Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them by Lydia Kang, MD & Nate Pederson

Myths and legends. The unexplained. The macabre. The paranormal. These are all subjects that I like to read about. This book by Lydia Yang, MD and Nate Pederson looks at an assortment of strange and unusual phenomena and attempts to disprove it through scientific fact. Your usual suspects are explored here: UFOs, ghosts, cryptids and the Bermuda Triangle. Then you have your lesser known unsolved mysteries like spontaneous combustion and ley lines. Then you have things that even a lifelong lover of all things this side of Ripley's Believe It Or Not have never encountered such as the all but forgotten 20th century school of thought/cult of Lawsonism.

For the most part the writers are fair and even a touch open minded. Right off the bat, they promise to not disprove any mainstream religions. Things like Atlantis could be real and while the authors destroy the concept of astrology based on the fact that Pluto is no longer a major planet in our solar system, they admit to sometimes reading their horoscopes because 'its fun.'

One subject that I felt did show a bias was the chapter on climate deniers. Personally, I agree that something is wonky with our weather. But I don't blame it solely on the human race. I really think something is off with our planet's axis because I don't remember it still being sunlight at 9:30pm during the summer when I was a kid. Yet, while the authors expressed hopes that maybe there really is a Loch Ness Monster, they both seem to close the door on any other explanation to climate change than it's all because of fossil fuels and deforestation. I agree that has something to do with it. But I feel like there's an unspoken element out there that is also contributing to climate change and that it's being kept hush-hush.

The authors have a pair of similar books that I actually have been wanting to read for some time now. After reading this 2025 book, I am still open to getting those sister volumes. There is a light-hearted element to (most of) this book. Mostly, it's relegated to the captions for the photos and some were really funny. I liked how the majority of the chapters details events and happenings as factual before going back and tearing down the subject matter with a scientific approach. It helps to give this book a very open minded feel to it because who knows, maybe one day we will be visited by aliens flying around in a flying saucer. It's doubtful. But it's not a concept that has been 100% disproven yet.

If only the authors had kept this approach to every chapter. I wouldn't have felt like I was tricked into a promise of scientific exploration of the unknown and wound up attending a very fierce-toned TED talk on climate change.

Grateful Dead Comix #1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Despite the cover indicating that this is #1 of Grateful Dead Comix, it's actually the 6th issue in the series. Issues #1-5 were originally published by Kitchen Sink Press in a larger magazine sized format. Sales were fairly decent and Deadheads, fans of the world famous Grateful Dead, loved seeing their favorite songs brought to life in 4-color form. However, rising costs in the production of the book, especially in terms of multicolored ink and paper, resulted in editors needing to shrink the size of the book done to the standard comic book size of 6.625 inches x 10.25 inches. 

Unfortunately, the new format as well as renumbering of the book couldn't keep the book from becoming a victim of the dramatic drop in overall sales of comics in the early 90s. The retooled Grateful Dead Comix was cancelled in April, 1994 after just 2 issues. It didn't help that it took nearly a full year for issue #2 to see print. Knowing how some fans are picky about their collection of hardcover and softcover collected works all looking uniform, the format change was probably met with some level of complaint as well.

The issue contains full comic adaptations of 2 Dead songs. Reed Waller and Kate Worley interpret Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter's 'Ripple' as a woman remembering a lost love through the items she finds in her attic. Paul Ollswang's depiction of Hunter's 'Attics of My Life' seems to stay away from the bowels of the sky parlor; instead focusing on a strange man with antlers who battles fierce beasts in a land of feminine-looking sprites. 

This issue also continues a project by Tim Truman. Based off of the never produced 6 song concept album 'Eagle Mall', Truman crafts a story full of creatures and characters that look like they were taken straight out of the animated cult classic film Heavy Metal, engaging in an epic war on an unknown battlefield. This segment features songs #4, 'Lay of the Ring' and #5, 'At The Pass'. Songwriter Robert Hunter worked with Tim Truman in this attempt to finally see his passion project come to fruition. The following issue promised to bring 'Eagle Mall' to an stunning conclusion. 

