Review- Blade No. 9, Blaze No. 4, Nightstalkers No. 8, and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 28-32

Blade No. 9, Blaze No. 4, Nightstalkers No. 8, and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 28-32 (cover dates June, 1993- April, 1995)

Names of creators withheld to protect the families of the incompetent.

Consider this an exercise in masochism. I saw this series through to the end. It started out strong, with the first 8 or 9 issues being very enjoyable, and the things quickly went downhill. The main culprits were an abundance of crossovers between titles and a revolving door of substandard creators. So many '90s comic creators were and are a complete joke, offering self absorbed, self important drivel without having a clue as to what makes a good comic book.

I wish that I had bothered going through some of the boxes of floppies that people had given me in the last year or two, as I had several of the earlier crossover issues in there and didn't even know it. 

Morbius' series ends with a thud. I suspect that this title was given the ax without a lot of notice, because it seems like there was a mad dash to get all of the dangling plotlines resolved before the last panel. It was not an effective ending to the series, nor was there any indication in the letters page that this was the last issue. Truly bizarre.

Some of the artwork is passable, and some of the writing is occasionally decent, but getting through these issues was like chewing chalk. Do you want to know what the truly sick thing is? I would gladly re-buy all of this stuff in trade paperback or, better yet, an Omnibus hardcover. I am truly ill and/or I hate my money.

Sorry, but there is no OCD zone for floppies.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

Review- Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 20-27

Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 20-27 (Marvel, cover dates April- November, 1994)

Writers: Names withheld to protect the inept.

Artists: Names withheld to protect the inept.

Wow, this is terrible. Creative teams shift, and we are introduced to “a new direction”, but that so-called new direction feels little different than the boring, old direction. There is almost no progression amongst any of the characters, and I find it difficult to even care about the star of the series. I am not rooting for anyone or anything, save an end to this title. Only five more issues to go!

I love '70s Morbius. '90s Morbius...not so much. The writing and artwork are all so subpar that I refuse to list any of the creators involved with the title for fear of embarrassing them. I will name one name, though, and that is Letterer Janice Chaing, whose craptastic hand lettering makes every panel look even worse than the “artwork” already does.

Do you know what the truly sick thing is about this title? That I would plunk down money on an Omnibus or other collected edition of this series in a heartbeat. I am truly ill.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

Review- Midnight Sons Unlimited Nos. 1-4 and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 16-19

Midnight Sons Unlimited Nos. 1-4 and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 16-19 (Marvel, cover dates April, 1993- March, 1994)

In order to save the now unemployed writers and artists some embarrassment, I will not list the writing and art credits.

My God, the '90s sucked for most Marvel Comics! I am thankful that I got all of these on frequent buyer rewards store credit and did not actually pay for any of them. I feel truly sorry for anybody that grew up on that decade's comics. I can see why people 10 or more years my junior think that modern comic book writers are so great, though. If you compare today's decompressed wunderkind writers to this stuff, it is superb. Cripes, I'll even go on record and say that Brian Michael Bendis is a top notch writer...when compared to this crap. Again, if a kid grew up on this and never read any Silver Age material, then I can see why Bendis is their lord and saviour. 

Comic books of the '90s feature some of the worst artwork known to man. That yellow stuff dominating that panel is supposed to be hair.

Everything about these comic books is laughable, from the concepts to the writing to the artwork to the overall execution. The fact that these issues form giant, 17 part crossovers with other titles which require you to buy all of these extra issues also sucks. I am so glad that I sat this decade out. The only issue that didn't make me laugh and shake my head in disgust as I read it was issue 19. That one ascended to mediocrity.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

DC has made strides in fixing the problem of their books not laying flat. Join the cause page if you want make sure that DC keeps up the recent good work on their hardcovers. Don't do it for me, do it for the children. Won't somebody please think of the children??

