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- DEAD MAN LOGAN VOL. 1: SINS OF THE FATHER, RELAY VOL. 1: REALITY DENIED, Questprobe #1-3 and Marvel Fanfare #33, THE MAGIC ORDER VOL. 1

DEAD MAN LOGAN VOL. 1: SINS OF THE FATHER (Marvel, First Printing, 2019; Softcover)

Collects Dead Man Logan #1-6 (cover dates January-June, 2019)

Good stuff that should have just been more issues of Old Man Logan. But hey kids, a new #1! I am trying to not bag on the industry, but these endless relaunches seem to be a case of diminishing returns and jumping off points for older readers without a mass influx of new readers. We are at a point where we should just go to cover dates instead of issue numbers.

RELAY VOL. 1: REALITY DENIED (Aftershock, First Printing, April, 2019; Softcover)

Collects Relay #0-5 (cover dates May, 2018- April, 2019)

Brilliant stuff. There has been no news of any more issues, which stinks. Let's hope that we'll see more sooner than later.

Questprobe #1-3 and Marvel Fanfare #33 (Marvel, cover dates August, 1984- January, 1987)

Computers were for nerds in 1984. My family being able to afford a computer in 1984 was as far fetched as my family being able to afford a rocket ship. Plus, what on Earth could we possibly need a computer for? The old world is pretty funny in retrospect.

I bought issue 2 off of the spinner rack in October of 1984. I still say that it was intended to be issue 97 of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man and was recut at the last minute to include the Chief Examiner. Go back and reread it, you'll see what I mean. The portions that tie in are almost entirely on separate pages and seem spliced in. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #97 was essentially an inventory story with little ongoing subplots. Questprobe #2 was way more tied into the current series with the supporting cast featured. Marvel Fanfare #33 was intended to be the fourth issue but was cancelled when the computer company who made the video game went bankrupt. It was released a couple of years later in that inventory story clearing house series.

THE MAGIC ORDER VOL. 1 (Image, First Printing, 2019; Softcover)

Collects The Magic Order #1-6 (cover dates June, 2018- February, 2019)

Magic seems to have been reduced from childhood fantasy to the dustbins of history. Children, with their home computers and surround sound television, no longer have a need for magic. Magicians used to be a popular thing at kids' birthday parties. Technology has killed magic.

This was good enough for me to buy a Volume 2 if or when it happens. I still like magicians and all that jazz.

Review- JUPITER'S LEGACY VOL. 2

JUPITER'S LEGACY VOL. 2 (Image, First Printing, 2017; Softcover)

Collects Jupiter's Legacy Vol. 2 #1-5 (cover dates June, 2016- July, 2017)

Writer: Mark Millar

Artists: Frank Quitely and Rob Miller

Colorists: Sunny Gho

Give a person everything that they want, and what will they want? A little more. Brandon finds this lesson out the hard way. Even if you give people everything that you think that they want, it still doesn't make them happy because you never know what really makes other people happy.

I'm being deliberately vague with this review, as nobody likes spoilers. Fandom tends to disagree on the shelf life of a spoiler, but I'm of the mindset that I don't want to be the guy to spoil it for you, so I try to not do them. Your mileage may vary.

The tide turns, the moving parts that make up life slide into a new tongue and groove, and the circle is complete. Everything old is new again. It's taken four books to make the point (two volumes each of Jupiter's Legacy and Jupiter's Circle), but the payoff is clear. That is, unless Jupiter's Requiem, coming in 2019, smashes the whole thing to bits. I don't care either way, I just want to learn about the aliens for chrissakes.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials of physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Paper stock: Medium weight coated stock with a slight sheen, closer to glossy paper than matte.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.

Review- JUPITER'S CIRCLE VOL. 1

JUPITER'S CIRCLE VOL. 1 (Image, First Printing, 2015; Softcover)

Collects Jupiter's Circle #1-6 (cover dates April- September, 2015)

Writer: Mark Millar

Artists: Wilfredo Torres, Davide Gianfelice, and Francesco Mortarino

Colorist: Ive Svorcina

Everything is not what it seems to be, and heroes aren't always perfect people. That is the takeaway from the second arc in Mark Millar's Jupiter universe. Read on its own and taken at face value, this is some entertaining stuff. Compare and contrast with every other post-superhero, post-deconstructionist property. I can see both sides of this argument (all heroes should be heroic versus not all heroes are heroic) but enjoy this series for what it is: An exercise on the motivations of superheroes in “the real world”.

