Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 5

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 5 (DC, First Printing, 1999; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #19-23 (cover dates Winter, 1943- Winter, 1944)

Writers: Gardner Fox and Sheldon Mayer (co-plotter) with Jack Kirby (some Sandman rewrites)

Artists: Joe Gallagher, Stan Aschmeier, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Bernard Baily, Joe Gallagher, Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Kubert, Cliff Young, Steve Brodie, and Frank Harry

The novelty of reading scarce and expensive old comics has long since worn off for me after nearly fifteen years into the golden age of collected editions. We fans have been spoiled rotten by the embarrassment of riches shoveled at us in all directions in any number of formats. Since the novelty is gone, we are left with two avenues with which to judge these works. One is reading these comics in a purely academic sense, weighing their historical significance against other comics of the day. The other is how does it read through modern eyes in 2017. Modern meaning my middle-aged eyes, for what it's worth, but eyes that have still never read these comic books before.

With that in mind we jump in to this sixth volume in the line (there was a Vol. 0). The award winning formula of the day is still intact. The team starts each issue with a meeting and are suddenly presented with a challenge or mystery of some sort which requires the team to split up in order to tackle the problem more efficiently. This formula is used in every issue. While this might seem tedious or monotonous to a modern day fan, bear in mind that these comics were read primarily by children and that many people didn't buy every single issue of every title back then.

At this point The Justice Society Of America is Hawkman, Johnny Thunder (and his Thunderbolt), The Spectre, Sandman (the second, crappier version), Star Man, The Atom, Doctor Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, and their secretary, Wonder Woman. Yes, that's right, the second most powerful member of the team is left behind to take notes. Societal mores being what they were, I guess that this appealed to the kids of the 1940s.

#20 finds the team fighting their first true super villain, The Monster. While they have fought costumed foes before, this is the first one with augmented abilities. The story in #21 would have done nothing but create multiple divergent timelines rather than solve the problem that the team faced. I wonder how the DC continuity experts have worked that one out. The Psycho-Pirate proved to be a worthwhile nemesis in issue 23.

This was a moderately entertaining read. The stories have no plot twists and the endings are telegraphed a mile away, but these were aimed at children over 70 years ago. It's easy to criticize the lack of sophistication in the writing or artwork here in 2017. This stuff is still important and worthy of your attention. If it weren't for The Justice Society Of America we would never have gotten The Justice League of America for Stan Lee to rip off with The Avengers.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The following are omitted from this book:

On Silver Wings, a half page text story from #19.

Fuller Phun And Archibald Club one page gag strip from #20.

Fat And Slat one page gag strip from #21 and 22.

Who's Who In Whoville one page gag strip from #23.

Pervia Problem, one page text story from #23.

Why were these omitted? DC's collected editions department has little method to their madness.

Linework and Color restoration: Off-white matte coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. It's a little tight but loosens as you read it.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Thick laminated dustjacket. Casewrap has faux leather grain with foil stamping. 

Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 3

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (DC, Second Printing, 1997; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #11-14 (cover dates June/July, 1942- December, 1942/January, 1943)

Writers: Gardner Fox and Sheldon Mayer

Artists: Sheldon Moldoff, Jack Burnley, Harry G. Peter, Cliff Young, Ben Flinton, Howard Sherman, Stan Asch, Bernard Klein, Joe Gallagher, Jon L. Blummer, Lou Ferstadt, Pierce Rice, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Howard Ferguson

The Justice Society of America are the first team of superheroes in the history of comic books, so their significance cannot be overstated. The team at this point in time consists of Hawkman, the Sandman (in his wretched Kirby-designed second costume), The Atom, Doctor Fate, Doctor Midnite, Starman, Johnny Thunder and his thunderbolt, The Spectre, and their secretary and emergency reserve member, Wonder Woman.

All four issues stick to the same formula. The team meets up, the stage is set, and they either split up to tackle the problem individually or become separated, with the team reconvening at the end to defeat their foe. Each character's strip is handled by the team that created them, so this is a precursor to the “comic jam”. Most interesting is how each character's creator draws them in the panels and covers where the whole team are assembled.

Wow, this panel has it all. Native Americans worried about turning traitors to the country that stole their land and referring to the Japanese as "yellow men". 

