Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was a very odd book. Not because of the quirky, irreverent nature of author Douglas Adams. His obscured view on things is rather refreshing. No, I consider this book to be unusual because of all things you'd expect from a whodunnit/sci-fi/satire novel; and by that, I mean: math.

The edition I read was a 1987 paperback published by Pocket Books. It was 306 pages in length. Of those pages, the main, title character doesn't appear actively until you're over a third of the way done at page 113! He's talking to another character over the phone. It's another 30 pages before he actually appears in person! I've read a lot of mystery novels. Mostly, Sherlock Holmes and detective noir. A little bit of Agatha Christie. In those books, it might be one or two chapters tops before the main protagonist appears as writers like to present the crime in order to set up the plot. I'm okay with this. I've never had to get to chapter 14 to encounter the title character of a story.

Dirk is mentioned in great detail in chapter 6 by at this point by what we assume are the two main characters: Reg and Richard as Adams has devoted about 40 of the first 50 pages of the book to a very odd encounter between them. I really couldn't figure out where things were going. I was even more confused as I had watched by seasons of the BBC America's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency starring Elijah Wood and Samuek Barnett as Dirk. None of this book unfolds like either season. Even Dirk from the book is nothing at all like Dirk from the show, other than he's rather annoying. Though I think Barnett's portrayal makes Dirk to be a more likable character. Dirk Gently on paper is like the most irredeemable character in the history of literature. You think Ebeneezer Scrooge was a monster. But he at least becomes a likable character by the end of A Christmas Carol. By the end of this book, you're convinced that fans would have hated it the main protagonist to the point that there would never be a sequel; much less a radio series and 2 TV show adaptations.

And yet considering how despicable Dirk Gently is, you kept wanting to read more!

The plot for the book is rather complicated. To reveal too much would spoil the wondrous magic of the book. This is a nearly 40 year old book. But if all you've ever read of Douglas Adams was his 5-volume Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, to give away too much would be like exposing Houdini's secrets! So how best to give a synopsis...

Here goes:

Dirk Gently is a detective. He's not a very good one. He's more of a con man; trying to get clients to fund his holiday excursions as important mind-clearing methods for solving his cases which mostly involve finding lost cats. Dirk is slightly psychic, though he would deny this to the grave. But his holistic way of looking at the universe seems to work out in the end. Here Dirk helps an old college friend escape a murder rap when the guy's boss is mysteriously killed by an unknown intruder hiding in the deceased's automobile. 

I really don't think I can say more about the plot. But I did have to re-read several sections more than once. And I had to use Google and ChatGPT AND Reddit to finally understand all of the nuances of this book.

After reading the Salmon of Doubt, I ran out and immediately bought copies of both of Adams' Dirk Gently novels. It wasn't a bad decision on my part. It's just not an easy book to read. There's a good mystery and I was able to figure out some of the clues. But if ever there was a book that needed CliffsNotes, this was it. Don't go into this expecting it to be like the BBC America series as you will be 100% disappointed. But if you approach Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency like another masterpiece by the late great Douglas Adams, you will be in for a humongous treat!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

RoboCop: The Official Adaptation (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

There's an infamous scene in 1987's RoboCop in which a thug with a gun holds a woman hostage. The cyborg officer orders the man to drop his weapon. But when the criminal refuses, Robocop shoots him in a very delicate area of the male anatomy.

That scene is recreated here in this comic book adaptation of the blockbuster futuristic sci-fi starring Peter Weller as the title character. However, this being a Marvel Comic, the events were changed slightly with the gunman being shot in the shoulder from RoboCop's computer accurate targeting system.

Bob Harras wrote the script based on the screenplay by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Alan Kupperberg and Javier Saltares penciled. It tells of a dystopian Detroit in which crime is so bad, it's police forcehad to be privatized by the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products. Recently, a crime wave resulting in the deaths of nearly 30 Detroit cops has lowered morale to the point that the officers are ready to go on strike. That's just what corrupt executive Dick Jones is hoping for. Without humans to police the city, he can patrol Detroit with his robotic drones, the double-barreled ED-209. If the program is a success, Dick will certainly become the new head of OCP, allowing him to put a massive real estate plan into action. However, when the tank like robot malfunctions, killing a junior OCP exec, the project is shelved to make way for the RoboCop project.

