Superman #401 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Prior to the Crisis of 1985-86, Lex Luthor was a man obsessed. Determined to finally kill Superman, he constructed a massive green and purple war suit. It could fire blasts of humbling red sun energy at the Man of Steel. It could fly. Plus, it increased Luthor 's energy, allowing the villain to go toe-to-toe with Superman in a fist fight, while preventing Luthor from feeling whatever his foe could dish out.

Lex Luthor's increased rage came from the destruction of his adopted home planet Lexor. Superman arrives on the planet to arrest his arch enemy for numerous crimes. It's here that the Warsuit is introduced and Luthor has the advantage because Lexor orbits around a red sun which renders Superman powerless. In the fight, the duo damage an atomic battery which makes Lexor unstable. With his Warsuit damaged, Lex can only watch as his wife and son are killed when the planet explodes similar to Krypton.

In this 1984 issue, Luthor uses a pair of Siamese twins baddies named Pluto and Plato Statler to hold the 6 o'clock news at WGBS hostage. There, the twins issue a challenge to Superman on Luthor's behalf at high noon the next day before leaving the studios. Clark Kent quickly changes into Superman, seeking to track the evil siblings back to Lex's lair. However, the hero has fallen into a trap and is assaulted by his foe's empty Warsuit that Luthor can operate remotely.

Superman awakens from the attack now encased in the Warsuit. Any attempts to break free causes him great pain as the suit blasts him with red sun energy. But even more dastardly is how Luthor has changed Superman's facial appearance and voice making his friends and allies think that it's the super criminal inside of the Warsuit. As Luthor causes his foe pain with any attempts to alert his pals that it's really Superman in the armor, the Last Son of Krypton will have to use subterfuge in hopes of being freed from Lex's clutches.

A regular sized issue, there's no official backup feature. Instead, in the middle, there is a 15 page insert for a short lived futuristic toy car line from Matchbox called Flash Force 2000. The main feature 'Operation: False Front' was written by Cary Bates with art by Curt Swan. 

Cover by Eduardo Barreto.

Completing this review completes Task #17 (A Superman Comic From the 1980s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Superman #267 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Superman in the 1970s saw several changes. His vulnerability to Kryptonite was eliminated. Sidekick Supergirl went to college and became more independent. His partnership with Batman, who was becoming more of a darker vigilante hero, weakened, seeing the World's Finest heroes teaming more with other heroes AND VILLAINS, and less with each other. But perhaps the biggest changes for the Man of Tomorrow involved his secret identity, Clark Kent.

No longer working for the Daily Planet newspaper, Kent was recruited by the paper's new owner Morgan Edge, to host the evening news for Metropolis television's Galaxy Broadcasting Station (WGBS). He was also allowed to start dating Lois Lane; although their relationship was more platonic than romantic with Lois often wondering why she hung out with such a milksop as Clark Kent. Making his relationship goals difficult to achieve, Clark found himself in a love triangle for Lois' affections against his WGBS colleague, the macho braggart sports reporter Steve Lombard.

That's where the cover story for this issue begins. Clark and Lois are enjoying time at the beach when Lombard and his nephew appear. Steve treats Clark like the wimpy guy in those Clark Atlas ads, kicking sand in Smallville's face before grabbing Lois for a swim. On shore, Clark learns from Steve's nephew that his father has been missing for several weeks. However, when a sudden whirlpool occurs, threatening the lives of Lombard and Lois, the child exclaims that his father had warned him of such calamity just the night before. Intrigued by this contradiction, Clark changes into Superman and visits Steve and his nephew where the hero learns that the boy has a telepathic link to his missing father, a famous scientist. 

The revelation takes both Superman and the lad underneath the North Pole, where they encounter a long-forgotten subterranean race of flying reptiles called the Miros. With the missing Lombard's expertise in geophysics, the ancient people have been forcing the scientist to siphon the energy of the Earth's sun to power a special device that has been warming the Miros' subsurface habitat. Now with Superman on the scene, the reptilians seek to use the Man of Steel as the new battery for their failing synthetic sun.

This issue contains a backup story. Part of the 'Private Life of Clark Kent' series of tales, 'The Man in the Public Eye!', sees Clark Kent being put on a massive public relations campaign. Station boss Morgan Edge thinks that while Kent is a top notch newscaster but he's got the personality of a cold fish. Edge arranges for the newscaster to participate in a number of sporting activities in hopes of making Clark Kent appear more manly. As much as Clark tries to appear weak in front of the WGBS cameras, dumb luck mixed with his Kryptonian superpowers have the newsman looking really 'super., like when he accidentally knocks out the heavyweight champion of the world after a sparring match. Thankfully, the audience of Metropolis is eating up Kent's antics and it's sending ratings for the 6 o'clock news through the roof. Now if only Clark can screw up royally or else somebody is going to make a connection between the reporter and Superman!

