Review- AVENGERS: ABSOLUTE VISION BOOK 2

AVENGERS: ABSOLUTE VISION BOOK 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2014; Softcover)

Collects Avengers #242-254 and Avengers Annual #13 (cover dates April, 1984- April, 1985)

Writer: Roger Stern

Artists: Al Milgrom, Joe Rubinstein, Joe Sinnott, Bob Hall, Jack Abel, Brett Breeding, Joe Delbeato, Kim DeMulder, Steve Ditko, Brian Garvey, Carmine Infantino, and John Byrne

Roger Stern's brilliant run on the title kicks into high gear with his long gestating Absolute Vision storyline. The events in the previous book (Absolute Vision Book 1) saw Starfox connecting the comatose Vision to ISAAC, the computer mind which controls his homeworld (Saturn's moon of Titan). ISAAC (Internal Synaptic Anti+/Anionic Computer) has been communicating with The Vision, opening up parts of his synthezoid mind which he had never before utilized, resulting in the chaos which slowly progresses as this year's worth of comics unfolds.

This book starts out where most of The Avengers have been whisked away to the mysterious Battleworld by The Beyonder to fight the original Secret Wars. All 12 issues of that series take place in between 242 and 243. Like every title Marvel published in 1984, the heroes return with many changes apparent. The reasons why are not revealed until the end of that mini-series, so every title had little bits and pieces revealed alongside the main series. While most of The Avengers are gone The Vision assumes role of chairman and cobbles together an ad hoc team of Avengers.

ISAAC is steering The Vision through all of this, advising him to form a second Avengers team to better respond to emergencies, meeting with the President Reagan with the intent of giving The Avengers a cabinet position, and directing him in the construction of a mysterious machine. The Vision decided that he has the knowledge to run the world better than anyone and eliminate all of the world's problems. In the process he alienates his wife, The Scarlet Witch, and almost causes nuclear war.

Backing up a bit, it is fascinating to watch The Vision become slowly unraveled under the pressures of leadership and trying to solve all of the world's problems. The Avengers have many battles while all of this is unfolding, fighting The Dire Wraiths from ROM and an adventure with The Eternals which resulted in a battle with Maelstrom.

This brings us to #249, one of two issues in this book which I bought at the time of release. It was a scorching hot August day in 1984 when my mom sent me to 7-11 to buy her a pack of cigarettes and told me I could buy myself a comic book. This was back in the days when an 11 year old kid could go to the store and say that the cigarettes were for were for your mom and they would sell them to you. Cripes. #249 was the comic that I picked because it had The Avengers and the Fantastic Four in it. Wow!

The contrast of a freak blizzard in the comics and a super hot August afternoon stuck with me through the years. I wasn't reading this title or Thor at the time, but Stern's writing was clear enough that I picked up enough to be blown away. There are a million things going on in this issue, and I read it probably a dozen times that first week. This issue continued in Thor #350, a comic which I still have never read! I know that there is no good reason. It's the Walt Simonson run, which I have read part of, but I am not interested in the inferior recoloring currently available in collected editions and will wait for the material to be properly remastered when the Marvel Masterworks line gets there. Maybe I'll just go and snag a back issue for cheap.

The other issue which I picked up off the spinner rack at 7-11 at the time of release was #252 back in November of 1984. It was one of those days where I had scraped together 60 cents and was spinning the rack around looking for something to read. The cover blurb Who is strong enough to smash Hercules? Hint: There's two of them! reeled me in. Until recently I felt that cover blurbs had lost their zing until my 11 year old son showed me a newer comic he has and read the blurb like it was the coolest thing ever. While the blurb seemed silly to me, I got it. It was important to him, just like this one was to me. There's no way that whatever comic he was referring to is anywhere near as badass as The Avengers battling the Blood Brothers though!

The book ends with the two-part Absolute Vision climax. It all works. Roger Stern strung the threads throughout a year long story without it being dull for a minute. Less capable writers have tried aping this type of thing and milking it for longer, fumbling the ball at the last minute.

The only drawback to this run is Al Milgrom's workmanlike artwork. I enjoyed his art immensely as a kid, but as an adult I have to adjust to it. He is good when paired with a heavy handed inker like Joe Sinnott, but pair him with an inferior inker and the results are pedestrian. Once you dig into the book and the spirit of the era it becomes less jarring. The Annual had an interesting art pair: Steve Ditko with inking by John Byrne. Ditko was past his prime here but was still doing decent work. Byrne added polish where necessary and infused his strengths here and there.