Grateful Dead Comix didn't just cover visual representations of the band's songbook. Previous issues covered legendary sets performed by the Grateful Dead, including their 1967 performance at the Monterey, CA fairgrounds. Cartoonist (and Deadhead) Terry LaBan, contributed to a frequent series called 'True Life Experiences of a Reluctant Deadhead'. Another segment was on tap for the next issue. Other future plans for Kitchen Sink's franchise license included a special edition hardcover collection of issues #1-4. Limited to 500 copies, it included a bookplate autographed by guitarist Jerry Garcia.

Completing this review completes Task #34 (With a Three Word Title) the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Jughead's Time Police (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The concept of Jughead's Time Police debuted in the October, 1988 of Archie's Giant Series   (issue #590.) Created by Rich Margopoulos, Jughead is visited by Time Police Marshall January McAndrews, of which she calls Archie Andrews an ancestor. January tells Jughead that in the next few minutes, he's about to save the life of a Senator who will one day become President. However, a trio of literal time bandits are determined to change the future by stopping Jughead's rescue attempt. After a trip to the 29th Century, McAndrews and Jones stop the criminals and Jughead manages to save the politician in the nick of time.

The idea of Jughead travelling through time was a hot with readers. January would make a trio of reappearances, promoting Jughead into the Time Police and the 20th century team would eventually find a souped up version of his iconic beanie that would send him anywhere in the timeline as long as he thought about it really, really hard. 

In 1990, Jughead's Time Police would become its own self-titled bi-monthly series. Over the course of 6 issues, Jughead along with his fateful pup, Hot Dog would protect the timeline from villains out to change history, such as rogue Time Police officer, Morgan Le Fey, as well as clean up any messes accidentally left by Jughead. Often instead of saving the day by going back in time and causing a time paradox, Jughead would find a way to allow history to remain unchanged by cheating. For example, when Jughead saves Riverdale from a raging flood, he allows the Time Police of the future to think it still occurred by writing up a fake newspaper story about the aborted tragedy. 

Jughead's Time Police was the victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Cancelled after just a half dozen issues, Archie was grouped along with the stars of Harvey Comics and Disney as being 'baby comics.' The early 90s was a time of gritty, violent comic books and the youthful teens of Riverdale didn't fit the popular archetype. This was also the period of 1st issue frenzy among speculators who would drive the comic book industry to near collapse. A Jughead's Time Police #6 couldn't stand up to a Jim Lee illustrated X-Men #1 or the Death of Superman. 

In an editors column from issue #3, editor Scott Fulop bemoans the lack of love the time travelling antics of Jughead was receiving. Fulop mentions that he's yet to receive a single letter praising the new book while the original stories of 'World of Jughead' that appeared in Archie Giant Series had been getting fantastic responses from readers. 

While Jughead's Time Police failed to find an audience, the series did like many failed masterpieces do over time; it became a cult classic! Chip Zdarsky, who grew up reading the short-lived series, revived the concept in the 2nd issue of the 2015 reboot of Jughead; although it's up for interpretation whether Jughead really went forward in time or if he just dreamed of it during a session of detention. In 2019, Jughead's Time Police would officially become a part of Archie's 'New Riverdale' universe; boasting a more modern art style and serious themes for its characters.

Featuring reprinted material from:

• Archie Giant Series #590. #602
• Jughead #14, 18
• Jughead's Time Police #1-6
• Jughead, Volume 2 #2

Completing this review completes Task #15 (An Archie Comic) the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Bullwinkle #3 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle debuted in animated form in 1959. The creation of animator Jay Ward, the iconic team of Moose and Squirrel first appeared on ABC and eventually NBC where the show wrapped up it's original run in 1964. Over the next 5 decades, Rocky and Bullwinkle would reappear in reruns and new series with the flying gray squirrel always getting top billing, with exception of a Sunday evening show titled merely The Bullwinkle Show. However, when it comes to their appearance in comics forms, it's almost like Rocket J. Squirrel doesn't even exist. 

