Picture Stories From the Bible: Complete Old Testament Edition (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 1942, Max Gaines teamed with 10 religious leaders of Christianity, Catholicism and the Jewish faith to produce comic books presenting stories and scriptures from The Bible to young readers nationwide. Perhaps the most famous person on the advisory board was the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, who would be known to both Christian and secular readers for his motivational work, 1952's The Power of Positive Thinking.

The first series approved by the panel was titled Picture Stories From the Bible: Old Testament Edition. It was a 4-issue series that covers the creation story from Genesis, through the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, through the life of King David to the many prophets whom arose during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. Also included in the series was an account of the Life of Judas Maccabeus, whose rebellion against Antiochus lead to the miracle of the restored Temple's altar lights burning for 8 nights, later inspiring the Jewish festival of lights known as Hanukkah. 

The miracle itself is barely mentioned at all; reduced to just a single panel. The inspirational story of Job is also not included. Sex, such as King David's affair with Bathsheba is omitted. However, murder and war are certainly explored in great detail and clearly presented to appeal to young male readers. The first issue shows an unknown man in Egyptian garb punching out another man. Later editions, such as the one this reviewer read, would caption this scene as 'Moses Battles the Egyptians'. Yes, Moses did kill an Egyptian for abusing a fellow Israelite. But he never took on Pharaoh like John Wayne in a saloon on a busy Saturday night.

Before being bought out of his ownership shares of All-American, Gaines and his advisory board completed two follow ups: a 3-issue account of the complete New Testament and a one-shot collection of issues #1 and 2 titled Picture Stories From the Bible: Complete Life of Christ Edition. Both books were released under the National Comics banner, which had absorbed All-American's line under a single publishing house. 

Using his proceeds from the buyout, Max Gaines created a new publishing company: Educational Comics. It was soon know by just it's initials: EC. As the Bible books were Gaines' baby, he was able to eventually retain the rights to those titles, along with the 'Picture Stories' franchise title. Building on his company's promise to promote wholesome, informative comics to children, Educational Comics released Picture Stories titles featuring American history, world history, and science. A pair of massive collected editions of the Old Testament and New Testament series were released. The first couple of prints were published by National. All subsequent prints were from EC Comics. 

Illustrations for The Complete Old Testament Edition were attributed solely to Don Cameron. Although, many chapters look like they were illustrated or inked by others.

Scripts were written by Montgomery Mulford who used the King James version of The Bible, the Catholic Duoay edition of scriptures and the Jewish Publication Society volume of the Torah and Hebrew Bible.

Completing this review completes Task #1 (Comic from the Golden Age (1938-1955)) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Superman: Sunday Classics 1939-1943

The first in a very long line of editions collecting the long running Superman comic strip of 1939-66. This volume has the first 3 years of the Sunday strips which comprised of a different story than that in the dailies.

I would love to eventually own all the these. But they're not cheap. Nor are all of them still in print. But when I can find them affordably, I'll snatch them up in a heartbeat. And no, unlike other series, I won't wait to read them until I have the complete in- order set!

This book reprints Superman's cosmic origin, following the Man of Steel through his first appearances in Metropolis. These early adventures have Superman battling giant robots, two-bit hoods, femme fatales and a half villain named Luthor.

Before the close of this volume, the United States and Superman enter the war effort against the Nazis and Imperial Japanese. Clark Kent and Lois Lane travel the nation covering the sale of war bonds and creation of new war machines only to stumble upon Nazi saboteurs! Good thing that the Man of Tomorrow is here to ensure freedom and democracy for today!

Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster present their greatest creation in all of his art-deco glory. It's very much a product of its time. The men are all drawn to look like Jerome Kerr and the women are illustrated as the ever so sultry Veronica Lake and Dorothy Lamour. I love the 1930s style of the Superman logo. It's really classic stuff.

One thing that didn't transfer so we is the lettering. It's very pencil thin and tiny. Thus it's extremely hard to read. Seeing as these are nearly 80 year old reprints, the lettering is quite faded. You'd have thought that the editors of this omnibus would have doctored up the dialogue. But they didn't. Could it be that with so small a font any repair work would have damaged the artwork?