There is no reason to not own this material, folks. Stern is on the Mount Rushmore of great Avengers writers, alongside Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, and Steve Englehart. “My” era on this title as a regular reader began in earnest with #258, which will be reviewed when I reread it with adult eyes in The Legacy Of Thanos trade paperback, which I will move into queue shortly.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I am a sucker for trades that clock in over 400 pages and use this paper stock. I will buy almost anything old which is collected in this format.

Linework and Color restoration: Everything looks good except for the most part. Linework and color palette are faithful to the original comics. Books like this pose a question. As good as this looks, will the inevitable Marvel Masterworks really look any better?

Paper stock: Matte coated stock of sufficient thickness and weight. This is the same stock found in the softcover Marvel Masterworks and Epic line books and is my favorite paper stock used in collected editions today.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminatied cardstock cover.

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 2 (Marvel, First Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #142-168 (cover dates March, 1966- May, 1968)

Writers: Stan Lee, Denny O'Neil, Roy Thomas, Raymond Marias, Jim Lawrence, and Dan Adkins with plots by Steve Ditko (#142-146)

Artists: Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Marie Severin, and Dan Adkins, with Penciling by George Tuska and Inking by Herb Trimpe

Steve Ditko's legendary run on this title draws to a close in grand fashion four issues into this book, with the Dread Dormammu fighting Eternity. One could end their marathon there (as the recent Doctor Strange Omnibus does), but then you'd be missing out on some real treats. This was my first time reading this material and, dare I say it, the series actually improves once Ditko leaves the fold. All of his original concepts and designs are expanded on.

Bill Everett takes over the art with #147, and this is among his finest work. Everett is a legend who created the Sub-Mariner back in the late 1930s but is largely a footnote to modern comic fans. Kaluu looks like something out his Sub-Mariner run, and the follow up villain, Dormammu's sister Umar, could have come out of his 1950s Atlas Heroes revival.

Marie Severin takes over the art chores with #153, and while she is legendary for being the colorist for EC Comics and that iconic Hulk Annual cover (you know the one...), her artwork leaves me cold. To defeat Umar, Doctor Strange must release Zom, a ridiculous looking, supposedly unstoppable demon whose Achilles heel is embarrassingly easy for Doctor Strange to find. The Living Tribunal arrives at the end of issue 157. Herb Trimpe's inking helps save Severin's artwork beginning with that same issue and running through 160.

158 is where things really get cooking. Roy Thomas has arrived with thesaurus in hand to turn comic books into purple prose Shakespeare. The psychedelic elements are continually ramped up from one issue to the next, and it's easy to see why all of the 'heads loved this series in the '60s. Thomas brings back Baron Mordo, but it's Jim Lawrence who puts a cork in this arc with a battle between The Living Tribunal and yet another cosmic entity, Nebulos.

Dan Adkins arrives with #163, and he has a real wide angle psychedelic lens. Adkins out Ditkos Ditko. +covers face to shield self from stream of rocks and tomatoes+ I love the battle with Yandroth, Scientist Supreme, who uses advanced technology to battle Doctor Strange. I really love his robot, Voltorr (renamed Voltorg one issue later for no reason), because robots rule. And science meets magic resulting in a battle with a robot rules even more.

Since Strange Tales was a split book featuring two headliners, this strip is limited to 10 pages per issue. The shortened page count keeps things moving briskly, albeit in the same dense, meaty fashion that you'd expect from a Silver Age comic book.

Bill Everett rules. 

The entirety of this book has a sort of soap opera element with the Ancient One and Clea. Doctor Strange braves untold dangers across untold dimensions for this bird, and I hope that she's worth it. Doc's spent all 304 pages looking for her for crying out loud!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback. I was all over this line when it came out, buying everything that I had passed over in hardcover. Now the Epic line of books has filled that gap.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions, with top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books. Romanticists yearn for Ben Day dots and off register printing, but these were never artistic considerations, folks. They were charming byproducts of the limits of printing technology of the day. The original art (and by extension, film used on these books) didn't look like that. It's a real philosophical debate amongst collected edition sorts, and it's shaken out like this: If it's Marvel or DC you get full blown restoration. Expensive and time consuming but worth preserving history correctly. Dark Horse was in the game but has gotten out for the most part. Everyone else uses scans with varying degrees of tinkering. I'm done arguing about it. It all boils down to preference, and there are benefits and drawbacks to both presentations. Given the choice I'll stick with full blown restoration though.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DOCTOR STRANGE VOL. 1 (Marvel, First Printing, 2010; Softcover)

Collects the Doctor Strange stories from Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-141 and the main story from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (cover dates July, 1963- February, 1966)

Writers: Stan Lee and Don Rico (#129)

Artists: Steve Ditko with inking by George Roussos (#114, 122-125)

I bought this and read it years ago, but I dumped that copy when it fell out of print and was commanding several times over cover price. I'm not married to my collection and will cash in whenever I get a chance. I then found this copy shortly thereafter out in the wild. I had to read the new copy, which is in and of itself a reread. Marvel has since reissued this in hardcover (which has also fallen out of print). This material is currently available in an Omnibus hardcover.