Issue 11 shows that America had entered into World War II, with Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor fresh on everyone's mind. The members of the JSA all decided to volunteer to enlist in the armed forces, albeit in their civilian identities. They all manage to somehow sneak their superhero outfits along, changing into them on the battlefield. German and Japanese stereotypes abound in these comics, so they may seem politically incorrect by 2016 standards. Bear in mind that our country was in war, and they were the enemy at that point in time. These comics are fascinating time capsules of a bygone era.

My favorite issue in this book is #13. The Germans gas and knock out the JSA, loading them each onto a separate rocket destined to one of the nine planets in our solar system. I found it amusing that the supernatural Spectre could be gassed into unconsciousness, but you have to supersize your suspension of disbelief when you read Golden Age comic books. I found our then-current knowledge of the planets to be amusing as well. People's imaginations were running wild. Fast forward nearly 75 years later and we know so much more about the planets and outer space in general even though we still have a long way to go. I wonder what comic book fans in 2101 will think about our science fiction of today.

I love the rawness of Golden Age comics, and how the creators made up the rules as they went along. There is a freshness to this stuff that no longer exists in the medium. I enjoyed this book as a book and loved it as a historical document and artifact. Either way it deserves a place in your collection.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- RIP DC Archives.

Linework and Color restoration: This is an overall solid restoration job, especially for the era that the restoration work was done in. The linework is good, although there are spots with the occasional dropout. The color palette is maintained for the most part, although the color blends have that airbrushed gradient look not found in the original comics. There are also coloring errors here and there.

Paper stock: The paper in this book is perfect. Off white thick matte coated stock.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. The binding is quite stiff and the book doesn't lay flat.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Dustjacket has a lamination. The hardback has that faux leather casewrap and foil stamping on the front and rear covers as well as the spine. 

Review- WONDER WOMAN: THE TWELVE LABORS

WONDER WOMAN: THE TWELVE LABORS (DC, First Printing, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Wonder Woman #212-222 (cover dates July, 1974- March, 1976)

Writers: Martin Pasko, Elliot S. Maggin, Cary Bates, and Len Wein

Artists: Pencilers- Curt Swan, John Rosenberger, Irv Novick, Dick Dillin, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dick Giordano, and Jose Delbo; Inkers- Vince Colletta, Tex Blaisdell, Phil Zupa, Kurt Schaffenberger,and Dick Giordano

Coke Vs. Pepsi. GM Vs. Ford. Marvel Vs. DC. These were the battles that in my mind as a child there could only be one winner and one loser, seemingly oblivious to the concept that one could like both. I grew up a Marvel kid from 1979-on, snobbishly thumbing my nose up at anything published by the Distinguished Competition as automatically inferior. A friend of mine that I met in adulthood was the flipside, believing DC to be the way. I once thought that DC fans were like Jehovah's Witnesses, well-intentioned if misguided, but I have long since softened my stance.

That brings us to this book, an eleven issue beast of an arc that there is no way that Marvel would have attempted during this point in time. Wonder Woman was a role model for the girls who would grow up to become the feminists of the women's lib movement of the 1970s, and it makes perfect sense for them to give her a spin in the then-zeitgest. This touches on the late '60s reboot where Wonder Woman shed her costume and became more “now”, which was collected across four trades that I may actually get around to reading and review for you someday. It turns out that that Wonder Woman's memories were hidden by Queen Hippolyta so that she wouldn't remember being powerless in Man's World. This is what the kids call a “ret-con”.

Imagine the Internet OUTRAGE if this exchange occurred in a comic book today!

The JLA wants her to rejoin them, but Wonder Woman feels unsure of herself since she does not have all of her memories and decides to embark on “Twelve Labors” like Hercules to prove to herself that she is worthy. This book almost feels like a Justice League book, as they are featured in each issue with a different member stalking following her around and reporting their findings to the rest of the team in each issue.

My suspension of disbelief was pushed beyond the breaking point in three places. One: The fact that her Magic Lasso is elastic enough to stretch from the ground to the top of a skyscraper. If this were the case then how could it keep anyone captive? Two: Her Robot Plane (or Invisible Plane) which responds to mental waves. While not entirely without precedent in the Golden Age version of the character, something about it felt off. Three: Wonder Woman's seemingly intermittent ability to fly and/or glide on wind currents. It is this lack of consistency that cost DC early on in life for me.