This is a great collection of early Superman comics. The art is breathtaking. But you need a magnifying glass to read these beauties. Aspirin too!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

America’s 1st Patriotic Comic Book Hero: The Shield

Many think that Captain America is the first patriotic superhero ever created. I would be one of those people. However, MLJ, the company that would later become Archie Comics, actually beat Jack Kirby and Joe Simon to the punch by a couple of months with the premier of The Shield.

Created by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick, the Shield was FBI Agent Joe Higgins. As a youngster, his father and he worked on a chemical formula for super-strength. Nazi saboteurs interested in the formula caused an explosion, killing Joe’s father. But the accident imbued Joe with not only impressive strength, but bullet-proof skin and the ability to run and leap mightily.

With war with Germany looming, Higgins is recruited by J. Edgar Hoover to conduct clandestine missions against enemy agents seeking to harm the interests of the United States and it’s allies. To maintain his secret identity, Joe dons a red, white, and blue costume and becomes the Shield! Battling a series of dastardly foes, some with super-abilities such himself, as the adventures of the Shield progresses, he begins to take one not just spies but battleships, war planes, and much more.

Eerily, in one story, the Shield defends Pearl Harbor from an enemy Navy a good 6 months before the Japanese Navy’s attack on December 7^th! If only FDR had read this issue, would history have played out much differently with this bold prediction.

For 1940s comics, the stories were pretty good. At the time, artists got paid by the page and writers got paid by the word. So pre-1960s comics were very, very wordy. Sometimes to the point of be sensationalized. Regardless, the scripts, while quite antiquated and a little racist towards those of Asian descent, weren’t the worst structured stories I have read from this era. Plus, the way Shorten was able to identify where enemy forces were going to attack a pre-war America was quite prophetic.

The art- that’s a different story. I understand that due to the paid per page standards of the comic book industry at the time, artwork was often rushed and quite sloppy. But Novick’s superhero looks like he stuck arms, legs, and a tiny head to a giant shield. There’s an almost turtle-like effect going on and it’s quite silly looking.

For its historic significance, this was an very interesting read. The Shield got started in the pages of Pep Comics. He would reign as the featured character for a few years until a certain redheaded teenager named Archie Andrews would replace the Shield as the cover star in 1944! While the Shield would have a couple of revivals, the character never again achieved the level of stardom he had at the beginning of World War II. As a result, the Shield has become a sort of forgotten character in American pop culture. Thankfully, books like this, published by Overstreet (the same folks who also do the comic book price guide) will keep the impact and memory of the Shield alive for years to come.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

   I actually waited a full-scale year to read this book. My wife gave it to me for Christmas. But since we had traveled to St. Louis to visit her family, we didn't exchange gifts with each other until after we got back a few days after Christmas 2015. So I added this treasury to my collection database, put it on my 'To Read' shelf and I waited... and waited... and waited until it was Christmas time 2016 to finally read this volume.
    The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories is just that; it's over one hundred and seventy pages of classic Christmas themed comics from the 1940s up till 1960. It features the work of comic book legends such as John Stanley (Little Lulu), Walt Kelly (Pogo), and even an Al Fago yuletide yarn starring his creation Atomic Mouse. Added to the holiday fun is a rare comic story from children's book master Richard Scarry (Busytown.) 
    Some of these stories are quite dated, either in appearance or conventional mores. A few are quite silly and there were a couple of duds. But this was a pretty enjoyable read. Plus, not liking every story is to be expected in a collection such as this and as long as the majority of the stories are gems, it still makes for an overall favorable read.
    This treasury was co-published by YOe Books, in cooperation with IDW Publishing. YOe has been building a reputation with it's massive editions of comic works featuring Steve Ditko, Dan DeCarlo, and Jack Kirby and the level of quality and detail in this treasury shows. 
     A really awesome Christmas present that was worth the wait. 

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
   

Spacehawk #1

That creature on the cover... not a brain-bat!

This Dark Horse title was a reprint of legendary comic artist Basil Wolverton’s greatest creation, Spacehawk. Spacehawk #1 was supposed to reprint all of Wolverton’s Spacehawk stories while introducing the 90s crowd to new adventures of the galactic do-gooder in an all-new adventure at the back of each book.

Sadly, it only lasted 5 issues.

However, I am not that sad to see it go. Spacehawk was done in 1940 and even for books of that era, the art is preposterous (Spacehawk’s space ship looks like a flying school bus), the plots were paper thin, and the dialogue A), often repeated what was just said in the captions and B), used poor sentence structure that made for uneasy reading.