Review- LEGION OF MONSTERS

LEGION OF MONSTERS (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Legion of Monsters Nos. 1-4 (cover dates December, 2011- March, 2012)

Writer: Dennis Hopeless

Artist: Juan Doe

Woe is me. My beloved Bronze Age monsters, Morbius The Living Vampire, The Living Mummy, Werewolf By Night, the Manphibian, and the Son of Satan, all relegated to a Monster Squad ('70s TV series) level of parody. I guess that I should be glad just to see C-and-D-list characters like this used period. I would love to see a non-ironic take on these characters, that's all. 

I dislike all cute-sy artwork, as it is lame. I dislike it even more when it is used in conjunction with monsters. It's the worst mix since ironic mustaches met Rock. I've come to the conclusion that if this is what modern comic book fans actually, really want, then I am an old fogy who has no place in the modern comic book world. I'll take my artwork with photo realism and my writing without snark and self deprecation.

The OCD zone- Typical laminated cardstock cover, coupled with some nice, heavy duty coated stock paper. The printer must have been out of Marvel's typical trade paperback grade, because this is definitely a heavier stock.

Review- Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 9-15 and Nightstalkers No. 9

Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 9-15 and Nightstalkers No. 9 (Marvel, cover dates May- November, 1993)

Writer: Gregory Wright (Morbius 9-15)

Artists: Ron Wagner (Penciler- Morbius Nos. 9-14), Mike Witherby (Inker- Morbius Nos. 9-12), Don Heck (Inker- Nightstalkers No. 9), Andrew Pepoy (Inker- Morbius Nos. 13-15), and others

My God the '90s sucked for comic books. Issue 9 was part two of a three part crossover with Dr. Strange Nos. 52 and 53. Issue 10 is Part one of a four part crossover with Nightstalkers, which continues in Nightstalkers No. 8 (which I also don't have), but at least I have Issue 11 as well as Nightstalkers No. 9. Issue 12 was part four of the Midnight Massacre crossover event. Collecting this series via back issues is frustrating and aggravating, as you often don't know which issue continues into which one until you are reading it. You would literally have to sit there on the Internet and map out a reading/buying order. I know that I wish that I would have.

Len Kaminski left the title, and the writing quickly goes south. I can forgive the dated nature of older comic books, even crappy dated stuff that the '90s brought us, but crappy writing is always crappy writing, regardless of when it was written. The artwork also begins to suffer, as co-pencilers and co-inkers are brought in, and after issue 12 the original art team of Ron Wagner and Mike Witherby is done. Witherby's replacements are all substandard, the result of the deluge of titles being offered from all publishers at this time stretching good creators too far. Many of the pros who worked on comics in this time frame couldn't get hired today because the industry has contracted so much. 

Morbius becomes closer to an undead vampire in these issues. The further he descends, the cheesier it gets. I cringe in fear of what the next 17 issues will bring. Like I stated in my review of the first eight issues, at least these were all dirt cheap as back issues. The sad thing is that I would happily snap up this dreck in a trade paperback or, better yet, an Omnibus hardcover. 

My love for Morbius goes all the way back to my early years, beginning with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man No. 38, which my Mom bought for me at Farmer Jack back in the Fall of 1979. I was 6 years old, and I still own that issue. When I campaign for Morbius collections, I am normally thinking about the '70s Adventures Into Fear run and Vampire Tales (which we thankfully have in those weird sized “graphic novel” trade paperbacks). It has also been nice to see Morbius appear in The Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up Marvel Masterworks hardcovers.

Sorry kids, but there is no OCD zone for single issue comic books. Oh, all right...I like the slightly thicker pulp paper used during this time. There!

Follow my blog on Facebook.

DC has made strides in fixing the problem of their books not laying flat, but there is still work to be done. Join the cause page if you want DC's Omnibus books to be as nice as Marvel's!

Review- Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 1-8

Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 1-8 (Marvel, cover dates September, 1992- April, 1993)

Writer: Len Kaminksi

Artists: Ron Wagner (penciler) and Mike Witherby (inker)

Long have I dreamed of seeing this series compiled in a trade paperback or hardcover. Big Ben's Comix Oasis in Allen Park, MI, was having a massive back issue blow out a year or so ago, with $1.00 box comics being liquidated for .10 each. I saw a fair run of this title in there and decided to make a go of it. Over the last 12-15 months, I have completed the entire run, with the only issue costing me more than $1.00 was the elusive issue 31. That one set me back $5.80 on eBay. I got the “collector's edition” of Issue 1, sealed in it's original sealed polybagged glory. It even came with a poster. Wow!

