Review- BATMAN/ FLASH: THE BUTTON- THE DELUXE EDITION

My son asked me if I would read this before reading Doomsday Clock. He assigned it to me as weekend homework reading before his next visit. His mother bought him this book, so full disclaimer: I didn't pay to read this book. My son is 12 and I won't let him read Watchmen, which I suppose makes it a sort of forbidden fruit for the lad. Alas, I am not sure how much enjoyment he will derive from this or Doomsday Clock without understanding the reference points of Watchmen. I explained things to him as best as I can without revealing certain, age-inappropriate things about the series. 

BATMAN/ FLASH: THE BUTTON- THE DELUXE EDITION (DC, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Collects Batman #21, 22, and Flash #21, 22 (cover dates June-July, 2017)

Writers: Tom Cook and Joshua Williamson

Artists: Jason Fabook and Howard Porter

Colorists: Brad Anderson and Hi-Fi

Wow, talk about your assumed knowledge, self-referencing works. This is the prequel to the main event which spun out of DC Rebirth #1, that 80 page comic that was a reset of a reset of reset, or something like that. This story is a fun, action packed read, but falls flat on its face overall because the writers assume that everyone has a working knowledge of Watchmen and the DC Universe. While the majority of readers do, someone like my son who has a budding interest in comics simply didn't understand a lot of this. Reading the book with his confusion in mind and looking at it through his eyes made me look for clues to explain the story to a “civilian”. The pickings were slim.

S P O I L E R S abound- you have been warned. So Doctor Manhattan is likely the “god” that is somehow pulling the strings and has left The Comedian's button in the DC Universe? To what end? Alan Moore would be rolling in his grave if he were dead. If DC is trying to blur the lines of all ret-cons and reboots into one cohesive universe, using Reverse Flash (Thawne) seems even more confusing. Maybe this is my Marvel thinking, but wouldn't every single attempt at altering Flash's history by going back in time change nothing and only create alternate timelines?

While I am not a DC expert, I have a mild working knowledge of their continuity. Even so, I found some of these reference points to be confusing. I know that this is all make believe, but all of this ret-conning and rebooting has made a mess of things.

Like I said above, as fun a read with nice artwork that it is, it's a thin story. The prequel is little more than a stunt, which I suppose is appropriate since this Doomsday Clock event is one of the biggest stunts since The New 52.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Paper stock: Super thick coated stock with a medium sheen.

Binding: Sewn binding. Go DC!

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: This particular printing has a lenticular dustjacket. I can't recall of another collected edition with this feature. Very cool. The single issues boasted this feature, so this was a nice nod to that. The hardback has a glossy laminated casewrap.

Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 1

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 1 (DC, Second Printing, 2000; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #3-6 (cover dates Winter, 1940- August/ September, 1941)

Writers: Gardner Fox with Charles Reisenstein and other, unidentified writers.

Artists: Everett E. Hibbard, Sheldon Moldoff, Bernard Baily, Creig Flessel, Howard Sherman, Ben Flinton, Martin Nodell, Howard Purcell, Hal Sharp, Cliff Young, Irwin Hasen, Stan Aschmeier, and other possibly unidentified art assistants.

The Justice Society Of America was the first superhero team in the history of comics. That alone makes this book historically significant and worth a read. In Don Thompson's Foreword he claims that this is the first time that superheroes ever met one another in comic books. This is false. Over at Timely's Marvel Mystery Comics the Human Torch met (and battled) the Sub-Mariner in #8 (cover date June, 1940, on the stands months before that). Thompson was a respected member of the original organized fandom in the early 1960s, back when comic book collecting was not considered a serious hobby and long before these characters entered mainstream and I respect him, but he is wrong. Crossovers as such existed in some of the earliest newspaper strips at the turn of the 20^th century, going as far back as The Katzenjammer Kids.

Way to go, Flash, think of ways to put honest firemen out of work.