After the death of Detroit's newest boy in blue, the idealistic Murphy, OCP rushes to harvest his body in order to create their first prototype. Supposedly wiped of the memory of his previous life, RoboCop becomes a one-man army against crime. While on a patrol, RoboCop comes face-to-face with one of his murderers, bringing back memories of his life as Murphy and setting the robotic law enforcer on a course of revenge against the gang of men who killed him. 

Marvel Comics hadn't been a stranger to issuing adaptations of R-rated films. However, when originally cut by director Paul Verhoven, the 109 minute long feature was rated-X for gory violence. Scenes of one character turning into a mutated blob thanks to a run-in with RoboCop and a tank of toxic ooze were considered off-the-table for censors. But the director stood firm in his original version of the movie, that is until his kids watched it. 

Verhoven had intentionally tried to make the scenes of gore as well as Murphy's torturous murder, a bit on the farcical side in order to undercut the level of violence. But the director might have gone a little too overboard in his level of surrealism, as his children reportedly laughed their heads off watching the heroes tragic death. Another round of edits and the film garnered not only an R-rating, but also elicited a feeling of unease among the audience of the new cut.

In 1990, Marvel would produce a monthly series continuing the adventures of Murphy and Lewis. The ominous OCP would be portrayed as more considerate of the public good while continuing with their gentrification project, Delta City. This series ran for 23 issues. Marvel would also release a 3-issue miniseries adaptation of the inevitable sequel before losing the franchise license to Dark Horse sometime in early 1992. 

After Dark Horse, RoboCop sat dormant as a comic book character until publisher Avatar Press gained the rights in 2006. Frank Miller, who worked the screenplay for RoboCop 2 and 3 wrote the new series which was based on Miller's rejected storyline for the sequel as well as unused concepts developed for the threequel. As of 2018, Boom! Studios was the last comic book publisher of the franchise, releasing the 5 issue miniseries RoboCop: Citizens Arrest. Nothing new starring Future of Law Enforcement has been released in this current decade.

This book is a colorized reprint of the official 1987 adaptation which was presented in magazine form.

Completing this review completes Task #11 (Pick a Long Box and Read the 6th Book in the Box) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Comics Digest #3

My biggest problem with a comic digest is if they are a holiday issue, that they're never 100% full of holiday material. It's not like Gladstone was hurting for Christmas stories. They could have made this whole 96-pager 1987, about Christmas, if they really wanted to.

The cover is obviously Christmas themed. It's a great gag by Walt Kelly. The opener is about Christmas. It's a Carl Barks classic that sees Donald Duck jealously battling his lucky duck cousin, Gladstone Gander, in a competition to see who is going to win the Christmas turkey raffle. Though in all honesty, you could have replaced Thanksgiving with Christmas in this story and you'd never know the difference.

6 stories remain. They star Disney comics mainstays such as Hazel the Witch, Mickey Mouse and the L'il Bad Wolf. And then there's a full length adaptation of Lady and the Tramp and I couldn't be in a more festive mood about it. 

I didn't realize it, but the 1955 animated film is book-ended by Christmas. Lady is gifted to her mistress on a snowy Christmas morning. Then the story ends a couple of years later with Lady having given birth to a litter on Christmas. These 2 scenes do not make Lady & the Tramp a Christmas movie. But I am counting it as part of the holiday cheer that comprises this book. 

(Side note: adding to Lady & the Tramp's connection to Christmas, a stuffed animal version of Lady was all the rage in the Christmas of 1985. Burger joint Hardee's offered versions of the pup along with a plush Pinnochio, Bambi and Dumbo. I remember how myself and all my classmates just had to have the whole set of 4!)