This was very enjoyable on the re-read. The essence of Doctor Strange's second battle with the Dread Dormamuu was caught in last year's movie, Doctor Strange. I'm not going into much else here, as you can read what I thought of this material a few years ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Softcover Masterworks are wider than a standard trade paperback.

Linework and Color restoration: Marvel Masterworks are the Criterion Blu-Rays of collected editions. Top shelf restoration and a color palette faithful to the original comic books.

Paper stock: Matte coated stock, the paper used in these books (as well as Epics) is my favorite.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover. 

Review- IMPOSSIBLE TALES: THE STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES VOL. 4

IMPOSSIBLE TALES: THE STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES VOL. 4 (Fantagraphics, First Printing, 2013; Hardcover)

Collects selections from Do You Believe In Nightmares? #1, Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #4, 7, Out Of This World #6, 7, 12, Strange Suspense Stories #33, 35-37, Tales Of The Mysterious Traveler #6-8, 10, This Magazine Is Haunted Vol. 2 #14, 16, and Unusual Tales #10, 11 (cover dates July, 1957- March, 1959)

Writer: Joe Gill

Artist: Steve Ditko

Coke vs. Pepsi. Judas Priest vs. Iron Maiden. Steve Ditko vs. Jack Kirby. These are all age old arguments that fans seem compelled to have to choose one side over the other. I was as guilty of this as anybody in the 1980s. While I liked Ditko and Kirby (as well as Priest and Maiden), I made sure to emphasize my preference for Ditko to any of the four or five other nerds that I knew who read comic books back then (as well as my preference to Priest over Maiden). While there is no denying the genius of Kirby folks seem to have pushed Ditko into the background these days, which is a shame.

The stories in this book fall into the familiar themes of comics from the 1950s. Cold War paranoia, atomic radiation/mutants, time travel, forbidden knowledge, cursed objects...basically watered down post-Code Sci-Fi and light Horror found in many comic books of the day. The “preachy” aspect found in many 1950s comics is so prevalent that you might overdose on its righteousness. The writing is competent if by the book, but that isn't the real draw here anyway; it's Ditko's artwork.

The Mysterious Traveler

The Mysterious Traveler is the host of many of the stories collected here, and he has a Phantom Stranger sort of vibe to him. Dr. Haunt is another host, although his appearance is something of a precursor of Doctor Strange, at least in terms of his cape. These hosts were a dime a dozen during the '50s. Also curious is the recurring theme of mutants, specifically the notion that they are hated and feared by a world that they try to help. Does that sound familiar to you? It should. It became the foundation of The X-Men a few years later. While Ditko had nothing to do with those characters it only goes to show you how liberally things were borrowed back then in comics.

It's interesting that members of the Kirby Cult (the brain dead creator rights sycophants who claim that Jack Kirby created the world in six days but God took the credit for his work) defend the Kirby estate's assertion that Kirby had a hand in creating Spider-Man. Kirby may have thrown the name out there and had a concept (which was rejected by Stan Lee), but the Spider-Man concept and costume as we know it is pure Ditko. Don't believe me? Then take a look at the cover to Out Of This World #7 (February, 1958 cover date), where Ditko clearly had the web design down pat.

This brings us to another discussion, though. In recent years it has come to light that New York based Ben Cooper, Inc., a Halloween costume manufacturer which was at one time the largest one in the United States, may have created the look of Spider-Man. Those of us who grew up in the '70s and '80s remember the cheesy plastic masks with a string and vinyl suit licensed costumes sold in a box. These were Ben Cooper costumes. The company designed a costume in 1954 called Spiderman. There are similarities in the web design, but beyond that who knows. Ditko lived in New York and the costume company was in New York so it is possible that Ditko knew of it. There are rumors that Jack Kirby worked for the costume company before returning to Marvel around 1956. So who knows where the truth lies in any of this. Did Kirby steal the name from Ben Cooper? Did Kirby give the name to Ben Cooper? Did Ditko lift the web design from the costume for the cover of Out Of This World #7 and then reuse it for Spider-Man five years later? We will likely never know since Ditko doesn't talk to anybody.

Dr. Haunt's cape is similar to the design of Doctor Strange's cape.