Both the secondary story and the cover tale 'World Beneath the North Pole' were written by Elliot (S!) Maggin. Curt Swan drew both tales. He was assisted by Murphy Anderson on Superman's Arctic adventure. Bob Oksner gave assistance on the Clark Kent led tale.

The cover was drawn by Nick Cardy.

Completing this review completes Task #16 (A Superman Comic From the 1970s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Incredible Story of Cooking: From Prehistory to Today 500,000 Years of Adventure (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

It's impossible to cover all aspects of over a half million years of cooking in less than 215 pages of comics. But writer Benoist Simmat and artist Stephane Douay do a decent job. Originally published in French, this book focuses mostly on the contribution of France to the culinary arts. Being a culinary graduate, I had wondered like many other culinary students why French cuisine is considered the fundamental region of which to begin learning how to cook. Thanks to Douay and Simmat, I feel like I have a definitive answer. Although you kinda have to draw a line between several important periods in history to get there. 

The beginning of France being the central hub of the culinary galaxy has to do with the Roman Empire. To the Romans, food was considered a gift from the gods and it was something to be treasured and conserved. With emperors such as Caligula and Nero, excess became the norm amongst the elite. And with this over-abundance came unnecessary waste. One such popular recipe called for one to use 100 flamingo tongues. The rest of the bird was bound for the trash heap. As a result of such wanton use of resources, many wealthy Romans sought other lands that made complete use of all parts of the food source being used.

This migration took many Romans north to Gaul, which is now modern day France. The Romans saw how the Gauls would use all parts of the animal slaughtered to make sausages, pates, and early versions of gelatin and terrines. This also explains why French cuisine utilizes many Italian ingredients and techniques. But why did French cuisine take over the world?

That answer has to do with the French Revolution. Right around when the American colonies began to seek independence from England, France was experiencing a level of decadence with the bourgeois class on par with Rome. Only, France wasn't so much wasting food as they were keeping the choice bits away from the peasants. 

France was a powerful ally to the American colonies. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were impressed by the cuisines of France they experienced while acting as ambassador for the fledgling United States of America. So impressed, they brought back chefs and recipes to share when they returned. Likewise, the first modern restaurants were taking shape in France, and they saw popularity with both sides of the French Revolution.

Some French chefs who were considered loyal to King Louis XVI fled France. They saw the guillotine used upon their benefactors and feared that they would be next. Thus a great migration of French chefs took French cuisine to the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and the United States. Those chefs who were on the side of Napoleon, such as Marie-Antoine Carême became the first celebrity chefs. These chefs were also used in a new sort of warfare, the diplomatic state dinner which was supposed to beguile visiting dignitaries with the culinary prowess of France.

The Incredible Story of Cooking covers other global cuisines, just not to the extent of French cooking. Japanese, ancient Greek and Chinese, meso-American, Spanish, English and Middle Eastern cuisine are briefly explored. Jewish cooking is virtually ignored and whenever American cuisine is mentioned, it's demonized as the 'Land of McDonald's.' Interestingly enough, this book begins with a look at prehistoric cooking and eating; which is rather ironic as the paleo diet, a current trend based on how cavemen ate, closes this examination of the history of how and why we eat as we do. It seems that our palates are attuned to a certain way of eating and those cuisines rotate through cycles, just like the seasons as they bring back the fruits of humanity's harvests. 

Completing this review completes Task #3 (About Food) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Action Comics #332 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In the 1960s, if you wanted to do something wild with DC's flagship character, Superman, you had two choices: use red kryptonite or make it an imaginary story. With red kryptonite, you could temporarily change the Man of Steel into a raving lunatic or give him the head of a ant. But if you wanted to play around with the dynamic of Superman and his friends and family, or even his personal history, you had to create an imaginary story.

Under a strict set of guidelines imposed by editor Mort Weisinger, Superman couldn't marry, he couldn't reveal his secret identity of Clark Kent and he couldn't go back in time to change the deaths of either his earthly parents, the Kent's or the destruction of his home world. That's where the imaginary tales come in.

In the cover story 'How Superwoman Trained Superboy', we see what would have happened if Kara Zor-El was born before her cousin Kal-El. Instead of only Kara going to Earth in the wake of the destruction of Krypton, her mother and father also make it to our planet. For a brief while, the family works in secret at night, using their new found powers, gained by our solar system's yellow sun, to help the people of Smallville. 

