The Spirit Archives, Vol. 4

October is almost here. That means I can let myself read Halloween and other horror themed titles throughout the whole month. But I can't wait. I'm like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive. I needed a fix and I needed it quick.

I decided to go with an unread volume of Will Eisner's Spirit Archives. With its noirish tone, creepy villains and the fact that the Spirit lives in a cemetery, I felt like I could scratch that Halloween itch without breaking my self-imposed reading guidelines.

The stories in this volume were originally published from January-June, 1942. Pearl Harbor shocked the country and America is now at war with Germany and Japan. Thus, elements of the war are beginning to creep into the strip. There's spies and saboteurs galore. The Spirit has been enlisted by the Army as a G-2 level agent, called from time to time to put down the fascist secret agents operating in the shadows of Central City.

These enemy agents are pretty well organized. That's because of workings of their leader, the mysterious master of disguise, the Squid. I can't find evidence of this, so all I can do is conclude that the Squid is an an early version of what will become the Spirit's arch-enemy, the Octopus. But for all I know, they might be the same guy. You never see either's true face. Both wear purple suits with matching gloves. Only the Squid is an operative of Adolph Hitler whereas the Octopus was his own boss and the unofficial leader of the city's underworld.

The controversial Ebony White really shines in a few stories. He develops a robotic figure that helps uncover espionage on an Army base. Plus he shows real bravery and loyalty sticking up for not just the Spirit but Commissioner Dolan and his daughter Ellen.

There's a love triangle afoot as British agent Silk Satin returns on several occasions to help the war effort. Satin almost succeeds in permanently stealing the Spirit away from Ellen during a particularly intimate mission in which The Spirit and Satin must play parents to an innocent little baby. A babe who just happens to be the exiled King of Balkslavania!

The artwork makes me jealous. I wish I could draw that spirited (no pun intended.) Eisner's hands could put so much life into a panel. It's not just a comic book. It's a living breathing world with so many untold tales behind every door and darkened window, just begging to be revealed! 

I want the whole collection. I don't care about the order. Will Eisner's Spirit is my comfort food for when I long for an entertaining, creative read on a chilly night with a faithful cat and warm blanket. Perfect fall weather reading.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Mighty Onion (Family Comic Friday)

That eternal question has finally been answered: what happens when you eat a radioactive onion ring?

Eliot Quigley has a great idea for a new superhero called the Mighty Onion. Thanks to an encounter with nuclear powered onion rings, anytime the fledgling new hero eats onions, he becomes a superhero. With his new creation, Eliot can write the script. It's the artwork that doesn't quite match his skill set.

In need of an artist, Eliot sets his laser-like focus on Pamela Jones. Pamela is the best artist in his class. Her style is the perfect match. Only she doesn't want to become Eliot's partner. Let's be honest here. Eliot's a little weird... and a bit annoying.

When Eliot and Pamela's literature teacher offers them extra credit to work together on the project, the Mighty Onion finally makes their way into print. However, cracks in the foundation of the two comic book creators relationship will begin to show when the fan reaction to the new hero is all on Pamela. True, she made some changes to Eliot's script without consulting him. Yet, they were all clever ideas that made the Mighty Onion so popular with Eliot's classmates. Now the Mighty Onion faces his greatest foe, cancellation, as Elliot and Pamela have decided to end their partnership!

The Mighty Onion is a mix of different media. The main plot unfolds in the pages of Eliot's journal, complete with Eliot's artwork scribbles. The comic book is presented in a sequential art style. Dialogue between Eliot and Pamela is presented as notes passed back and forth in class. There are also rough drafts, fan letters and other elements seen as scrap paper that present as parts of the prose story.

I really enjoyed this 2024 hybrid graphic novel. Mark Crilley uses a variety of art styles as we see the Mighty Onion's adventures illustrated by a number of artists who work on the book. The dialogue is perfect for what you'd expect to hear from kids. Thankfully, without all the slang that even Gen Z kids don't really understand what they're talking about.

The book ends with a 'To Be Continued.' I'm hoping we will see more of the Mighty Onion's escapades. Parents and guardians will love this book as it's extremely wholesome. The book teaches some important lessons about teamwork, friendship and self-worth. Except for some super-heroics in the comic sections of the book, there shouldn't be anything that parents and guardians object to and even those elements are exaggerated for comedic effect!

If the young reader in your life has ever expressed interest in the comic book industry or just to make one for fun at home, you need to get them this book. It will reveal some of the perils and challenges of working alone or with a group. It also reveals both some of the hurtful and helpful self talk that writers and artists struggle with while creating their works of art. While not a technical guide about making your own comics, this book uncovers a lot of the psychology and collaborative challenges that books like How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way just doesn't spend any time talking about!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Twisted Toyfare Theatre, Vol. 6

I splurged on a second volume of Twisted Toyfare Theatre. This volume features an introduction from professional wrestler Rob Van Dam. I didn't realize that he was such a geek. Had I, I might have been a fan of his.

