Thor: The Trials of Loki

If you write a graphic novel that makes you sympathetic for Loki, the Norse god of Mischief, I think you've got a problem. He's basically the Devil. So to finish this story and feel sorry for him either means that the author was a master in their writing or we've fallen as a society to the point that we take the side of the fallen angels. Or maybe both...

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa pens a Marvel miniseries that is very much set in the Earth-616 universe without being about superheroes. Blending Norse myth and Marvel Comics tweaks to the characters of Odin, Thor and the rest, you learn about the complicated character of Loki. The trickster is a god without a mythical realm. His Frost Giant father Laufey rejected him. His adopted father Odin prefers sons Thor and Balder over Loki. So it's no wonder that he unleashes trouble and deception upon everyone. Often with malicious intent.

It doesn't help that Loki is also foretold to usher forth Ragnarok; the end of all things.

So the ultimate question about Loki is such: does Loki intend to be evil or is it something beyond his control? This whole concept of the predestination of Loki's role in the fall of Asgard is a debate that any old school Calvinists would relish. Can Loki be to blame for the mischief he makes if he lacks free will?

The artwork is a varied mix of styles. Some pages look illustrated in the Marvel way. Others appear like they were ripped from ancient cave paintings and medieval texts. Some of that variety is due to this series being crafted by a quarter of artists and inkers. Sebastián Fiumara was the primary illustrator with Michael Lacombe the main inker. Al Barrionuevo and Álvaro López bringing the fourth and final segment to life.

This hard cover edition from 2011 is titled Thor: The Trials of Loki. However, if you own the 4-issue miniseries Loki from 2010-2011, you won't need to buy the hard cover collection. Why does Marvel repackage so many of their titles and series under different names? It's maddening! No wonder I get confused sometimes when I update my wish list or my collection database. I'm sure DC is guilty of this as well. I just don't notice their renaming issues as much.

I love the story. Really engaging. Norse mythology has always been my favorite of the ancient lores of the world. This is a very myth heavy story that makes you think. But as much of a fan of this work, I'm going trade it in for something else that I would much rather have as a part of my permanent collection, taking up a part of my limited shelf space.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

What If? Dark Avengers

I really think What If?, the alternate reality series from Marvel Comics, works better the more you're familiar with the subject content. There are 6 issues reprinted in this collection. Of those 6, the stories I liked the most was a switcheroo in which Tony Stark becomes the roommate of the dreaded Victor Von Doom instead of Reed Richards and a bloody romp in which Deadpool becomes the host of the symbiote Venom. Stories involving Spider-Man succumbing to some weird spider curse and Norman Osborn's reign of terror that comes about with the leader of SWORD conquering Asgard were my least favorite stories because I haven't read Grim Hunt or Reign. (Okay- who am I kidding, the Spider-Man: Grim Hunt one-shot was hot garbage.)

The remaining 2 stories were fair reads. Mostly because I am quite familiar with the characters and have a passing knowledge of the original stories. Wolverine: Father explores what would happen if Logan raised his illegitimate son Daken. This wasn't a story based on an established story. Instead, this truly was a What If? story that explores the conflict of nature vs. nurture. Tale #6 has Hawkeye succeeding in killing Norman Osborn preventing the madman from taking over the super-spy agency SHIELD and preventing the Dark Reign of super heroes from happening. This story was a thrilling manhunt as the superheroing world has to undo the damage Clint Barton caused and that means having to take down one of their own!

I want to own all of the What If? stories. But cost is something that is keeping me from owning some of those stories as individual first run issues. Thank goodness for collections such as these. That Deadpool/Venom issue is not cheap. I think the most affordable copies I have seen are being listed for $200 each. I got this traced paperback used for less than $10. I'll take affordability over authenticity any day!

This volume reprints what is considered the 200th overall What If issue printed over the Marvel properties vast print runs since it first debuted in 1977. That anniversary issue has a bunch of cool extras like a story that ponders what if the Watcher killed Galactus?, a reprint of a Daredevil story from the first series and overview of all 200 issues published from 1977-2011 (when this collection was first print). That database was actually a big help with some missing gaps in my collection.