The new modern tale didn’t fare much better as the art was merely cleaned up and the story ended abruptly with the newly rescued heroine saying she's now going to be following Spacehawk wherever he goes. Yet, the story ends there and we don’t get a “The End” or a “Tune in next time..” teaser to help explain the loose ends.

I only got this book because of the 'brain-bats' story this volume contains. I had read one of Wolverton’s 'brain-bat' stories in another comic or treasury (to which I can’t figure out where I read or saw the story that compelled me to get this book.) But, I remember that that tale was very good and it had turned me on to further Spacehawk adventures. Alas, in was this very volume that I am now reviewing, that has ended that curiosity for good.

NOT Worth Consuming.

Rating: 2 out of 10 stars.

Batman: The War Years (1939-1945)

   This collection of early Batman stories is the first of 3 volumes devoted to the World War II exploits of the DC Trinity. These books are edited by legend Roy Thomas, who also provides his unique take on the source material as a comics insider and devoted historian of the medium. Under Thomas' watch, 'The War Years' is divided into chapters focusing on each phase of the war effort such as life in the United States prior to Pearl Harbor, fifth column espionage, war bonds, and the spoils of war itself, as it pertains to the evolution of the Batman. 

    Most of these stories are pretty crude in regards to the art, dialogue, and plot. But I wouldn't change a single page. During World War II, every American was expected to make sacrifices. With rationing, shortages of able-bodied men drafted into the Armed Forces, and constant fear of an Axis invasion, if a mistake was made in a comic book it was nearly impossible to see it fixed in a timely manner if at all. 

   Comics were considered a vital tool to providing morale, instruction, and patriotism to American's youth and our fighting men, so it was of the utmost importance that publication deadlines were met no matter what. That level of dedication to seeing our world kept free from tyranny allowed me to overlook any and all errors contained within this book.

    This volume contains about 20 stories and numerous covers that highlight the Batman's role in the second world war. As you witness Batman go from a brooding solo act to an optimistic duo with the addition of Robin, and finally merge into an icon of justice, you'll encounter fellow heroes such as Superman, George Washington, and President Roosevelt. Featuring villains such as the Joker and the Scarecrow, the truly evil guest stars of this book are Hitler, Emperor Hirohito and Mussolini and their enemy agents. All this and more comes to you from the deft hands of Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and many more artists and writers who helped craft the Dark Knight into the legend he is today.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
    

The Manhattan Projects, Volume 1: Science. Bad.

Everything you know about the Manhattan Project is a lie. First of all- the quest to create a nuclear bomb was just a cover for a slew of experiments involving time drive, alternate dimensions, and other types of fringe science. Besides, we had the bomb years before we even used it...

   Well, that's according to the new series I started reading: The Manhattan Projects. The brainchild of Jonathan Hickman, I first learned of this series when I was getting his autograph at a convention a few years back. The guy in front of me had just about every issue getting signed so, I took some time to examine them (from afar, of course.) 

   The covers look almost identical to the cover to this premiere volume. They have a large black circle in the middle with the MP logo, art and writer credits, issues number, and price. Unlike Einstein being on this book's cover, the individual issues might have a subtle pop art-style difference like a color wheel or the Soviet Hammer and Sickle. 

    When my local library finally decided to pick up this series, it took me even longer to get into to it as volume 1 was checked out for several months. When I finally got my hands on it last week, I both slapped my forehead for taking so long to get into this dynamic series and did a small victory dance for finally getting this book into my possession.

    All of your favorite physicists from the Second World War are in this book. Oppenheimer, Fermi, Feynman, Daghlian, and the previously mentioned Albert Einstein. But by volume's end, the way you look at any of these pioneering scientists may just change how you look at American History and physics itself. 

     Hickman's brave new world is exciting and the art by Nick Pitarra. His style is very similar to that of Frank Quietly. The inking is pencil thin and with muted color tones and some gritty detailing, it's the perfect visual pairing with Hickman's unique look at 1940s science.

    If you like alternate timelines, historical fiction, time travel, or just science in general- you must read this book. I'm going to bet that Manhattan Projects is the series most of you, my dear readers, aren't reading! Run, do not walk, to your local comics shop or demand that your librarian carry this series.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Laugh Last and Laugh Best at the Joker 75th Anniversary Poll!