I was on sabbatical from the hobby when this series first came out. The '90s were a strange time for comic books. The fact that the first issue of this series was part 3 of a 6 part crossover that ran across 5 other titles seems pretty shitty. I actually own the Rise of the Midnight Sons trade paperback from the '90s, so I've read the full crossover before. I deliberately only read Issue 1 this time out to see if it made sense on its own, and for the most part, it does. While Issue 2 doesn't answer the few subplots that are resolved in the crossover, things are laid out clearly enough where it doesn't really matter.

The artwork by Ron Wagner and Mike Witherby is frenetic. This being the early '90s, everything is !!!eXtreme!!!, but this art was worlds better than the dreck over at Image during this time period. Morbius' costume and powers are quickly updated, which is fine, since they don't really stamp out the existing stories but add to them. I enjoyed Len Kaminski's writing. Even though this is a quick, proto-decompressed read, each issue has a point while building and moving forward. 

Janice Chaing's lettering sucks. I can't state that enough times. Her lettering really, really takes me out of the story and is unpleasant to the eye. She makes a strong case for computerized font lettering that we see in comic books today. Make mine Artie Simek!

No OCD zone for comic books. The nice thing about reading actual comic books as opposed to collected editions is that the linework and color palette are 100% faithful. No gutter loss. I still prefer chunky trade paperbacks or monster hardcovers myself, but am not opposed to reading single comic books as long as they are cheap.

Reviews- Vampire Tales Vol. 3; Atmospherics

VAMPIRE TALES VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Vampire Tales Nos. 8-11 (cover dates December, 1974- June, 1975)

Writers: Gerry Conway, Chris Claremont, Doug Moench, Don McGregor, Marv Wolfman and others

Artists: Sonny Trinidad, Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuniga, Russ Heath, Mike Vosburg, Yong Montano and others

Morbius the Living Vampire is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. Indeed, I use his Marvel Value Stamp from the early '70s as my avatar on the Masterworks Message Board, so to get these classics collected is a dream come true.

Don McGregor's Morbius story (High Midnight from VT #8) was a chore to get through. While I love Morbius, McGregor uses the second party narrative to spew his personal philosophies of disdain for corporations, to the detriment of the story. While I share some of his views, I find it ironic that he uses an abundance of corporate owned popular culture icons as reference points for the actions of the characters. I don't believe that was his intention. It also severely dates his writing, as a younger reader picking up this book would be like “who is Rin Tin Tin?” I guess they could grab their smartphone and Google it. 

Doug Moench's writing is top notch as usual. He really had a gritty, street level approach to his writing. This straddles between zeitgeist and timeless, as these stories could just as easily be set in 2012.

Sonny Trinidad is an outstanding artist, one whose name isn't mentioned enough in conversation for my tastes. If he were an artist on a more commercially successful run of titles than these '70s Marvel black and white magazines then fandom would consider him a legend.

No, the gutters are not THAT tight. I just had to hold the book at a weird angle in order to get a relatively flat picture of the cover. Morbius rules!

Blade the Vampire Slayer is also a regular feature in this title. The restoration is worlds better here than on the old Blade: Black and White TPB.

The OCD zone- The restoration is excellent, with the exception of Blood Lunge from Vampire Tales #9. It's obviously scanned, and at a low resolution to boot. It has jagged lines and pixelation. Adding insult to injury, pages 2 and 3 are mixed up on that story. I am happy to see the covers in color. Marvel could've gone all cheap on us and printed them in black and white like the stories themselves.

This is one of the GN-TPB sized books, and despite the fact that the artwork was shrunk down from the original magazine size, it reads just fine. I would love to see this stuff collected in an omnibus or oversized hardcover but I can live with these three trades if not. I am just happy to see these lost classics finally collected. 

