One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Comic Book Comics #5

GOOD THING: After a lengthy break between issues, Comic Book Comics finally returns, teaching us the history of comics in a funny fashion.





BAD THING: Out of all of the aspects of comic history they could have tackled... why creator's rights? Don't get me wrong - the battles fought by the likes of Siegel, Shuster, Kirby and Robinson were an important step in changing the industry. But it's not that humorous. This whole section also seems needlessly antagonistic to Stan Lee, who is used as a symbol for Marvel Comics here even though I don't believe was part of Marvel management at the time most of these battles were taking place.







The Final Verdict: I'm glad to see it back but I'm sorry to say that a good portion of this issue just isn't funny and is pretty damned dull.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Comic Book Comics #4

Well, one good thing and one bad thing besides "this fourth issue finally being here" and "us having to wait so long for the damn thing", respectively.



GOOD THING: More of the same from Evil Twin Comics - educational material presented in a fun way. It's hard to single out just one page or panel as particularly exemplary, so we'll just go with good ol' fashioned author appeal and show the panels with my three favorite heroes!

BAD THING: With a subject this big, some subject matter was bound to get shafted. And for all the details we get on the Super Silver Age Sixties at Marvel, there is surprisingly little about Mainstream Comics in the 70s.

Most of the last half of the book is devoted toward Robert Crumb and the Underground Comics movement of the 60s and 70s. - something important to cover and no mistake about it! But the end of the book seems to be taking us right into the 1980s and the Age of Lawsuits without any examination of how Stan Lee's defiance of the Comics Code Authority in the early 1970s (mentioned in the above one panel) led to a host of reforms in the American Comics Industry, including a diversification of genres and the return of horror books.

And then there's the improved representation of female and minority heroes during that same period. Misguided though it was, at least the creators were trying when they introduced characters such as Ms. Marvel, Black Lightning, Power Man and Power Girl.

I'm sure this will be coming late on in the series. It's just a bit jarring that A did not smoothly lead into B as it did in previous issues.



The Final Verdict: At this point, it may be easier to wait for the Trade of this series than to find the back issues. But either way, you'll want to pick this up. History - even comics history - has never been this fun!

Fast Thoughts - The Week of 2/4/09

COMIC BOOK COMICS #3: If you only buy one comic with a scene depicting Adam West at an orgy this year, make it this one!

This time we go into the history of The Comics Code Authority, the creation of Mad Magazine, science-fiction pulp's increasing influence on the medium and - in a quick jump into the future - the Pop Art movement of Warhol & Lichtenstein and the hipster's loving mockery of comic culture.

Whew! That's a lot of ground.

As usual, Van Lente and Dunlavey give us a funny and educational read. But more importantly, they give us a balanced look at more well-known events and figures of this history. For instance, at the very start they describe Dr. Fredric Wertham's noteworthy accomplishments as a psychiatrist and the good he did as a progressive activist before raking him over the coals for his biased and unscientific "study" of comic books and juvenile delinquency. Van Lenter and Dunlavey also describe Wertham's complaints which had some merit (negative portrayals of non-Caucasians, unrealistic female body images and excessive BDSM imagery) and the ones (comics teach kids how to commit crimes, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin are obviously gay) which were a little more out there.

We can only hope this same unbiased view remains next month as we go into the heated world of 1960s Marvel and that the book doesn't go into describing how Saint Kirby and Saint Ditko overcame The Devil Stan Lee.


KULL #4: It's barbarian kings fighting snakemen with all the blood, guts and weird horror that you'd expect from a comic book adaptation of a Robert E. Howard story. There's not much else that needs to be said except that if you are the sort of person who enjoys that sort of thing, you'll enjoy this. Good story. Great art. Can we have this as a monthly, please?


RED SONJA #41: This issue is all exposition but it is well-written and sorely needed exposition after Brian Reed's first story arc, in which many people died over an apparently powerful but ill-defined mystic doodad known as "The Blood Legacy".

Apparently The Blood Legacy is a magic gem with a long history of death attached to it that may or may not contain the blood of The Creator God and may or may not have been the first weapon. It also seems to wind up in the hands of red-haired warrior women more often than not and may have been stolen from Cthulhu (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) at one point.

