Reviews- PRODIGY. VOL. 1: THE EVIL EARTH, PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 2: BEAST ON THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 1: OR IS HE BOTH?, and THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 2: THE GREEN DOOR

PRODIGY. VOL. 1: THE EVIL EARTH (Image, First Printing, 2019; Softcover)

Collects Prodigy. #1-6 (cover dates December, 2018- June, 2019)

I like Mark Millar. His stuff doesn't always fry my mind but there is usually enough of a hook to intrigue me enough to keep going. I'm not sure if I'm in for the next volume or not. This is close to his Nemesis series, and I enjoyed that one a lot more than I did this one.

PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 2: BEAST ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (Boom, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Collects material from the Planet of the Apes Magazine #1-11, 21 (cover dates August, 1974- June, 1976)

I am hoping that Disney buying Fox means that Marvel will eventually get the Planet Of The Apes license back and we can get proper, comprehensive reprints instead of Boom's arranged by storyline method of collecting. While these are nicely done books I prefer material to be collected in publication order. I'm glad that these were finally reprinted. They have since been falling out of print and are now commanding some money on eBay. I'm keeping mine.

THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 1: OR IS HE BOTH? (Marvel, First Printing, 2018; Softcover)

Collects Avengers #684 and Immortal Hulk #1-5 (cover dates May-November, 2018)

THE IMMORTAL HULK VOL. 2: THE GREEN DOOR (Marvel, First Printing, 2019; Softcover)

Collects Immortal Hulk #6-10 (cover dates November, 2018- February, 2019)

I had heard endless great things about this title, so when I saw them at the library I had to give them a spin. Wow! This is very similar in tone to the first six issues of The Hulk by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, only infused with modern sensibilities. The original take on The Hulk was Horror/monster-tinged, Cold War paranoia. This take is similar, replacing The Cold War paranoia with the horror of humanity and conspiracies involving our own Government, who seek to weaponize the methods which made Bruce Banner turn into The Hulk.

The Absorbing Man appears in the second book, and he is one of those villains that never ceases to make me smile when he shows up to fight someone. They have reissued both of these trades in one hardcover. I will pick this series up at some point in some format. Time and money are both in shorter supply these days for me when it comes to comic books, but this is a series that I would like to reread.

Review- HULK: PLANET HULK

HULK: PLANET HULK (Marvel, Seventh Printing, 2013)

Collects Incredible Hulk #92-105, Giant-Size Hulk #1, Amazing Fantasy #15, and Planet Hulk: Gladiator Guidebook (cover dates January, 2006- June, 2007)

Writer: Greg Pak

Artists: Penciling by Carlos Pagulayan, Micahel Avon Oeming, Alex Nino, Marshall Rogers, Aaron Lopresti, Gary Frank, and Takeshi Miyazawa with Inking by Jeffrey Huet, Mike Allred, Alex Niino, Tom Palmer, Danny Miki, Sandu Florea, and John Sibal

Colorists: Chris Sotomayor, Laura Martin, Lovern Kindzierski, and Christina Strain

Everyone has raved about this event for years, but this was my first time reading it. There are so many comic books published every week that it is impossible to read them all. My 9 year old son checked this out of the library and wanted to read it with me. He has been on quite a kick lately and I have spent more time reading comic books with him than I have spent on reading my own backlog. It is interesting to read something that I did not pick out.

Everyone knows the gist of this, but for the Johnny-come-latelys like myself, humor me. Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man trick the Hulk into a spaceship under the guise of him saving the world, only to trap him in it to send him out of our solar system to a world where he can harm no one, not even himself. Of course the Hulk loses it, starts smashing the ship, and things go horribly wrong.

The ship goes off course and lands on a world called Sakaar, where the Hulk is temporarily weakened by some effect of the planet. This is a hard world under tyrannical rule of the Red King. He forces the Hulk to fight in his gladiator arena. It is here that the Hulk meets what will become the team that help him overthrow the king: Korg, one of the Stone Men Of Saturn who fought Thor way back in his first appearance; Miek, a bug-like creature who provides the light-hearted counterweight to the often oppressive tone of the story; Brood, one of the few surviving Brood; Captain Lavin Skee, one of the “pink skins” of the dominant race of the planet; Elloe, also one of the “pink skins” and former noble turned rebel; and Hiroim the Shadow Warrior. The Silver Surfer and Death's Head 3.0 are also featured here.