ATMOSPHERICS (Avatar, 2011- actually released in 2012; Softcover)

Original graphic novel

Writer: Warren Ellis

Artist: Ken Meyer, Jr.

Remastered and recolored from the original 2002 release, Atmospherics is a rollicking good time...if your idea of a good time is a completely nuts take on alien abductions and/or adverse reactions to heroin use. I thought that this was fantastic. I enjoy everything that I read by Warren Ellis. I don't own his entire catalog or anything, but his name attached to a project makes me more inclined to pick it up.

The OCD zone- This is basically a prestige format comic book/ graphic 'novelette'. I'd rather have a skinny 48 page book that is good than a bloated, 120 page trade paperback filled with nonsense double page spreads.

Follow my blog on Facebook. 

Please join the crusade to end DC's substandard glued binding on their high end hardcovers here.

Reviews: The Punisher- Franken-Castle

THE PUNISHER: FRANKEN-CASTLE (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Dark Reign: The List- The Punisher, The Punisher Nos. 11-16, Franken-Castle Nos. 17-21 and Dark Wolverine Nos. 88, 89 (cover dates December, 2009- November, 2010)

Writers: Rick Remender and Daniel Way

Artists: John Romita, Jr. (DR:TL-P), Mirco Pierfederici, Dan Brereton and others

The gist- The Punisher is cut to pieces by Daken, Wolverine's ret-conned child. The Punisher is sewn together by the miscast Morbius the Living Vampire. He was a doctor, true, but he was a biochemist. Here, he is miscast as a Dr. Frankenstein type who pieces Frank Castle back together. These continuity discrepancies are the reason that I have been dropping modern Marvel titles like flies. This works for me because of all of these vintage collections of good comics being put out. I only bought this because of my undying loyalty to the '70s undead (Morbius, Werewolf By Night, The Living Mummy, etc.).

John Romita, Jr. artwork.

This is why I do more research into all of my purchases these days. I am a sucker for Marvel's Bronze Age monsters, and when I saw those snazzy covers in Marvel Previews, I was like oooh, I will definitely pick that up once it's collected in trade. I now read the solicits more carefully, noting how they list the cover artist credit as being someone different than the interior artist. In this case, the interior artists are vastly inferior. With the exception of John Romita Jr.'s fast paced greatness on Dark Reign: The List- The Punisher, Dan Brereton's occasional painted artwork and Mirco Pierfederici's work on Dark Wolverine, the artwork is horrible. The writing is so bland and uninvolved, and the story has no sense of urgency. I only finished it because the issues read so fast that I was done before I knew it. That, and if I pay for it I must read it. This is an underwhelming read that will find its way on to eBay during my next purging.

The OCD zone- Marvel's over-sized hardcovers have glued binding most of the time. The shocking thing about this book is that it lays flat. I could live with this book if the material didn't suck.

Reviews: Vampire Tales Vol. 2

VAMPIRE TALES VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2011; softcover)

Collects Vampire Tales Nos. 4-7 (cover dates April- October, 1974)

I was happy to see the series shift its focus back to Morbius, the Living Vampire after Issue 3. It seemed like they were hyping Satana to be the lead feature, and then nothing. She lasted two issues. The reprints from '50s Horror comics are weeded out, and the influx of talented creators really lift this series to heights of greatness.

Let me drop some names here: Writers on this series include Don McGregor, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Roy Thomas (who adapts Robert Bloch's The Living Dead), Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, and Chris Claremont. Artists include greats such as Tom Sutton, Esteban Maroto, Rich Buckler, Val Mayerik, Bob Brown, Tom Palmer, Pablo Marcos, Alfredo P. Alacala, and Howard Chaykin. Alfredo P. Alcala, a personal favorite of mine, turns in what must be his greatest work in Blood Death (Issue 6). I love his work on the DC Horror titles from this era (House of Secrets, House of Mystery, etc.), as his artwork really shines in the black and white phonebook format for those titles. Here, his artwork was intended to be seen in black and white, and he puts even more detail in each panel than he usually did. It's stunning, rich, atmospheric work, with so much texture and nuance that I could put it on my wall and stare at it like fine art in a museum.

