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| 1779512651
| 9781779512659
| 1779512651
| 3.99
| 613
| Jul 19, 2022
| Jul 19, 2022
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really liked it
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A few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie Bellai
A few days ago, I finished reading "Superman '78" (2022, published by DC Comics), by Robert Venditti (writer), Wilfredo Torres (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer). Reprints material originally released in single issue comic books format as "Superman '78" #1-6 (October 2021-March 2022. (Was originally announced to be a DC "Digital First" release starting in July 2021 and to run for twelve digital comic book chapters in that format prior to appearing in print, but the smaller digital release chapters apparently didn't end up happening.) This hardcover collected edition has a cover by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, and also original issues cover art by Wilfredo Torres and Jordie Bellaire, Ben Oliver, Amy Reeder, Brad Walker and Nathan Fairbairn, Francis Manapul, Mikel Janin, Evan "Doc" Shaner, Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair, Lee Weeks, Chris Samnee and Giovanna Niro, Jamal Campbell, and Rafa Sandoval and Alejandro Sanchez. Also includes a seven page "Superman '78 Sketchbook" by Wilfredo Torres, and a one-page tribute page to "Superman: The Movie" director, Richard Donner (1930-2021). Buoyed by the success of recent newly released original comic book series based on the 1966-1968 Adam West "Batman" television series (under the title "Batman '66") and 1975-1979 Lynda Carter television series ("Wonder Woman '77"), DC Comics took things to the next logical step and ventured in 2021 into telling original adventures of their two greatest motion picture renditions of their Superman and Batman characters, namely the Christopher Reeve "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and Michael Keaton "Batman" (1989) versions. Prior to this, DC's only comic books featuring the Reeve and Keaton versions of their characters were single issue movie adaptations of "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)—there were no comic book or novel adaptations of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) or "Superman II" (1980) due to the deal made between Warner Bros. and original movie story writer, Mario Puzo—and single issue comic book adaptations of "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992) (and also the two subsequent Batman sequels that didn't star Michael Keaton, "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997). (These single issue comic book adaptations all came out in the same years as their respective movies.) "Superman '78", this new story by Venditti, Torres, et al., clearly takes place after the events of "Superman: The Movie" and "Superman II" (but appears, just as the 2006 film, "Superman Returns", to disavow the events of "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace", although it's possible that those events still took place prior to this story and are simply not referred to; there is a character in a few panels in street crowd scenes who very much resembles that of Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman character from "Superman III"). (Warning: Plot spoilers!) This story deals with the coming to Earth of Brainiac, a super advanced alien cybernetic being who travels the universe in his spaceship scooping up sample cities from planets on the brink of disaster, miniaturizing them, and storing them away in "bottles" aboard his ship. Brainiac believes that by doing so, he is preserving cultures about to go extinct (while at the same time imprisoning the inhabitants of those miniaturized cities). One of his probe robots arrives on Earth first and comes into conflict with Superman, who easily defeats the robot but not before it can send a signal back to its master that there is a "Kryptonian infestation" on Earth needing to be removed. When Brainiac then arrives, Superman at first resists him. However, when Brainiac threatens to "excise" all of Metropolis, Superman surrenders and allows himself to be taken by Brainiac. Aboard Brainiac's ship, Superman is miniaturized and put in one of the bottled cities where he discovers something he thought could not be possible, and entire Kryptonian city "saved" by Brainiac just before Krypton exploded. And-- again, spoilers!!! -- his birth parents are among them. He resigns himself to his new life in this bottled city of Kandor, his powers gone due to the artificial red sun radiation inside the bottle and with seemingly no way to escape. That is, until Lois Lane makes a surprising and uneasy temporary alliance with none other than Lex Luthor ("the greatest criminal mind of our time", "the greatest criminal terror of our era", "the...") (Lois: "Enough with the self-styled nicknames!") to rescue Superman. That's all I'll say about the plot. However, as a person who was six years old when the first Christopher Reeve move came out in 1978, and eight years old for "Superman II" in 1980 (which I recall as being one of the very first non animated movies I ever saw in a theater), *this* is a pure joy to read. Is the story all that original. No. We've had loads of Superman vs. Brainiac stories in the mainstream DC comics continuity. *This*, however, is like stepping back into a childhood memory, those cherished first two Superman movies of Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Marlon Brando, etc. Torres art style isn't "photo realistic", per se, but does a great job of capturing the spirit of the original actors (and at times does do amazingly accurate depictions of Kidder, Hackman, McClure, and Reeve). My one slight criticism of Torres' art is that at times his action sequences are a bit hard to follow exactly what is happening. He'll have Superman standing there fighting Brainiac or Brainiac's robots with energy blasts surrounding him but it not being exactly clear just where the blasts are coming from (Superman or the robots) and where they are going (and if the robots are converging on Superman or falling backwards). However, another thing Torres does very well is in how he depicts this Christopher Reeve inspired Superman in flight (generally a straighter flying position, as if "diving" through the air, as in the movies--as Reeve had to be positioned most of the time while in a flying harness in front of a blue screen--rather than how Superman is generally depicted as flying in the comics), and also in the use of his other powers (x-ray vision, heat vision, super cold "freeze" breath, etc.). To younger readers (ones who were not brought up on the Christopher Reeve movies), this will read as just another of the many, many Superman stories they might come across, each giving them a different seeming version of the character. To someone like me who considers Christopher Reeve "my Superman" (no offense to 1950s television Superman, George Reeves, who I also watched as a child), this "Superman '78" is magical. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. (P.S.: Another really cool thing about this story and its the use of Brainiac as the villain is that it has been said that if there had been a fifth Christopher Reeve movie that it might have featured Brainiac, and many fans have wished ever since that we could have seen this. So, we finally now have a version of what that might have been like.) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 08, 2023
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Jan 15, 2023
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Jan 08, 2023
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Hardcover
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| B0BHTT41SM
| 3.70
