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Post by thwhtguardian on May 1, 2015 19:21:10 GMT -5
I recently re-read Devil Dinosaur and it was every bit as fun as I remembered.
And while not directly classics related, did anyone read the recent Devil Dinosaur appearances in Spider-Man? The art looks really good but if it isn't fun I'm not interested.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2015 19:36:42 GMT -5
I recently re-read Devil Dinosaur and it was every bit as fun as I remembered. And while not directly classics related, did anyone read the recent Devil Dinosaur appearances in Spider-Man? The art looks really good but if it isn't fun I'm not interested. OGOD, DEVIL DINOSAUR!
I bought the first four issues because ... I don't know why I bought them. I hated them. I liked Kirby's Black Panther series of that period and I thought Captain America was a lot of fun, but I hated The Eternals and I bought Machine Man for three issues before I gave up.
But, man, I still have those four issues of Devil Dinosaur and I read them every once in a while and I'M SO GLAD I BOUGHT THEM BACK THEN BECAUSE I SURE DO LOVE THEM NOW!!!!!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2015 19:42:27 GMT -5
I got some comics in the mail today and I may write about them later this weekend. But I have a quick question for any experts on obscure DC Implosion comics.
You see, I bought Karate Kid #15 because it's a cross-over with Kamandi #58 (and you know how much I love Kamandi!). I know who Karate Kid is (from LSH) and I vaguely remember he had his own series but I've never read it.
Does anybody know what the heck is going on? Why did Karate Kid have his own comic in the 1970s?
I know I could look it up on Wikipedia or something, but I thought it would be more entertaining to hear it from one of my CCF comrades who may have good (or bad) memories of reading the series in the 1970s.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 20:10:39 GMT -5
I recently re-read Devil Dinosaur and it was every bit as fun as I remembered. And while not directly classics related, did anyone read the recent Devil Dinosaur appearances in Spider-Man? The art looks really good but if it isn't fun I'm not interested. I reread Devil Dinosaur last year andf loved it. I remember those Spidey issues when they came back, and enjoyed them at the time, but haven't read them since, so no ideas how they aged at all. -M
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 20:13:30 GMT -5
I got some comics in the mail today and I may write about them later this weekend. But I have a quick question for any experts on obscure DC Implosion comics. You see, I bought Karate Kid #15 because it's a cross-over with Kamandi #58 (and you know how much I love Kamandi!). I know who Karate Kid is (from LSH) and I vaguely remember he had his own series but I've never read it. Does anybody know what the heck is going on? Why did Karate Kid have his own comic in the 1970s? I know I could look it up on Wikipedia or something, but I thought it would be more entertaining to hear it from one of my CCF comrades who may have good (or bad) memories of reading the series in the 1970s. He had his own series mostly to capitalize on the kung fu craze that hit in the 70s. Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter and the Karate Kid were DC's answer to Master of Kung Fu, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and Iron Fist form Marvel, Yang from Charlton, and other books capitalizing on all the Kung Fu Fighting going on in pop culture. If you are looking for story justification-no clue-I have a handful of issues I picked up cheap (#1-4 I think) but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, though I do know they were set in the present (i.e. the 70s) not the Legion future, so no idea how Karate Kid came back in time. -M
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Post by Hoosier X on May 1, 2015 22:00:33 GMT -5
Thanks, mrp! I should have thought of that.
Now I hope somebody who read the series back then pops up and has a few words to say about the quality of the series.
I'm going to try and read #15 again, slowly this time, and see if it makes more sense.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 2, 2015 0:56:31 GMT -5
I got some comics in the mail today and I may write about them later this weekend. But I have a quick question for any experts on obscure DC Implosion comics. You see, I bought Karate Kid #15 because it's a cross-over with Kamandi #58 (and you know how much I love Kamandi!). I know who Karate Kid is (from LSH) and I vaguely remember he had his own series but I've never read it. Does anybody know what the heck is going on? Why did Karate Kid have his own comic in the 1970s? I know I could look it up on Wikipedia or something, but I thought it would be more entertaining to hear it from one of my CCF comrades who may have good (or bad) memories of reading the series in the 1970s. He had his own series mostly to capitalize on the kung fu craze that hit in the 70s. Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter and the Karate Kid were DC's answer to Master of Kung Fu, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and Iron Fist form Marvel, Yang from Charlton, and other books capitalizing on all the Kung Fu Fighting going on in pop culture. If you are looking for story justification-no clue-I have a handful of issues I picked up cheap (#1-4 I think) but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, though I do know they were set in the present (i.e. the 70s) not the Legion future, so no idea how Karate Kid came back in time. -M OK. I read all the text on the first few pages of Karate Kid #15 whereas the first time through it, I skimmed it and missed a few things.