The stories in this book are almost as good as anything in the Warren Magazines (Creepy, Eerie, etc.) of the time, and I am interested in seeing what the rest of the series holds. Vol. 3 is listed on Amazon.com but has not been officially solicited yet.

Reviews: Untouchable Vol. 1; Batman & Robin- Batman Vs. Robin; Classic G.I. Joe Vol. 8

UNTOUCHABLE VOL. 1 (Dynamite, 2010, softcover original graphic novel)

This is the format of the future, kids, at least as far as hard copy comics go. A beefed-up 'prestige format' from the days of yore, this is like a 1/3 trade on nice paper with a cardstock cover. Radical does the same thing, offering 50+ pages of story, in this case $5.99 MSRP. When you compare that to DC's 20 pages for $2.99 and Marvel's 22 pages for $3.99, you can begin to see where this is going. Plus, titles tend to have diminishing returns. If this were a 5 or 6 issues mini-series it might not make it, but people are more willing to stick around for 3 bi-monthly books like this.

Mike Carey and Samit Basu deliver an Indian (no, not Native American) flavored tale with a creature that reminds me of the Nabu from Avatar. Ashok Bhadana's artwork is unbelievably gorgeous. The hybrid of pencils and computer "painting" give this a lush, detailed look and feel. The story works and I want to read the rest of it. I'm not sure if I will trade wait or not, though. Bluewater has been cancelling many of the titles that I have been trade-waiting on (the second Vincent Price Presents trade, Black Scorpion), so I am re-thinking my format preferences for the smaller publishers.

BATMAN & ROBIN: BATMAN VS. ROBIN (DC, 2010, hardcover)

Collects Batman & Robin Nos. 7-12 (cover dates March- July, 2010)

Issues 7-9 were Blackest Night tie-ins and were not done by the regular creative team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, so the quality was way down. Thankfully, things picked way back up with Issue 10. I am not reading all of these various Batman titles and tie-ins about the disappearance of Bruce Wayne through the ages, but I was able to follow this well enough. This ends on one helluva cliffhanger, and Volume 3 hardcover is featured in this month's Previews, so I guess that I am on board.

Terror Inc. Nos. 1-4, 8 (Marvel, cover dates July, 1992- February, 1993)

I will read almost anything if it is cheap or free, in this case these issues which I found in the .10 box at Big Ben's Comix Oasis in Allen Park, MI. They were blowing out the .50 box back issues for .10 a piece, thousands of them. I spent three hours in there one day after work, piecing together an entire run of Nightmask in F/NM and nice chunks of the '90s Morbius The Living Vampire series, among other treasures. I had never even heard of this title, but for .10, who cares? I grabbed what was there.

The basic concept of the series is that Terror, a bounty hunter whose origin is not revealed in any of these issues, somehow can use the body parts of other people and gain their abilities and memories, i.e. an Olympic runner's legs help him run fast, etc. This is black humor big time, filled with gore and an air of '90s "extreme"-ness. Amusing for a dime, but at full cover price...probably not. The artwork is typical '90s scratchy garbage. I like looking at old ads and checklists in these back issues. I was staggered by how many crappy titles Marvel produced back then. Then again, I am staggered by the amount of crappy titles that Marvel produces today. The more things change...   I look forward to reading today's "lost" masterpieces out of some .10 box in 2030.

CLASSIC G.I. JOE VOL. 8 (IDW, 2010, softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 71-80 (cover dates May- Late November, 1988)

I had already abandoned ship when these issues were originally released, so this was all-new to me. The linework and restoration are spotty throughout the book. Most of it looks fine, but there are some pages that you can tell were not re-colored by "hand". All comics are colored on computers these days, including collected editions like this. The colorist matches the original color palette as closely as possible, and there are two methods to doing this. One is by hand, very time consuming but very nice, and the other is to let the computer fill in the shapes, which often obliterates linework. This is the case here. Also, some of these issues were scanned in poor resolution, with pixelated linework being the result. While nowhere near as bad as Volume 6 or 7 (or some of the later ones...reviews forthcoming), it still annoys the ***t out of me because I know that this is laziness and not the limits of technology. Every other company has long since learned how to collect Classic (read: pre-digital file) material properly, so why can't IDW?

