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| 1684052769
| 9781684052769
| 1684052769
| 3.32
| 25
| Aug 21, 2018
| Aug 21, 2018
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really liked it
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"G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man" by Ryan Ferrier (writer), S.L. Gallant (artist (penciller)), Brian Shearer (inker), Jam
"G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man" by Ryan Ferrier (writer), S.L. Gallant (artist (penciller)), Brian Shearer (inker), James Brown (colorists), Robbie Robbins (letterer), John Cassiday (collection cover artist) (IDW Publishing in conjunction with Dynamite Entertainment (G.I. Joe comic book license owner being Hasbro, IDW the publisher then licensed by Hasbro to publisher G.I. Joe comic books), 2018; originally released in single issue format as "G.I. Joe A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" #1-4 (February 2018 to May 2018). Thoughts: I haven't read a G.I. Joe comic book in probably twenty years. However, I found that I really enjoyed this mini-series as primarily a G.I. Joe story/adventure guest-starring Steve Austin (a Steve Austin brainwashed to be a tool of Cobra!). That being the set-up, it works well. There is lots of action and the G.I. Joe characters are handled well, from what I can tell. This is *not* a particularly authentic-to-his-own-source-material Steve Austin, but in this case that's okay as right from the start thanks to the art style and the story it's clear that this is a "G.I. Joe universe version" of Steve Austin. I gave this four out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1524103721
| 9781524103729
| 1524103721
| 3.64
| 141
| Oct 18, 2017
| Oct 31, 2017
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really liked it
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"Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" by Andy Mangels (writer), Judit Tondora (artist), Michael Bartolo, Stuart Chaifetz, Roland Pilcz (colorists)
"Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" by Andy Mangels (writer), Judit Tondora (artist), Michael Bartolo, Stuart Chaifetz, Roland Pilcz (colorists), Tom Orzechowski, Lois Buhalis, Katherine S. Renta (letterer), Cat Staggs (original primary covers artist), Alex Ross (variant original cover and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment in conjunction with DC Comics, 2017; originally released in single issue format as "Wonder Woman '77 Meets The Bionic Woman" #1-6 (December 2016 to September 2017). Thoughts: Without a doubt, the best of the seven Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman comics trade paperbacks I read this week. Andy Mangels is a recognized Wonder Woman expert and also is really good with the Bionic Woman characters and does a great job of tying this story into what has already happened on both the 1970s "Wonder Woman" and "Bionic Woman" television series. Lots of familiar characters from both shows (Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman's mother and fellow Amazons, Drusilla/Wonder Girl, Oscar Goldman, Rudy Wells, Max the bionic dog, the Fembots and their creator, several enemy robot makers from earlier "Wonder Woman" episodes, etc.). If anything, there may be a bit *too* much in the way of cramming in as many robots related villains from the previous two tv series as Mangels does (I even started to lose track of who some of them were) but it's okay because it's still just such a fun overall experience, this series. The artist is the best (Judit Tondora) is the best of all of the Dynamites mini-series in terms of getting actor resemblances (the drawings looking like the actual actors). And Mangels knows exactly what fans would want to see: Diana doing her "magic spin" to change to Wonder Woman, Diana in her blue scuba diving outfit, Diana and Jaime in the invisible jet, Paradise Island and the Amazons, flashbacks to Jaime's origin with Steve Austin (and addressing how both characters have important relationships with men named Steve!), Diana vs. fembots, Diana being outmaneuvered at a critical moment to prevent her usual way of escaping injury from gun fire, etc. I've heard one peson describe this as primarily a Wonder Woman story guest-starring Jaime Sommers (rather than an equal "team-up"), which is probably a valid observation. But it's still a lot of fun. I gave this four out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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| 1524102768
| 9781524102760
| 1524102768
| 3.56
| 25
| unknown
| Apr 18, 2017
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" by Van Jensen (writer), Ron Salas (artist), Mike Atiyeh and Caitlin McCarthy (colorists), Taylor Esposito (l
"The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" by Van Jensen (writer), Ron Salas (artist), Mike Atiyeh and Caitlin McCarthy (colorists), Taylor Esposito (letterer), Ron Salas (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2016; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man" #1-5 (July 2016 to November 2016). Thoughts: Completely ignores story in "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" (released prior to this one). I bit of a darker, more "adult" story dealing with an enemy trying to convince Steve Austin that Oscar Goldman and the OSI have secret plans to create an army of bionic soldiers, causing Steve to go rogue. Also, Steve starts hearing an unknown "voice in his head" spurring him on to normally uncharacteristic actions. Barney Hiller appears here (again, completely ignoring what happened to him in "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six". The art is good for the story being told but, again, is a bit too "out there" for a "Six Million Dollar Man" story. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1606908650
| 9781606908655
| 1606908650
| 3.85
| 20
| Apr 06, 2016
| Apr 19, 2016
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liked it
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"The Bionic Woman: Season Four" by Brandon Jerwa (writer), David T. Cabrera (artist), Sandra Molina (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Sean Chen (o
"The Bionic Woman: Season Four" by Brandon Jerwa (writer), David T. Cabrera (artist), Sandra Molina (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Sean Chen (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2016; originally released in single issue format as "The Bionic Woman: Season Four" #1-4 (September 2014 to December 2014). Thoughts: This "Bionic Woman: Season Four" is completely separate/unrelated to the previously released "Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" (which is pretty much how all of Dynamite's Six Mill and Bionic Woman minis are, completely separate and self-contained). This mini-series has decent art (much better covers, though) and a likewise interesting story as Jaime is drawn into a mystery involving a hidden and unknown city with a mysterious cult like leader that turns out to (spoilers) be made up entirely of robots. When Jaime tries to escape, she realizes they are much further away from sunny southern California than she first realized. Again, an okay story but the repeated use of robots or other cyborgs (as in both "Six Mill: Season Six" and "Six Mill: Fall of Man" as well as here in this one) makes these first three Dynamite series a bit too "way out there" to be taken seriously as supposed continuations of the two for-the-most-part action/adventure-with-occasional-touches-of-sci-fi 1970s television series. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1606906070
| 9781606906071
| 1606906070
| 3.91
| 47
| Jan 06, 2015
| Jan 06, 2015
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" by James Kuhoric (writer), Juan Antonio Ramirez and David T. Cabrera (artists), Fran Gamboa (colorist), Joshu
"The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" by James Kuhoric (writer), Juan Antonio Ramirez and David T. Cabrera (artists), Fran Gamboa (colorist), Joshua Cozine (letterer), Alex Ross (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2014; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man: Season Six" #1-6 (March 2014 to September 2014). Thoughts: This mini-series is cool on so many levels yet at the same time left me a bit disappointed. It's a good story and has decent art, and has *loads* of cool call backs to the 1970s television series. It brings back a lot of the familiar characters (Jaime Sommers, Barney Hiller the "Seven Million Dollar Man") and even introduces the characters of Oliver Spencer (Steve's government boss in the very first "Six Million Dollar Man" pilot movie played by Darren McGavin, replaced without any explanation by Richard Anderson's Oscar Goldman when it went to series) and "Maskatron" (the robot villain toy only existing prior to this as a Kenner action figure). It is an interesting story but has *too* much going on in it (Maskatron, Barney Hiller, Oliver Spencer, aliens infiltrating a NASA installation, etc.) The story literally switches from being primarily about Maskatron to the aliens story partway through (and the aliens seem way too out there for a series supposedly picking up from where the "Six Million Dollar Man" televison series left off. Also, Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers often speak and act out of character here (as they do in several other of the Dynamite series below), and Jaime especially is drawn in a very "young, generic pretty blonde woman" fashion (delivering karate kicks and hanging all over Steve Austin when they first meet up again after over a year apart, which does reflect how the two characters could no longer team up the last year of their respective tv series because "Bionic Woman" moved to a rival television network from "Six Mill". Most disappointing (not the fault of the author necessarily but he had to have known it would be a possibility) is that this mini-series set up *three* teasers "epilogues" for significant stories he wished to follow in subsequent mini-series (one involving a newly built Venus "Death Probe"), only to have Dynamite choose for their subsequent Six Million Dollar Man minis to have nothing to do with this one (see below). Still, it was a good/interesting overall package even with these criticisms (and the Alex Ross painted covers are wonderful, spot on renditions, as usual for Ross, of Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner, Richard Anderson, etc. I gave this three out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 17, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 17, 2022
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| 1506711359
| 9781506711355
| 1506711359
| 4.01
| 136
| unknown
| Apr 06, 2021
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liked it
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“The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2021). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael
“The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (published by Dark Horse Books, March 2021). Written by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh, lettering by Richard Starkings and ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt. Dark Horse Books (a.k.a., Dark Horse Comics), has so far published three four-issue comic book mini-series (or two four-issue and two two-issue, depending on how you look at it) based on the Seth McFarlane sci-fi television series, “The Orville” (which ran on Fox for two seasons, 2017 to 2019, and a third season exclusively streaming on Hulu, June to August 2022). Dark Horse released these “Orville” comics basically as four-issue mini-series, one per year (in 2019, 2020, and 2021), but in turn split each of those four-issue mini-series into two separate two-issue stories, and branded the comics both as “The Orville” issues #1-4, and also as “The Orville: [First story title] Part 1 of 2” and “Part 2 of 2”, followed by “The Orville: [Second story title] Part 1 of 2”, etc. Dark Horse then released three trade paperback reprint collections, one for each four issues. The first such collection was “The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings” (2020), reprinting the 2019-2020 first four-issue mini-series, also titled “The Orville: New Beginnings” #1-2 and “The Orville: The Word of Avis” #1-2. I read and reviewed that collection in June 2022. Next comes this one, “The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day” (2021), reprinting the 2020 second four-issue mini-series, also titled “The Orville: Launch Day” #1-2 and “The Orville: Heroes” #1-2. Both of these stories share a common element (besides taking place between seasons two and three of the television series), and that’s that both start off with a scene showing one or more of the characters on a prior mission years ago (twenty years ago in “Launch Day” and five years ago in “Heroes”). “Launch Day”, which I like best of the two stories here, features the crew investigating a planet that broke away from the Planetary Union twenty years ago that suddenly is showing signs of some mysterious powerful new weapon about to be launched. Captain Ed Mercer doesn’t necessarily believe that it is indeed a weapon and leads a team to seek out the truth. However, the Krill has also detected the powerful energy signature and sent eight warships across into Union space to attack the planet and destroy their “weapon”. Bortus is left in charge of the Orville with orders to stall the Krill from attacking while Mercer and company are away from the ship investigating (leading to some cool Bortus squaring off against the Krill moments). “Heroes” starts with security officer, Talla, in a mission to a peaceful, low tech world five years ago. She is there investigating if the Union should make contact with this civilization (who physically resemble her own Xelayan species but without her species’ increased strength and resilience) to mine a valuable mineral names Dysonium. Talla has been staying with a family with a young girl named Aki. She recommends to her captain that the Union not pursue relations there, that any attempts to mine would negatively impact the native population. The story then jumps to the present (five years later) and the Orville (with Talla) is now investigating the presence of a Quantum Drive ship there. They discover that another alien species, a non Union affiliated one named the Nazh, has since arrived and enslaved the natives, using them to mine the Dysonium. Due to the precarious position the Union is in at the moment with several hostile forces threatening war (the events at the end of season two of the tv series), the crew is ordered not to interfere and to move on. Talla isn’t willing to abandon Aki, her parents, and the rest of her people to the Nazh. Both stories are enjoyable enough although “Heroes” is a bit predictable. Right from the start of that story we see that there is a female Zorro like storybook character who it’s pretty obvious Talla will dress up as at some point in the story. Goodman continues to write these characters well (as he should since he was a co-producer on the television series along with Seth McFarlane), and David Cabeza again captures the actors’ likenesses perfectly. Yes, there is a bit of a “Photoshop” like feel at times, the likenesses are so spot on. But the appeal of “The Orville” is often about the interactions of the lead characters combined with standard “Star Trek: The Next Generation” type plot set-ups (usually with a twist at the end) and Cabeza’s art works perfectly for these types of stories. Since I liked “Launch Day” a bit more than I did “Heroes”, I ended up giving the combined trade paperback collection a three out of five stars on GoodReads. The third (and perhaps final) trade paperback is “The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions” (March 2022), reprinting the 2021 four-issue mini-series also titled “The Orville: Digressions” #1-2 and “The Orville: Artifacts” #1-2. I will be reading and reviewing that third trade paperback collection once my local public library can get a copy. There is also a more expensive “The Orville: Library Edition” hardcover collection just recently released (I believe) that is an omnibus of all three of the trade paperbacks. (So, containing all of the Dark Horse “Orville” stories in one volume.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 06, 2022
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Nov 09, 2022
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Nov 06, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1506724507
| 9781506724508
| 1506724507
| 3.67
| 741
| Jun 15, 2021
| Mar 01, 2022
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it was amazing
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Just finished reading “Adora and the Distance”, a graphic novel written by Marc Bernardin, with art by Ariela Kristantina, colors by Bryan Valenza, an
Just finished reading “Adora and the Distance”, a graphic novel written by Marc Bernardin, with art by Ariela Kristantina, colors by Bryan Valenza, and letters by Bernardo Brice. Originally released digitally by ComiXology (a “ComiXology Original”) in 2021. Softcover print trade paperback published by Dark Horse Books in March 2022. A beautifully drawn graphic novel about a nine-year-old girl living as a princess in a fantasy kingdom who has frightening dreams. The dreams are said to foreshadow the coming of “the Darkness”, a mysterious malevolent force coming for her that will destroy all around her. Once she discovers this, she elects to go on the hero’s journey (with her best friend and a small group of protectors) to confront the Darkness. I won’t go into the ending (which anyone who has heard or read of Marc Bernardin’s comments on why he wrote this story in the first place), other than to say that it comes from a very personal place for the author. I enjoy Bernardin’s writing (having listened to him as co-host of the Kevin Smith “Fatman on Batman”/“Fatman Beyond” podcast). But I even more enjoyed the beautiful art of Ariela Kristantina’s art and Bryan Valenza’s colors. It is a very slim graphic novel, one I intentionally read slowly to prolong enjoying it. I read a few reviews that passionately did *not* like it (in particular it’s ending). I can’t argue with those whose personal experiences feel like Bernardin treated a serious issue in a trivial or inaccurate way if that’s their genuine reactions. However, I very much enjoyed “Adora and the Distance”, and gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 17, 2022
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Oct 29, 2022
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Oct 17, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1302928635
| 9781302928636
| 1302928635
| 3.14
| 144
| 2020
| Mar 30, 2021
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really liked it
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“Fantastic Four: Antithesis Treasury Edition” (2021). Reprinting “Fantastic Four: Antithesis” #1-4 (October 2020-January 2021). Writer, Mark Waid and
“Fantastic Four: Antithesis Treasury Edition” (2021). Reprinting “Fantastic Four: Antithesis” #1-4 (October 2020-January 2021). Writer, Mark Waid and penciler, Neal Adams (credited together as “Storytellers”). Inker, Mark Farmer. Color artists, Laura Martin with Andrew Crossley. Letterer, “VC’s Joe Carramanga”. I have to say that I ended up really enjoying this one. Aside from a few really oddly drawn depictions of Ben Grimm (the Thing)—I think Adams was trying to show Grimm’s emotions through exaggerated facial expressions, as is per Adams’ usual style, but Grimm’s rocky exterior makes that very difficult—this is a beautifully drawn book. Now, I should say that this is clearly “later Adams” (the style he had developed into and used on all of his projects from Batman: Odyssey (2010-2012) onwards. Hyper detailed. Hard lined figure outlines. Exaggerated facial expressions. Some long time Adams fans dislike this change (or development) of Adams’ style, so they might also not like it here. However, I felt it was perfect for a story of this scope (and especially in this larger “treasury” sized format. Adams page layouts are dynamic, much of the story taking place in outer space or in the “Negative Zone”, and the characters all benefit from the larger page size (especially “cosmic” alien characters like the heroic and noble Silver Surfer, creepy/scary Annihilus, gigantic Galactus, and the new villain character here, Antithesis). The story is a pretty standard but sufficient one to warrant the Neal Adams visual fireworks. Gateways begin to open between Earth and the Negative Zone, allowing Annihilus to attack at the start of the story. The Fantastic Four successfully repel his attack and send him back to the Negative Zone but then discover (from the Silver Surfer, who crash lands on Earth, injured) that a new threat, Antithesis, has seemingly destroyed the Surfer’s master, Galactus, and threatens the Earth next. (One thing I’m not too sure of is the actual timing of when this story is supposed to take place. The Silver Surfer is still (or again) serving as Galactus’s herald and guide during this story. Yet Reed and Sue’s daughter, Valeria, is very young, not yet speaking. I’m not familiar enough with Fantastic Four continuity to know if those two things line up, or if it doesn’t even matter if Waid and Adams maybe considered this story to be out of the established continuity all together?) As someone who has read all of Neal Adams’ material, I think, from “Batman: Odyssey” through this and “Batman vs. Ra’s al Ghul” (“Antithesis” and “Batman vs. Ra’s al Ghul” being the last two things he did prior to his death in April 2022), I can say that while I enjoyed much of Adams *art* in pretty much all of those stories (which also included “The First X-Men” (2012-2013), “Superman: The Coming of the Supermen” (2016), and “Deadman” (2018)), I think I enjoyed “Antithesis” more than any of the others (which is saying a lot coming from a big DC guy like me). And I attribute this to Mark Waid’s involvement in the writing of it. Yes, Neal Adams’ renditions of his classic DC characters like Batman, Superman, and Deadman will always *look* awesome. However, Adams’ plots (and especially his dialogue and characterizations) when he was both writing and drawing, as he was in all of these except for “Antithesis” and scripting assistance from Christos Gage on “The First X-Men”, were often quite, well, wacky at best, head-scratchingly bad at others. So much so that his final Batman stories are widely criticized as being nonsensical and difficult for longtime readers to get through. Waid is very familiar with the characters of the Fantastic Four as he wrote their regular monthly title from 2002 to 2005. Therefore his (presumably) plot and dialogue here keep this story a quintessential Fantastic Four adventure and the characters all their familiar selves. (For Adams, this is the first time he ever drew a full length Fantastic Four story or for anything more than a quick cameo. But his Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Johnny Storm are all excellent here, as is his Ben Grimm except for the aforementioned odd facial expressions here and there. This “Treasury Edition” reprint collection (which, for those not familiar with treasury or tabloid sized comic books, measures at 8.75” x 13.3”) also includes two bonus stories from the Marvel archives, the first drawn by Neal Adams, a classic February 1970 X-Men issue (#65) written by Denny O’Neil and inked by Tom Palmer). And, second, the first issue of Mark Waid’s 2002-2005 Fantastic Four run (#60 [#489], October 2002), penciled by the late great Mike Wieringo and inked by Karl Kesel. Both good choices to bring back in the treasury sized format. Another trade paperback reprint collection of “Fantastic Four: Antithesis” is due out in January 2023. This will be in the more standard comic book size/format and will, presumably, only include the “Antithesis” mini-series (not the two bonus stories). Again, I really liked the “Fantastic Four: Antithesis Treasury Edition”. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
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1
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Sep 22, 2022
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Sep 29, 2022
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Sep 22, 2022
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| 140121942X
| 9781401219420
| 140121942X
| 3.82
| 1,572
| 1982
| Dec 16, 2008
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really liked it