The furry friends first appeared in comic book form as part of the much beloved Dell Four Color anthology series. Their first 4 appearances were titled 'Rocky and His Friends' before being switched over to 'Bullwinkle and Rocky'. Despite being named in the title, Rocky disappeared from the front cover, with issue #1270 showing only Bullwinkle and the villainous female spy, Natasha, enjoying a piano recital. Eventually, even the supporting players vanished with solely the starring Moose on the cover and the title reduced to being called solely 'Bullwinkle.' Putting Bullwinkle in the spotlight would be a trend that would continue in comics through the 1990s.

Dell, Gold Key, Charlton and Marvel's all-ages imprint Star would publish officially licensed comics based on the Jay Ward Productions series. Every series starring Rocky and Bullwinkle from 1962-1988 would be published as Bullwinkle and Rocky. For the Gold Key series, of which I read issue #3, the publishing credits on the bottom of the opening page would list the series as only Bullwinkle. 

This issue is framed like a classic Rocky and Bullwinkle episode. The main story is broken into 2-parts. In-between the main story arc, there's a segment starring genius pooch Mr. Peabody and his boy, Sherman. Then to finish out the issue, Rocky recites a 'Fractured Fairy Tale' to his buddy Bullwinkle.

In the main tale, a slight parody of that holiday B-movie classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, the children of the Moon are absolutely ga-ga for the antics of Bullwinkle. Wanting to make the children of the Moon happy, a pair of Moon Men come to Earth in the hopes of luring the moose to the Lunar surface. In order to achieve this, the aliens sprinkle an anti-gravity powder to Bullwinkle's antlers which makes him begin to float. Seeing an advantage of Bullwinkle's magical antlers in the Cold War, spies Boris and Natasha seek to remove them as a potential power supply for a squadron of jets. 

The Sherman and Peabody segment puts a spin on the mythos of Billy the Kid, with the notorious outlaw actually being a pistol packing infant! You'll never look at the story of Cinderella the same ever again after reading her story in Fractured Fairy Tales!

The Moon people story is noteworthy in that all of the Lunar residents look like Quisp, the alien spokesman of the Quaker Oats cereal of the same name. Instead of a spinning propeller atop their heads, the Moon people have shaggy mop tops. But with their pink flesh, bulbish heads and googly eyes, the shared ancestry of Quisp and the Moon people cannot be denied. That's because Jay Ward designed Quisp as part of the cereal's original animated marketing campaign in 1965. Whether the likeness was an homage or accidental influence of the works of Jay Ward on the unlisted and unknown artist of the Rocky and Bullwinkle main story is up for debate. GoCollect.com claims that Al Kilgore was a writer and an artist for the issue. Kilgore did work on the Rocky and Bullwinkle newspaper strip that ran from 1962-67. His comic book work in 1972, however, is not confirmed.  No credits for either backup story are available either.

Rocky would finally receive top billing again in the 2014 4-issue miniseries, Rocky and Bullwinkle, published by IDW. It's a position that the level headed squirrel has maintained with other publications ever since.

Completing this review completes Task #10 ( Funny Animal Book starring a SQUIRREL, POLAR BEAR or ANTEATER) the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

The Best of DC Digest #30 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

It's not often that the Dark Knight is wrong. However, when he claims that 11 crimes have been committed on the cover of The Best of DC Digest #30, there are actually only 10 infractions in need of solving. That's because the Robin/Batgirl story is a 2-parter. 