Also, the letters page has several comments on the change of format that seems to have started about #11.
#15 seems to be several chapters into a storyline where Karate Kid is bouncing around in different time periods as he travels in a Time Sphere. He seems to have run afoul of two villains: Major Disaster and the Lord of Time. With him for this harrowing journey is a woman named Iris who has been transformed into a crystalline creature called Diamondeth.
The flashback on the first few pages says that he has fought cavemen, Superboy and the LSH in the last few issues, and in the previous issue, he met Robin. And now he's trying to return to the 30th century to see if the advanced science of that era can cure Diamondeth.
But the villains have sent him to an alternative future, the 30th century of A.D., After Disaster, the time of Kamandi!
Karate Kid meets the cast of Kamandi - Pyra, Spirit, Dr. Canus, Mylock Bloodstalker and Doile. And the first thing Karate Kid does is - he kicks Dr. Canus in the face!
Not cool, Kid!
Later, Karate Kid is kidnapped by the surfing lobster-people who put him in an egg-shaped device that somehow transports him into a drive-in movie that is being watched by a bunch of lobster-people in their jalopies. And I don't mean he's in the theater. He's up on the screen, in the movie, fighting Kamandi in a martial arts film!
TO BE CONTINUED!
(I've had the story's conclusion in Kamandi #58 for a while so I know what happens. I wasn't planning on reviewing it but if anybody is really curious, let me know and I'll sum it up in a few sentences.)
Yeah. Wacky wacky wacky. I still have no idea what Karate Kid was doing in the 20th century.
Karate Kid #15 was the last issue, by the way.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 2, 2015 8:07:37 GMT -5
The Kid originally came to the 20th century in pursuit of Nemesis Kid and stayed on "to find himself" after an argument with Mon-El made him question his role in the Legion.
Cei-U! I summon the summary!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 2, 2015 8:19:41 GMT -5
The Kid originally came to the 20th century in pursuit of Nemesis Kid and stayed on "to find himself" after an argument with Mon-El made him question his role in the Legion. Cei-U! I summon the summary! Thanks, Cei-U!
I guess there are worse reasons to go to the 20th century. Did the Kid meet up with Lady Shiva? That would be pretty cool!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 2, 2015 20:15:00 GMT -5
I got some new books from the library!
I got Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 8, which reprints Amazing Spider-Man #68 to #77. I've read a few of these (mostly in Marvel Tales when I was a kid) but most of them are stories I've never read before.
I also got Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Volume Three. My library system does not have any other volume, unfortunately. Would you believe that aside from an issue of Jimmy Olsen in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, I've never read any of the Fourth World stories that Kirby wrote and drew? It's scandalous! The first time I ever saw Darkseid and Kalibak was in the early issues of The Secret Society of Super-Villains. I don't remember batting an eye because those early issues were so wacky.
I was flipping through it and I read the first story already (Forever People #7) and I think I'm gonna love this! Highfather! Beautiful Dreamer! Serifan! Glorious Godfrey! Big Bear! What a bunch of nuts!
I'm still making my way through Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Volume Three. Robert Kanigher wrote a lot of great stories. But did he have some kind of "stupid hat" that he put on when he wrote the Wonder Family? Ugh! Wonder Tot and Bird-Boy are the worst!
I finished Age of Apocalypse: The Complete Epic, Volume Three, but I forget to put in a request for Volume Four. So I'll have to wait a few weeks before I find out what happens. (I'm on the edge of my seat wondering who is going to end up beating Gambit to death. It's inevitable! But it's fun guessing who will actually be the one to do it.)
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Post by coke & comics on May 2, 2015 23:37:52 GMT -5
In the wake of seeing the *awesome* new movie, I reread Avengers #57-58, which I sometimes name as my favorite Avengers story, and other times merely rank in my top 3.
