Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE ALL-WINNERS VOL. 4

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE ALL-WINNERS VOL. 4 (Marvel, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects All-Winners Comics #15-19, 21, Vol. 2 # 1 (cover dates Spring, 1945- August, 1948)

Writers: Bill Finger, Otto Binder, William Woolfolk, and other unidentified writers

Artists: Alex Schomburg (covers), Mort Lawrence, Art Seymour, Al Bellman, Vince Alascia, George Klein, Al Avison, Clem Weisbecker, Mike Sekowsky, Maurice Gutwirth, Syd Shores, Allen Bellman, Mort Leav, Carl Burgos, Al Gabriele, Bob Powell, Louis Ferstadt, Carl Pfeufer, and other unidentified artists

Superheroes weren't selling very well after World War II. With the wind taken out of their sales, these comics come off as also rans, plodding along with writing and artwork that was vastly inferior to the earlier issues in this series.

By the time that we reach #17 there is a massive uptick in quality. Gone are the rush jobs done by the second tier comic book journeymen of the day, in is the more refined artwork by the likes of Al Avison, George Klein, and others. The writing in that issue is also head and shoulders above the previous two collected in this volume. Issue 18 is even better than #17.

Unlike DC's Justice Society Of America over in All-Star Comics, the All Winners Squad didn't really work together as a team until #19. This issue aped the JSA formula so well that had they employed it earlier they might have saved the title. There was no #20, and #21 occurred because the title took over the numbering from another title. 

Don't worry, kids! Those gorillas which Bucky is gunning down turned out to be wearing bullet proof vests later...not that Bucky knew it at the time. No PETA in the 1940s.

This was a common practice back among magazine publishers then, as they had to pay to file a new magazine title with the Post Office. Ditching titles while keeping numbering was common through the 1960s. This makes the relaunched #1 in 1948 even more curious. Was it a last ditch effort to save the series? An oversight? We can only guess now, as nearly everyone who worked on these comics is dead and gone. Record keeping wasn't much of a consideration in the comic world back then.

The Human Torch gives The Gay Blade a what-for in 1948.

#21 sees the All Winners Squad battle Future Man, a menace from the year One Million AD. He gives the team a run for their money. The relaunched #1 from 1948 was the best issue out of all four volumes in this line of books. We finally get to see the Blonde Phantom! I would love to read more of her exploits. Alas, Marvel has mothballed all plans for this Golden Age line of Masterworks, citing the unwelcome combination of soft sales and high restoration costs. I hope that they reverse that decision one day, as there is a lot of material that deserves to be restored and rereleased.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 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.

Linework and Color restoration: Think of the post-2007 Masterworks as definitive Blu-Ray editions, with painstakingly restored linework and a color palette that is 100% faithful to the source material. Those who claim that the colors miss the “artistic choice” of so- called Ben Day dots are nuts.

Paper stock: Thick semi-glossy coated stock.

Binding: Rounded book casing and Smyth sewn binding allow this book to lay completely flat in one hand as Godzilla intended.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Spot varnish on the dustjacket, faux leather casewrap with dye foil stamping.

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Sub-Mariner Comics #1-4 (cover dates Spring, 1941- Winter, 1941)

Writers: Bill Everett, Ray Gill, Paul Gustavson, Lou Glanzman, Stan Lee, Art Gates, and Basil Wolverton, and other, unidentifed writers

Artists: Bill Everett, Paul Gustavson, Alex Schomburg (covers), Richard Isanove (covers), Harry Sahle, Alan Mandel, Mickey Spillane, Basil Wolverton, Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, Witmer Williams, Ben Thompson, Sam Gillman, George Mandel, Mike Roy, Al Fagaly, Jimmy Thompson, and other, unidentified art assistants

This was a double dip. I had the original hardcover release which was done during the time when Marvel didn't have their remastering techniques perfected yet. Always one to enjoy his comics in the finest “fidelity”, I scooped up this softcover version as it blows away the original hardcover release. Since this was a double dip, it was also a reread, although it I only read the hardcover once in either 2005 or 2006. I honestly didn't remember much about these stories so it was essentially a fresh read.