| 82
| unknown
| Nov 08, 2022
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liked it
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Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics. The actual 1992 " Read today: "The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special" (November 2022) by various creators (see below), published by DC Comics. The actual 1992 "Death of Superman" story remains a pivotal moment in comics publishing regardless of one's personal feelings as to the quality of the story itself. Due to various factors that I don't really feel like going into here, the mainstream news media latched onto the news that DC was "killing off" Superman and next thing you know oodles of non comic book reading people were pouring into comic book shops buying up copies of "Superman" #75 (cover dated January 1993, released on November 19, 1992) because, not being regular comic book readers, many of them believed that Superman would stay dead and not be brought back (which he was less than a year later) and that it would one day be worth lots of money (which was pretty much impossible because DC printed reportedly over six million copies to keep up with the demand). The "Death of Superman" was also a creative key point in DC publishing history as it was at a high point to many Superman readers, all four of the monthly Superman comic book titles ("Superman", "Adventures of Superman", "Superman: The Man of Steel", and "Action Comics"; later including a quarterly "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" title, as well) continuing one into the other every week as if all one big single weekly Superman title. Some didn't care for this approach as each title's creative team was very much restricted from telling their own individual stories under this approach, but at the same time many did really like these "triangle number years" (referring to the small triangle numbers put on the covers to indicate the suggested reading order) because it resulted in, as a I already mentioned, a new continuing Superman story each and every week. "The Death of Superman" also resulted in two even better (in my opinion) follow up story arcs, "Funeral for a Friend" (a.k.a., "World Without a Superman" for later reprints), which detailed the DC superheroes and general world reactions to the loss of Superman, and "Reign of the Supermen", which introduced four new Superman stand-ins (including John Henry Irons "Steel", who is in this special, and a new "Superboy" clone who would much later play a key role in one of the biggest DC events of the mid 2000s, "Infinite Crisis" (2005-2006), and, for better or for worse would start of chain of subsequent "big character events" (or "stunts", if you prefer) trying to repeat the Death of Superman's commercial success, such as the "breaking" of the Batman ("Knightfall" (1993-1994)) and the fall and replacement of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern ("Emerald Twilight" (1994)). Okay, enough preamble. As I said at the top, this is the "Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special". It has a #1 on the cover and in the inside indicia (small print publishing information section) but it is almost certainly a one-shot (no further issues planned). It's only date inside or out is copyright 2022. It's official release date was November 8, 2022, which, if it had a cover date matching the other DC comic books released that week would have been January 2023 (just as with the original Death of Superman "Superman" #75 issue). As is the custom these days, it was released with a "main cover" illustration (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding) and many "variant cover" editions by other artists (ones by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis and Danny Miki, Dan Mora, Francesco Mattina, and Rafael Sarmento; I choose to buy the Rafael Sarmento variant cover). This special is essentially the comic book equivalent of a short story collection, as it is not one long single story but is instead one 41 page lead story ("The Life of Superman") followed by three other shorter stories ("Above and Beyond", "Standing Ground", and "Time", all ten pages long), interspersed with single page pin-ups by various artists (Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey, Lee Weeks, Walter Simonson and Laura Martin, Fabio Moon, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jamal Campbell, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Cully Hamner). "The Life of Superman" is by Dan Jurgens (story and pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Brad Anderson (colors), and John Workman (lettering) (the same creative team as was on the "Superman" montly title at the time the Death of Superman story happened). It, like the special itself, takes place in the now current DC continuity on the anniversary of Superman's death while fighting Doomsday. The story focuses on Superman and Lois Lane's son, Jon*--a character that I'm not at all familiar with as I haven't read a new in-continuity Superman comic book in probably ten years or more; but, then again, I haven't read hardly *any* new comic books in that time frame, not out of disinterest, just out of me taking a ten year hiatus away from the hobby while other things were going on my life--discovering for the first time in school the story of how his father "died" years ago, and the arrival of a very Doomsday looking "monster" suddenly showing up in Metropolis on this anniversary day, one that Superman immediately has to confront. (* It amuses me that an indexer at the Grand Comics Database website has added this note for this story: "Story is set in the past when Jon Kent is still a boy attending school, but several years after the "death" of Superman during the first encounter with Doomsday". That I obviously have missed quite a bit because this story doesn't even take place in the current DC "present" but in the "past" because Jon is only a boy here. I obviously am waaay behind what's going on these days.) I like the plot here and also very much the art. Dan Jurgens was always one of my favorite Superman artists of the post John Byrne run era. My only hesitation in really liking this story a lot is Jurgens dialogue. It is excessively wordy and exposition-driven for much of the story (especially the parts where Lois is explaining to Jon what Doomsday was and what happened when his father had to fight Doomsday the first time). I understand that Jurgens was trying to frame this story as a remembrance of that now 30 year old story and to also explain it to today's younger readers who were not old enough to have read the original release (or any of the many reprint editions DC has released over the decades since then), but it come across as very clunky. And a lot of his little bits of character dialogue with the characters talking to each other seems rather dated, too. I don't know if he was emulating his writing style back then or if that's just how he still writes dialogue, but this story would have benefited from a separate dialogue writer, I believe. Still, it was a good story overall (if very conveniently wrapped up in the end, the key piece to defeating the monster being an item Lois discovers in... well, I don't want to spoil it.) "Above and Beyond" is by Jerry Ordway (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Doug Hazlewood (inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the creative time back from the 1990s "Adventures of Superman" monthly title). This ten-page story is entirely on Superman's Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, in real time at the same time as Superman is fighting Doomsday the first time, at home in Smallville fretting over what they are watching on the television about what's happening in Metropolis. They decide they must break