Review- THE AVENGERS: ASSAULT ON OLYMPUS

THE AVENGERS: ASSAULT ON OLYMPUS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Avengers Nos. 278-285 (cover dates April- November, 1987)

Writer: Roger Stern except for issue 280- Bob Haras

Artist: John Buscema (Breakdowns) and Tom Palmer (Finished Art) except for issue 280- Bob Hall (Penciler) and Kyle Baker (Inker)

This is another great Stern/Buscema/Palmer era collected edition. This picks up right after the Avengers: Under Siege Premiere Classic Hardcover, so I would recommend reading that one first. While it is not necessary to read it in order to understand what is going on in this book, it will greatly enhance your reading experience. This is possibly the most powerful line-up the Avengers ever had: Captain America, The Wasp, Captain Marvel (II- Monica Rambeau), the Black Knight, Thor, the Sub-Mariner, the She-Hulk...and Dr. Druid. Okay, they were not all heavy hitters. 

Issue 280 is a fill in issue and not a fill in issue. It does not have the book's regular creative team, but it is a well written story about Jarvis. Jarvis reminisces on his tenure as the team's butler while convalescing in the hospital after the beating he received at the hands of Mr. Hyde during the Under Siege story arc. Fill in issues in the '80s were typically self contained one shots, but this ties into the events in the current events of the series.

This book has been out for a while, and there has been no word on future Roger Stern era Avengers collected editions. Hopefully the Marvel Masterworks program survives long enough to reach his run on the title. If not, the Essentials should be there in a few more volumes.

The OCD zone- Like nearly all Marvel Premiere Classic hardcovers from the last few years, this boasts sewn binding, nice paper stock and decent restoration. This is a good package at a decent price.

Review- WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 4

WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 4 (DC, 2003; Hardcover)

Collects Wonder Woman Nos. 8, 9 and selections from Sensation Comics Nos. 25-32 (cover dates January- August, 1944)

Writer: Dr. William Moulton Marston

Artist: H.G. Peter

Another charming, loveable addition to the Wonder Woman Archives line. This one is paltry, clocking in at 197 pages. This is forgivable, though, since Volume 5 clocks in at almost 240 pages. Marston's writing is as superb as ever, ditto Harry G. Peter's artwork. His brilliance shines, even with the occasionally washed out linework in this book. (See The OCD zone for more on that.) This is an outstanding read, in spite of the handful of marred panels. 

I have been reading these Archives in an on-again, off-again marathon since Christmas time, and have been savoring the experience. Volumes 5 and 6 are in queue, and if I read them slowly enough, Volume 7 will join them in October. 

The bondage, S&M, dominant/submissive, and slave references are everywhere. It doesn't even phase me anymore, whereas it made me laugh hysterically when I first read these Golden Age Wonder Woman comic books. It's still funny to think that this was scooped by children by the boatload, with sales near two and a half million copies every month*. I wonder if people were unaware of these references or bought them because of them.

*Source: The Comics, by Colton Waugh, published in 1947.

The OCD zone- The color palette is nearly 100% faithful to the original issues. I should know, I did some digging and found scans of the original issues online and did side by side comparisons. I was horrified at how much of the fine linework was buried by the computer recoloring, though. It's a damn shame that DC uses the “airbrush” method to re-color rather than doing it by “hand” on computer, which better replicates the original brushstrokes and helps to maintain the integrity of the linework of the original issues. You would not notice this unless you did some side-by-side comparisons. I skew on the uber-anal-retentive side on the OCD scale, though. 

Another problem with letting the computer determine which shapes to fill in is that the shadings look fuzzy at times, almost airbrushed, instead of the soft fades found in old comic books. I wish that DC did what Marvel does, and remaster their material when advances in technology allow for a better overall product. Marvel has let Cory Sedelmeier raise the bar on the Marvel Masterworks. DC should also preserve their history better than this Archive does.

The paper is wonderful. It is a dull matte finish coated stock. The book also has sewn binding, and will likely outlast me on this planet. 

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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!