    It's the Joker's 75th Anniversary since his first appeared in the pages of Batman #1 all the way back in 1940. To celebrate, you might have noticed that DC Comics has released a slew of special Joker 75th anniversary covers. But if you really want to get in on the fun, then head over to Comic Book Resources and vote for your favorite top 10 Joker-centric moments of all-time.
    Be sure to read the official rules so your vote counts. Sadly, it's for comic books only as I'd surely nominate 'Christmas With the Joker' from Batman the Animated Series! Below is the template you can use. Be sure to include 'ACBC' in your post in the comments section along with your ballot so that good folks at CBR.com know to count your vote and make it private.

The deadline is 11:59 pm PST on June 30th.

  Happy Voting!

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

ACBC

Black Cat #8 (Home For Christmas)

   

This Alfred Harvey collection of Black Cat reprints is supposed to be a holiday issue. But with many holiday issues, the contents inside doesn't always match the festive cover.

Looking at the cover, I imagine a hip 1940s apartment that's as fun as it is inviting. If I lived in the late 40s, this would be the domicile I'd probably choose. Thus, despite my misgivings with the series itself (what little Black Cat I've read, I haven't been a fan) I was lured to purchase this issue thanks to the yuletide cover.

Inside is a trio of stories. The first two tales have nothing to do with Christmas. In one tale, Black Cat's father is shot and held hostage in a race against time. The other involves a cowardly actor whose last act saves the life of our heroine. I thought the earlier tale was ludicrous. There's no way anybody would survive the back and forth cat and mouse trauma like Cat's wounded father. But the second tale was actually pretty good.

Our final tale involves Black Cat's alter ego. In real life, she's a film starlet named Linda Turner. Along with some of her famous friends, Linda visits an orphanage. Everything seems to be going swell until one boy reveals that his wish from Santa was to get to meet the Black Cat and Santa didn't deliver. Well, that kid picked the right group to confess his Christmas list with!

The story was heartwarming, but it was a little lame. No, it wasn't because of the incredible stroke of luck the little orphan child had. It was due to  Linda's famous pals. Though they weren't actually named, her friends were based on Groucho Marx, Bing Crosby, and Benny Goodman and his faithful (but stereotyped) servant Rochester. The jokes were lame and unless you were alive during the 40s, you probably wouldn't get them. As for the Groucho character, his awful barbs were pretty off-color for not only the time period but to be told to youngsters in a group home.

    This so-called holiday themed book was actually better than my previous encounters with Harvey's Black Cat, but it doesn't mean I'm going to run out and buy more books in the series anytime soon. It was good but not great with the art being typical of its time period.

   More than likely, I would've overlooked this book if it wasn't for the holiday cover. In a way, I wish I had. It's like visiting a relative's house whose door has a lovely wreath and lights on the door, but the only thing Christmas inside are some holiday cards from friends gone by. Deceptively inviting.

  Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Gaijin: American Prisoner of War

This graphic novel from 2014 recounts the internment of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The story is about a half-Japanese boy named Koji, who is forced into a prisoner of war camp on the suspicion of his father, who's visiting his ailing father in Japan, of being a spy for the Imperial Japanese. Not willing to allow her preteen son stay in a prison camp by himself, Koji's white American mother joins the internment camp as well.

   On the streets of San Francisco, Koji is viewed as the enemy and a possible spy or enemy agent of the Japanese. In the camp, Koji is also an outsider, particularly amongst the teen boys because of his mixed heritage. Koji is bullied, his mother is accused of being a whore, and the commander of the camp sees him as a trouble maker. With the help of a wise elderly Japanese man, Koji is given one last chance to find himself. But when the detention site is forced to move from the shipyards of Alameda to the New Mexican desert, Koji must decide to run from himself and flee with some of the boys in the camp or to finally make peace with his jumbled status, accepting his incarceration and transfer East with his mother.

    The setting of this story is 100% true. During World War II, Japanese Americans along the West Coast of the United States were forced to leave their jobs and home and were imprisoned in about a dozen camps nationwide. The camps were converted barns, with manure and filth everywhere or makeshift barracks hastily and dangerously erected. These sites were overcrowded and there was not enough food, provisions or decent care for the hundreds and thousands of prisoners encamped. Reports have said that a hardened prisoner at Alcatraz in 1942 had it better than the American POWS whose only wrong was their nationality or heritage.