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I finished reading "Camelot 3000: The Deluxe Edition" (2008) by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland. Originally released in individual comic book issues fro I finished reading "Camelot 3000: The Deluxe Edition" (2008) by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland. Originally released in individual comic book issues from DC Comics as "Camelot 3000" #1-12 (December 1982-April 1985). Writer: Mike W. Barr. Penciller: Brian Bolland. Inkers: Bruce Patterson, Terry Austin, and Dick Giordano. Colorist: Tatjana Wood. Letterer: John Costanza. "Continuing Legends Chronicled by Sir Thomas Mallory." "Camelot 3000" was a big deal when it came out. It was DC's first "maxi-series" (a year-long--well, it was intended to run for only one year--twelve-issue long limited run series three times as long as DC's four-issue "mini-series" up to that point). It was also DC's first series distributed exclusively to the "direct market", not available on newsstands and in drug stores, etc. Instead, it was sold only in comic book stores. DC had done a few single issue direct market only releases prior to this (the first being an all reprints "Superboy Spectacular" one-shot giveaway in 1980) but this was the first DC monthly series testing the idea of releasing to the direct market exclusively. (Marvel Comics got their first, though, with monthly direct market only titles like "Dazzler" and "Ka-Zar the Savage" in 1981.) Releasing "Camelot 3000" direct market only also allowed it to be released without the Comics Code and to allow the material to push the boundaries of what would probably not be allowable in a standard newsstand title. (The beautiful villainess of the story, who I will talk about in a bit, is basically naked throughout the series aside from a cape and a tiny backless two-piece bikini.) This was also the first regularly monthly work by British artist, Brian Bolland, on an American comic book title. Bolland got his start in the U.K. comics scene and worked in that area for most of the 1970s—including being an early regular artist on the “Judge Dredd” series and drawing the first three "Judge Death" stories in 1979-1980. Discovered by DC in 1979, Bolland did a few covers and fill-in stories for various DC titles in 1980-1981. Bolland's art in "Camelot 3000" is beautiful and really established in the U.S. as a popular artist. Unfortunately, he also proved to not be a fast enough artist to keep up with a monthly schedule and as a result "Camelot 3000" suffered from several delays over the course of its twelve issue run (and is largely remembered for these delays as much as for how good a series it was): there were three-month delays between issues five and six, eight and nine, and nine and ten, four months between ten and eleven, and an incredible nine-month delay between issues eleven and twelve. Reading the entire story now in a collected edition like the 2008 "Deluxe Edition" hardcover (like I did) or in the 1988 or 2013 trade paperback editions (or digitally via comiXology/Amazon or the DC Infinite digital comics service), none of that really matters, of course. But at the time it was originally coming out in the 1980s it was a major issue to comics retailers, the late shipping issues. And it was a sign of things to come as late shipping issues would become quite frequent in the "hot artist" dominated late 1980s and 1990s. However, back to "Camelot 3000". According to Barr, he had the basic story idea (which he was calling "Pendragon") in college. The basic gist is that according to the legend of King Arthur, he didn't actually die but instead "slumbers" until one day that he would return, when his beloved England is in its most desperate hour (or some such). Well, Barr's twist is that "Camelot 3000" is basically a sequel to the Arthur legend as in Barr's tale Arthur does indeed awaken (is discovered and his tomb opened) in the year 3000, right as the entire Earth is being invaded by vicious lizard like aliens. Reuniting with Merlin (who is basically eternal) and awakening the memories of Queen Guinevere, Launcelot, and his other knights of the round table who have all been reincarnated in the bodies present day men and women (one of the knights, Sir Tristan, reincarnated in the body of a woman, much to his consternation). Behind the alien invasion is Arthur's half-sister, sorceress Morgan le Fey. Arthur must lead his queen and knights against the forces of Morgan le Fey, her trickery and magicks as well as the alien troops subjugating this wildly futuristic world that Arthur now finds himself in. Regardless, Arthur is still a charismatic leader, able to create hope to a population that had seen all as lost just prior to his sudden return. I'm not going to go into any other plot specifics here, but just say that it's still holds up today as a fun science fiction/fantasy tale. And Bolland's art is still what really sets this series apart. There are, of course, some moments where the age of the material creeps in. Bits of dialogue, character motivations, and even caricature like political figures based on real life 1980s politicians as is typical of many comics that came out in the era of Ronald Reagan and the last decade of the U.S.-Soviet Union "cold war". (Oh, and yes, one of the political figures seen in the story is the Soviet Union premier, Barr of course having no idea in 1982 that the Soviet Union would crumble and be no more as of 1991.) A recurring plot element is that of Tristan hating his new life in a woman's body and trying to find whatever magical method possible to become a man again (first seeking out Merlin, who rejects his plea, and then even considering betraying Arthur to le Fey when the sorceress approaches her promising to do as Tristan wishes). This plot point was pretty ground breaking at the time in the early 1980s when it first came out, an early story dealing with what is now recognized as "gender identity". However, I'm sure that Barr would write Tristan a bit differently today than he did back then if he was writing the tale today, both in some of Tristan's thoughts and statements when decrying his situation and also perhaps in not doing it in every single issue. When "Camelot 3000" was being written and coming out, the notion that comics would start to be collected in trade paperbacks and hardback books to be sold in book stores after the original release of the single issues was not something Barr could have foreseen yet. As a result, Tristan's constant emoting does become a bit repetitive and tiresome after a bit. Regardless, "Camelot 3000" is a wonderful series that I missed the first time it came out (at age ten I'd just started buying comic books and was all into superheroes and tv/movie tie-in titles like Star Trek, "V", Star Wars, and Indiana Jones). Despite hearing how good it was, it took me thirty years to get around to reading it finally. I recommend others who enjoy comics (especially fantasy or just plain adventure stories) to give it a try in one of the various print or digital versions available. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. Addendum: Something else I forgot to mention is that I believe this was the first series DC ever published on the heavier and brighter “Baxter” paper (which made the colors a lot brighter than on the traditional newsprint). This was why the cover price was $1.00 (and starting with issue #7, $1.25) while most standard length DC and Marvel comics were $0.60. DC would expand on their deluxe Baxter paper titles in the following years with brand new “Legion of Super-Heroes”, “New Teen Titans”, and “The Outsiders” titles on the higher quality paper. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 23, 2022
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Sep 05, 2022
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Aug 23, 2022
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1401295169
| 9781401295165
| 1401295169
| 3.96
| 2,897
| 2009
| Dec 10, 2019
|
it was amazing
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Summer 2022 Reading Entry #7: "Superman: Secret Origin Deluxe Edition" (2010) by Geoff Johns, penciled by Gary Frank, and inked by Sibal. Colors by Br
Summer 2022 Reading Entry #7: "Superman: Secret Origin Deluxe Edition" (2010) by Geoff Johns, penciled by Gary Frank, and inked by Sibal. Colors by Brad Anderson. Originally released in single comic book issues as "Superman: Secret Origin" #1-6 (November 2009-October 2010). Version read: First hardcover reprint collection (the "Deluxe Edition", copyright date 2010; 2019 printing). Has also been released in trade paperback format in 2011 and 2018. Okay, now that that's all of that now out of the way. I *loved* this book (comic book mini-series)! "Superman: Secret Origin" was the *third* time that DC Comics decided to do a major revamping of Superman's origin story in what most would consider to be the modern era of comics. The first had been John Byrne's "The Man of Steel" six-issue mini-series (1986). The second (which I just read and reviewed a few weeks ago) was Mark Waid, Leinil Francis Yu, and Gerry Alanguilan's twelve-issue "Superman: Birthright" series (2003-2004). I started reading comics not less than ten years prior to Byrne's "Man of Steel", so I was very familiar with both his version of the character and his origin story as well as the classic version that had been built up over the many decades prior to that (the "Pre-Crisis" version, as in pre "Crisis on Infinite Earths", which was the first time DC did an intentional massive revamping of their line). I really liked Byrne's version. When Waid, Yu, and Alanguilan's "Birthright" came along in 2003, I was resistant to it because I didn't see a reason to change Superman's origin story at that time from Byrne's version. I was also, at that time, starting to fall way behind in my comics reading, so I only partly got through "Birthright" when it first came out. By the time I got around to reading "Birthright" now, I'm much more used to seeing multiple versions of Superman's origin story, both in the comics and also in the Superman television shows and movies. So I was more open to it now than I had been in 2003. (Plus, I knew now that "Birthright" was no longer the current "canon" version of Superman's origins in the comics than Byrne's, having been surpassed by several other company wide crossover "events" and origin retellings/reimaginings.) Enter "Superman: Secret Origin", which came out just five years after "Birthright" had finished. Now, I can't recall exactly what all was going on in the main Superman comics at the time or the rest of DC's superhero titles because by that point I had stopped regularly buying comics or was just about to. I do know, however, that British comic book artist Gary Frank had been the doing the art on Superman's stories in "Action Comics" already at the time that "Secret Origin" came out. My first encounters with Frank's art had been on titles like J. Michael Straczynski's "Midnight Nation" (Top Cow Comics) and "Supreme Power" (Marvel), and on Peter David's runs on "Incredible Hulk" (Marvel) and "Supergirl" (DC). Gary Frank has a nice clean classic looking art style and excels especially in the very clear and varied facial expressions he is able to give all of his characters. However, let me get right to exactly why I love "Superman: Secret Origin" so much (and really any time Gary Frank draws Superman): Frank's Superman is clearly 100% unapologetically Christopher Reeve, straight out of the 1978-1980s Superman movies. Which is wonderful for me and probably most others who are just the right age that Reeve *was* their live action version of Superman growing up. Yes, it's a line drawing of Superman still, and Frank does put in a little bit of his own "tweaking" of Superman (and Clark Kent's) face, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't clearly Reeve that's Frank's visual inspiration. And it goes beyond just the face. Frank also draws Superman in flight and in walking, etc., in clearly Christopher Reeve inspired Superman movie poses. And his Clark Kent in the classic blue suit and really big round lens glasses, again, pure Christopher Reeve. Beyond hitting my nostalgic buttons there, however, writer Geoff Johns also wisely hits a completely different set of nostalgic buttons for older readers by bringing back elements from the pre John Byrne "Man of Steel"/pre-"Crisis" version of Superman's origin and back story. Specifically, he brings back the notion that Clark's adopted mother, Martha, created the Superman costume for him out of materials found in the spaceship that brought him to Earth back while Clark was still a school boy instead of much later on after Clark had grown to adulthood. In short, Johns brings back "Superboy". Now, we don't get the impression that Clark did much superheroing in public during those years because he still comes as a complete surprise to everyone when he makes his public debut in Metropolis as Superman many years later. And young Clark is actually embarrassed to wear the costume. However, where it he does when secretly rescuing people from various accidents. And, soon after he does start wearing his new costume, along come three similarly strange costumed teenagers with super-power saying they are from the future and part of an organization of super-teens there called the Legion of Super-Heroes. They say Clark is their inspiration in their era and they broke several rules to travel back in time to meet him. Clark convinces them to take him with them back to their 30th