I would assume that the quality of 5 of the 6 stories was really good. I just wasn't familiar with everything in order to get the most enjoyment of this read. That's okay. I saved a ton of cash on that Deadpool story. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

ToteMan: You Are Not Alone (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

ToteMan is the creation of Durham, NC area copier repairman turned comic book writer John McLaren. McLaren was diagnosed with epilepsy as a teen, though his family now suspects that John had a mild form of the condition all his life. Seeking a way to explain his brain disorder to his son, McLaren wrote a comic book script. 

In the story of ToteMan, the superhero battled bank robbing androids while in costume and rush hour traffic in his civilian secret identity. In between, ToteMan was ever vigilante to help kids who suffered an unexpected seizure brought on by epilepsy!

John McLaren created the character back in 2002. After writing the script on his honeymoon, where he ended up having 2 seizures, John tested the script out with some positive reviews from readers who either had epilepsy or personally knew someone with the disorder. 

Up next was to find the right illustrator for the job, the graphic artist and musician, Rickman.  After a lot of begging and a cleared up schedule, McLaren and Rickman got to work on at least 1 comic, ToteMan: You Are Not Alone.

ToteMan first saw print in 2009. Later teaming with the National Walk for Epilepsy and the Epilepsy Foundation, a Special Collector's Edition was published. For a few years, John McLaren was a staple of the Central North Carolina Triangle area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) with ToteMan appearing at a number of Free Comic Book day events. A second comic was in the works and a GoFundMe type project was set to be pitched. And then COVID hit. Though there is tons of evidence of new character designs for the second book on Facebook. No further project posts have been made since 2021. 

It's anybody's guess if ToteMan will return to fight crime and end the stigma against epilepsy some day.

This edition includes a list of steps to take if someone has a seizure, myths debunked about epilepsy, a set of trading cards and a list of famous people who are epileptics. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #10 ( About Health/Wellness) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. 

Captain America: The Korvac Saga (Family Comic Friday)

It's confession time. I've never read the entire Korvac Saga. I've read the first few issues of what is considered the prelude. When I was reading the original Guardians of the Galaxy Omnibus, I read the issues of The Avengers that guest-starred Yondru, Charlie-27 and Vance Astro. I had every intention to read the rest of the story. But I got to reading something else and next thing I know 7 years have passed. 

Recently, I found this book. A little big bigger than a digest, this volume reprints the 4-issue miniseries of the same name from 2011. This version of the Korvac Saga takes place quite early in the revived career of Captain America. A born military leader, Cap is butting heads with Iron Man over leadership of the team. Iron Man is more used to going with his gut on making a plan. For Captain America, everything is a chess game in a strategic plan of attack. 

As the story is opening up, the Avengers are getting their butts handed to them by a bunch of C-listers like Quasimodo and the Living Laser. Thanks to mostly sheer luck, the Avengers discover that these underdog villains had their powers and armor upgraded by a supposedly random nobody hacker named Michael Korvac. The capture of Korvac feels too easy to Cap. So he goes to the local jail in hopes of getting some answers. Instead, Captain America is meet by a group of super-powered mystery men who claim to be a sort of intergalactic police force from the year 3000 and they want Korvac back immediately! 

Then everything goes wonky...

Now Steve Rogers finds himself thrust into future. Kovac has revealed himself to be an insane android. And did we mention Korvac has taken control of future Galactus' warship? Threatening to destroy the entire universe, Cap must team with these Guardians of the Galaxy by storming the TAA II and claim the ultimate nulifier in order to stop an ultimate evil!

Captain America: The Korvac Saga was a fun read. But it was rated A for All Ages. Based on the fact that the original Korvac Saga was Comics Code Approved, it was all ages too. Technically. So why did we need a reboot? Was this an attempt by Marvel to garner interest in Captain America in younger readers in anticipation for 2011's The First Avenger? If so, why use the Guardians? 

And don't say that this book was designed to boost the Guardians in the eyes of young readers! Their movie wasn't for another 4 years. Plus, this isn't even the Star Lord, Groot and Rocket Raccoon version the team we're dealing with! And with Sony owning rights to Galactus and considering how obscure Korvac is to the casual Marvel reader, this miniseries being rated All Ages just doesn't make sense to me.

Don't get me wrong. This was an exciting book. Justice League Unlimited's Ben McCool's story is modern with a nostalgic touch. Craig Rousseau's (Marvel Her-oes) art and inks are dynamic. But the dialogue is terse, the vocabulary is too advanced and the lines are too thin for an All Ages read. I'd say this was more of a 11 and up type read. Maybe go 12 or 13. I know that kids read and differing levels. But I can't see a 4 year old reading this.