I should have reviewed this book a couple of years ago. I bought it 2 years ago after a trip to the mountains during Spring Break. I read it later that year. But somehow I accidentally filed it in my Christmas read box before giving my rating of the book. Overall, not a bad find for only a buck in a thrift store I had never visited before. And now it can go back into the correct section of my collection.

Worth Consumimg!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Vietnam Journal #1 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The time just seemed right. It's the mid-1980s. Darkly realistic films about the conflict in Vietnam are becoming big box office draws. Platoon and Full Metal Jacket show how American culture glorified a righteous war while our troops who fight over in Vietnam are faced with horrors unimaginable and for some, inescapable, years after the fighting has ended. 

For artist Don Lomax, the 1980s were a chance for him to show comic book readers what the Vietnam War was really like. Lomax was drafted into the Army in 1965. A year later, he was sent to Vietnam with his unit, the 98th Light Equipment Maintenance Company, conducting a series of odd-job missions along the Cha Rang Valley. During this time, Lomax would sketch out the villagers, soldiers and equipment he came into contact with, thinking all the time "This would make a great comic." However, it would be almost 2 decades before any comic book publisher would agree to any such project. 

The Vietnam War had left a giant wound on the United States. It was a very unpopular war that saw many of the veterans returning from Southeast Asia not getting the warm welcome of their grandparents from their time in Korea and Japan in the decades prior. Only a small number of movies even attempted to focus on the war in the 1970s and most film experts would agree that a majority of those films were anti-war pictures. With films like 1985's Rambo: First Blood, Part 2 making American's feeling a sort of pride about our involvement in Vietnam again, the barometer was starting to shift in Don Lomax's favor in order to see his Vietnam comic dreams become a reality.

In 1987, Lomax pitched his project to Apple Comics editor Michael Catron. Issue #1 debuted that fall. It introduces readers to the main character of Scott Neithammer, a war correspondent who has traded covering the conflict from the perspective of officials at the Pentagon to digging into the trenches with the soldiers stationed near Plieku. Lomax could have told the war from his perspective. He had hundreds of stories and sketches from his time in Asia. However, by adding 'Journal' Neithammer to the action, the character acts as a link between the reader and the G.I. to make the war more relatable to those who wouldn't understand because 'they weren't there.'

In the first issue, Journal is introduced to the men of Plieku base. Covering the action is going to be difficult as his typewriter is destroyed during a firefight when the Huey transporting the reporter lands. At evening chow, Neithammer meets some of the troops. Readers get a small background of the war prior to Neithammer's arrival when the correspondent is offered a replacement field jacket by the supply Sargent. Journal's story entertains the G.I.'s who are desperate for any sort of 'entertainment', while educating the reader about the growing anti-war sentiments brewing back in the States.

The jacket first appears in Vietnam when a Sargent on leave in the States takes it from a group of hippies burning an American flag. The clothing switches hands several times among soldiers who deem the jacket to be lucky. Ultimately, Journal ends up with the weather beaten coat after it is gifted to him by an unlucky vet who is ultimately killed by an errand brick thrown by rioting protesters at an American airport. It is Journal's hope to present the jacket to an active G.I. in need of lucky back in 'Nam.

Vietnam Journal would be published by Apple Comics for 16 issues sporadically through 1991. A few one-shots and limited series would continue the narrative before Apple Comics would declare bankruptcy in 1994. Lomax would continue the adventures of Journal Neithammer with the inclusion of several short stories in the pages of the short-lived Harvey Kurtzman's The New Two-Fisted Tales and later as a one-page strip in the adult magazine Gallery. 

A little bit of a spoiler: Journal would survive his time in Vietnam, going on to Iraq to cover the invasion of Kuwait in 2004's aptly named Gulf War Journal.