Bill Everett was and is a genius, and he lived an interesting life to boot. A hard drinking three packs a day smoker, tall-tale telling character, he created or co-created a number of characters, notably Namor The Sub-Mariner and Daredevil. Golden Age Sub-Mariner is a badass. I love the might makes right mentality of Golden Age Comics. He usually fights Nazis in these stories, made all the more remarkable since these issues were all released prior to the United States entering World War II.

Paul Gustavson's The Angel is the recurring back-up feature, and he gets a full 20 pages per issue. (Comic books were 64 pages back then.) He doesn't have any super powers, being closer to pulp heroes of the 1930s while looking like Superman. His exploits probably ape other things that I am unfamiliar with. These are still great reads, high on fun and low on common sense. Lots of whodunit and Horror-tinged action.

There are a handful of other text stories and one page gag strips (one by Basil Wolverton ) rounding out the issues. I really enjoyed these comics. Golden Age material is an acquired taste, but if you can accept the limitations of the era and the fact that these tales don't adhere to any rules because they made them up as they went along then you will dig this stuff. I love the old fashions, cars, architecture, and slang. And in the end the good guys always win, making this the most escapist read you can get here in 2015.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I really like these softcover Masterworks, as they are slightly wider than a standard trade paperback and lay flat in one hand like a big fat periodical, which is wonderful.

I really wish that Marvel would reconsider their plans to nix this line of books.

Linework and Color restoration: As good as it is going to get. The linework and color palette are faithful to the original comic books.

Paper stock: Decent weight matte finish coated stock. I love it.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock.

Review- MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Daredevil No. 7 and the Sub-Mariner stories from Tales To Astonish Nos. 70-87 and Tales of Suspense No. 80 (cover dates April, 1965- January, 1967)

Writer: Stan Lee

Artists: Pencilers- Gene Colan (#70-82, 84, 85, and Tales of Suspense #80), Wally Wood (Daredevil #7), Jerry Grandenetti (#86), Bill Everett (#87), and Jack Kirby (#82, 83); Inkers- Vince Colletta (#70-78), Bill Everett (#79, 85-87), Dick Ayers (#80-84), Jack Abel (Tales of Suspense #80), and Wally Wood (Daredevil #7)

Marvel's distribution deal in the 1960s was limited to eight comics per month, so they retrofitted the old Science Fiction/monster anthology Tales To Astonish as a split superhero book. Sub-Mariner and the Hulk co-headlined the book, with each issue being split as follows: 12 pages for the Sub-Mariner and 10 for the Hulk.

Stan Lee's writing rules. Modern comic fans have painted him as a greedy, credit stealing monster, which I completely disagree with. I credit much of my vocabulary to his writing, as I used to sit there with a dictionary by my side as a kid reading those '60s Amazing Spider-Man reprints in Marvel Tales every month. He writes in triplets a lot, which I am a sucker for, and his character dialogue is very Shakespearean. Everyone in Atlantis talks like they are on stage in a play. 

This series riffs hard on Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, with Warlord Krang playing the role of Ming The Merciless and Lady Dorma being Marvel's doppelganger for Dale Arden. While that dynamic is aped repeatedly, the whole Atlantis versus the surface world Cold War metaphor keeps things from being too derivative. Prince Namor (the Sub-Mariner) goes from being outright villain to semi-hero. Namor started out as a sort of anti-hero in the pages of Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1, (which was quickly reprinted in Marvel Comics #1) back in 1939. The Bill Everett created strip became a regular feature in that title, and it is fun to think of this being a continuation of those old comics.

Speaking of ol' Bill Everett, he does some of the artwork in this book. I wonder how it felt to be a walk on guest for a character that you created. First he was given the job as an inker, and only in the final issue in this book did he get to do full artwork. And what artwork it is! Unlike many artists of his generation, Everett's craft was continually refined and improved as he aged, and his work in the '50s and '60s outshines what he did in the '30s and '40s.

Gene Colan provides most of the artwork in this book, and his brilliant work is marred by hack inker Vince Colletta. Colletta never met an eraser he didn't like, and destroyed many great artists' work during his career. He must have had naked pictures of Stan Lee or something, because there is no way that he could continue getting work based on his talent, of which he had none. It is Colletta's work that keeps this book from getting a 5.

