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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 17, 2024 22:28:15 GMT -5
I like Adams's art in general and from what I've seen (far from everything) Jonni Future is probably my favourite thing he's done. If the whole thing were ever collected I'd pick up a copy. Longshot never did much for me; but, I liked his Gumby stuff and his dark Horse stuff, plus his work on the X-Men and New Mutants Annuals, where they are in Asgard, because of Loki. Loved Monkeyman and O'Brien and just wish he had done more with it. Artistically, I though Jonni Future really was his high water mark, but, like Perez, he gets a little bogged down in details that don't really move the story. Still, for short pieces like in this series, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 20, 2024 12:19:38 GMT -5
I like Adams's art in general and from what I've seen (far from everything) Jonni Future is probably my favourite thing he's done. If the whole thing were ever collected I'd pick up a copy. I like some of his stuff but am not a fan for the most part, but I'd love to have a collection of this series (so long as it included the Johnny Future/Tom Strong team-up as well). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 29, 2024 1:29:40 GMT -5
Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #2 Greyshirt is really bad at "The Lady or The Tiger...." Creative Team: Rick Veitch-story & art (Jailbait, story-Swiped), Russ Heath-art (Swiped)Todd Klein-letters, Wildstorm F/X-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: A punk tries to shakedown an old man for his Social Security check money, until Greyshirt takes care of the punk, which leads to a reminiscence of "the old days," with boys like Franky Lafayette and Johnny Apollo, back in '78.....  The narrator is Candice, the Jailbait in question. Her family moved around a lot and were poor, which led her to Indigo City and school, with Johnny Apollo and Frankie Lafayette. She witnesses them pull a prank on class president and all-around Square, Plato Plutarch (future Mayor of Indigo City), as a Cobweb Tijuana Bible falls out of a book on medieval history, which he is presenting to class. The teacher, Mr Fafner, finds it and takes Pluto to see the principal. Candice is looking for a way out of poverty and see it with Plato, but Johnny's style has caught her eye. She befriends Plato to manipulate him and helps him rehabilitate his reputation and gain re-election. She and Plato are walking home, when they encounter Franky and Johnny unloading some newspapers, from a van and Pluto is stupid enough tor azz them. Frankie grabs Pluto in a full nelson and then drops nuggies on him, while Johnny shoves a Cobweb Tijuana Bible in her face and shows her forbidden worlds....  ...and she flashes him a knowing and wicked smile. Later, after her parents have gone to bed, Candice pulls out the Cobweb comic and lets nature take its course, as she dreams of being Cobweb, meeting up with Johnny, who shows that he is still under the spell of The Lure, and she is under his spell....in a very Freudian way She is transformed by the dream and changes her look and hairstyle, then dumps Pluto for Johnny Apollo, which leads to the opening scene, at Lips Lafayette's place, where she is having a party, with Carmine Carbone and his boys. While Carmine offers Franky & Johnny a chance to do a favor for him an swipe some illegal fireworks from his rival, Spats Katz, Lips talks to Candi (as she is now calling herself) about Johnny (and protection) and tells her the way to live well is to get someone like Carmine on the hook, but never marry them, so that you are always favored and let them be your long term meal ticket. Candi listens well. Johnny & Franky pull off the heist and Johnny spends money on Candi, outfitting her in a sexy dress and accessories, but Spats Katz turns up and his goons pound Johnny. He takes a shine to Candi, pays for the dress and drags her along. Franky wants to go after Katz and Candi, to get back at Katz for hurting Johnny and rescue Candi. he finds an unlikely ally in Plato, who presents him a shirt of chainmail, to protect him from bullets (uh...no....), as he had tried to explain, in class, when Johnny pulled his prank. They go to Katz's building and grab some of the stolen fireworks and set up a diversion and Frankie comes through the window and bashes Spats, but Spats has been talking up the life to Candi and she bashes Franky, with a lead pipe and tells Plato to get Franky out of there, that she is staying with Katz and live the high life. Swipe- Some hoods find a man named Bernard Novak, a former comic book artist, who works as a janitor, and drag him off to see a guy named Andy Savannah....  Savannah made a name for himself in the world of Modern Art, swiping comic book panels and blowing them up, selling them as kitsch, for big bucks. A collector, known as fanman, wants more; but he has lost the touch. Bernard is hired to swipe his own work and is able to turn it into one of Savannah's paintings, though Savannah criticizes the fleshtone Benday dots he paints, saying he has the mixture wrong. The hoods love it and take it to their boss and tell Andy and Bernard that they have a week to produce a whole series....or else. They have to go deal with another problem. Bernard works on the paintings, while Andy gets the credit, with his art world friends and Andy continues to gripe about the flesh dots. Bernard tells himself it doesn't matter; but it starts to grate on him. Finally, Andy goes to far and the pent up anger comes to a head.....  Before Bernard can bash Andy over the head, the goons come back, dragging in Greyshirt. They are about to murder him and Andy screams about being an accessory. Greyshirt kicks a shotgun up away from him and one of the goons blasts himself in the face, while Bernard tosses the projector at the other hood, knocking his gun arm to the side, as he fires his pistol. The bullet goes into a painting of a gangster being shot by Johnny Apollo. Andy is behind the painting and collapses and dies, from the gunshot wound, his blood smeared on the back of the canvas. Greyshirt clears Bernard with the police and Bernard finishes the painting....  Thoughts: The opening story is an homage to pre-Code exploitation and crime comics, like Teen-Age Dope Slaves, Reform School Girls, and the works of Charles Biro and even Simon & Kirby. Veitch does a Kirbye-sque look and Spatz Katz favors Kirby, a bit, while the name brings to mind Jack Katz (and there is a bit of a resemblance to Katz, himself). Katz, at one point, worked for Simon & Kirby, along with mort Meskin and Marvin Stein, but his meticulous style was too slow and he was let go. He worked for Timely/Atlas and Fiction House, before leaving comics, for a bit, then returning nd eventually creating his masterpiece, The First Kingdom. Candi's dream gives us a glimpse of the future, as Spats owns the Katz building, which was the scene of the Greyshirt story, in Tomorrow Stories #2, which has 4 parallel stories going on. This story coincides with the second tier of that story, as Sonny, the caretaker, is forced to give up the saxophone and throw out his music. That story showed Sonny go from boy to old man, after his father had been the caretaker there. Here, we see one of Spatz's goond tell Sonny to stow the fireworks and Sonny remarks that his dad just died, but does as he is told, when Frankie whacks the hood and he and Pluto steal the fireworks, for the diversion. This also explains how Greyshirt gets his chainmail, which gives him his name. It also calls back the Lure and the effect he had on Johnny , suggesting it will be part of his downfall. The story also recalls Will Eisner's tales of the various femme fatales who crossed paths with The Spirit, especially those like Sand Saref, who Denny Colt knew as a young girl. That story would inspire Elektra, in Frank Miller's Daredevil, right down to the panels, in her debut story. Swipe is a satire of Roy Lichtenstein, the Pop Art painter who swiped panels from comics by artists like Jerry Grandinetti, Tony Abruzzo, Russ Heath, Irv Novick and even Jack Kirby. This is Russ Heath's revenge (via Veitch's story), as he had at least 4 works swiped by Lichtenstein. Look, I know the debate about Lichtenstein and how much is what he brings and how much is the original; but, my opinion is that he neither paid the artists for using their work, nor licensed it, did nor credited them, yet made a fortune off of it with slick salesmanship to a bunch of art world patrons looking for the next hip trend, rather than anything with meaningful expression of the artist. Without those original works, Lichtenstein had nothing. Yes, he produced other works; but, the ones he is best remembered for, came from other artist. in my book, that makes him a swipe artist and no amount of art history, theory or philosophical mumbo jumbo is going to convince me otherwise. As it is, I have nothing but contempt for the debate over "high art" and "low art" and feel it boils down to snobbery and how much the work sells for, to some shmoe who is willing to pay some ridiculous price. Both so-called "high art" and "low art" invoke reactions by the viewer and who is to say one is superior to the other? Most art was done for commercial purposes and is rarely that pure. The masters had their patrons and the commercial artists had their client. The only difference was the price tag and the deadline. That's my soapbox for today. Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited. Leaving that aside, this is a delightful satire, as it not only mocks the whole Pop Art thing, but it lets the subject matter of the pieces, gangsters, cross over into the art world, as the pieces are reproduced from issues of Hoodlum Hit Comics; specifically, on the exploits of Franky Lafayette and Johnny Apollo. The pieces tell the story of Johnny and Franky's shootout, which kills Johnny and badly injures and scars Franky, who is saved, healed and redeemed and becomes the hero, Greyshirt (as seen in Tomorrow Stories #3). In the paintings, Johnny is wearing the same fur-trimmed cape that he did in the TS story and one paiting has a word balloon about Franky selling him out (Frankie drops a dime to the police about Johnny's involvement in a sapphire theft, because he knew Johnny was going to double-cross him to keep all of the loot. This mini-series is basically exploring the past of Franky Lafayette, aka Greyshirt, showing the man he was before that incident changed him and turned him into a science hero. Here, we see reference to the Cobweb Tijuana Bible, which is central to the crossover between Cobweb and Greyshirt, in the final issue of Tomorrow Stories. You know, the one with the cover of Greyshirt spanking a very happy Cobweb.  I know some are not fans of Veitch's art; but, I think he really brings his A game to Greyshirt, mixing the Eisner and Kirby influences, as well as others, as the story dictates. The previous issue featured Archie riff and we will see some others. This issue also starts the trend of guest artists, on one of the two stories, which allows Veitch to pay homage to their inspiration in his work, as well as expand upon Greyshirt. Here is is Russ Heath, who will be joined by Al Williamson and John Severin, Dave Gibbons (writing), Hilary Barta (inking) and Frank Cho. There is a larger story at work here, as we revisit The lure, in Candi's dream, as we see him coming from Johnny's mouth and then wrapped around Candi's body, in a very sexual panel. The Lure seems to be central to the lives of Franky & Johnny and we will see that play out and how that shapes Greyshirt into the hero he becomes, after aspiring to gangster glory. One of the central themes to Alan Moore's ABC line, before DC got their greasy little paws all over the individual works, after Moore left for autonomy, again, was turning back to comics' past and exploring the greatness that lay at the center, but for a new audience. Unlike the people who have endlessly strip-mined his own work, Moore pays tribute to the past and puts his own stamp on it, bringing that greatness to a new world, while also commenting on what made it great. Heroes based on science, not just violent vigilantes, pulp adventure heroes, police officers on their beat, and mythical heroines. He mixes satire and celebration and displays an impish sense of humor throughout, while everyone else was busy being grim-dark. Not everything works; but so much does that this was my favorite pocket of comics, at the turn of the Millennium, along with Mike Mignola's Hellboy and Kurt Busiek's Astro City, in terms of giving me a superhero or adventure fix. Other works weaved in and out, but; more often treading into other genres. These books gave me what I loved best of superhero and adventure comics, back in the Bronze Age and the reprints I saw then, of the Golden and Silver Ages.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 7, 2024 18:13:36 GMT -5
Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset #3 Creative Team: Rick Veitch-story & pencils, Al Williamson-inks, Todd Klein-letters, Wildstorm F/x-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: Our story is told by Bryon Lord, writer and editor of Purple Comics big hit, Hoodlum Hit, featuring Johnny Apollo and Franky Lafayette. Artist Bernie Novak delivers the lates pages and Byron laments that Johnny and Franky have been laying low lately, and they might need to make something up. he sees in the paper about Carmine Carbone in police custody, about to go up the river. Byron gets a phone call from a mysterious woman, with a husky voice, who says they have the lowdown on how the cops caught Carmine. The story is Byron's, for a price. he questions her to prove the authenticity and she retorts that he seems to be wired in, based on the accuracy of his comics and that he should be able to tell if she is talking the truth, or not. It starts out with Franky taking care of protection racket "client,' whose kid is in the hospital. Johnny tells him he is going soft. they return to Franky's home and find Carmine passed out, from booze. They are worried that Spatz Katz will get wind of his weakness and move in for the kill. Johnny tells Franky to sober him up and he will take care of the rest. Lips isn't satisfied and she looks at a copy of the comic and thinks of the future. Johnny goes to see Spatz Katz and makes a deal....  He sells out Carmine and Franky, for a cut of the action. Meanwhile, Lips reveals to Franky that she is pregnant and is looking to the future and it isn't Carmine. Johnny returns and says he has the problem solved. They are going to hit Spatz where it hurts, by stealing a stash of sapphires he has, hidden in the old mines. Franky doesn't like the idea, what with the Lure, but Johnny says that's why he hid them there. This will be a big score, for Carmine, and they take him to the mine. Johnny then double-crosses the pair...  They are attacked by the Lure, but Franky fights it off and they follow its path upwards, towards the city. They emerge outside to find the cops waiting for them, to arrest Carmine. O'Riordan tells Franky that Johnny has moved in on Carmine's rackets and is eliminating all competition. Lips finishes her story and leaves and Byron doesn't care if it is true or not; he wants to publish. He gets a package delivered and the delivery guy is Johnny, in disguise. The package has a bomb and Byron soonfinds himself a ghost, with a story to tell and no one to hear it. "Silhouettes on the Shade"-art by David Lloyd A man sees his wife's infidelity revealed on the window shades, in silhouette. He grabs a crowbar and storms up to the apartment and finds an empty bed, but finds the pair in a closet and bludgeons them. He sees what he has done, in grief and anger and starts to run, but sees a silhouette of Greyshirt...  He runs the other way, but sees a police car. he ducks back int he building and runs to the roof, but sees Greyshirt silhouetted against the building. He stumbles and falls off the roof, unto his death. we then see city workers removing floodlights from around a statue, dedicated to Greyshirt......  Thoughts: We see how Johnny Apollo turned on Franky Lafayette, and how the Lure is still at the center of things, with Johnny. It also picks up the thread from last issues, modern story, with Bernie Novak and Hoodlum Hit Comics. Hoodlum went out of business because Byron got the story of how Johnny double-crossed Franky and Carmine and how Carmine was ratted out to the cops, to protect him, by putting him in jail. Lips arranged the latter, then sold her story, to get out. Johnny has made an enemy of Franky, which will lead to their confrontation, from which Greyshirt is born. Byron Lord is depicted wearing a Dr Blasphemy t-shirt, from Veitch's The Brat Pack and looking rather like Veitch. he used this self-image before, in his own King Hell Comics stuff. The second story, is told via shadows and silhouettes, with David Lloyd portraying a Spirit-style morality piece of a murderer, brought down by his own fear, as the silhouette of Greyshirt was just flood lights projecting shadows of a statue, on neighboring buildings. Much like "The Tell-Tale Heart," the murderer's own conscience does him in. Another fun issue and more Indigo Sunset articles and comics, at the end, including some personal ads that are pretty self-evident.... 
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 20, 2024 16:58:39 GMT -5
Tom Strong #15 Something familiar about that cover...... Creative Team: Alan Moore-writer, Chris Sprouse & Karl Story-art, Todd Klein-letters, Matt Hollingsworth-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: Tom and Dhaluha are awakened by the fire alarm and Tom discovers that Tesla's room is filled with smoke and ash, and a huge hole burnt through the floor, from below, which extends into the foundations. Pneuman is on the fritz and is red hot to the touch. Tom accesses Pneuman's recorder and sees footage of Tesla emerging from her smoking room, to tell Pneuman to alert her father. Then, they see some goons in funny outfits grab her, along with a dude who seems in charge....  Tom, Dhaluha and King Solomon grab some jeweled suits and head into the very bowels (ewwwww) of the Earth. Solomon mentions the last time they used the suits, when Tesla met the salamander creatures and Tom thinks it is related. They eventually reach bottom and discover signs of a civilization and Tom theorizes that the "salamanders" are vent organisms, living around volcanic vents, able to withstand great heat and lava. Tesla wakes up in some kind of throne room and the leader dud extends a hand and Tesla remarks that he will burn her. he turns off the flame and encourages her to touch him, before he puts the moves on her.....  He literally has the hots for her! Tesla punches him for being a masher and asks him what gives him the right to nab her and stick his tongue down her throat? He bursts back into flame and before he can answer "Male privilege," they are interrupted. The boss sees the goons attacking Tesla's parents. She tries to tell him to stop it and he shoves her down and Tom gets pissed, because no one shoves his baby. Dhaluha shows more restraint but Tom has got his own male pride all puffed up and IT IS ON!  King Solomon cautions Dhaluha to stay out of it, pointing to the goons, who are holding back, while the menfolk fight. Smokey gets in some good licks with fire and magma, but Tom retaliates with concussion grenades and blows out the flame. Then Tesla gets POed at her old man for being a neanderthal and beating up on her boyfriend....  She reads him the riot act, reminding him that she is in her 60s, then gives a tongue-lashing to Sparky....  Sparky goes over and apologizes to Mom and Pop and offers himself as a hostage, to keep the peace (and so he can light some fires with Tesla, no doubt). They actually let him into their household, with their daughter (3 floors away, but close enough for hanky panky). Tesla starts the process of teaching him English, then Tom goes to bed, mumbling about not being good enough for his baby and Dhaluha says to let them make their own mistakes and they settle in to engage in some of them, right then, while their daughter is probably playing The Doors and singing the refrain to "Light My Fire." Thoughts: Teenagers; can't live with them, can't exile them to military school long enough! Though, given that Tom is like a hundred years old, thanks to the Goloka plant (and Dhaluha is at least an Octogenarian, if not a Nonagenarian ) and Tesla is 2/3 his age, that's pretty much an adult, not a teen. Maybe if she was in her 30s or so. This is a point of contention, for some people, how Tesla can be that old, with the experience that comes with it and act like a typical teenager. I chalk it up to basic family dynamics and psychology imprining themselves onto Tesla, making her act like a teenager, since she has the appearance of one. If "clothes make the (wo)man," then the body makes the teenager. Perhaps the Goloka extends the hormonal changes, thereby extending the psychological issues, proportionately. Either that or plot convenience. Basically, Moore is riffing a bit on Namor and Sue Storm, except "Sue" is a teen and not married or dating "Reed" and we have already seen that Tesla has engaged in sexual activity (or it can be interpreted that way, when she had that alien dude in a rather horizontal embrace, in the Jaime Hernandez story. This is also a call back tot he "salamander" king and it's more than a teen romance, as Moore is building to a bigger story and there will be some more call backs to the first year, in the future. I know some folks aren't enamored of Tesla being written as a typical teen or the series, in general, but I enjoyed the satire. I have this mental picture of Leah Moore (or Amber) bringing home a boy friend, to meet dear old Dad and a very big and more hostile Alan crushing his hand and describing the kind of horrific things he can do to him if he lays a finger on his baby. Probably something about sacrificing him to ancient snake gods, or something. Or else, he shows him Miracleman #15 and tells him his skin could also end up on a clothesline. I liked it....your mileage may vary.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2024 14:49:05 GMT -5
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #2 Without reading the story, my first question is how an insectoid race has mammary glands, but I will chalk that up to just "looking insectoid>" And like strippers. Sir Mix-A-Lot endorses this cover! I know what you are saying; but, I think the prominence of the muscles would elevate the overall structure, in his estimation. You don't see that at the New York Philharmonic..... Creative Team: Alan Moore & Steve moore (no relation)-writers, Paul Rivoche, Art Adams and Alan Weiss-art; Todd Klein -letters, Matt Holingsworth, David Baron and Giulia Brusco-colors; Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: Tom Strong- Tom has traveled into space, with his Soviet/Russian counterpart, Svetlana X. They are preparing to dock with the Russian space station, Lem 15 (as in Stanislaw Lem, not Lunar Excursion Module). When they go inside, they find something fantastic...  They discover that there are gravity wells all throughout that change the axis of the gravity pull. They also discover some maggot-like creatures. Tom is able to repel them with an energy weapon, while Svetlana kicks their guts out. They eventually come onto the observation deck, where they find a surviving crewman, in the process of transforming into a maggot creature. They beat a hasty retreat and nuke the station, from space. It's the only way to be sure. After the return to Earth, the celebrate being alive, along with Svetlana's husband, Dmitri....  Jonni Future- Jonni puts on the suit provided for her, by Jermaal, designed by her uncle, who seems a little....odd.....  Once he pulls his tongue back into his mouth, he guides Jonni to the Coelacanth, their space-going fish ship. They go out into the Grand Array and Jonni watches her uncles last transmission, as he is overwhelmed by alien creatures, they refer to as The Swarm. They act like locusts, though a mix of humanoid and insectoid. Jonnie makes an EVA, in a bubble suit and is attacked by members of the Swarm. She works out that they are drawn by heat and light and orders Jermaal to locate any large magnesium deposit and they bombard it with energy, causing a massive flash of light, which draws the entire Swarm to their destruction....  