Meanwhile, Jor-El and his family have been living on a floating planetoid containing Argo City, encased in a protective plastic bubble. When asteroids destroy the dome and uncover deadly green kryptonite underneath Agro's crust, teenage Jor-El is sent to Earth to be reunited with his now adult cousin Kara. However instead of adopting the Kryptonian boy herself, she places Kal in Midvale Orphanage, until he can learn discipline and to master his new powers before he can become Superwoman's new sidekick, Superboy.

This issue opens with a Superman story involving his arch-enemy, Lex Luthor. Having escaped a prison planet, Superman goes to the planet Lexor, where the criminal mastermind is revered as the Lexor's savior, to find him. In doing so, he's inadvertently revealed to Luthor's wife Ardora that Lex is really a villain at heart. 

This causes a rift between Ardora and Luthor. Out of revenge, Lex plans to destroy Superman once and for all. But when the fiend discovers that another criminal is about to kill the Man of Steel, Lex actually comes to his foe's rescue. Changing plans, Luthor schemes to drive Superman insane by being his enemy's protector. 

But how that plan will be implemented will have to wait. Both 'The Super-Vengeance of Lex Luthor' and the cover story starring an adult Supergirl end on cliffhangers. That tale ends with Superboy planning to show Superwoman that he's more than ready to not only be her partner but out of revenge, he'll become something far more superior than his mighty cousin. 

Both stories were written by Leo Dorfman. Al Plastino both penciled and inked the Lex Luthor story. Jim Mooney was the artist and inker for the Superwoman adventure. Curt Swan was the cover artist.

Completing this review completes Task #15 (A Superman Comic From the 1960s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

The Big Book of Losers

It's a goal to collect all of the volumes that make up The Big Book Of collection from Factoid Books. Unfortunately, this one won't be added to my collection. But it wasn't because of quality or a dislike for the material. Quite the opposite, I found the source material so engrossing, that there are a couple of subjects that I would love to read further about.

For example, the Gatti Gang from Italy. A mismatched group of mostly middle aged bunglers who couldn't do anything right and after several years of trying, when they finally robbed a bank, they only took in enough lira, that it equaled and $25 American dollars.

1997's The Big Book of Losers is full of people who just couldn't get ahead. There's the group of 5 singing sisters who's voices were so bad, only 3 people showed for their reunion show. There's the innovative music producer who snapped under the pressure of a massive infringement lawsuit, killing his neighbor and ultimately himself, only in death to win the verdict and a slew of royalties. There's also some very famous names, like George Custer, 30-day President William Henry Harrison and many more.

Don't think this book is just about people who failed. There's a bunch of inventions, forms of entertainment and other concepts that went bust and ended up in this book. The most famous example being perhaps the Edsel from Ford, a car so hated, only one of the 100,000 that were sold was ever reported stolen. Did you know that Stephen King's Carrie was adapted into a musical? Plus if you think you're having a rough first day at work, take a gander at how things went on the inaugural day of the US Postal Service's Air Mail program!

As you can see, I really enjoyed this book. So why don't I keep it! It's because there's a misprint! A big one and not something that I think would be considered collectible. There is a roughly 30 page segment where the previous 30 pages are included once again. Called an 'erratum', it's a rare production error and yet I have encountered such boo-boos in at least 2 other books with this error and countless comics. Am I am loser when it comes to finding these?

Thankfully I only paid 75 cents for the book. While I don't think it would be ethical for me to try and pass this off on someone else by trying to resell at a used bookstore, I do not have any qualms counting this as having read it. It's not my fault the book is missing a section. It just would be wrong to try and sell it as complete to someone else. To the free shelf it goes and on my wish list it remains.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Bullwinkle #2

The second and last solo issue from Gold Key in the 1960s titled Bullwinkle. It really didn't need to be renamed because the formula is exactly like the TV show. It just reflects that Bullwinkle became the break out star.

The opening story has Rocky and Bullwinkle investigating the so-called 'Phantom of the Soap Opera.' While squirrel uncovers the clues, moose plays bait, taking a lead role in the stage production. 

Afterwards, Snidely Whiplash infiltrates Mountie's headquarters, posing as a travelling magician whose closing act promises to be explosive for Dudley Do-right. The 'Fractured Fairy Tale' is a spoof on the Woodcutter's Daughter, becoming a beautiful starlet after she rescues a witch. Mr. Peabody takes his boy Sherman back to meet P.T. Barnum around the time he was playing manager for noted songstress Jenny Lind and the talking dog becomes the circus' latest star attraction!

In a rarity, there's also a 3-page solo story starring Boris and Natasha. The spies film a promotional video touting the benefits of living in Pottsylvania and wind up making the Communist country sound so good that nobody will want to escape from it!

Bookending this issue has Bullwinkle resulting in trickery to win a kiddie TV show contest. Also posing as a child in hopes of winning is Boris, who thinks his short stature and former childhood prowess will net him a humiliating win over the children of the United States.