I'm noticing in this volume several names pop up. Matthew Senreich and Tom Root among others. Add Seth Green to the list and you might be saying ' Oh, yeah. These are the guys behind Robot Chicken!' That means that TTT is either the father of the Adult Swim series or it's the TV adaptation. That's really interesting considering that DC Comics actually threatened to sue Toyfare for using their characters in satirical ways for TTT but on Robot Chicken, with Cartoon Network being a Warner Bros. property, DC Comics works were skewered almost in every episode. Just goes to show that anyone is willing to have a good sense of humor if they get paid for it. 

As with all the other volumes I have read, there's just too many segments to pay adequate attention to. Daredevil takes actor Ben Affleck to court for the hero's portrayal in the Daredevil movie. Hulk and Spider-Man attend a showing of Episode II: Attack of the Clones while fans also get a chance to see what Star Trek III: The Search for Spock would have been like if it took place in the Star Wars Universe. We see deleted scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and then take a tour of Cobra headquarters after dark, when everybody should be long asleep.

'The Official Handbook to the Twisted Toyfare Theatre Universe' was as usual, a delight. But those 'Slideshow' one-pagers that take screenshots of classic cartoons and rework them into skits was something that the editors should have buried long ago. I feel shame that I ever was a fan of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors...

The main segments were great. A really neat glimpse at the genius behind Robot Chicken. But those creative forces should stick to using toys for the jokes. Riffing on classics just wasn't in their wheelhouse.

Sadly, this will probably be the last volume I'll be able to get my hands on. Volumes 8-11 are out of print. Apparently, the print run was really small as sellers are asking prices that I'd expect to pay for an Action Comics #252. Maybe I'll get lucky some day. But it will probably be a while before that happens.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Twisted Toyfare Theatre, Vol. 5

Twisted Toyfare Theatre, or TTT, is the furthest thing from culturally appropriate. It's irreverent. It's juvenile. It's in very poor taste. Politically correct it is not. And yet, I've found myself needing it's patented blend of locker room humor.

In the 3 weeks since the school shooting in Georgia, the school I work at has received weekly threats of violence on social media. While our admin team and the local authorities have done an amazing job investigating the incidents and upped their security presence, the looming presence of threat after threat, week after week, has scared many of my students to their core. Despite having an anxiety disorder, I'm not scared about a school shooter as I've got a fairly good training on how to keep my classroom secure. I'm angry that this is a culture my kids have to live in. I'm weary. And frankly I'm tired and I just want to be able to feel comfortable in my classroom again.

That's where TTT comes in. I had some Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. A recent review lead to me including a link to this series which was a popular feature in the Wizard Magazine sister series, Toyfare. I was reminded that I didn't own all 11 or so volumes of The Best of Twisted Toyfare Theatre. Needing some joy, even at the expense of bad taste, after I finished that review I went to Amazon and promptly ordered 2 affordable volumes I didn't have.

Each volume starts with a foreword by a famous figure in the world of pop culture. This book sees Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini christening the hijinks. I didn't know that Dini was a writer on LOST. Even more shocking, I didn't know that 20 years ago, people such as Dini felt that the glut of films based on Marvel heroes such as Sony's Spider-Man and Fox's X-Men series, was the golden age of Marvel Movies! Those guys didn't think it could get any better. Oh, how wrong they would be with the coming of a little Marvel film starring Robert Downey Jr called Iron Man!

There's about 25 strips in this book. It begins with Doctor Doom facing off against MODOK and the Red Skull on Jeopardy!. Then, Spider-Man trains newly reformed villain, the Lizard, into becoming a superhero. The villains of Megoville have their weekly game night. Motorcycle patrol officers Ponch and John from CHiPS go on patrol. And then the ever lovin' Thing tells Franklin Richards a bed time story that only he can tell: the origin of Wolverine.

There's a trio of closing segments. 'The Official Handbook to the Twisted Toyfare Theatre' is always a delight. There's also a quiz about the pop culture references found in several past strips. Those behind the scenes pieces always interest me the most. Finally, there were a couple of new one-shot segments called 'Slideshow'. They take screenshots from classic cartoons and rewrite the dialogue into what's supposed to be something funny. However, both episodes were major groaners.

In terms of a guilty pleasure, place me in solitary! There's many jokes that were over the line when they first saw print 20 years ago. For 2024, these jokes are so far over that line, the line is a dot from the modern point of view! Yet, if I didn't have this new read, I probably would be a total mess. Inappropriate humor is how I blow off steam when situations are perhaps the darkest of times.

