb 3, 2024 20:51:48 GMT -5
I read the Batman stories from Detective Comics #241-243 and Batman #107-108.
Batman still hasn't gone too sci-fi yet, but we do get a couple of those stories in "Batman the Giant!" and "The Grown-Up Boy Wonder." Batman tries out some different costumes in "The Rainbow Batman." It's actually repackaging a twist from "The Broken Batman Trophies," but very cleverly disguised so it doesn't seem duplicative. A recurring motif is the Dyamic Duo befriending a boy. In many of these, the kid comes across as annoying, but I did find "The Career of Batman Jones" entertaining.
So many of Batman's cases deal with protecting rich people's stuff. It's not a matter of recovering stolen property; he also proactively guards their possessions where theft is feared. Since poor people are often the victims of crime, one could definitely construct some class critiques of these stories. There are probably other factors that play into though. In these early days of the Comics Code, I'm assuming DC wanted avoid murders, brutal beatings, etc. Also, the high dollar crimes occasionally involve the needy, as more than once Batman has to apprehend thieves who steal the proceeds of charity events.
|
|
|
Post by tartanphantom on Feb 4, 2024 11:59:48 GMT -5
My ego isn't so big that I can't admit when I'm wrong. I bought this last year and I laughed so much reading this. shaxper , Cei-U! and Slam_Bradley gave praise to this Disney properties in various Classic Christmas surveys and they were right. The Beagle Boys was a fun book. The book didn't have any credits but indicia says it's a 1966 book. I like the novelty that they all have numbers on their shirts , making them like an unlimited supply of crooks. Good stuff.
Welcome to the secret Cult of Beagle Boys. You might even enjoy the Phantom Blot as well.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 4, 2024 12:05:59 GMT -5
My ego isn't so big that I can't admit when I'm wrong. I bought this last year and I laughed so much reading this. shaxper , Cei-U! and Slam_Bradley gave praise to this Disney properties in various Classic Christmas surveys and they were right. The Beagle Boys was a fun book. The book didn't have any credits but indicia says it's a 1966 book. I like the novelty that they all have numbers on their shirts , making them like an unlimited supply of crooks. Good stuff.
Welcome to the secret Cult of Beagle Boys. You might even enjoy the Phantom Blot as well.
Wait until he lays eyes on Super Goof.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,758
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 4, 2024 14:15:14 GMT -5
My ego isn't so big that I can't admit when I'm wrong. I bought this last year and I laughed so much reading this. shaxper, Cei-U! and Slam_Bradley gave praise to this Disney properties in various Classic Christmas surveys and they were right. The Beagle Boys was a fun book. The book didn't have any credits but indicia says it's a 1966 book. I like the novelty that they all have numbers on their shirts , making them like an unlimited supply of crooks. Good stuff. Beagle Boys #4. Never read this, myself. I've never heard of the writer, but Tony Stroble has definitely left me chuckling on a few occasions. I'm really glad you liked this one because I can almost promise you (almost because I 've never read this actual issue) that they get a lot better from here.
|
|
|
Post by GoldenAge Heroes! on Feb 4, 2024 15:38:56 GMT -5
I was recently cleaning out my closet and found a couple of Revenge of the Sith comic adaptations I forgot I had. Very cool too see a lot of cut scenes and extra cut dialogue from the movie found in the comic version. Wished some that could be inserted into an anniversary version one day. We're coming apon the 50th in a few yrs. Good greif!
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 4, 2024 16:25:40 GMT -5
I was recently cleaning out my closet and found a couple of Revenge of the Sith comic adaptations I forgot I had. Very cool too see a lot of cut scenes and extra cut dialogue from the movie found in the comic version. Wished some that could be inserted into an anniversary version one day. We're coming apon the 50th in a few yrs. Good greif! All three prequel adaptations by Dark Horse are pretty good, I think. I especially like AOTC, with art by Jan Duuserma, and ROTS, with art by the fantastic Doug Wheatley. That said, I don't think they are as good or as memorable as the original trilogy adaptations that Marvel put out in the late 70s and early 80s -- especially the Al Williamson drawn ESB and ROTJ.
|
|
|
Post by GoldenAge Heroes! on Feb 4, 2024 17:26:20 GMT -5
I was recently cleaning out my closet and found a couple of Revenge of the Sith comic adaptations I forgot I had. Very cool too see a lot of cut scenes and extra cut dialogue from the movie found in the comic version. Wished some that could be inserted into an anniversary version one day. We're coming apon the 50th in a few yrs. Good greif! All three prequel adaptations by Dark Horse are pretty good, I think. I especially like AOTC, with art by Jan Duuserma, and ROTS, with art by the fantastic Doug Wheatley. That said, I don't think they are as good or as memorable as the original trilogy adaptations that Marvel put out in the late 70s and early 80s -- especially the Al Williamson drawn ESB and ROTJ. Agreed. Love the classic Marvel Star Wars run til Dark Horse. Great stuff.