The stories are fun, action-packed, never a dull moment fare. Writer Larry Hama is a genius with these characters, even making the mandated insertion of new characters and vehicles (toys) seem plausible. Marshall Rogers (of '70s Batman fame) even alternates artwork duties with Joe stalwart Rod Whigham.

This book smells fantastic, with it's toxic yet pleasing aroma undoubtedly being the result of that magical Korean printing. It smells much like the Chinese printing, which I have characterized in the past as such: The result of asbestos tiles, lead paint chips, and mercury from recalled thermometers. The Korean printing has one extra delightful ingredient, though: the tears of the children forced to make these books in sweatshop conditions. It's funny how in these issues Roadblock bashes a motorist who doesn't drive an American vehicle, and there are a few other pro-American references in this title, and now these things are printed in Korea.

Dark Junk Food For Thought

MOON KNIGHT VOL. 5: DOWN SOUTH (Marvel, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects Moon Knight (Vol. 5) Nos. 26-30 (cover dates March- July, 2009)

This was another solid read. I really enjoy this title, but fail to see why Marvel axed it just to get the spike in sales for another Issue 1. Marvel seems to be moving in the right direction, restoring the original numbering to their flagship titles, and this seems like a huge step backwards. On top of that, Issue 30 obviously points to the next arc, so why not just keep the series going? I love the Zapata Brothers, both as villains and allies in this arc. Their Facebook jokes were hilarious as well, and it would be nice to see them as a semi-regular feature in the title.

X-MEN: THE SHATTERING (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Astonishing X-Men Nos. 1-3, Uncanny X-Men Nos. 372-375 X-Men Nos. 92-95 and selections from X-Men 1999 Yearbook (cover dates September, 1999- February, 2000).

I wish that this were released prior to the two X-Men Vs. Apocalypse trades that came out a year or two ago, as these issues precede those and would have made for a more enjoyable read overall. Cable, Bishop, and Gambit all suck ass, and I can't stand the sight of them. This whole thing is largely overwritten and has cheesy dialogue all around, which is a shame considering Alan Davis' solid plotting throughout. This isn't as bad as most '90s X-Men, as there some interesting ideas set forth here which would unfold in X-Treme X-Men.

NEW AVENGERS VOL. 10: POWER (Marvel, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects New Avengers Nos. 48-50 and Secret Invasion: Dark Reign (cover dates February- April, 2009)

Just like fans of the Detroit Lions, I cannot give up on the Avengers, even when they are "losing" because of Brian Michael Bendis' lazy writing. I mean, come on, the whole Secret Invasion: Dark Reign one shot is nothing but a conversation between people with the same lame jokes and wiseass comments that Bendis applies to every single character that he writes. I also despise his condescending attitude towards superheroes. If this jackass is too cool to write superheroes then he should go back to writing "real" comics. I honestly believe that Bendis is a double agent who takes a paycheck from DC and is being paid to destroy the Marvel Universe. He's pretty goddamn close right now, with the uber-retarded Norman Osborn running the show thing.

NEW AVENGERS VOL. 11: SEARCH FOR THE SORCERER SUPREME (Marvel, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects New Avengers Nos. 51-54 (cover dates May- August, 2009)

More lazy Bendis writing, but at least something happens in this arc. I don't understand the whole "Doctor Voodoo" handle, though, because Jericho Drumm is not a doctor. He's still Brother Voodoo whether he is the new Sorcerer Supreme or not.

SWAMP THING VOL. 9: INFERNAL TRIANGLES (DC, 2006)

Collects Swamp Thing Nos. 77-81 and Swamp Thing Annual No. 3 (cover dates 1987- Holiday, 1988)

The Swamp Thing Annual was the most abysmal thing that I have read in quite some time. The core series remains an intriguing read. Unfortunately, this is the last trade that is available for this run of the title, so I will have to resort to online synopses of the issues following the ones reprinted here in this trade.

