Review- EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 8

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 8 (Dark Horse, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie #37-41 (cover dates January- August, 1972)

Writers: Bill DuBay, Steve Skeates, Lynn Marron, Don McGregor, Larry Herndon, Doug Moench, T. Casey Brennan, Don Glut, J.R. Cochran, Esteban Maroto, Kevin Pagan, Fred Ott, Sanho Kim, Buddy Saunders, John Wooley, and John Thraxis

Artists: Enrich, Bill DuBay, Jaime Brocal, Ken Barr, Auraleon, Ernie Colon, Ken Kelly, Jose' Gaul, Paul Neary, Esteban Maroto, Tom Sutton, Richard Bassford, Jose' M. Bea, Dave Cockrum, Sanjulian, Mike Ploog, Sanho Kim, Luis Garcia, and Jerry Grandenetti

The story lengths grew longer than they were in the earlier issues but still manage to hold my interest for the most part. Things pick back up in this volume with the influx of then-new talent that would go on to be legends in the industry. A lot of these guys would go on to work for Marvel in DC in the '70s and '80s.

While free from the constraints of the Comics Code Authority, the Warren Magazines seem tame by today's standards. There is little gore and no swearing and nothing more than fleeting nudity. It's mostly old school Horror with a slight edge for its time.

#37's Horror At Hamilton House is filled to the brim with Gothic atmosphere, really good stuff. That same issue's The Ones Who Stole It From You has one sequence which is amusing by 21^st century standards. Natahan Prine and Amanda Vincent are enjoying post-coital conversation and Amanda goes into a paranoid tirade about “tinier and tinier cages of freedom” and how banks are computerizing everybody, eventually giving everyone a “tiny charge card that'll have your symbols and responsibility all stamped on it's plastic surface”. The paranoia of the Baby Boomer generation seems downright quaint here in the middle of the second decade of the 21^st century. Computerized files and credit cards seem innocuous compared to drones, NSA surveillance, emerging robotic technology, artificial intelligence, and the like. Sadly, we do have tinier and tinier cages of freedom. If someone reads these words in forty years the things that I worry about today will seem quaint. NSA surveillance? Try One World Government surveillance, where they send the robot thought police to arrest you for thinking about something offensive to someone somewhere!

Ken Barr is one of those artists who seems lost to time. A quick check online revealed a fair amount of work in the 1970s, eventually moving on to painted covers. Jose Bea and Esteban Maroto were at the front of the pack of the Filipino comic artists who were hired by Warren in the early '70s. Maroto excelled at the fantasy stuff. Eerie was more diverse than Creepy, delving into science fiction (Yesterday Is The Day Before Tomorrow) and swords and sorcery stuff (Dax The Warrior, an ongoing strip) which was popular at the time.

We get treated to some great early Mike Ploog artwork in #40s The Brain Of Frankenstein. Ploog of course went on to draw the first six issue's of Marvel's The Frankenstein Monster shortly after this story was published and became synonymous with the early '70s monster revival at Marvel.

The highlight of this book was #41's The Caterpillars, a genuinely creepy story by Fred Ott with brilliant artwork by Luis Garcia. Garcia didn't do nearly enough comic work, leaving the field in the mid-80s to become a painter. It saddens me that a lot of these artists, whose work blows away a lot of modern artists, couldn't make a living as a comic artist and so left the industry. How much quality artwork did we miss because they happened to be a certain age at a certain point in time? Garcia would be a star today.

Artwork by Luis Garcia, well before the advent of Photoshop.

Dark Horse pumps these books out rapidly, and while I buy them all I am extremely far behind on reading them. The entire run of Creepy and Eerie should be collected in the next year or two, and Dynamite is zeroing in with Vampirella as well. Fantagraphics collected Blazing Combat a few years ago. I will see the entire run of Warren Magazines collected in high end hardcovers in my lifetime, which was a pipe dream of mine just a decade ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Presented in the size of the original magazines, these books are taller and wider than your standard collected edition.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with yellowing removed. Covers and pages which were originally printed in color are presented in color.

Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays flat.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Dustjacket has glossy lamination. Casewrap has the faux leather graininess to it and foil dye stamps. 