The backdrop of the series is the early Silver Age (1959-1960). Instead of the Justice League Of America battling Starro the Starfish you have this team dealing with J Edgar Hoover trying to expose their dirty little secrets. Like Astro City, their battles are largely left offscreen.

I really enjoyed issues three and four, where we see The Flare make a selfish decision that impacts his family and his teammates. Brainwave (Walter) tips his hand in #5 and 6 and shows what a piece of garbage he is. Anyone who read the first series already knows that, but it is now apparent that he was the snake in the grass from the word go.

The artwork has that Darwin Cooke kind of faux Silver Age feel to it. It's inconsistent compared to the first arc in this series, but I believe that this was the intention. Millar wanted this to look like something out of the past that couldn't possibly be misconstrued for the present. The coloring is largely flat, also an artistic choice done to emulate the Silver Age.

I am intrigued enough to continue reading and am looking forward to see what happens next.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials of physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Paper stock: Medium weight coated stock with a slight sheen, closer to glossy paper than matte.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.

Review- JUPITER'S LEGACY VOL. 1

JUPITER'S LEGACY VOL. 1 (Image, First Printing, 2015; Softcover)

Collects Jupiter's Legacy #1-5 (cover dates April, 2013- January, 2015)

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: Frank Quitely

Colorist: Peter Doherty

Brandon and Chloe are the children of the Golden Age's greatest superheroes, the Utopian and Lady Liberty. The parents are still out there fighting supervillains, leaving the biggest threat that their children face being dropped from their corporate sponsorships. Most of this new generation of heroes are more interested in raising their profile to obtain corporate sponsorships than they are in saving the world.

The main problem is that the old generation of heroes wants to help out, but they want to let the world run as it does. This isn't really a problem, but that doesn't stop the Utopian's brother Walter (Brainwave) from making it into one. The economy and world politics are floundering, and Walter believes that he has all of the answers. Anyone that says that they are never wrong and claim that they have all the answers is someone best avoided, at least in my life experience. Walter manages to reach Brandon in a drunken State and tell him exactly what he wants to hear, manipulating him and the others into doing what he wants.

Chloe is involved in a relationship with Hutch, the son of a supervillain. They keep their relationship a secret until she finds out that she's pregnant. It's at the time that she decides to move back in to her mother's house. Walter's put his plan into action as Chloe arrives there, with her and Jason end up making a run for it when things go south. Chloe and Hutch's relationship has an almost Romeo And Juliet quality to it.

Once Brainwave achieves his goal he finds that things aren't as easy to fix as he believed. Jason and Chloe are hiding in Australia raising their son, who is now of school-age. Their son has super powers and, unbeknownst to them, has been flying to the moon and back. This is when he attracts the attention of the US Government under the watchful eye of Barnabas Wolfe, resulting in the family revealing their location.

I enjoyed the 1932 origin part of the story the most. I love how these space aliens land on Earth and call Americans to them because they want to help only America. That type of faulty logic was rampant in Golden Age comics, and I love it.

The series has a certain post-superhero flavor to it in the respect that things aren't as good as they used to be. It is neither Deconstructionist nor Reconstructionist, however. It could go either way at this point, being somewhere in the middle. Millar uses doppelgangers as reference points in much the same way that Kurt Busiek did in Astro City.

Like all modern comics, the violence is a little over the top and there are adult situations which renders this unsuitable for kids. That's okay, but with a few tweaks of this formula you could actually have a fascinating all-ages comic. This is neither here nor there, just an observation.

Frank Quitely is an unusual artist. He has a subdued style that is not necessarily suited to superhero comics, yet he seems to excel at them. It's strange, but I like it well enough. Mark Millar treads his usual boards to great effect. I am sufficiently intrigued by this first arc and will continue with the next book in the series.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials of physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

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

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.