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT: IN THE BLOOD (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Dead of Night Featuring Werewolf By Night Nos. 1-4 (cover dates March- June, 2009), Tomb of Dracula No. 18 and Werewolf By Night No. 15 (cover date for both March, 1974).

This was the MAX (Marvel's adult imprint) mini-series and, as such, is set outside of main continuity. I am always thrilled to see my beloved Werewolf By Night in any capacity, and this was not a letdown. Super violent and fun, Mico Suayan's artwork is amazing. I also have to give props to Ian Hannin's coloring, as it really complemented the artwork. As I have stated repeatedly, computer color separations generally detract from the artwork, with many colorists going apesh*t with all of the bells and whistles and forgetting that they are there to add to, not replace, the linework. I would like to see more new WBN.

RAY BRADBURY'S FAHRENHEIT 451 (Hill and Wang, 2009)

The term graphic novel is bandied about with reckless abandon. A graphic novel is a book length comic book that has been previously unpublished in a periodical format, like this title. Most 'graphic novels' in fine book stores like Borders are, in reality, trade paperbacks, because they compile issues previously released in a periodical format. Watchmen and Sin City? Trade paperbacks, people! OK, that aside, I was glad to see this solicited simultaneously in hardcover and softcover. Given my hardcover fetish, that's obviously what I went with. I wish that I hadn't. What we have here is a glued, mousetrap binding style hardcover, dubbed as such by me because as soon as you let the book go, *SNAP* shut it goes. A softcover would have been preferable to that. I first encountered this story via the 1960's movie 20 years ago. We had a student teacher in some high school English class while whatever teacher it was had surgery or something. Anyways, he was a very engaging teacher, Mr. Johnson I believe his name was, and he found ways to make books seem cool. This being 1990, the Judas Priest court case over some kid's suicide was in full bloom, and the Parental Music Resource Center (PMRC) was in full swing, slapping those Explicit content stickers on albums and threatening to end life as a 17 year old Metalhead knows it. Censorship seemed like a very real threat to my adolescent way of life. He showed us the movie of this book, which I eventually read the book of, and it left a very real impact on me. Fast forward almost 20 years later, and I saw this solicited and had to order it. This is a wonderful graphic novel adaptation done with Ray Bradbury's blessing and will hopefully find yet another generation of open minded people. This story is the reason that I will never subscribe to the notion of the electronic book. It would take but a few keystrokes to eliminate something controversial, but it is much more difficult to destroy the physical book.

SPIDER- GIRL VOL. 11: MARKED FOR DEATH (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Spider-Girl Nos. 60-66 (cover dates July, 2003- January, 2004)

Another solid, enjoyable read. Spider-Girl and the whole MC2 universe rocks.

Alice Cooper: Love It To Death, Killer, and School's Out 24K Gold disc reissues
I finally got around to picking these up, and they sound amazing. The original CD versions of Love It To Death and Killer were abysmal, sounding muddy with the 1% lag problem that was common on so many CDs mastered in the '80s. These sound crisp and clean without being compressed and punchy sounding. The bass drum doesn't sound like a cannon, it sounds like a bass drum, etc. I would like to see Billion Dollar Babies get this treatment, as they messed up the fade on Hello Hooray into Raped and Freezin' on the remaster earlier this decade, ditto Welcome To My Nightmare, as that remaster actually sounds remixed to me. It's nice to have all of the original packaging elements present as well.
Avatar
One of the most amazing and visually beautiful movies ever made. The CGI and 3-D are flawless and help to draw you in to the storyline. The plot is a bit predictable and it hits you over the head with its message, but it is a good message so I'll let it slide. I absolutely love the fact that this has nice clean edits that didn't rely on nanosecond camera angle changes or rock concert loud explosions, etc. (although there are great battle and action sequences throughout) to keep your attention. This is just an extremely well made and enjoyable popcorn flick that is almost Lord of the Rings good. Almost. It's nice that one of the best movies of the decade came during the final few weeks. No product placement and it hits all of the sweet spots, so it gets a 10/10.