The Hulk is revered by the locals, who believe him to be either the savior or the worldbreaker. His green blood spawns plant life which the planet doesn't have and they think that he is the chosen one. They end up rallying behind him and help him overthrow the Red King. Things are going okay and then warp drive of the ship that brought the Hulk here explodes, killing almost everyone and everything on the planet that he loved. The Hulk was finally at peace and again the puny humans ruined it for him. He boards one of the ships belonging to the once-enslaved Spikes and heads back to Earth for revenge.

This was a good read with decent artwork, but it honestly went on way too long for my tastes. If you like epic battles that go on and on then this is for you. I am a casual Hulk fan and a little goes a long way for me. The Mastermind Excello (Amadeus Cho) story from Amazing Fantasy #15 was a nice coda to the event.

My son's take: It was pretty good. I liked all of it. I disliked the swearing (which I edited out as I read it to him). It took us a while to plow through this but it was a good time. My local library does not have World War Hulk in stock, so we won't be reading that one unless someone wants to loan us their copy.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone-

Paper stock: Good weight coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback. There are times where I lay awake at night and worry about the glue in my trade paperbacks disintegrating and them falling apart. Checking out a book like this from the library, which is handled by countless hands far less careful than mine, has given me peace of mind. My books are going to be just fine.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. It is interesting seeing how these hold up after being subjected to countless humans at the library.

Review- INCREDIBLE HULK: CROSSROADS

INCREDIBLE HULK: CROSSROADS (Marvel, 2013; Softcover)

Collects The Incredible Hulk Annual #13, The Incredible Hulk #301-313, and Alpha Flight # 29 (cover dates November, 1984- December, 1985)

Writer: Bill Mantlo

Artists: Pencilers- Sal Buscema, Alan Kupperburg, Bret Blevins, and Mike Mignola

Inkers- Gerry Talaoc and Al Williamson

Bill Mantlo's run on this title has to be one of the most underrated runs of the 1980s. I'm not kidding. Aside from #312 and 313 (which I bought when they originally came out- more on that later) these comics were all new to me, and they are all great. Mantlo's writing may seem overly wordy to modern reader sensibilities but bear with it, kids. He crams an arc's worth of characterization into every single issue and there is one helluva payoff at the end of the day, nearly 1200 pages across these three books later.

The Hulk has been banished to the Crossroads by Doctor Strange in an attempt to save both the Earth and the Hulk. Due to Nightmare's interference, Bruce Banner's intellect was squashed and the Hulk became a truly mindless beast. When Strange intervened Banner essentially committed suicide of the id, allowing a mindless Hulk to wander through the Crossroads, which is a nexus to different worlds and dimensions. Strange implanted a fail safe spell in the Hulk's mind so that if the mindless Hulk became discontented he would be transported back to the Crossroads, free to pick a new world until he found one that made him happy.

The Hulk encounters foes of all types in this dimension. Worlds where all of his strength is useless, as he is the weakest being (#302-303). Worlds where a symbiotic creature attaches itself to the Hulk and learns to dream (Annual #13). He befriends an entity called the Puffball Collective which is trapped in the Crossroads and unable to enter any of the worlds. There is a ton of development with that entity, and it ends up helping the Hulk before revealing it/their hand. The N'Garai appear in the finale, and that battle is pretty darn cool.

Yes, the N'Gari were clearly "inspired" by the movie Alien.

As if all of this isn't enough, the remnants of Bruce Banner's psyche begin to reemerge as three personalities called The Triad (#308). Glow, a star-like creature that is Banner's intellect; Guardian, Banner's survival instinct; and Goblin, his anger, basically the devil on his soldier. These three personalities helped the Hulk when he was mindless but were of course invisible to everyone else. That's right, kids, years before the show Herman's Head set the world on fire for the fledgling Fox Network Bill Mantlo paved the road for it with this title. This is some pretty heady stuff and predates many so-called sophisticated comics. Their origin wasn't revealed until #312, which I bought as 12 year old sucker because it was a Secret Wars II tie-in. It was dry for my tastes back then, even though I enjoyed the artwork of the then-unknown Mike Mignola, who would go on to great success with Hellboy.