Completing this review completes Task #22 (Comic Book Starting With the Letter V) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars 3-D #1-3 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

1987 was the 10 year anniversary of the first Star Wars film. In what was supposed to be a time filled with celebration and fanfare, 1987 was not a banner year for the average Star Wars fan. Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks; a pair of all-ages comics published by Marvel imprint Star, were cancelled by Springtime. Star Tours, a Star Wars themed Disneyland ride and a 10th anniversary convention were held. But unless you traveled to California, you couldn't enjoy them. Older fans could enjoy a new computer game as well as a RPG game- if you had the money and/or friends to play with! At least Mel Brooks entertained moviegoers with his Star Wars parody, Spaceballs.

It was a dark time for Star Wars fans, especially if you loved it in comic book form. That was until December of that year!

California based Blackthorne Publishing was a small novelty publishing company known for making 3-D comics based on popular properties such as Dick Tracy and the California Raisins. It was a small coup to win the Star Wars franchise away from major publisher Marvel, despite the waning interest in the George Lucas property. 

Issue #1 was billed as a 10th anniversary issue. Written by Len Wein, the premier issue sees Luke Skywalker and C-3PO returning with Han Solo and Chewbacca to Tatoonie immediately after the destruction of the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. Skywalker wishes to honor his fallen Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru while being led by the Force to find a new caretaker for the Lars Homestead. The Force leads Luke and company to Mos Eisley Cantina to a massive and mean smuggler named Throgg. Featuring art and pencils by Glen Johnson and Jim Nelson, the climatic bar fight in this issue makes the misadventures seen in Episode IV look rather tame in comparison.

Patrick Zircher assists Len Wein in the next issue which reveals how the Rebels ended up seeking sanctuary on the ice planet of Hoth. Inks for this issue were by David Cody Weiss. 

Series editor John Stephenson pens the third issue which takes Luke and Leia to Dantooine. There, Luke is kidnapped by a group of Dark Force sensitive beings called Fairfolk, who subject the aspiring Jedi to a number of tests devised by Darth Vader. The combined artwork and inks by Cesar Magsombol are the weakest of the trio of issues, looking hardly anything like any of the characters.

Star Wars 3-D was a quarterly publication. The printing process to make the images appear 3-D was a costly technique in both terms of time and money. At least 3 additional issues were planned. Unfortunately, the 1988 Michael Jackson project Moonwalker led to the downfall of the young publisher. A ridiculous licensing fee for the franchise in addition to the book's failure to entice customers resulted in financial woes that Blackthorne could never rebound from. An IRS audit and a lawsuit against distribution company Sunrise Distribution didn't help matters. Outsourcing and layoffs dominated Blackthorne in 1989, despite being the 5th largest comic book publisher at the time. Ultimately, many of Blackthorne's planned titles, including issues 4-6 of Star Wars 3-D were cancelled and the company folded in 1990.

Completing this review completes Task #33 (A Star Wars Comic or Graphic Novel) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Wacky Squirrel Halloween Adventure Special #1

I purchased this 1987 special for one reason and one alone. And it sure wasn't because it starred Wacky Squirrel. Until I read this book, I don't think I could have picked the character out of a line-up. I still don't trust that I could do it correctly. The main reason I recently bought this Halloween special is because of the guest-star: Mr. Monster! Okay- being a Halloween themed book is another reason why I got this book. So I had two reasons and two alone!

I enjoy the heck out of Michael Gilbert's Mr. Monster. He's like a slightly saner, paranormal investigating version of the Tick. His stories are brilliant satires of the horror genre. And I don't feel like I am being talked down to by the writer. My biggest complaint about Mr. Monster is that his books are difficult to find and that it seems that Michael Gilbert stopped creating Mr. Monster books about 2 decades ago. Thus, finding this book with appearance by the character was a huge treat.

The Wacky Squirrel Halloween Adventure Special has the main character taking pity on a crying kid on Halloween. The boy and his family have been recently evicted from their home by ghosts! Wacky, believing that there's no such thing as ghosts arrives at the house to perform an exorcism. But what Wacky really needs is a hero. A hero which appears in the form of Doc Stearn, Mr. Monster!

