Marvel Fanfare #54

The Black Knight “trilogy” concludes with the former Avenger racing the clock in an attempt to broker peace between the crusading Christian and Muslim forces. However, our hero may find that the honor of a knight to a king is rarely reciprocated. (It also helps explain why Black Knight returns to the modern day after living out his dream to be a real medieval knight.)

Then in perhaps the most shocking twist, X-Man, Wolverine has been delegated to the second string slot. His story, involving a family kidnapped for the purpose of being turned into human/animal hybrids, isn’t the lead. In fact, even the front cover is devoted to the Black Knight at not Logan. I would’ve thought surely Marvel would’ve wanted to spotlight their star mutant.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #53

Part 2 of the Black Knight’s multi-issue story has the Avenger uncovering a plot to kill Richard the Lion-Hearted. However, his protective ways have just made him the target of a very powerful Arab warlord.

Then there’s a fantastic Iron Man story with a brilliant twist. Told in the perspective of 2 alien bounty hunters, we see their attempts to capture ole Shellhead. The aliens speak “English” and it’s Tony Stark’s dialogue that is all in gibberish. I wonder if what he says was ever really translated. I’d love to know what he had to say. It’s a very funny story.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #52

This issue kicks off a really awesome multi-part story about the Black Knight’s stint as a soldier during Richard the Lion-Hearted crusade in the middle ages. The story is chop full of adventure and the art and coloring are amazing.

There’s also a Doctor Strange story that’s not bad either. Though I am not sure why he went as Stephen Sanders for a time, I liked this tale of his attempt to free a fellow sorcerer from the snare of black magic. It’s pretty powerful stuff with a shocking ending.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Marvel Fanfare #51

Though it doesn’t go right out and say it, this Fanfare is devoted to a never before used “What If…” With the Watcher as host, we see what might’ve happened if the Silver Surfer stopped a Kree invasion during his exile on Earth.

Silver Surfer’s not exactly one of my favorite superheroes, so I don’t understand much of what’s going on or what should have happened. The art was very good. There’s some great cameos and fantastic action sequences. I am also very happy with the ending.

A must for Surfer fans or like myself, a true devotee to the What If… franchise.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare # 50

For the Double-sized 50th issue of Fanfare, Al Milgrom selected a story starring original X-Men Angel, Iceman, and Beast. A woman who may have fathered a child with Angel seeks the help of the master of macabre fun houses, Arcade, when she believes that Warren Worthington has funded an anti-mutant extermination team called X-Factor.

Here’s where I got confused. I thought X-Factor was a mutant team filled with the former X-Men, being good guys. I had to explore the Marvel Wiki in order to get my facts straight. With a really twisty and turny plot that has a really good Agatha Christie level solution, it was a pretty good story.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Marvel Fanfare #49

This issue is a Western themed Fanfare. First Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan must travel back to the Old West in order to search for a missing Doctor Strange. They later discover that their very presence may have altered the time-line unless they can prevent an Indian tribe from raising an army of the dead against the white man.

  This is more of a SHIELD tale than a Doc Strange adventure. Sure, there is a taste of the super-natural in this story. But, Fury and Dugan are the real stars of this issue and there’s lots of shoot ’em up action.

 Then there’s a Two-Gun Kid tale. It starts off really good, but, the Kid’s got a secret identity more flimsy than a sheet of wet paper. How come nobody sees through it and put 2 & 2 together when Lawyer Matt disappears and the Two-Gun Kid arrives riding Matt’s horse!?!

One great tale, one adventure with more holes that Swiss cheese.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley by Neal Thompson

I remember watching the 80s ABC version of Ripley’s starring Jack Palance when I was a kid. The host scared the hell outta me and so did the opening sequence. I remember seeing Rip’s face on the opening credits and thinking “Just who was they guy?” I also fell in love with the Beleive it or Not odditoriums and the comic strip, reading my grandpa’s old Ripley paperbacks before starting my own collection.

  All of those fond memories of BION are collected in the biography of the Marco Polo of the 20th Century. A fascinating read about a man who loved to play as hard as he worked. From his outsider upbringing to becoming a ladies man, it’s amazing to see just how much a workaholic Ripley was.