Herman's Head. I was one of the 20 people who watched when it originally aired, largely because my family was too poor to have cable and the Internet didn't exist.

I was suckered into buying #313 because it tied into Alpha Flight #29. AF was one of my favorite titles in 1985, and series writer/artist John Byrne was going over to The Incredible Hulk while Mantlo/Mignola/Talaoc were going over to Alpha Flight. The Beyonder set a chain of events in #312 which led to the end of AF #28 (which took place at the same time as #313) and beginning of #29. The whole thing ends with a bang, literally. It was a pretty clever way to tie up Mantlo's run as well as welcome Byrne to his ill-fated but highly advised run.

I was harsh about Gerry Talaoc's inking in my review for the previous volume, Regression. I stand by that critique, as his work in that book was substandard. He really shines here, though, having figured out how to compliment Sal Buscema's pencils perfectly. He also works well with a young Mike Mignola.

Bill Mantlo is a great writer who did what many comic book writers fail to do. Take a character, put that character through their paces, break things, and then carefully put everything back together the way that you found it. He put his stamp on the character without disowning what came before or making it impossible to follow without adhering to his take. Genius. It makes me sad that he still suffers from injuries sustained in a hit and run accident many years ago and is in assisted living. Hopefully royalties from reprints like this help him out. He is a writer whose work has always hit the mark and deserved a better fate than what he got. The driver who crippled him was never caught.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love love love these thick chunky books! 400-500 pages is the sweet spot for me. I am sucker for complete chunks of a title. DC would do well to emulate this with their '60s-80s material. I would probably buy them all. Kill me now.

Linework and Color restoration: The film is in great shape and the color palette is faithful to the original publications. If there are variances they are minor enough that they don't bother me, so they likely wouldn't bother you since I tend to skew pretty anal about this sort of thing.

Paper stock: The same awesome matte coated stock found in softcover Masterworks, Epic books, and Classic line trade paperbacks. My favorite!

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Thick lamination on the cardstock cover.

Review- HULK BY JOHN BYRNE & RON GARNEY

HULK BY JOHN BYRNE & RON GARNEY (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Hulk Nos. 1-11 and Hulk Annual 1999 (cover dates April, 1999- February, 2000)

Writers: John Byrne, Erik Larson, Jerry Ordway, Ron Garney, and Fred Hembeck

Artists: Pencilers- Ron Garney, Ron Frenz, Lee Weeks, John Byrne, Dan Jurgens, Sal Buscema, Mark Texeira, Mike Miller, and Fred Hembeck; Inkers- Dan Green, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Scott Koblish, Mark Texeira, Klaus Janson, and Fred Hembeck

Colorists: Steve Buccaletto, Tom Smith, and Mark Bernardo

Believe it or not, a series being rebooted with a new #1 was actually a big deal at one time. I couldn't even tell you how many Hulk #1s there have been now. This is less of a reboot and more of a fresh starting point. While it may seem hard to believe to younger fans, there was a time when Marvel as we know it was at the end of it's rope financially, and this was that era. When you are owned by Disney and your movies basically print money for you it seems impossible, but back in the late '90s things were different for the House of Ideas.

John Byrne is the writer for the first seven issues of the series. Byrne has a long running arc which unfolds over the entire book in which Tyrannus manages to seize control of the Hulk's mind, causing destruction, mayhem, and murder. Indeed, Byrne manages to pen a bone-chilling foreshadowing of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks when the Hulk knocks down an airliner. The outcome and vibe of that issue are downright eerie once you realize how accurate and realistic it feels, and that it was published two years prior to the event. 

While wrestling with Tyrannus for control of the monster, Banner/Hulk encounters the Man-Thing (or an avatar of it), the Avengers (who come to deal with the Hulk for his crimes), Wolverine (in all of his bone claw-era "glory"), and a battle royal with the Thing. The highlight of the book for me was not any of these battles, but the introduction of Archer Leopold, a moonshiner and recluse who befriends the Hulk. Leopold, a union man, convinces Tyrannus' minions to stick together and form a union, because the many have power over the one. I loved the whole working man sticking together vibe, something that doesn't exist in the real world today. The powers that be have brainwashed the masses into doing the bidding of the company, and have also convinced them to be thankful for getting paid less while defending CEOs who have increased their salaries exponentially in the meantime. The pie used to be sliced more fairly when I was growing up. Corporations were not people in the 1990s.

