Junk Food For Thought: The Next Generation

YOU SHALL DIE BY YOUR OWN EVIL CREATION!: MORE COMICS OF FLETCHER HANKS (Fantagraphics, 2009)

Collects selections from Daring Mystery Comics Nos. 4, 5, Fantastic Comics Nos. 1-6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, Fight Comics Nos. 1, 3-9, Jungle Comics Nos. 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 11-14 and Planet Comics Nos. 2 (cover dates December, 1939- February, 1941)

Over the course of these two books, I have become completely enamored with the writing and artwork of Fletcher Hanks' so bad-that-it's-great comic books. These are so ridiculous and over the top that you can't help but love them. I have now read the man's complete works, and am a better human being for having done so. Also, the paper in this book smells fantastic. Take that, iPad!

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL. 7: THE MIST AND THE PHANTOM OF THE FAIR (DC, 2009)

Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre Nos. 37-44 (cover dates April- November, 1996)

This is one great series, for adults at least. I wouldn't let my son anywhere near this series! I find myself thinking (in a Stan Marsh voice) "Dude, this is pretty f**ked up right here", with some of the crazy goings on in this title. I love the whodunits, and find myself trying to figure out who it is as each act unfolds. Sometimes I guess it immediately, other times I miss the mark completely. I cannot get enough of the mystery/ detective/ crime/ noir hybrid that is this title.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: SLEEP OF REASON (DC, 2007)

Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason Nos. 1-5 (cover dates February- June, 2007)

After 7 trades/ 44 extremely satisfying issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre, this was a shock to the system. The overall quality here is far lower than the core series, likely due to the fact that it is a different creative team. This seems like Marvel's Death's Head 3.0 from a few years ago, being a feeble attempt at rebooting/ re-imagining a title, and like that trade, should be avoided.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 11 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 100-109 (cover dates September, 1971- June, 1972)

Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice, with the finest restoration, paper, and binding in this day and age. To have comics that I once owned the floppies to presented in a deluxe, high-end format like this makes them seem far more important. I found Issue 103 in a quarter box circa 1983, and it was among my earliest exposure to Gil Kane's godlike artwork. I owned 101 and 102 as well, with 101 featuring the first appearance of my beloved Morbius, the Living Vampire (scroll through earlier blogs for more on that). Lots of people bag on this era of Spider-Man, and I fail to see why. You get writing from either Stan Lee or Roy Thomas, both among the greatest comic book writers of all-time, and artwork by Gil Kane and/or John Romita, Sr., who are among the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Honestly, these are comic books at their finest, and while there isn't much here that went down in Marvel history as an important event, these are solid reads with great artwork. Isn't that what one really wants from comic books?

ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL. 5: GHOST BOX (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) Nos. 25-30 and Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes Nos. 1, 2 (cover dates September, 2008- August, 2009)

My OCD is a strange thing indeed. For instance, it dictates that I buy everything in hardcover whenever available. The strange thing is that this was solicited in hardcover first, but my OCD forced me to pass on it, knowing that Vol. 5 of the softcovers would be out. Aside from the original periodical single issue publication, this series was issued in a series of 4 softcover trade paperbacks, then reissued again as 2 oversized hardcovers, which were re-issued AGAIN as an omnibus (oversized deluxe hardcover edition). I stuck with my softcovers, and, wanting a matching set, decided to see the format through. Strange, eh? You know what? These books also have STORIES inside them, so format be damned, this was a terrific read. I do not like the fact that Ellis writes the X-Men as means-to-an-end, we killed someone, oh well characters. That bugs me. I still dislike The White Queen (a/k/a Emma Frost) as an X-Man. I SO want to see this be the mother of all set-ups where she reveals that she has been evil all along, and deliver a fatal blow to the team. I have been waiting for this to happen since Grant Morrison's run earlier last decade. Please, someone fix this!! The 2 issue Ghost Boxes mini-series was pointless DC Universe-style nonsense. I am uninterested in other, 'what if' type dimensions.

THE GREEN LANTERN CHRONICLES VOL. 2 (DC, 2009)

Collects Green Lantern Nos. 4-9 (cover dates February- December, 1961)

Silver Age Green Lantern has a zany, fun flavor to it, with all of the lovable faulty science and far-out space adventures that one could possibly want. Couple that with superb artwork by Gil Kane and you have a winner. Many of the mainstays of Green Lantern are introduced during this time period (i.e. Sinestro, the Green Lantern Corps). I am still a GL neophyte, with this being only the second book that I have read. I hear that last year's Blackest Night mini-series was really good. I will wait for Chronicles Vol. 280 to find out!

EX MACHINA VOL. 8: DIRTY TRICKS (DC, 2009)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 35-39 and Ex Machina Special No. 3 (cover dates October, 2007- January, 2009)

This series never disappoints, and I am sad that it will end with issue 50. I suppose that it is better to have a finite ending and leave a quality body of work rather than let it meander and fizzle out.