TTT might not be appropriate for the times. But it's Worth Consuming for me!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Fann Club: Batman Squad (Family Comic Friday)

Young Ernest Fann is the biggest Batman fanatic there is. Wearing a homemade costume and practicing brooding from great heights (of about 6 feet off the floor), Ernest is a superhero just like his idol, the Dark Knight! Ernest just started a Batman club called the Batman Squad in which other aspiring superheroes can learn the skills of Batman to become their bestest heroic selves.

Things are going great at first. Ernest has 3 members enrolled in the club. Training to find clues is going well. They've all found a lot of clues. Just no mysteries. Then Ernest and a pal decide to visit the local bank where an actual bank robbery is taking place. Can Ernest as Gerbilwing and bud Jack as Nightstand save the day?

Written and illustrated by Catwad's Jim Benton, I was excited to read this book. But the artwork kinda worried me a bit. It looked an awful lot like this running short on Cartoon Network from a few years back. The Claymation segments were of heroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all talking about life as a superhero. Only you couldn't understand what anyone was saying because the voices were of kids with these thick British accents. It just was horrible. As Benton's characters all looked like those characters, I thought maybe whomever created those shorts were behind this young reader graphic novel. 

Then I saw on the cover that Jim Benton created Catwad, and I am a big fan of that character, so I gave this book a try! I'm glad I did because this was a funny book that had Monty Python type humor that was so unexpected, I laughed out loud several times. The humans may have looked very non human. But I loved the Batman villains that pop up in Ernest's daydreams and that stray cat who pops up from time to time was hilarious.

Recommended for readers ages 8-12. Parents of readers under age 10 might have a little bit of problem with some of the material. There's a small bit of potty humor in this book. A small amount of Peanuts level violence. The bank robber does carry a gun. However, the ending is the type of thing you'd expect in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood because no way in the world is a bank ever going to hire the guy who robbed it to be their new security guard!

I'd actually enjoy reading more about Ernest and his friends. Maybe they'll take a field trip to Gotham City in hopes of running into their hero. That would be exciting and I bet Jim Benton could make the encounter a laugh riot!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Potlatch: Comics to Benefit the SPA

I bought this book years ago. Like way before the pandemic years ago. It has to have been sometime between 2015 and 2019 when my wife and I were visiting Asheville NC annually because I remember the store where I got this book. It was an independent art store that sold work by local artists. Obviously, somebody who worked on this project was from the mountains of North Carolina.

Potlatch, which derives it's name from a Native American feast where gifts and large amounts of food are shared amongst different tribes, is an anthology title. The term is also where we get the word 'potluck', which more accurately describes this book as you have no idea what you're gonna get. Past volumes have benefited comic book publishing charities such as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Sales for this edition from 2004 provides proceeds to be Small Press Association.

As with just about any anthology, it's really hard to rate it on quality as the skill levels of the talent ranges from 'why isn't this guy working for Marvel?' to 'when did this guy realize that becoming a professional comic book artist just wasn't in the cards?' A lot of what I read was forgettable. There were a few photocopied mini comics included in my copy. The one about a pair of villains who go on a talk show to explain how hard it is to be the baddie was the most memorable thing in the book. There was also Drake Maxwell, Private Eye. It was about a gumshoe who had to solve an alien abduction. Only the item missing is the alien's spaceship that has been stolen during a recent jaunt to the third rock from the Sun! I also received a couple of stickers of Japanese looking creatures that I think might make a fun prize for a friend of mine, that looked really nice. 

If I paid more than $5 dollars, I was probably gypped. Though it was for charity. So maybe I can be okay with having paid $10. But that's about it. Despite owning it for nearly a decade, this one is going to the used book store, hopefully for some trade credit. My luck, they won't take it because of how independent and unknown it is. But if they'll just take it off my hands, I'd be willing to take as little as 25 cents in trade to get this stinker off my hands.

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.

What If... Donald Duck Became Thor #1

Back in 2007 or 2008, I was in Charlotte, NC for HeroesCon. Don Rosa was in attendance. He was selling prints of famous DC and Marvel comic covers that he had 'Disney-fied' with the Ducks of Duckburg. One such print that really struck my fancy was a parody of Journey Into Mystery #83. That famous comic introduced the Mighty Thor to the Marvel Universe and in Rosa's take, he had Donald Duck welding Mjolnir against those evil Rock Men from Saturn. Oh, how now I wish I had bought a copy of that print. But it was out of my price range.

Anyways, jump ahead to right before the pandemic. So it's probably 2019, I think. It's been a decade since Disney bought Marvel. They had been nice for a while, allowing the contracts over their licenses to be assigned out of house. But now Disney was ready to solidify its properties to only being produced solely by companies under the Mickey Mouse umbrella. It's one reason why IDW lost the rights to the Disney catalog even though the company was doing a fantastic job.