away from the coverage for awhile because it is too stressful for them and begin to reminisce about some of the other dangerous circumstances their son had been in up to that point and how he repeatedly was willing to sacrifice himself for the well being of others. A nice little story. Again, overly expositional (as is the entire point of the story, so hard to avoid here) that at times comes across as unnatural/forced. And Grummett, another favorite Superman artist of mine from the 1990s, is just okay here (some of his Superman figure work doesn't look quite as good as it did back then, although I don't know if that is him or his inker, Hazlewood; their Ma and Pa Kent are fine). In the end, the least memorable story in this special (but, again, not a bad story by any means). "Standing Guard" is by Roger Stern (writer), Butch Guice (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Guice was usually inked by Denis Rodier). This is my favorite story in this special. It follows the character of the Guardian (the 1990s clone of Jim Harper who was a product--and security head at--the secret Cadmus Project. I'm not even going to try to explain all of that here.) He is shown meeting up with Superman at least twice on that fateful day during Superman's cross country battle with Doomsday, who was relentlessly marching towards to Metropolis, wrecking death and destruction along the way. In the second scene, Guardian himself briefly sees the power of Doomsday which briefly knocks both him and Superman out. When he catches up with the battle again in Metropolis, it's too late. It's all over and both are dead. Everything is top notch in this short story, the plotting, the dialogue, and especially the art by Guice. This is perhaps the first artist to successfully depict well the extent of the injuries the normally "invulnerable" Superman was taking from Doomsday. His Superman looks genuinely beat up in the scenes he shares with Guardian. Truthfully, it is this story along with the Jurgens-Breeding lead in that I would recommend fans to buy this special for. Lastly, "Time" is by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils and inks), Glenn Whitmore (colors), and Rob Leigh (lettering) (the writer-penciler team from the 1990s "Action Comics" run, although back then Bogdanove was usually inked by Dennis Janke and some other inkers). This is another "in between scenes" (like with the Ma and Pa Kent story) of what John Henry Irons (later dubbed Steel) was doing that day, fitting in between scenes depicted in the "Superman: Man of Steel" story introducing him back then. As depicted in the previous story, John Henry Irons had been saved (or so I seem to recall) by Superman some how and on the day Doomsday arrived Irons was buried in his collapsed building during the battle. He dug himself out and immediately went to try to help Superman. This new story picks up with him trying to get to the battle but repeatedly having to help others also impacted by the catastrophe along the way. Like with Guardian, he arrives too late to help Superman. A nice character piece on Steel (and it's nice to see Jon Bogdanove's art again after all these years), but like the Ma and Pa Kent story is in the end not very memorable. Overall, this is a decent collection of stories, so I gave it an overall three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to have read the original 1992 "Death of Superman" story and enjoyed it (or, at the very least, didn't hate it), and who, like me, were regular Superman readers throughout that time period as it does bring back some nice, nostalgic memories of looking forward to each week's new issue of whichever Superman title was coming out that week. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 0063217856
| 9780063217850
| 0063217856
| 3.97
| 38
| unknown
| Nov 15, 2022
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really liked it
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Just finished my first book of 2023, “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” by Rachel Bertsche (2022). This is
Just finished my first book of 2023, “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” by Rachel Bertsche (2022). This is a really fun behind-the-scenes book on the Netflix series with lots of cool photos and interviews with all involved (the showrunners, actors, writers, directors, stunt coordinators, production designers, etc. Traces the genesis of the project from the early love of the original 1980s “Karate Kid” movies by the three men who who go on to create and produce “Cobra Kai”, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, through their convincing Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso) and William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence) to step back into their famous roles. The selling of the series concept to YouTube (who carried the series on their YouTube Red the first two seasons), the casting of the other roles, the shooting the series, the series popularity especially after it moved to Netflix, the biggest fan moments like the returns of various other characters from the original “Karate Kid” movies and how many of the themes of the series transcend the generations, the young teenage characters going through many of the same experiences that Daniel and Johnny’s generation did back in the 80s. And perhaps the most fun element of “Cobra Kai”, the unexpected development and redemption of quintessential 80s bad boy, Johnny Lawrence (while at the same time keeping him a man firmly stuck in the 80s thinking wise, to often humorous effect). Daniel LaRusso’s journey from where we last saw him in “The Karate Kid: Part III” to being a family man with a wife, two children, and a successful businessman, seemingly the opposite of the perennially down on his luck Johnny, is also explored, and how the sudden return of Johnny and Cobra Kai dojo (re-opened by Johnny) brings Daniel to the realization that he has become out of touch with his kids and with his own life’s focus (his beloved mentor, Mr. Miyagi, having passed away seven years prior to the start of the series. It makes Daniel decide to resume his karate and to train his daughter and other teens in the Miyagi style of karate. As I said, a very fun, well written book for fans of “The Karate Kid” films and “Cobra Kai” series (and a great companion to Ralph Macchio’s recently released “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” memoir book). I gave “The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai: An Official Behind-the-Scenes Companion Book” four out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 04, 2023
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Jan 14, 2023
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Jan 04, 2023
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Hardcover
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| 1419761676
| 9781419761676
| 1419761676
| 3.79
| 1,801
| Aug 02, 2022
| Sep 06, 2022
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it was amazing
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"Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in
"Fantastic Four: Full Circle" by Alex Ross (writer and artist), Alex Ross with Josh Johnson (colorists), Ariana Maher (letterer) (Abrams ComicArts in conjunction with Marvel Comics, 2022) Original graphic novel. Thoughts: Awesome. One of the best comics I've read all year. Alex Ross is famous for his usual "Norman Rockwell-esque" photo-realistic painting style that he's been using since 1994 ("Marvels" four-issue mini-series). This, however, is Ross's first major experiment with an entirely different art style, one more of a traditional line-art style (with clear nod to that of classic Jack Kirby Fantastic Four) combined with fantastic (pun intended) pop art style coloring. The story is adequate (a call back to a classic FF Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issue from the 1960s) but Ross has the four main characters down perfect in terms of their mannerisms, dialogue, and visual depictions. This is so far only available in hardcover from Abrams ComicArts (under license from Marvel Comics). Highly recommended. I gave this five out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1524114170