   You might think with the prejudices Koji experienced in San Francisco, maybe the internment camps were for the good and safety of the Japanese Americans. But with very little choice, these families were left with no win solutions. They had to sell or rent their possessions and property and suspend their livelihoods.  After the war, some families would return to their homes only to find that the unscruplous whites that they trusted their estates to sold them off or claimed legal but unethical squattership. So much for looking out for the safety of our fellow man...

     As for Koji and his mother- they are fictional characters but they are based on the exploits of artist and writer Matt Faulkner's great aunt. She was a white American married to a Japanese man. The two had a daughter who by December 7th, had a daughter as well. Not willing to see her daughter and granddaughter detained, Faulkner's aunt went into the prison camps with them until eventually finding sponsorship for the family to move to Chicago under parole conditions.

   The story of the Japanese American internment is sadly a forgotten part of American history. I don't recall ever learning about it in school or college and I was a History Major. It wasn't until I saw the 1999 film 'Snow Falling On Cedars' that I even learned of the plight of the Japanese American during World War II. I learned about the Dust Bowl- a lot! Why not this?

   It may not seem like a very important part of American history. But not 15 years ago, we almost repeated history when such camps were suggested after the events of 9/11. Thank God we didn't listen to those voices calling from the desert again.

    Gaijin is a dynamic story that left me speechless. It should be required reading in schools. I wish had a couple million dollars because I'd snatch the rights to this book up and make it into a feature film. It's that good and that important to not just American history but to the survival of the human race as well.

    Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Boy Commandos #2

The talent listed on the front cover is the main reason I wanted this book. Boy Commandos was a World War II war comic by legends Jack Kirby and Joe Simon- the very same duo that created my all-time favorite comic book super hero Captain America. After leaving their creation at Timely Comics, the duo went to National (DC) Comics and worked on a number of new creations. It was 1941 and the US had yet to enter WWII. Since comics about kids were a big seller and war comics were yet an even bigger sales magnet, Kirby and Simon decided to create a war comic starring a bunch of youths called The Boy Commandos.

  Now, I highly doubt that any of the Allied forces knowingly used minors to form crack special forces teams. But I understand the premise quite well. Formed of orphans from allied nations, such as America, England, France, and the Netherlands, the premise of the Boy Commandos was to inspire children to get on board the coming war efforts. Something obviously clicked as the series continued well past the end of the war and ran for about 36 issues.

This comic from 1973 was issued during Kirby’s brief return to DC after having established himself as one of the premiere forces in all of comic-dom during his tenure in the Marvel Age of Comics (1961-1969) at Marvel Comics. Feeling overshadowed by the more camera friendly, Stan Lee, Kirby went to DC hoping to make a name for just him and nobody else. DC released this comic, full of reprints from the 40s to cash in on Kirby’s time at the Distinguished Competition.

Normally, I hate it when comic publishers reprint material under the guise of being all-new. However, this book was published over 40 years ago and I highly doubt I’m ever going to get my hands on any of the original Boy Commandos comics from the 40s. There are 2 stories in this special release. The first is what the cover is based on. The boys pick up a stray and want to make him their mascot. However, military regulations prevent animals from being allowed on based. Naturally, the boys defy orders and take the raggedy kitten in secretly.

This was a story I had to break my one rules and read ahead. I have 5 cats and I cannot stand it when animals are hurt or killed, even in a comic book. So, I had to make sure this little guy survived. Not only does the kitty live, but he becomes a hero when he rats out a squadron of Nazis poised to ambush the commandos during a mission.

Story #2 involves the Boy Commandos going deep into enemy territory to support the efforts of the underground to continue to provide printed media to those people who have fallen under Nazi rule. The idea of the paper is to give hope and needed intel to resistance fighters working with the allies to overthrow Hitler. This tale is similar to the last act of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington when a bunch of kids defy a Boss Tweed like character to print the truth about Jefferson Smith. The scene where the Commandos are being driven off the road by Nazis is almost exactly like the scene in Frank Capra’s classic film. I loved it.

Sadly, Boy Commandos only lasted 2 issues in its ‘revival.’ Years later, DC did finally reprint most of the Boy Commandos stories in a premium hard bound edition but even those books price about $50 a book and are out of print. So, I have a feeling that this might be my only experience with these young soldiers.

