Fury of Firestorm #46

Though Blue Devil first appeared in the pages of Fury of Firestorm #24, stuntman Dan Cassidy and the Nuclear Man never officially met. (Blue Devil appeared in a completely separate insert story in the issue). If you think the two heroes are actually going to come face-to-face to each other- think again!

Firestorm operates in my beloved Pittsburgh, PA. Blue Devil is a resident of Hollywood. So, as this story is just coming together, expect Blue Devil to be heading East to the Big Apple with a stop off in the Steel City. It's a Hulk #180 situation with the heroes only coming face-to-face in the last panel! (And no- this isn't a spoiler...)

As Blue Devil drives to NYC, Professor Stein and super-jock Ronnie Raymond are about to enjoy some downtime at a computer convention. Of course, this symposium will be anything but serene as the villainous Bolt, who first appeared in as a Blue Devil baddie, has recruited some Firestorm foes to help rob the event!

So yes, Firestorm and Blue Devil will eventually meet. It's just going to be in the pages of Blue Devil #23, that's all...

A nearly flawless issue. It just plays out like a soap opera on Friday with the team-up, the real reason for buying this issue, drawn out until the coming 'Monday.'

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Blue Devil #22

Fan favorites Jorj and Lehni return as Blue Devil makes another trip back to Sin City! This time, it's to stop an alien bountyhunter from capturing his quarry. Not like this time- it's not Jorj and Lehni who are the bounties. 

So just then who is this time? The answer very much might surprise you!

Lot's of fun this issue was! Too bad there's only a handful of issues left to read...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Blue Devil #21

If you thought Dan Cassidy's time buying a condo was bad, wait till you Blue Devil's test drive while buying a car! A villain in a massive behemoth of an automobile called the Roadmaster is making the other cars eat his dust. Or at least the Roadmaster would if the gigantic vehicle wasn't eating the other drivers LITERALLY!

Guess who is in the sites of the Roadmaster next!

A very fun road rager! Too bad Roadmaster never appears again. He was such a great baddie! I'd love to see the Dark Knight take him on in his Batmobile!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars!

Blue Devil #20

Blue Devil has a new residence- it's a condo! A condo that happens to be referred to as the House of Weirdness! 

After being evicted from the House of Secrets and the House of Mystery, brothers Cain and Abel have become the de facto landlords of this new domicile of the demented. But by being landlords and not tenets, that makes for Dan Cassidy becoming the newest resident. 

For his first night as occupant, Cassidy, along with Cain and Abel, must prevent a literal invasion of Hell on earth when a deceased 60s rock star seeks to make his triumphant return to earth at the expense of the souls of several thousand concert attendees. 

A beautiful mix of humor, macabre and weirdness. Post-Crisis Blue Devil is a return to that zany vibe that made me fall in love with the series!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Blue Devil #19

If you were a regular reader of the Blue Devil letters page, you would be aware that a Kid Devil solo story had been in the delayed works for some time. I think with the coming CRISIS storyline, lots of great ideas got pushed to the side.

Now with DC Comics having to straighten out the effects of the reality altering done by the Anti-Monitor, those wild ideas finally got a chance to shine.

In order to stay a child sidekick, Kid Devil has to work with the think tank at The Institute of Hypernormal Conflict Studies, which has signed on the newly reformed Captain Cold as a gust lecturer. This reformation hasn't say very well with The Trickster, who despite being reformed as well, is itchy for some action. 

This was one of the funniest issues in the series is quite a long time. After the Blue Devil/Trickster two-parter, Blue Devil's humor level kinda petered off. Sure, the over series has been kooky and weird. But the comedic tone had dulled somewhat. Then came the Rogues. It's what this series has needed for some serious laughs: superstar villains from another hero's title. 

This being Post-Crisis- we miss you Barry Allen!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Blue Devil #18

It's the CRISIS. And that means that worlds are colliding. Two versions of Dan Cassidy converge as the Anti-Monitor gets closer to achieving his ultimate goal: the total destruction of the multiverse!