Featuring Avengers #167, the opening salvo of the original Korvac storyline, this is a volume older readers will probably enjoy more than the kiddies. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The Big Lie #1

I read this book a few days ago and I still am not sure how I feel about it. 

For one thing, this 9/11 conspiracy theory comic book is something that I am quite surprised was ever made by Image Comics. Most, if not all comic book publishers are considered to be quite liberal. And while some of the 9/11 theories do attack the Bush family for giving the family of Osama bin Laden a sort of free pass as well as the scuttlebutt on whether W's administration knew of the attack or not; generally those who believe in such a cover-up are considered firmly right wingers.

A big fan of the X-Files, my wife found me this 2011 book at a warehouse sale. Gotta love her. She thinks I come up with some weird, wild theories. And yet, she still indulges me.

See, a local comic shop was trying to clear out some inventory for a steal. I think I might have paid a quarter for it. The cover, which bears a very angry Uncle Sam over the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center is quite powerful. The story inside. Eh, not quite so much?

Instead of being a book that covers just the facts, writer/artist Rick Veitch (Swamp Thing) frames his argument for a 9/11 conspiracy around a sci-fi premise that is almost as old as science fiction itself. A time traveler arrives at the World Trade Center on the morning of the attack. Her plan is to convince her husband to leave, thus saving his life. 

The husband works for a movie production company. Being in league with Spielberg and Lucas, the producer and his cohorts are highly skeptical of the woman. When warnings don't seem to motivate anyone to leave, the time traveler starts spouting out facts about that fateful day along with arguments about a conspiracy. 

See, I think the woman went about it all wrong. She should have proved that she was from the future. I know that Rick Veitch wanted to try to convince us the readers of a conspiracy as being behind the 9/11 attacks. But I think he didn't connect via his storytelling method. 

What Veitch should have done was to actually set this up like an X-Files episode. Have a couple of folks in a smoky office going over the facts and all of the discrepancies and such. I don't think have fictional characters to move the narrative forward would have been a bad idea. I just think that using time travel and the amount of ridicule and mockery the traveler goes through cheapens the impact of both the possibility of conspiracy and reality of a national tragedy.

An interesting read about a subject that I didn't know as much as I thought i did. It just wasn't executed very well to make me into a believer.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars. 

FF #1

With the death of Johnny “Human Torch” Storm, the Fantastic Four add Spider-man to their ranks and become the Future Foundation. For some reason, the team has picked up about a dozen kids from various species as well as added Dragon Man and Reed’s dad as allies.

The series feels a little like the Fantastic Four meet the Brady Bunch from Outer Space.

Despite this, it’s a really interesting read that was a quick read. Too quick, if you ask me. The cliffhanger left me wanting more. FF is now on my wish list.

WORTH CONSUMING! 

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity (Family Comic Friday)

 

  Today's selection for Family Comic Friday is an all-ages graphic novel called Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity. This 2011 book by Dave Roman is the first of a series that explores the adventures of the diverse student body at Astronaut Academy. The main character is Hakata Soy, a former leader of a super-team, whose just transferred to the academy. Yet this book is really a who's who of the attendees of the space station school. 
        Most of the students and teachers are perplexed by the new student. Some want to be friends with Hakata, others are destined to be enemies. But everyone wants to know why he's not as cool as he used to be. (Hakata is actually on the run from enemies he ran afoul of and is trying to lay low.)
      Astronaut Academy reminds me of a series of books from the 80s called Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Each chapter focuses on one character and their perspectives and interactions with others. Each segment can be read alone as it's own story or together as a thrilling novel about bravery and friendship.
        This book started off really strange. The flow just felt all wrong for some reason. Some of this is because the first 2-3 segments are framed like TV-commercials for the academy. But it's not until we meet the character of Hiro does things really seem to gel.
       Hiro loves to space walk. He is so fond of it, he always wears his space suit. Often he sneaks out of class to play hooky by floating in space. Honestly, his static look at life makes him the star of this book.
       Once characters like Hiro kept popping back up into the story, I felt like we had a winner on our hands. The art is a little crude but the overall story is enjoyable once a solid continuity was created. If your child enjoys books on life at a strange schools like Wayside or the Jedi Academy series, Astronaut Academy would be another fun place for youngsters to tour. 
        Only 1 other book (AA: Re-Entry) has been published in this series by the versatile Roman. It make take about 30 pages to really hit it's stride, but this series is worth sticking around with. This book by First: Second is lots of fun to read. It would make an ideal summer reader!
  