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Feb 4, 2024 21:09:58 GMT -5
LOSH #19-20 features the destruction of the moon and its aftermath. These issues have what I like and dislike about the writing of the series wrapped up together. Because LOSH takes place in the far future, the Bierbaums and Keith Giffen. Why can't they just blow up the moon? There's bleakness, but there's an absurdity to it. The Dominators (an alien race) have been secretly controlling Earth Gov (the planetary government of Earth). They have a secret plan to blow up the moon if necessary if circumstances arise that require an extreme tactic to quell a rebellion. Except that's not what happens. Somehow someone accidentally triggers the device that blows up the moon. Evil masterminds harming people through a tragic screw-up feels like absurdly realistic.... We don't get any scenes of the team trying to stop the impending doom.It wasn't accidental. Several members of the Legion DID try to stop it. And there is a one panel, blink-and-you'll-miss-it image of Superman in the story. However, none of this is apparent to someone who read the issues of Legion but did not read the "Time & Time Again" storyline/crossover that was published concurrently in the Superman line of books, where all this was explained. The actual event happened in Adventures of Superman #478, I believe. The Legion book does mention that the destruction of the moon "was not triggered by the Dominion representatives on Earth, at least not intentionally." The Dominators did not trigger it, someone else did, and it was completely and wholly intentional. The cover of Adventures of Superman #478 looked familiar to me. Turns out I already owned it, but it was just in a box of unorganized comics and not in my spreadsheet. I think I bought it out of a 50 cent box a while back, but I hadn't read it. Reading it today, the most striking thing is how clear Dan Jurgens is in his storytelling compared to Keith Giffen and the Bierbaums. He uses exposition to enlighten the readers, as opposed to the 5 Year Later approach of dumping readers in the middle of things and trying to piece things together. It does work better to see the efforts the Legion took, and that this happened because of events from the Superman "Time and Time Again" storyline that they couldn't have anticipated. The carnage is still a gut punch. It also makes me want to pick up the previous issue where the time-traveling Superman met the Legion from a few years earlier.
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on Feb 5, 2024 12:00:32 GMT -5
All three prequel adaptations by Dark Horse are pretty good, I think. I especially like AOTC, with art by Jan Duuserma, and ROTS, with art by the fantastic Doug Wheatley. That said, I don't think they are as good or as memorable as the original trilogy adaptations that Marvel put out in the late 70s and early 80s -- especially the Al Williamson drawn ESB and ROTJ. Agreed. Love the classic Marvel Star Wars run til Dark Horse. Great stuff. By the way, welcome to the forum, GoldenAge Heroes!! You've certainly been busy since your arrival. How did you find us?
|
|
|
Post by GoldenAge Heroes! on Feb 5, 2024 16:20:46 GMT -5
Agreed. Love the classic Marvel Star Wars run til Dark Horse. Great stuff. By the way, welcome to the forum, GoldenAge Heroes! ! You've certainly been busy since your arrival. How did you find us? Thank you, most kind. Just a general search really. Looking for a fun forum with good folks.
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 7, 2024 11:24:18 GMT -5
Continuing my re-read of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man with issues #519–524… So, with Peter, MJ and Aunt May now homeless, since the villain Charlie Weiderman burned their homes down, Tony Stark invites the trio to move into Avengers Tower. Peter has recently become a member of the New Avengers and, as Stark says, they "look after their own". The characters moving into Avengers Tower sees Peter and MJ coming to terms with their new life, including the opening of MJ's first off-Broadway play, and, rather surprisingly, a burgeoning romance between Aunt May and Jarvis the Butler!! This gentle status quo provides the backdrop to a fairly gripping story about Hydra attempting to re-asserting itself on the global stage by poisoning the water supply for eight U.S. states with Anthrax and plague bacteria, which would, of course, cause millions of deaths. To back up this latest attempt at global domination, Hydra has cloned several members of the Avengers, including Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and Hawkeye. It predicably all culminates in a showdown between the real New Avengers and their clone counterparts, with Spider-Man clinging to Hydra's bacteria carrying scud missile as it launches, desperately trying to deactivate it. This is very much a post-9/11 story, with the spectre of domestic terrorism looming large over the story. Still, Straczynski does a good job of making Hydra seem like a genuine threat again for the first time in a long time. The artwork is by Mike Deodato and is predictably rather nice (Deodato is a favourite of mine). There's also a sub-plot about MJ being hounded by a paparazzi photographer, which makes a lot of sense given that she is actually a pretty famous model in the Marvel Universe. Also of note is the fact that Peter has begun experiencing blackouts and episodes of dizziness, which ties in with Stark picking up some weird anomalies in Peter's physiology while running a medical scan on him. This sets the stage for one of the major episodes of Spider-Man comics in the 2000s: the Peter David, Straczynski and Reginald Hudlin penned storyline, "The Other".