Another fun read that includes a Ripley's Believe It or Not type feature of unusual and somewhat comical facts. It would be almost a decade before Bullwinkle and Rocky returned to comics with a very poor adaptation from Charlton. If you can't get your hands on the classic episodes, this is the next best thing for many laughs and a few groaners. But that's was to be expected from the toon as well.

Worth Consuming!

Rating; 8 out of 10 stars.

CBGB: OMFUG (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Creators from mainstream and Indie comics along with musicians, music experts and those intimately involved in the operation of the legendary New York music venue CBGB joined forces in 2010 to present a 4-issue anthology from Boom! Studios. 

CBGB was at the forefront of the American punk scene, providing a headquarters for fabled bands such as Television, Blondie, Talking Heads and Ramones. It later evolved into the home of New Wave as punk began to fade. But it wasn't intended that way. When Hilly Krystal opened his bar, he felt that country music was going to be the next best thing in the Big Apple. Hence, the name CBGB, which stood for 'Country, Bluegrass and Blues'. Like one of the characters says in the opener 'A NYC Punk Carol', which untangles the facts from the myth of CBGB, the owner 'couldn't have been more wrong.' In desperate need of patrons, Krystal would allow very avant garde acts to perform under the arrangement that the band got the door sales and Holly got the bar take. Soon, an unusual new vibe began to form, fueled by a single rule: there are no rules.

Kieron Gillen, Rob G.,  and Kelly Sue Deconnick, among others, examined the past, present and future of CBGB. The past of the venue was vast and rich. The present for fans of CBGB, was pretty bleak. In 2006, the club closed due to a dispute over rent. (Patti Smith was the site's final act.) A year later, Hilly Krystal passed from complications of lung cancer. By the time this miniseries saw print, CBGB was an entity in name only with licensing of the name and logo on countless T-shirts, hats and book bags being overseen by the venue's long-time general manager, Louise Staley, who reviewed and approved all of the stories in this collection. 

As for the future of CBGB, as long as the acts that got their start at 315 Bowery, Manhattan continue to enthrall the next generation of music lovers and musicians, CBGB will continue to live on, if only as just a memory and commercial property.

Note: OMFUG isn't an acronym for dirty talk. It stands for 'Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers.' In this case, the gourmandizers were 'eaters of music.'

Completing this review completes Task #4 (About Music) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Bullwinkle and Rocky #9 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Though new episodes hadn't been produced in over 2 decades, Rocky and Bullwinkle saw a resurgence in the mid-1980s thanks to home video. Disney, of all companies, actually had distribution rights of the show through their sister company, Buena Vista Video. Suddenly, children born in the late 70s and early 80s could watch The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle any time they wanted. 

With parents in full nostalgia mode, they began purchasing the VHS formatted home entertainment to share with their children. Local TV stations took note and began picking up various incarnations of the animated series in heavy syndication. In 1986-87, I remember it being a big deal that Rocky and Bullwinkle were coming to a UHF band TV station in Fayetteville, NC. One hour blocks filled with special messages from Bullwinkle and his friends were peppered throughout the broadcast, along with special trivia contests and drawings for you prizes during the debut week. 

Marvel Comics took note of Rocky and Bullwinkle's revival and signed a franchise deal with Jay War Productions to produce a comic book. Originally published under Marvel's all-ages imprint Star Comics, Rocky and Bullwinkle soon switched imprints to the Marvel line up with issue #3, when the publisher shuttered the majority of the family friendly run of titles. 

This 1989 edition of Rocky and Bullwinkle would mark the debut of all-new adventures of not just the main stars, it would also see the first original adventures of Dudley Do-Right, Sherman and Peabody and Fractured Fairy Tales since 1964. However, due to a page count of only 28 pages, only 1 regular sized extra feature was possible. In this issue, in a story that doesn't seem from a traditionally known fairy-tale, an inept, bumbling King is saved from his scheming chief of staff by his own dumb luck. Then Bullwinkle returns for a 2-page adventure as resident Frostbite Falls genius, Mr. Know-It-All, showing readers what it takes to train to become a famous actor. For those of you wondering, what it takes is the ability to wash dishes and wait tables. The cover story is a two-parter, book-ending the issue. As Hollywood announces the disappearance of superhero costumes across Tinsel Town, Bullwinkle gets his chance to play his hero, the Masked Avenger: because he is the only one left in the world with his fan made outfit!

Dave Manak was the main writer for this issue. He also contributed some of the art, along with Ernie Colon. While Manak and Colon present screen accurate representations of the main characters, the supporting characters do not look in the style of series creator Jay Ward. Characters such as the original actor who plays the Masked Avenger and the King and his court look more like they were drawn as characters in a Flintstones or a Jetsons comic book. A.A. Perry wrote the Mr. Know-It-All episode.