This was a great read and a good time. If you are not a cynical bastard and like fun superhero comics you can't go wrong with this book...especially since it is now out of print. I enjoy the fact that it often takes so long for me to rotate books through my backlog that they are often out of print by the time that I get around to reading them. It is a scientific fact that out of print books are more enjoyable to read than in print books.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- DC needs to get in the ring with Marvel and do more of these types of collections. Eleven consecutive issues clocking in at 232 pages. I would be all over a comprehensive line of trades that cover this kind of ground.

Linework and Color restoration: The integrity of the linework is incredible. No complaints there. The original color palette, while faithfully maintained, is marred by inauthentic gradient shade blends which have a harsh look to them. A softer, hand colored (on computer) approach would have made things perfect. The degree of cheesy, inauthentic blends vary from issue to issue, likely depending on who worked on it.

Paper stock: Typical toilet paper stock that DC uses in collections of vintage material. This stuff will brown and yellow over time and it feels cheap.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock.

Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 0

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 0 (DC, 2006; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #1, 2 (cover dates Summer- Fall, 1940)

Writers: Gardner Fox, Jon. L. Blummer, Jerry Siegel, Al Sulman, Evelyn Gaines, Ken Fitch (as William Waugh), Bill Finger, and John B. Wentworth

Artists: Sheldon Moldoff, Chad Grothkopf, Jon. L. Blummer, Everett E. Hibbard, Bernard Baily, Joseph Sulman, William A. Smith, Martin Nodell, Creig Flessel, and Stan Aschmeier

This was a big 64-page anthology series featuring many different super-heroes. I am not sure which Earth this is supposed to be or how it does or does not fit into current continuity, I just know that I love Golden Age DC.

Hawkman is awesome, as he “uses weapons of the past to battle evils of the present”. Sheldon Moldoff is one of the finest Golden Age comic book artists. The original Sandman is of course fantastic, owing much to the Pulps of the 1930s in tone and delivery. Gary Concord, The Ultra-Man is little more than a Flash Gordon retread, who himself was a Buck Rogers retread done right. The original Flash just bores me. I have no idea why. I enjoy the Silver Age reboot but the original bores me so much that I have no interest in buying the Archives of that run. 

Horrid, horrid gradient shade cheesy airbrush coloring as far as the eye can see. 

My favorite is The Spectre. The Golden Age version is the best comic of it's day, and it was the lure of stories not collected in the Golden Age Spectre Archives that had me scoop these All Star Archives when DC was liquidating them a couple of years ago. Hour-Man and Red, White And Blue are all lovable products of their time that put a smile on my face. Golden Age Comics are something of an acquired taste. They wouldn't hold up to most modern readers beyond historical significance, at least from what I gather via online comic communities.

Uh...okay. I am open minded, but I am pretty sure that everyone can agree that this is kind of sick. 

These are all fun, silly escapist reads. At the end of the day that is all that I am looking for anymore. The real world and real life are depressing enough; I don't need that clogging up my escapist hobby.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is one of the thinnest Archives, clocking in at 144 pages. This is because DC didn't include these issues when they launched this line 15 years earlier and fan demand caused them to add a Vol. 0 to the line, which is great.

Linework and Color restoration: Horrid gradient shades as far as the eye can see. This technique looks wrong for the era. I can't be overly harsh though, as viewing this 2006 restoration with 2015 eyes is unfair. Imagine a DVD purchased in 2006. It probably was fine at the time of purchase, and certainly on par or better with everything else that was remastered at that point in time. Fast forward to the Blu-Ray era, and it looks thin and dated with low resolution. The same can be said for remastering techniques in these books. Advances in scanning and coloring technology has allowed the books to look more authentic to the original publications, often surpassing the primitive printing techniques of the time and looking as close to the original art as possible.

I cannot tell if the linework or color palette are authentic to the original publications as I A) do not own the original comic books to compare and B) cannot find scans online to compare with this book.

Paper stock: I love the paper stock used in DC Archives of this vintage. It is a creamy, off-white matte coated stock and is perfect. Why DC has done an about face and uses glossy paper in modern day Archives is beyond me.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: Faux leather casewrap with die foil stamping.