I found it interesting that Sub-Mariner's rampage through New York in Daredevil #7 was reported on the front page of the New York Daily Press and not The Daily Bugle. Has this fictitious(?) newspaper been used elsewhere in Marvel Comics? It's this type of minutiae that makes my OCD world go round. The subplot of Warlord Krang overthrowing Namor's throne while he was away is introduced in this issue and would run until issue 76.

Issue 77 is interesting in that it guest stars Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Giant Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) and Janet Van Dyne (the Wasp) in their civilian identities. More interesting is that they do not turn into superheros when Namor attacks their deap sea exploration drill. I enjoyed the battle with the Behemoth, even if the character didn't make a lot of sense. This stuff is great if you don't overthink it. My suspension of disbelief is great.

The first crossover in the history of comics occurs here, with the story which began in Tales Of Suspense #80 ending in Tales To Astonish #82. I really enjoyed that crossover battle with Iron Man. I am a sucker for the Secret Empire, and those old the-hero-has-amnesia-and-is-tricked-into-doing-the-bad-guy's-bidding stories always make me smile. Number One tries tricking Namor into battling the Hulk, who defeated the Secret Empire recently, but the battle never occurs because even though they are both in New York City at the same time their paths never cross.

This was a great read that serves to remind us all why Marvel ruled the 1960s. This stuff still rules. Make mine Marvel!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This line of books serve as a textbook example why Marvel's collected editions department does a better job than DC's does. Whereas DC will prepare material for Archives, they will never, ever revisit and remaster that material, even when superior sources surface. This is the third (and likely final) time that Marvel has released this particular book, with the restoration being worlds better than the original 2002 hardcover edition and the 2004 “ReMasterwork” edition. Barring original art surfacing, I seriously doubt that superior source material will ever emerge.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Introduction by Stan Lee from the original 2002 hardcover edition. (2 pages)

Creator biographies by John Rhett Thomas. (3 pages)

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. To the unwashed masses, buying Masterworks can be a confusing and frustrating thing. Older printings used inferior file sources and had lackluster, often unfaithful, coloring. I use my “rule of 2007”. If it was made prior to Marvel cataloging their film at the Sparta warehouse then buyer beware. While the restoration was pretty tight in 2006, there were some terrible mousetrap bindings on those hardcovers.

Many of these softcover Masterworks, such as this volume, boast the most “high def” restoration available for these comics. Everything is as perfect as it is likely ever going to get barring original artwork surfacing. The color palette is 100% faithful to the original publications, and you can almost see the eraser residue from Vince Colletta's “inking”.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. This paper is perfect. Dull matte finish coated stock with almost no sheen. It is not too thick and not too thin. It feels like “real” comic book paper but is nice enough that it doesn't feel like cheap toilet paper.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Perfect bound trade paperback. I really enjoy these softcover Masterworks. They tend to lay pretty flat in one hand while reading, almost like a giant periodical.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. The usual thick waxlike lamination that Marvel uses.

Buy MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1 TP at InStockTrades!

Variant cover TP also available at InStockTrades!

Original 2002 edition hardcover also available at InStockTrades!

2004 edition hardcover also available at InStockTrades!

Review- THE THING: LIBERTY LEGION

THE THING: LIBERTY LEGION (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Invaders Nos. 5, 6 Marvel Premiere Nos. 29, 30, Fantastic Four Annual No. 11, Marvel Two-In-One Annual No. 1, and Marvel Two-In-One No. 20 (cover dates March- October, 1976)

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artists: Pencilers- John Buscema, Don Heck, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Rich Buckler, and Dick Ayers; Inkers- Vince Colletta, Sam Grainger, Jim Mooney, George Roussos, and John Tartaglione

The year was 1976, and America's Bicentennial was all the rage. While I was a mere 3 years old at the time, the reverberations of this celebration were felt for years, with all of the leftover Spirit of '76 flags, welcome doormats, coffee mugs, and other paraphernalia. With the apparent success of The Invaders, Roy Thomas was all set to push his Golden Age fetish with yet another team of superheroes set during the 1940s, this batch from the Timely Comics era of Marvel.