At right about the same time, Disney decided to go after artists who were making money off of unsolicited and unlicensed intellectual property. Disney was having some success getting a lot of independent, small artists to stop making Etsy type goods for sale without any royalties going to Disney. It looked like the days of buying a Star Wars themed tee from Teefury or a sketch of Pinocchio from a dealer at a con were over. That is until Disney made the mistake of going after Don Rosa 

Lawyers issued Rosa a cease and desist order. Unless he started paying Disney a chunk from every unlicensed Disney print he sold, Rosa had to stop selling things like that Donald Duck as Thor picture. Undaunted, Rosa dug into his ledger. But instead of paying Disney for what he owed, the controversial Duck artist showed where Disney and several subsidiaries still owed him for unpaid work! 

Then COVID. Disney backed off of their all out war over unlicensed works produced by craftsmen and artists. And they quietly tried to forget ever challenging Don Rosa. However, Mr. Rosa didn't forget. Just like Scrooge McDuck, the artist had been short changed on services rendered and wanted his money - with interest! A compromise was apparently reached. While the terms of the deal have never been officially disclosed, word on the streets from Disney Duck aficionados was that Marvel world release a Donald as Thor cover and possibly a What If... type story with some proceeds going towards paying back what was owed to Don Rosa.

When I saw this book being solicited over the Summer, I assumed that this was what fans on message boards and in person has been talking about. It's one reason why I pre-ordered it as soon as possible. Only, there's no mention whatsoever about this storyline being the idea of Don Rosa! The Thor created byline naming Stan and Jack are on the credits page. There's also special thanks to several people for developing this one-shot. Only Rosa isn't one of them. So did the artist get screwed over again? Is Disney trying to be hush-hush over the unpaid work? Or are the fans I interact with about all things Donald and family just an urban legend? 

The cover looks almost exactly like Rosa's print. The story is essentially an exact retelling of the 1962 first appearance of Thor, only with Ducks. Unlike the previous What If special that saw Donald becoming Wolverine, there's not really anything new to Donald's discovery of Thor's hammer, disguised as an old cane that turns him into the god of Thunder when struck. Heck, I just realized that Thor's human alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake has the first name as this issue 's hero!

The artwork is done in that more modern style of Disney Channel animated series like Mickey's House of Mouse; meaning that all of the characters look classic, except for way too heavy inking. If this was a Kingdom Hearts comic, I might be more of a fan. But it just doesn't work for Donald nor his nephews. However, artist Giada Perissinotto's design of the Stone Ducks of Saturn's World Destroyer blows the classic design of the Asgardian Destroyer out of the water... big time!

It was an enjoyable read. I just wish that we got more of an overview of what Donald's career as Thor would have been like instead of a complete rehash of JIM #83. Hopefully, What If... Minnie Became Captain Marvel will give readers a more original story and mean that there's more Disney/Marvel mashups to come!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Batman: Hush, Vol. 2 (A Madman Re-Read)

Volume 2 opens with a night at the opera. Only this isn't the stuff of the Marx Brothers or Queen. What starts as a refined charity event for a community hospital ends in bloodshed when Harley Quinn and the Joker robs the event and murder Bruce Wayne's best friend from his childhood. Only the Clown Prince of Crime claims that he didn't pull the trigger. That doesn't stop Batman from almost killing his most hated foe!

As the story progresses, Loeb's storytelling gets much more complex. So much, that I'm still not 100% sure what one of Batman's allies did wrong. Did they do wrong at all? I've researched for an answer and I am still not all that sure. 

Jim Lee's artwork continues to evolve. Batman looks resplendent by the end of Hush. So do Catwoman and Robin. 

The biggest disappointment is how it feels that by the end of this book, every criminal in Gotham City should know that Bruce Wayne is Batman. They really can't all be that ignorant. Or does the criminal element in Gotham just choose to ignore the truth. New villain Hush, enlists several baddies to make Batman believe that Jason Todd is actually Hush. I find it unbelievable that none of these hired goons went snooping and put two and two together that Bruce Wayne's deceased ward, Jason Todd was the second Robin who died at the hands of the Joker! I don't buy it!

A good story with great art, that just finishes in a way I find implausible. Batman's Rogue's Gallery cannot be that blind!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 (A Madman Re-read)

After reading almost the entire gambit of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween storyline, I decided to give Batman: Hush another go. I had heard that a lot of the storyline from The Long Halloween made it into canon within the pages of Hush and I wanted to see for myself.

The story begins with Killer Croc kidnapping the son of a wealthy businessman and holding the lad for ransom. It's definitely not the villain's normal MO. Even worse, Croc has mutated into something more reptilian. Catwoman ends up stealing the ransom and then Batman's heart and this is where everything goes to hell.

As Batman is trans-versing the Gotham skyline, someone cuts the rope he uses to swing from building to building with. The Dark Knight crashes onto the streets below and nearly dies from a severe skull fracture. When a blast from Bruce Wayne's past returns and performs the live saving surgery, it looks like the billionaire has an old friend back in his life. However, as more villain's start acting in ways that is completely unusual for them, Batman is faced with a villain unlike one he's ever encountered before- the bandaged faced mystery man known as Hush!