Century future where he is not only amazed by everything but also for the first time in his life gets to enjoy being with others like him. It's a short visit and they bring him back but it is nice in that it reintroduces to the DC continuity that Clark had been a part of the Legion of Super-Heroes in his early years as Superboy. (Byrne had dropped the Superboy element of Superman's past entirely in his version.) That's all in the first two issues. The remaining four issues deal with Clark in Metropolis. The usual stuff. Meeting Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen. Getting his job at the Daily Planet. Making his debut as Superman. Saving people but also being feared by some at the same time for being different. Lex Luthor is the main villain again, of course, just as he had been in "Man of Steel" and "Birthright". As in "Birthright", this version of the story has Lex moving briefly to Smallville as a boy and meeting Clark before moving on. It also, as in "Birthright" has Lex discover the chunk of Kryptonite in Smallville that he later uses as a power source for things he has planned (and, as a bonus, realizes that the glowing green radioactive meteorite is the one thing that can hurt Superman). As in "Birthright", Lex turns the people against Superman briefly, revealing that Superman is in actuality an alien and therefore must be dangerous. You also get two other classic comics Superman villains, the Parasite and Metallo, both created either intentionally (Metallo) or unintentionally (the Parasite) by Luthor's experiments with the Kryptonite. (I have to say that it is very cool to see a Christopher Reeve looking Superman fighting these long time comics bad guys, Metallo and the Parasite, villains we never got to see in the 1980s movies.) And, really, that's overall exactly what "Superman: Secret Origin" does and therefore makes it such an enjoyable comic/graphic novel: it's "fan service" in the best meaning of the term. It mixes elements from more than one much loved previous version of Superman (the Christopher Reeve movies, the pre-Crisis comics, and more recent retellings of the origin story) to present a thoroughly enjoyable hybrid of them all. I highly recommend "Superman: Secret Origin", especially to those in their forties or older who grew with Christopher Reeve as *their* Superman (although I think readers younger than that who didn't have that experience with the Reeve movies will also find it to be enjoyable). I gave it a five out of five stars on GoodReads. (Previous Summer 2022 Reading Entries: #1: "Star Trek: Avenger" by William Shatner (1997; novel); #2: "Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul" by Neal Adams (2019-2021, six-issue comic book limited-series; 2021 collected hardcover edition); #3: “Superman: Birthright” by Mark Waid, Leinil Francis Wu, and Gerry Alanguilan (twelve-issue comic book limited series; 2003 to 2004; read on DC Universe Infinite, also available in hardcover and softcover editions); #4: "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows Book 1: A Sea of Troubles" by J. Steven York and Christina F. York (2007; novella), #5: "The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings" by David A. Goodman and David Cabeza (2019, four issue comic book limited series; 2020 collected trade paperback edition), #6: "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book 2: The Oppressor's Wrong" by Phaedra Weldon.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 26, 2022
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Jul 05, 2022
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Jul 04, 2022
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1506711340
| 9781506711348
| 1506711340
| 4.16
| 224
| Feb 18, 2020
| Feb 18, 2020
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really liked it
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Summer 2022 Reading Entry #5. "The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings", script by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh (Dar
Summer 2022 Reading Entry #5. "The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings", script by David A. Goodman, art by David Cabeza, colors by Michael Atiyeh (Dark Horse Books, 2020). Originally released by Dark Horse Comics as "The Orville"* #1-4 (July 2019-October 2019). (* Some listings give the title as "The Orville: New Beginnings", as that sub-title was on the covers of the first two issues.) For those not familiar, "The Orville" is a science-fiction television series created (and starring) Seth MacFarlane that aired on Fox for its first two seasons (2017-2019), then moved to Hulu for its third (and what may be its final) season, currently airing now (June to August 2022). Its third season has been sub-titled "New Horizons". The long gap between the airings of season two and season three were due to COVID related shutdown delays. To keep this review short, "The Orville" has been said by some to be basically "Star Trek: The Next Generation" meets "The Office" (and while I am not a watcher of "The Office", I can definitely vouch for the parallels to ST:TNG). What I find mostly appealing about "The Orville" (beyond the occasionally visually exciting special effects heavy sequences) is the modern day quirky characters and dialogue present in a "Star Trek: Next Generation" like atmosphere. Indeed, many of the plots would work just as well as ST:TNG episodes, and with good reason as "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Voyager", and "Star Trek: Enterprise" veteran Brannon Braga is one of the executive producers on "The Orville" (another being the author of this series of comics stories, David A. Goodman). But right when you think this is just a rehash of ST:TNG, one of the characters here will say something completely outrageous, something the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D would never say, but which is true to that of the U.S.S. Orville (and is often quite funny, although humor, of course, is very subjective). All of that said, this first four issue limited series published by Dark Horse Comics and collected in trade paperback format under the "Season 1.5: New Beginnings" title was actually two separate two-issue stories. The first (which ran over issues one and two) features Captain Ed Mercer and Lt. Gordon Malloy getting stranded on a planet after their shuttle gets mysteriously shot down. They discover that what shot them down was a hundred year old ship like theirs (a "Union" ship, this series analogue for Star Trek's "Starfleet" and “United Federation of Planets”) that crash-landed on the planet's surface a century ago and been set up by its crew to protect and provide food for the few native inhabitants left, this ship's crashing on the surface having inadvertently caused the planet to become a wasteland. Meanwhile, the Orville, under first office Commander Kelly Grayson, realizes that Mercer and Malloy have not reached their destination and begin searching for them. During these scenes back on the Orville, Grayson meets someone who will make his television debut at the start of season two: Cassius, a teacher on board the Orville (and who Grayson will become romantically involved with during season two). The second story, "The Word of Avis", from issues three and four, have the Orville intercept a Union transport before it can travel into enemy Krill space. (I'm not going to go into who the Krill are here other than that they were a source of conflict during season one of the television series. I haven't mentioned it yet but as the trade paperback title indicates, these two comic book stories take place between seasons one and two.) The crew of the transport say it was due to equipment malfunctioning but there is something Mercer and his crew can tell they aren't revealing as to their true intentions in wanting to reach Krill space. Orville chief engineer, Lt. Commander John LaMarr discovers that the engineer aboard the transport is an old friend from when they both attended "Union Point" (I assume their version of Starfleet Academy). There is nothing particularly exciting about either of these stories. Plot alone, I'd probably give this collection a three out of five stars on GoodReads. However, where Goodman excels is at capturing the voices of the "Orville" characters (and, as he should, since he's an executive producer on the television series, something I didn't realize as I was first reading these stories). And artist David Cabeza does an excellent job of capturing the likenesses of the various actors, which is always a big plus with comic books based on television or movie properties. Based on these two factors, I ended up giving it a four out of five stars, and I look forward to reading more in this run of "Orville" comic books. (Dark Horse has released three more mini-series following this one. First, another four-issue mini-series sub-titled "Launch Day" and "Heroes" released from September to December 2020 and reprinted in trade paperback format under the title "The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day" in May 2021. Then (as best I can tell) two separate two-issue minis: "Digressions” (May-June 2021) and "Artifacts” (October-November 2021), the two collected in trade paperback as "The Orville Season 2.5: Digressions" in March 2022.) (Previous Summer 2022 Reading Entries: #1: "Star Trek: Avenger" by William Shatner (1997; novel); #2: "Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul" by Neal Adams (2019-2021, six-issue comic book limited-series; 2021 collected hardcover edition); #3: “Superman: Birthright” by Mark Waid, Leinil Francis Wu, and Gerry Alanguilan (twelve-issue comic book limited series; 2003 to 2004; read on DC Universe Infinite, also available in hardcover and softcover editions); #4: "Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows Book 1: A Sea of Troubles" by J. Steven York and Christina F. York (2007; novella). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 24, 2022
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Jun 24, 2022
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Jun 24, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1401202519
| 9781401202514
| 1401202519
| 4.15
| 11,904
| Sep 2003
| Nov 30, 2004
|
liked it
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**spoiler alert** Summer Reading Entry #3. I just finished reading the twelve-issue "Superman: Birthright" comic book limited series written by Mark W
**spoiler alert** Summer Reading Entry #3. I just finished reading the twelve-issue "Superman: Birthright" comic book limited series written by Mark Waid, penciled by Leinil Francis Yu, and inked by Gerry Alanguilan, that was originally released from 2003 to 2004 by DC Comics. I read these issues on the DC Universe Infinite digital comics platform. I'm putting my review on GoodReads on the earliest released hardcover reprint collection (2004). There has been a subsequent softcover trade paper release (2005), a second hardcover (2016), and coming in December 2022 will be a DC "Deluxe Edition" hardcover release of "Birthright". "Birthright", when it first came out in 2003, was touted as a brand new reboot (although I don't recall if they used that actual word or not) of Superman's origin story, the second such major reboot of the modern comics era (the first being John Byrne's 1986 six-issue "Man of Steel" mini-series. There have been several other reboots and reimaginings since "Birthright" (including Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's "Superman: Secret Origin" mini-series (2009-2010), another on my list to read). At the time, however, it was a bit of a major thing, DC announcing that they were basically ditching the Byrne version (which had been *the* canon Superman origin in the comics for nearly twenty years) in favor of a new one written by Mark Waid, and, I must admit, I was resistant to it because of that. I didn't see any reason to jettison the Byrne origin story yet. (There was no galaxy changing event going on at the time to explain such a change--those would come along not too long after--and Byrne's origin just didn't seem to need to be changed, in my opinion.) So, when I first read the first five issues of "Superman: Birthright" back in 2003, I thought they were all right but probably didn't give then a fair chance. My memory (now) of reading them then was that I had not finished reading the entire series (although I did buy the entire run of issues), and looking now at what notes I kept back in those days, it appears that I only read through the end of issue five. I decided to revisit (and finish reading) "Birthright" now because I'd already decided that I wanted to read "Superman: Secret Origin" and decided, prior to that, that I should