Jermaal celebrates, as the Grand Array has a hero, again. Jonni feels the excitement of the adventure and is drawn to the rush. She will continue. Young Tom Strong- Tom has to take his test of manhood, to join the Ozu tribue. Normally, this involves writing your name in the snow; but, Tom is expected to stalk and kill a Thunderbird, for the feast. I suggest Alan. Tom is reluctant to kill, as he was raised a vegetarian....  Chief Omotu says "Shut up, and save me a drumstick!" Tom finds the Thunderbird flock (sitting around the pool, with Lady Penelope) and Tom says F-this! and decides to ride and tame one, instead of killing it and succeeds. Chief Omotu says he is part of the Ozu and a man, but still makes him write his name in the snow, while he eats his lentils. Thoughts: Svetlana X makes for an interesting character, but this is too short a tale to do much with her. It's basically an Alien riff, while name dropping Stanislaw Lem, whose writings often revolved around the inability to communicate with alien species. I don't think the Russians would name a space station for a Polish Jew (though the part of Poland where he was born and grew up became part of the Ukraine), regardless of how acclaimed an author he became worldwide, even though the Soviet government was happy to claim the prestige. As we see at the beginning and end, this is 2001, after the breakup of the Soviet Union; yet, it still seems like a communist government is in power, in Tom's reality. The series does present a sort of alternate world, with Millennium City built along futurist lines; so, we can infer that similar happened to the Soviet Union, creating their own futurist city and, perhaps, avoiding Chernobyl, possibly the Afghan Invasion, and maybe the disintegration of the Soviet economy and political structure. Whether or not that is a good or a bad thing is open to wide interpretation; but, you have to ask, would Gorbachev have been worse than Putin? Young Tom Strong sets up how he got his steed, as seen in previous YTS appearances, before this feature. It's typical of Tom's more thoughtful approaches to problems. Jonni Future is pretty light on plot, but it lacks room. Mostly, this just acts to finish up the intro of the hero and give her a taste of adventure, while also allowing Art Adams to go nuts with things. His designs are great in this, in terms of the setting and technology. Jonni is pretty much cheesecake, but that is in keeping with the pulp sci-fi origins of the archetype. They do pretty much poke fun at the absurdity of it, via the dialogue and with a couple of sight gags. This is as much satire as adventure, though hardly biting satire.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Mar 29, 2024 11:02:47 GMT -5
You'd think Jermaal would be like, "okay, cute for a simian I guess, but still four fewer boobs than it takes to get me going."
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 29, 2024 21:02:51 GMT -5
You'd think Jermaal would be like, "okay, cute for a simian I guess, but still four fewer boobs than it takes to get me going." I'd make a milk joke; but, I'm going to behave. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 11, 2024 15:49:08 GMT -5
Greyshirt #4 Dammit! Creative Team: Rick Veitch-story & main art, John Severin-guest art, Todd Klein-letters, Wildstorm F/X-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: "The Ballad of Franky & Johnny" Franky returns from the hit that Johnny put on him and Carmine and checks in with Ella Bly, another Bottoms Up kid, who dreams of being a singer, but works as a prostitute. They do the horizontal mambo and while he showers, she alerts Chucky Frisco, Johnny's right hand, who tells Johnny, after he has a bit of fun with Candi, at an art exhibition. She is two-timin' Spats, who is usy talking to swipe artist Andy Savannah, who does Pop Art reproductions of Hoodlum Hit comics. Candi and Johnny decide to bump off Spats and take his entire territory and arrange to run him down. Johnny tells Chucky to kill Candi, too; but when they come out onto the street, Spats pushes her out of the way and she survives. meanwhile, Ella tells Franky what she did and he is able to escape her apartment, before Johnny can gun him down. Ella still wants her promised gig at the Mood Indigo, the club Johnny controls. She gets it, for a price....  "Recognition" We see the long history of a blue gemstone...a sapphire, the size of a really big rock....like in a decorative garden, but not as big as a boulder....something you'd have to shot-put, like a pro wrestler at a closed McDonalds.......  Every time a man and woman gaze upon it, together, they fall madly in love. It is on display at the Indigo City Museum of Natural History. Noted cat burglars Bruno Imbroglio and Sabra Desade both try to steal it. Bruno gets it and gets away, while Sabra gets the guard. She follows him to his penthouse apartment and fights with him over it, but they are caught by Greyshirt. Chief O'Riordahn is called in and he tasks the hapless cop, who was guarding the museum, to get a box from Imbroglio's maid and it is love at first sight.....  Thoughts: Greyshirt's origin story continues, as Johnny is now the big boss of the gangs of Indigo City. Once again, the story is told as a pastiche, both of Eisner and of old comics, as the main story is told via song, sung by Ella Blky, who we see scarred by Johnny and Chucky Frisco. Greyshirt comes to listen to her sing, at the club and leaves her his carnation, as a thank you, seeing past the scarred face. We also see that Johnny is still in the thrall of The Lure, as he loudly moans out "BLUEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee....." at the point of climax, with Candi. She asks him about it, later, and he says it is a place he sometimes goes, in his mind....a sort of blue palace. The secondary story lets John Severin go nuts, making it look like a cross between a Cracked parody of a caper film, and an EC tale. We are led to believe Bruno and Sabra will be the next matched pair, brought together by the sapphire meteor; but, in a twist, it is the hapless cop and Bruno's maid, who share a love of soap operas and their depiction of love and romance. At each point in history, the match pair recognize themselves in the other and fall in love. This throws you off, nicely. Light issue, but entertaining.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2024 16:00:27 GMT -5
Tom Strong #16 I told ya no starch in my underwear, ya ornery toad-lickin' varmit! Creative Team: Alan Moore-writer, Chris Sprouse & Karl Story-art, Todd Klein letters, Alex Sinclair-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: A weird cowhand came ridin' in one dark and windy "day"
Upon a planet he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of small modules he saw
A-plowing 'cross the barren rocks and up the cloudy draw... Yippie yi yaaay
Yippie yi Yoooooh.......
The Weird Rider in ....the skyyyyyyWith his guns he did blast and with their master he did speak
The Modular Man did ask and the Rider he did claim, a range war was a comin, possibly this week
Some uranium he did beg and some water for his horse
The Modular Man did supply and said to Tom Strong is your course Yippie yi yaayyyy
Yippie yi yoooooooThe Weird Rider in.....the skyyyyy To Earth he came and in Millennium caused a big tadoooo
with Junior Strongmen and police, much havoc did ensue
When finally came Tom Strong, his manner not discreet
Tom looked at him, and did not grin; then knocked him off his feet Yippie yi yaayyy
Yippie yi yooooohThe Weird Rider knocked....out of the sky.....