Using a somewhat ingenious scenario to unite these seven misfits, Roy Thomas brought in characters which the average comic fan of the day would have no idea who they were. The only reason that I knew who any of them were is because I own all of the Golden Age Marvel Masterworks, and even those don't contain all of the stories referred to here. The Red Skull manages to hypnotize The Invaders (Captain America, The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner, and the Torch's kid sidekick, Toro) except for Bucky Barnes. Barnes then does a ham-fisted invasion of a radio station to call other heroes for help. Scenarios like this are corny and overwritten, but Thomas does them to move things along while demonstrating the heroes' powers with their misunderstanding fights/ hey, let's team up outcomes. Answering Bucky's call are the Whizzer, Jack Frost, the Blue Diamond, Red Raven, Miss America, The Patriot, and The Thin Man. They are dubbed the Liberty Legion and of course free The Invaders.

Comic fans, myself included, bemoan the crossover. Such blatant cash grabs...such gimmicky marketing...if only comics could go back to the good ol' days! You mean like the good ol's days of early 1976, when rascally Roy Thomas made you buy Invaders #5, Marvel Premiere #29, Invaders #6, and then Marvel Premiere #30 in order to get the complete story? Or howsabout how, in an apparent act of desperation to get his beloved Golden Age heroes into their very own ongoing series, they became the focal point of a crossover which began in Fantastic Four Annual #11, continued in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1, and finally ended in Marvel Two-In-One #20. Yes, Marvel has been suckering us all into buying comics that we didn't really want to buy for longer than any of us want to admit.

Occasionally clunky dialogue and some overwriting aside, these are all fun reads. The artwork is solid. Just look at that list of artists above, it's a veritable who's who of Bronze Age journeymen. In the second crossover (or “arc” as the kids call them) the Liberty Legion take a backseat to The Thing and the rest of the Fantastic Four. Indeed, the team are not the main focus for the majority of the book. Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 features a young Johnny Romita in the New York of 1942, one of a billion Roy Thomas winks and nods (or “Easter eggs” as the hipsters say) peppered throughout these comic books. Roy Thomas was one of the original generation of comic book fans who came to write comics. His reverence for the medium is apparent. What many folks thought of as disposable entertainment Thomas saw as an important artform.

Praise be to Marvel for releasing such a left field, odd duck collection. No one would have ever asked them to make it, but I was only too happy to buy it. I am not sure what that says about me, but I am certain that someday the pharmaceutical industry will make a pill to cure me of it. Until then, MAKE MINE MARVEL!*

*Sentiment does not apply to most modern Marvel Comics.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The late, lamented Marvel Premiere Classic Hardcovers were a sort of junior Masterworks line. While they weren't quite the “Blu-Ray” version of these issues like you would see in a Marvel Masterwork, they are still excellent.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Give Me Liberty- Or Give Me Legion text pages by Roy Thomas from Marvel Premiere #29 and 30 (2 pages).

Linework and Color restoration rating: 3 out of 5. This rating is based on an average. Some of these issues are a muddy, pixelated mess (Invaders #6) while others are perfectly fine, serviceable restorations (Marvel Two-In-One #20). The original color palette is maintained for the most part with only a minor deviation here or there.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Sweet smelling toxic ink Chinese made virgin Amazon rainforest tree-sourced coated stock paper with a slight sheen.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Smyth sewn binding, 6 stitches per signature. The book lays 90-95% flat. The book block doesn't have much room to flex to lay perfectly because the squared casing.

Buy THE THING: LIBERTY LEGION HC at InStockTrades!

Review- NAMOR VISIONARIES JOHN BYRNE VOL. 2

NAMOR VISIONARIES JOHN BYRNE VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects Namor, The Sub-Mariner Nos. 10-18 (cover dates January- September, 1991)

Writer and Artist (and Letterer): John Byrne

Jeez-o-Pete does John Byrne pile subplot on top of subplot. There is so much going on in every issue that your head spins. Byrne is like a waiter juggling several dishes, and all of them make it to their destination intact. It's a lot of fun, and a lot of excitement to see where things are going. I enjoyed Volume 1 so much so that I bumped this to the front of the queue after I bought it. 

We get to see an Invaders reunion, Master Man, the Griffin, the Super Skrull, and lots more. Byrne clearly loves the Super Skrull, as he has used him several times in his various projects. I'm really looking forward to Volume 3.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5. 

The OCD zone- This has the same godlike coated stock, dull matte finish paper that Marvel has been using in their softcover Masterworks and Classic line trade paperbacks for some time now. I cannot state enough how wonderful this paper is.