Review- EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 7

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 7 (Dark Horse, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 32-36 (cover dates March- November, 1971)

Writers: Clif Jackson, Steve Skeates, Gardner Fox, Larry Herndon, Gerry Conway, John Wolley, Don Glut, Bill DuBay, Marv Wolfman, Larry Todd, Buddy Saunders, Al Hewetson, F. Paul Wilson, Joseph Wiltz, Alan Weiss, John Cornell, Steve Engelhart, Doug Moench, John Ayella, Sanho Kim, T. Casey Brennan, Greg Potter, Christopher Wolfe, and Billie Fowler.

Artists: Clif Jackson, Tom Sutton, Frank Bolle, Richard Corben, Jack Sparling, Mike Royer, William Barry, George Roussos, Ken Barr, Ernie Colon, Larry Todd, Pat Boyette, Jaime Brocal, Bill Fraccio, Tony Tallarico, Frank McLaughlin, Carlos Garzon, Joseph Wiltz, Alan Weiss, John Cornell, Steve Engelhart, Frank Brunner, Mike Ploog, Victor de la Fuente, Jerry Grandenetti, John Ayella, Sanho Kim, Pablo Marcos, Bobby Rubio, Esteban Maroto, Joe Mascaro, L.M. Roca, Steve Skeates, Steve Lowe, Steve Cassman, and Dave Cockrum.

The Warren Magazines were the heirs to the artistic throne left vacant by EC. Being a magazine meant that they were free from the oppression of the Comics Code Authority and therefore able to do things that regular Horror comics of the day could not. There is an experimental vibe in the issues collected in this volume, with unknown talent appearing side by side with industry veterans. There are also several future fan favorites who cut their teeth in the Warren Magazines.

Issue 32 begins with an offbeat tale for Eerie titled Superhero!. It is a definite precursor to the Astro City hero the Confessor. InThe Wailing Tower Frank Bolle provides some stunning artwork, with the character Bill Reamy seemingly portrayed by Anthony Perkins. At least that is who I imagined as the star of the story as I read it.

Artwork by Frank Bolle.

 Richard Corben's underground style of artwork was one of the things that gave these magazines some “street cred” among the comic buying public at the time. Those who were “down” knew who he was already. Everyone else merely discovered an artist with a fresh style.

There are some great talents in this book, and there are some who are, shall we say, less than great. Mike Royer does great stuff here, ditto Jaime Brocal and Carlos Garzon. L.M. Roca is one that I have never heard of but whose work really wowed me. This is one of only three published works of his (hers?). I am always fascinated by these what I call “footnote” creators. This industry is littered with broken dreams, and I always wonder what happened to people like this who obviously had talent. Were they too slow to make deadlines and get a steady paycheck and went elsewhere? Did they give up their art for “real work” altogether? Were they the unfortunate artist in the wrong place at the wrong time? 

Artwork by L.M. Roca.

A lot of fans like Ernie Colon's work. I am not one of those fans. His work seems inconsistent, and intentionally so. His panels have decent composition and story flow but something about his work is off-putting to me. *shields face from rocks, eggs, and rotten fruit*

#34's Lair Of The Horned Man has incredible artwork by Alan Weiss. Growing up in Michigan one is constantly exposed to many remnants of Native American culture. The city of Detroit and many surrounding communities have names that are either Native American or French in origin. My Mom said that we have Native American blood in our family tree but I am not sure where or how much. In any case, I have always been fascinated by this sort of thing and always enjoy stories about the customs and “old ways”. #35's Money, by Sanho Kim, is almost like Manga, and comes off like an EC “preachy”. Very innovative for 1971. 

Artwork by Alan Weiss. 

There is some great early Mike Ploog artwork here. Ploog is a personal favorite of mine, as he went on to do my beloved Marvel Horror comics Werewolf By Night and The Monster Of Frankenstein, among others. Dave Cockrum, who went on to create/co-create Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus of the X-Men also has some early work reprinted here.