Tom calmed down and he and the Rider did speak,
Of Alien ants and mesas torn away and they're comin back this week,
So Tom realized that the Earth was fried unless he gathered help,
And on the roof he settled , to give a great big yelp....  Yippie yi yaayyy
Yippie yi yooh
The Weird Rider in the skyyyyy
The Weird Rider in the skyyyyyThoughts: Okay, a little more detail. The Weird Rider, as he is known, is Coleman Grey. In 1849, he rode the west, drawn to strange occurrences. He had a premonition that took him to the Devil's Footstool. He road up the corkscrew trail around the mesa, until he reached the top and found the townsfolk sleepwalking, drawn towards bright lights and a ship, in the sky, which drew them up and sawed off the top of the mesa. He mesmerized himself to counter the alien mind control and woke up inside their ship, beside the others, but forever changed, with a third eye. He could no longer stomach their old food, but the strange blue squiggling things that the alien ants planted were tasty and nourishing. He found himself a mechanical steed and escaped the aliens, with knowledge that they intended to bring their entire anthill to Earth and turn it into a "plantation," to sustain their race. Moore has a lot of fun with old western story cliches and he also revisits some old friends, as the Weird Rider first stops at Venus, where he encounters Temple Baldry, the Modular Man, who was brought to Venus by Tom Strong, in his hypersaucer, after their previous battle, where Tom convinced him to build a civilization of his own, on barren Venus. Baldry provides nuclear fuel for the Rider's space steed and water for the Rider, since there weren't any comets around, to snare some ice and melt. The Rider is another link to the townsfolk of The Devil's Footstool, the lost mesa that Tom and King Solomon discovered, with three-eyed people, who still think it is the 1800s. They subsisted on strange blue, tentacled plats/animals and could not return to who they were. For the first year or so, Alan Moore introduced characters and concepts and put his characters through adventures. now he comes back to those characters and creates a threat to bring them together and fight side by side, as these alien ants return. The Weird Rider is a great character, showing what could have been, with Terra Man, with more imaginative Superman writers (though I liked his initial appearance, though Neal Adams helps that). A space cowboy is always cool, even if he isn't the gangster of love nor speaks of the pompatous of love. The Strongmen of America make an appearance, as Timmy Turbo, Sue Blue and Calculus are on the scene, on Laundry Street, when the Rider lands, and all heck breaks loose. Calculus calls Fortnum and Mason Funt, on their Strongmen communicator (cell phone), which does not please Sue. The police over-react to the Rider, who makes no wild gestures and the kids approach him when he mentions that he is looking for Tom Strong. He invites them to his steed and a cop thinks he is taking the ids and fires and the Rider envelops the ship in a force field. This is broadcast on the news and Tom sees it and goes, with Solomon, to the locale and the Rider drops the field, after Sue identifies Tom. Tom, usually a voice of reason, decks Coleman Grey, because he is still pissed off about Tesla shacking up with the Lava Men prince and his life being interrupted by yet another threat, or so he believes. Sue calls him out on it and he calms down long enough to bring everyone back to the Stronghold and discuss the situation. Mason and Fortnum have shown up, by that point, so they tag along. The kids treat it like a sleepover, while Tom takes the Rider away from the kids to talk about the very real threat to all life on Earth. It's fun and cute, yet turns deadly serious on a dime, and never feels disjointed. Moore weaves all of these modds together splendidly and Sprouse and Story draw whatever he throws at them, with skill and vitality. This is what I mean about the ABC books being cool. Moore whips all kinds of things in the stories, then lets the artists go nuts with the visuals and they are a feast for both eyes and mind. Oh, and Ghost Riders in the Sky just seemed a natural accompaniment.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 24, 2024 17:02:06 GMT -5
Greyshirt #5 Creative Team: Rick Veitch-story & art, Dave Gibbons-script ("The Butt Kicks Back"), Hilary Barta-inks (TBKB), Todd Klein-letters, Wildstorm FX-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: Johnny is hunting for Frankie, who is hiding out with some bumbs (sorry...homeless individuals), after escaping from Johnny, at Ella's place, where she betrayed Frankie with the tip-off to Johnny, and got a steam iron in her face for her troubles. Spats is in intensive care and he tells his muscle to follow Candi's lead, as they seek revenge on Johnny and look to get the stolen sapphires from Frankie. Chucky locates Frankie and they have a running fight, which leads to the old publishing offices of Hoodlum Hit Comics. There, the dead writer's ghost lends a hand to fate....  With Chucky distracted, Frankie has the advantage and bashes him over the head with a typewriter. He ties him up with the phonecord and makes him tell him what happened to Spats and where to find Johny. Chucky gives up the info, after a bit of torture and Frankie realizes that the cops were right about Carmine being arrested to get him to safety and that means Lips, his mother, was the one who betrayed him to the cops. He has more to pay back to Johnny. Lips is at the hospital for the results of tests, which verify that she is pregnant. She also learns that glaucoma has advanced and her eyesight will continue to deteriorate. The doctor tells her to lay off the booze, as it may lead to Down's Syndrome in the child. Lips isn't having any of t and leaves to go upstate to have her child. Using Chucky's hat, Frankie leaves a trail that draws Johnny to the old studio of Savannah, the Pop Art rip-off artist, who made his career swiping panels from Hoodlum Hit. Frankie gets the drop on him; but, The Lure turns up  They end up in a standoff and the Lure retreats and then Candi and her goons turn up to get the sapphires and ace the pair. Johnny makes a pact with Frankie, to beat their mutual enemy and then meet at the old Central Station, to split the stones. He calls the Lure and Frankie escapes, after the hoods are dead. Johnny tells Candi that he and "his new partner" are coming for Spats. She is horrified by the sight of The Lure. Meanwhile, Plato Plutarch is trying to build his mayoral candidacy around the arrest and trial of Carmine Carbone; but, when Carmine lets it be known that he was done in by Lips, the media are more interested in the story of betrayed love. Plato is interrupted by Chief O'Riordhan, who says he has a tip about the meeting at Central Station and says he is sure it came from Frankie. Franky pushes past Rockefeller Patel, as he heads into Central Station, later shoved over by Johnny, doing the same. he warns him about the gas in there, to no avail. Frankie opens the pipes and lets gas flood into the station, knowing that Johnny will be using his Zippo lighter and, sure enough, Johnny ignites the fuel. Frankie survives the explosion, from one of the underground rail lines, but is trapped under rubble. Patel finds him and rescues him, noting that Frankie's chainmail shirt saved him from bullets. Johnny's body is dragged below ground by The Lure. "The Butt Kicks Back" "Button Man" (hit man) Vinnie Assapunto is tired of people making jokes about him. He talks to his shrink about it and then decides, while ignoring what the shrink tells him, to find the guy who starts the joke train and kill him. He leaves, again ignoring the shrink, who tells him that it isn't personal....  Vinnie tracks down each person in the chain and gets to information about who told them the joke, kills them and then goes to the upper link. He eventually gets to the priest, who first heard it from the shrink, who coughs up the name of the shrink and Vinnie goes to kill him. The shrink is confessing, nervously, to a shadowy figure, saying he makes up the jokes to stay sane, after all the disturbing stories he hears, but the people who have been telling the jokes down the line are being killed, so he called the police. Vinnie busts in and puts a gun to the shrink's head, but is stopped by his confessor, who turns out to be Greyshirt. he takes him down, then tells the shrink to consider a new line of work. Thoughts: The story continues to detail the origin of Greyshirt, as we reach the final confrontation between Johnny and Frankie, which saves the explosion that nearly kills Frankie, who survives, scarred, saved by Rockefeller Patel, who nurses him back to health and feeds philosophy to him, leading to his transformation into Greyshirt, protector of the Indigo City. Once again, Bernard Novak, the writer/editor who produced the Hoodlum Hit stories of Frankie & Johnny appears, to lend a hand to fate, to lead Johnny to his demise, as he talks about the ghosts of murder victims remaining in the human realm, because of unfinished business. We also get a return of Andy Savannah's pop art paintings, done from Hoodlum Hit panels, as Frankie lures Johnny to the gallery, where they were being shown, when he double-crossed Spats, to hook up with Candi and then tried to murder the pair, with Chucky running them down. At the heart of this, though, is the story of the Lure and its connection to Johnny, dating back to their childhood, as seen in the first issue, when the Lure dragged Johnny away to the mine tunnels. Carmine helped save Johnny; but, he was forever changed, as we see when he seems to murmur about "blue." The Lure returns to save Johnny from Frankie, at the gallery, then turns up at the station, to drag away what appears to be his corpse. However, if Frankie survived, might not Johnny, especially thanks to whatever the Lure is? The back up feature continues the series of Greyshirt stories, in the mode of the Spirit tales of protecting the city, or observing strange events and characters, acting as a guide to their stories. The opening page continues the story that will tie past and present together, in the final issue. There is a definite progression, from issue #1 to 5......      