G.I. JOE CLASSIC VOL. 6 (IDW, 2009)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 51-60 (cover dates September, 1986- June, 1987)

I bought every one of these issues off of the stands the day that they came out. I haven't read these issues since then, so this was a blast to go back and re-read them. I was surprised at how many issues I could remember the plot to all of these years later. Larry Hama breathed life into what were, quite literally, plastic characters and made most of this stuff seem believable. Serpentor, well, not so much. I can't believe that they didn't reprint the story from G.I. Joe Yearbook #3 that was the conclusion to Issue 56. My only other gripe is that the restoration is poor, with low resolution scanning resulting in fuzzy black lines on the borders and word balloons. They went to the trouble of re-coloring the issues to match the original color palette but couldn't be bothered with high resolution scans? My $50 scanner could have done a better job. Oh well, these are good reads in spite of that.

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 2 (Dark Horse, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 6-10 (cover dates November, 1966- July, 1967)

Another finely produced hardcover with many finely rendered tales by some of the all-time greats, such as Steve Ditko, Joe Orlando, Neal Adams, Dan Adkins, Archie Goodwin, Frank Frazetta and Gene Colan, among many others. The stories probably seem dated and formulaic to modern day readers but bleed lovable Gothic Horror charm in my opinion. Volumes 3 and 4 have been solicited, and Dark Horse has recently announced that there will be 25 volumes of Creepy and 23 Volumes of Eerie. That scares my wallet more than these stories do!The cover of this book (pictured above, taken from Eerie #8) is one of the many great Frank Frazetta paintings that graced the covers of this series and it's sister title, Creepy. I first encountered this image 20 odd years ago, when I picked up Nazareth's Expect No Mercy album on cassette, the cover image being the reason that I selected that album over several of their other available titles. This was 1989 or 1990, and there was no Internet as such. In fact, if you didn't hear a song on the radio or know anyone who owned the album, the only way that you got to hear it was to buy it. Oh, the stone age! In any case, Frazetta's artwork also prompted me to buy Molly Hatchet's debut album way back when too, but that one sucked. More recently, the cover to Eerie #7 appeared as the artwork to the cover of Wolfmother's debut album. OK, comic book and music history lesson's done.

G.I. JOE CLASSIC VOL. 7 (IDW, 2010)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 61-70 (cover dates July, 1987- April, 1988)

Like the issues contained in Volume 6 of this series of trade paperbacks, I bought each and every issue off of the stands the day that they came out. And like Volume 6, this has restoration issues, although not as bad as Volume 6. A little more time and TLC in the handling and scanning of this material would be greatly appreciated. Also like Volume 6 is the fun factor involved in these stories. These are just terrific reads, all warm and fuzzy with the glow of nostalgia. Another problem is that when they restored some of the lettering, they put the wrong letters in place, messing up the words as they were originally published (i.e. P instead of F).I recently read online that Larry Hama will be picking up the original Marvel series continuity with Issue 155 and 1/2, since it ended with Issue 155. I hope that IDW collects the rest of the run up to that point. I know that they are planning at least 9 Volumes, so here's to hoping for 15! I hope that they collect the G.I. Joe Yearbooks too, at least the portions that weren't reprint and recap stuff. There were some beautiful Michael Golden covers if I recall correctly. Again, go down to your local comic shop or bookstore and buy this so that I can get the complete run in this format. Thanks!

The Rise and Fall of Junk Food For Thought

Logan's Run: Last Day #1 (Bluewater, cover date January, 2010)
Wow, this was shockingly good stuff. I am a lifelong Logan's Run fan and this is closer to the original novel than the 1976 feature film which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest movies ever made. I will probably wait for the trade to read the rest of this, and I can't wait for it to be collected. This comic book is printed on some super heavy-duty paper, with each page being roughly as thick as the cover.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL VOL. 2 (DC, 2003)
Collects Action Comics Nos. 584-586, Adventures of Superman Nos. 424-426 and Superman Nos. 1-3 (cover dates January- March, 1987).
Another enjoyable batch of issues by John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, and Jerry Ordway.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL VOL. 3 (DC, 2004)
Collects Action Comics Nos. 587-589, Adventures of Superman Nos. 427-429 and Superman Nos. 4-6 (cover dates April- June, 1987).
Man, this is some good sh*t! I especially enjoyed the issues featuring the Demon and the Phantom Stranger, as I have a soft spot for '70 quasi/pseudo-Horror 'heroes'. The only problem is that I now want to buy the Phantom Stranger phonebooks. %^$#^&%@&&!!!

