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- PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 1: TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES

PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 1: TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (Boom, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Collects material from the Planet of the Apes Magazine #1-4, 6, 8, 11, 13,14, 19, 20, 23, 26-28 (cover dates August, 1974- January, 1977)

Writer: Doug Moench

Artists: Mike Ploog, Frank Chiarmonte, Tom Sutton, Herb Trimpe, and Virgil Redondo

I am thrilled to see these black and white Marvel magazines from the 1970s finally get a proper high end hardcover treatment. I am disappointed that BOOM decided to collect them by story rather than chronologically by issue. Aside from the three film adaptations from these magazines which Malibu collected in trade paperbacks and the first four chapters of this story reissued in comic form in the early '90s, this stuff has been out of the public eye for over 40 years.

Like the original film, this story uses a wafer thin allegory on racism to drive its point home. Jason, a human, and Alexander, a chimpanzee, are forced to work together to save each other and the city that humans and apes share at this point in time in Apes continuity. This being a comic book, Moench and company are free to go off of the rails with sets and characters. We are introduced to some great characters, such as Gunpowder Julius, Steely Dan, Lightsmith, and Gilbert. All of them have clearly defined personalities and all are as important to the overall story as Jason, Alexander, and the head of the Ape Supremacists, Brutus.

This being the '70s, some things haven't aged well. Take Jason, for example. He is supposed to be an adolescent, but his hotheadedness and impulsive lashing out at those who care for him border on emotional abuse. This is somewhat common in Bronze Age comics. People were portrayed as macho with short tempers and a self-righteous attitude. This is easy to say here in 2018, where things are so much better with kids being prescribed psychotropic drugs on the regular and school shootings being a routine event. Come to think of it, maybe kids should be allowed to blow their top once in a while.

Terror On The Planet Of The Apes is widely considered the highlight of the Apes magazine series. I owned some of these as cheapo back issues circa 1983, and the few parts that I read never wowed me more than any of the other stories in each issue. I enjoyed them all equally. Pieced together and read as one story, I get why these had such a huge impact at the time. They are still good reads but I am looking forward to the stories in the other Archives even more. #4 was my favorite as a kid, the story where a human was blind and the ape crippled (or vice versa) and they tied themselves together to survive in the wasteland with all sorts of weird monsters. I haven't read or seen it in 35ish years but I am really looking forward to revisiting that one.

I am thrilled that BOOM has collected the entire series minus the Apeslayer stories (licensing?), but wish that it were done chronologically. Oh well. Just a couple of years ago this line was nothing more than a fantasy. Now it is real and I own them all.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in 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.

Linework restoration: BOOM scanned and cleaned up original magazines for this volume. They were granted access to the film for the next three volumes in the series. The restoration in this volume is acceptable but not great. It's readable but linework is occasionally washed out with the filtering process, particularly on Ploog's uninked pencils-straight-to-press stuff.

Paper stock: Thick coated semi-glossy stock.

Binding: Sewn binding with eight stitches per signature. Book lays reasonably flat. These super squared spines are annoying, as they have a hard edge to them when you hold them in your hand. I understand that these books are not meant to be read but to be displayed on bookshelves for shelf porn threads, but readability should be a consideration.

Hardback cover notes: Matte casewrap with a cover stamping where the logo is. While it is not embossed, it is a nice touch.

Review- CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES VOL. 5

CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES VOL. 5 (Dark Horse, First Printing, 2013; Hardcover)

Collects Crime Does Not Pay #38-41 (cover dates March- September, 1945)

Writers: Dick Wood with one story by Milt. J. Kramer

Artists: Charles Biro, Al Fagaly, Dick Briefer, Jack Alderman, C.L. Hartman, Norman Maurer, Rudy Palais, Robert Q. Sale (as Bob Q. Siege), and other unidentified artists

The quality of the stories and artwork have rebounded nicely after the dullness that was Volume 4. The gist of this series is that it is a “true crime” anthology style that depicts crime from different eras and countries, with an emphasis on crime of the 1920s and 1930s.

Mister Crime is the host, and he is essentially the devil on the shoulder of these would be criminals as they embark on their life of crime. In #41 we see his counterpoint, the “angel on the shoulder” of the criminal, Officer Common Sense. Neither one of them are visible to the characters and they break the fourth wall in regard to the fact that they are speaking to the reader.

While this series was lurid for the time, in all fairness they do not glorify crime. The criminal is always shown getting killed by police, sitting in an electric chair, or ending up in prison. There is an over the top, sensationalist angle played up for kicks, though.

The Dick Briefer Who Dunnit? recurring strip has run out of steam. I was thankful to see Robert Q. Sale take it over in #40. Issue #39's King Killer Of The Mountain is one of the better tales in this book. The quality increases across the board with #41, and I am looking forward to reading Volume 6. I know from reading Blackjacked And Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Sampler that the series' best days are ahead of it.