While this grand history may well have been better told at the start of the new series before we had a few dozen people being killed over the thing, I must say that this book is finally starting to build toward an epic scope worthy of the grand tradition of Robert E. Howard and Roy Thomas. And - you know - redheads in scanty armor fighting Cthulhu are always awesome.


SECRET SIX #6: Another issue - another "do not spoil the sudden twist at the end" ending. Of course we all knew that a "sudden but inevitable betrayal" was bound to happen but I honestly didn't see it coming from this character or their being able to take out the rest of the team so easily. Damn good scene there, Simone.

We also get some background for Jeanette, find out that The Mad Hatter (who rather has a grudge after the events of the Secret Six mini-series) is out for the blood of his old teammates and even get a quick history of the new Secret Six, describing the events of Villains United and the Secret Six mini-series from MH's perspective. There's also a revelation about a new uber-powered baddy who is manipulating The Mad Hatter which bodes interesting things for Green Lantern: The Blackest Night... but of that, I will say no more.

This book is one of the best ones on the shelf right now. Pick it up before it goes the way of Manhunter and Birds of Prey.

Fast Thoughts - The Weeks of 7/23/08 & 7/30/08

Since there's been so much negativity in the world lately, I'm going to focus on the one thing I liked most about all the books I got this week - all of which are well worth picking up.



AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #1 - The best thing? Ambush Bug's quest for a refrigerator that DOESN'T have a dead DC Comics female character in it and the spiral of increasingly bizarre dark comedy that continues throughout the book.


COMIC BOOK COMICS #2 - The best thing? The image of a cigar-chomping Jack Kirby having to write the advice columns for the romance comics he drew.


GREEN LANTERN #33 - The best thing? Using a flashback to expand on the past of the characters, even as they set-up the future of the series, re: The Blackest Night.


GREEN LANTERN CORPS #26 - The best thing? Mongul, son of Mongul is finally dead and no more creepy cradling the corpse of Mongal ever again!


HUNTRESS: YEAR ONE #6 - The best thing? Huntress telling everyone who is trying to control her to bloody well piss off.


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23 - The best thing? Dwayne McDuffie actually surprised me with the clever use of Vixen's altered powers. It's so rare for a comic to actually surprise me these days...


KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #141 - The best thing? Bob and Dave turn a children's educational game on how global government works into an odd mash-up of RISK and Liar's Poker.

Three Weeks of Fast Thoughts

And yes, I am fully aware of the irony of calling something "Fast Thoughts" when you're reviewing comics you bought three weeks ago. The new job and a Con appearance consumed all of my spare time that wasn't spent sleeping, okay? :)



COMIC BOOK COMICS #1 - From the team that brought you Action Philosophers!, this little book is a comic book about comics history - a novel idea that I'm surprised hasn't been attempted before. While not quite as funny as AP was - although, in fairness, I don't think much CAN be funnier than the image of Plato being a big bearded bloke in a Luchadore mask who talks in Hulk-Speak - this is, like AP was, a very fun comic that manages to be educational to boot. I dare say that only the most die-hard of comic geeks won't learn something new about the genre's origins from this book and I will further say that this is a must-read for anyone who has ever held a comic-book.


DOCTOR WHO #1 & #2 - I haven't seen any of the Third Season of the Doctor Who revival series (AKA New Who, as some fans call it) but this has been due more to my busy schedule than any desire to avoid it... much as I do miss Rose Tyler already. Still, this comic book series based on the adventures of the current (i.e Tenth) Doctor and his current companion (i.e. Martha Jones) serves equally well as an introduction to the world of The Doctor for old fans, new fans or people who are "not sure if I'd even like Doctor Who".

The first issue deals with The Doctor being kidnapped by one of the last of the Sycorax - an alien species familiar to New Who fans as the main baddies from The Christmas Invasion of 2005 - who is running a business catering to big-game hunters who wish to hunt the last of any given species. Naturally The Doctor, who is the last of the Time Lords of Galifrey as we are informed in the introduction, is big business indeed. The second issue centers upon a trip to 1974, a series of odd sand-based statues and a technological curse extending back to the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

If you're a fan of quirky science-fiction, sly British humor or - of course - Doctor Who - these comics are of equal quality to the TV series. I'm no Doctor, but if I were, I'd prescribe these comics for all my patients.


DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS #2-4 - Classic Marvel Comics of England - with Dave Gibbons artwork pre-Watchmen - depicting the adventures of The Fourth Doctor - aka Tom Baker, perhaps the best-known and most popular actor to ever play The Doctor. There's not a lot I else I can say about this except that if you're a fan of The Doctor, Dave Gibbons artwork, or trippy science-fiction with a big heart and a sly wit, this should be required reading. Unless, of course, you already have a complete set of the original Marvel comics and have no need of the IDW reprints. :)


FABLES #70 - Still the best damn book on all fronts published monthly.


GREEN LANTERN #28 - The plot thickens as we see the first signs of the Fourth Lantern Corps - the Red Lantern Corps of rage. Not surprisingly, Laria - the Green Lantern who killed a Sinestro Corps member who had surrendered and was unarmed a few issues ago- was their first recruit. What is surprising is the power behind the Red Lantern Corps is The Empire of Tears - the enemies of The Guardians and the group responsible for, in the Alan Moore story Tygers revealing the Prophecy of Blackest Night which detailed the oncoming war between Seven Lantern Corps based on Seven Emotions and Seven Colors.

Not the best issue for a new reader to jump on, I'm afraid, but this is the best Space Opera book in years. Go pick up the new Hardcover collection of The Sinestro Corps War to see where it all began before picking this one up.


GREEN LANTERN CORPS #22 - Pretty much everything I said about Green Lantern applies to Green Lantern Corps as well. Good book. Good art. And not a good issue to come in on as this issue continues last month's storyline involving the Green Lantern Boodika's transformation into an Alpha Lantern (i.e. half organic/half Manhunter robot being devoted toward policing the Green Lantern Corps itself) and her going after one of her former sisters in a group of space amazon bandits. And while you might not think it difficult to get into a comic that is basically a bunch of muscular women wearing next to nothing trying to kill each other, such is the depth of this book that such a simple pleasure is made complex.


HELLBLAZER #241 - Bit of a slow issue this one. John doing what John does best as he tries to redirect the mad warmage Mako toward a different target while buying himself some time as innocent (well, relatively so) people are torn apart while John skates away. It's still good stuff but it feels like the sort of issue that exists only to pad out a story to six issues for the inevitable trade paperback.


JACK OF FABLES #20 - Should I even bother to mention that in five years of librarian school and working in libraries I have never yet met one librarian as hot as any one of The Page Sisters? Much less three? Much less three sisters? Just thought I'd mention it and that I take comfort in the fact that a liar like Jack can't possibly be telling the truth about having seduced all three of them. And yes, I know it doesn't bode well of me that I lust after fictional sexy librarians and am jealous of a fictional character who managed to seduce them all. I don't care. I still want to marry Barbara Gordon.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes - uh... this is a very good comic and you should be reading it. Yes.


SERENITY: BETTER DAYS #1 - Pre-Serenity The Movie, Whedon-written original adventures of Malcolm Reynolds and the rest of the Serenity crew. If you're a fan of Firefly you probably already know about this book and bought it or are cursing in Chinese and resolving to go down to the comic book shop first-thing tomorrow. Suffice it to say that if you're a fan, you'll love it. And if you're not a fan, hie thee hence to procure Firefly: The Complete Series and see what all the fuss is about.


WONDER WOMAN #18- This issue had it all. Really. Kick-ass action scenes in the form of Wonder Woman vs. An Army of Khunds (aka The Conan Aliens). Old-School sensibilities mixed with New-Earth coolness as we get a gun-totting, ass-kicking Etta Candy. And the only laugh-out-loud moment in any comic I've read in the past month as we see Diana start putting Nemesis through the Amazon Courtship rituals.

Yes, you read that right. Apparently lesbian relationships were common enough among the Amazons for complex courtship rituals to be developed. Which is only natural and makes perfect sense. Still, it is a bit flooring to see such a thing finally be spelled out in the pages of Wonder Woman much less to have such a revelation be revealed without a bit editorial hoopla. Especially given the way they handled the reveal of Batwoman and (Insert Judd Winick storyline of your choice here).

Good book. And a good issue to start with if - for some reason - you didn't jump on this ship when Gail Simone became the captain.