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL VOL. 4 (DC, 2004)
Collects Action Comics Nos. 590, 591, Adventures of Superman Nos. 430, 431, Legion of Superheroes Nos. 37, 38 and Superman Nos. 7, 8 (cover dates July- September, 1987).
Man, this is mostly sh*t! This is why I loathed DC so much growing up. Superboy? Superdog? The cheeseball Legion of Superheroes and the Metal Men? Marvel stomps any and all of these concepts. What had been a clean, cohesive reboot until this point has been derailed by the whole Crisis on Infinite Earths thing, which was an attempt to undo DC's lack of any real continuity(ies?) until that point. Even John Byrne, who at Marvel always did a great job at streamlining continuity, has a tough go at making this believable. Add in the craptastic artwork by a neophyte Erik Larsen in the last issue in the book and the insult to injury was complete. This book has it's moments, but they are few and far between.SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL VOL. 5 (DC, 2006)
Collects Action Comics Nos. 592, 593, Adventures of Superman Nos. 432-435 and Superman Nos. 9-11 (cover dates September- December, 1987).
OK, things go back to being enjoyable here. Whew! I was worried that I sunk money into 2 books that might suck. Superman #11, with Mr. Mxyzptlk was especially good. I am glad that they phonetically spelled his name, as I had no idea how to pronounce it until now.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL VOL. 6 (DC, 2008)
Collects Action Comics Nos. 594, 595, Action Comics Annual No. 1, Adventures of Superman Annual No. 1, Booster Gold No. 23, Superman No. 12 and Superman Annual No. 1 (cover dates November- December, 1987).
...and my marathon comes to a halt. It's been quite a journey, and a mostly enjoyable one at that. Superman No. 12 is the star of this book, a heartfelt love story with a twist, but all of the issues contained in this trade were good, solid reads. I hope that DC continues this line, as there are many more issues in Byrne's run to be collected in trade paperback.

THE SANDMAN BY JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY (DC, 2009; Hardcover)
Collects Sandman No. 1 (Winter 1974) and selections from Adventure Comics Nos. 72-91, 101, 102 and World’s Finest Comics Nos. 6, 7 (cover dates March, 1942- February/ March, 1946).
Shame on you, DC! You have top shelf Golden Age material by two of the all-time greats, and THIS is the respect and the treatment that you feel that this material deserves? Shoddy restoration, shoddy paper, and shoddy binding, this package is a disgrace to the legacy of Simon and Kirby. Before there was Stan and Jack there was Joe and Jack. The pair did a wonderful job creating Captain America, and this was their 'next big thing'. DC insisted on scanning old yellowed pages, which Dark Horse and Fantagraphics also do for these vintage collections, but they clean up and color correct the pages. DC only color corrected the word balloons and captions, leaving the rest a yellowed, discolored mess. Every single color looks off because they took no time whatsoever and put no effort into restoration or using modern color values to replicate the original color palette. The paper is the same crappy pulp paper that DC uses in most of their hardcovers these days, being scarcely thicker than toilet paper. Couple that with glued binding, and you have the most sucktastic presentation imaginable. The real shame of it is that these are such good stories.

THE BATMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 8 (DC, 2009)
Collects Batman Nos. 14, 15 and selections from Detective Comics Nos. 71-74 and World’s Finest Comics Nos. 8, 9 (cover dates December, 1942- April, 1943).
To say that these are good reads would be an understatement. Golden Age Batman rocks, plain and simple. The writing begins to take on a campy tone similar to the '60s television series, i.e. Batman and Robin are in a trap and a caption reads 'can they escape?' or something similar. Batman refers to villains as 'fiends'. The villains! The Penguin. The Joker. Catwoman. The Scarecrow. Tweedledee and Tweedledum. These villains are great! I will let my son read these when he gets a bit older, which is something that I can't say about modern Batman comic books. Why did comic books take such a wrong turn? They are intended for children, and should be accessible to them. I prefer this 'wholesome' Batman to Frank Miller's version.

ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2009)
Collects Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) Nos. 52-73, 75 and Marvel Team-Up Annual No. 1 (cover dates December, 1976- November, 1978).
The creative team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne are akin to Lennon and McCartney or Simon and Garfunkel, in that together they created wonderful and memorable works but found it difficult to maintain their creative partnership. Their Marvel Team-Up run is fantastic. Iron Fist, Arcade, Captain Britain, the Living Monolith... this is such good stuff! It's almost criminal that Marvel only reprints this title in black and white phonebook format rather than the Masterworks format that it deserves.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL. 6: THE HOURMAN AND THE PYTHON (DC, 2008)
Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre Nos. 29-36 (cover dates August, 1995- March, 1996)
I am really enjoying these trades, and was delighted to see Vol. 8 recently solicited. This series ran up to issue 70, and I am hoping that they collect the entire run in trade.

The Wolfman As far as remakes go, this is about as much as one could hope for in this day and age. There were a few digital drag and speed type edits in the beginning, but by and large the editing and pacing were quite tasteful. The camera angle changes were slow by today's ADD standards but were pleasing to those of us who still have an attention span. The sequence where he changes into the Wolfman were almost as good as The Howling. All in all, an enjoyable movie, especially for a buck at the dollar show. 7 out of 10.