Sadly, Dark Horse pulled the plug on this line after Volume 10. They cancelled the already fully restored and ready to go Volume 11 as well as the already solicited Volume 12. Dark Horse has recently revived their Creepy and Eerie Archives, so I am hopeful that they will revive this line of books as well. I have no interest in the Gwandanaland print on demand books found on Amazon which complete the run. Dark Horse could even up the price $10-15 to make up for the low print run if that is what it would take to finish up this line of books.

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.

The Dark Horse Archives line of books are narrower than the original comic books.

Linework and Color restoration: Solid “frame up” restoration done off of scans of the original comics.

Paper stock: Thick uncoated stock. It has a creamy off-white color, being close to Mint condition pulp paper in appearance while being of sufficient thickness that it feels like 'Archival' quality paper. It also has the sweet, delectable smell that only Chinese made books have.

Binding: Sewn binding which is stiff and does not lay flat. This book is light and small enough where it is not an issue.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Nice faux leather casewrap with die foil stamping. Dustjacket has a decent lamination.

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- THE JOE KUBERT ARCHIVES VOL. 1: WEIRD HORRORS & DARING ADVENTURES

THE JOE KUBERT ARCHIVES VOL. 1: WEIRD HORRORS & DARING ADVENTURES (Fantagraphics, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects selections from Abbott and Costello Comics #10, All-New Comics #10, Black Cat #1, 2, Boy Comics #110, The Challenger #2, 3, Cow Puncher Comics #2, Crime Does Not Pay #142, 143, Eerie #3, 7, 9, Green Hornet Comics #30, The Hawk #2, Hollywood Confessions #2, Jesse James #6, Meet Miss Pepper #5, Parole Breakers #2, Planet Comics #32, Police Lineup Vol. 1 #3, Son of Sinbad #1, Strange Terrors #4, 5, Strange Worlds #8, 18, Three Stooges #1, Weird Horrors #8, Weird Thrillers #4, Whack #2, and Witchcraft #1 (cover dates September, 1944- April, 1955)

Writers: Robert Bernstein, George Vincent, Charles Biro, and other unidentified writers

Artists: Joe Kubert with penciling by Carmine Infantino (Strange Worlds #18 and Jesse James #6), Bob Bean (Meet Miss Pepper #5), and inking by Norman Mauer (Whack #2)

Joe Kubert is as prolific as any of the comic book journeyman of his era. While he is most famous for his Silver Age DC work (Hawkman, etc.), his Pre-Code work for all of the various publishing houses here is interesting as well. The quality of the writing is all over the place, which is common for the era, but his artwork is consistently good. I am unsure if Steve Ditko ever claimed Joe Kubert as an influence, but I can spot many similarities in the ways that they draw the everyman in the crowd.

Pre-Code Horror comics all kind of feel the same after a while, and the ones collected here are no exception. I'm a big fan of the genre so I love them, but I can understand the criticism that some folks have about them all running together into a blur. The Widow's Lover (Weird Thrillers #4) is a cut above the rest, no pun intended.

Some of the genres are of little interest to me. I find most Western comics and War comics to be a chore to read, and some of these old Science Fiction comics can be a bit too silly. I love old Crime comics. I dislike Humor comics, as they are often very unfunny if you aren't aware of the context and reference points. You would have to approach them from a scholarly standpoint. They almost require annotations.

The Son Of Sinbad material was my favorite in the entire book. As hard as it may be to imagine today, there was once a world of no cable television, where three major networks and a handful of UHF channels showing reruns dominated the airwaves. In this world the ABC Sunday night movies were a big deal, and I loved the Sinbad ones in the '70s. I would be all over a collection of Sinbad comics, but nobody aside from print-on-demand companies like Gwandanaland Comics would even consider it.

This was a good but uneven read. One can only assume that there will not be a second volume in this series, as this book is already five years old and a follow up was never solicited. Oh well. I'm over these artist-centric collections anyways.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book is wider than a Marvel Masterwork, DC, or Dark Horse Archive.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with some tinkering. Some line bleed was fixed and some solids were done, which looks jarring when the rest of the panel has the so-called Ben Day dots. All or nothing, folks. I can tolerate full blown restoration and I can tolerate raw scans, but the hybrid approach doesn't work for my money.

Paper stock: Bright white uncoated stock.

Binding: Sewn binding. Lays flat. The book block has room to flex within the casing.

Hardback cover notes: Matte casewrap. No dustjacket. 

Review- CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES VOL. 3

CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Dark Horse, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Crime Does Not Pay #30-33 (cover dates November, 1943- April, 1944)

Writers: Dick Wood, Milton Kramer, and Lev Gleason

Artists: Charles Biro, Dick Briefer, Volman, R.W. Hall, Jack Alderman, Carmine Infantino, Alvin Hollingsworth, Jack Cole, A. Kaplan, Rudy Palais, Louis Trakis, Alan Mandel, Lol Silver, Volp, and Bob Montana

As tolerant and accepting as people claim to be, many people seem to enjoy seeing criminals get theirs, at least if the comments section of any news article on Facebook are any indication. This was the most popular comic book of it's day. Name any superhero on the stands and this title outsold them. In a world where organized crime was an ongoing concern, it was cathartic for people to pick up a fat 68 page comic for one thin dime and get lost in a world where bad people have good things happen to them for a while but they all inevitably learn the fateful lesson that CRIME DOES NOT PAY!