Delightful fun. But it wouldn't last. This was the last issue published by Marvel Comics.

Completing this review completes Task #19 (Cartoon Comic Adaptation from the 1980s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Bullwinkle and Rocky #4 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After a brief defection to Charlton Comics, Moose and Squirrel returned to Western Publishing. From 1972 to 1980 under the Gold Key imprint. Legacy numbering was used for the series with the fun beginning with issue #3. Over the course of the series, at least 6 Whitman variants would be produced.

The new series, now retitled Bullwinkle and Rocky, from just being named after the noted alum from Wottsamotta U, was still riding high from syndication reruns. After The Bullwinkle Show ceased producing new material in 1964, the show continued on network television in reruns on Sunday mornings under several titles. Thanks to syndication packages that also included a repackaged run on a series called The Hoppity Hooper Show, it would not be until the 1990s before America saw a Bullwinkle void on the airwaves, albeit very briefly.

Seeing that Bullwinkle and Rocky were appealing to a new generation of cartoon viewers, Western Publishing was able to cut costs by recycling in material from their Dell and Gold Key archives. Even cover art from that era was reused, with only the new title and a new price tag being the only changes. A small handful of issues saw new material, mostly starring Rocky and Bullwinkle. Backup features starring Dudley Do-right, Sherman and Peabody and 'Fractured Fairytales' were all reissues, as the smaller page count for the 70s Gold Key issues allowed for those segments to be spread out over multiple issues. Some issues, such as issue #12 was compromised of only reprinted material.

In issue #4, Bullwinkle is signed by a producer to become the next singing sensation. A la Johnny Bravo on The Brady Bunch, Bullwinkle fame is more based on appearance and very little talent. The second story has the friends at a carnival where Bullwinkle wins a special prize. Unknown to the colorblind carny, who is secretly an agent of Pottsylvania, he's accidentally given a hollowed out cane filled with top secret blueprints to the Moose instead of Boris and Natasha. The dastardly duo spend the rest of the story chasing Bullwinkle around the festival in hilarious attempts to steal the cane.

There are 2 back-up features. Sherman and Peabody travel to Roman times to see a very indecisive Julius Caesar stymied by superstition. The 'Fractured Fairy Tale' skewers the classic Jack and the Bean Stalk with Jack's mother taking a more active role.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #19 (Cartoon Comic Adaptation from the 1970s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Bullwinkle #1 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Jay Ward's beloved characters Rocky the flying squirrel and his best friend Bullwinkle J. Moose made their first comic book appearance in what is collectively known as Dell Four Color #1128 (Aug., 1960).  The first issues were titled 'Rocky and his Friends' and included fan favorite segments and characters such as Peabody and Sherman, Dudley Dooright, and Fractured Fairy Tales. However, once it became clear that Bullwinkle was the star of the show, later issues forthcoming from the Four Color series were singularly titled Bullwinkle.

Those Four Color editions are quite rare and command hefty price tags. CGC listed a 9.6 rated slab of issue #1270 as being sold for $980 in 2013. As long as you don't mind getting a facsimile edition reprint, you could take your chances with a more affordable issue of the moose and squirrel's first official solo series from Gold Key. The risk being that while material from the nearly dozen issues of Four Color devoted to the NBC cartoon that ran from 1959-64 ran as reprints in the 1962 Gold Key series, not every issue was a faithful reprint of that earlier material. 

Making things even more difficult for collectors is that this Gold Key series was later retitled Bullwinkle and Rocky in 1972 with issue #3, after a nearly decade long hiatus. Some collectors try to overlook the repeated contents in various issues and set a goal to own a copy of each Four Color release as well as the 25 total issues that made up the first series. Some of the Gold Key issues also had Whitman variants. 

Issue #1 has a full slate of segments, just like a typical episode of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, at this time retitled The Bullwinkle Show on NBC. In the bookending Rocky and Bullwinkle stories, the duo run afoul of secret agents Boris and Natasha. First, they stumble upon a plot where the spies have been stealing rare birds for use in appropriating Top Secret government blueprints. Later, Bullwinkle gets a chance to start in a major Hollywood picture. Only it's another plot by Boris and Natasha to kill the Moose. 

The Dudley Do-Right story is a caper in which Snidely Whiplash kidnaps the Mountie's girlfriend Nell during a blizzard. Mr. Peabody takes his boy Sherman on a trip to visit Odysseus inspiring him to build the Trojan Horse. Lastly, the Fractured Fairy Tale sees the Ugly Duckling trying to find his place in the world, only to become a model for beauty cream: the BEFORE model!