Unlike Volume 1 or other every other non-Essential, non-full line bleed book, this does not have page numbers. It drove me batshit crazy for some strange reason. 

There is a dropped line in a word balloon in issue 18, likely the result of a pasted over correction falling off over the years. It sucks, but it happens. I'm sure that Marvel will fix this for an Omnibus hardcover down the road, which my OCD will force me to re-buy. The cardstock cover has the same thick wax-like coating that all Marvel softcovers do.

Linework restoration rating: 5 out of 5.

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5.

Cardstock cover rating: 5 out of 5.

Review- NAMOR VISIONARIES: JOHN BYRNE VOL. 1

NAMOR VISIONARIES: JOHN BYRNE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Namor, The Sub-Mariner Nos. 1-9 (cover dates April- December, 1990)

Writer and Artist: John Byrne

I am a huge John Byrne fan. I met Byrne at the Mid-Ohio Con in 2004, and he was very gracious, answering all of my inane X-Men questions for what must have been the thousandth time. I know that many people have issues with the man and his opinions. I say separate the art from the artist.

I missed this series when it was originally published, as I was on sabbatical from the hobby at the time. The gist of the series is simple. Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is repulsed by man's destruction of his ocean environment. He decides to combat pollution, so he once again wages war against the surface world...on the surface world's own terms. He uses sunken treasures to make himself rich, and buy a corporation, which he names Oracle. This was a pretty timely topic, as I recall never even hearing of Earth Day until the much hyped 20^th anniversary in 1990. Byrne was ahead of the game, seeing as how he would have been working on this in the fall of 1989. As of this point in the series, Namor hasn't really done anything to help Mother Earth, but we'll see, right?

Most of the foes that the Sub-Mariner tangles with are environmental monsters, and are a cross between Atlas era Kirby monsters and Byrne's Alpha Flight Great Beasts in appearance. There are lots of great action sequences here. Namor's main foils, the Marrs twins, heads of the Marrs Corporation, are not super villains at all.

Byrne's art in issue 4 takes a strange turn, as he goes for a type of blueish shading similar to Bill Everett's original take on the character in his first appearance Marvel Comics #1 back in 1939 (itself a colorized reprinting of Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1). 

Not everything here is gold, though. Headhunter is a downright corny villain, and the reveal at the end of the arc was lame. Still, this was a fun read with plenty of action and good Byrne artwork. Volume 2 has been solicited and will be released this summer.

The OCD zone- Wonderful, dull matte finish coated stock paper which brilliantly captures the flat colors and provides an authentic, yet high end feeling, comic book reading experience. My OCD swooned!

Drowning in my backlog

EX MACHINA VOL. 9: RING OUT THE OLD (Wildstorm/DC, 2010)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 40-44 and Ex Machina Special No. 4 (cover dates February- October, 2009)

Ex Machina remains one of my favorite titles. Sadly, the series ended with Issue 50, so that gives us only one more trade of Brain K. Vaughn and Tony Harris goodness. This comic is a real page turner, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. (Although, given my backlog, I will have to wait for quite some time.) If you want a truly sophisticated "adult" comic that doesn't rely on adolescent pandering to be "mature", then pick this title up.

THE GOLDEN AGE SANDMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 1 (DC, 2004)

Collects material from Adventure Comics Nos. 40-59 and New York World’s Fair Comics 1939 (cover dates July, 1939- February, 1941)

After reading several satisfying volumes of Sandman Mystery Theatre, I decided to dig deeper into the Sandman catalog. For those of you who are not familiar with Sandman Mystery Theatre, it was a title published by Vertigo/DC in the '90s about the Golden Age Sandman. It was set in the '30s and '40s and is a terrific read. I did some digging around online to see if there were any collected editions of said character, and discovered that there was indeed a DC Archive published several years ago.

While not as satisfying a read as Sandman Mystery Theatre, this was still very entertaining and bled charm. Several of the villains from the Vertigo series got their start here. DC's restoration for this volume is mostly excellent, except for the word balloons. I don't know if they worked from scans or photostats when restoring this book, but several word balloons must have been touched up. Sandman is referred to as Bandman several times, B-s are replaced with F-s, and there are a few other minor mistakes. There are less then a dozen throughout the 220-odd pages of the book, but it is more than enough to make my OCD keep me awake at night, tossing and turning over the imperfect restoration of these issues. Oh, and DC only included the covers that had the Sandman on them...I can't stand that!!