The run down for this issue is as follows:

• 'Wanted for Murder One: The Batman'. A talk show host with a grudge against the Caped Crusader is found dead. Off in the distance, Batman is witnessed fleeing the scene. With the GCPD on his trail, Batman must clear his name or surrender in disgrace.
• 'The Assassin Express Contract'. Christopher Chase accepts a mission to impersonate a wealthy industrialist who has a hit out on him. Already confined by the limits of a racing train, the Human Target must restrict himself further when it's revealed that the subject he's tasked with portraying now has an injured eye.
• 'Riddle of the Unseen Man' sees Roy Raymond, the famed TV Detective who investigates strange but true occurrences is besieged by a seemingly invisible person throughout his daily operations.
• 'Burial For a Batgirl' and ' Midnight is the Dying Hour's sees Barbara Gordon at Gotham State University for a festival honoring Edgar Allen Poe. When a controversial figure is found murdered on campus, Batgirl and the Boy Wonder swing into action to find the killer.
• Magical Mirror Mystery.' When the new mirror Ralph Dibny buys for his wife, Sue, shows the image of a missing woman, the Elongated Man travels to the mansion of the girl's father to solve the mystery.
• Famed magician Mysto aims to solve the 'Three Feats of Peril' that his fallen mentor seeked to perform before his untimely death.
• Crippled private investigator Jason Bard aims to solve how a daredevil skydiver was stabbed to death in the middle of a jump in 'The Case of the Dead-on Target.'
• Captain Mark Compass finds his attempts to crush a ring of smugglers thwarted at his ever turn in 'The Ocean Pest.'
• J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter, appears in 'The Man With 20 Lives.' Gifted with mental telepathy, the Martian knows that a Gotham City thug committed an impossible murder. But in order to solve the crime, he must operate as human police detective John Jones to extract a confession of guilt.
• Batman bursts into the middle of a performance of MacBeth as a sniper takes aim at the star in The Stage is Set - For Murder!'

Each story appeared previously in the pages of Detective Comics. Talent such as Frank Robbins, Dennis O'Neil, Irv Novick, Joe Certa and Vince Colletta worked on these tales which at some point all challenge the reader to solve the mystery from clues sprinkled throughout each story before the hero does. Some of the clues are easy to piece together while some hints require expert level expertise. It's those more difficult leads that feel like cheats, playing upon obscure knowledge of animals, cultures and even the laws of physics in able to solve the mysteries. 

Len Wein was this issue's contributing editor with Mike W. Barr acting as special consultant. 

Completing this review completes Task #38 (A Comic Book Digest) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Saints (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Though Saints debuted concurrently with Gene Luen Yang's Boxers in 2013, it is considered by many to be a sequel and not just a continuation of the story. Consulting with both Google and Amazon, Saints is a sequel. I felt like it was a sequel. To call Saints the second volume of the story is wrong because that book actually retells many of the events that occurred in Boxers from a different point of view. The story ends right where Boxers ends with the destruction of the Hanlin Academy Library and the fall of the rebelling Boxers. 

I fact my biggest complaint about this award winning work is that there isn't a third volume that tells of what happened after the Boxer Rebellion ended. Boxers is from the perspective of a Chinese villager wanting to free his land from foreign invaders. Saints is from the perspective of a native who finds the family that they always wanted in the foreign bureaucrats' sponsored Catholic Church. I would have liked a third book from the perspective of the victorious 'foreign devils' after repelling the rebellion.

Saints is the story of Vibiana. In the Chinese language, the word for the number four sounds almost like the Chinese word for death. Being the fourth child in her family, Vibiana is considered a pariah. It also doesn't help that  she was born on the fourth day of the fourth month. Her grandfather also blames her for the death of her father, the elder man's son, and names her 'Four-Girl'. The mistreatment causes Vibiana to rebel, making a horrifying scowl at everyone she meets. When taken to a local acupuncturist, she finds friendship and warmth from the man and his wife who teach her the scriptures. Soon the Four-Girl gets baptized by the local Catholic missionaries and is rechristened Vibiana.