A true diamond in the rough, I found this in a bargain box of course. I highly recommend this if you ever stumble across it. It’s worth the read no matter how implausible the premise may be.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Spirit: The Origin Years #6

  This is an interesting mix of noir, patriotism, and spousal abuse. In this collection of chronological Spirit tales from the 1940s, our intrepid hero must save a damsel from a disfigured paramour, then the Spirit enlists in the US army as a secret agent wiping out Nazi insurgents. Later, when Chief Dolan’s daughter decides to become a bounty hunter, the Spirit actually beats up his lady friend in order to prevent her from getting killed by a thug. Lastly, the Spirit must face off against a villainess whose fatal kiss can literally kill.

 Three of these tales are pure noir classics. But I can’t speak for ‘The Manly Art of Defense.’ Just yesterday, Ray Rice was fired from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL for doing the exact thing the Spirit did to Ellen Doran! To top it off, Ellen’s father, the city chief of police commends the Spirit for dampening Ellen’s aspirations to be a private eye. I can’t believe this saw print. Even more, I can’t believe that that story didn’t get as much hate mail as the Orang the Ape Man stories from Origin Years #4! It seems in the 1940s people were more upset over a talking ape than violence towards women.

Once again, I read a controversial comic book. But, I still consider it worth reading because I feel the best way to learn who we are is to examine where we’ve been. Today’s society is quick to oust anyone who is offensive, violent, or harmful. But that doesn’t mean people can’t change. This series contain ‘directors cut’ articles with Will Eisner about his past works and in these you can tell that he really regrets a lot of the questionable material in his works. But you can also tell when he’s proud of things that pushed the envelope for social change.

Some of Eisner’s later works is his most socially conscious. It’s a lot like Dr. Seuss whose World War II works depicted the Japanese as bucked toothed yokels. Yet his works such as the anti-war classic Butter Battle Book and his conservationist prose, Horton Hears a Who are considered classics that promote and provoke the next generation to correct the wrongs of the past. Eisner might not as been as deliberate as Seuss, but he was a man who gained wisdom from his sins of youth.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Twelve, volume 1: a Thrilling Novel of Tomorrow

 

The Twelve is a clever idea to explain why many of the super-heroes from the 1940s disappeared and were never heard from again in the annuals of Marvel Comics history- until now. When a dozen B-list heroes are captured and placed in suspended animation just hours before the Allies occupy World War II Berlin, the world passes them over like a forgotten keepsake in a dusty attic. Thanks to an excavation project to build a new parking lot in present day Berlin, the Twelve are recovered and shipped to American for de-freezing and adjustment therapy into the present day.

    This is exactly what happens to Captain America in First Avenger a couple of years later. So, it’s possible that this series inspired a Marvel movie. However, I feel like a lot of this series takes its inspiration from DC’s Watchmen. The series is about a bunch of super heroes that find that they no longer fit into the world they helped create. The only difference is that the Watchmen aged with their world, these Twelve heroes did not.

     The American government takes them in and ‘repays’ them for their duty in WWII by provided clothes, food, and a roof over their heads in hopes that they’ll eventually become agents of the government once again after their transition period has completed. It very well could go south very fast were it not for a murder mystery building in the wings.

   Someone is killing stereotypes- gays, people of color, gangs and such. The evidence is pointing to some of the Twelve. So just who is the murderer? The suspense hits a fevered pitch when the series takes a small flash forward and shows one of the Twelve lying in a pool of blood.

   Thanks to a great mystery hiding behind a thinly veiled allegory for the end of American innocence, the Twelve is actually pretty good. The art is very good and I love the ‘pulp’ feel of the covers. I cannot wait to see what happens in volume 2.

 

Worth Consuming.

 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

One of the few times where the cover is the best part of the entire book. It features a man called the Phantom Reporter, poised on a rainy stoop with zeppelins in the background, guns cocked and loaded, about to leap off the rooftops onto an unseen aggressor. The scene looks like it’s almost in motion and I kept coming back to it as it is visually striking.

But, the story was almost pure crap. The secret identity is nothing more than a purple cape on a beat reporter. It seems everybody knows the Phantom’s real identity and the classic 40s tale isn’t any better. In fact, that story has choppy plotting and the scenes segue ways are non-existent. It’s a poor-man’s Superman, minus the powers, costume, and better writing.

Not Worth Consuming

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars