Review: G.I. Joe Special Missions Vol. 3

G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS VOL. 3 (IDW, 2011; softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe Special Missions Nos. 15-21 (cover dates November, 1988- May, 1989)

I'm pretty sure that I had dropped this title by the time that these issues were originally published. The team of Writer Larry Hama and Artist Herb Trimpe work well together, but this has become an increasingly dry read for my tastes. I won't be buying Vol. 4 of this series of trade paperbacks. 

IDW's restoration is still sub-par, and their color choices are garish. They present these on the glossiest paper known to man. I like paper with a slight sheen, not this highly polished, glare prone stuff. It sure smells nice though, the result of that magically delicious, toxic Korean ink and paper from virgin Amazon rain forest trees.

Reviews: G.I. Joe Special Missions Vol. 2; The Creeper By Steve Ditko; Marvel Masterworks The X-Men Vol. 8

G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS VOL. 2 (IDW, 2010; softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe Special Missions Nos. 8-14 (cover dates December, 1987- October, 1988)

I think that I dropped this series around Issue 10. I was dropping more and more monthlies around this time, and likely dropped the main series too. Larry Hama and Herb Trimpe turned in some entertaining stories here, and the amount of military research involved is impressive. The restoration is so-so, but at least it seems to be improving.

THE CREEPER BY STEVE DITKO (DC, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Beware The Creeper Nos. 1-6, Showcase No. 73 and selections from Canceled Comic Cavalcade No. 2 and World's Finest Comics Nos. 249-255 (cover dates April, 1968- March, 1979)

The first six issues in this book (Beware The Creeper Nos. 1-6) were mind-blowingly good. Ditko's art was even better here than his run on Amazing Spider-Man, with his action sequences ramped up to borderline ultraviolence levels, plenty of shading and atmosphere, etc. He was the plotter for this series, and early on seemed to hint that the Creeper's personality might be creeping over into Jack Ryder's. This plotline was never fully explored in this book. Pity. (Note: I just checked on Wikipedia, and other writers explored this later. Sorry, I am a Creeper "virgin".) Some of the later issues in this book, while very good, don't even come close to the greatness achieved in the first six. I guess there are lots more Creeper appearances out there. I hope that DC makes a companion to this hardcover, or a Showcase Presents phonebook at the very least.

OCD department: This book, like most of DC's modern classic material collected edition hardcovers, could really use an upgrade. The paper is very thin and the binding is glued, which doesn't help the tight gutters I had to endure while reading this book. (Note to civilians: The gutter is the white borders on the inside of either page outside of the panels. There is usually a visible white line when reading floppies, and here it is almost panel on panel.) While there are many fans out there who enjoy toilet paper thin paper and glued bindings that prevent the book from laying flat, I am not one of them. The coloring and restoration look good, though. This book is worth picking up, but the production values may underwhelm connoisseurs of high end hardcovers.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE X-MEN VOL. 8 (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects The Avengers Nos. 110, 111, Captain America Nos. 172-175, Incredible Hulk Nos. 172, 180, 181 and Marvel Team-Up Nos. 23, 28 (cover dates August, 1973- October, 1975)

As hard as it may seem to believe to modern comic fans, there was a time when the X-Men were canceled due to low sales. That's right, after Issues 66, the title became a reprint magazine until the infamous Issue 94. This volume, along with volume 7, document 'The Hidden Years' of the X-Men, where assorted Marvel Bullpen-ers kept the team alive with guest spots in various titles. Giant-Size X-Men No. 1 would be released in the Spring of 1975 and introduce the "New" X-Men, and change the course of comic book history along the way.

Writer Steve Englehart did an excellent job of having an actual ongoing plotline for the X-Men through these various Marvel mags during this time, if readers cared to follow or piece it together for themselves. I had never read any of his run on Captain America and was very impressed with those issues. Artist Herb Trimpe's rendering on the Incredible Hulk issues was great, too. His version of Wolverine would be tweaked by Dave Cockrum and then perfected by John Byrne. What started out as a quasi-villain in the Hulk would go on to become one of the most recognizable characters in all of comics.

This Volume isn't essential for the casual X-Men fan, but if you are a diehard, it's a must. Seeing the puzzle pieces all together like this really changes one's perspective on what would appear to be a scatter shot of issues in one hardcover.

In closing, this book, like all Marvel Masterworks and Omnibus editions released in the last few years, is perfect. The paper, the coloring, the binding, are all done to perfection. DC would do well to take notes, as this is the standard to beat.

Reviews: G.I. Joe Special Missions Vol. 1; H20; Kiss Kompendium

G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS VOL. 1 (IDW, 2010; softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe Special Missions Nos. 1-7 and material from G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero No. 50 (cover dates August, 1986- August, 1987)

This was the more realistic offshoot of G.I. Joe, devoid of the sillier aspects that had started creeping into the main series and TV shows at this time. The Joes combat terrorists and go on covert operations. There is more violence, and people actually get killed, unlike the main series where a vehicle can explode and the driver survived the wreckage unharmed. I am not criticizing that aspect of the comic or cartoon since they were intended for small children, just noting the more "adult" tone of this particular series.

Larry Hama's scripts are quite a bit different than on G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero. Herb Trimpe turns his typically fine artwork, which is marred here by IDW's lackluster restoration. There are pages that look fine, others where the lines look like one of the Joes used a bazooka to obliterate them. Some of the re-coloring has a gradient shading to it not found in the original issues, which is highly annoying to me.

H20 (Liquid/ Dynamite, 2010; softcover original graphic novel)

I saw an ad for this in the back of Untouchable Vol. 1 and decided to give it a go. The story deals with Earth in 2250, where after a decade of droughts and man's intervention, water becomes the world's most precious commodity. Wars are fought for it, etc. It's interesting and plausible, and makes for an entertaining read. I guess that's all that you can ask for when reading a comic book, right? I'm not exactly shouting from the rooftops for everyone to buy this, though.

The whole thing basically reads like a storyboard for a movie that I wouldn't spend $9.00 to watch. It's almost like the creators made this as an elaborate pitch to Hollywood so that they could option it for a movie.

KISS KOMPENDIUM (Harper Collins, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects Marvel Super Special Nos. 1, 5, Kissnation, Kiss: Psycho Circus Nos. 1-31, Kiss Nos. 1-13 and selections from Kisstory (cover dates September, 1977- September, 2003)

In the world of Kiss, bigger is always better. Going with that logic, the Kiss Kompendium is easily the best there is. This book is a monster, clocking in at 1,280 pages, being as tall as a DC Absolute Edition or EC Library Edition, with superb paper and sewn binding. If production values alone made a book great, then this would be the greatest book ever made. Unfortunately for Kiss, this is not the case. These are the worst comic books that I have read in a long time. 

There are moments where it's enjoyable (the dated but lovable Bronze Age goodness of the Marvel Super Specials, Clayton Crain's early artwork on the later issues of Kiss: Psycho Circus), but most of this book was such a chore to read. It took several months of on again, off again reading for me to make it to the end. I take no joy in writing this because I am a lifelong Kiss fan, but these comics are for masochists only. This book reprints all of the Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image Kiss comic books in one "handy" package.