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Review- THE AVENGERS: UNDER SIEGE (MARVEL PREMIERE CLASSIC VOL. 51)

THE AVENGERS: UNDER SIEGE (MARVEL PREMIERE CLASSIC VOL. 51) (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Avengers Nos. 270-277 (cover dates August, 1986- March, 1987)

Writer: Roger Stern

Artists: John Buscema (Breakdowns) and Tom Palmer (Finished artwork)

Roger Stern is part of the holy trinity of Avengers writers, the other two being Roy Thomas and Kurt Busiek. Sure, there have been other good writers on the title, but these cats defined the team for me. In this book we see The Avengers get their @$$es handed to them by the new Masters of Evil. This hardcover edition thankfully includes Issue 272, which was omitted from the original trade paperback release. Coincidentally, Issue 272 was the only issue out of this block that I bought off of the stands at the time. 

Roger Stern crams so much more story into each issue of The Avengers than Bendis does. I shudder to think how many trade paperbacks Bendis would have milked out of an arc of this magnitude. We probably would have had a mini-series and forty one-shots to sift through, and still get a less satisfying read. The next time you go to read an Avengers book by Brian Michael Bendis, read this book first. It makes Bendis look like the ham-fisted assclown that he is. Make Mine Stern!

The artwork by the team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer are great at providing powerful, hard-edged stuff. Their fight scenes are downright explosive.

This was a $10 box find at last year's Motor City Comic Con. I normally forgo the variant covers shown above because they have a volume number on the spine. I actually prefer this dustjacket design to the book market design which I typically buy, but since I do not buy every volume in the Marvel Premiere Classic series, my OCD cannot allow me to buy these, unless they are dirt cheap like this. I'll do a double-dip upgrade if it is cheap. This was brand new and sealed.

The OCD zone- I love the Marvel Premiere Classic format. Nice paper and sewn binding at a decent price. The books lays reasonably flat. The restoration is generally very good, with one or two pages looking iffy to my eyes. This blows away the '90s release. The painted cover used on the '90s trade paperback is provided as an extra in the back of the book.

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Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2010; First softcover printing)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales Nos. 110, 111, 114-141 and the main story from Amazing Spider-Man Annual No. 2 (cover dates July, 1963- February, 1966)

Writers: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (plotter), and Don Rico (issue 129)

Artist: Steve Ditko

This is 320 pages of prime Silver Age goodness by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. You don't need me to talk you into buying this, you should need me to try and talk you out of buying it. But I won't, because there is no reason any self respecting comic book fan shouldn't have this on their bookshelf. I had only read three of the stories before buying this book, so don't feel bad. There is still time to save yourself and bask in the glory of Steve Ditko's psychedelic acid trip, Doctor Strange. 

I love how Doctor Strange starts out not as the Master of the Mystic Arts, but as the Master of Black Magic. There are changes to the character as the strip progresses, but like all Marvel Comics of this era they are logically explained and are believable. Doctor Strange's signature Cloak of Levitation is presented as a gift from the Ancient One for freeing him from a curse, etc.

I love Stan Lee's ongoing, seemingly endless plotlines. The story arc that features the pact between the Dread Dormammu and Baron Mordo, which leads Doctor Strange to discover Eternity, is epic. If Ditko did not use hallucinogens, then he stared at Dali paintings or other surrealistic pictures long enough to learn those lessons. The dimension that Doctor Strange travels through are trippy to say the least. 

The OCD zone- While I admittedly have a hardcover with sewn binding fetish, these softcover Masterworks are really, really nice. They boast state of the art remastering. This looks even better than the existing hardcover versions, with the original color palette restored, and the linework painstakingly restored from superior film/file sources. Consider this the Blu-Ray version. I also love the paper used in these softcover Masterworks. It is a coated stock of reasonable thickness with a dull matte finish. I like this paper even more than the stock used in the hardcovers, believe it or not! Another great thing about these softcovers is that there is a good deal of flex. They lay flat in your hand like a giant periodical. Wonderful.

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Review- SEVERED

SEVERED (Image, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Severed Nos. 1-7 (cover dates August, 2011- February, 2012)

Writers: Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft

Artist: Attila Futaki

Colorists: Attila Futaki and Greg Guilhamond

I love Horror. I love stories about serial killers. I love comic books. I love Norman Rockwell paintings and Americana in general. Combine them all and what do you get? Severed. This is a gripping, often deceptive read. Not deceptive in the storytelling sense, as it is pretty straightforward, but deceptive in the respect that the artwork and colors are soft like a Norman Rockwell painting. This contrast offers a nostalgic, familiar, warm vibe to the proceedings, which is the opposite intent of the story.