I've experienced the artwork of Jim Lee many times before. I've never fully appreciated it until now. As much as Tim Sale is Jeph Loeb's quintessential partner, Jim Lee does a darn fine job. Batman never looks more stern. Catwoman is a vision in her black catsuit. Gotham never looked more frightening with it's dingy back alleys and vertigo inducing heights.

The story is excellent. I've said many times, I prefer Batman when he's playing the Detective. He's got a great Rogue's Gallery. But I like it when the Caped Crusader has to match wits with them as opposed as duking it out in fisticuffs as a standard superhero crime fighter. There's a ton of Batman baddies in this story. But the Dark Knight has to figure who is behind his foes recent quantum leaps in prowess, cunning and deceit instead of just beat them all up and that's the way I prefer it.

Sure, I know who Hush really is. Like I said, I've read the entire storyline before. Only this time, I'm re-reading the book while on a mission. I'm searching for the nods to The Long Halloween and I'm paying attention to every panel searching for hints and clues I might have overlooked the first time I read this modern Batman classic! A classic I might add, that would be perfect if not for how close Batman comes to death and yet not 10 minutes into his recovery, the fool is risking his life again to find out who was behind the Killer Croc kidnapping scheme. I find that completely implausible and worthy of a loss of a couple of stars.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition- Catwoman: When in Rome

I wondered for the longest time after buying this deluxe edition, brand spanking new in 2022, what the book had to do with The Longest Halloween. I figured that since it was by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, this Catwoman solo venture was just being branded as part of the whole franchise. But that assumption couldn't be further from the case. 

In Dark Victory, Catwoman goes to Italy. It's assumed until the very last 2-pages, that Selina Kyle was attempting to get information over whom might have stolen the body of Carmine Falcone. Well, what happened to Selina in in Europe is explored here in When In Rome. Since it occurs during the events of Dark Victory, this is a midquel, I guess you could say. (Is midquel even a word?)

Needing help with the language and the customs of Italy, Selina has reluctantly hired Edward Nigma, the Riddler, as her traveling companion. Also helping with Selina's mission is a top Falcone family hit man known as The Blonde. It's pretty clear from almost the moment Selena and Eddie step off their plane that someone is trying to kill them. As the hired natives begin using weaponry commonly associated with Batman's Rogue's Gallery, it's becoming clear that somebody from Gotham is behind the plot to kill Catwoman. Could it be Sofia Falcone, who's got a vendetta against the cat thief for putting her in a wheelchair? Or, as Selena's dreams are haunted by visions of Batman could it be the Dark Knight himself trying to kill her?

I feel like I have read this story before. Some scenes seemed familiar. However, I couldn't find evidence in my reading journal that I have read When In Rome previously. I was devouring issues of Wizard and Toyfare when this book originally dropped. Maybe I'm remembering those scenes from an interview with Loeb and Sale. If I had read it before, I had forgotten enough to feel like this was almost an all-new story. 

When In Rome is a very solid mystery. It's psychological as well as a con job yarn. The Riddler was great comic relief. Sale's artwork is amazing as as usual. It's a bit cheeky. If you've ever wanted to see Catwoman's naked backside, you're almost in for a treat. Not full cheesecake, but definitely a sampling.

I've got 1 more story left in The Long Halloween storyline to read. 2021's Batman: The Long Halloween Special. Wait, that's not right. I just learned that a final chapter is coming out. A 13-chapter promised finale, The Last Halloween will start later this month. As Tim Sale had passed away about a year ago, I'm interested in knowing how much he contributed to the closer and if some sort of tribute will be forthcoming with the first issue.

It appears that The Long Halloween just might never end.

Worth Consuming!

Rating 9 out of 10 stars.

Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition, Dark Victory- The Sequel

The Long Halloween continues. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale expound on the story of the Holiday killer with Dark Victory, given the deluxe treatment with this 2022 re-release.

A couple of years have passed. Jim Gordon has been made Commissioner of a police force that still has its fair share of dirty cops. On the home front, wife Barbara took their son James and are now living separated in Chicago.

The Falcone crime family is now headed by daughter Sofia, who languishes as a cripple in a wheelchair while trying to reunite the truce with the Maronis. Harvey Dent/Two-Face is an inmate at Arkham, as is Alberto Falcone; the troubled young man who confessed to being Holiday despite looming evidence to the contrary. Dent's wife Gilda went into hiding and hasn't been seen or heard from since. 

Despite accidentally putting Sofia Falcone in her wheelchair, for which the new mob boss has vowed vengeance, Catwoman has agreed to a $1 million bounty to locate the stolen body of Don Falcone and to enact revenge against the perpetrator of the crime. Hopefully, this will eliminate the large bounty that still rests over the jewel thief's head.