Review- THE COMICS CAVALCADE ARCHIVES VOL. 1

THE COMICS CAVALCADE ARCHIVES VOL. 1 (DC, 2005; Hardcover)

Collects Comics Cavalcade #1-3 (cover dates Winter- Summer, 1943)

Writers: William Marston, Ted Udall, John M. Jenks, Ed Wheelan, Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, John L. Brummer, Bud Fisher, Sol Dess, Evelyn Gaines, John B. Wentworth, and M.C. Gaines

Artists: Harry G. Peter, Howard Purcell, John M. Jenks, Ed Wheelan, Sheldon Moldoff, Lou Ferstadt, Irwin Hasen, John Chester Kozlak, Frank Harry, Frank Godwin, Bud Fisher, Al Smith, Joe Gallagher, Everett Hibbard, Hal Sharp, Stan Aschmeier, and Harry Tschida

The novelty of Golden Age comics has completely worn off for me. A decade ago I oohed and aahed at every single old comic based on the sheer obscurity and the expense of obtaining the original comics alone. After reading tons of Golden Age comics I can be a bit more objective. I still take historical significance into consideration when reading them, but some of these stories are just plain awful. Primitive writing and art cementing the notion that comic books were the ghetto for artists who couldn't land a newspaper strip went. 

This title was a quarterly 96 page anthology title (100 if you count covers as pages), all for 15 cents. Regular comics were 68 pages (including covers) for 10 cents at the time, so this wasn't as great a value as it appears on the surface. There are a greater variety of characters and concepts here, so that was part of the draw for the kiddies back then. Whenever I read old comics I think of once-beautiful neighborhoods in Detroit, and how many of the kids who lived there and bought these comics off of the stands are either dead or in an old folks home while many of the neighborhoods look like bombed out warzones. A 10 year old in 1943 would be 82 today.

Just look at the awful, lazy gradient shading on the red in the first panel. Shudder.

The draw of this book for me was Wonder Woman. I love how every single story results in her being tied up. It's hysterical, especially when you consider children were scooping this stuff up. There was a sizable adult audience for comics in this era, especially for Wonder Woman, whose sales went into the toilet once they got rid of the kinkier aspects of the character some time later. Her endless crusade against fifth columnists and Nazis is great fun. Still, I have to wonder what children at the time thought of this, or how it got past parents.

The original Green Lantern completely sucks, a totally cheesy and lame concept. Fans were atwitter when DC ret-conned the original Green Lantern as a homosexual. The only people who should be pissed about this are the gay community, as making a character this lame gay is a disservice to the gay community. If I were gay I would be pissed that DC picked such a sucky character to give to us. I would settle for no less than Golden Age Sandman, and not the lame Simon and Kirby version, either. Golden Age Flash is equally lame. While historically significant, I don't care for the early incarnation (Earth 1) of these guys.

The most fascinating stuff here besides Wonder Woman are the ancillary characters. The Black Pirate (with art by the godlike Sheldon Moldoff) is way cool, kind of a Prince Valiant of the high seas type affair. Wildcat is another awesome character. Ted Grant, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, moonlights as a crimefighter in a cat costume. His costume is disturbingly similar to my childhood superhero creation, Catman, although mine was a real cat man, not a dude in a costume. His arch enemy was Dogman, possibly my finest villain creation. Yes, there are a myriad reasons that I did not go into comics as a career. The King is another fun concept, basically a Batman retread (wealthy man doing good with his fists) with dated even for the era aesthetics. Sargon The Sorcerer is another neat one, this one done in the mold of Mandrake The Magician.

The King. 

The worst stuff is the kiddie “funny” gag strips (Mutt & Jeff, etc.). Abysmal stuff there. The Ghost Patrol is lame. M.C. Gaines writes an unremarkable historic one-shot strip about the Minute Men. Gaines would of course go on to form Educational Comics, which would rebrand itself as Entertaining Comics. Once he died and his son William took over in the late '40s they came to be known by another name: EC Comics, which is like calling an ATM an ATM machine.

This was a very uneven read, and if I ever get around to revisiting this book I will skip over 70% of the material in it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love DC Archives, even though...

Linework and Color restoration: The linework restoration looks good at times and is murky at others, but it is serviceable. The color palette is kinda sorta accurate. The blues on Wonder Woman's shorts are lighter than the original comics that I have seen scans of online. DC's cheesy airbrush gradient blends ruin the effect of reading old comics. It looks garish. Since this is DC, this is the only time they will bother with remastering this material. Marvel would use another format to defray the costs of restoration if superior sources or techniques arose.

Paper stock: Beautiful matte, off-white coated stock. DC has made a horrible about-face with their Archives paper stock in recent years, reverting to an awful glossy stock.