This book was classic Dark Horse Comics. Though I'm not really sure if you can consider the early days of Dark Horse to be all that classic. At this point in the publisher's history, Dark Horse had only been in existence for a little over a year. The majority of the comics released by Dark Horse were in black and white, only just starting to issue a few select special edition titles in full color. This special was not one of those editions.

It's really interesting seeing the old ads for Dark Horse. Paul Chadwick's Concrete was by far the publisher's most popular title at the time. They had just recently obtained the rights to Godzilla and anthology series Dark Horse Presents was in its immediate infancy. Within another year, Dark Horse would have major hits on their hands with adaptations of the Alien and Predator franchises. But it would be about another 4 years until Dark Horse becomes known as a heavy hitter in the comic book industry with the obtaining the rights to produce books based on Star Wars in 1991.

This was a fast-paced fun read. It's mostly Wacky Squirrel's show. At least Mr. Monster appears in more than just 1 page. He's not in the whole thing. Maybe 8 pages. Yet it was more than I was expecting and Michael Gilbert draws all of the Mr. Monster images which was something else I wasn't expecting. If you love slapstick cartoons like Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes, you'll especially love the middle act when Wacky heads over to the haunted house. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman #413 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Batman has a new ward- the street smart orphan, Jason Todd. Slowly learning the ropes as the newest Robin, Jason is headstrong, impulsive and full of rage. However, in the early episode from Jason Todd's oh-so short stint as the Boy Wonder, it's the observational skills of the lad who helps Batman crack this bizarre case. 

A new exhibit is opening at the Gotham Metropolitan Museum. Focusing on artifacts from feudal Japan, a number of pieces including kimonos, swords and a suit of samurai armor have been donated from one of the last surviving members of the Tahara Clan. The Dark Knight suspects that members of Gotham's criminal elements will rob the exhibit and so Batman keeps vigilance over the museum. 

To everyone's surprise, the exhibition isn't robbed. Instead, it's haunted by the ghost of fallen Japanese warrior, Masahiko Tahara! Now it's up to Batman and his brand-new Robin to get to the bottom of a mystery on par with something you'd expect from Scooby-Doo and the teen detectives of Mystery Inc.

'The Ghost of Masahiko Tahara' was written by Jo Duffy. Duffy has first appeared in the pages of Marvel comics in the early 70s as a frequent contributor to the letter cols of various publications. She then appeared as a cameo character in the pages of Iron Man #103 (Oct. 1977), before eventually earning her first credit as an editor for Defenders #61 (July 1978). 

Duffy's first writing credits including Daredevil, Defenders and Marvel-Two-In-One before taking on her longest and perhaps most well known stint as the writer of Power Man and Iron Fist. During this time, Duffy also penned a number of issues of Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian thanks in part to her duties as Archie Goodwin's assistant. 

During a time when Marvel was experimenting with a darker tone, Jo Duffy was a refreshing blast of light-hearted stories that harkened back to the days of Stan and Jack. She was also known to pepper her stories with doses of sarcastic humor that often hid a back-handed compliment or two. Maybe that's one reason why she paired brilliantly with Steve Ditko on some of the last issues of the short-lived Speedball series about a teen boy who turns hyper-kinetic whenever he experiences too much force.

Batman #413 was written during Jo Duffy's brief first stint with DC. In the early 90s, Duffy penned stories for Dark Horse and Image before returning to DC where she penned the first 14 issue's of Catwoman. In the mid-90s, Duffy was the screenwriter for the 4th and 5th movie in the Puppet Master horror franchise before returning to the House of Ideas in 2000. 