     Worth Consuming!

      Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars.
      

Princeless: Tales of Girls Who Rock! (Family Comic Friday)

Today's Family Comic Friday selection is a one-shot from a series that I know somewhat personally.

  The series is called Princeless and it's been hailed as the type of Princess story that Disney should have been telling all along. It's the story of an independent young woman named Adrienne. When she turns sixteen, her father locks her in a tower guarded by a dragon so that one day her Prince Charming will come and make her his bride. But Princess Adrienne craves adventure and along with the royal blacksmith’s half-dwarf daughter and the dragon, the three set out to free Adrienne's six other sisters held in towers their own of throughout the kingdom. Tales of Girls Who Rock! is a one-shot that focuses on some of the other fiercely independent young ladies that Princess Adrienne and here companions have crossed paths with in the past.

This one-shot is a fairly good starting point for new readers. You're not really expected to know much about the storyline beforehand and each short story is framed as independent from the various Princeless miniseries. However, some parts of these stories feels a little choppy to me, so I wonder if the book is like a primer full of condensed segments of the (so far) five or six miniseries under the Princeless banner.

    This is actually the first Princeless comic that I have ever read. But it's not my first experience with the series. Back in 2011 at a local comic book store, I actually meet not only series creator Jeremy Whitley, but the real life inspiration for Princess Adrienne, his then fiance-cum-wife, Alicia! I was just starting out the reading program charity at my wife's clinic and was so desperate for comics for girls that I bought six issues on the spot. Five went to the readers and one, which I got autographed, went into my collection.

 I had kinda forgot about Princeless for a while until about a year ago when I learned that the series had become a multiple award winner of the 2012 Glyph Awards for Story of the Year and Best Writer along with a couple of Eisner nods. A friend of mine also told me that my first issue, autographed and mint is probably worth a hundred bucks (ungraded), so I have left the book virtually untouched. So Princeless stayed shelved until I came across this book in a grab bag a few weeks ago.

   Don't make this mistake I did. Grab some issues or collected editions for the aspiring comic book collector in your family. A great series that girls and boys 7-14 will enjoy. But there is one thing parents should be aware of- the ads in the back of the book. There's at least 2 ads that tells of other comics published by Action Lab and not every title is appropriate for all ages like this one. The titles Molly Danger and NFL Rush Zone are kid friendly but you'll want to steer clear of the series Fracture and Jack Hammer until the middle or high school years.

  Worth Consuming.

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Flash #9 (The Road to Flashpoint, Part I)

  It's the day of the Flash Family picnic and Barry Allen is about to leave his overworked crime lab when he gets the call to investigate the death of a 'cape.' At the crime scene, things are nothing as they seem as the costume is that of the teenaged Elongated Kid but the corpse looks like that of an octogenarian. As Barry seeks to get behind this bizarre death, the crimefighter is challenged by a new foe that seems very familiar with the Speed Force. Only this speedster drives a souped-up motorcycle and is powered by draining the speed of others in tune with the Speed Force as the Flash learns when he touches his opponent's fuel rods.

    This is a really great issue. Full of drama, action, adventure, and mystery. Okay- there was a tiny bit too much soap opera drama but hey, Grant Gustin's Barry Allen gets mopey all the time! Speaking of Gustin, what I really liked about this issue is how closely the set-up is to that of the TV show. 

   When I first starting watching the Flash, I was disappointed at how it looked nothing like the comics. But I realize now that my judgment was based on the Pre-Crisis Flash and not the Post-Rebirth Flash. Man, I was so wrong. Most of the CW show's premise is the same with this 2011 series. Barry's mother was killed by the Reverse Flash. There's a fellow criminologist named Patty who has a thing for Barry. Even the archetypes for Joe West and Captain Singh are in this book (Barry's crime lab supervisor is named Singh. On the show, he's promoted to the  head of the CCPD precinct where Joe and Barry work.) Sadly, there is no Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, or whoever the heck the awesome Tom Cavanagh happens to be playing this week.