So yes, before the relaunched Sandman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, before the guy actually made of sand created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko appeared in Amazing Spider-Man, and before Neil Gaiman made waves with his incarnation of the Sandman, there was THIS Sandman. I guess that we could call him OG Sandman...or not.

TOMB OF DRACULA OMNIBUS VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Dr. Strange No. 14, Giant-Size Dracula Nos. 5 and Tomb of Dracula Nos. 32-70 (cover dates May, 1975- August, 1979)

After many months in the backlog and a couple of months of intermittent reading, I finished this nearly 800 page monster tome (pun intended). This is dense, text-heavy Bronze Age goodness. Tomb of Dracula was writer Marv Wolfman and artists Gene Colan and Tom Palmer's tour De force. The series was to be cancelled with issue 70, but work on issues 71 and 72 was already well underway. They delayed issue 70 by several months, made it double-sized, and it was re-tooled to be the series finale. Had Marvel not included the extra, unfinished, unused pages, I would have never known that the published ending was not the creators' original intention. The ending was executed flawlessly and was a satisfying end to this epic.

This series is being reissued again as a series of affordable trade paperbacks for the masses. I think that are one or two of them out already, and they clock in around 200 pages each. I'd recommend this to any fans of the Horror or vampire genres that haven't already checked them out.

POWER PACK CLASSIC VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2010)

Collects Power Pack Nos. 11-17, Marvel Graphic Novel- Power Pack & Cloak and Dagger: Shelter From The Storm and Uncanny X-Men No. 195 (cover dates June- December, 1985; MGN, 1989)

The first thing that I thought of when I heard that Disney bought Marvel is 'finally, we will get a Power Pack movie'. No, really. It makes perfect sense for this to be a Pixar CGI flick. While I would love to see them modeled after June Brigman's artwork, they would likely be modeled after the more recent, cartoon-y, cutesy, mang-ish GuriHiru artwork.Whatever it takes, I think that these characters would be excellent in a cartoon flick.

I bought all of these issues off of the stands, with the exception of the Marvel Graphic Novel with Cloak and Dagger. That was the weak link in the book. Everything else is wonderful. The writing and artwork all hold up very well a quarter century later.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Sub-Mariner Comics Nos. 9-12 (cover dates Spring, 1943- Winter, 1943-44)

Wow, this has a steep decline in quality from the earlier Bill Everett written and drawn issues. Everett was away serving Uncle Sam during the time that these issues were made. The stories starring the series back-up feature, The Angel (by Gustav Schrotter) are a better read than the Sub-Mariner during this era. In "The Battle of Kwangto" (Sub-Mariner #12), Namor deals with a Captain Stark at Naval Headquarters. Now, I'm going to go all Roy Thomas and retroactively insert him into continuity as a relative of Tony Stark (Iron Man). It doesn't fly in the face of Marvel continuity (1961-on) and therefore, by his definition, BECOMES a part of the continuity. Retroactively, of course.

Sub-Mariner's primary enemy during this time are the Japanese, and he refers to them in any number of unfavorable ways. This WAS wartime, and they WERE the enemy. I look forward to future volumes, as I know that Everett returns down the road. His '50s Sub-Mariner ranks among some of the finest comic books of that decade; go check out the Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes volumes and see for yourself.

AGE OF BRONZE VOL. 1: A THOUSAND SHIPS (Image, Fourth Printing, 2008)

Collects Age of Bronze Nos. 1-9 (cover dates November, 1998- November, 2000)

Eric Shanower has crafted a compelling and engaging account of the Trojan War. His artwork is very detail-oriented, with each panel having nuances that require you to stop and look in order to fully appreciate it all. The story flows nicely, being as dense or as decompressed as the scene dictates. There are segments that you fly though, and others that make Chris Claremont look like Brian Michael Bendis. This comic book is both entertaining and educating, and I would recommend it to open-minded readers.  

My only complaint is that the original issue covers are not included. They would have made for nice chapter markers, as there are none in the entire book. It is impossible to tell where one issue ended and the other began, as it read like one seamless story. 

