Review- EVOLUTIONARY WAR OMNIBUS

EVOLUTIONARY WAR OMNIBUS (Marvel, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, Avengers Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #21, New Mutants Annual #4, Punisher Annual #1, Silver Surfer Annual #1, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8, Web of Spider-Man Annual #4, West Coast Avengers Annual #3, X-Factor Annual #3, and X-Men Annual #12 (cover dates Annual 1988)

Writers: Louise Simonson, Mike Baron, Steve Englehart, Tom DeFalco, David Michelinie, Steve Gerber, Gerry Conway, Walter Simonson, and Mark Gruenwald

Artists: Pencilers- Terry Shoemaker, Mark Texeira, Joe Staton, June Brigman, Mark Bagley, Kieron Dwyer, Arthur Adams, Cynthia Martin, Al Milgrom, Mark Bright, Paris Cullins, and Ron Lim; Inkers- Al Milgrom, Scott Williams, Josef Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Bob Wiacek, Cynthia Martin, Gerry Talaoc, Chris Ivy, Keith Williams, Mike Gustovich, Valerie Gustovich, Tony DeZuniga, and Jim Sinclair.

File this one under “Things aren't as good as they used to be...and they probably never were.” I eagerly scooped this book up when it came out, apparently oblivious to my memory of reading it when it was originally published. I hated this crossover at the time of original publication. I knew at age 15 that this was nothing more than a cash grab and a scam, refusing to buy the issues that were not a part of my regular titles. The fact that the story was incomplete unless you bought every single double-sized (and double-priced!) issue was an insult to me then and it is even more so to me now. Of course the point of comic companies is to make as much money as possible, but to insult the fans by forcing them to do stuff like this turned me off back then...much like it has today. I buy nothing that Marvel publishes today. If not for collected editions of vintage material they would see none of my money.

The main story is pretty feeble. The High Evolutionary has returned, deciding to fulfill humanity's potential by accelerating their evolution to it's maximum. This story is dragged into places where it doesn't belong. Incorporating The Punisher into this crossover was a bit of a stretch. To be honest most of these stories don't make a lot of sense, or they simply have the High Evolutionary shoe-horned in there for crossover branding purposes. The Amazing Spider-Man Annual with Speedball and Daredevil was fun, in a corny kind of way. The X-Men Annual was underwhelming, then and now. Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8 shows Gerry Conway returning to what was one of the most gaping holes in a plotline from his 1970s run: How a mere college professor could clone a human. Conway's ret-cone only serves to further muddy the waters on the clusterfuck that would soon be known as The Clone Saga a few years later.

If not for the back-up stories in each Annual which chronicled the origin of the High Evolutionary (collected together in the back of the book), I would have ranked this much, much lower. The origin story was highly entertaining, especially when the High Evolutionary was battling Baron Gregory Russoff (the ancestor of Jack Russell, a.k.a. Werewolf By Night).

 

This isn't a high point in the history of the Marvel Universe, nor is this the best work of any of the creators involved. I will still take this over what passes as Marvel Comics these days. At least everyone is acting true to character and the writers tell a story which serve the characters and not themselves. Not every comic has to wow or shock you, folks.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- While I have grown to dislike the size of most Omniboo, this book hits the 400-500 page sweet spot.

There are numerous omissions in this book. If a back-up story didn't belong as a part of the crossover then it was omitted from this book.

Linework and Color restoration: Very good overall, certainly better than the material warrants.

Paper stock: Beautiful thick coated stock with a slight sheen. I loved the paper that Marvel used in their Omniboo during this era.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, book lays completely flat from the first page to the last.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Thick lamination on the dustjacket, faux leather grain casewrap with dye foil stamping. 

Review- HERCULES: TWILIGHT OF A GOD

HERCULES: TWILIGHT OF A GOD (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Hercules: Twilight Of A God Nos. 1-4 (cover dates August- November, 2010)

Writer: Bob Layton

Artists: Ron Lim (pencils) and Bob Layton (finishes)

In this, the third of Bob Layton's Hercules mini-series, we find Hercules 75 years further into the future since the last time we saw him. The events in this series are tied heavily into the events of the first two mini-series, with Skyppi (Herc's Skrull companion) and friend Recorder (a Rigellian robot) assisting him in his 24^th Century misadventures. 

