DC 1st Issue Special #1 (2022 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Challenge)

Thanks to a rumored paper shortage thanks to Marvel Comics, Carmine Infantino released a number of new series. The thought was if DC boasted a large enough order, they wouldn't miss out on the limited amount of newsprint held by their distributors. Out of this game plan, DC released an anthology series similar to Showcase Presents titles titled 1st Issue Special. 

The debut issue feature Jack Kirby's premiere of the mythologcial character Atlas. Kirby had previously tooled with the character to little avail. Issue #2 featured Kirby's former creative partner Joe Simon. Along with artist Jerry Grandenetti, Simon created a kid-centric title called The Green Team. 

The Green Team was comprised of 3 child millionaires. There's the Commodore, a shipping magnate with a toy boat that really pops! JP Huston is an oil tycoon who is more interested in adventure than digging oil wells. Cecil Sunbeam is a director who never uses a script but manages to produce amazing blockbusters. 

As the Green Team, these boy millionaires meeting regularly to agree on funding projects for the price of a cool million bucks. Through the crack pots and the occasional greedy Gus, the Green Team wade through the proposals to find the diamond in the roughs in hopes of making more money of their investments.

The only rule to join the Green Team is that the members must have at least $1 million dollars in their bank accounts. Thanks to a computer error that pays off in the stock market, the Green Team has welcomed it's newest member- Abdul Smith, a black shoeshine boy who longs to be a part of an elite club. 

In the Green Team's first adventure, they fund a project that promises to replace print, music, TV and movies with the ultimate pleasure experience. All done by computers. A shyster leads a protest of actors and performers who claim the Green Team's latest venture will put them out of a job. But deep down, the protest leader is just hoping for a shakedown. And he'll get his just desserts when he barricades himself into the pleasure-dome as the human mind just can't handle that much entertainment!

1st Issue Special marked the only official full comics appearance of the Green Team. The response to the comic was enough to green light a regular series. Two issues were plotted out and illustrated. Unfortunately, the DC impulsion resulted in the series being scrapped. Only those lucky enough to get their hands on the fabled 2-volume Cancelled Comics Cavalcade got to read those tales. 

Other than the occasional cameo, the Green Team operated in the shadows of the DC Universe. Then in 2013, with the New 52, the Green Team finally returned to print. Thanks to inflation, members had to be trillionaires to join the club. Cecil was gender-swapped into Cecilia. Adbul was replaced as the young Arab prince, Mohammed Qahtanni. Instead of longing to fund exciting projects, this Green Team sought to become superheroes who used money to save the day. The series lasted 8 issues. 

As for the issue itself, this is an odd duck. The artwork is great. But it's also a product of the times. With Simon and Grandenetti being in the later stages of middle age, their attempts at teen lingo was about a decade out of date. The addition of the colored Abdul was revolutionary for it's time, marking him as one of the first black characters in comics that wasn't portrayed as a stereotype or sidekick.

Honestly, I was surprised to learn that the Green Team was popular enough to merit a potential series. But it really doesn't surprise me that it got the ax considering how unlike DC this title was. The Green Team reads more like a satire of America's growing millionaire culture. With the boys admitting that their theme park was a failure so they'll have some fun blowing the structure to bits, this issue was more like something you'd expect to find in the pages of Mad Magazine. Not as a DC Comic. Experimental or otherwise.

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #24 (With A Green Cover) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Christmas and Archie

I didn't know that Archie Comics made tabloid sized anything! I appear to not be the only comics collector who felt this way. But earlier this year, I found this rare Archie holiday special from 1975 at my favorite thrift store. And I just had to add it to my Christmas comics collection!

I found the book for the price of $8. All of the games and puzzles were filled in. Some panels were graffitied with names and silly images. Plus the coloring pages were marked up too! All with red ink!

I took to my phone to find anything out about this book and other than an image of the cover, I found nothing! None of the databases I use had this book listed either. Later when I shared my find to the collector groups that I am a member of, those guys went nuts over my discovery. 

So despite all the markings, I think I did pretty good getting this for the price I did. 

There's 3 or 4 regular sized stories in this book. For the most part, they are all full of festive fun. Though one story felt like it was an non-holiday story that had patch put on top of the original dialogue with some Christmas key words.

None of these stories have any credits to the art and writing staff. So I'm not 100% sure that the stories were reprints or original material. My guess is based on the other tabloid books published around this time period, it's all reprinted material; probably from the late 60s to early 70s. 

Still this collection is a mystery to me. Archie Comics was, and still is, known for releasing it's reprinted material in tiny digest format. Christmas and Archie appears to be the publisher's only experiment with over-sized treasuries. 1975 was about when DC and Marvel introduced tabloid specials to market. Thus, it makes sense that Archie tried (and probably failed) to produce a line of tabloids of their own.