Blue Devil gets a chance to set what life would be like if Dan Cassidy never bonded to the techno-suit. Only this flesh-toned Cassidy is engaged in an intergalactic battle against alien invaders with help from the Omega Men. 

So maybe being forever cursed to be stuck in a rubber suit by a demon isn't all that bad.

A trippy multiverse story that just proves once more than DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths was the greatest story ever told!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Blue Devil #17

The sky has turned red. Planets are disappearing. Time has jumbled. 

 CRISIS is here! 

And the glamorous people of Hollywood have decided to celebrate the end of the world in style. 

Not everyone is going to sit idly by as reality comes to an end. A pirate by the name of The Fisherman who pilots a gigantic mechanical sea monster has decided he's going to take it all with him! Too bad this villain choose a party in which superheroes such as Blue Devil and Kid Devil are on the guest list.

Oh, and it's raining globulous creatures now!

Nobody said that the end of the DC Universe was gonna be dull!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Complete Stuart Taylor: Volume 3 (Gwandanaland Comics #1465)

The full title of this series is called Stuart Taylor in Weird Stories of the Supernatural. It's about a college student who travels to the past and sometimes the future, with one of his science professors and his daughter Laura, whom happens to be Stuart's girlfriend. In their adventures, the trio meet Shakespeare, experience the tragedy at Pompeii and jump ahead to the far out future of 1975!

I've only got one question about this series- does time travel, when done with a time travel machine, count as an element of the supernatural? Yes, time travel can be quite weird. But supernatural?! I guess in the 1930s and 40s, time travel was supernatural. But it's more science fiction than ghost story or horror tale. 

I looked to see if earlier tales involved a supernatural slant. And while Stuart and friends did visit Icabod Crane, Sinbad and Thor is some of those stories- that's just a handful of the 140 issues written and illustrated by Curt Davis. Only one such story, involving the 1,001 Arabian Nights and a flying carpet, even comes close to being classified as supernatural in this volume. And even then, I'd call that one a fantasy yarn.

By The Way- There is no Curt Davis! That was just 1 of several pseudonyms used by comics legend, Jack Kirby! I didn't learn this until after I completed this book. It's definitely a product of it's time, with some racial stereotypes, archaic history lessons and how people though the world of the future was going to turn out. But it was also ahead of it's time with the battle of the sexes between Stuart and Laura and of course the innovative framing techniques that Kirby pioneered.

Oh, and one more nitpick. Whenever Stuart travels in the future, his blue suit transforms into some kind of trapeze artist leotard. But Laura and her father's clothes never change. I'm not sure why this is and not having a answer kinda bothered me. Maybe the costume change is explained in earlier volumes. I just don't know.

As for why I started with volume 3- well, that's easy. Gwandanaland Comics was having a clearance sale and this was on very steep discount. As an amateur comic book historian and collector who just can't pass up a bargain, when I had the chance to buy this, I just couldn't pass up a bargain!

A fun early look at some of the forgotten (and unclaimed) works of Jack Kirby. Now that I know that this is a work by The King, I very well might search out the other 3 or 4 volumes in the series. I may not have enjoyed the stories that much based on the incorrect title. But I love Kirby that much to collect the rest!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #12

The Man-Thing story ends in gory fashion. 11 chapters with a total of maybe 11 images of the Man-Thing is culminated in 8 pages of Man-Thing rampage. Ironically, this was the worst chapter of the entire storyline. 

With the Colossus story- Peter Rasputin learns that he's got an ally in the group that wants to kill him and a small Midwestern family. 

The two stand alone stories star Hercules and Namorita. Once again, the son of Zeus finds himself being tested by Big Daddy. As for the cousin of Prince Namor, she's about to return to visit her people when she's drawn into a dispute between the police and a villain whom might not be as villainous as they seem.