Like the other two Layton-penned series, these are whimsical, light-hearted tales portraying Hercules as an arrogant yet lovable buffoon. I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially Layton's meaty, old-school scripts. This is dense, “compressed” reading, not for the faint of heart or of short attention span.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Standard coated cardstock cover, slightly thicker-than-average-for-a-Marvel-book coated stock paper, glued binding.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5.

Cardstock cover rating: 5 out of 5.

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Review- ATLANTIS ATTACKS OMNIBUS

ATLANTIS ATTACKS OMNIBUS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Annual No. 23, Avengers Annual No. 18, Avengers West Coast No. 56, Avengers West Coast Annual No. 4, Daredevil Annual No. 5, Fantastic Four Annual No. 22, Iron Man Annual No. 10, New Mutants No. 76, New Mutants Annual No. 5, Punisher Annual No. 2, Silver Surfer Annual No. 2, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual No. 9, Thor Annual No. 14, Web of Spider-Man Annual No. 5, X-Factor Annual No. 4, X-Men Annual No. 13, and selections from Marvel Comics Presents No. 26 (cover dates August, 1989- March, 1990)

Writers: Steve Englehart, David Michelinie, John Byrne, Peter David, Fabien Nicieza, Gerry Conway, Terry Austin, Roy Thomas, Louise Simonson, Peter Sanderson, Michael Higgins, and Mike Baron

Artists: John Byrne, Ron Lim, Paul Smith, Mike Vosburg, Rob Liefeld, Mark Bagley, Ron Wilson, Rich Buckler, Don Perlin, Al Milgrom, Paul Ryan, Walter Simonson, Terry Austin, Don Heck, and others

Woe to me, and my never ending obsession with high end hardcovers. Had this been solicited as a softcover or an Essential (as was discussed over on the Masterworks Message Board years ago), I would have griped “Why not in hardcover??” I got my wish, for better or for worse. I bought several of these steaming piles of crap off of the stands in the summer of 1989, and didn't realize until after I bought this 544 page book that this crossover was one of the main reasons that I dropped comic books in late '89/early '90. I disliked the shyster “gotta buy 'em all for the complete story” crossover gimmicks which started several years prior with Secret Wars II. I disliked the then new breed of comic book “artists” like Rob Liefeld, and even the writing by veterans like Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway was overwritten and uninspired. 

...so don't even try!

This book has it's share of solid entertainment value, but much of it is overwritten and clunky. I love old comic books, but there are aspects to them that I find annoying, such as when someone is about to get hit with a beam or something, and the antagonist telegraphs it in their dialogue. “I shall hit you with this laser beam, which will...” or other such nonsense. 

Artwork by Mark Bagley.

The artwork by Rob Liefeld can never be badmouthed enough as far as I am concerned, and it was he who inspired me to quit buying comic books in the final months of 1989. If this was what was going on now, then I wanted nothing to do with it. I couldn't have fathomed how much worse things would get with the ensuing Image boom. Thankfully, I sat all of that holo-foil variant nonsense out. 

"Artwork" by Rob Liefeld. No, Liefeld is not an abstract artist, merely incompetent.

The gist- Ghaur, high priest of the Deviants, conspires with Llyra of Lemuria to use Attuma and the Atlanteans as a catspaw in an attempt to bring about the return of Set, the Serpent God. Attuma and his Atlantean army are tricked into attacking the surface world, with Ghaur knowing full well that the armies of Atlantis will slaughter innocent civilians, fail against the surface world's superheroes, and will result in a blood sacrifice to bring Set back to this dimension. When Attuma withdraws his armies, Ghaur goes with his plan B: kidnapping seven super-heroines to offer to Set as brides. (Set has seven heads.) 

Artwork by John Byrne. Note how there is NO gutter loss in this double page spread. DC should take notes. It CAN be done.

The best part of this book are each Annual's back-up stories, the 14 chapter The Saga of the Serpent Crown by Marvel historian Peter Sanderson and then newbie artist Mark Bagley. They go so far and so deep into continuity that it'll make your head spin. I love continuity, but there is a point where those hippies writing comics in the '60s and '70s made things ridiculously complicated. I am looking at you, Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart. Still, our host Uatu the Watcher clearly explains things, and by the end of those back-ups, you feel like you have a solid grasp on the subject. They are all collected in the back of the book, so that they can be read in exact order rather than in their proper printed location at the back of each annual. It didn't make my OCD twitch, but your mileage may vary. 