The gist, with mild potential S P O I L E R S- The story starts out in the mid-50s and then proceeds to a flashback in 1916, where 12 year old Jack, an adopted child, runs away from home in search of his birth father. Along the way, Jack encounters a traveling seria...er, salesman who likes children so much that he could eat them up. That is all I am saying. E N D S P O I L E R S

Severed is a great read and is well worth your time and money. It is a solid concept that has haunted me in the days since I have read it, and it will likely do the same for you. It will go on the re-read pile.

The OCD zone- The image on the cover is screen printed on the book itself; no dustjacket required. The paper stock is pretty nice and smells great. Yes, scents are worth a mention here in The OCD zone. The binding is sewn but the book block is glued flush to the spine. The books does lay reasonably flat, but either way it is fine because it falls in the under 200 pages threshold where my OCD afterburners kick in for this sort of thing. This is a nice, high quality package overall.

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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.

Review- STAR WARS OMNIBUS: THE COMPLETE SAGA- EPISODES I-VI

STAR WARS OMNIBUS: THE COMPLETE SAGA- EPISODES I-VI (Dark Horse, 2011; Softcover) 

Collects Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Nos. 1-4, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Nos. 1-4, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Nos. 1-4, Star Wars: A New Hope- Special Edition Nos. 1-4, Classic Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Nos. 1, 2 (itself a recut and recolored version of Marvel's Star Wars Nos. 39-44, originally published in 1980), and Classic Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Nos. 1, 2 (itself a recut and recolored version of Marvel's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Nos. 1-4, originally published in 1983). (cover dates October, 1994- May, 2005)

Writers: George Lucas, with adaptations by Archie Goodwin and others

Artists: Al Williamson and others

This was a gift for my son's 5^th birthday from a friend of mine. We worked our way through all 600 pages in a few months. I always handle my books gingerly, and have always wondered exactly how much abuse one of these books could take before falling apart. The answer is quite a bit! My son is pretty rough on his books. His copy is dog eared, creased, and loved, and not a single page is loose. He'd sleep with it and flip through the pages by nightlight. I love how Star Wars has captured his heart and his mind, much like it did for me at such a young age. Star Wars lives!

Now as for the stories themselves, well, what can I say? I am a Star Wars nut and so is my son. He was genetically pre-dispositioned to be one. The stories are great and read just swell in the sequential narrative graphic panel artform (that's comic books to you layman/laywoman out there). We had a blast reading these. I dislike the mid-90s computer recoloring of the '80s adaptations, but my son seemed to enjoy this, so so be it. A great birthday present for my son, Rick!

The OCD zone- There is no better reading value on the planet than the Dark Horse Omnibus format. Nice paper, sewn binding, the comics are all in full color, with page counts ranging between 400-600 pages...all for $24.99 MSRP.

Review- PANDEMONIUM

PANDEMONIUM (Humanoids, 2011; Actually released in the US in 2012)

Collects Pandemonium Vols. 1-3 (cover dates unknown)

Writer: Christophe Bec

Artists: Stefano Raffaele

This is the English translation of the French graphic novel, originally released in three “albums” (listed here as volumes). I could not find original publication or cover dates for these anywhere on the Internet. Pandemonium is incredible. Everything about this book is incredible. The writing, the artwork, the coloring...all of it is just incredible.

The gist- This takes place mostly in 1951, and deals with the patients of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium for the treatment of Tuberculosis. What goes down within those walls is pretty f**ked up, and will keep you turning pages until the end. 

This is slow, subtle Horror that thrives on tension and atmosphere. There are some grisly scenes as well, but the psychological Horror aspect works best for me. Your mileage may vary. While the website claims this is a true story, there is the standard disclaimer in the book that it is not based on real people or events...so which is it?

The OCD zone- Super high quality coated stock paper coupled with sewn binding make this a winner. It is wider than a standard trade paperback, so it will stick out like a sore thumb on your bookshelf, which is fitting.