The topics of these stories run the gamut of typical Horror fare for the era. Forgotten evils, monsters, vampires, mummies, devils, lost civilizations, so on and so forth. Eerie also had some science fiction aspects to it, whereas it's sister title Creepy was more straight up Horror. This is also reminiscent of EC, as their science fiction titles were weird and almost Horror-tinged at times. There are one or two “drug reference” type stories for the hippies of the day as well.

While this book is inconsistent in terms of story quality it definitely has it's moments of greatness. Praised be Dark Horse for undertaking this most herculean effort of releasing the entire run of Creepy and Eerie in a deluxe hardcover format. There are currently 15 volumes of Eerie which I am current on buying (if not reading...), with the original proposal having 23 or 24 volumes mapped out. With volumes 16 and 17 already scheduled for release this year we are close to seeing this line completed.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These hardcovers are presented in the same dimensions as the original magazines and contain all letter pages and advertisements from the original magazines.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Foreword by Guy Davis (4 pages).

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Cleaned up high resolution scans. Some fans complain about them but they look crisp and clear to my eyes.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Semi-glossy coated stock. It has that sweet toxic Chinese smell that I love.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Smyth sewn binding with seven stitches per signature. The book lays completely flat because the book block has sufficient room to flex within the squared casing.

Buy EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 7 HC at InStockTrades!

Review- EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 6

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 6 (Dark Horse, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 28-31 (originally published by Warren Magazines; cover dates July, 1970- January, 1971)

Writers: James Haggenmiller, Bill Warren, Buddy Saunders, R. Michael Rosen, Al Hewetson, Pat Boyette, Nick Cuti, Rich Buckler, T. Casey Brennan, Doug Moench, Ken Barr, Gordon Matthews, Don Glut, Chris Fellner, and Steve Skeates

Artists: Dan Adkins, Billy Graham, Jack Sparling, Tom Sutton, Bill Dubay, Dick Piscopo, Pat Boyette, Rich Buckler, Carlos Garzon, Frank Bolle, Ken Barr, Jerry Grandenetti, and Tony Williamsune*. (*Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio's pseudonym)

This era was the tail end of the first creative slump on the title. Some veteran artists came aboard, and when coupled with then-new talent like Doug Moench and Steve Skeates, helped inch the title back home toward greatness. Issue 31 is the best issue in the book. 

Carlos Garzon and Frank Bolle turn in some impressive artwork. If you look at the list above you'll see artists who went on to do some notable stuff during the Bronze Age over at Marvel, such as Billy Graham (Luke Cage, Power Man). Others, like Dan Adkins, did a ton of work for various publishers over the years but have no character or run that fans identify them with. Jack Sparling is another great who must have been moonlighting from DC. He did a ton of art for their '70s Horror titles.

I, Werewolf by Ken Barr is my favorite in the book, in terms of both story and art. (In my Cliff Claven voice:) It's a little known fact that the original title to the Werewolf By Night series Roy Thomas pitched to Marvel in 1972 was I, Werewolf, but Stan Lee nixed it. I wonder if Roy was inspired by the title of this story? 

Issue 31's Point of View is one of those cause and effect time travel stories that I love to wrap my head around. Which is more responsible for an outcome, the cause or the effect? In this case, which one came first?

All house ads and letter pages are included, and they are quaint snapshots of this bygone era. Of particular interest are the Eerie Fanfare pages, where fans submitted writing and artwork samples. One of these samples of artwork was by Greg Theakston and Arvell Jones, two guys who went on to work in comics. It's very cool to see that they were once “one of us”.

I am thrilled to see Dark Horse continue this line of deluxe hardcovers. They release them far quicker than I can read them, but I am current on buying them at least. What's another year or two wait to read 40+ year old comics anyways?

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These are some nice books. They are presented in the original magazine dimensions.

Linework restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5. These are high resolution scans and are generally excellent. There are one or two pages that look iffy, but it could be that the copy that they used for this book was an iffy printing. It happened back then.

Paper rating: 4.5 out of 5. Thick coated stock with a slight sheen. Semi-glossy paper is not optimal for black and white material but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the stories.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Superb sewn binding and a casing not glued square to the spine equals a book that lays flat. I'm happy.