Jo Duffy's last writing credits are from 2003-2006, writing English script adaptations for Viz Media's Naruto. In 2007, Duffy took a job as a receptionist for the U.S. Immigration Office in New York. The writer had for some time made announcements to create her own self-published comics under the banner of Armin Armadillo Publishers. While Duffy did incorporate a company under that name in 2008, as of press time of this review, that is as far as that vision has preceded.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #15 (Comic Book Written by a Female) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Elvira's Haunted Holidays #1

In the 1980s, DC Comics attempted to revitalize The House of Secrets. Instead of host Cain, DC opted with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. As the horror hostess with the Valley Girl accent was the dominant personality of the decade in schlock horror, it made sense to tie her in with the reboot. For some reason, it just never worked. But before DC evicted Elvira from the premises, they managed to eek out this 1987 holiday special.

Elvira stars in the main story which is a parody of A Christmas Carol. As with the Dickens classic, 3 spirits visit Elvira in hopes of bringing back her holiday spirit. Then a small time crook gets the idea to play Grinch on Christmas Eve. But before he can make off with the family's goods, the con runs into a blind girl who can actually see things quite well. Lastly, on a not too far off Christmas Eve, extraterrestrials make first contact with Earth. Only it appears that thanks to a nuclear war, it appears this first contact was too late!

This was a very good one-shot in the vein of The House of Mystery's signature twist endings. But I thought that the Elvira story could have been better. Instead of giving back her Christmas spirit, writer Joey Cavalieri (Spider-Man 2099) should have made it where it was the Halloween Spirit that Elvira needed to regain.

Now I know that this is a Christmas special. But I think if you made it where the scenes from the past were of Victorian England and kept the future scene where Scrooge sees his grave (only now with Elvira as a substitute), then a Halloween themed story would have worked! And it would be more fitting with the character of Elvira.

A festive way to say good-bye to the House of Secrets!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Classic Toys from a Madman's Youth: Advent 2019 Day 14

I've got another toy fail for today's Advent. 

It's Christmas, 1986. According to Toy and Hobby World Magazine, top 10 toys of that year include Pound Puppies, Transformers, Lazer Tag and WWF Superstars. And what do I ask Santa for? Over The Top action figures!

Over The Top was a 1987 film starring Sylvester Stallone as a big rig driver who dreams of winning an arm wrestling championship in Las Vegas. The film hadn't even come out yet that Christmas! But I wanted those toys. 

I blame the Sears Holiday Wish Book. I saw these amazing pictures of two kids facing off against each other with the Over The Top action figures. They were having so much fun! And I really thought that would be me for Christmas!

See, you could complete with a buddy as Stallone's character of Lincoln Hawk versus several very colorful looking foes in a no holds barred 'rock-em, sock-em robot' style arm wrestling match. The figures' arms could interlock and there were these metal dials in their backs where you could arm wrestle each other. 

You only needed a friend or sibling! However,  in 1986, I didn't have either. My sister wasn't born until 1990 when I was 12. And having just moved into my neighborhood, I really didn't know that many people. It was especially hard as I went to a private school an hour away in which all the other kids in the neighborhood went to the local public school. 

So, I think you could understand my problem. Playing rock-em, sock-em robots by yourself just isn't all that fun. It's like playing ping pong up against a wall. Plus, the action figures were gigantic and they towered over my GI Joes and Star Wars figures. I'm pretty sure that by Christmas afternoon, my attention fell to something cooler that my grandparents or another relative got me for Christmas...

Let's jump to February, 1987. That's when Over The Top debuted in theaters. Disappointed in the toys, I lost interest in seeing the movie. It was budgeted for $25 million. It only took in about $16 million. So all-in-all, this was giant giant FAIL!

As my Advent present for you, I thought I would share the trailer for Over The Top. It should be pretty appearant that this was one of Stallone's biggest motion picture flops. Enjoy if you can muster it...

The Crypt #1 (1987)

Aaaargh! Associated Artists. Written by  Gregory Krolczyk. Art by Damon Willis

This Indy comic one shot from 1987 was both a delight and a bore. A group of teens are whisked away from the real world into a land of elves, trolls and magic. They must retrieve a mystical torch. Doing so will determine who rules supreme over the enchanted realms for the next decade.