There's a new District Attorney; the fiery blonde Janice Porter. She reopened the case against Alberto and is pushing for his release, citing police brutality at the hands of Batman. 

As for Batman, along with Gordon, he's trying to solve a new series of holiday themed deaths. This time, the targets are current and former Gotham City Police with ties to Harvey Dent. Each victim is hanged with a Hangman's puzzle affixed to them. The will they/won't they romance of Batman and Catwoman gets even more complicated when she leaves suddenly for Italy after always seemingly having his back during Falcone involved altercations. As for Bruce Wayne, he's a date with destiny at the next performance of Haly's Circus.

I don't know about you, but my favorite Batman stories are when he's playing detective. There are numerous stories where the Dark Knight has to defuse gang wars or fight through a gauntlet of villains. They're good stories, mostly. But I prefer a more toned down noir story where Batman has to solve the unsolvable. Don't get me wrong. There's a slew of villains from Batman's Rogue's Gallery in this book and they play pivotal roles. Only, at the heart of this story is a mystery and I love it!

The art, while still kinda primitive, has improved dramatically. The Joker seems to have a lot of teeth. Just not as many. Probably because Batman's knocked a few out over the years. Plus, Tim Sale manages to draw several characters similarly in a way to make you think that perhaps one or more players aren't who they really are. I really fell for several red herrings in this book and was nowhere close to solving the mystery! Make that mysteries.

Everybody talks about how great the first Long Halloween miniseries is I think Dark Victory is a forgotten classic and a must read!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Otis & Peanut: Forever and Ever (Family Comic Friday)

Peanut is a naked mole rat. Otis is a hairy guinea pig. Together, these two guys are the best of friends.

There are 3 stories in this 2024 release from Owl Kids. The first tale sees Peanut gifting his best buddy with a very special cake. Only Otis doesn't want to eat the cake until there's a special occasion to enjoy the very special dessert. Unable to come up with a special enough occasion to eat cake, Peanut makes another one, especially for days when nothing special happens. Thus begins a week of unlimited sweet treats!

Story number 2 is a Peanut solo tale. He's decided to grow some strawberries from seeds his sister Pearl gifted to Peanut. At first I thought this was a story about how long and boring it can be to wait for your favorite crops to grow. But then we see Peanut remembering a special time with his sister and he starts to get sad. All of a sudden I'm feeling gut punched. Did Pearl die?

Surely, a adorable animal series such as this doesn't have the sister passing away! This is book 2 of the Otis and Peanut series. Maybe she moved away in the previous volume. And then there's story #3.

In the last story, Otis is sharing his scrapbook with Peanut. There's a lot of pictures of the boys with Pearl on a trip to the fair. Otis comments that Pearl was feeling good on the day during the trip. Uh-oh once more. I'm seriously thinking Pearl has died. 

The last segment continues with Peanut inspired to create his own time capsule of memories. Only he doesn't want to make a scrapbook. Peanut decides to make a memory box; inside of which there's a picture of sister Pearl with the words underneath ' In Memory.' 

Oh my God. They creators of this series killed off the adorable Peanut's big sister! I was not expecting that! From the cover, I was expecting some hilarious adventures between a pair of pals on par with Big Dog/Little Dog or Toad and Frog. Having a naked mole rat (in other words, he's hairless) as a character was so unique and inviting for me to give this book a read. I wasn't expecting a PTSD flashback of my 6th birthday!

November 24th, 1984. Big Bird tries very hard to find shopkeeper Mr. Hooper. It's up to the Sesame Street gang to explain to Big Bird the concept of death. Big Bird's friend isn't coming back. Oh, that episode just gets me in the feels. Even though I was in first grade, teachers were advised to watch the show to help children understand what it means when someone dies. And I had to watch it on my birthday! And then I had to go home and talk about how the show made me feel with my parents and other relatives!

That's all how I felt reading this book. It's also apparently how I'll feel if I read the first and third book (due out in 2025) in this series. Creators Naseem Hrab and Kelly Collier have crafted this series to help young children be able to understand death and cope through the loss through the many stages of grief including mourning and finding acceptance of one's loss of a loved one.

I thought the art was just adorable. I just love Peanut's front teeth and Otis seems like an adorable fella with a giant heart! I'm glad Peanut and Otis have each other to lean on. If the recommended young reader in your life between ages 6 and 8 read this book, I hope their parents and guardians will be there for them to lean on because this book sure does dregs up some sad memories, difficult topics and hard questions... And I'm in my mid 40s!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars because of the unexpected shock of the characters period of mourning for a good friend and how it hit me out of the blue!