Binding: Smythe sewn binding, lays flat. This book will outlast me.

Hardback cover notes: I love the faux-leather texture of the casewrap. There is a foil stamping on it, which is nice. DC has done away with those in recent years. The dustjackets of Archives have been known to change color when exposed not just to sunlight, but air itself. Something in the metallic ink or whatnot. Weird. I own my books, they do not own me, so screw it.

Review- WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 6

WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 6 (DC, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Wonder Woman Nos. 13-15 and selections from Sensation Comics Nos. 41-48 (cover dates May- December, 1945)

Writers: Joye Murchison, Robert Kanigher, and William Moulton Marston.

Artist: Harry G. Peter

Here we are six volumes in, and all of the elements that have made this such a charming, amusing read are present in all of their glory. The dominance/submission and bondage overtones, the post-suffragette movement/ proto-women's liberation movement sentiments, and the can-do attitude that American displayed during World War II are all here, and I love it.

The stories do tend to get somewhat formulaic, so they are best read in small doses. I'll read 1-3 at a time, and then put the book down for a few days. Rinse. Repeat. Marston was suffering from polio during this time, so he delegated scripting to Joye Murchison and Robert Kanigher. I can only assume that they went off of his plots, because there is very little difference in tone and style from his own scripts. Indeed, if writing credits weren't provided, I wouldn't have suspected that were different writers at all. 

H.G. Peter's artwork is incredible as usual, being worlds more detailed than was necessary for the time. I love the intricacy of the hairdos on the women, for example. I wonder if he studied bondage magazines or something, because he is always depicting new and unusual constraints for Wonder Woman. I still chuckle when I think of children buying this stuff. It's no small coincidence that Wonder Woman was extremely popular amongst soldiers in World War II. 

In Issue 13 Wonder Woman fights the Seal Men, who look so ridiculous that they rule. In this issue it is revealed that she can bench press 15,000 lbs. (6803.88555 kg), jump 150 ft. (45.72 meters), and lift 25 tons (22679.6 kg). I have no idea how these abilities compare to those depicted in other eras of the title, but as a kid who grew up studying such things in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, I find such specifications to be fascinating.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- While the linework and color restoration are markedly improved over volume 5, pages 136, 149, and 152 look terrible, enough for me to lower the linework restoration rating.

The paper is a nice, thick coated stock with a bit more of a sheen than the Archives have traditionally had. It has the same nice sewn binding that DC should employ on all of it's high end hardcovers.

Linework restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Color restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5.

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Review- WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 5

WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 5 (DC, 2007; Hardcover)

Collects Wonder Woman Nos. 10-12 and selections from Sensation Comics Nos. 33-40 (cover dates September, 1944- Spring, 1945)

Writers: William Moulton Marston and Joye Murchison (WW 12 only)

Artist: Harry G. Peter

I began my Wonder Woman marathon around the New Year, and have been savoring these Archives. Marston's writing is superb as usual. His health was failing, and he brought in an assistant, Joye Murchison to write a script he obviously had already plotted. Harry G. Peter's artwork is a delight to the eyes, with his Gilded Age influences making this title look like nothing else on the stands at the time. The quality of both the writing and the artwork has been remarkably consistent thus far, and remarkably high.

The S & M, bondage, dominance and submission overtones are as rampant as ever, and make me chuckle. The fact that this was scooped by children as well as adults is comical. The adults undoubtedly got into the kinkier aspects of it, while little girls found a strong female role model that they could aspire to be. To put this in historical perspective, these issues were published during World War II, and Rosie the Riveter was fresh on people's minds. The woman's suffragette movement was only 20 or so years old, so a rise in feminism was beginning to take hold. 

Wonder Woman's trip to Venus provided some of the more outlandish, surrealistic imagery in this book. H.G. Peter really shined here, as he could draw very lovely ladies. While these stories can be somewhat formulaic and repetitive, when taken in smaller “doses”, these are remarkable reads. I have already begun reading Volume 6, and if I savor it long enough, it should hold me over until Volume 7 is released in October of this year. 

The OCD zone- The linework and color restoration are much improved over Volume 5, with the integrity of the artwork better preserved. Volume 5 had much of the linework washed out by shoddy computer recoloring, rather than doing it by “hand” on computer, which was likely the case here.

The paper is a dull matte finish coated stock, and is absolutely wonderful. This has sewn binding and lays pretty flat overall. DC Archives are great.