That aside, this is a fascinating read. For starters, the characters all meet up and then go their separate ways to uncover whatever case they are working on. The kids these days call them “comic jams”, where one creator hands it off to the next. Each character's creator and primary artist handles their respective strips, and then there is a resolution at the end where they all meet up and solve the case. This formula is repeated in all four issues collected here. What makes this interesting is that instead of the anthology format used in all comics of the day you have one 58 page long story.

Comparing unions to Nazis. Sheesh.

I like how the JSA has a clubhouse where they meet. The simplicity of the times was evident throughout these comics. While the fashions and architecture of the time were contemporary to readers when these issues were originally published they only add to the escapist pleasure of the stories for me. I also enjoy the slang peppered in casual conversation. When modern writers try to write period piece comic like this they always come off as fake because they lack the reference points that the writers who were active during this era had.

Hey kids! Pop a pill and get super powers...just watch out for the crash an hour later. Coming down is a drag.

I enjoyed The Spectre, The Sandman, and the Hawkman parts of the stories the most. Flash is more enjoyable here than he was in other books that I read. 

 

There is some great talent on this book. Sheldon Moldoff's Hawkman is stunning, even if he totally swiped tons from Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon strip. Gardner Fox manages to juggle all of the balls between the various creators of each character, and for the most part it works. #7 is the weakest issue in the book.

I have several more of the books in this lane aging to perfection in my backlog with no real timetable on reading them. I guess that I'll get to them when I get to them. It's not like another year or three is going to matter with comics that already over 70 years old.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I like DC Archives. Back when SUVs were getting to be the size of tanks automakers started touting the “garageability” of Ford Explorers. Here in the Omnibus age, where books exceed 1,000 pages and have even hit the 1,500 page mark, I enjoy the “readability” of a 270-odd page book.

Linework and Color restoration: While the color palette is faithfully maintained, the linework is pretty washed out. This was remastered in 1991 using Greg Theakston's Theakstonizing method, where old comics are chemically treated and the color is removed. From there some of the lines were redrawn by hand, and it is obvious how many lines were washed out with this technique. Credit where credit is due, this was the state of the art technique of the day and Theakston was the pioneer in comic book restoration.

Scan of the original comic.

...and the version from the Archive. Notice how blotchy the linework is in places and how washed out it is in others. 

I was impressed by how close the colors were. The blends were done prior to Photoshop, so they were done by hand and therefore lack the cheesy lazy airbrush gradients found in many later DC Archives.

Think of this as a state of the art VHS remaster from 1991. Play that same VHS on a modern television and you will see graininess and the inferior techniques in comparison to what can be found in Blu-Rays. It is unfair to criticize the VHS remastering using this criteria, and it is unfair to outright condemn the work done on this book using 2015 eyes. This was a very good restoration job for it's day. It's a damn shame that DC never ever ever revisits and remasters their material. This material could look so much better. DC could use the Marvel strategy and rerelease this in an Omnibus, using the new format upgrade to defer the restoration cost. DC would simply slap the old files into a new book, like they are going to do in the forthcoming Golden Age Batman Omnibus. Sad.

Paper stock: Wonderful creamy off-white matte coated stock. Perfect.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays perfectly flat.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Laminated dustjacket. Casewrap has grainy faux leather feel with foil dye stamping. 

Review- ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 0

ALL STAR COMICS ARCHIVES VOL. 0 (DC, 2006; Hardcover)

Collects All Star Comics #1, 2 (cover dates Summer- Fall, 1940)

Writers: Gardner Fox, Jon. L. Blummer, Jerry Siegel, Al Sulman, Evelyn Gaines, Ken Fitch (as William Waugh), Bill Finger, and John B. Wentworth

Artists: Sheldon Moldoff, Chad Grothkopf, Jon. L. Blummer, Everett E. Hibbard, Bernard Baily, Joseph Sulman, William A. Smith, Martin Nodell, Creig Flessel, and Stan Aschmeier

This was a big 64-page anthology series featuring many different super-heroes. I am not sure which Earth this is supposed to be or how it does or does not fit into current continuity, I just know that I love Golden Age DC.