  There are some pictures in the middle of the book, but I would’ve loved to have read a few of his comic strips. (Only one is even reprinted legibly in the book towards the end.) One needed aspect of the book are little BION snippets about the many cast of characters Ripley encounters both home and abroad. And talking about broads, Ripley had his share of ’em. I was surprised how many ladies fawned over a guy who collected shrunken heads, tribal masks and erotic photos of amputees.

  Essentially, Robert Ripley is an oddball. But he loved the planet he lived on and the odder, the better. A must read for fans of shows like “Oddities” and “World’s Dumbest” and other shows that explore the strange, goofy, or just plain spooky.

  Believe it or not, this book is Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

MARVEL FANFARE #48

3 stories- all devoted to She-Hulk. Well, that was the original plan. It seems that John Bryne backed out of penning what was to be the 3rd tale of this all Jennifer “She-Hulk” Waters tribute. So, in order to keep with a theme, editor Al Milgrom commissioned a tale starring fellow Avenger the Vision. (The theme is now supposed to be green super-heroes as the Vision is partially green, but it’s a stretch.)

The She-Hulk tales and subsequent pin-ups are visually stunning and very good stories.

The Vision’s involves a man suffering PTSD and Vision’s attempts to cure him. Let’s just say without revealing spoilers that if Vision tried what he does on a real human, that person would be dead. Good Grief- next time, let’s just kill the guys entire family why don’t we. Really, what were the writer and editor thinking?

2/3 of the issue is great. The last third is a stinker.

Worth Consuming/ Worth Consuming/ Not Worth Consuming.

  Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #47

The Hulk returns from a sojourn in space and hits the Big Apple with a worse than usual rampage. Nick Fury and SHIELD are called in to save the day, but when Fury is left incapacitated, it’s left to the inept helicarrier Quartermaster to become the new head of SHIELD.

Added to the mix is Spidey, who discovers that an alien parasite has attached to Hulk and is responsible for the madness. Fantastic scenes of carnage and heroics abound for 32 pages.

What made this issue an even bigger thrill is that this story was recently the subject of an Ultimate Spider-man episode. It’s one of my favorite episodes of the series and it was neat to read that tale’s inspiration.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #46

This Fanfare is devoted entirely to Marvel’s first family: the Fantastic Four with two epic tales. First, the Mad Thinker comes to the FF trapped in the body of the Awesome Android with the promise to go straight if Reed Richards will free him. The story was pretty good until the end which got very trippy, very fast. The conclusion was abruptly sloppy for such a climatic lead-up. It left me disappointed.

Then we get a flashback tale of Ben Grimm’s life leading up to becoming the Thing. It’s pretty standard origin stuff, with the shocking twist being the woman the Thing left behind. Lots of pathos with dramatic art to boot.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #44

Set in the aftermath of the Armor Wars, Tony Stark and Rhodey attend a technical symposium hosted by Doctor Doom! In Latveria!! It’s there that a computer virus designed to infiltrate Iron Man’s armor corrodes and infects Doctor Doom instead. It’s up to Stark, Rhodey, and a new team of international Iron Men to stop the tiny nuclear reaction in Doom’s armor from destroying half of Europe.

The issue is filled with Great CGI-quality art and fantastic scripting by Ken Stacy. And there’s a very fitting cameo that literally pops up to save the day!

Worth Consuming.

Marvel Fanfare #45

I actually do not own this issue of Fanfare, nor do I really intend to. It’s an “All Pin-up” issue meaning 32 pages of art and no dialogue. I am sure the artwork is amazing. I enjoy it when a portfolio or two gets tossed into an issue of Fanfare. But, when I want to read a comic book, I actually want to have something to read. I’m one of those people who feel that if I buy a comic and there’s only art and no pictures, then I didn’t get my money’s worth. Something to consider if you’re interested in possibly owning the book one day.

Marvel Fanfare #43

 To commemorate the epic first battle between the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, Fanfare devoted this issue to 2 tales about Namor and the Johnny Storm Torch. Namor goes back in time and becomes the lover of a pirate wrench. Together they storm the high seas. The art is done by the fantastic Mike Mignola.