Mister Crime is the host of the series, and he whispers in the ear of the various crooks, giving them advice along the way. Mister Crime also routinely breaks the fourth wall, speaking to readers while everyone in the story is oblivious to him. Societal mores and slang of the day are on full display.

Lots of future greats worked on this series during this time. Carmine Infantino is well known to all DC fans, while Jack Cole and Dick Briefer were known in their day and have enjoyed a renewed interest in recent years due to relatively affordable collected editions like this one which reprint their work for the masses.

While the material is stronger here than it was in the first two volumes this series still hasn't reached it's high point yet. As crudely written and drawn as many of these stories are it's the promise of what is coming in future issues that makes some of these turkeys readable. Golden Age comics are crude but they certainly have their charms. It's just that the novelty of reading previously rare, expensive comics has worn off for me and I call them as I see and read them. This might have been the best selling comic at the time but DC was burying this in terms of quality. This was still very enjoyable, but the best is yet to come.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- There is a typo on the Table of Contents page. The cover date for #33 is incorrectly listed as May, 1944, when it is in truth April, 1944.

All original text pieces and advertisements are presented. I dig looking at the old ads.

Linework and Color restoration: Solid “frame up” restoration done off of scans of the original comics.

Paper stock: Thick uncoated stock. It has a creamy off-white color, being close to Mint condition pulp paper in appearance while being of sufficient thickness that it feels like 'Archival' quality paper.

Binding: Sewn binding which is stiff and does not lay flat. This book is light and small enough where it is not an issue.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Nice faux leather casewrap with die foil stamping. Dustjacket has a decent lamination.

Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 4

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 4 (DC, First Printing, 1998; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #15-18 (cover dates February/March- Fall, 1943)

Writers: Gardner Fox with Sheldon Mayer, and Jack Kirby 

Artists: Frank Harry, Joe Gallagher, Sheldon Moldoff, Stan Asch, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Ed Dobrotka, Bernard Baily, Howard Sherman, Pierce Rice, and Arthur Cazenueve

One thing becomes crystal clear five volumes (Vols. 0 and 1-4) in to this series of the original Justice Society Of America: They had a winning formula and they stuck to it. Kids back then didn't always have access to every single issue like they would today, and this approach probably wasn't even frowned upon even if they did discover it. In each issue there is an opening scene with a meeting. Each member sets out to do their part and they meet up again at the end of the issue. I like how each character's creator does their part of the story and they all contribute to the panels where multiple characters appear. It's a precursor to the comic jam.

Issue 15 introduces the Brain Wave, a villain with an enlarged bald head who “can create anything that he can think of—and control it!” He returns in #17 after surviving his seeming suicide at the end of his first appearance, reducing the JSA to the size of toy dolls. #16 finds the JSA battling the Nazis on the home front when they infiltrate the coal mines and factories that the Allies needed to assure their victory. The absolute good versus evil of Golden Age comics is something that you would never see today. Nowadays we would be told by Social Justice Warriors how we should be sensitive to Nazis or how not all Japanese are like the ones who attacked us at Pearl Harbor. #18 is fun. King Bee uses insect hormones to trick men into committing crimes for him. The insect hormones gives the men the proportionate strength and abilities of the insects.

Wonder Woman doesn't see much action here, as she is merely the team secretary. It's amazing how different the world was 75 years ago. A woman could only be a secretary on a team of men. Hawkman's portions of each issue rule. Simon and Kirby's ham-fisted reboot of the Sandman sucks. The original was so cool. Starman is pretty cool too. The Spectre is more powerful than any member on this team and yet he never wins the day here. His portrayal in More Fun Comics is more in line with what modern fans might expect. Johnny Thunder is annoying, as his shtick wore thin fast. His Thunderbolt saves the day more often than not. It's omnipotent, and only it's sense of humor making Johnny jump through hoops for it makes things somewhat interesting.

The days before drunk driving laws.

This was a fun read. Golden Age comics are simplistic and crude by today's standards but they ooze with charm. I have to be in a certain mood to read them, but they read fine as both comic book entertainment and from a historical perspective.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The more things change...

The OCD zone- There are multiple omissions from the original issues reprinted in this book. #15 omits the Flying Colors one page strip as well as the Hop Harrigan text story, also one page. #16 omits the Victory Puzzles half page and the 1.5 page Hop Harrigan text story. #17 omits the 1.5 page Hop Harrigan text story, ditto #18.

Linework and Color restoration: I did not do any comparison to scans of the original issues this time out. I have been very busy refurbishing and relocating my Fortress Of Solitude. Sorry.

Paper stock: Off-white matte coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. It's pretty tight, requiring two hands to keep it open. It's not a huge deal since the book is 224 pages.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Thick laminated dustjacket. Casewrap has faux leather grain with foil stamping. It's a shame that DC doesn't do this for their Omnibus hardcovers these days.