Hawkman is awesome, as he “uses weapons of the past to battle evils of the present”. Sheldon Moldoff is one of the finest Golden Age comic book artists. The original Sandman is of course fantastic, owing much to the Pulps of the 1930s in tone and delivery. Gary Concord, The Ultra-Man is little more than a Flash Gordon retread, who himself was a Buck Rogers retread done right. The original Flash just bores me. I have no idea why. I enjoy the Silver Age reboot but the original bores me so much that I have no interest in buying the Archives of that run. 

Horrid, horrid gradient shade cheesy airbrush coloring as far as the eye can see. 

My favorite is The Spectre. The Golden Age version is the best comic of it's day, and it was the lure of stories not collected in the Golden Age Spectre Archives that had me scoop these All Star Archives when DC was liquidating them a couple of years ago. Hour-Man and Red, White And Blue are all lovable products of their time that put a smile on my face. Golden Age Comics are something of an acquired taste. They wouldn't hold up to most modern readers beyond historical significance, at least from what I gather via online comic communities.

Uh...okay. I am open minded, but I am pretty sure that everyone can agree that this is kind of sick. 

These are all fun, silly escapist reads. At the end of the day that is all that I am looking for anymore. The real world and real life are depressing enough; I don't need that clogging up my escapist hobby.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is one of the thinnest Archives, clocking in at 144 pages. This is because DC didn't include these issues when they launched this line 15 years earlier and fan demand caused them to add a Vol. 0 to the line, which is great.

Linework and Color restoration: Horrid gradient shades as far as the eye can see. This technique looks wrong for the era. I can't be overly harsh though, as viewing this 2006 restoration with 2015 eyes is unfair. Imagine a DVD purchased in 2006. It probably was fine at the time of purchase, and certainly on par or better with everything else that was remastered at that point in time. Fast forward to the Blu-Ray era, and it looks thin and dated with low resolution. The same can be said for remastering techniques in these books. Advances in scanning and coloring technology has allowed the books to look more authentic to the original publications, often surpassing the primitive printing techniques of the time and looking as close to the original art as possible.

I cannot tell if the linework or color palette are authentic to the original publications as I A) do not own the original comic books to compare and B) cannot find scans online to compare with this book.

Paper stock: I love the paper stock used in DC Archives of this vintage. It is a creamy, off-white matte coated stock and is perfect. Why DC has done an about face and uses glossy paper in modern day Archives is beyond me.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: Faux leather casewrap with die foil stamping.

Review- THE COMICS CAVALCADE ARCHIVES VOL. 1

THE COMICS CAVALCADE ARCHIVES VOL. 1 (DC, 2005; Hardcover)

Collects Comics Cavalcade #1-3 (cover dates Winter- Summer, 1943)

Writers: William Marston, Ted Udall, John M. Jenks, Ed Wheelan, Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, John L. Brummer, Bud Fisher, Sol Dess, Evelyn Gaines, John B. Wentworth, and M.C. Gaines

Artists: Harry G. Peter, Howard Purcell, John M. Jenks, Ed Wheelan, Sheldon Moldoff, Lou Ferstadt, Irwin Hasen, John Chester Kozlak, Frank Harry, Frank Godwin, Bud Fisher, Al Smith, Joe Gallagher, Everett Hibbard, Hal Sharp, Stan Aschmeier, and Harry Tschida

The novelty of Golden Age comics has completely worn off for me. A decade ago I oohed and aahed at every single old comic based on the sheer obscurity and the expense of obtaining the original comics alone. After reading tons of Golden Age comics I can be a bit more objective. I still take historical significance into consideration when reading them, but some of these stories are just plain awful. Primitive writing and art cementing the notion that comic books were the ghetto for artists who couldn't land a newspaper strip went. 