| 9781524114176
| 1524114170
| 2.53
| 17
| unknown
| Apr 05, 2022
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it was ok
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"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers),
"Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" by Cameron DeOrdio (writer), Soo Lee (artist), Addison Duke (colorist), Crank! and Tom Napolitano (letterers), Cat Staggs (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2021; originally released in single issue format as "Charlie's Angels vs. The Bionic Woman" #1-4 (2019-2019 (couldn't find the original months). Thoughts: I have to say that I was disappointed with the execution of this one. Supposedly taking place in 1983 (after the ends of both the "Bionic Woman" and "Charlie's Angels" tv series), what could have been a very interesting story (especially as depicted on the *covers* of the individual issues, which depicted very close likenesses of Lindsay Wagner and the three "Charlie's Angel" actresses, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, and Tanya Roberts) is sabotaged by both not bad but a poorly matched artist to this type of material (Soo Lee's art here is what I would call very "manga-esque", although I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about manga and some might disagree with that assessment; regardless, I found that Lee drew the three "Charlie's Angel's" ladies pretty much identical to each other with only their hair color as distinguishing characteristics). The other big fault I found here was that Jaime for the first part of the story acts very out of character, and that the Oscar Goldman shown here is *clearly* not the same character as portrayed by Richard Anderson on the tv series. He is drawn differently, he is shown sparring with Jaime in hand-to-hand fight training several times (something I could never see Anderson's Oscar doing), and (spoilers) is written in such a way to give me the same feeling I did at the end of the first "Mission Impossible" movie with Tom Cruise in regards to the use of the Jim Phelps character there (that's all I'll say about that for fear of going too much away). Again, I think Soo's art is nice in a general sort of way but not a very good match for a licensed tie-in comic book like this one. Oh, yeah, and not only do the three "Charlie's Angels" characters look alike here we also get pretty much zero character time with any of them except for a bit with Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith's character). We don't get any back story of them aside from a bit of the opening narration from the tv show ("Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy...") And, of course, the requisite "Hello Charlie" meetings with Bosley and Charlie (over the desk loudspeaker) at the office. I gave this two out of five stars on GoodReads.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1524112623
| 9781524112622
| 1524112623
| 2.96
| 26
| unknown
| Apr 07, 2020
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liked it
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"The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer),
"The Six Million Dollar Man: In Japan" by Christopher Hastings (writer), David Hahn (artist), Roshan Kurichiyanil (colorist), Arian Maher (letterer), Michael Walsh (original primary covers and collection cover artist) (Dynamite Entertainment, 2020; originally released in single issue format as "The Six Million Dollar Man" #1-5 (March 2019 to July 2019). Thoughts: Okay, this is probably one of the more polarizing Dynamite Six Million Dollar Man mini-series because it's clearly an attempt at a completely separate "reboot" version of the character (the mini-series when it initially came out in the monthly single issue format was simply titled "The Six Million Dollar Man"; they added the "In Japan" for the trade paperback), one more cartoony in the art style and humorous in the way the character is depicted. He's a bit Steve Austin and a bit Inspector Gadget. (He *clearly* has much more of his body replaced by cybernetic parts than just the one arm, one eye, and two legs that the tv Steve Austin did.) Since the writer and artist made it quite clear what sort of story this was going to be right from the outset, though, I was able to enjoy it for what it was, a fun different take on the character (as if for a possible spin-off cartoon 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 28, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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Paperback
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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.
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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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Paperback
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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.
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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.
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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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Paperback
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| 0593185838
| 9780593185834
| 0593185838
| 4.02
| 4,659
| Oct 18, 2022
| Oct 18, 2022
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it was amazing
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Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022). I really enjoyed this book. A relatively Today I finished reading Ralph Macchio’s recently released memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” (2022). I really enjoyed this book. A relatively short book (241 pages), I think this is one of the quickest reads I’ve had in awhile (twelve days of off and reading, alternating with another book I am also still reading, which for me is quick). Now, first off, this is one of those kinds of books that goes like this: “if you really like X, then you’ll really like this book about X”. In other words, if you are the right age to have grown up with (as I am) or just generally love (even if you are older or younger than that demographic group) the Ralph Macchio-Pat Morita “Karate Kid” movies (1984-1989), then you will probably also really enjoy reading “Waxing On”. Likewise, if you are a fan of the current “Karate Kid” universe sequel series, “Cobra Kai”, you will probably also enjoy it. If you’re not into either of those, I don’t know. You might still enjoy it for Macchio’s friendly and engaging writing style. And also as another perspective on Hollywood filmmaking of the 1980s and 90s. The thing I like best about this is that Macchio starts off right with his attending a “sneak preview” screening of the first “Karate Kid” movie (the very first time he saw it; no advance screenings for him) at a local New York movie theater on May 19, 1984 (the official full U.S. release was on June 22). He was very anxious going into seeing the movie with an audience (his only prior big movie he had been in at that point being Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” (1983)). That experience of the audience’s complete embrace of the film and its characters (especially his young Daniel LaRusso and Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi), became one he would