  The Torch tale is the best. Johnny Storm must rescue a hijacked bus of kids. The only problem: they’re being held prisoner in a very flammable Roxxon Oil refinery. Great story, great art, wicked ending. Loved it!

  Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #42

This issue features Peter Parker back when he had the symbiote costume. Here, Parker realizes he’s made a grievous error at a local bank that cost a single mother her job and he does everything in his power to get that job back. Aside from a little vindictiveness that’s been evidenced in his earliest qualms with Jonah Jameson, I would expect a symbiote influenced Parker to be edgier.

  The second tale has the Monica Lambeau Capt. Marvel going back in time in a mission that puts her face-to-face with Dracula, Lord of the Vampires. It’s a neat homage to Marvel’s horror books of the 1970s.

  Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #41

  A stunningly visual beautiful tale in which a restless Dr. Strange is visited by a myriad of dream spectres out not to teach him the true meaning of Christmas but to steal his supernaturally charged soul and add it’s powers to the dream-state.

  The final adversary is the most powerful and how he is revealed is breathtaking. Stunning. It’s something I’ll literally never forget and one of my favorite moments in all comic dom.

  Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug Year None #7 (of 6)

 

  No, you didn’t miss anything. It appears that DC editor Dan Didio lost issue #6. Then after almost a year of searching, the writers and editing staff said “Screw It!” and made a new issue 6, but titled it issue 7. Is that because they might one day find issue 6 and later reissue it as a special “Lost Annual?”

  Despite the major scheduling screw up to tie up this series, Keith Giffen managed to produce a very funny and very well scripted alternate ending to this series. Sadly, not everything about Year None would be that great and not match up to the quality of other previous Ambush Bug titles from years past.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug: Year None #5

We finally have our Ambush Bug back! It appears he went ‘rogue’ and tried life as a minion to a bizarre super villain named Yellow Snow. Sounds like something from The Tick, it’s that bizarre.

Then AB has been posing as a Monitor and might have something to do with the destruction of one of the new 52 worlds of the multiverse.

It’s good to not only see the Bug back in his own series after a short hiatus, but also good to see this series reaching the same quality of other AB Adventures penned by creator Keith Giffen.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug Year None #4

The Bug’s gone missing, along with several cats, dogs, and other assorted animals. The writers ask if the DC Universe can survive without Ambush Bug. I ask if the series can survive without him. This series lacks the quality of previous AB minis and one-shots. I’m not sure what’s missing besides our hero. His new wife, Dumb Bunny, is funny, but she can’t carry this title on her own.

Some very funny scenes and great sight gags. Just not the best work by Keith Giffen. Maybe a Post-52 DCU is too gritty for the insane Ambush Bug.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug Year None #3

The cover is no joke- nor it’s it an imaginary story. The Bug really does wed Dumb Bunny (of Inferior 5 fame.) As Ambush Bug adjusts to married life and DB becomes step-mom to a bouncing, baby, uh, well a toy doll, the parody series gets funny again, after a mediocre issue #2. Plus, the killer of Jonni DC is trying to snuff out other lesser rans in the DC Universe and it looks like Ambush Bug is his next target.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug Year None #2

When Ambush Bug tries to explain anything, the facts get jumbled and weird things are summarized, mostly because the guy is nuts. But when he tries to explain his origin by ripping off Marvel legends, it get maddening. I’m not sure if Keith Giffen was asleep when he wrote this, most of the words didn’t make any sense. At one point, I was about ready to throw this book across the room when I got to the really excellent cliff-hanger. So, it wasn’t entirely all bad.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Ambush Bug Year None #1

In the midst of the craziness that is Countdown, Keith Giffen and Dan DiDio have brought back The Ambush Bug! It appears that with a new 52-earth multi-verse, someone’s killed the DC’s universes continuity cop, Joanie DC. So, the part-time PI, full-time nut case is on the job to bring the killer to justice, or to at least slap him on the wrist with a sock filled with anchovy paste and pickled whipped cream. (The insanity is contagious!)

Expect a madcap riot that’s so far in left field, it somehow ends up in shallow right.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.