Credit for artists and authors were not yet common place in comics published in the early 1960s. Al Kilgore was originally believed by most comic book historians as being the main artist of these pages. However, later research has come to light that Jerry Robinson, Fred Fredericks and Mel Crawford all may have contributed to this issue as well, as they all worked at times on the previous Four Color series issues. Dave Berg and Jack Mendelsohn are amongst those attributed as having written in various Rocky and Bullwinkle titles.

Completing this review completes Task #18 (Cartoon Comic Adaptation from the 1960s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge "Only a Poor Old Man": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol.12

I'm having a bit of a rough time right now, waiting for several medical appointments to hopefully diagnose that mystery ailment of mine. Thus, I have needed a pick-me-up. Thankfully I still had a Carload Barks Library volume on hand. 

Starring my favorite of the Disney Ducks, this edition contains the first four Uncle Scrooge solo issues by Dell. Though Uncle Scrooge has previously appeared in issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories and Donald Duck, the contents here are not to be overlooked! There is a Duckburg money bin sized amount of origin story and key first appearances of supporting characters and relics. Glittering Goldie, Scrooge's lucky dime, and his biggest foes, the Beagle Boys! Although, by this time, it would be the 3rd appearance of the Beagles. In the other 2 times, they were cameos with no lines. The title tale 'Only a Poor Old Man's, sees the crooks finally talking and actively attempting to rob McDuck of his vast riches. 

Major events in Scrooge's early days are explored here. His discovery of the massive Goose Egg nugget when a sourdough in the Klondike is retold. We'll also learn some of the major talents the entrepreneur has gleaned over time building his fortune. Fluent in several languages, Scrooge can also communicate with various animal species.

It's not just Uncle Scrooge whose backstory is being developed. Donald is pretty much established. But his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie are beginning to transition from mischievous brats to valuable resources in Uncle Scrooge's globetrotting adventures for fabled treasures. The Junior Woodchuck Handbook begins to see wear and tear in epics that see the ducks discovering Atlantis and a Utopian, or Duck-topian version of Shangri-la. 

The stories are still a bit rough around the edges. It's like the first season of a now classic TV sitcom. The lighting isn't quite right. Background information on a character might be a bit inaccurate from the eventual finished product. Heck, you might even find that some of the original cast will be changed over time. Still, to see the early version of my all-time favorite Disney characters was so awesome. 

(Note: The first three issues were originally published as part of the massive Dell Four Color Series, #s 386, 456, & 495. They are retroactively known among collectors as Uncle Scrooge #1-3.)

The director's cut commentary by several noted 'Duck experts' was as usual. The backstory information and history of Carl Barks was so interesting. I'd love to read a biography about this iconic comic creator. But when these experts start to wax philosophic about how some random item in the background of a single scene was Barks' silent protest against totalitarianism.  Have these experts never taken advice from Sigmund Freud? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

A Christmas Carol

It's an annual holiday tradition of my own accord to consume in some way a version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It's one of my all-time favorite stories and I am a sucker for it in any form of media. I'll even fawn over a parody or a reboot of it. I just love the story and it's not the holidays without it's heartwarming message.

This year, I selected this 2009 adaption from Campfire. An Indian publisher, this version is in English and is a very faithful retelling of the Victorian era classic. The art is very good. But it's not clean. For one thing, Victorian era London wasn't a very tidy place. But the images by Naresh Kumar have a sort of woodcutting effect to them that makes the artwork seem a little faded and muddled from multiple printings over time.

Every year, I notice something that I never really noticed before. Here, Scrooge's time visiting his nephew, Fred, is covered more in-depth, with the reformed miser actually partaking in holiday parlor games with the entire household. Meanwhile, Scrooge's visit to the Cratchit household doesn't even occur. Instead, Scrooge provides the family with a Christmas feast as an unknown benefactor, thanks for multiple deliveries, while not even revealing to Bob Cratchit his emotional change of heart upon the employee's return to work on December 26th. At least it's revealed that Tiny Tim DOES NOT DIE and that Ebenezer becomes like a second father to the lad.

I still can't figure out Jacob Marley's timetable. He always makes it seem like Scrooge gets visited by ghost #1 on Christmas morning, ghost #2 on Boxing Day and the third ghost on December 27th. It's got to be some kind of old English way of telling time because it has never made sense to me. 

A very good retelling. More classic than contemporary. That's not a bad thing! I've read quite a few versions of the book that really try to push the envelope and it was refreshing to get a very straight forward adaptation for a change.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek Annual 2025

I haven't been reading IDW's Star Trek. It's an all-star series that takes place sometime after the events of the last episode of Star Trek: Voyager, with Benjamin Sisko returning from his time with the Bajoran prophets. Captain Montgomery Scott has designed a revolutionary starship, the Theseus. It has a warp core that utilizes a contained neutron star and the entire computer system is a neural link-based network that runs through the entire craft.