probably read "Birthright" to be able to compare the different versions of the Superman origin story. (I've read John Byrne's "Man of Steel" so many times over the years that I have that one practically memorized, so no need to revisit that one at this time.) This time I had the advantage of going into reading "Birthright" with a bit of a more open mind, plus the advantage of being able to put all that issue of it being the new "canon" version of Superman aside because this story no longer is. "Birthright" was quickly overridden by other tales, including several of those universe (sometimes multiverse) changing company-wide crossover "events". So, reading "Birthright" now, I can view it entirely on its own merits as one of the many varying Superman stories out there. The Krypton scenes (which visually are very distinctive and different from the versions that came before it, thanks to the penciling art of Leinil Francis Yu here) are actually quite short. Only a few pages long. The most noticeable change there in my opinion was that Waid presented Jor-El as very hesitant to send Kal-El away in his experimental rocket ship, and that Lara basically has to convince him that it's the only chance the baby has to survive. We then jump to a young adult Clark Kent in Africa working as a freelance journalist and befriending the leader of a rebel tribe seeking out fair and equal representation in their county's government. There are attacks upon them by those in power and Clark has to use his powers to prevent many people from being killed. It becomes his motivating incident to return home to his adopted parents (Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas) to come up with a way for him to be able to use his powers to help people without revealing who he is. They, of course, come up with the Superman costume and also the idea of the more mild-mannered Clark Kent persona as the real "disguise". While doing so, we get glimpses of Clark's upbringing. Again, here, Martha Kent is much more of an eager aid to Clark, initially. Jonathan is very reluctant and worried that this will all lead to their losing their son. He does, eventually, come around to the idea. Next, Clark arrives in Metropolis, first encounters Lois, Perry, and Jimmy, and gets his job at the Daily Planet (and Superman makes his debut). All of this is pretty common to most tellings of the origin story. Where things are different are where they involve Lex Luthor. In this version of events, Clark and Lex knew each other in high school in Smallville, Lex and his father briefly moving to town. Lex, a clear genius but with really bad social skills, quickly ostracizes everyone around him except for Clark. His big experiment (which just happens to involve a piece of glowing green radioactive meteorite; Clark's first encounter with Kryptonite) ends up destroying his house, killing his father, and driving Lex into seclusion, having blamed Clark and everyone else for his failure. Now, as an adult, Lex is a major leader of industry in Metropolis, a business man with his own company. But he still has a secret agenda behind it all, one that gets kicked into its next phase with the arrival of Superman in Metropolis. From there it becomes a pretty standard Superman vs. Lex Luthor story with bits of the new version of Clark's Kryptonian heritage tossed in. The last two or three issues deal with that major confrontation, and Lex's turning the people of Metropolis against Superman by convincing them that he is actually the scout for a large invasion by Kryptonian soldiers. Waid does a good job throughout at presenting the major characters in an interesting way, especially Clark, the Kents, and Lois. His Perry and Jimmy are pretty non descript (Perry is grumpy and yelling at people most of the time). This portrayal of Lex is the most problematic to me. He is a genius but most of the time he carries on like a crazed fanatic (although his plan, as convoluted as it is, seems on the verge of succeeding). Of course, it depends on that piece of Kryptonite Lex found back in Smallville, which he has discovered how to use as a powerful energy source (which, as a bonus, just happens to be able to eliminate Superman, as well). The thing that makes "Birthright" very uneven, in my opinion (and this is going to be a very subjective thing) is the artwork of Leinil Francis Yu. Yu is a Filipino artist who began with Wildstorm Productions, and then moved over to Marvel to do long runs on "Wolverine" and "X-Men". Yu has a very distinctive art style. His page layouts are often quite exciting looking and are also easy to follow what's happening. However, his characters faces are often very stylized, especially those of the male characters (other than Clark/Superman). Many of the faces in "Birthright" are quite grotesque looking (crazed expressions, eyes bulging, veins popping). Not all the time but enough to be distracting and at times hard to look at. (His early issues with Clark in Africa, in Smallville, and first appearing in Metropolis are his best work here.) I can't help but wonder how "Birthright" might have been if they'd gone with a more naturalistic/"realistic" style artist. Then, again, I know that Yu has his fans who would totally disagree with my assessment here. (And, honestly, I found Yu's style to be much more appropriate to Wolverine and the X-Men.) Overall, it's is an interesting read (one I'd recommend that all regular Superman readers check out at some point). I ended up giving it three stars out of five stars on GoodReads (would probably have been three and a half stars if I was allowed to use half stars). (Previous 2022 Summer Reading Entries: #1: "Star Trek: Avenger" by William Shatner (1997; novel); #2: "Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul" by Neal Adams (2019-2021, six-issue comic book mini-series; 2021 collected hardcover edition).) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 16, 2022
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Jun 19, 2022
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Jun 19, 2022
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1401295185
| 9781401295189
| 1401295185
| 2.25
| 102
| Sep 21, 2021
| Jan 11, 2022
|
it was ok
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**spoiler alert** Summer reading entry 2: "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" (2021) by Neal Adams (writer/artist/colorist). Originally released in single comic **spoiler alert** Summer reading entry 2: "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" (2021) by Neal Adams (writer/artist/colorist). Originally released in single comic book issues as "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" #1-6 (November 2019-June 2021). Version read: First hardcover reprint collection (copyright date and printing date, December 2021, actually released in January 2022, I believe.) Famed comic book artist, publisher, and advocate, Neal Adams, passed away on April 28, 2022. So recently that I'm sure that it's still sinking in with a lot of his fans and admirers. I started reading comics in the late 1970s/early 1980s, after the bulk of work that Adams did for DC Comics and Marvel Comics had already been produced and was prime "back issue" fodder. It was also among the most reprinted material. I was introduced to his work via his and Dennis O'Neil's Batman and "Green Lantern/Green Arrow", his "Deadman", and his brief runs on the X-Men and Avengers ("Kree-Skrull War"), all via deluxe reprint mini-series released in the 1980s (prior to the coming of the bookshelf quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks). Adams was also DC's frequent cover artist in the 1970s, drawing lots of really exciting covers (especially of Superman, even though the only real full length Superman story he ever drew--barring a few team-ups with Batman--was the now classic (and one of my personal favorite Superman comics of all time), "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali" (1978)). Adams did very little work for either of the "big two" (DC and Marvel) from the 1980s to mid 2000s, instead focusing most of this attention to his own company/studio, Continuity Associates, which did a lot of work outside of the comic book field, in cooperate advertising. Adams did a little work for Marvel in 2005, then started doing several high-profile mini-series for DC and Marvel starting in 2010: "Batman: Odyssey" (2010-2012), "The First X-Men" (2012), "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen" (2016), a new "Deadman" mini-series (2017-2018), "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" (2019-2021), and "Fantastic Four: Antithesis" (with writer Mark Waid, 2020; Adams' final professional comics work [produced and released prior to this death). He also did various short stories and covers for both companies over this time period. All of that is preamble for this little review of "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul", which, as I said, is Adams' final Batman (and DC Comics) story he did. It picks up threads from both "Batman: Odyssey" and his 2017-2018 "Deadman" mini-series. Now, it should be noted that starting with "Batman: Odyssey", Adams not only drew his stories but also wrote them (the exception being "Fantastic Four: Antithesis, which was written by Mark Waid; I still have not read this story at this time of my writing this review). As much as I love Neal Adams' artwork (even the more heavily rendered style that he preferred in his later years), his stories (the ones that he wrote) tended to be, well, all over the place. At times difficult to follow. (I've heard fascinating interviews with Adams where he spoke of how a lot of readers complained of this when "Batman: Odyssey" was coming out in the individual issues, and that the confusion was because he wrote it to be one big "novel", and that they weren't being patient, that it would all become clear in the end. Except, to a lot of readers, myself included, it really didn't. (I read "Odyssey" as I did this "Ra's al Ghul" one, via the later all-in-one reprint collection.) Adams' later works had a tendency to jump from place to place with little in the way of transitions. And to have characters just appear out of nowhere with no more than a, "Oh, look, it's so-and-so!" bit of dialogue. And, oh, my, Adams' dialogue. Quite frankly, it is the words Adams has his character's speaking (the established characters like Batman, Ra's al Ghul, Commissioner Gordon, Nightwing, Robin, Deadman, etc.) that is the most jarring aspect of his later works. Every page is full of loud declarations, as if they characters are constantly shouting at each other, many times things seemingly very out of character for these well known, well, characters. Having heard Adams speak in those interviews about his work on "Batman: Odyssey", I can kind of understand at least some of the continuing back story in "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" (which, as I said, not only picks up on plot threads from "Odyssey" but from Adams' recent "Deadman" mini-series as well). But then Adams again tosses in nearly incomprehensible plot elements like Batman in a prehistoric other dimension, brought there by a multi-dimensional traveler named Chiaroscuro, who is a servant of Ra's al Ghul, but who then is revealed (SPOILERS!) to be... Deadman's long-lost sister. (Another character is revealed to be his brother, Aaron.) Adams tosses in other existing characters here and there. Some, like "young Robin", Damien Wayne, are from the more recent Batman comics DC has been publishing (although he has his origins in another notable Batman/Ra's al Ghul graphic novel from 1987, "Batman: Son of the Demon", written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Jerry Bingham). Damien just shows up out of the blue near the end of the first chapter (first issue) alongside Nightwing (Dick Grayson, the first Robin), and another Robin (Tim Drake). I have no idea how all three of them would be working together at the same time but I presume it somehow reflects current DC stories, ones I'm unfamiliar with. Adams also tosses in quick references to other notable Batman stories that occurred between his times working on the Batman character, "Cataclysm" (1998), "No Man's Land" (1999), and "The Court of Owls" (2011). But these don't really add much to the story (the references to part of the city still being wrecked from "Cataclysm" and "No Man's Land" make one wonder if Adams is imagining those stories not to have happened as long ago as one would expect or if they simply never repaired those parts of the city) and a bit gratuitous (especially the out of nowhere appearance of the Court of Owls in one scene). But enough of all of that. Yes, the story is crazy and makes little sense. However, it is important to note that most people don't pick up a Neal Adams comic book for his writing. No, it's for his gorgeous artwork. If one can look past the strange portrayals of the characters and the wild plot skips, "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" is just the latest (and, sadly, the next to last) of Adams' artistic wonders. Now, some argue that he "ruined" his style in his later years, making them heavily rendered (overly detailed inkwork). That his best work was his classic DC and Marvel work of the late 1960s and 1970s. I would probably agree with them. However, I can appreciate Adams' desire to always "move forward" with his style and not just keep drawing as he used to. And most of "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" is visually exciting work (never mind the story). The biggest disappointment here has to be that, despite the title, we don't really ever get a big confrontation between Batman and Ra's al Ghul. Given the title, one naturally expects that. (Yes, Batman is working to thwart Ra's al Ghul's plans, therefore it is a story of him "versus" Ra's al Ghul, but that alone isn't nearly as satisfying as, say, the classic shirtless sword battle O'Neil and Adams created between the two characters back in the 1970s Batman comics. All in all, I had to give "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" a two out of five stars on GoodReads. Pretty to look at but dragged down by the plotting and dialogue. Sadly, not the final Batman story by Adams that I'd hoped it would be (not that anyone knew it would be his final Batman story at the time, although perhaps Adams was indeed planning it to be his last for a while because he does wrap up those "Batman: Odyssey" and "Deadman" dangling plot threads). If I were to recommend any of Adams more recent works, I would actually recommend "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen" over any of his Batman or Deadman minis. Yes, "Coming of the Supermen" also suffers from some of the same thing (namely, Adams' at times out-of-character portrayals and his not-at-all-natural-sounding dialogue), but it's still a very fun story, regardless. I also enjoyed his "The First X-Man" mini-series (which was written by Adams but had dialogue by Christos Gage). And, perhaps, his and Mark Waid's "Fantastic Four: Antithesis" (although, as I said earlier, I still need to read that one). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 11, 2022
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Jun 11, 2022
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Jun 11, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1401290922
| 9781401290924
| 1401290922
| 4.41
| 6,156
| Oct 04, 2006
| Feb 19, 2019
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it was amazing
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A couple days ago I finished reading the late Darwyn Cooke’s magnum opus, “DC: The New Frontier”. Written and drawn entirely by Cooke and originally r
A couple days ago I finished reading the late Darwyn Cooke’s magnum opus, “DC: The New Frontier”. Written and drawn entirely by Cooke and originally released serially as six comic book issues cover dated March 2004 to November 2004, “New Frontier” quickly became considered by many to be not only Cooke’s crowning achievement but also on of the DC Comics high marks of the decade. At the time that the six issue limited series first came out, I was still buying most DC and Marvel comics (twelve years, I reckon, in to my almost thirty years, 1982-2012, of being a regular comic book buyer). So, I definitely had the “DC: The New Frontier” comics. But, like most of the comics I was buying by the mid 2000s decade, it must have gone straight into a “to be read later” box along with hundreds of others because my buying was far outreaching my reading at that time. (Actually, that’s always been the case, but it had gotten pretty much to its highest point around then.) My comics collection (minus a few exceptions like my hardback and trade paperback reprint collection books and my unusual format comics like my oversized tabloid/treasury issues and my smaller sized digest issues) and I went out separate ways in early 2012, including those “New Frontier” issues. Over the years I would think to myself, I really still need to read that, and now I finally have. First off, I should mention that “DC: The New Frontier” has been reprinted/collected in several different editions. The one I read (checked out from the high school library/media center where I’m the media specialist, so you can guess who ordered it there) is the most recent one, a trade paperback released in 2019 under the “DC: Black Label” imprint. It contains not only all six issues of the original limited series but also the 2008 “Justice League: The New Frontier Special” one-shot (which I’ll say a bit more about later) and various bonus pages showing sketches, alternate pages, a covers gallery, and an annotations section all by Cooke. The first reprint collections of “DC: The New Frontier” came out just one year after the comics did, in 2005. However, potential readers should be aware that DC split it up over two separate trade paperbacks that time, “Volume 1” (reprinting issues #1-3) and “Volume 2” (issues #4-6). So, if you find a trade paperback of this that has a “Volume” number, be aware that it’s not the entire story. DC then released their oversized “Absolute DC: The New Frontier” hardcover collection in January 2007 (with a 2006 copyright date), a “Deluxe Edition” hardcover in 2015, and the first full (entire story) trade paperback in 2016. (Note: The reprint collections starting with the 2007 Absolute edition all contain thirteen additional pages not included in the original six issues or the two-volume first set of trade paperbacks. These are not one big story sequence but instead new pages here and there fleshing out selected scenes for plot or character development clarification.) Now, to the actual story. Wow. As its reputation indicated, “New Frontier” is an amazing accomplishment. Darwyn Cooke, who at the time was known mainly for his appealing cartoon animation like art style, set out to tell an entire tale that could be inserted into the existing DC publishing history of the mid to late 1950s (the start of DC’s second big wave of superheroes and adventure titles ) while at the same time reflecting what was also going on at the same time in the real world (the U.S./Soviet Union “cold war” and space race, racial injustices, then current pop culture, etc.). And, of course, all of this in Cooke’s distinctive personal art style. While there are loads of call backs to the actual DC comics of the 1940s through 1960s that long time readers will recognize, Cooke’s blending of established continuity (which had long since become no longer the continuity of DC’s comics being published at the time “New Frontier” came out), real world references, and Cooke’s own “tweakings” of characters and events makes for a work that stands entirely on its own (and which, thanks to its timeframe, is likely to remain popular regardless of whatever DC is doing at any given time in their new comic books). The story begins in the mid 1940s, just after the end of World War II, and goes to 1960, the first teaming of DC’s newer version superheroes as the Justice League of America and also (in the real world) the start of John F. Kennedy’s campaign for President of the United States (a key element to the ending of the story, signifying the ending of one era and the beginning of another). I will say that even I, a life long comics reader, had a bit of trouble keeping up with what was going on and exactly who was who in the opening issue (“chapters”) as Cooke starts the story not on any of the more well known superhero characters but instead on several non superhero “adventure” characters of the period like the “Losers” (a four man team with each member representing the four branches of the U.S. military, a pilot, a Navy sailor, a Marine, etc.) and the original “Suicide Squad” (again, well trained but non superpowered agents sent on seemingly impossible missions). The story begins with a mission to retrieve a downed plane carrying defecting German rocket scientists that crash landed on an island that, upon arrival, it is discovered is full of actual living dinosaurs (a call back to DC’s long running “The War That Time Forgot” series that pitted soldiers versus dinosaurs). The story then moved back to the United States (although the dinosaur island incident remains an important story point throughout). We are shown newsreel footage and newspaper accountings of the disbanding of the World War II Justice Society of America, which opted to quit rather than be forced by the government to publicly unmask themselves in a “red scare” like anti-superheroes movement. We see that a few, however, are still active, like Superman and Wonder Woman, who have become agents of the United States government, and others like Batman and the Hourman who work outside of the law and are considered fugitives. Into this world we are introduced to (in the order they originally first appeared in the comics) new superheroes like Barry Allen (the new Flash), Hal Jordon (Green Lantern), and J’onn J’onzz/John Jones, the Manhunter from Mars (a.k.a., the Martian Manhunter). I don’t want to go too much more into the specifics of the plot here other than to say that the two main story elements (the dinosaur island and the new wave of superheroes) do eventually converge, and it all ends in a spectacular “last stand” confrontation between the heroes (super and otherwise) vs. a seemingly unbeatable force. I should also mention Cooke’s one main diversion from established DC publishing history, and that’s that character of “John Henry” in this story. As Cooke describes in his annotations section, he felt it important to show the examples of racial injustices that were a way of life for Black Americans at the time. DC, like most American pop culture during the 1950s, did not have any significant Black leading characters at that time though for Cooke to use here. So, he decided to create a new character, a spiritual descendant to the legendary U.S. folklore John Henry character, while at the same time an ancestor of the later John Henry Irons “Steel” character first introduced in the 1990s return of Superman storyline after Superman had been killed defeating Doomsday. This story of the 1950s John Henry character of Cooke’s is entirely separate from the rest of the primary characters but proves to be a major motivating factor for one of the other characters. Again, this is an excellent limited series, one that long time DC comics readers will likely enjoy very much. Those not as familiar with the DC comics of the 1950s and 60s might find themselves confused at times but I think they will still find it to be an enjoyable read if they can make themselves just push through the parts they might have questions about. After the initial six-issue series came out in 2004, Cooke moved on to other projects. While there were ideas for follow up projects set in the same “New Frontier” continuity, none came to pass until 2008’s “Justice League: The New Frontier Special” #1, which came about because an animated movie version of “New Frontier” was being made and DC wanted something new that they could release as a promotional tie-in to the movie. Cooke was happy to oblige and wrote three new stories (one longer story and two shorter ones) that were released in the one-shot special along with a few pages of design work for the animated movie. The first story in the special (the longer one) is drawn by Cooke and features Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in a new story sequence that takes place at the same time as the early issues of the original “New Frontier” limited series, filling in what led up to a key scene there between Superman and Batman. The two shorter stories that round out the special are a Robin and Kid Flash story drawn by David Bullock (who was the director of the animated movie) and Michael Cho, and a Wonder Woman and Black Canary story drawn by J. Bone (an artist who assisted Cooke uncredited on the original “New Frontier” series). Both of these stories take place after the original NF series and are all three of the stories from the Special are included in the DC: Black Label trade paperback I read (as well as in the 2015 “Deluxe Edition” hardcover and 2016 standard trade paperback collections). Sadly, Darwyn Cooke passed away in 2016 at the age of 53. There is not much else I can think of to say but that, again, I highly recommend this book. It is indeed a must read for long time DC fans. Now I want to watch the animated movie version (which Cooke was heavily involved in the creation of) next. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 2022