never forget. The audience cheered at moments like when the big payoff of all of those chores Miyagi had been putting Daniel through (“Show me wax on, wax off. Show me sand the floor. Show me paint the fence.” Etc.) And, of course, the big climactic moment in the tournament when the “crane kick” became a universally recognizable thing (one he saw the audience members emulating as the left the theater). Macchio then moves back to how he got the part (including his recollections of scriptwriter/creator Robert Mark Kamen, director John Avildsen, and producer Jerry Weintraub). Then separate chapters on meeting and working with Pat Morita (Miyagi), Elizabeth (“Lisa”) Shue (“Ali with an I”), and William (“Billy”) Zabka (Johnny Lawrence). Then a chapter on the famous “crane kick” (and how it was impossible for anyone, even professional martial artists brought in to train Macchio, Morita, Zabka, and the others, to actually *do* the kick as described by Kamen in his screenplay. (Kamen had Daniel kicking up on his plant leg as seen in the film—his other leg, the lifted one, being his injured leg—striking Johnny with the plant leg and then landing back on the same leg. No one could do it. Eventually, they had to “cheat” a bit and have Daniel (Macchio) land briefly on his injured leg and quickly shift back over to the good leg. There are subsequent chapters about the two Macchio-Morita “Karate Kid” sequels and other work he did during the rest of the 1980s. (Why did he do the much less well regarded “Part III”? Because he had to. They insisted he sign a three-picture deal to do the first one. And it ended up costing him the River Phoenix part in Sidney Lumet’s “Running on Empty” (1988). Although, he does say that while he himself has always had issues with “Karate Kid: Part III”, it did eventually provide them with a wealth of backstory to mine later on in “Cobra Kai”.) One thing I didn’t know about was that he did a Broadway show with Robert De Niro called “Cuba and His Teddy Bear” in 1986 (the same time that “Karate Kid: Part II” was in theaters). He talks about getting typecast in the Daniel LaRusso part, and being cast in 1991 in the Joe Pesci comedy, “My Cousin Vinny”. (Words of a studio exec to the filmmakers when they inquired as to Macchio’s availability: “You don’t want him, he’s the Karate Kid”. He discusses his reactions to learning of both of the “Karate Kid” films that he was not a part of: Pat Morita and Hillary Swank’s “The Next Karate Kid” (1994) and the Will Smith produced, Jaden Smith-Jackie Chan “The Karate Kid” remake (2010). He goes into how he resisted suggestions and half-baked ideas to return to the Daniel LaRusso part, and then how eventually he began to consider it, especially after a memorable guest appearance on “How I Met Your Mother” (the comedy series in which Neil Patrick Harris’s character insists that Johnny Lawrence is the true hero in the original “Karate Kid” movie and that Daniel LaRusso was the villain who moved to town, stole Johnny’s girl, and beat Johnny with an “illegal” kick in the tournament). Macchio and Zabka would go on to guest star on the series. He goes into how, after resisting it for so long, the creators of “Cobra Kai” were able to sell him on being part of their “Karate Kid” follow-up series. (He was the last one they approached after every one else had agreed because they had heard that he had always been hesitant.) He talks about reconnecting with Zabka (who he really wasn’t close with at the time of shooting the first film or for decades after, not until just a few years prior to “Cobra Kai”). He talks about enjoying working with both the “OG” original actors like Zabka, Martin Kove (Kreece), Elizabeth Shue (in a noteworthy guest-appearance by her), Yugi Okukoto (Chosen, from “Karate Kid: Part II”, and Thomas Ian Griffith (from “Karate Kid: Part III”) again as well as with all of the younger teenage and twenty something actors. How he would find himself now playing a version of the Mr. Miyagi character now to the younger actors, some scenes and situations very similar to the ones Pat Morita played with him back in 1983. He talks about some things he wishes he could get a “do over” on, the biggest one being turning down being a presenter along with Morita at the 1984 Academy Awards. He said no, but later greatly regretted it because Morita was one of the actors nominated for best supporting actor for his part as Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid”. He realized, sitting and watching it at home with his girlfriend (later to be his wife, who he is still married to today) and his parents that he should have been there in support of Morita. He later got a chance to make up for it, though, decades later, when he got to introduce Morita at the Asian Excellence Awards in New York City where Morita received a lifetime achievement award in 2006. They had a great time, he says, reconnecting after having not seen each other in a couple years (and not together at a public event in around a decade or more). One year later (almost exactly to the day, Macchio says), Pat Morita passed away. There is more I could go into, but I shouldn’t spoil everything. Again, I highly recommend “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me” to all fans of “The Karate Kid” films and “Cobra Kai” Netflix streaming television series. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
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1
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Nov 29, 2022
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Dec 10, 2022
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Nov 29, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 9781629339306
| 4.00
| 23
| unknown
| Jun 22, 2022
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really liked it
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Just finished reading last night Randy West's very entertaining tome, "TV Inside-Out - Flukes, Flakes, Feuds and Felonies: The backstage blunders, blo
Just finished reading last night Randy West's very entertaining tome, "TV Inside-Out - Flukes, Flakes, Feuds and Felonies: The backstage blunders, bloopers and blasphemy of celebrities in search of success" (BearManor Media, 2022). Randy West has spent his entire adult life working in the entertainment industry, first on radio and then, after being mentored by the famous Johnny Olson (the original "Price Is Right" "COME ON DOOWWWWN" announcer), began his long career in 1988 as a game show announcer, audience warm-up personality, and voice performer. West has worked with or at least interacted with many of the television and motion picture celebrities, and has had the ear of even more actors, writers, producers, directors, and other figures who have worked in television going all the way back to the 1950s who could share with West stories that West himself could not have personally witnessed himself. After a lengthy introduction in which West expounds upon the nature of being a celebrity and how some people react to the pressures of fame and success (and stresses to continue to succeed) differently than others, West begins telling his stories of television game show hosts and producers, actors who off screen couldn't stand each other, morning show and late night show hosts, news announcers, talk show hosts, etc. How deals were agreed upon and then broken. Personality clashes. Hosts who were warm and friendly--accept when the cameras weren't rolling. Friendships and professional partnerships that splintered apart over sometimes real, sometimes only perceived, betrayals. Tales of personal life travails that derailed successful television careers. And, likewise, stories of others who overcame great obstacles. I read this book very slowly over several months, just a chapter or two at a time (sometimes even