A pretty weak offering. But that retro-looking cover by Ron Franz (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Joe Sinnott (Apache Kid) was fantastic!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #11

Colossus takes over the temporary starring role of this title which pits the X-Man with an American family who accidentally saw the wrong thing at the wrong time. It will take more than the mutant's metal skin and incalculable strength to prevent a Midwestern version of The Punisher from occurring.

In the one-and-done segments of this title, we get a fun story starring the Scott Lang Ant-Man and a gritty story starring one of the Wolfpack, Slag. The Scott Lang story was beautifully illustrated by Iron Man's Bob Layton. It has Lang shrinking down to retrieve a family heirloom that daughter Cassie dropped down the bathroom drain. You never knew the sewers were so dangerous! And I wished this fun tale wouldn't have ended.

As for Slag- I'm not really familiar with him. I've got a few Wolfpack issues. But since I don't have the complete mini, I've not read it yet. Can't really say that what I read has made me go out and find those missing chapters compared to other recent readings of things. 

Then we've got that Man-Thing story that doesn't have the Man-Thing in it. Well, it's chapter 11 (out of 12) and Man-Thing finally shows up for more than one or two panels. Things get really odd and while a little bit of the Drugs-Devil Worship-Iran Contra connection isn't clear; it still makes for a great read. 

Overall 3 out of 4 stories were really well done. #4 was forgettable. Literally. Still, this was an enjoyable read!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics

  

 Stan Lee had his chance to speak his version of the origins of Marvel Comics many times; most recently in 2015's Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible graphic novel. Sadly, The King, Jack Kirby never had a chance to give his first person account of the founding of the House of Ideas in sequential art form; passing away suddenly in 1994. That is, until now!

Culling from decades of journals, interviews and first person accounts, Go Bots' Joe Scioli grants Jack Kirby the chance to tell his side of the story. It all influences Marvel Comics and DC's Fourth World! From his rough and tumble days in the Brooklyn ghetto (The FF's Ben Grimm) to his bloody tour of duty in the European theater of World War II (Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos) to his epic romance with wife Roz (Big Barda) and of course, his love/hate relationship with Stan Lee (Flunky Flashman), if you always wanted to learn the full story of Jack Kirby- now is your chance!

This graphic novel will definitely sour your opinion of Stan Lee. Marvel's most famous employee was an opportunist. Lee's love of comics and most importantly, it's fans, cannot be disputed. But I think it's arguable to say that popularity went to Stan's head. Unfortunately, the influence Jack Kirby had on the Marvel Universe was railroaded by the Stan Lee popularity train.

Kirby says it best when he tells readers that he 'saved Marvel's ass!' There is absolutely zero doubt in that. Marvel, then Timely, was just about to shut up shop. As Jack Kirby entered the office, the furniture was being repossessed. Loyal secretary turned editor, Flo Steinberg, has gone on record to admit that's true! If not for Jack Kirby, your favorite Marvel characters may never have seen the light of day. Or maybe they would have, but they would have been property of DC Comics or Charlton or even Archie...

The majority of this book is about Marvel. But the third act is deep in  Jack's days at DC Comics; which as epic as they were, they didn't turn out as promising as the King had hoped. As it got harder for Kirby to hold a pencil, he went into animation. I had no idea he was behind some of my favorite 80s Saturday morning cartoons like Thundarr, Turboteen and Mister T!

I loved this biography by Tom Scioli, even if I did get him confused with Ed Piskor. The art was great. The book was full of great stories and facts. I might be on the fence with my former love of Stan Lee. But my love for Kirby is unwavering.  If anything, this book has given me a desire to finally bite the bullet and complete my Sgt. Fury collection. 

The King may never have gotten his just due when he was alive. I'll admit, I never gave the New Gods the respect they deserved until I was in my 20s. But, in the past 20 years, Kirby has been cemented as a member of the Mount Rushmore of Comics. Thanks to books like this, Jack Kirby might finally be placed on his undisputed throne as the one true King of Comics!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.