In this 2025 annual, Mr. Scott receives a distress call from the one person he would never expect in a million years: Captain James T. Kirk! The engineer had designed a holographic fail safe to activate if ever the Theseus's computer was in danger of failing. To help Mr. Scott best address the issue, the program took the form and consciousness of Kirk and is advising him to destroy the computer core. 

Sisko believes that there is something more behind the computer's seeming deactivation protocols and advises his team to get to the ship's central CPU to isolate the problem. Suddenly, the crew is split up. They find themselves on not just different Federation ships, but in different timelines with classic and modern crew members with a dwindling timer on the ship's self-destruct.

The only series missing is Lower Decks, unless there's someone from that animated series in the background, but illustrated to look real life. A great anniversary issue. Or it would be if 2025 was an anniversary year for Star Trek. However, if this is an appetizer on what to expect for the 60th anniversary of the iconic sci-fi series, I believe we're all in for a treat.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Spider-Man Holiday Spectacular #1

Marvel decided to make Spider-Man the headliner for their 2025 holiday special and I think that was a brilliant idea. Working with high schoolers and middle school students as well, I can attest that the wall crawler in all of his many forms is extremely popular. Actually, I think I referred to it as 'absurdly popular' because I am seeing girls of all ages and races wearing Spidey shirts, hats and bookbags! I've never seen an across the board popularity of a superhero like this before. 

So I think I have established that Spider-Man is having a moment.

In this one-shot, Peter Parker is planning on spending a nice, quiet Christmas with his Aunt May. However, she's unexpectedly booked herself on a cruise, leaving Parker with nobody to share the season with. Almost immediately, he finds himself being asked by any and everyone in the Marvel universe to spend Christmas with them. Parker thinks they're all feeling sorry for him. However, Wolverine lets it slip that the invites aren't out of pity. Instead, everyone is fighting for the privilege to give Peter Parker the best Christmas ever!

Spider-Man is the heart and soul of Marvel Comics. There's no doubt about that. Written by Rainbow Rowell, this was a brilliant way to showcase the rest of the Marvel Universe, that is probably grossly overlooked by all but the most discerning of comic book fans, while featuring Marvel's most popular character. Sadly, as today's youngster isn't buying comics, I question how much of an impact having Spidey as the star of this holiday showcase is going to make on readership among those 13-21. As the advisor for the comic book club at the high school that I teach at, I just don't think it's going to move the needle that much, if at all. 

But of all the 2025 season holiday releases, this one might have been the best. It was heartfelt. It was festive. It was classic Spider-Man, with a perfect ending, set in the modern era. I loved it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Flinstones and the Jetsons #18

I've still got a few books from this past holiday season to review. This one from 1999 was a DC series that had both Flintstones and Jetsons stories in the same issue; but aside from the occasional cover that had Fred and George interacting together, never seemed to have the two actually meeting in a story. 

There are 2 Christmas themed stories here. The cover carol is a parody of It's a Wonderful Life, though Wilma and Barney don't get married as the illustration would imply. It's Christmas Eve and Fred was expecting a big bonus in order to buy Christmas dinner and presents for everyone. However, he didn't get that bonus and instead of asking his boss why, Fred is wishing he was never born. So the Great Gazoo grants his request and Fred views life without him ever being a part of it. However, it all seems like his friends and family are much better off without him... on the surface.

The Jetsons tale was a slapstick farce. Elroy doesn't believe in Santa Claus anymore. Naturally, George rents a Santa costume and tries to restore his boy's faith in Christmas magic. Too bad for George, he forgot to disarm the elaborate alarm system to his home, the robot maid Rosie!

I enjoyed both stories with the Jetsons story probably being my favorite. Not because the first story was bad. As Christmas story aficionado, of not just comic books, it drives me crazy that the Flintstones celebrate Christmas! How is this possible?!? Jesus wasn't even born yet! Who's birth are these cavemen commemorating? 

I'd be okay with a situation similar to Star Wars. They celebrate Life Day, which with the decorating of trees and wearing of red, surprisingly looks a lot like Christmas but isn't. If the cave people of Bedrock celebrated the solstice and it just happens to look very festive like Christmas, I would be okay with that! Just don't call a pre-Christianity holiday Christmas! 

Sorry, but I have to acquiesce to my pet peeve and rate this issue a bit lower than I would normally.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The 1975 Mighty Marvel Calendar: 2025 Reissue

I know that this might sound odd but I spent the better part of an hour last night reading a calendar. The 1975 Mighty Marvel Calendar to be exact. Well, it was also the 2025 calendar, facsimile mind you, in which the dates for last year just happened to coincide with the dates for 1975. Now that I think about it, the calendar was maybe 99 and ⅜ facsimile as there was no such thing as Martin Luther King Birthday yet and I highly doubt that the original edition of this calendar listed things like Diwali or Juneteenth. 