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 8, 2024 12:29:04 GMT -5
More re-reading of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, with "The Other – Evolve or Die", which ran through issues #525–528 of Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19–22, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1–4… This big Spidey event wasn't written solely by Straczynski – sections of it were written by Peter David and Reginald Hudlin. Nevertheless, it is JMS who is credited as the "Story Architect" and basically came up with the premise and plot. What happens in "The Other – Evolve or Die" is that Peter finds out that the blackouts and dizzy spells he's recently been suffering are the result of a weird cellular degeneration that is killing him – and not even the combined scientific knowledge of Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, and Hank Pym can save him! Having accepted the truth that he's going to die, Peter decides to spend his final weeks on quality time with Mary Jane and Aunt May, but unfortunately the vampiric, Spider-Totem-hunting creature Morlun returns, intent on claiming Peter's life essence. After a valiant fight, Peter is beaten to within an inch of his life and later dies in hospital. Stark moves his body to Avenger's Tower and while it is there, something hatches from the cadaver and gestates under a nearby bridge. When it hatches, out walks Peter Parker alive and well! Not only is Peter back, but he has a bunch of new powers, including organic web-shooters (like in the then-current Sam Raimi movies), "stingers" that extend from his wrists, night vision, and the ability to feel vibrations through his webbing. Meanwhile, in Avenger's Tower, thousands of pirate spiders begin to eat Peter's old dead body, before coalescing into a humanoid female form. Peter chases the creature and, once cornered, the supernatural being made of spiders (who is the "other" mentioned in the title) informs him that they are both parts of the same whole and she is his opposite. The "other" escapes and Peter is left to ruminate on its existence and what will happen in the future. First up, let me just say that this comic story is pretty bat-sh*t crazy! But it's also a really entertaining read – a real page-turner, in fact. This is basically an evolution storyline in which Peter becomes more spider like and it is very much tied into the whole Spider-Totem thing that Straczynski introduced earlier in his run, though like earlier in the series, the legitimacy of this element of the story is very much left open to reader interpretation. It's great to see Morlun again; he really is a fantastic and genuinely threatening villain. It's not often that a modern comic villain is as memorable as him. The big "to-the-death" battle that Morlun has with Spidey is brilliantly choreographed and drawn by artist Mike Deodato. Actually, the artwork in "The Other" ranges from brilliant to dire. I'm a big fan of Deodato's work and the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man issues are all drawn by Mike Wieringo, who's work here is predictably gorgeous. In fact, I was reminded while reading this of what a huge loss to comics Wieringo's early death was. Unfortunately, the issues of Marvel Knights: Spider-Man are all pencilled by Pat Lee and his is some of the butt-ugliest art I've ever seen, which makes for a rather jarring reading experience as you transition from Deodato or Wieringo over to Lee. Another small gripe would be that the ending has no big resolution. It just kinda fizzles out, which is a shame after such an epic, life-changing (for Peter) storyline. The ramifications of the events in this story, and particularly the fate of the "other", would be addressed later in ASM and over in the pages of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which seems a shame, as a greater sense of dramatic crescendo would've improved the final part of "The Other" a lot. Nevertheless, I did really enjoy re-reading "The Other". Straczynski, David and Hudlin weave a gripping and often creepy tale with big consequences for the characters, and there's some strong marriage moments between Peter and MJ too. This is definitely one of the highlights of JMS' run on Amazing Spider-Man, as far as I'm concerned. As for Peter's new, post-The Other powers, I was never terribly keen on them, with the exception of the organic web-shooters. Luckily, the organic web-shooters were the only new power that was ever really referenced again and, of course, they were all entirely wiped away by the 2008 "Brand New Day" reset or reboot.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Feb 8, 2024 16:26:26 GMT -5
I didn’t buy any old comics for a few weeks. And I had a couple of slow weeks for new releases. Last week I got Avengers Inc. #5 and I read that already. This week, I got a few new comics but I’ve only had time to read She-Hulk #5.
So these are the comics that I haven’t read yet …
Young Romance #125 - facsimile edition (I read the first story but I haven’t read the rest of it.)
To Wake the Mangog (Thor Epic Collection)
Birds of Prey #6
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Feb 8, 2024 21:46:30 GMT -5
I read the stories in the Batman Silver Age Omnibus vol. 1 from Detective Comics #244-246 and Batman #109-110. The super-villains of Batman's rogues gallery have been absent to this point (except that a bust of Two-Face in the Bat Cave was a key part of a story). The streak finally ends when the Joker shows up in a story in Batman #110. Also, Vicki Vale is in two stories after not previously appearing in this Omnibus. One formulaic type of story is "The [Some Number, Usually 100 or 1001] [Some Object] of the Batman." There's one about different Batarangs and another about inventions. Basically, the structure is that identify a particular Batarang/invention/etc. is key to solving a mystery. Batman and Robin recall adventures that involve a few different examples. Ultimately, they figure out which one and it helps them solve the mystery.
|
|