only part of a chapter) as West's style of jumping from one anecdote to another encouraged me to read it this way. His chapters are short and most of them discuss two of three different celebrity tales or stories from different television shows, although a few chapters do focus on one particular celebrity like Johnny Carson and Betty White. I learned of this book by Randy West's appearing on Ed Robertson's "TV Confidential" radio show/podcast and immediately asked my local public library to get a copy, which they did. I recommend if for anyone who loves reading about old tv shows and celebrities "behind the scenes" stories (although it's not just "classic TV" figures and events West shares about, he also includes tales of celebrities, as well, right up to the year this book came out). Many of the stories are ones that have been told before, but that's okay. There are most likely just as many if not more that most readers have not heard before. And it's a book that some can read as I did, the entire thing, cover to cover, while others jump around in, reading about only the celebrities or genres of television that they personally are interested in. I gave "TV Inside-Out" four out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 12, 2022
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Mar 11, 2023
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Nov 12, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1506711359
| 9781506711355
| 1506711359
| 4.01
| 136
| unknown
| Apr 06, 2021
|
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
| ||||||||||||||
| 9781613472828
| 4.28
| 119
| Jun 2021
| Jun 2021
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it was amazing
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None
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Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 02, 2024
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Jul 14, 2024
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Oct 24, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1605491128
| 9781605491127
| 1605491128
| 4.25
| 8
| Oct 18, 2022
| Oct 18, 2022
|
it was amazing
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Finished reading Michael Eury's "The Team-Up Companion" (TwoMorrows, 2022) around a week ago. I absolutely loved this book. Now, this is another one of Finished reading Michael Eury's "The Team-Up Companion" (TwoMorrows, 2022) around a week ago. I absolutely loved this book. Now, this is another one of those types of books that I call an "If you like X, then you will really like this book about X" type of book. If you love the "team-up" comic books of the 1960s, 1970s, and/or 1980s, then you will most enjoy this issue-by-issue breakdown of those wonderful late Silver Age and Bronze Age comics. If those types of comic books weren't among your favorites (or if you have no idea what I'm talking about), then this book is probably not for you. Eury begins with clearly differentiating a "team-up" comic book (or comic book series) from a "crossover" comic, a "buddy book", and a "super-team" book. For the purposes of this companion, a team-up book is whenever you have an issue (or an entire series) which features "two different heroes join[ing] forces, with their logos appearing together on the cover". (A crossover is when a hero guest-stars in another hero's series, such as the Flash or Batman guest-starring in an issue of "Superman". A buddy book is similar to a team-up but the two lead characters don't ever change, such as the Superman and Batman that appeared in just about every issue of "World's Finest Comics", or when "Captain America" became "Captain America and the Falcon" for a stretch of issues, same with "Green Lantern" becoming "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" and "Daredevil" temporarily becoming "Daredevil and Black Widow". A super-team book/series is "a collective, a club of heroes that gathers routinely to tackle dangers generally too intimidating for a single superhero". The Team-Up Companion is broken up into the following chapters: "The Brave and the Bold" (begun in 1955, the series that became comics' very first regular team-up comic with issue #50 (1963); at first featured two different characters each issue but became a "Batman and another character" team-up series with #59 (1965) and remained a Batman team-up book throughout the rest of its 200 issue run which ended in 1983), "World's Finest Comics" (focusing on the brief period from 1970 to 1972 when it became a "Superman-and-someone-not-necessarily-Batman team-up series), "Marvel Team-Up" (the long-running Spider-Man team-up series (except for a few issue headlined by the Human Torch or the Hulk instead of Spidey) that ran for 150 issues from 1972 to 1985), "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" (the 1972-1973 season of "Scooby-Doo" Saturday morning cartoons that featured guest-stars like Batman and Robin, Don Knotts, Josie and the Pussycats, the Three Stooges, Sonny and Cher, and the Harlem Globetrotters), "Marvel Two-In-One" (the long-running Ben Grimm/"The Thing" team-up series that ran for 100 issues from 1974 to 1983), "Western Team-Up" (1973), "Super-Villain Team-Up" (1975-1980), "Super-Team Family" (1975-1978), "DC-Marvel Team-Ups' (covering "Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man" (1976), "Superman/Spider-Man" (1981), "Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk" (1981), and "The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans" (1982)), "Harvey Team-Ups" (various Harvey Comics character team-ups like Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost), "DC Super-Stars" (1976-1978), "DC Comics Presents" (the long-running Superman team-up series that ran for 97 issues from 1978 to 1986), and "The 'Superman vs.' Team-Ups" (covering the "Superman vs. Wonder Woman", "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali", and "Superman vs. Shazam!" specials, all in 1978), followed by an extensive "Team-Up Companion Index". In addition, Eury also features "Creator Spotlights" on "Brave and the Bold" writer Bob Haney, artist Jim Aparo, and writer Charlie Boatner, "Marvel Team-Up" writer Mike W. Barr and cover designer Eliot R. Brown, and a "Fan Spotlight" on "DC Comics Presents" fan contest winner Mark Teichman, whose prize was to be an actual guest-star in an issue of "DC Comics Presents". And also loads of cool little sidebar blurbs of notable team-ups from both comics and also various other mediums besides comic books, like the "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman" team-up episodes, "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", Saturday morning's "Shazam!" and "The Secrets of Isis" team-ups, "Godzilla vs. Megalon", and Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny meeting in "Who Framed Roger Rabbitt?". Much of the interview quotes throughout "The Team-Up Companion" are taken from the long run of "Back Issue Magazine", a comics nostalgia magazine that Eury edits that has been published since 2003 and that is now at issue #140 as of the time I'm writing this review plus other magazines published by TwoMorrows like "Alter Ego" and the first "Comic Book Artist" magazine series. But Eury did also conduct new interviews via phone and email specially for this book, too. Again, I highly recommend "The Team-Up Companion" to anyone who, like me, grew up reading and loving the team-up comic books of the 1960s through 1980s. I gave this five out of five stars on GoodReads. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 20, 2022
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Dec 17, 2022
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Oct 20, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 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 |
Notes are private!