AGE OF BRONZE VOL. 2: SACRIFICE (Image, Second Printing, 2005)

Collects Age of Bronze Nos. 10-19 (cover dates February, 2001- March, 2004)

The artwork and story remain exquisitely well done, crammed with details. I find this sort of 'historical fiction', or infotainment, to be lots of fun. I enjoy this series because it shows what comic books can be capable of being with enough thought and effort. I am primarily a Marvel guy can appreciate a well done title like this.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE PHANTOM STRANGER VOL. 1 (DC, 2006)

Collects Showcase No. 80 and The Phantom Stranger Nos. 1-21 (cover dates February, 1969- October, 1972)

OK, who do I petition to get this series done in color and in hardcover? I bought this on a whim because I have been intrigued by the character's appearance in the other DC titles that I have read (like the Superman- Man of Steel trades), so I skimmed my toe in the waters of this phone book and...wow! These are superb comic books, written largely by Len Wein (some guy who created a little known character called Wolverine a few years later) with artwork by Jim Aparo, a Neal Adams clone of the highest order, and Neal Adams himself. Adams in an absolute master of the art form, often imitated but seldom duplicated...although Aparo is pretty darn close. Adams mostly sticks to cover art, but what covers they are!

The Phantom Stranger's 'adversary', or counterpoint, is a skeptic named Dr. Thirteen, the Ghost Breaker, whose primary goal is to prove that the Stranger is a fraud. Mystery heaped upon mystery, they still don't really tell you the character's true origin or nature of his powers some 540 pages later. I have Volume 2 in my queue, and can't wait to tear into it.

THE FLASH CHRONICLES VOL. 1 (DC, 2009)

Collects Showcase Nos. 4, 8, 13, 14 and The Flash Nos. 105, 106 (cover dates October, 1956- May, 1959)

Like most little boys who grew up in the late '70s, I loved the SuperFriends cartoon on Saturday morning. The Flash was one of the characters on that show, but for whatever reason I decided that DC sucked when I was around 8 or 9 and never read a Flash comic book until now. This trade paperback was in the 1/2 off section at the Motor City Comic Con last May, and since I've enjoyed the other Chronicles trades so much I figured that I'd give this a try. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all rocked in the Golden Age of Comics. The Green Lantern Chronicles trades skipped the Golden Age version of the character and skipped right ahead to the Silver Age version. The Flash Chronicles did the same thing. Whereas Green Lantern has a zany, fun vibe going on, Flash kinda sucks.

One of the first things that you have to adopt as a comic book fan is a healthy suspension of disbelief. Many fans erroneously state that they like Marvel because their comics are more realistic. I prefer to say that they are more believable, in that the pseudo-science used to define a character's powers has a set of parameters, and the character and their power operate within them. DC seems to have a whatever suits the story type vibe to their powers. I have an extremely hard time swallowing the concept of Flash. Barry Allen is a scientist who is struck by lightning, and that along with some chemicals gives him the power to run fast. So fast that he can break the time barrier or move at 1/1,000,000th of a second. For one thing, I doubt that his lungs could enable him to breathe running at those speeds, so he'd essentially 'drown'. For another, his costume doesn't seem to be made of some fricition resistant "unstable molecules" (as Marvel calls them), so it would be scorched right off of him. His skin would likely also be peeled off him and he'd die. So yeah, while I can buy an alien crashing on Earth and giving Hal Jordan a power ring to become Green Lantern, or a baby crash-landing on an alien planet and raised by farmers, or a boy witnessing his parents murdered in front of him and vowing to rid the world of evil...heck, I can even buy Paradise Island and the whole Greek God Wonder Woman crap, but I can't swallow this. Gorilla Grodd completely rocks, though, so not all is lost. Also, the Flash's costume is among the more dynamic ones in all of comic books. So yeah, The Flash sucks...sort of.

HERCULES: FULL CIRCLE (Marvel, 2009)

Collects Marvel Graphic Novel No. 37 and material from Marvel Age Nos. 4, 65, Marvel Comics Presents Nos. 39-41 and Marvel Tales No. 197 (cover dates July, 1983- January, 1990)

Top notch stuff by Bob Layton. I read the old Hercules- Prince of Power trade years ago and loved it, and this hardcover picks up where that left off. This has a light-hearted tone to it, and even though Hercules is an arrogant buffoon, you can't help but root for him.