Buy Eerie Archives Vol. 6 at InStockTrades!

Review- Nightmares Nos. 1, 2

Nightmares Nos. 1, 2 (Eclipse, cover dates May, 1985)

Writers: Doug Moench and Don McGregor

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Colorist: Steve Oliff

People give me free comic books all of the time. I used to collect these because I thought that they'd put my kid through college, but now they are worthless clutter. Do you want them? I never turn down free comic books, unless they are drawn by Rob Leifeld. Yes, I'll gladly take yours, too.

These are colorized versions of stories originally printed in Eerie Nos. 103-105 and 109-111. I really enjoy colorized versions of material originally presented in black and white, as the heavy lines and shading give things a weird look. Primitive airbrushing provides rich, lush, yet muted colors. Marvel recently recolored Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano's adaptation of Dracula, and it is similarly pleasing in appearance. I look forward to getting both of these stories in their original black and white in future volumes of Dark Horse's Eerie Archives. 

I do have a question that maybe somebody out there can answer: These comic books state that the stories are copyright 1981 and 1985 by the creators. Did they somehow retain the rights to their stories? And if so, will this be a hurtle for Dark Horse to reprint them, or will a separate licensing deal have to be worked out?

These are two three-part stories, collected across this two issue “micro-series”. In The Trespasser, we get a Don McGregor soapbox special, complete with environmental warning. Dated yet lovable, well written Horror. These are some meaty reads, not picture flipbooks. 

Doug Moench's Blood On Black Satin deals with the occult, complete with all sorts of Hollywood flavored Satanism. Real Satanism is totally stupid and lame, but I love this over-the-top eeeevil stuff.

The artwork for both of these tales is done by the exceptionally talented Paul Gulacy. His artwork is excellent, and very photo realistic. Steve Oliff's old school airbrushed coloring deserves a mention, as does the heavy duty paper Eclipse used back then. The independent publishers of the '80s really raised the bar on production values for comic books, introducing better paper, airbrushed and later, computer coloring, and more sophisticated, adult themes.

This was a pleasant find, and these issues have been added to my collection for the duration. These can be had for under $4 on eBay if you're interested. No, not my copies, you fool. I just did a quick check to see what they would cost you to procure.

Review: Eerie Archives Vol. 5

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 5 (Dark Horse, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 23-27 (cover dates September, 1969- May, 1970)

Writers: Bill Parente, Don Glut, Gardner Fox and others.

Artists: Reed Crandall, Ernie Colon, Tony Williamsune (pen name credited for the collaboration of Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio), Jerry Grandenetti, Frank Bolle, Tom F. Sutton, Bill Barry, Jack Sparling and others.

I am a completist, meaning that I love comprehensive hardcover collections like this. The sinister undercurrent to being a completist is that you have to sift through much wheat and chaff. This book is nearly all chaff. The talent is mostly sub-par when compared to the earlier volumes in this series, but it does pick up later on in the series. Still, I have sworn to own all 23 volumes in this series, so I will buy them all as they are released. 

This series really lost its way, diversifying itself with science fiction and swords and sorcery type stories as opposed to the original Gothic Horror flavor of the earlier issues. Plus, the talent that worked on many of the stories in these issues was mediocre at best. Ernie Colon and Tom Sutton are just churning out pages and cashing checks, with no real effort put forth. I had no real impetus to read this book, other than to finish it so that I can get to another one in my backlog. 

Sadly, the best story in this volume is one that was reprinted from Creepy #1, with superb writing by Archie Goodwin and artwork Angelo Torres. Wrong Tenant, from Issue 24, does feature artwork by EC Comics alumni Reed Crandall.

I guess that if I were buying this series bi-monthly 40 plus years ago I'd have stuck with it, too. With no Internet or cable television, what else would one do to alleviate boredom? Talk to humans? I don't think so!

The OCD zone- Perfectly fine high resolution scans on nice, coated stock paper with sewn binding. While I agree that non-coated stock works better for black and white material, that ship has sailed for this line of books. I am happy with this book overall in terms of production, just not the stories in this particular volume.