Cashing in on the D&D craze during it's height in the mid 80s, the plot was good but not great. The dialogue was filled with 80s cliches. Plus, there's a romantic element between a couple that's hinted at but never resolved by the end of the book.

I felt the same about the artwork. The fight scenes were epic. There's some fantastic beasts and monsters doing some major +3 damage. All of the magical creatures looked amazing. Yet artist Damon Willis really needed some practice in drawing human bodies to appropriate scale.

The Crypt end with a cool twist ending that deserved a second chapter. But overall, this book is still not great enough for me to hang on with.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck #251

    You've heard the old adage 'If it looks like a duck , swims like a duck, and sounds like a duck- then it must be a duck."
    This book says Donald Duck on the cover and lo' and behold, there he is. But it also has him in a classic looking Christmas scene. Sadly, this isn't quite a Christmas comic and that's pretty much how it has gone with Disney comics for the past 30 years or so. 
     Why do I keep falling for this? 
     Every time I find a 'Christmas' themed Disney book, I get excited to add it to my forthcoming holiday readings. But hardly any of these comics ever end up being 100% what is says on the cover.
     This issue from 1987 starts out during the summer or spring. Donald's neighbor is moving and he boasts that he can sell his prized home in 48-hours. So Donald places a bet in odds to his peer. But when it looks like the neighbor is going to win his bet, Donald has to act fast or he's going to lose some cold hard cash.
      Then we get a Christmas story in which Donald and his nephews get lost in a snow storm on the way to grandma's house for Christmas Eve.  
       Rounding out the book is another yarn guest-starring Donald's nephews set during fairer weather. It's the day of Duckburg's big renaissance fair and Donald is jealous that he doesn't have a major role in the festivities. It's a comedy of errors as Donald tries and fails miserably to become the star of Ye Olde Fair...
       One out of three stories are Christmas/ Holiday themed. If I was the 70s rocker Meatloaf, I would have to say that that's bad. (Google it, kids...)
      A cute book that I did enjoy reading. But once again, it's not a complete Christmas comic book as I would like.

    Worth Consuming.

    Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Wolff & Byrd: Counselors of the Macabre (AKA: The Red Book)

My personal copy of the 'Red Book."

  Earlier this year, I entered the realm of crowdfunding. I noticed on a website that artist/ writer Batton Lash was in need of funds to get his latest collection of Supernatural Law comics published. So, I headed over to Kickstarter and made a pledge based on the reward I wanted should Lash's latest project become fully funded.
    Instead of asking for an autographed copy of A Vampire in Hollywood, the book Batton Lash was able to get completely funded, I went for a more obscure reward: this book that I am reviewing now. 
    Known as the 'Red Book' because of it's scarlet cover, this volume is Lash's first ever collection of his earliest comic strips to feature Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd; the Counselors of the Macabre. (Interesting side bit, Wolff and Byrd don't even appear in the first two strips! Published in 1987 by Andrion Books, this book has been out of print for decades. Figuring I had a better chance of obtaining a copy of A Vampire in Hollywood than finding a rare book that even Amazon doesn't have in their data base, I choose this as my prize. 
    The 'Red Book' contains adventures including a vampire dentist, a woman seeking divorce because her pushy husband is causing her to disappear, and a trip to London to defend a gentleman werewolf. Along the way, you also get to relive the college years origin of how the two supernatural lawyers met. Rounding out the book was a Christmas themed parody of that Dickens classic, which I waited to read until last in order to be more in the holiday spirit. 
    For being essentially the pilot episode for Supernatural Law, this collection wasn't bad. In his early years, Lash would use up to 8 panels in a comic strip and in this reprinted form, the reading was really tiny. (I could only read a couple of pages at a time before I started to get a headache.) But as an added bonus, even though it wasn't specified on the Kickstarter agreement, my copy was even autographed by Lash himself! 
     A treasured treasury that is hard to find but worth the search.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Honeymooners #3

Somewhere around 1986-1990, right before the rise of the Internet, fan clubs stopped publishing newsletters and got into the comic book industry. These books would feature original stories, articles with surviving cast and crew members, and ads for fan-made books and other merch. With an Art Carney interview and an ad for a Honeymooners book made by the founder of the Jackie Gleason fan club, this Christmas-themed issue was one such example. How else could you explain a 1987 comic book about a 1955 TV show? 