This title was a quarterly 96 page anthology title (100 if you count covers as pages), all for 15 cents. Regular comics were 68 pages (including covers) for 10 cents at the time, so this wasn't as great a value as it appears on the surface. There are a greater variety of characters and concepts here, so that was part of the draw for the kiddies back then. Whenever I read old comics I think of once-beautiful neighborhoods in Detroit, and how many of the kids who lived there and bought these comics off of the stands are either dead or in an old folks home while many of the neighborhoods look like bombed out warzones. A 10 year old in 1943 would be 82 today.

Just look at the awful, lazy gradient shading on the red in the first panel. Shudder.

The draw of this book for me was Wonder Woman. I love how every single story results in her being tied up. It's hysterical, especially when you consider children were scooping this stuff up. There was a sizable adult audience for comics in this era, especially for Wonder Woman, whose sales went into the toilet once they got rid of the kinkier aspects of the character some time later. Her endless crusade against fifth columnists and Nazis is great fun. Still, I have to wonder what children at the time thought of this, or how it got past parents.

The original Green Lantern completely sucks, a totally cheesy and lame concept. Fans were atwitter when DC ret-conned the original Green Lantern as a homosexual. The only people who should be pissed about this are the gay community, as making a character this lame gay is a disservice to the gay community. If I were gay I would be pissed that DC picked such a sucky character to give to us. I would settle for no less than Golden Age Sandman, and not the lame Simon and Kirby version, either. Golden Age Flash is equally lame. While historically significant, I don't care for the early incarnation (Earth 1) of these guys.

The most fascinating stuff here besides Wonder Woman are the ancillary characters. The Black Pirate (with art by the godlike Sheldon Moldoff) is way cool, kind of a Prince Valiant of the high seas type affair. Wildcat is another awesome character. Ted Grant, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, moonlights as a crimefighter in a cat costume. His costume is disturbingly similar to my childhood superhero creation, Catman, although mine was a real cat man, not a dude in a costume. His arch enemy was Dogman, possibly my finest villain creation. Yes, there are a myriad reasons that I did not go into comics as a career. The King is another fun concept, basically a Batman retread (wealthy man doing good with his fists) with dated even for the era aesthetics. Sargon The Sorcerer is another neat one, this one done in the mold of Mandrake The Magician.

The King. 

The worst stuff is the kiddie “funny” gag strips (Mutt & Jeff, etc.). Abysmal stuff there. The Ghost Patrol is lame. M.C. Gaines writes an unremarkable historic one-shot strip about the Minute Men. Gaines would of course go on to form Educational Comics, which would rebrand itself as Entertaining Comics. Once he died and his son William took over in the late '40s they came to be known by another name: EC Comics, which is like calling an ATM an ATM machine.

This was a very uneven read, and if I ever get around to revisiting this book I will skip over 70% of the material in it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I love DC Archives, even though...

Linework and Color restoration: The linework restoration looks good at times and is murky at others, but it is serviceable. The color palette is kinda sorta accurate. The blues on Wonder Woman's shorts are lighter than the original comics that I have seen scans of online. DC's cheesy airbrush gradient blends ruin the effect of reading old comics. It looks garish. Since this is DC, this is the only time they will bother with remastering this material. Marvel would use another format to defray the costs of restoration if superior sources or techniques arose.

Paper stock: Beautiful matte, off-white coated stock. DC has made a horrible about-face with their Archives paper stock in recent years, reverting to an awful glossy stock.

Binding: Smythe sewn binding, lays flat. This book will outlast me.

Hardback cover notes: I love the faux-leather texture of the casewrap. There is a foil stamping on it, which is nice. DC has done away with those in recent years. The dustjackets of Archives have been known to change color when exposed not just to sunlight, but air itself. Something in the metallic ink or whatnot. Weird. I own my books, they do not own me, so screw it.