Avengers #58 is less good than my memory would indicate. I liked the revelations of it. The opening splash page with Black Panther is awesome, and the closing splash page earns its iconic status. But what happens in between is pretty-exposition heavy and dry, story-wise.
#57 however, is pretty perfect. One of the greatest single issues of superhero comics ever, to my mind.
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Post by MDG on May 4, 2015 10:34:57 GMT -5
I'm still making my way through Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Volume Three. Robert Kanigher wrote a lot of great stories. But did he have some kind of "stupid hat" that he put on when he wrote the Wonder Family? Ugh! Wonder Tot and Bird-Boy are the worst! The by-the-numbers, "let's fill the pages" tone of Kanigher's WW makes it hard to put his work in perspective (well, that and an interview comment by George Evans that whenever he got a Kanigher script in the 70s, it was always heavily re-written by the editor, and the fact that when I began re-buying and re-reading a lot of 60s DCs in the 80s, it often turned out that a lot of the stories I didn't like as a kid were written by RK.) On the other hand, they usually lent themselves to interesting visuals... After doing a show a couple weeks ago, I brought home my friend's copy of Fantastic Four Essentials Vol 1 and have been burning through it. I've generally enjoyed the stories, and it's fun to see the beginnings like this. (I'd read most of the stories before, mainly in issues of Marvel's Greatest Comics, but never in order in a focused burst.) I think the thing that's most different from DC's books is that at DC, the stories were an excuse to come up with, and then solve, the problem or gimmick. In FF, it's more like the plots are secondary to character, which makes them a lot easier to read in bulk. But, ironically, it feels like both Kirby and Lee could have benefited by a good editor. While there are some great concepts and story arcs, neither of them seemed interested in making sure things always made sense from Point A to Point B to Point C. It's also pretty clear that, after they came up with the idea for the Invisible Girl, neither had any strong ideas about the best way to use her or her powers in the context of a story. (It would be interesting to see what the stories would've been like if Sue had one of the others' powers and Johnny or Reed gained invisibility--if a male could become invisible, would Jack and Stan have found ways to make them more active? And if Sue could stretch or flame on, would she have been captured as a hostage as much?)
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Post by Farrar on May 4, 2015 12:41:51 GMT -5
I'm still making my way through Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Volume Three. Robert Kanigher wrote a lot of great stories. But did he have some kind of "stupid hat" that he put on when he wrote the Wonder Family? Ugh! Wonder Tot and Bird-Boy are the worst! ITA--and Mer-Boy ain't so hot either! I've read in various resources such as Les Daniels's Wonder Woman book that WW wasn't selling well, so Kanigher took a gamble and decided to focus on younger protagonists (Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot and their swains) in an effort to attract a new target audience of preadolescent/adolescent girls.
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Post by Farrar on May 4, 2015 12:48:44 GMT -5
... It's also pretty clear that, after they came up with the idea for the Invisible Girl, neither had any strong ideas about the best way to use her or her powers in the context of a story. (It would be interesting to see what the stories would've been like if Sue had one of the others' powers and Johnny or Reed gained invisibility--if a male could become invisible, would Jack and Stan have found ways to make them more active? And if Sue could stretch or flame on, would she have been captured as a hostage as much?) Which is why, IMO, the Silver Age Doom Patrol is so remarkable. From the start Rita Farr kicked ass, often saved the day and was nobody's hostage!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 4, 2015 12:54:11 GMT -5
I'm really loving the stories in Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Man, Vol. Eight, reprinting Spidey #68 to #77. I have all but two or three of the Marvel Tales reprints for the stories in Spidey #78 to #105, so I may just keep on reading when I get to the end of the Marvel Masterworks volume.
From what I've read of Spidey #39 to #67 (about half), it looks like Lee and Romita were on a roll in those post-Ditko days. I prefer Ditko, but not by much and it's very easy to see why a lot of people prefer Romita.
Last night I read the next story in the Wonder Woman Showcase volume. It was called "The Phantom Fisher-Bird" and it was really terrible. It starred Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Mer-Boy and Bird-Boy. And despite featuring both Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, there is no indication of any kind that this is an "Impossible Tale." Wonder Girl is referred to as Wonder Woman's teen sister. I think it's very easy to see why Bob Haney thought Wonder Girl was a separate character when he drafted her into The Teen Titans. She's treated as a separate character in the Wonder Woman comic.
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