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Jan 12, 2022
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Jan 01, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1779504217
| 9781779504210
| 1779504217
| 4.51
| 5,864
| May 12, 2020
| May 12, 2020
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really liked it
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**spoiler alert** “Superman Smashes the Klan”. Written by Gene Luen Yang. Art by Gurihiru. Trade paperback collection, 2020. Originally released in in **spoiler alert** “Superman Smashes the Klan”. Written by Gene Luen Yang. Art by Gurihiru. Trade paperback collection, 2020. Originally released in individual comic book issues as “Superman Smashes the Klan” #1-3, October 2019 - February 2020. Based loosely on the 1946 “Adventures of Superman” radio show story arc, “The Clan of the Fiery Cross”. Winner of the 2020 Harvey Award for Best Children or Young Adult Book, the Mike Wieringo Spirit Award at the 2020 Ringo Awards, and both Best Publication for Kids and Best Adaptation from Another Medium at the 2021 Eisner Awards. I enjoyed this graphic novel (again, originally released as three separate chapters/issues but also available all in a single volume) very much. Author Gene Luen Yang is an acclaimed author (and also illustrator) of young adult graphic novels, his most acclaimed being “American Born Chinese”, “The Eternal Smile”, and “Boxers and Saints”. Many of these draw upon Yang’s personal experiences growing up as a Chinese American (as does “Superman Smashes the Klan”). Drawing the basic structure from the 1946 “Adventures of Superman” radio show, Roberta and Tommy Lee are two teenage Chinese Americans who move to a new neighborhood in Metropolis in the year 1946 and encounter prejudice (and also just general misunderstandings) from their new neighbors and classmates. Their arrival leads to attacks from the “Klan of the Fiery Kross” (in both the 1946 radio show and again here an obvious stand in for the Ku Klux Klan). One of the friends they make is young Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet newspaper. Meanwhile, Superman defeats a man in a robotic suit designed by German scientists and powered by a mysterious green stone, one that causes Superman to fall weak and sick. Then Superman starts having visions of a strange alien couple. At first he can’t understand them, then he can but he becomes frustrated at their appearing at odd times, asking him why he isn’t using all of his abilities yet. Over the course of the story, they eventually are able explain to him that they are his birth parents, where he is truly from, and what else he is capable of doing beyond just super strength, running really fast, and “leaping” great distances. (Roberta also has her own suspicions about that last one, detecting that Superman is able to land really softly when he jumps while carrying them, like he’s “pulling up” some at the last second.) The two stories intersect as Superman and Lois Lane become involved in the Lee family’s troubles with the Klan, Superman’s big revelation regarding his up-to-this-point unused superpowers and the final confrontation with the leader of the Klan. The art here by Gurihiru (a team name for Japanese artists Chifuyu Sasaki (pencils and inks) and Naoko Kawano (colors) is stylistically a nice blend of today’s teen manga titles with American World War II era Superman flourishes. (The Superman costume is inspired by the 1940s Fleisher Studios Superman theatrical cartoons.) I especially liked the attention to detail in presenting Superman here as not realizing that he can fly or has x-ray vision and as having basically suppressed this and his heat vision due to traumatic incident while he was a child in Smallville, Kansas. There are also nice call backs to other vintage Superman stories (such as the German bad guy in the beginning call himself “The Atom Man”; he keeps referring to himself that way, and to Superman as “The Superman”, to which Superman replies, “No ‘the’. The ‘the’ is a bit pretentious, don’t you think? It’s just ‘Superman’, please.” Of course, the main characters here are Roberta and Tommy Lee, and the racism and violence they face. With a title like “Superman Smashes the Klan”, I think it’s pretty obvious what the theme here is. It’s a good one (people should not be judged much less mistreated due to their differences, be it race, ethnicity, or religion). It’s definitely not subtle here, but it’s not supposed to be (just as it wasn’t in the original 1946 radio show story arc which many ascribe a backlash against the real life Ku Klux Klan at the time). Yang includes in the back of the collected edition a twelve-page text piece titled “Superman and Me”, in which he includes historical details about the Ku Klux Klan, racism against Black Americans, Chinese-American, and Japanese Americans during the period leading up to 1946 including during World War II, the creation and early success of Superman (created by two Jewish American teenagers living in Cleveland, Ohio), and his own family history and how he first learned of the Superman radio show’s anti Ku Klux Klan story. This is a graphic novel tailored for young adults (middle school, high school), but I can see its appeal to ages beyond that. Highly recommended. ...more |
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1
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Dec 31, 2021
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Dec 31, 2021
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Dec 31, 2021
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Paperback
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| 1684056942
| 9781684056941
| 1684056942
| 3.86
| 561
| Jun 30, 2020
| Aug 18, 2020
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really liked it
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**spoiler alert** I finally got around to reading (because it’s taken my the public library awhile to get a copy ordered for me) “Star Trek: Picard: C
**spoiler alert** I finally got around to reading (because it’s taken my the public library awhile to get a copy ordered for me) “Star Trek: Picard: Countdown”, the trade paperback collected edition reprinting issues one through three of the comic book mini-series of the same title that was published by IDW (November 2019 to January 2020 cover dates). Written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson (in practice, story by Beyer and Johnson, comic book script by Johnson), with art by Angel Hernandez (and colors by Joana Lafuente). Original covers (reproduced inside the trade) painted by Michael Pangrazio, Sara Pitre-Durocher. Trade paperback cover art by Jim Salvati. “Star Trek: Picard: Countdown” is one of two prequel tie-ins that came out prior to the premiere of the “Star Trek: Picard” streaming television series on what was then CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in January 2020. (The other being “The Last Best Hope”, a Star Trek: Picard prequel novel written by Una McCormack that I read back in February and March of that year (prior to my watching the TV series).) Like “The Last Best Hope”, “Countdown” takes place well prior to the events of the first episode of the tv series. Without going overly much into the basic set up for “Star Trek: Picard” again, I’ll just say that this story takes place mostly in 2385, during the period when Jean-Luc Picard is now “Admiral Picard” and has assumed command of the USS Verity and is leading the Federation’s and Starfleet’s efforts to relocate as many Romulans (and other sentient beings) living within the “blast zone” of the soon-to-go-supernova Romulan star. His first officer and partner in the effort is Lt. Commander Raffi Musiker (played by Michelle Hurd on the TV series). Seen briefly at the start and end of this story (for seemingly no other reason than to establish his role as the one overseeing the construction of a brand new fleet of transport ships at the Utopia Planitia shipyards orbiting Mars) is Star Trek: The Next Generation regular, Commander Geordi La Forge. (He is also featured in this same role, much more extensively, in “The Last Best Hope” novel.) The story here is a nice little one detailing Picard, Musiker, and the Verity being rerouted to evacuate a population of “just over ten thousand” Romulan refugees from a planet along the edge of the blast zone, only to discover that there is also an indigenous sentient population of another species native to the planet that the Romulans have been using as slave labor. Their numbers are four or five million, to which Picard remarks that they aren’t equipped to move that many people. The Romulans are not concerned by this as they have no intention of attempting to relocate (and rescue from the supernova) this servant population. This leads to Picard holding firm that Starfleet will not relocate just the Romulans and leave the millions of others behind to die, to which the Romulan governor orders Picard and Musiker detained and makes plans to try to hijack the USS Verity. Out of this story comes the origin of two Romulan characters, Laris and Zhaban, seen living with Picard as friends and servants of his at his ancestral French chalet and vineyard at the start of the tv series, which takes place fourteen years after the events of “Countdown” and “The Last Best Hope”. Also included in the trade paperback collection are a couple text articles in the back. First, an interview with Kirsten Beyer, co-writer of this story and also co-creator of the “Star Trek: Picard” television series and a member of its regular writing staff. The other article, “Visualizing the Verity”, goes into the design history of the USS Verity (Odyssey class, of which the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F was also of the same design) by Cryptic Studios (the makers of the Star Trek Online massive multiplayer online game) and IDW (the publishers of the Star Trek comic books). (The design of the USS Enterprise-F was actually created by fan Adam Ihle, his design winning the “Design the Next Enterprise” contest in December 2010. The article goes into this, as well.) “Star Trek: Picard: Countdown” is an enjoyable read, especially for those wanting a bit more back story on what happened in the gap of time between the last of the Next Generation movies, “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002), and the start of “Star Trek: Picard” (2020). (Why the title “Countdown”? Well, while Picard does refer to the clock counting down to the supernova, a narrowing window of time to try to rescue and relocate hundreds of millions of people, the other reason this mini-series was called “Countdown” is because it’s the third prequel comic book mini-series to a Star Trek movie or television show published by IDW Publications. The first was “Star Trek: Countdown” (2009), which was a prequel tie-in to the 2009 “Star Trek” film by J.J. Abrams. The second was “Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness” (2013), a prequel tie-in to the “Star Trek Into Darkness” film (2013). So, “Countdown” is merely a common sub-title that IDW likes to used to indicate that it is a prequel tie-in to a simultaneous major Star Trek television or film project. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 10, 2021
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Jul 10, 2021
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Jul 10, 2021
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1779505094
| 9781779505095
| 1779505094
| 3.38
| 81
| unknown
| Jul 07, 2020
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liked it
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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May 05, 2021
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May 05, 2021
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May 06, 2021
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0930289765
| 9780930289768
| 0930289765
| 3.93
| 69
| 1997
| Oct 01, 1997
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really liked it
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 02, 2021
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Jun 19, 2021
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Jan 02, 2021
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1563894262
| 9781563894268
| 1563894262
| 4.12
| 40
| Dec 01, 1998
| Dec 01, 1998
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it was amazing
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(Warning right from the start: This is a really long post. If you don’t like long posts, please just move along.)