Artwork by Mark Bagley.

The original series editors were terrible, with countless typos and word balloons attributed to the wrong character on numerous occasions. While typos can be somewhat forgiven when you think back to the pre-spell check era, the errors that I caught were glaringly obvious. Now, here is a chance for the collected edition obsessives to get their own o-fish-al Junk Food For Thought no-prize. They used to do paste-ups over the word balloons on the original art with spelling corrections which often fell off or became lost. I no longer own the floppies of these issues, so if someone wants to go issue by issue, page by page, and determine if they were indeed corrected for print and we have superior, pre-correction file sources here, shoot me an email. Snap a picture (or scan) of them side by side, and I will post your name and picture in this blog. Wow! Fame and fortune can be yours too.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5. 

Note how terrible the re-coloring is on this Rob Liefeld "artwork".

The OCD zone- The restoration is generally excellent, with two exceptions: Pages 512-517, the back-up story from Web of Spider-Man Annual No. 5, where the linework is dropped out in several spots, and the re-coloring on New Mutants Annual No. 5, which has shoddy re-coloring, looking “airbrushed” due to the computer filling in the shapes rather than doing it “by hand” on the computer. The latter isn't that big of a deal, however, as it has art by Rob Liefeld. Even Cory Sedlmeier and Michael Kelleher couldn't make his art look good.

Linework restoration: 4 out of 5.

Color restoration: 4 out of 5.

Overall rating affected by the problems listed above. Restoration rating would have been closer to 5 without these defects.

Paper rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Lays perfectly flat at any and every point of the book.

Reviews: Marvel Masterworks: The Silver Surfer Vol. 2, Spider-Man: The Gauntlet Vol. 3 and Vol. 4

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SILVER SURFER VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2008 edition, Hardcover)

Collects The Silver Surfer Nos. 7-18 (cover dates August, 1969- September, 1970)

Yet another OCD upgrade/ double-dip (see earlier posts for the story in the review of Volume 1). At least I have a perfect version preserved for posterity. The Mephisto stories are my favorites, followed by the one with witches coven where they conjure the Abomination.

SPIDER-MAN: THE GAUNTLET VOL. 3- VULTURE & MORBIUS (Marvel, 2010, Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 622-625 and selections from Web of Spider-Man Nos. 2, 6 (cover dates January- May, 2010)

The writing is consistently good on this title, while the artwork is consistently...inconsistent. It's really hit or miss, and with the rotating "Spidey Brain Trust" of writers, no one artist really has time to gel on the title. It was a thrill to see Morbius the Living Vampire again, as he ranks among my all-time favorite villains. The Vulture story from Web of Spider-Man No. 6 was great, and is the highlight of this book.

SPIDER-MAN: THE GAUNTLET VOL. 4- JUGGERNAUT (Marvel, 2010, Hardcover)

Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 229, 230, 626-628 and material from Amazing Spider-Man No. 629 (cover dates June, 1982- June, 2010)

Exceptionally good stuff by Roger Stern (writer) and Lee Weeks (artist). Lee Weeks has a vintage John Romita, Jr. feel to his pencils, which works really well in this sequel to the classic Issues 229 and 230 since John Romita, Jr. did the artwork in those issues. It's nice to see Roger Stern back on the title, even if only intermittently. The Gauntlet is unfolding nicely.

Reviews: Marvel Masterworks- The Silver Surfer Vol. 1; X-Men- Mutant Massacre; Dark Reign- The Hood & The Smashing Pumpkins- Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 2

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SILVER SURFER VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2008 edition)

Collects The Silver Surfer Nos. 1-6 and material from Fantastic Four Annual No. 6 and Not Brand Echh No. 13 (cover dates November, 1967- June, 1969)

My OCD sucks. I had an older printing of this same book and sold it off to upgrade to this refurbished back-to-press edition. Marvel Masterworks didn't have coloring faithful to the original issues when the line launched, because they didn't figure that people cared one way or the other. Comic book fans are among the most anal-retentive purist types around, so this was a gross underestimate of their target audience. The Internet has helped Marvel know just how anal we are! In the old printing that I had, the Silver Surfer was colored a light blue to simulate silver. When Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer came out several years ago, Marvel issued a Silver Surfer Omnibus with restored linework and coloring faithful to the original issues. I resisted the siren's call of a lush, over-sized hardcover because I already had both Masterworks. Then I read that it had glued mousetrap binding, and that made it much easier to avoid. They did some side-by-side views of the material, and it was then that I realized how god-awful my versions looked. The Omnibus fell out of print and life went on. Marvel reissued the Masterworks using the restored Omnibus files, and I resisted for a while. I was afraid that these would fall out of print, so I snatched them up. Then Marvel reissued them in softcover AFTER I plunked down the cash for the hardcovers. &$^#&^*^(*&^*&#$*!!!

This is some of the best writing of Stan Lee's career. Way melodramatic and riffing on Shakespeare, the Bible, etc., this character echoes much of Lee's personal philosophy and reflects the times that it was originally published in. John Buscema's artwork is simply stunning, especially on the first 3 issues where Joe Sinnott inks him. His brother Sal Buscema inks issues 4-6, and while I feel that Sal is a competent penciler, he is a terrible inker. He barely traces the linework of the penciler, and I prefer a more heavy-handed approach, like Sinnott has. Issue 3, the first appearance of Mephisto, is the best of the entire 18 issue run. Stan Lee really knocked that one out of the park, and John Buscema's artwork is just amazing. Well worth picking this stuff up if you've never read it, or re-reading it even if you have.

X-MEN: MUTANT MASSACRE (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Daredevil No. 238, New Mutants No. 46, Power Pack  No. 27, Thor Nos. 373, 374, Uncanny X-Men Nos. 210-214 and X-Factor Nos. 9-11 (cover dates October, 1986- February, 1987)

...and here we have what you would call the TRIPLE dip. I bought the Uncanny X-Men and Power Pack issues when they were originally released back in 1986, and then bought the softcover Mutant Massacre trade paperback several years ago. Then Marvel announced this expanded, high-end hardcover, and with this being a beloved memory from my youth, how could I resist? Nice paper and sewn binding, the only letdown was the inferior linework restoration in Uncanny X-Men Nos. 211-213. I think that those issues looked better in the otherwise inferior trade paperback release.

These were among my favorite issues of the X-Men that summer (cover dates were 4 months ahead in the Direct Market in 1986). I remember being bummed after John Romita, Jr. left the title, only to discover the wonderful artwork of Alan Davis. These issues were also the first time that Wolverine fought Sabretooth, although Marvel would ret-con that to an asinine degree later on. Sabretooth started out as a B-lister, fighting Iron Fist, etc, and then Marvel made him into a "star" in the '90s. Then they crapped up both his and Wolverine's backstories to the point that they don't even resemble the characters they once were and I no longer care about either of them. Back in 1986, though, Issues 212 and 213 were a different story. Wolverine was one of my favorite characters circa 1986, and the fight between him and Sabretooth was something that my comic book collecting buddies and I talked about ad nauseum back then.

DARK REIGN: THE HOOD (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Dark Reign: The Hood Nos. 1-5 and material from Dark Reign: The Cabal (cover dates June- November, 2009)

The only thing that I like better than comic books are CHEAP comic books! I found this in a $5 box at the Motor City Comic Con last May, and flipped through it. Once I noticed the Kyle Hotz artwork, I decided to give it a try. I really enjoyed his artwork on the two recent Zombie (Simon Garth) mini-series that Marvel put out a few years ago. The Hood is an interesting character even though I mostly dislike his appearances in New Avengers and the whole Norman Osborn/ Dark Reign concept. The $5 box is the quarter box equivalent for trades, so it wasn't a huge gamble.

The Smashing Pumpkins/ Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 2- The Solstice Bare

The second of eleven 4-track EPs, The Solstice Bare is a different beast than Vol. 1- Songs For A Sailor. The Fellowship finds Senor Corgan and company delving into electronica/techno/whatever it's called these days, and wouldn't have sounded out of place on his 2005 solo album TheFutureEmbrace. Freak U.S.A. (as it is titled on the CD's digipak), formerly known as Freak when it first appeared as a free download last July, sounds much better here than the mp3s on the main site. Tom Tom is a decent song, not as great as everyone hyped it to be, but decent. Spangled is absolutely gorgeous, the best post-reunion song. Cottonwood Symphony, the B-side on the accompanying 12" vinyl record in the box, is good as well.

The packaging on this release is fairly elaborate, with it being in a box with a reflective psychedelic "wall paper" wrapping. The vinyl is 180g 12", and unlike Vol. 1, all 4 songs from the CD are on it, with the B-side song being the only song on that side. The CD comes in a gatefold digipak, which again is nicer from Vol. 1's cardboard sleeve for the CD. I am a sucker for physical media. There is no other reason why I would buy this, since 3 of the 5 tracks are available for free on the website.

Originally posted on my myspace blog on 12/14/2008 and 1/1/2009

It is no secret that I hate professional sports. I don't mind it when people get together to play basketball or baseball, but dislike the idiots getting paid millions for doing nothing exceptional. My biggest issue with professional sports comes more so from the fact that public tax dollars are used to build these stadiums. Why? The Palace of Auburn Hills was built with private money, so the Pistons can consider themselves excused from my hate parade here. Some of these owners have a net worth somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars, and yet we pay for their stadiums. Adding insult to injury, they then sell the naming rights and pocket the money. Worse still are the overpriced concessions, which are staffed largely by unpaid volunteers. So let me get this straight...they charge $5 for a pop and then get a tax write off for the person selling it to you, all the while I am footing the bill for the building and not getting some sort of resident discount off of my ticket. *GAAAaaAAAhhHHHHhhhhH!!* (blood vessel bursts in brain) Wake up people! The Lions losing every game makes me laugh. They should hire me. I would've lost every game and charged them significantly less to do so. I'd charge, say, $2 million to lose every game for them. I do have a solution on how to fix professional sports: change the way that players are paid. We need to go back to Roman gladiator times, people, where the losers are done away with and the winners are showered with spoils. You want to see these spoiled 'rock star' athletes play hard? Pay them $500 per game if they lose, $500,000 if they win. The game then becomes life or death. If they lose, they live in Delray, but the winners, they can live in Birmingham or whatnot.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA HEROES VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2008; Hardcover)

Collects Sub-Mariner Nos. 33-42 (cover dates April, 1954- October, 1955).

This reprints Bill Everett's amazing run on the title, and his artwork is amazing and very detail oriented. This book falls under the category of "never in a million years could I afford to buy and/or find all of these issues".

ESSENTIAL MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2005)

Collects Fantastic Four Annual No. 11, Marvel Feature Nos. 11, 12, Marvel Team-Up No. 47, Marvel Two-In-One Nos. 1-20, 22-25, Marvel Two-In-One Annual No. 1 (cover dates September, 1973- March, 1977).

This phone book is chock full of Bronze Age goodness by the usual suspects, i.e. Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Gil Kane, Sal Buscema and many other comic book journeymen of the day.

IRON MAN: WAR MACHINE (Marvel, 2008)

Collects Iron Man (Vol. 1) Nos. 280-291 (cover dates May, 1992- April, 1993)

This is solid, entertaining stuff written by Len Kaminski, who I am unfamiliar with. The artwork varies in quality, but the pacing and action sequences are decent.

VERTIGO: FIRST OFFENSES (DC, 2005)

Collects Fables No. 1, Invisibles No. 1, Lucifer No. 1, Preacher No. 1, Sandman Mystery Theatre No. 1 (cover dates April, 1993- July, 2002).

VERTIGO: FIRST CUT (DC, 2008)

Collects Army @ Love No. 1, Crossing Midnight No. 1, DMZ No. 1, The Exterminators No. 1, Jack of Fables No. 1, Loveless No. 1, Scalped No. 1 (cover dates December, 2005- May, 2007).

These are $4.99 sampler trades that the off-brands will offer to entice new readers. Honestly, Vertigo is hardly some small indie company, though; they are merely an imprint of DC, who is owned by Warner Bros., so much like much other so-called "indie" stuff, this is merely marketed that way so that people who wouldn't buy something mainstream, i.e. DC, would buy this. Fables was enjoyable enough, but maybe not enough to make me want to buy the series. I love the cover artist, whoever he/she may be. Invisibles seemed adolescent at best. I suppose if I were 15-21 it would "speak" to me. At 35, it's been there done that, grown out of it. Lucifer was so-so. Again, I will keep my cash in fist for other things. Preacher was good, although I am not rushing out to buy it. Sandman Mystery Theatre was very enjoyable, and I did pick up the first trade of it and enjoyed it. Army @ Love, DMZ, and Loveless all sucked, and Crossing Midnight, The Exterminators, Scalped, and Jack of Fables were decent, but not enough to convince me to pick them up. I find it disturbing that these are marketed as "sophisticated" comic books. What is so sophisticated about profanity, nudity, excessive graphic violence, and titillation? To me those traits are very adolescent; hardly what anyone would rightly consider being adult literature. I tried these out for something different, and while they are certainly different from my more mainstream superhero tastes, I ultimately found them wanting as intelligent reads. My search for sophisticated comic books continues. Any suggestions?

THE ZOMBIE: SIMON GARTH (Marvel, 2008)

Collects The Zombie: Simon Garth Nos. 1-4 (cover dates January- March, 2008)

The follow up mini-series to 2007's Zombie has excessive violence, gore up the wazoo, and a '70s Horror "hero"…what in this sentence does not appeal to you? Totally enjoyable fun for the whole family! Kyle Hotz and Dan Brown (no, not that Dan Brown) deliver an impressive read that should appeal to old and new Horror comic fans alike.

THE BATMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 6 (DC, 2008)

Collects Batman Nos. 10, 11, and selections from Detective Comics Nos. 62-65 and World's Finest Comics Nos. 5, 6 (cover dates Spring- July, 1942).

Lots of fun Golden Age Batman reads here, with several stories featuring the Joker. There are also early appearances by the Catwoman and the Penguin. These issues are fascinating from a historical perspective and are entertaining in their own right. Still no Batcave as such yet, just the abandoned barn entrance. The Bat signal is featured here also.

INDIANA JONES OMNIBUS VOL. 2 (Dark Horse, 2008)

Collects Indiana Jones and the Golden Fleece Nos. 1, 2, Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix Nos. 1-4, Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates Nos. 1-4, Indiana Jones and the Shrine of the Sea Devil and Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny Nos. 1-4 (cover dates June, 1994- March, 1996).

These are all outstanding issues with superb writing and artwork throughout. Any one of these would have made a better movie than …Crystal Skull. I love the Dark Horse Omnibus format, which is smaller than a regular trade while being larger than a digest and is printed on nice paper in full color. This one weighs in at 370 pages for $24.99 MSRP.

SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES VOL. 1 (Moonstone, 2003)

Collects A Case of Blind Fear Nos. 1-4 and Scarlet By Gaslight Nos. 1-4 (1988, 1989).

This was a rare impulse buy for me, and luckily it panned out. This collects two mini-series originally published by Malibu Comics. Excellent writing by Martin Powell and solid black and white artwork by Sappo Makinen make this a joy to read. This trade is out of print but will be reissued Fall 2009.

SILVER SURFER: IN THY NAME (Marvel, 2008)

Collects Silver Surfer: In Thy Name Nos. 1-4 (cover dates November, 2007- April, 2008)

This was a well done mini-series that was written in a non-decompressed manner. It was almost shocking to see a modern Marvel Comic done in such a way. I just wish that Marvel would quit doing umpteen Silver Surfer minis and instead do sporadic "season" type releases while keeping the same numbering.

EX MACHINA VOL. 1: THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS (DC, 2005)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 1-5 (cover dates August, 2004- December, 2004)

EX MACHINA VOL. 2: TAG (DC, 2005)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 6-10 (cover dates January- June, 2005)

My friend loaned me the first trade and I loved it, so much so that I bought the first 6 volumes in one fell swoop on eBay for $20.00. I have been much more open minded and receptive to new comic book ideas in 2008 than I have been in the past, and it is paying off. This is such a great read, I cannot recommend it enough. Brian K. Vaughn has come up with another winner here, with fully formed characters and a great premise. Tony Harris and Tom Feister deliver crisp artwork that serves the story very well. This is a more sophisticated read than Y: The Last Man or Runaways (other BKV titles), yet remains accessible. This is on DC's Wildstorm imprint, whose trades are printed on nice paper stock. Why are many 'classic' DC trades and Vertigo trades printed on such crappy paper? Wouldn't DC have all of their trades made at the same place? Sorry, but my comic book fan OCD cannot stand such inconsistency...it makes me lay awake at night. Kidding!