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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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Paperback
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| 1368092632
| B09Z76NZRH
| 4.27
| 962
| Jul 19, 2022
| Jul 19, 2022
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liked it
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**spoiler alert** “The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil” (2022) by Seth McFarlane (creator, show runner, and star of “The Orville” television series) i
**spoiler alert** “The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil” (2022) by Seth McFarlane (creator, show runner, and star of “The Orville” television series) is a novella McFarlane wrote based on an unused script or story idea from the third (and possibly final) season of the television series. Plot spoilers… I had a hard time deciding how I felt about this novella and how to end up rating it. This is because it is very much like two separate yet interlinked stories, and while interesting both had something pulling it back from being really good. The first half of the novella takes place from 1914 to sometime in World War II (1939-1945) and follows a young German named Otto who is dropped off as an infant at a posh New York City hotel by a mysterious couple. The baby is given to a German couple staying in the hotel who then returns to Germany. Otto, as he grows up, becomes enamored with the rising Nazi party, much to the concern of his Jewish adopted father and mother, and eventually rises to a position of some authority himself, given command over one of the Jewish concentration camps. Over the course of his life, Otto chooses the Nazi ideology over all else, including his own parents. Which is a very compelling story, yet the entire time I kept wondering at what point this would become an *Orville* story? Well, that happens at the midway point, when two new figures enter the story, Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson, supposedly representatives of the American Red Cross there to inspect the camp. Otto tries to make it look like the camp is a positive and nourishing environment for those Jews living there (covering up the atrocities actually taking place there). Things go wrong, however, and in the middle of a tense scene, Mercer ends the simulation. At which point, the reader discovers that, no, this isn’t a time travel story, this is a virtual simulator (in Star Trek, it would be a holodeck) story. The twist here is that Otto’s parents had been enjoying the simulator, in the 1914 New York City simulation, along with baby Otto when their facility was attacked by Krill soldiers. Giving themselves up, Otto’s parents turned Otto over to the characters in the simulation hoping that the Krill will look no further and just take the two of them, which they did. Otto then was raised from infancy to adulthood within the continuing to operate simulator which continued to simulate Germany of the early to mid twentieth century. At this point the novella becomes an “Orville” story, and focuses on Dr. Claire Finn trying to counsel the traumatized Otto to make him understand the truth, that his life up to this point (including his wife and child) aren’t real, and to try to get through Otto’s entrenched Nazi beliefs in regards to race, that those racist beliefs are wrong and anachronistic now in 2422, the year “The Orville” takes place in. Meanwhile, Captain Ed Mercer and his superiors have to decide what will ultimately become of Otto (a 20th Century Nazi officer living in normal, everyday 2422 society?), and if a man can be held accountable for evil actions he carried out while on a simulator (while not realizing that he is in one but instead believes everything he is doing is real). It is an interesting twist on the usual holodeck/simulator gone awry storyline. And as with a lot of “The Orville” stories does present a bit of a moral dilemma. However, my problems with this as a novella (making it “okay” rather than “really good” or “great”) is that once it becomes an “Orville” story it really doesn’t do a very good job in that transition. This is the very first “Orville” prose tie-in. McFarlane does try to give quick character background moments to all of the major characters, but there really isn’t much room for more than cursory descriptions. Suddenly the story is now about Dr. Finn, a character we are just “meeting” halfway through the novella, trying to help Otto. And, also, suddenly we are jumping from Otto to Claire to Ed Mercer, and back, when for the entire first half of the novella our focus was entirely on Otto. It just makes for a disjointed reading experience, and it also does not feature most of the Orville characters as much as one would hope (although there is a nice little moment at the very end where it jumps even further into the future). I think this would have made for a very interesting episode of the tv show, where sudden switches from one setting to another with little necessary transition can happen easier than in prose, and where it is not necessary to spend time introducing the usual cast of characters when they show up for the first time halfway through the episode. I know it sounds like I didn’t like this. I actually did. I think I was just hoping as I was reading the first half of “Sympathy for the Devil” that there was some big time travel reason for spending so much reading time on Otto in Germany, and that when I realized it was a simulator story instead then it made the rest of the story a bit predictable (while at the same time not the best showcase for the regular “Orville” characters aside from Dr. Finn). As an “Orville” fan, I still am glad that I bought this novella and read it. I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads, although I probably would have given it a three and a half if half-stars were allowed. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 08, 2022
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Oct 02, 2022
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Sep 08, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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| 9798836630218
| B0B4S868N2
| 3.67
| 3
| Jun 17, 2022
| Jun 17, 2022
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liked it
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I finished reading “Zorro’s Exploits” (Bold Venture Press, 2022, edited by Audrey Parente) last week. I read the first half from September to November I finished reading “Zorro’s Exploits” (Bold Venture Press, 2022, edited by Audrey Parente) last week. I read the first half from September to November 2022, then took a break before reading the second half between January and the first week of February 2023. (My individual story reviews are more detailed on the first half.) First we get two introductions (one by journalist Jan Zabiński and the other by noted Disney television historian, Bill Cotter). “The Alcalde’s Last Try” by Tekla Cichocka (illustrations by Sora Almasy). The only story in the book taking place in the 1990-1993 New World/Family Channel television series continuity (despite the front cover featuring this version of Zorro, as played by Duncan Regehr). Following soon after where the tv series left off. Alcalde Ignacio de Soto faces arrest and possibly execution for killing the Spanish king’s emissary (on the tv final episode). De Soto’s desperate last scheme to save himself is to force tavern keeper, Victoria Escalante (known to be Zorro’s love) to marry someone by the following day or lose her tavern, in hopes of drawing Zorro into a trap (hoping that capturing Zorro will outweigh everything else). Don Diego steps in to foil de Soto’s plans. “Courage by Firelight” by Aaron Rosenberg (illustrations by Steve Shipley). Poor farmers and peasants in the tavern are stirred to stand up for themselves by a stirring story of one of Zorro’s exploits by a mysterious friar. “Fray Felipe’s Dilemma” by Michael Kurland (illustrations by Steve Shipley). Fray Felipe knows of a plot by some pueblo officials that he can’t reveal the details of but tells Don Diego and Don Alejandro Vega enough to set Zorro out to foil the plot. (In this story Don Alejandro knows his son is Zorro.) “A Fox in the City” by Jim Beard (illustrations by Perego). Probably my favorite of the stories in the first half of the book. Don Diego and his father (who does not know his son is Zorro in this tale) are both visiting New York City for the inauguration of the United States first President under their new Constitution, George Washington. Diego discovers a plot to kill Washington, forcing him to assume his role of Zorro far from home. “Out of the Night” by John L. French (illustrations by Michael Grassia). A beast is first mauling cattle and horses around Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Don Diego has married his love, Lolita, and sworn to her to retire as Zorro. When the beast turns to killing people (and turns out to be a different sort of evil, the supernatural kind), it puts pressure on Diego to go back on his vow. (Don Alejandro knows Diego is Zorro in this story, and also in the next one.) “The Shepherd” by Susan Kite (illustrations by Rick Celano). Another favorite of mine. A simple tale of an old shepherd who lives in the mountains outside of the pueblo with his young son who makes one of his rare visits to town for supplies on a day that Zorro also makes an appearance. The old shepherd tells Sargent Garcia in the tavern that he once