Greyshirt helps Lady L, in issue #1 and leaves her a fifty dollar bill, for a paper. In issue 2, he rescues a pensioner from a mugger. In issue 3, he rescues the mentally disabled papergirl. In issue #4, he discovers that all 3 are missing. Now, with issue 5, we learn what has happened, as they have all been kidnapped by the mysterious man, whose face is hidden behind the mask. We also learn that Lady L is Lips Lafayette, Johnny's mother, though that becomes obvious in the first issue. We then learn that Carmine was the old pensioner, which wasn't as obvious. With the mention in the story that follows, of Lips being pregnant and the caution against drinking, and Lips saying she will be giving the baby up for adoption, it becomes clear that the papergirl is Lips' child, who was born with mental disabilities, due to Lips' drinking. That makes her Frankie's sister or half-sister. With all of these kidnapped people being related to Frankie, who we know is Greyshirt, then the identity of the masked man becomes obvious. The Indigo Sunset section of the comic (the fake newspaper) confirms the relationships and names the girl as Catherine Smith, noted for standing up to the bullies that taunted her and for trying to earn her way in the world. We understand why Greyshirt has looked after them, in particular. Veitch's use of these end materials to enhance the overall story and add depth to the characters mirrors Alan Moore's use of similar materials in Watchmen, as they helped link characters and provide further detail, such as the fate of Hooded Hangman, or the fact that Sally Jupiter still held a bit of a torch for The Comedian, or how Hollis Mason went from being a beat cop to a costumed vigilante. What started as a Spirit pastiche, in Tomorrow Stories, has grown into a far more complex character in this mini-series, which details the past of the character and his motivation. The final Tomorrow Stories crossover, between Greyshirt and Cobweb, served to also set some of that up, as did the other stories, which are referenced, in one fashion or another, in the mini-series. It all ends up being a larger universe. I will admit to being somewhat indifferent to Greyshirt, at first, in Tomorrow Stories, other than it was a pastiche of the Spirit, which I always loved. I picked up the mini but was so-so on it, as I more skimmed than read it. However, once I saw how it was pulling things together, Greyshirt really started to click for me. It's not my favorite of the ABC books (that would be LOEG, followed by Top 10 and Tom Strong); but, the feature grew in stature, as a result. As I have grown older, I have come to appreciate how Veitch wove in artistic pastiches, homages to crime and social issue comics, while also creating a terrific cast of characters. Next issue: It all comes together.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2024 17:14:03 GMT -5
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #3 "Young Tom Strong goes beyond the veil," then gets slapped by the girl, and then gets his ass kicked by her father, for peaking under the veil. Creative Team: Alan & Steve Moore (no relation)-writers; Jerry Ordway, Art Adams & Alan Weiss-art, Todd Klein-letters, Alex Sinclair, David Baron & Giulia Brusco-colors; Scott Dunbier-editor Ordway handles Tom Strong, while Adams and Weiss handle Jonni Future and Young Tom Strong, respectively. Tom Strong: Tom Strong and Paul Saveen engage in a battle of Rock 'Em-Sock 'Em Robots, with real giant robots.....  The Strong-Bot rips off the arm of the Saveen-Bot and beats on it with it, when something happens inside it and the director yells "cut." Wait, what? It's actually a movie set and there are actors inside the robot costumes, while "Tom Strong" and "Paul Saveen" are shot on sets that represent the internal control centers. The Saveen actor got tossed for a loop when the stagehands shook the set, to simulate the impact. The director apologizes to the real Tom Strong, for the delay and mentions that there are still script problem. Tom suggests it is because they are paying peanuts to the writer.....  Jonni Future: Jonni went back to Halfway House to sort out some legal papers, which didn't take as long as she thought. She came back to the house, got into costume and decided to do some exploring, while she waited for Jermaal to return. She got zapped by a beam of light and ended up in the Seraglio of the Stars...  ...which is a fancy way of saying the place where the Sultan's harem hangs out (which seems to have more than one meaning, here, based on the art, from Art). The Star Trek snake lady tells her to make the best of it, because when they reach the rim worlds, it's grubby miners and a lot of work on your back. They are sealed inside a chamber, with teleportation the only way in or out. We also see that the crew watches them remotely, like the nerds watching the Pis, in Revenge of the Nerds. Jonni meets the other gals (who each have talents that factor into their conscripted labor). Food is transported in and out and Jonni gets an idea. She gives her costume to Duplola, who creates alternate versions of herself, to distract the guards, via the cameras. She then climbs under a serving tray cover, while they are busy ogling the duplicate removing her top, in the pool. The dishes are transported out and the dish washer opens it up to get to work and finds the naked Jonni, who bashes the stunned idiot over the head. She then teleports the others (and her costume) out and they then ambush guards, take weapons, and hijack the ship.  They go to the Panjandrum's cabin and discover that the big slug they saw on the screen is actually a little slug and threaten to squish him unless he orders the surrender of the crew. He complies and they send the girls home and Jonni links back up with Jermaal. Young Tom Strong: Young Tom finds himself trapped in a nightmare, beset by ghosts. Truns out it is a reaction to the Goloka, for his vision quest. Seems he ODed....  The chief orders him to be taken back to camp, to be watched and he continues his psychedelic trip through memories. Tom is giving in to despair, over not being loved, when Dhalua (a little girl, at this stage) speaks to him and it gets through the haze and he realizes he does have a family that loves him and he fights his way out of the nightmare , climaxing in battling his own father, then he wakes up, where he is embraced by Chief Omutu and declared an Ozu. Thoughts: Rather slight stories; but fun. The opener features a switcheroo, as you are led to believe this is a flashback about a battle between Tom and his arch nemesis, the deceased Paul Saveen. Instead, it turns out to be a film set, where they are simulating the battle, like a Power Rangers (or Super Sentai, if you prefer) episode, with a stunt performer in the giant robot suit. The gag at the end is a play on the cliche of a thousand monkeys locked in a room, with typewriters, recreating the works of Shakespeare. here, one gorilla is creating the cliched script for the movie. It can be interpreted as a bit of a jab, by Moore, about how writers are underpaid. The Young Tom Strong story is the usual "vision quest" stuff, minus Matthew Modine mooning over Linda Fiorentino.... Great soundtrack! Sadly, this vision quest doesn't end with Red Rider"s "Lunatic Fringe." Could have used the help. The story continues the conceit that Tom is older than Dhalua and she is just a little girl, who annoys him, at this stage. He will have to wait for puberty (for both) before he will wake up to the love of his life. The Madonna song ("Crazy For You, " not "Gambler") may or may not factor into that. I'm not sure if that makes Chief Omutu Ronny Cox or the hotel chef. Jonni Future is basically an excuse for Art Adams to indulge in some T&A, in a plot which could have come from an 80s sex comedy. In fact, this whole issue fells like the comic book equivalent of Cinemax. The only thing missing is repeated showing of an Emanuelle film. Ahem.....not that I ever watched those films on there............ 