Review- THE FLASH CHRONICLES VOL. 3 TP

THE FLASH CHRONICLES VOL. 3 (DC, 2012; Softcover)

Collects The Flash Nos. 113-118 (cover dates July, 1960- February, 1961)

Writer: John Broome

Artist: Pencils by Carmine Infantino, Inks by Joe Giella or Murphy Anderson

Aside from the Super Friends cartoon series, I don't know much about The Flash. I didn't read any Flash comics as a kid, and aside from these Chronicles trade paperbacks, I haven't read many as an adult, so this is all new to me. I read this to my 7 year old son and he really enjoyed these as well. I wish that modern DC Comics were appropriate for my son but they are not. And yes, I know that they have all ages lines, but my son knows that those aren't “the real ones” as he motions to the “real” comics across the aisle.

The zany faux science of Silver Age DC is on display here, with things being fun so long as you don't overthink them. While I enjoyed every story, the ones with Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang were my favorites. I really enjoyed Carmine Infantino's artwork here.

In an era where pretty much all superhero comics are dark and gritty and “realistic” it was refreshing to read lighthearted escapist fun comic books like this. I know, I know, cynical fanboys (term used in the original pejorative) would call me a nostalgic obsessive, but riddle me this then: If these corny old comics suck so bad then why do folks keep coming back to them? Why are these the reference points?

I look forward to giving this book to my son when I double dip and buy The Flash Omnibus Vol. 1 this fall. I just hope that DC doesn't screw the book up like they usually do.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These Chronicles books are an inexpensive way to acclimate oneself to historically significant DC Comics. Unfortunately they seem to have dwindled to a trickle, with the line seemingly dead in the water.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: None.

Linework and Color restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5. The interiors of each issue look great, while the covers are spotty. The original color palette is maintained for the most part.

Paper rating: 3.75 out of 5. Pros- This lightweight uncoated stock mando paper closely replicates the paper found in the original comic books. It is cheap and helps keep costs down. Cons- This paper closely replicates the paper found in the original comic books and will yellow in time. The earliest Batman Chronicles books have already started to yellow on the top, so I have little to no reason to believe that this paper won't. Another con is that the MSRP of this book is no different than books of similar page counts with better paper.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. Thick laminated cardstock, a marked improvement over the screen printed spot varnished chalky feeling atrocity that was Volume 2.

Buy THE FLASH CHRONICLES VOL. 3 TP at InStockTrades!

Review: The Flash Chronicles Vol. 2

THE FLASH CHRONICLES VOL. 2 (DC, 2010; Softcover)

Collects The Flash Nos. 107-112 (cover dates July, 1959- May, 1960)

Wonderful! I was never much of a DC guy growing up, aside from watching the Super Friends cartoon and '60s Batman TV show (on reruns). I love The Chronicles line of trade paperbacks because they start at the beginning, offer a comprehensive presentation of a character's history by publication date, and are cheap. I would even consider an upgrade to an Omnibus for this title if DC were to offer one in the same format as the Green Lantern one.

I didn't really care for most of Vol. 1 of The Flash. The faulty, cheesy DC science rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn't until the last story in the book (Issue 106) that things seemed to hit their stride with the introduction of Gorilla Grodd. This volumes starts out extremely strong, with several rematches with Gorilla Grodd. He is quickly established as the Flash's arch nemesis. I have no idea whether or not this continues to be the case, as these two Chronicles trades are the only Flash comic books that I have ever read. My favorite story in this book is Issue 107's Return of the Super-Gorilla, in which Gorilla Grodd tricks the Bird-People who live on the floating islands beneath the Earth's crust into fighting Flash. I love the charm and innocence of this era of comic books. It's so much fun to read these things. The best part of this story is how the Bird People had drills which could puncture the Earth's crust, even though they had never been to the surface world or were even aware that there was life up there. Classic!

The quality of the writing (John Broome) and artwork (Carmine Infantino) is greatly improved in these issues as well. My only prior exposure to Infantino's work was his abysmal pencils in Marvel's Star Wars series circa 1978. His craft had seriously deteriorated when compared to this stuff. The only fault that I found with this book is the whole Kid Flash character, which is totally lame and stupid, the type of stuff that made me stay away from DC when I was growing up. I am definitely interested in a Vol. 3, if and when it comes out.

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.