Batman: The Long Halloween

Last year, I managed to snag new deluxe editions of Dark Victory and When In Rome; the sequel and threequel to Batman: The Long Halloween. Having already owned an original copy of the first edition hardback, I just didn't see a point in purchasing a newer yet more expensive copy for a few extra pages of material. It just didn't make sense to me. My goal was once the Halloween season came around, I'd read the Long Halloween trilogy from beginning to end. However, as I started seeing the amazing glut of Halloween specials and horror titles being offered for the 2024 season, I had serious doubts that I could read the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale masterpiece and it's follow ups during the month of October.

I like to be seasonal in my readings. If I read a Christmas themed comic, I better be reading it in December. It's only the first of September! 

Well, folks have started to call September Halloween Eve on social media. 

A serial killer has begun to terrorize Gotham City by murdering citizens on holidays. At first, it looks like only the Falcone crime family is being targeted. However, when other seemingly random Gothamites wind up dead, it's up to a trio of law enforcers, Batman, Captain Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent to identify the killer. However with assistance from the Arkham inmate, the Calendar Man,and warped view of support to stop the killings by the Joker, this trinity of law keepers will be challenged unlike ever before.

I had read The Long Halloween a long time ago. Long enough for me to not remember everything. So I really got to enjoy it almost as an entirely new story. The copy I read was different from this book as I don't remember all of the extra material in the back nor do I recall the foreword by Jeph Loeb. That's because honestly I didn't realize that this book and the trilogy as a whole was a sequel to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. 

Wait... What?

According to Loeb, the great Archie Goodwin challenged Loeb and Sale to take the work they had done on their Batman Halloween specials and frame a larger story set after the events of Batman: Year One. With Miller's blessing, The Long Halloween was born. Yet, how can this be a sequel. Year One was groundbreaking for introducing a black Selina Kyle to readers. Here, Kyle is white. Plus, didn't Jim Gordon's wife leave him for his affair with a fellow cop? Well, Barbara Gordon is back and so is infant son James Jr. 

The Long Halloween was published in 1996, finishing in 1997. Maybe the editors felt that having a white Bruce Wayne romance a black Selina Kyle would be too shocking for readers. If that's the case, how do you explain Captain Kirk's interracial slobber knocker with Lt. Uhura in the 1960s?! At least I can say that I don't think you can blame the whitewashing on Archie Goodwin as he passed away before issue #1 debuted in stores.

The Long Halloween is an essential Batman read. It might even be required reading for all fans of comics and graphic novels. The art is very Impressionistic. How else can you explain the Joker's gaping maw full of no less than 96 teeth? Such a great read. If you love holiday comic books like I do, you will be thrilled with this story full of a dozen special days of the year; some of which had never had a holiday themed issue until now!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Vol. 1: Perfect Bullets

I really enjoyed ABC's Agents of SHIELD. Sure, a lot of it has to do with me being a big fan of Nick Fury and the spy elements of the Marvel Universe. Regardless, Agents of SHIELD was a show that got better with age. Ironically, as the series progressed, it strayed further from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's because it was established that despite Agent Phil Coulson dying at the hands of Loki, everything that happened afterwards followed a slightly different timeline on another universe. So despite what you think about Spider-Man: No Way Home introducing the multiverse to Marvel movie fans, it was Marvel's Agents of SHIELD that did it first.

And before I get into my review of this book, can I just comment on the actor who brought Phil Coulson to life on many occasions? Clark Gregg is just wonderful as the walking Encyclopedia Britannica of superheroes and their adversaries. I may not agree with all of the actor's politics. But I thought he brought such an energy to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the show. I hope he's not truly retired from the role. I'd love to see him interact with Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Cumberbatch 's Sorcerer Supreme.

This series, penned by Mark Waid, was Marvel's attempt to bring the Agents of SHIELD into the Marvel 616 Universe. Waid's been known to make some controversial changes to established DC and Marvel canon. But he did a fantastic job here. 

One of the smartest moves was to essentially have each issue be a team-up with at least one superhero. Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons conduct missions with the likes of Spidey, Ms. Marvel, The Invisible Woman and many others. The first assignment has Phil Coulson spread extremely thin when creatures from all of the nine realms begin an all out invasion of Midgard. There's literally dozens of comics brightest stars in that story, including Tony Stark who's in his Superior Iron Man stage of life. 

6 different artists pencil an issue in this book. My favorite was Alan Davis' work in the Spider-Man story that takes place in Doctor Stranger's Sanctum Sanctorum. He evoked a mix of Steve Ditko and Steve Englehart's tenures on the good doctor's title. 

The book concludes with an odd little segment of comic strips about Agent Fitz and his new artificial intelligence program H.E.N.R.Y., which takes the holographic form of a green Capuchin monkey. I felt like there were clues or maybe some Easter eggs that were hinting to what will occur in Volume 2. However, if that's the case, I was a really bad detective.