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Post by codystarbuck on May 29, 2024 16:26:29 GMT -5
Greyshirt #6 Creative Team: Rick Veitch-story & art, Frank Cho-art, Todd Klein-letters, Wildstorm FX-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: Frank Cho draws some T&A pirate tale, with a fungal source for pirate zombies, which isn't nearly as funny as it thinks it is.....  Main story: Greyshirt and Mayor Plutarch go out to the prison to see Candi, before she goes to the electric chair. She knows Greyshirt is Frankie Lafayette but is taking the secret to the grave with her. However, she tells Greyshirt that the Fanman, producer of the hit tv drama The Carbones, is none other than Johnny Apollo and he is under the control of The Lure.....  Meanwhile, Fanman closes up the van where he has Lips and Carmine held prisoner, after pushing Catherine, the paper girl inside, who is their child, which Lips gave up for adoption (and suffers from Down Syndrome, thanks to Lips' drinking, during pregnancy). The van is then driven inside the mine, where the Lure resided. The Lure disposes of the Fanman's goons. Greyshirt shows up at the sight, where it all began and finds the emaciated corpses of the goons. he goes inside and finds Catherine, then comes fac to mask with the Fanman.  Johnny relates the true history of The Lure....  Johnny reveals that the interruption of the Lure's consumption of Johnny prevents it from devouring him and he is slowly gaining control of it. He has it believing that consuming Greyshirt will be the antidote, since he interrupted the union; but, Johnny is going to kill Frankie to prevent that and gain full control. carmine and Lips are near the ship that carried the lure and see the people taken for feed. He gets Lips back into the van and uses it to crash their way out of there, away from the Lure. The Lure is wrapped around Greyshirts body, when the van crushes it and they smash out of the mine. Fanman watches, but does nothing. Catherine has brought back the cops and it all seems to be over, until we see Fanman draw away the mask and reveal that Greyshirt exchanged clothes with Johnny, leaving him in his suit, to be destroyed. Greyshirt tosses aside the coat, as he leaves. Thoughts: The big, icky finale. The opener is pretty pointless and not funny and I have little time for Cho's cheap T&A stuff. It's barely above Teenage Sultry Super Foxes, in my book. The main feature is the reason to read and it wraps up the story of Franky & Johnny, revealing that Johnny double-crossed the alien creature that was The Lure, as well as everyone else, but still couldn't kill Franky, who is the ultimate survivor of the pair. Lips and carmine talk about doing right by Catherine, so we can assume they will. Johnny used them as bait, but also planned their deaths to prevent them suing for a piece of The Carbones, since he didn't have releases from them. Thus endeth Greyshirt, using the Sopranos as a sort of template for the end, after moving between Li'l Archie, crime comics, pop art, Plastic Man and The Spirit, EC and more, to tell the history of Franky Lafayette, aka Greyshirt, and his childhood friend, Johnny Apollo. Not everyone's cup of tea but I quite enjoyed it and the Lure is suitably creepy, something Veitch excels at. Less scatalogical than The Maximortal, less messed up in ending that The Brat Pack, not quite Swamp Thing, not exactly The Spirit. Of the Tomorrow Stories features, it and Jack B Quick were consistent favorites, with Cobweb and Future American having brief moments of fun. Next time, we return to the main event for the ABC line, as Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil are back in business...and they brought a whole pack of friends.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 5, 2024 17:11:13 GMT -5
Time to return to the Main Attraction....... League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 2, issue #1 Now there's a cover to get you to read the story inside! If you know this is about The War of the Worlds, you are tempted to say the central figure, decked out like TE Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) is Edgar rice Burrough's John Carter, Warlord of Mars. In fact, it is Lt Gullivar Jones, who traveled to Mars in 1905, 7 years before John Carter. In Jess Nevin's annotations, it was pointed out that Gustavus Pope's Journey to Mars, which features a cavalry officer travelling to Mars and marrying an alien princess, came before both, in 1894. If you wonder why they seem to carry firearms, you have to read the stories. Carter and others use knives and swords, but also pistols and rifles that fire radium bullets, not rayguns. Creative Team: Alan Moore-writer, Kevin O'Neil-artist, Bill Oakley-letters, Benedict Dimagmmaliw-colors, Todd Klein-designer, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: We see a figure on a flying carpet, traversing the canals of Mars, eventually coming to a landing and dismounting. He wears Arabic robes and a face mask, which appears to allow him to breathe. he speaks to a giant green figure, with two sets of arms. This is a Thark, one of the races of Mars, or Barsoom, as they call it. The robed figure is pointed to a tent and enters and removes his mask, revealing Lt Gullivar Jones. The man he meets is John Carter, Jeddak of Jeddaks, or the Warlord of Mars. The dialogue tells us they are preparing for battle and Jones passes on his condolences to Carter, over the death of the princess, who must be Dejah Thoris, Carter's wife. They go to join their forces and we see Carter don a helmet and mount a lizard-like steed, with Tharks and others mounted beside him. They move out, headed for confrontation with the enemy.  We see their combined forces arrayed, then we gwet our first glimpse of the enemy....  The attack is a disaster, as both forces are ambushed by tripod fighting machines. Jones' people didn't have time to unpack their ray cannon. the situation looks grim until another ally arrives.  It is the Sorn and Carter and Jones regain their hope of being able to strike back against their enemy. The Sorn attack and the ray cannon are unleashed and they break through the outer walls of the "mollusc's" fortress. They find examples of the mollusc's geneticexperiments, with captured Sorn and photo cubes of Earth. A moving picture display shows England and they then hear a thunderous roar. They see an object rise up in the sky, followed by another. They realize it is an armada, and it is headed for Earth, the home of Jones and Carter. Meanwhile, on Earth, we see figures emerge from a coach....  We pull back and see where they are, out in the country and we see the reason why they are there......  "The New Traveller's Almanac"-This is introduced as the colelcted intelligence of agents of an organization founded by Prospero, Duke of Milan. His first agent is a man, known as Christian (from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress). It goes on to remark of the next League, with Lemuel Gulliver, Christopher Syn (alias The Scarecrow), Natty Bumpo (Hawkeye of the Mohicans), Fannie Hill and Sir Percy & Lady Margueritte Blakeney. Then, the current League is mentioned. The Almanac begins in the British Isles. There is reference to the Streaming Kingdom, mention of Arthurian Briatin, various communities spoken of in literature, the Starkadder farm in Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm ( I saw something nasty in the woodshed!), Lewis Carrol's writings, the Mabinogian and more. Thoughts: Amazing opening chapter as Moore and O'Neil give us a prelude to the War of the Worlds, from HG Wells. Wells starts of with flares from Mars, which is the launching of the Martian cylinders, which crash onto the Earth, with the tripod fighting machines emerging from them. Here, we see why they left Mars. They face the combined armies of John Carter's red men and the Tharks and Gullivar Jones' Hither people, as well as CS Lewis' The Sorn, from his Space trilogy. When