Annual 1999 is one of those retelling of the origin and early issues of the title stories that you don't see anymore. Byrne wrote that story, and updates several things about the Gargoyle as well as the origin. While I am big stickler for continuity, sometimes you just have to let things slide, lest these characters become dated Cold War relics. Byrne changes a few Cold War/Russia things but otherwise remains faithful to the source material. This is the win-win scenario for continuity buffs and newer readers alike.

Ron Garney's artwork wasn't to my liking at first glance but it quickly grew on me and I now consider myself a fan. There is also some nice Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema artwork here. I found everything about this book to be enjoyable with the exception of the lettering, which was atrocious. While sterilized computer font lettering can be a snore, not every old school letterer is an Artie Simek or a Tom Orzechowski or a Bill Everett. Those guys all did things pleasing to the eye, and I would buy a font of their hand lettering and use it for my blog if I could. 

This book is a great package and a fun read. At the end of the day, isn't that what you want out of comic books?

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I like these chunky, 300 plus page trade paperbacks. They make me happier than two thinner books for some reason.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: All are one page each.

#1 sunburst variant.

#1 Dynamic Forces variant.

#2 variant.

#2 original cover art by Ron Garney and Dan Green.

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Marvel has a comprehensive library of this stuff from this era, so restoration is seldom done. It's all digitized and ready to go. Sometimes a file gets corrupted or an issue gets lost, but that is not the case in this book.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Thick glossy coated stock which looks great for this material.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. Laminated cardstock cover.

Buy HULK BY JOHN BYRNE & RON GARNEY TP at InStockTrades!

Reviews- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fourth

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Fourth

Note: Free Comic Book Day will be referred to as FCBD from here on out in these reviews.

The Walking Dead: FCBD 2013 Special (Image, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Charlie Adlard

Colorist: Cliff Rathburn...if you consider gray tones to be a color, that is.

Ah yes, The Walking Dead...the savior of and modern day benchmark for Horror comics. I really wish that I had heard of this title before everyone and their brother hyped it up as the second coming, because by the time I was given the first deluxe hardcover as a X-Mas gift a few years ago I already had a chip on my shoulder toward this title. Instead of Hey, let me check this out, it was more like Fine, I'll read the goddamn thing to see why everyone won't shut up about it. I honestly don't see what all the hoopla is about it.

This FCBD issue is pretty good, more of a character story than a full on zombie story. I gave the first 11 issues of this title a chance but it wasn't my cup of tea. I am happy that everyone loves it, and I'm happy for all of the recognition that it has brought back to comic books. We have boatloads of Horror comic books to choose from these days, more than at any point in the past 40 years, so thank you for that, Robert Kirkman. I just don't see what makes this title mean so much to so many people. I realize that the problem must lay with me since everyone and their brother loves this book. Hey, at least folks are reading comic books again.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Valiant Comics FCBD 2013 Special No. 1 (Valiant, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Various

Artist: Various

Colorist: Various

This is a sampler of various Valiant titles as well as a sneak preview of their Harbinger Wars crossover. X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, and Quantum & Woody are all interesting concepts and are decent reads. My plate is too full and my wallet is stretched too thin to check all of this stuff out, though. It's all well done and highly readable.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H. a/k/a FCBD 2013 Avengers/ Hulk No. 1(Marvel, cover date May, 2013)

Writers: Joe Caramagna, Paul Dini, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and others.

Artist: Clips from the forthcoming animated series formatted as comic book panels

Well this is interesting. Marvel/Disney use stills from the forthcoming animated series Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H. and Avengers Assemble cartoons and issues them as a FCBD sampler. It would be nice if they used the visibility of the animated series to remind folks that comic books still exist. The general population is unaware that these things are still published month in and month out.

This is all ages reading, but the Hulk series doesn't even come close to resembling the comic book version. The Avengers is closer to the movie versions of those characters. I honestly didn't care for this comic but my six year old son loved it. Given the target audience for cartoons I'd say that this is a success. I'm happy that he is interested in superheroes. Now if only they could figure out how to make the comics appeal to adults and children again...