Review: Eerie Archives Vol. 4

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 4 (Dark Horse, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 16-22 (cover dates July, 1968- July, 1969)

These stories range between pretty good and “I could swear I've read that somewhere else before”. The latter feeling is because I have, in fact, read them in the recent past. A handful of these stories were originally in early issues of Creepy, and since Dark Horse has decided to only omit stories reprinted within the series (i.e. Issue 21 was almost entirely comprised of stories from earlier issues of Eerie and were omitted), I get double dipped.

There are some quality names attached to this series, as well as some not-so-quality names. The good stuff is by Al Williamson, Tom Sutton (truth be told, he's pretty uneven here), Johnny Craig, Frank Bolle, Reed Crandall, and a one page Neal Adams bit. There are other decent writers and artists as well. The stories all tread the same classic, Gothic Horror ground. I am a sucker for this sort of thing, but if you like your Horror in a more Saw, snuff porn vein, then this series might disappoint you. This is comfort food, Horror comic book style.

Also of note is the Frank Frazetta cover which graces this book. It was later used as the cover to Wolfmother's self-titled debut LP in 2006.

The OCD zone: Another beautifully done high end hardcover. The black and white material is scanned at insanely high resolution so nothing is lost or blurred. It's neither too dark nor too bright, as is usually the case with scanned black and white material. The paper is thick coated stock, the binding is sewn, and it clocks in at a hefty 250+ pages.

Reviews: Eerie Archives Vol. 3; Black Summer; Magic Jake & The Power Crystals

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Dark Horse, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Eerie Nos. 11-15 (cover dates September, 1967- June, 1968)
Another stellar collection of black and white old school Horror comics by the all-time greats. Too numerous to name, suffice it to say that I have named them all in previous reviews of the Creepy and Eerie Archives. I am thrilled to death (pun intended) that Dark Horse keeps cranking these deluxe hardcover editions out. My wallet (and my bookshelves...and my wife) are quite terrified by the number of these that have been released in such a short period of time. Boo! These puns are getting downright scary.
I hope that once the dust settles and the entire series has been reprinted that Dark Horse sees it fit to re-release these in a series of affordable phone books for the masses.

BLACK SUMMER (Avatar, 2008; softcover)
Collects Black Summer Nos. 0-7 (cover dates May, 2007- July, 2008)
If it has the Avatar Press logo on it, you can rest assured that the comic book will meet the following criteria: Adult-oriented topics with excessively high levels of violence and high quality writing, artwork and coloring. Black Summer follows suit and is a fun read for those looking for a 'real world' take on superheroes a la Watchmen. I myself would totally sell out and cash in if I had super powers.
The artwork by Juan Rose Ryp is just fantastic, and the coloring by Mark Sweeney and Greg Waller is equally stunning. There is so much going on in each and every panel, a real eye candy feast here. Warren Ellis always has characters smoking cigarettes and dropping F-bombs in his stories. I have no idea why. This story was obviously very topical during the George W. Bush administration but holds up well. Recommended reading for those that like their comics with "Mature Readers Only" labels on them.

Magic Jake and the Power Crystals/ Magic Jake and the Power Crystals (Burger Records)
All Rock and all fun, Magic Jake & The Power Crystals waste no time. There are no lengthy guitar solos, no slow songs, and no filler. This is all meat kids, and it's well done. Bobby Harlow's vocals sound like he was inhaling helium while recording them, and I mean that as a compliment. I have always been a sucker for higher register vocals (i.e. Robert Plant, Rob Halford, etc.) Loving Knife is pure Rock 'N' Roll and is my favorite of favorites on the album. These songs are very punchy and very catchy, and there isn't a second wasted on the entire album. Normally when I listen to music I dissect songs, thinking "oh, that wasn't necessary" or "that section was a total Prog-Rock waste of time" or "they should've chopped that in half and made two songs out of it". I didn't do that once here. My opinion of albums being over 40-45 minutes are a waste of time still stands. My only gripe is that there is no CD available, only vinyl and limited edition cassette (mine was 205 out of 250, hand numbered). Maybe someday...