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 23, 2020
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Mar 18, 2023
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Dec 23, 2020
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1563894610
| 9781563894619
| 1563894610
| 4.00
| 16
| Sep 01, 1999
| Dec 01, 2000
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really liked it
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Finished reading "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941", the second of three softcover/paperback volumes reprinting the earliest "Superman" daily newspape
Finished reading "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941", the second of three softcover/paperback volumes reprinting the earliest "Superman" daily newspaper strips released by Kitchen Sink Press between July and September 2000. (It says "first printing: 1999" inside but the Grand Comics Database website says that this is in reference to the single volume hardcover version put out by Kitchen Sink the previous year.) The title page gives this volume's title as "Superman: The Dailies: Volume II: Strips 307-672, 1940-1941". It has an introduction ("The Superman Bandwagon") by James Vance. In the way of creator credits, it has the obligatory "Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster" on the title page. On the back of the title page it has a credit reading, "This book would not have been possible without these professionals who were, in one way or another, originally involved with the Superman comic strip: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy, Wayne Boring, John Sikela, Jack Schiff, Whitney Ellsworth, and Harry Donenfeld and Vincent Sullivan." It goes on to say, "The editors [Peter Poplaski, Dave Schreiner, and Christopher Couch] would like to thank the following individuals for lending rare source material, without which this collection would not have been possible: Mitch Itkowitz, Bill Blackbeard (Director) and the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, Rick Norwood, Jeffrey Lindenblatt." This is another fun selection of some of the earliest Superman stories created. The Superman here is still very much in the mold of that of which you would find in the first year of the comic books. He also reminds me very much of the version of the Man of Steel in the syndicated radio show that began airing in 1940. A rougher around the edges version of Superman unafraid to toss crooks around, come crashing through walls, and use his super powers to coerce bad guys into confessing in one story while using them to assist down on their luck complete strangers in another. The daily newspaper strips in this second volume tell the following stories (there are no Sunday Superman strips in this volume as the Sunday strips from this time period told an entirely separate storyline than the dailies): "Clark Kent--Spy" (strips 307-334, January 8-February 8, 1940), "Superman Goes to War" (strips 335 to 354, February 9-March 2, 1940), "Trouble in the Tenements" (strips 355 to 396, March 4-April 20, 1940), "The Big Boss" (strips 397 to 414, April 22-May 11, 1940), "'The Unknown' Strikes" (strips 415 to 462, May 13-July 6, 1940), "King of the Kidnapping Ring" (strips 463 to 510, July 8-August 31, 1940), "The Hooded Saboteur" (strips 511 to 540, September 2-October 5, 1940), "Pawns of the Master" (strips 541 to 588, October 7-November 30, 1940), and "The Meekest Man in the World" (strips 589 to 672, December 2, 1940-March 8, 1941). I won't go into a whole lot of detail as to each individual story (I read this volume off and on over the course of a couple of years alongside the Kitchen Sink Sunday newspaper strips reprint collection and also the various DC Archives series reprinting Superman's comic book stories from the same time period in "Action Comics", "Superman", "New York World's Fair Comics", and "World's Best/Finest Comics"). However, I will say that we do get at least one appearance of Superman's arch villain, "Luthor", in this volume. And, among other interesting early attributes given to Superman in these first years, his occasionally used (but subsequently dropped and now almost completely forgotten) ability to "twist his flexible [facial] features" to disguise himself as someone else. (Which kind of makes you wonder why he didn't do this all the time while going about as Clark Kent, doesn't it?) I do have to say that I enjoy the pacing of these early Superman newspaper strips over that of the comic books that were coming out at the same time. Each Superman comic book story in 1939 and early 1940s is always exactly 13 pages long. One Superman story in each issue of "Action Comics" (and, later, "World's Best/Finest Comics"). Four 13-page Superman stories in each issue of "Superman" (which initially was a quarterly shipping magazine but soon increased its frequency to bi-monthly). This fixed page count lends to a set pattern to most of the Superman stories of this era. And because there had to be lots of action, not very much in the way of interesting character moments. They are mostly, by necessity, plot driven. The newspaper strips (both the dailies and Sundays, which, again, had completely different story continuities running simultaneously), thanks to their varying story lengths (and just the reality of the format, that the reader was getting them in extremely small segments, one strip per day or per week) have a much more leisurely pacing to them than the comic book stories and also allow the story to focus on one particular character over the course of several days or weeks. For example, in "The Meekest Man in the World", we spend a lot of time right at the start of the story meeting this man, Eustace Watson, who is even meeker and more timid than Clark Kent(!) who has written a letter to Lois Lane (who writes the "love lorn" letters column of the newspaper) bemoaning his state in life. How his mild mannered nature is going to make him lose the girl he adores and also prevents him for being successful in life. Lois, as is the typical reaction of Lois during this time period, scoffs at how pathetic this man sounds. Clark, however, takes an interest in Eustace and, as Superman, decides to help him turn his life around. So first we get to see Superman following Eustace around, observing his day. The way his landlady bosses him around. How he almost misses his street car because the driver intentionally leaves him behind How he always loses his seat on the street car to the same man every day. And then his similar situations he faces at work every day. After we (and Superman) observe all of this, Superman then introduces himself to Eustace and convinces Eustace to allow him to take his place at work the following day. Of course, Superman then, disguised as Eustace, goes through each and every situation from the previous day, from the landlady to the street car to the elevator operator at work to his work rival for both a promotion and also for the affections of the boss's daughter (although she is always steadfast in who her affection is for, the man Superman is assisting). Superman then, still disguised as Eustace, goes about securing four construction contracts as part of a contest to see which of the two men--Eustace or his rival--would get the promotion to manager. Of course, Superman cheats by using his super powers, but that's okay because the other guy has some goons try to rough Eustace (Superman) up and lock him up so that he can't finish the contest. It's a fun story that of course strains belief (I especially liked the part where Superman--this time switched back to his actual Superman costume and appearance--forces himself onto a construction crew building a skyscraper so that he can speed up its construction to be finished in just one day, allowing "Eustace" to get another contract to win his contest. I highly recommend the Superman daily strips books for anyone who likes Superman, likes 1940s era comic strips, and anyone who would like to learn more about what the character of Superman was like back in his earliest years. I gave "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941" four out of five stars on GoodReads. (One quibble I have with the presentation of the strips in this volume is that the individual strips are not dated, just the story sequences as given on the table of contents page. This volume came out over twenty years ago. I believe that most comic strip reprint collections these days do give the original date next to each and every daily (or weekly) strip.) Where else can you find these strips besides the 1999 hardcover and 2000 softcover/trade paperbacks from Kitchen Sink Press? Well, they were released in another hardcover single volume collection, "Superman: The Dailies (1939-1942)", by Sterling Publishing in 2006. IDW then published runs of "Golden Age", "Atomic Age", and "Silver Age" Superman newspaper strip reprint collection books beginning in 2013 in conjunction with the Library of American Comics, but they chose to begin their "Golden Age" dailies and Sundays collections after where the Kitchen Sink (and Sterling) volumes left off. Their intention was to later go back and reprint the 1939-1942 material again later on as the Sterling volume was still readily available at the time but never got around to doing so. (The Library of American Comics is now published by Clover Press, although a few existing comic strip reprint lines begun at IDW are still being published by IDW. They do not appear to still have the license to reprint the DC Comics characters, though, leaving their Superman "Golden Age" and "Atomic Age" comic strip reprint lines incomplete, the "Golden Age" missing the aforementioned 1939-1942 material, and only the Sunday strips from the 1950s "Atomic Age" being reprinted as they didn't have a full run of the 1950s daily strips to use as source material.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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Dec 23, 2020
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Apr 16, 2023
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Dec 23, 2020
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Paperback
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my rating |
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| 3.32
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really liked it
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Dec 28, 2022
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Dec 26, 2022
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| 3.64
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really liked it
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Dec 26, 2022
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Dec 24, 2022
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| 3.56
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liked it
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Dec 24, 2022
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Dec 20, 2022
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| 3.85
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liked it
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Dec 20, 2022
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Dec 18, 2022
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| 3.91
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liked it
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Dec 18, 2022
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Dec 17, 2022
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| 4.01
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liked it
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Nov 09, 2022
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Nov 06, 2022
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| 3.67
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it was amazing
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Oct 29, 2022
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Oct 17, 2022
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| 3.14
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really liked it
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Sep 29, 2022
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Sep 22, 2022
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| 3.82
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really liked it
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Sep 05, 2022
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Aug 23, 2022
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| 3.96
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it was amazing
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Jul 05, 2022
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Jul 04, 2022
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| 4.16
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really liked it
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Jun 24, 2022
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Jun 24, 2022
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| 4.15
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liked it
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Jun 19, 2022
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Jun 19, 2022
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| 2.25
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it was ok
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Jun 11, 2022
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Jun 11, 2022
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| 4.41
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it was amazing
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Jan 12, 2022
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Jan 01, 2022
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| 4.51
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really liked it
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Dec 31, 2021
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Dec 31, 2021
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| 3.86
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really liked it
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Jul 10, 2021
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Jul 10, 2021
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| 3.38
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liked it
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May 05, 2021
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May 06, 2021
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| 3.93
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really liked it
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Jun 19, 2021
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Jan 02, 2021
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| 4.12
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it was amazing
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Mar 18, 2023
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Dec 23, 2020
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| 4.00
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really liked it
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Apr 16, 2023
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Dec 23, 2020
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