 The book, like the classic series, follows the Kramdens (Ralph & Alice) and the Nortons (Ed & Trixie), as they struggle to make ends meet in the Big Apple. Here, Alice has been dropping hints for a new dress for Christmas. A dress that costs $200! (Which in 1987's dollars would be about $827 according to saving.org!) 

   Not wanting to disappoint his beloved, Ralph seeks to get the dress by investing his Christmas bonus on a Christmas tree venture with an old friend. Alice sees this as another one of her husband's get rich quick schemes and a fight ensues. In disgust, the couple wishes that they had never met. Key the 'It's a Wonderful Life' homage...  But there's a twist- fate keeps bringing the two together and the comic's artist and writer can't figure out how! 

    This issue was interesting. I liked the story and it seem very original despite the oft-used holiday plot device. The art was quite good, but the printing was terrible. 

   The bottom third of the page looked like the images were double exposed. I think if this series wasn't a labor of love between a select few Honeymooners fans, they probably could've afforded to not allow a massive print error like this to be released. But I've never heard of Triad Publications and I'm sure for a tiny publisher like them, money was an object. 

   Originally, 24 issues of the Honeymooners was planned but only 12 were released. Sales must have been dismal. Oddly enough, I've only ever found this issue in bargain bins on multiple occasions. And believe me, the bargain bins abound with these type of comics and while they aren't of the best quality they aren't horrible reads.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

 
  

Silverblade #1

  Jonathan Lord had it all- good looks, a lucrative movie career, ladies, fame, and fortune. Bad decisions, vices, and age have caused Jonathan to loose just about everything except his mansion Shangri-la and a modest nest egg, thanks to his most famous role the Silver Blade, which is due to be a blockbuster at movie theatres next summer. Now, a virtual recluse, Lord stays in his private screening room, watching his younger self on screen over and over.

    Jonathan's butler Bobby Milestone, is a former child actor who starred in the Silver Blade with Jonathan. Unable to find work, Milestone ended up becoming Jonathan's butler. As a hobby, Milestone collects replicas of the Maltese Falcon which he finds at memorabilia shops around Hollywood. Looking to rob Shangri-la for a big pay day and possible snuff out Lord on the side, Milstone's collection is destroyed by a pair of thugs. 

   Yet, when one of his newest acquisitions that winds up being the actual Maltese Falcon, breaks on impact, the former movie legend is blessed with magical powers of a all-consuming flame that bathes Jonathan. Now with the ability to become any of the characters he portrayed on screen and suddenly 40 years younger, what will Jonathan Lord do with his new lease on life?

    I had seen ads for this maxi-series from 1987-88 since I started collecting comics again in 2007. But it wasn't until a year ago that I finally found several of these issues at a comic book store in Asheville. It took a few more months but I finally completed this collection and was ready to read it and then I got busy reading other stuff. That was until I came across an ad in an old issue of something from DC and it sparked my interest to give this series a go.

    The first chapter starts off slow. But I assume that will 11 more issues, the build-up in introducing the major players was sorely needed. Once the robbers attack Lord's compound, the story, written by Cary Bates (Justice League of America, Superman), really took off. Next thing I know it, the story says 'to be continued' and I've reached the back cover. 

   The art team behind this series is an all-star group of some of the best talents in DC Comics history. Gene Colan, Joe Orlando, Anthony Tollin, and Klaus Johnson are just a handful of the talented artists that worked on this series. Oh, if only this was the 90s and I could've gotten this issue signed. Man, that would've been a treasure.

   Not bad for an opening chapter. It shows promise. I just expect a lot more in issue #2.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.