Vibiana proclaims her new faith to her family. In response, she was severely beaten for her conversion to Christianity. Vibiana runs away with the missionaries who have been ordered to congregate behind the protective ramparts of the capitol city of Peking.

Working in the orphanage, Vibiana meets a young convert who is in training to become a monk. Love seems to be in bloom between her and the boy. However, when the horde of Boxers lead by volume one's protagonist Bao, arrives at the city gate, the relative safety Peking's defenses offers appears seemingly in doubt. 

Inspired by visions of the French Catholic hero, Joan of Arc, Vibiana decides to quickly learn about kung-fu from her paramour, seemingly inspired to save her new family from the heathen Boxers. Only in a strange twist fate, Vibiana's new found faith in God will result in saving the life of the most unlikely of all people involved in the uprising; an enemy that readers of both volumes had thought was long deceased. 

Boxers, along with Saints was nominated for a number of awards. It won the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best young adult literature as well as well as being named one of School Library Journal's best books of the year. Boxers & Saints has remained in print by publisher First Second, with several editions including a a 2-volume boxed set and a deluxe size compendium of both books in a single paperback edition.

Completing this review completes Task #4 (A Graphic Novel Sequel) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Boxers

Gene Luen Yang crafts an incredible account of the Boxer Rebellion. While the main characters are fictional, I learned a ton about a part of World History that a week ago, honestly, I couldn't have told you anything about other than I know that the combatants were the Chinese vs. Missionaries. And it turns out that I wasn't even 100% correct about that.

Yes, Christian missionaries, primarily from the Catholic Church, were working to convert the heathen natives of China. However, it wasn't the ruling government who was rebelling. The ruling house in China at the time was pretty much powerless because of a conglomerate of British, German and even the American government, pushing to colonize China. The monks and nuns of the Catholic Church were seen as foreign devils, seeking to pervert the people of China to follow Christ and thus becoming enslaved by Western ideals. To become a Christian meant permanent banishment from your family and possibly your community in China. 

Little Bao is a young boy who sees a missionary destroy one of his village's beloved idol gods. Eventually, some of the villagers become followers. But in reality, some are using their new found religion as an opportunity to bully their own people. Any attempt to resist a missionary or one of their followers is met with government force as the foreign government officials in Peking see the church as a way to subdue the masses. 

When a beloved member of Little Bao's village is killed for attempting to save a town from foreign government brutality, the boy begins a pilgrimage to Peking in hopes of freeing China from it's devilish overlords. Using the lessons in the martial arts that he learned from his fallen mentor, as well as encouraged by visions of the first Emperor of China, Bao leads a group of men to the capital city. Along the way, he gathers countless followers including a group of women martial artists. But once at his destination, the leader of the Boxers, those devotees of kung-fu who fight with their hands and their passions, will find that the situation within the walled community isn't so black and white as war makes even the most noble of intentions become corrupted.

What makes this work so unique is that this is not the end of the story. 2013's Boxers tells of the Boxer Rebellion from the side of the Chinese population who believed that the foreign bureaucrats and missionaries were evil invaders who turned their disciples into traitors. Volume 2, titled Saints will show a different perspective of the conflict. Only it's not from one of the foreigners but of a native Chinese citizen who finds not just safety and religion, but a sense of belonging they never received from their blood family.

I personally own the copy of Boxers that I read. I waited a very long time to get a copy of Saints before reading. While that book is about a third of the size of Boxers, I didn't want to wait a long time to read it. I was also concerned that I might forget something. if I waited. The Boxer Rebellion is so complex. It's not a 2-sided coin kinda thing. There's so many parts, players and philosophies behind what transpired in the very early 20th century in China. I'm very glad at Gene Luen Yang's attempt to present both sides of the story. It's a creative yet bold endeavor from a creator that my fandom is growing with every work of his I read. I look forward to seeing that other side, much sooner than later, thankfully. I think it's going to add so much depth to this already weighty story.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.