I really enjoyed this volume. Too bad, I don't have the next volume immediately on hand. But I've got trade credit and a hole burning in my pocket. So maybe I'll continue these adventures real soon.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz

Such a novel concept. A graphic novel biography about cartoonist Charles Schulz done in the comic strip style of his beloved Peanuts characters. Like the adventures of Charlie Brown, the strips are funny, poignant, sad, joyful and full of self deprecating loathing. Charles Schulz was Charlie Brown - always doubting and never feeling good enough at anything.

There's a lot of interesting segments of Schulz's life and career that I was extremely interested in learning more about. His childhood inspirations for the cute little redhead girl and Snoopy. The lengthy session of rejection upon rejection from publishers and syndicates. How A Charlie Brown Christmas got off the drawing board and onto our television sets. His infidelity, resulting in a divorce from his first wife.

Let's talk about that last part. I didn't check this graphic novel out from my local library for the sordid parts of Charles Schulz's life. I honestly didn't even consider that part of his life when I was deciding whether or not to select this book. But as I started reading through Funny Things, I started wondering how creators Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi how they were going to cover such a delicate topic. Harder topics such as the lingering death of Schulz's mother from cancer was dealt with in such a gentile way. There were still elements of humor as the lad known to family and friends as Sparky had to say goodbye to his mum before being shipped off in service for the American Army during the height of the second world war. So how was Schulz's affair with a woman half his age going to be portrayed in this book? The answer: discretely and an inferred blame on Ol' Sparky.

I was also interested in learning about the last days of Charles Schulz and his retirement of the Peanuts comic strip. I remember it being a big deal that Peanuts was coming to an end after 50 years. It was an eerie and poignant coincidence that the artist died the night before the last strip was to run in Sunday papers worldwide. I didn't know that he was extremely ill with cardiac issues and incurable colon cancer. While the reader doesn't have to say farewell to Charles Schulz, the book does end with a bittersweet moment of the beloved artist finally realizing how much people loved him and his gang of Peanuts!

I'm very glad for this book. After learning about Schulz's infidelity after being told for years how godly a man he was, I was put off reading Peanuts for a very long time. But this book helped me to realize that people are human and they make mistakes. Really dumb mistakes. Funny Things helped me to repent of my judgmental ways and to forgive Schulz, even though he never did any wrongs against me. How pompous was I?!

A must read for fans of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Peanuts. Yes, there are several Schulz biographies out there. But there's never been anything like this graphic novel biography from Top Shelf Productions. Combining interviews from the creator himself with some dashes of artistic license, Funny Things should not be overlooked if you are a fan at any level of a blockhead and his beagle.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Uncanny X-Men: Poptopia

The X-Men are back in London. No, the mutant superteam Excalibur hasn't reformed. Though an original member of the group is one of the heroes visiting England. Cerebro, the X-Men's mutant locating super computer has registered a large population of mutants underneath the streets of London. Nightcrawler, Ice Man, Archangel and Wolverine are on a mission to offer membership to their brethren. However, they'll need to offer sanctuary as an enhanced madman is on the hunt for these 'genetic freaks.'

The X-Men also have a secondary agenda: retrieve the AWOL member of Generation-X, Chamber. After a catastrophic encounter that lead this new generation of X-Men fractured, Chamber fled to London, hoping to find himself. Instead, he finds himself as the British tabloids latest subject when he catches the eye of pop superstar Sugar Kane. 

This volume is book-ended with 2 solo stories. Jean Grey and Wolverine must address their complicated relationship when they are transported into the fracturing mind of a brand new mutant who is enamored with the militant ways of Magneto. Then Warren Worthington, III learns that his family run mega-corporation has invested in a place called the X-Ranch. It's pretty much what you think. The X-Ranch is a sordid bordello where wealthy homo sapiens spend a ton of cash to get their kinky licks in the arms of a harem of seductive homo superiors. 

Published in 2001, this era of the X-Men occurs after Grant Morrison's revamp of the Children of the Atom. Those really cool black with yellow trim uniforms are still in service. Only now everyone looks like they're a cross between a model for American Eagle and a goth frequent shopper at Hot Topic. 

For the most part, the art is really good. Only the costume and character design is too cyberpunk. And there's one issue where the guest artists tried to emulate the fantastic Bill Sienkiewicz and just failed miserably. Joe Casey's plots are good. But the dialogue needs work. Who used the phrase 'What's your major malfunction?' back in 2001. It's an example of how the dialogue was about 20 years too late to appear in a Marvel comic book. 

I found this book at a thrift shop where I don't think I paid more than $2 for it. The UK Sun stylized cover really caught my eye and the price was nice, of course. 'Poptopia' was like riding a roller-coaster. Only it wasn't because of the level of action. Instead, there were extreme moments of superior quality dipping into depths of really bad comic book creating. I'm one to talk. I'm sure that Sean Phillips and Ashley Wood, among others, are much better artists than I will ever be. However, I also felt like a very good portion of this collection of X-Men comics wouldn't have met the standards of former editors Stan Lee or Jim Shooter 

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.