Carter and Jones confer, Jones mentions the Green City, a derelict city that once housed another race and a man called Kane. This is a reference to Michael Moorcock's Kane of Mars trilogy, which was a pastiche of Burroughs, set in Mars ancient past, before John Carter arrived. The "molluscs" are unseen, as they are through most of the War of the Worlds, allowing our imaginations to fill in the gaps. Instead, they are representing by the towering and terrifying tripods. At the end, we see a coach with the letters VR, the sigil of Queen Victoria (Victoria Regina), from which emerges Mina Murray, Alln Quatermain, Dr Henry Jeckyl, Hawley Griffin (the Invisible Man), and Prince Dakkar (aka Captain Nemo). They are there to investigate the meteor crash at Horsell Common. This first chapter is almost entirely about the battle on Mars that drives the Wells' Martians away, to attack the home of their enemies, Jones & Carter. The New Traveller's Almanac acts much like the family trees in Phillip Jose Farmer's Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Those documents form the basis of his Wold Newton universe, in which he postulates that various heroes and villains of literature are linked to the crowd of onlookers present at the crash site of a meteor, near the village of Wold Newton. Those people and their descendants will include people like the Blakeneys, Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, The Shadow, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Lord Peter Whimsey and various other heroes and villains. This seeks to unite various locations of literature into a secret atlas of the unseen world, where monsters live and various powerful people reside. They will also use it to present ideas like rival Leagues in France and Germany, matching the political rivalries of Europe, at the turn-of-the-century. as each has its own army and intelligence services, so too it has its own band of paranormal agents, dealing with the oddities of the world. They will be culled from various literary classics and will be identified when we get to those chapters. This second mini-series is where Moore does his real world building, establishing links between all kinds of things and past Leagues and rival groups. That will be further explored in The Black Dossier. Moore an O'Neil go nuts with the easter eggs, in this series, with references to all kinds of figures, too many to name. For that, I point you to Jess Nevins' Comic book Annotations site. These annotations were later collected and expanded into a series of books, from Monketbrain Books, with a volume for each of the 3 DC miniseries (Vol 1, 2 and Black Dossier). It's pretty much the reference work for this series. The back page is filled with more period ads, some real, some false. There is one for postcards of Footlight Favorites, with the names of actors and actresses of the period. Another has Spicy Books & Cards, with reference to Moll Flanders, Fanny Hill and other erotic texts. One talks about French Remedies, for married ladies while another sells The Bachelor's Fiend, a hands-free page turning device, perfect for use with books of "scandalous display, " including The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There is what appears to be a real ad for ladies' corsets and one for a balm for stiff and sore muscles, as well as a face steamer, to improve the complexion. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 25, 2024 16:04:59 GMT -5
Tom Strong #17 Gonna need a little musical accompaniment... Marco Pirroni made that band, if you ask me. Just for fun.... Creative Team: Alan Moore-writer, Chris Sprouse & Karl Tory-art, Todd KLein-letters, Alex Sinclair-colors, Scott Dunbier-editor Synopsis: When we left our hero, he had met up with Coleman Grey, The Weird Rider, who had escaped from an alien spaceship...the same aliens who abducted the residents of the Devil's Toadstool and altered them, with three eyes and a taste for purple, tentacled cabbage like creatures. Now, they are rounding up a posse to head off them ant critters at the pass.....Ma'am.  King Solomon and the Weird Rider go to the Devil's Toadstool, to get some help from the townsfolk, while Tom takes the Hypersaucer to Venus and recruits the Modular Man. Meanwhile, Svetlana X arrives at the Stronghold, at Tom's request......  Tom and The Weird Rider return, with Tom confirming that the Modular Man has agreed to help and Weird rider has brought Lila, Jeb, Young Al, Chicago Dan and Crucifyin' Williams. Bet he's fun at parties!  Weird rider believes the ant aliens will attack from behind the sun, much as he approached Earth, so the Modular Man will be their first line of defense. Tom Tells everyone to get a good night's sleep, as they head into space, tomorrow, to take the fight to the aliens. Just before that, Tesla asks Val if his "salamander" people will aid them, as their prince, and he tells Tesla that he gave up being a prince when he joined her. Tesla takes him to her room. The next morning, the group heads off into space.....  They left the Strongmen of America in Pneuman's care; but, that proves to have been a stupid idea....  Sue, Timmy and Calculus catch Fortnum and Mason in the act of stealing a space "horse" and force them to take them along. They are able to activate the craft and its force bubble; but, haven't quite figured out how to control it.....  Tom and his group see the alien hive-craft and wonder how to dfeat it and Val suggests fire to burn ants. Tom asks where the heck they get fire.....  The kids come flashing by and finally come to a stop......after they crash into the hive....... Thoughts: The heroes are gathered, the stakes are set. This is all building to the big battle with the aliens. Some nice character bits and a bit of humor, though Moore makes a joke of having Fortnum & Mason call Timmy "gay," to which Timmy objects, and then Sue Blue tells him he is totally gay, with the "Holy Socks!" routine. That joke wasn't that funny then. It hasn't improved with age. I grew up in the 70s and early 80s and the word "gay" got thrown around a lot...usually in a negative or insulting fashion. I had a close friend in high school who sort of came out/sort of joked and then got a bunch of our classmates either making insulting jokes or outright fabricating or perpetuating fabrications about him. My class had 47 people, 2/3 of us had known each other since kindergarten. It used to piss me off, then and I told off several of my friends because of it. I don't know how my friend, the target of the jokes, felt, because he never expressed it; but, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say "Not very well." In the military, I served before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy went into effect, protecting gay servicemembers from being thrown out, for just being gay, so long as they kept it quiet. Later, someone realized that it was a BS compromise and passed rules that allowed gay servicemembers to openly serve. However, before that, I saw a lot of good people driven out of the service, just because they were living their own life, outside work. I heard a lot of homophobic crap from otherwise good people, including people whose race had been the subject of discrimination within the military. I don't find it very funny and I'm not gonna defend Alan Moore on that criticism. He's too good a writer for junk like that. Here endeth the lesson. Other than that, this is continues a pretty engaging story, bringing together....everyone! Even Tom has to swallow some pride and listen to his daughter's boyfriend, because he has a good idea....even if he is sleeping with Tom's only daughter (who is over 60....but....just accept that she is a relative teenager). Of course, making the aliens insectoid makes killing them pretty easy to accept. Wouldn't want to make it more complex and have the reader question the use of lethal force, against a sentient race.
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