took care of a beautiful black horse that looked exactly like Zorro’s horse, Tornado. The shepherd and son know nothing of Zorro, just that the wealthy don they were watching the horse for years ago came back from schooling in Spain and taken possession again of the horse. The shepherd senses he shouldn’t tell Garcia too much, but, unbeknownst to him, is overheard in the tavern by two greedy men who deduce the truth and plan to use this information to blackmail Zorro. “Life and Death” by Scott Cranford (illustrations by Phil Latter). A man that the town soldiers all fear due to his fierce reputation attacks Don Diego’s servant, Bernardo, at the tavern, putting him at death’s door. The attack enrages Diego, who immediately confronts the man as Zorro. “Fox Hunt” by Bobby Nash (illustrations by Phil Latter). Probably my third favorite of the first half of the book. A boisterous and wealthy man from Spain who is a hunter has trained to hunt the most dangerous prey in Spanish California: el Zorro! Announcing his intentions at a party thrown by Don Alejandro (who again in this story does *not* know is his son), Diego decides he must confront this man in his den, a mansion he has bought alongside a deep ravine. “Los Hombres Buenos” by Patricia Crumpler (illustrations by Aleena Valentine). Two old schoolmates of Diego’s from their years studying in Spain arrives in town just as a group of bandits are raiding the local rancheros. One is now a priest on a special mission for the Monsignor of Madrid, going ahead of a religious relic touring the area. “M For Murrieta” by Francisco Silva (illustrations also by Francisco Silva). The only story in this collection featuring the Alejandro Murrieta version of Zorro played by Antonio Banderas (and his wife, Elena, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) in the films “The Mask of Zorro” and “The Legend of Zorro”. The city’s collected taxes are stolen by a bandit said to be Alejandro’s dead brother, Joaquin. “The Road To Penance” by Ron Fortier (illustrations by Steve Shipley). The local church mission is robbed by bandits and the priest is kidnapped to be held for ransom. “Zorro and the Red Devil” by Teel James Glenn (illustrations by Francisco Silva). A group of pirates has been raiding the rancheros and settlements along the California coast. They take a group of wealthy land owners (including Don Diego and his father Don Alejandro) hostage. Diego has to get away and then take out the pirates one by one. (I really liked this story.) “The Gold Bell of Canfield Featherstone” by James Mullaney (illustrations by Francisco Silva). A bell made out of solid gold being donated by a rich plantation owner from Georgia to the local mission becomes a target for every bandit in the area, laying in wait to hijack the carriage secretly carrying it. However, not all is as it seems in regards to the reported “Gold Bell”. “A Lovely View” by Keith DeCandido (illustrations by Aleena Valentine-Lopez). Vandals hired by a wealthy don harass and pillage an orphanage set up in a mansion along the coast that the don’s wife desires. The don’s pressure prevents Capitan Monastario from stepping in. Zorro most therefore come to the sisters who run the orphanage’s aid. “A Wolf in the Land” by Don Everett Smith Jr. (illustrations by Michael Grassia). A very good story about Zorro vs. a werewolf that has killed the local doctor and a soldier and threatens to continue killing others in the area. The first encounter between Zorro and the werewolf does not go well. “The Kindness of Strangers” by Patrick Thomas (illustrations by Rob Davis). Zorro must reach a witness who can clear an innocent man from being executed by the Alcalde. The Alcalde’s soldiers stand between Zorro and the witness. “Z” by Bret Bouriseau (illustrations also by Bret Bouriseau). Zorro encounters a beautiful seniorita in a carriage being chased by another carriage and about to be driven over a cliff. But, this encounter takes a supernatural turn. An enjoyable range of stories. In general, I am enjoying the longer stories a bit better than the shorter ones (and, generally speaking, the stories in the second half of the book are a bit better than in the first half). Some might find it jarring that these stories seem to take place based all on different versions of Zorro, many seemingly based on the original Johnston McCulley pulp stories, others seemingly from the 1957-1959 Disney television series (the Guy Williams version), the aforementioned story featuring the Duncan Regehr and Antonio Banderas versions, etc. I didn’t really have a problem with this (other than the back and forth about if his father, Don Alejandro, knows his secret or not; ironically, the opening story based on the New World tv series Zorro, which ended with the clear indication that Diego was just about to reveal his secret to his father right as the end credits rolled, does not address whether Alejandro knows or not, focusing entirely on Diego and Victoria instead). My only real complaint is that this book really needed another proofreading prior to publication. I’ve found the frequent misspellings (and usages of incorrect words) distracting. In one case it happens twice, in two back-to-back sentences (something like “So I would seem ” when it should have said, “So it would seem”, followed by in incorrect use of “too” in the next sentence instead of “to”). In another story Zorro is actually written as “Zero” twice in the middle of a passage. Easy things to catch if one has enough live “eyes” going over the text prior to printing (and not an over reliance on spell-checking software). But this is a small press outfit, so perhaps Parente didn’t have any editorial assistants to help go over it. Still, I enjoyed this book and plan to read the other Zorro novels and story collections published by Bold Ventures Press. Short story collections are almost always an uneven experience, and ”Zorro’s Exploits” is no exception. Therefore I ended up giving it three out of five stars on GoodReads (but definitely recommend it to Zorro fans). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 06, 2022
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Feb 06, 2023
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Sep 06, 2022
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Paperback
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| 3.99
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really liked it
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Jan 15, 2023
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Jan 08, 2023
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| 3.70
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liked it
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Jan 05, 2023
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Jan 05, 2023
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| 3.97
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really liked it
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Jan 14, 2023
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Jan 04, 2023
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| 3.79
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it was amazing
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Dec 31, 2022
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Dec 31, 2022
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| 2.53
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it was ok
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 29, 2022
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| 2.96
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liked it
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Dec 29, 2022
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Dec 28, 2022
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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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| 4.02
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it was amazing
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Dec 10, 2022
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Nov 29, 2022
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| 4.00
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really liked it
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Mar 11, 2023
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Nov 12, 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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| 4.28
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it was amazing
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Jul 14, 2024
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Oct 24, 2022
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| 4.25
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it was amazing
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Dec 17, 2022
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Oct 20, 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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| 4.27
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liked it
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Oct 02, 2022
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Sep 08, 2022
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| 3.67
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liked it
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Feb 06, 2023
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Sep 06, 2022
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