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 

DC Nation FCBD 2013 Super Sampler (DC, cover date July, 2013)

Writers: Mitch Watson, Scott Beatty, and J. Norres

Artists: Luciano Vecchio and Todd Nauck and Lary Stuker

Colorist: Heroic Age

...and in answer to Marvel's all-ages animated series FCBD sampler, we have DC's Cartoon Network shows, the new Teen Titans Go! and the forthcoming Beware The Batman. Unlike the Marvel animated comic, this one collects two stories from DC's all ages comics. The Batman story was originally presented in DC Nation Super Spectacular No. 2 and the Teen Titans Go! story is from Teen Titans Go! No. 12.

My son loves these cartoons, and I watch some of them with him. I'm more inclined to pay attention to Batman than I will Teen Titans, which is offensive to me due to the horrid art style. Again, I understand that these are directed toward children, and since my son loves it, mission accomplished.

I have read these stories to him a few times and enjoyed the Batman one a lot. I found Anarky's costume to be a complete and total ripoff of Moon Knight, which is ironic because Moon Knight is a complete and total ripoff of Batman. Doug Moench created Moon Knight and would go on to write Batman during the 1980s.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 

Banshee Origins (IDW, cover date December, 2012)

Writer: Jonathan Tropper

Artist: Mike henderson

Colorist: Jeremy Colwell

Many stores put out all of their freebies and preview books on FCBD. I snagged this since I went to seven stores that day and I was running out of things to grab. I guess that this is a prequel to the Cinemax series.

I've got level with you: I absolutely hate it when creators use comic books as a funnel system or test market for their “IP”, and as a comic fan I find it insulting to be treated as a test market or “brand buzz builder” for Hollywood. Make a comic book or make a movie. If it is good then expand into either/or. I dislike calculated marketing like this. Worse still, I remember nothing about this title. I know that I read it on the plane on my flight home from our vacation, but when I flipped through it just now to refresh my memory I have a big fat blank. Nothing stuck in my mind and everything about this leaves me cold. That's worse than sucking, because at least that is an emotional response to a piece of work. This is just nothing.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 0 out of 5. 

Review- ALPHA FLIGHT CLASSIC VOL. 3

ALPHA FLIGHT CLASSIC VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Alpha Flight Nos. 20-29 and Incredible Hulk No. 313 (cover dates March- December, 1985)

Writers: John Byrne and Bill Mantlo (Incredible Hulk No. 313 and Alpha Flight No. 29)

Artists: John Byrne (Penciler Nos. 20-28, Inker 20, 27, 28), Keith Williams (Inker, 20, 23, 25, 27, 28), Bob Wiaceck (Inker, 21-26), Mike Mignola (Penciler, Incredible Hulk No. 313 and Alpha Flight No. 29), and Gerry Talaoc (Inker, Incredible Hulk No. 313 and Alpha Flight No. 29)

These are some of my favorite comic books from my youth. I bought every issue off of the stands within their original publication month on the spinner racks at 7-11. John Byrne has said that he never really cared for these characters, that they were two-dimensional, and other things along those lines. While the creator may not have felt that these characters meant much, they meant the world to this 11-turning-12 year old kid in 1984-1985. Issue 20 was on the stands in December of 1984, and I picked up Issue 21 at the only Direct Market shop in town, The Book Bin, on Christmas Eve, 1984, a few weeks ahead of the newsstand release. 

Issues 20 and 21 are brilliant, with Sasquatch and Aurora stumbling upon Gilded Lily in Langowski (Sasquatch)'s long abandoned family home. The cover for issue 21 was deceptive, as Diablo appeared only in the flashback portion when Gilded Lily told her origin. That scene in issue 21 with Aurora tied up while wearing a bikini made my then 11-year old self feel...funny. I liked it but wasn't exactly sure why. Let's just say that ol' Aurora became this prepubescent kid's favorite on the team back then. 

Fortunately there was a lot of other interesting storylines going on that held my interest in other, less raging hormone levels. Issue 23 was another winner, with the fate of Snowbird and Sasquatch coming to a head. I remember walking up to 7-11 with my sister on a brisk, sunny March Sunday morning and buying that one. I read it three or four times that day alone. I could not believe what happened in that issue. I was devastated. That is one of the biggest drawbacks to the Internet: the joy of discovery. In these Little House on the Prairie-esque pre-Internet days, the term spoilers did not exist. In fact, barring missing an issue, nothing was ever spoiled for me back then. It is a luxury that modern day fandom can never regain, for better or for worse.