I had seen images of this fabled calendar for years, no decades. Along with an annual posting on various comic book groups on social media (typically with each coming new year), I remember seeing ads for this in the pages of Marvel back issues from 1974 and wishing I could have had one. December of 2024, I finally got my wish.

Apparently, holding onto calendars to reuse later on down the road is a thing. A local radio morning show I listen to has talked for years about this as they have a colleague who will use an old calendar for a current year. This guy notes 'that the dates lineup.' He's got about a dozen calendars that he recycles and seems to haven't bought a new one since the mid-90s. One of the DJs thinks its rather brilliant. The other says that this guy is 'sticking it to big calendar.' I'm hoping the trend continues for at least one more year.

I received the 2026 calendar, which reprints the 1976 edition in all it's patriotic glory. Plus a day, actually. 2026 is a leap year while our nation's bicentennial was not. (The '76 calendar has an overall patriotic theme.) Anyways, I really hope this trend of reprinting all of the  Mighty Marvel Calendars continues because the next one would be a reprint of 1977 and that's the year I was born! Selfishly, I kinda hope DC jumps on the bandwagon, because I really want a copy of their 1977 edition, which was Super-Heroes' vs Villains themed.

So why did I spend a night that I could have been reading comic books reading a calendar that is essentially 50 years old? 51, now as of yesterday. It's because of all the snarky little things that are peppered throughout the whole thing. Along with important moments in Marvel Comics history like when the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man debuted, there's a celebration of writers and artists from the Marvel bullpen and their birthdays as well as 'humorous' reminders of what you might see written on a superhero or villain's day planner. All done in the Mighty Marvel Manner; which means they're self-deprecating and full of dad jokes. And I loved all of it.

There's also some fantastic artwork. John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith, and John Romita, Sr contribute some masterpieces. Too bad that not all of the months give attribute to the artist. Man, does Barry Smith have a killer signature! 

I'm torn as to whether dismantle this in order to decorate my office or if I should hold onto this until 2031, the next year that this calendar can be reused accordingly.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The 2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge is HERE!!!

Keeping the Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge from getting stale, I've made a new adjustment. Last year, I cut the number of books to read from 50 to 40. The lessened number of reads was a smart move. Battling a mystery aliment, that still has yet to be determined, there were many nights I was too exhausted mentally or physically to read before I went to bed. It was a blessing to not feel rushed, nor guilty, because my body and mind wouldn't let me relax the way I like and make continual progress towards my reading goals. 

This year, I am exploring the progression of characters, superhero teams and genres over the decades. I still kept some criteria that have been on my list since I started this challenge 4 years ago. There are a few returning favorites, like #4: About food, whereas I dropped the criteria about having to read a manga book for the first time ever. Maybe it will be back next year. 

Here are the rules, which have undergone their first change since I began my annual reading challenge. The rule that has changed is rule #1

THE RULES- 

1. I must read 40 graphic novels or comic books. The only exception is #40, which does involve reading a prose work of non-fiction about comic book history. Only certain criteria can be completed in any order. I do not have to start at #1 and work my way down to 40, unless they are progression criteria books. Those criteria are listed in numbers 6-26. For Example, I must read the Fantastic Four comic from the 1980s before I begin the FF comic from the 1990s. I then must complete that work before finishing with the team with a comic from the decade of the 2000s. However, I can read my 3 progression books about Superman (criteria #15-17) before choosing to read the Fantastic Four books from 3 different decades. Progression books can include one-shots, annuals, graphic novels or miniseries.

2. I might read a book that fits multiple criteria. But I can only use 1 criteria per book. For example from an older challenge, I might read Star Wars #1 which from the year I was born (1977). As that book was also published during the Bronze Age, I could select that one instead. It's up to me to choose which criteria I mark off.

3. Once a criteria is selected, it's off the board. I cannot go back and switch criteria. For example, if I marked off Star Wars #1 as being a book more than 20 years old from my list, I can't go back and switch it to the book that was when I was born just because I am having trouble finding other comics/graphic novels from the greatest year ever!

4. I must write a review of the book in order to receive full credit. Those reviews will be listed as being part of the reading challenge. Every month I will post the challenge list to show my progress. 

5. Finally, I have until midnight, December 31st to complete my readings. That final review must be posted by January 4th, 2027 since life could get in the way. In a year that has seen power outages, cancelled flights and unexpected illnesses, a couple days grace to complete the last review is probably not such a bad idea.