Editor Blake Bell has arranged the stories in these Archives by job number, meaning that they are presented in the order that Ditko originally drew them in as opposed to publication order. Everything between these two covers was done during his most prolific period, 1957. This era also represents the beginning of his prime in my opinion. Ditko's idiosyncrasies are now fully developed and his ability to create mood and tension is cemented in place. It's all onward and upward from here!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The two stories in Volume 3 that were each missing a page of story are collected here in their entirety. I can sleep at night now.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with minimal tinkering, only yellowing removed. As far as raw scans go these look great.

Paper stock: White uncoated stock.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, book lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: Image printed on matte casewrap which is resistant to scuffing.

Review- MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER: THE STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES VOL. 3

MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER: THE STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Fantagraphics, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects the Steve Ditko drawn stories from Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #4-6, Out of This World #4-6, Strange Suspense Stories #33-36, Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #5, 6, 8, This Magazine Is Haunted Vol. 2 #12, 13, and Unusual Tales #8, 9 (cover dates June, 1957- July, 1958)

Writers: Joe Gill, Jack Oleck, and other unidentified writers

Artist: Steve Ditko

I like how this series of books is presented chronologically by job number instead of publication. What that means is that these stories are presented in the order which Ditko penciled them, not in the order which they were originally published. This approach allows us to see Ditko's art progress and refine over time.

Most of the stories run the typical 'Atomic Age' gamut, that weird post-Code type of Science Fiction, light Horror fare about paranoia, fear of Communist infiltration, space aliens, and the like. There is a lot of Twilight Zone precursors here, albeit usually not at refined as that show would be.

One of my favorites in this book is His Fate from This Magazine Is Haunted Vol. 2 #12, one of those concepts which seems tired to modern audiences but interests me: the relationship between the ventriloquist and his dummy. A lot of these stories seem predictable, but that is only because this stuff has been regurgitated and strip-mined in the ensuing decades, robbing it of all originality.

The Desert Spell shows Ditko experimenting with Zip-A-Tone, something that I am a sucker for. It is obsolete due to Photoshop, but just like how George Lucas filming Star Wars with models looks more real to me than CGI, Zip-A-Tone is a more effective form of shading than gradient blends to my jaded old eyes. The story is also great, about a Nazi awaking from suspended animation with plans to resurrect the Third Reich, only to...ahhh, but that would be telling. Read it yourself.

I am glad that Blake Bell and Fantagraphics have continued this line of books. Ditko's early work is great and is worthy of a spot on your bookshelf.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- There are a number of omissions in this book. The final page of the story The Missing Room is omitted, ditto The Menace of Maple Leaves. Both stories are reprinted in their entirety in Volume 4 and Fantagraphics has printable PDFs of those pages on their site.

The Ditko penciled covers to Out of This World #4 and Strange Suspense Stories #33 are also sadly absent.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with minimal tinkering, only yellowing removed. As far as raw scans go these look great.

Paper stock: White uncoated stock.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, book lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: Image printed on matte casewrap with spot varnish.

Review- THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS VOL. 2 STARRING THE HAWK AND THE DOVE

THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS VOL. 2 STARRING THE HAWK AND THE DOVE (DC, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Note: Book actually released in 2012

Collects The Hawk and the Dove Nos. 1, 2, Legion of Super-Heroes Nos. 267, 268, 272, 274, 276, 281, Man-Bat No. 1, Showcase No. 75, Adventure Comics Nos. 467-478, Detective Comics Nos. 483-485, Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant No. 1, Outsiders No. 13, and Tales of the New Gods (cover dates June, 1968- 2008)

Writers: Steve Skeates, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg, J.M. DeMatteis, Mike W. Barr, Bill Mumy, Peter David, and Mark Millar

Artists: Steve Ditko with Inking by Steve Ditko, Al Milgrom, Dick Giordano, Romeo Tanghal, Dave Hunt, Bob Wiaceck, Frank Chiaramonte, Bruce D. Patterson, Jerry Ordway, Kevin Nowlan, and Mick Gray

There are no sacred cows in my mind. No artist, especially one as prolific as Ditko, is exempt from critical analysis of their work. I understand that he had to eat and many of the issues compiled in this book were Ditko cashing a check and nothing more, but that has no bearing on how I as a fan feel about this material.

The classic The Hawk And The Dove finally sees a collected edition. This concept was pure Ditko and very much of it's time. Two brothers are given powers by some strange “Voice”, and their powers are amplified versions of their personalities. The Dove is a hippie, all peace and believing the best of humanity, i.e. that criminals can be rehabilitated, while The Hawk is a pro-establishment, might makes right, pro-war kind of guy. Their methods of fighting are as different as their philosophies. This is a fascinating read with some superb artwork by Ditko. Unfortunately the rest of the series remains uncollected to this day.

Next is the story from Man-Bat #1, which is fantastic. It makes me wish that someone would have given Ditko a shot at the Caped Crusader, as his version of Batman is great. No cover is provided for that issue. If DC's collected editions that are artist centric do not feature artwork not by that artist, that would be one thing. If DC held true to that I might be able to at least understand that, but they throw in the non-Ditko drawn covers to Legion of Super-Heroes #268, 272, 274, 276, 281. The next story has Ditko's rendering of The Demon, a real treat since this was a Jack Kirby creation. Kirby and Ditko are like The Beatles and The Stones for comic fans. While I love both everyone tends to pick a side.

The title of this book makes it sound like The Hawk And The Dove get the lion's share of the book, but this is false. Starman's co-headlining strip from Adventure Comics #467-478 take up 102 pages to H&D's 73 pages. This could also be because Starman totally sucks balls, with my will to live decreasing with each passing page. I was a Marvel zombie in the very traditional sense of the term. You couldn't pay me to read a DC comic between 1979-1990, as they seemed stupid and cheesy with lame writing and even lamer artwork. I know this to be false today but such was my perspective at that time. Comics like this make a poor argument for DC, though. Ditko's work was mutilated by hack inker Romeo Tanghal. Making matters worse was Paul Levitz's embarrassing writing. I am serious, if you enjoy this abysmal dreck then you need your taste buds checked. Of course DC only provided the cover to #467. 

Note DC's sucktastic gradient shade recoloring on what should be flat colors. 

Things go from bad to much, much, much worse with Legion of Super-Heroes. They say that if you can't say anything nice then you should not say anything at all. I disagree. If you pay money and something sucks ass like these comics do, shout it from the rooftops of the Internet. It is your right as a consumer and your duty as a comic book connoisseur to dissuade folks from buying bad books. The LoSH also get more pages than the book's headliner, with 109 to H&D's 73. DC has misled you not once but twice. Oh, and the assclowns omitted the cover to #267.

There are three random back-up stories from 1986, 1998, and 2008. The first is a Black Lightning one, which is lame. The next is a Spectre one, which makes me wish that Ditko got a shot at the character when he was in his prime, and finally, an Apokolips story which sucks. So out of the 400 pages, more than half of this book sucks. I guess that I will keep it for the parts that I liked but will never, ever reread Starman or Legion of Super-Losers for as long as I live.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5.

Buy THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS VOL. 2 STARRING THE HAWK AND THE DOVE HC at InStockTrades!

The OCD zone- DC's original Omnibus branded books are a joke. Cheap paper, cheap glued binding, and a garish casewrap design. This design is echoed in the opening pages of the book, with cheesy nostalgic affectations like faux benday dots and pulp paper anomalies added to images taken from film. These are done to give the book a kitschy, pop culture feel. The problem is that the whole thing is obscured by the dustjacket, so the type of idiot who would buy a book because of this godawful design never sees it to begin with.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Introduction by Mike W. Barr. (3 pages)

Pin-up page from Superman #400. (1 page)

The further into the book that you get, the worse the coloring is. Look at those harsh, horrible, gradient blends. Just awful.

Linework and Color: A mixed bag to say the least. The linework is tight and clean while the recoloring starts off strong, with authentic blends like those found in the original issues. Then it seems like the budget ran out and so DC brought in their intern first semester community college art students to do the coloring, with harsh airbrush gradients sticking out like a sore thumb everywhere. Just awful, amateur hour stuff like the coloring and the typos that the idiots created because they were in such a rush that they couldn't be bothered to, I dunno, read the sentence before turning a G into a S.

Paper stock: This is a hot topic for these books. DC fans are so accustomed to incomplete, nonsensical collections that they resort to binding their own floppies into hardcovers. As such, they are accustomed to cheap, crappy toilet paper like the junk DC passes off in these supposedly high-end hardcovers. The paper is slightly thicker than regular comic book paper, with it's only benefit being that it produces zero glare. Oh, that and the fact that it makes the book weigh almost as much as a pack of cigarettes.

Binding: Perfect (read: GLUED) binding on supposedly high-end hardcovers is a joke. A complete and utter joke. Folks who state that these things keep the books “more affordable” are in the wrong hobby. Connoisseurs of high end collected editions scoff at cost saves like this and how DC skimped on shrinkwrap a while back to save a half a penny.

Hardback cover notes: The garish image on the casewrap has a nice thick lamination to it. So DC used a good lamination on a crappily designed book with crappy paper and binding. Winning?