Issue 23 was the first issue featuring the then-new flexograph printing process, which used water based ink instead of the traditional oil based ink. It also employed plastic/rubber plates instead of metal ones. The results were underwhelming to me as a kid. The colors looked overly bright and garish, the blends were horrid, with blacks just sitting there, and the printing was even less consistent than the old four color printing process. I remember this being touted as a printing breakthrough on the old Bullpen Bulletins page. The paper was a brighter white and smelled different, and everything just felt cheap to me. It was bad enough that comics had recently been jacked up 5 cents in price, but now we had inferior printing processes too? It was enough to give my 11-going-on-12-years-old OCD self the blues. 

Yes, the lighting is bad in all of these pictures.

Issue 24 was a double-sized extravaganza which found the team on a quest to recapture the soul of Sasquatch (Walter Langowski). Lots of cool battles with The Great Beasts in that issue. The return of Guardian in issue 25 made me happy, and the return of Omega Flight in issues 26 and 27 and that reveal was another jarring experience for me as a reader. I looked so forward to each and every issue, and I would devour them as soon as I got them, doing re-reading marathons every month.

It was around issue 27 when Byrne's artwork made a transition from his more polished style to a slightly looser, rawer one. This would continue until his artwork devolved into a scratchy mess in the late '90s. Fortunately he has seen a remarkable return to form over the past decade and is producing some great stuff over at IDW (Cold War, Next Men, etc.) 

The pages from Secret Wars II No. 4 are included as a bonus bridging material in between issues 27 and 28. Their inclusion is necessary because they show how the Beyonder rescued Talisman from Shaman's medicine bag. While it was recapped in issue 28, it is a nice bonus and a shining example of how Marvel's Collected Editions Department is way better at what they do than DC's Collected Editions Department.

Issue 28 was also, unbeknownst to me until reading the final page, John Byrne's final issue. I was horrified. How could Byrne do this to me? How could he leave my beloved Alpha Flight? It was announced that The Incredible Hulk creative team of writer Bill Mantlo and artists Mike Mignola (pencils) and Gerry Talaoc (inker) would be swapping titles with Byrne. Byrne went to their title, and they went over to Byrne's. Also clever was how the swap occurred during a crossover. Not only was issue 28 a Secret Wars II crossover, but a Hulk one as well! So Mantlo wrapped up his years-long Crossroads saga with the Hulk coming back to Earth. I ran out and bought Incredible Hulk No. 313 to sample this new creative team. I enjoyed how they showed what was going on from the Hulk's viewpoint before he came back to our dimension. Very cleverly orchestrated, bringing three titles in sync like that while switching creative teams. 

Artwork by Mike Mignola and Gerry Talaoc.

These days Alpha Flight and Hulk would both be given new number 1s. Back then, numbering was sacred. I miss that. Another interesting thing is how Mantlo hit the ground running on Alpha Flight. He obviously studied the entire series and came aboard full of references to past storylines and a pretty good understanding of the characters to boot. Bill Mantlo was the victim of a hit and run accident while he was on rollerblades and is living in deplorable conditions in an assisted living home. I hope that the royalties he gets from these reprints in collected editions like this help him out.

Mike Mignola was pretty much a nobody at this time. I knew of him from the Rocket Raccoon mini-series (yes, I was one of five people who actually bought it at the time). Gerry Talaoc was, unbeknownst to me at the time, a veteran DC artist. Issue 29 was completely different in tone and feel but was still really good. I stuck with the title until issue 70 or so. I really hope that this line of trade paperbacks continues, as Mignola is a big name these days with Hellboy, and later issues feature artwork by some new guy that never amounted to anything: Jim Lee.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Alpha Flight should have been given the Marvel Masterworks treatment; deluxe hardcovers, sewn binding, the whole bit.

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. I did side by side comparisons with my originals, and things are as spot on as can be.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. This book uses the same beautiful dull matte finish coated stock paper that the softcover Masterworks use. I love it.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. Marvel's typical high quality lamination makes me a happy OCD camper.

Buy ALPHA FLIGHT CLASSIC VOL. 3 TP at InStockTrades!