Christmas and Archie was a Santa's bag of holiday fun. I love having added it to my collection. But I will definitely be open to getting another unblemished copy added to my collection. Such a thing has to be for the right price of course.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Classic Toys from a Madman's Youth: Advent 2019 Day 17

Thinking about yesterday's featured toy reminded me of another all-inclusive toy from my youth that I really loved. You might be familiar with Colorforms. But have you ever visited Marvel World? Well for today's Advent, welcome one and all!

Marvel World was an all-in-one playset from Amsco. The set was made of heavy-duty cardboard featuring 360 degrees of full color graphics. With this material, you got to build the Baxter Building, Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorium, the Daily Bugle and other Marvel icons of the New York skyline. The sets even had a working elevator and other cool surprises for the kiddies to explore on the inside.

Along with the buildings, you got literally dozens of little stand-up figures of Marvel Universe greats including Spider-Man, Hawkeye, The Green Goblin and Shang-Chi, The Master of Kung-Fu. You even got a Galactus but unfortunately, he was the same size as the other characters. 

This toy debuted in 1975. That's 3 years before I was born. But I remember owning one of these. I wanna say that my grandparents found one of these at a yard sale. I'm not 100% certain if I had this for a Christmas gift or not. But man, did I have fun with these!

Marvel World is definitely one of those toys that I wish I still had. I really think I'd continue to have hours and hours of fun with this. Yet, I seriously doubt I'll ever get my hands on one of these. Individual figures without the plastic stands sell for upwards of $65 each!

Behold, I am the herald of ridiculous collectible prices!

Maybe Marvel would re-release this. I'd pay upwards of about $60 for a replica set. 

As my Advent present for you today, here's an unboxing video. Obviously somebody shelled out some big bucks. Lucky guy... Oh well. Enjoy!

Sherlock Holmes #1

This is one of those comics in which if it wasn't for the group's I participate in on Facebook, I wouldn't have known that it existed. When I saw this posted as a comic convention find by a fellow group member, I was so jealous. I immediately went to the net to purchase a copy for myself. Needless to say, it wasn't cheap. So, I held off on getting the book and I waited.

  My wait wasn't very long as I found a decent good- to- very good copy for only a buck! I'm pretty sure I yelled out “MINE!”, even though I was the only customer in the store at the time. That's how bad I wanted this issue.

  This issue, dated October 1975, is based on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Dennis O’ Neil, who at the time of publication was doing masterful mystery work on various Batman series. So he was the perfect choice to head this up. The gothic style cover art is by superstar artist Walt Simonson (Thor) with interiors by Filipino artist E.R. Cruz. I'm not very familiar with Cruz and what little I could find about him could fill a postage stamp. But he did do some work on a variety of DC'S lesser known horror titles and his work here is really good.

  Sherlock Holmes #1 is divided into two parts. Part one retells Doyle's ‘The Final Problem’ in what was to be the last ever story between Holmes and his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty. I've read the story on which this part was based and the adaptation was quite good.

 Part two covers a story that I have yet to read in prose form, ‘ The Adventure of the Empty House.’ That story marked Holme’s return after a brief hiatus in which fans of the detective went bonkers and demanded that Doyle resurrect his most famous creation. To rate the story on its merits alone, the solution to how Holmes survived his encounter with Moriarty was OK. But his reasons for faking his own death were actually quite brilliant.

  The biggest surprise about this issue is that not only is it the first issue, it's the only issue. I'm not sure why it didn't catch on with readers. And no this wasn't a one-shot as there's a plug for issue #2 at the end of the book. And no- this title wasn't a victim of the DC implosion as that didn't occur until 1978. (Speaking of book endings, there is a great article about Sherlock Holmes in fiction and film at issue's end that was really interesting. Be sure not to skip it!)

 A fun read that is best read at night. A must for fans and collectors that consider themselves a member of the Baker Street Irregulars.

  Worth Consuming.

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

   

Adventures on The Planet of the Apes #1

 This book’s from 1975 and for the first issue of Adventures on the Planet of the Apes, the editor’s decide to start off with a 6-issue adaptation of the classic 1968 film starring Charleston Heston? Talk about being topical. This probably explains why the book didn’t last longer than a year, as fans were probably wanting new Apes stories and they get a tale they already saw in theatres almost a decade prior.

   Regardless of that, the story is very good. It has some insights missing from the film. The art is pretty good- considered it’s a film adaptation from the 70s. I enjoyed it. It was just a little unexpected to seeing chapter 1 (of 6) of the original film in these contents.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.