Junk Food For Thought: The Next Generation

YOU SHALL DIE BY YOUR OWN EVIL CREATION!: MORE COMICS OF FLETCHER HANKS (Fantagraphics, 2009)

Collects selections from Daring Mystery Comics Nos. 4, 5, Fantastic Comics Nos. 1-6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, Fight Comics Nos. 1, 3-9, Jungle Comics Nos. 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 11-14 and Planet Comics Nos. 2 (cover dates December, 1939- February, 1941)

Over the course of these two books, I have become completely enamored with the writing and artwork of Fletcher Hanks' so bad-that-it's-great comic books. These are so ridiculous and over the top that you can't help but love them. I have now read the man's complete works, and am a better human being for having done so. Also, the paper in this book smells fantastic. Take that, iPad!

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL. 7: THE MIST AND THE PHANTOM OF THE FAIR (DC, 2009)

Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre Nos. 37-44 (cover dates April- November, 1996)

This is one great series, for adults at least. I wouldn't let my son anywhere near this series! I find myself thinking (in a Stan Marsh voice) "Dude, this is pretty f**ked up right here", with some of the crazy goings on in this title. I love the whodunits, and find myself trying to figure out who it is as each act unfolds. Sometimes I guess it immediately, other times I miss the mark completely. I cannot get enough of the mystery/ detective/ crime/ noir hybrid that is this title.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: SLEEP OF REASON (DC, 2007)

Collects Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason Nos. 1-5 (cover dates February- June, 2007)

After 7 trades/ 44 extremely satisfying issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre, this was a shock to the system. The overall quality here is far lower than the core series, likely due to the fact that it is a different creative team. This seems like Marvel's Death's Head 3.0 from a few years ago, being a feeble attempt at rebooting/ re-imagining a title, and like that trade, should be avoided.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 11 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 100-109 (cover dates September, 1971- June, 1972)

Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice, with the finest restoration, paper, and binding in this day and age. To have comics that I once owned the floppies to presented in a deluxe, high-end format like this makes them seem far more important. I found Issue 103 in a quarter box circa 1983, and it was among my earliest exposure to Gil Kane's godlike artwork. I owned 101 and 102 as well, with 101 featuring the first appearance of my beloved Morbius, the Living Vampire (scroll through earlier blogs for more on that). Lots of people bag on this era of Spider-Man, and I fail to see why. You get writing from either Stan Lee or Roy Thomas, both among the greatest comic book writers of all-time, and artwork by Gil Kane and/or John Romita, Sr., who are among the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Honestly, these are comic books at their finest, and while there isn't much here that went down in Marvel history as an important event, these are solid reads with great artwork. Isn't that what one really wants from comic books?

ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL. 5: GHOST BOX (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) Nos. 25-30 and Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes Nos. 1, 2 (cover dates September, 2008- August, 2009)

My OCD is a strange thing indeed. For instance, it dictates that I buy everything in hardcover whenever available. The strange thing is that this was solicited in hardcover first, but my OCD forced me to pass on it, knowing that Vol. 5 of the softcovers would be out. Aside from the original periodical single issue publication, this series was issued in a series of 4 softcover trade paperbacks, then reissued again as 2 oversized hardcovers, which were re-issued AGAIN as an omnibus (oversized deluxe hardcover edition). I stuck with my softcovers, and, wanting a matching set, decided to see the format through. Strange, eh? You know what? These books also have STORIES inside them, so format be damned, this was a terrific read. I do not like the fact that Ellis writes the X-Men as means-to-an-end, we killed someone, oh well characters. That bugs me. I still dislike The White Queen (a/k/a Emma Frost) as an X-Man. I SO want to see this be the mother of all set-ups where she reveals that she has been evil all along, and deliver a fatal blow to the team. I have been waiting for this to happen since Grant Morrison's run earlier last decade. Please, someone fix this!! The 2 issue Ghost Boxes mini-series was pointless DC Universe-style nonsense. I am uninterested in other, 'what if' type dimensions.

THE GREEN LANTERN CHRONICLES VOL. 2 (DC, 2009)

Collects Green Lantern Nos. 4-9 (cover dates February- December, 1961)

Silver Age Green Lantern has a zany, fun flavor to it, with all of the lovable faulty science and far-out space adventures that one could possibly want. Couple that with superb artwork by Gil Kane and you have a winner. Many of the mainstays of Green Lantern are introduced during this time period (i.e. Sinestro, the Green Lantern Corps). I am still a GL neophyte, with this being only the second book that I have read. I hear that last year's Blackest Night mini-series was really good. I will wait for Chronicles Vol. 280 to find out!

EX MACHINA VOL. 8: DIRTY TRICKS (DC, 2009)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 35-39 and Ex Machina Special No. 3 (cover dates October, 2007- January, 2009)

This series never disappoints, and I am sad that it will end with issue 50. I suppose that it is better to have a finite ending and leave a quality body of work rather than let it meander and fizzle out.

G.I. JOE CLASSIC VOL. 6 (IDW, 2009)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 51-60 (cover dates September, 1986- June, 1987)

I bought every one of these issues off of the stands the day that they came out. I haven't read these issues since then, so this was a blast to go back and re-read them. I was surprised at how many issues I could remember the plot to all of these years later. Larry Hama breathed life into what were, quite literally, plastic characters and made most of this stuff seem believable. Serpentor, well, not so much. I can't believe that they didn't reprint the story from G.I. Joe Yearbook #3 that was the conclusion to Issue 56. My only other gripe is that the restoration is poor, with low resolution scanning resulting in fuzzy black lines on the borders and word balloons. They went to the trouble of re-coloring the issues to match the original color palette but couldn't be bothered with high resolution scans? My $50 scanner could have done a better job. Oh well, these are good reads in spite of that.

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 2 (Dark Horse, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 6-10 (cover dates November, 1966- July, 1967)

Another finely produced hardcover with many finely rendered tales by some of the all-time greats, such as Steve Ditko, Joe Orlando, Neal Adams, Dan Adkins, Archie Goodwin, Frank Frazetta and Gene Colan, among many others. The stories probably seem dated and formulaic to modern day readers but bleed lovable Gothic Horror charm in my opinion. Volumes 3 and 4 have been solicited, and Dark Horse has recently announced that there will be 25 volumes of Creepy and 23 Volumes of Eerie. That scares my wallet more than these stories do!The cover of this book (pictured above, taken from Eerie #8) is one of the many great Frank Frazetta paintings that graced the covers of this series and it's sister title, Creepy. I first encountered this image 20 odd years ago, when I picked up Nazareth's Expect No Mercy album on cassette, the cover image being the reason that I selected that album over several of their other available titles. This was 1989 or 1990, and there was no Internet as such. In fact, if you didn't hear a song on the radio or know anyone who owned the album, the only way that you got to hear it was to buy it. Oh, the stone age! In any case, Frazetta's artwork also prompted me to buy Molly Hatchet's debut album way back when too, but that one sucked. More recently, the cover to Eerie #7 appeared as the artwork to the cover of Wolfmother's debut album. OK, comic book and music history lesson's done.

G.I. JOE CLASSIC VOL. 7 (IDW, 2010)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 61-70 (cover dates July, 1987- April, 1988)

Like the issues contained in Volume 6 of this series of trade paperbacks, I bought each and every issue off of the stands the day that they came out. And like Volume 6, this has restoration issues, although not as bad as Volume 6. A little more time and TLC in the handling and scanning of this material would be greatly appreciated. Also like Volume 6 is the fun factor involved in these stories. These are just terrific reads, all warm and fuzzy with the glow of nostalgia. Another problem is that when they restored some of the lettering, they put the wrong letters in place, messing up the words as they were originally published (i.e. P instead of F).I recently read online that Larry Hama will be picking up the original Marvel series continuity with Issue 155 and 1/2, since it ended with Issue 155. I hope that IDW collects the rest of the run up to that point. I know that they are planning at least 9 Volumes, so here's to hoping for 15! I hope that they collect the G.I. Joe Yearbooks too, at least the portions that weren't reprint and recap stuff. There were some beautiful Michael Golden covers if I recall correctly. Again, go down to your local comic shop or bookstore and buy this so that I can get the complete run in this format. Thanks!