      Going into this Flashpoint summer reading, I was expecting to find a world completely unlike that on the live action series. How wrong was I to discover that the comics are much more in tuned with the Arrowverse's Flash that I ever expected! I can't wait for the next chapter!

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.  

Inspector Gadget #1 (2011 Free Comic Book Day)

   

 Inspector Gadget, his niece Penny, and their dog Brain are on the case! This time, they are to travel on the famed Orient Express in order to save a reclusive professor from the clutches of Doctor KLAW and his evil men. Of course, Gadget gets himself nearly killed (a lot) and he thinks that Brain in disguise is really the bad guy (often)- oh, and did I forget to mention the exploding message from the chief??? 

    This book had all of the makings of a classic Inspector Gadget episode and I hated it. Don't get me wrong, when I was in kindergarten, I was all over Inspector Gadget. I had the books, the action figures, the giant-sized Gadget. Yet, for some reason the stilted animation, the repetitive plot devices, and the fact that Gadget is really a robot or android at best has over the years turned me off to this franchise.

   Another thing about Gadget is that I am convinced that Penny was really the super secret agent and that Brain and Gadget were a ruse to throw KLAW off of Penny's scent. Sure, Penny got caught sometimes, but I think KLAW believed she was nothing more than a nuisance girl- mere bait to ensnare his Inspector foe. Oddly enough, there're quite a few fans on the net who agree with my conspiracy theory about Inspector Gadget. Maybe I'm on to something...

   Also, in this Free Comic Book Day offering from 2011 is a preview of a title called Johnny Test. It was a forgettable little tale about an average school boy whose completion of his homework will one day save the world. The art looked like it was drawn on a Commodore 64 and the plot seemed to borrow heavily from Dexter's Lab, Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius, and Phineas and Ferb.

   The biggest thing that upset me about this comic book was that both stories end with a cliffhanger that requires the reader to go out and buy another title to get the ending. I can understand why DC and Marvel do it as these Free Comic Book Day offerings lead to a monthly title. But for kids, who may live in families with tight budgets, having a free book require you to purchase the ending, might be a goal unattainable. Yes, I know companies want to attract new customers but a cliffhanger just doesn't seem the smart way to do it.

  Not Worth Consuming!

   Rating 4 out of 10 stars.

Archie Christmas Classics

  

What with the Force Awakens coming out next week and working, working, working... (I'm a chef, so this IS my busy season) I am a little behind on my Christmas-theme readings. But I started it out with a massive bang!

   Archie Christmas Classics is a giant 192-page time capsule of holiday themed Archie Comics from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. There aren't just Christmas stories in this book but holiday pin-ups pages, pages to color, and a bonus 2-page prose story from the 1940s. 

   I read a ton of Archie Comics as a kid. I've also read a lot of Christmas Archie stuff since comic back to collecting in 2007. So, it's a wonder that there was only 1 story in this collection that I've ever read before. I'm so used to getting a treasury that's filled with, if I'm lucky, about 50% of things I've already consumed before. Not the case here. And there was only one story didn't I wasn't much of a fan of and that was because it included some renegade Santa's helper elf character that everyone seemed to know (but me!)

   Published in 2011, this is a very fun and entertaining collection of stories that include just about every one of your favorite Archie characters, holiday cheer, magic, and the Christmas spirit. Worth every penny I paid for it!

   Worth Consuming!

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1Q (Happy Halloween Edition)

   

  In 2011, IDW Publishing obtained the rights to publish the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after Archie Comics commanded the franchise for almost 2 decades. With IDW's new series, co-creator Kevin Eastman retooled the turtles origin for a modern audience. 

    In the first issue, we learn that the turtles and their adoptive father, the rat Splinter, were lab subjects at Baxter Stockman's laboratory. Genetically spliced, they showed signs of intelligence. But at this point, they've not mutated yet. Also, the alien brain creature of Kang is now retooled as a human general, who has a goal to create an army of hybrid super soldiers, has hired out Stockman's company which houses one-day mutant animals.

   Another big change to the origin of the Turtles is that April O'Neill isn't an intrepid reporter but an intern at Stockman's lab. Also, she named the turtles after Renaissance artists and not master Splinter! 

    This first issue wasn't bad, but it left me with more questions than answers. The story ended with a 'to be continued' and that's probably not a bad thing since the turtles have yet to become the radical sewer dwelling Heroes in a Half-Shell. So, the origin continues in future issues, which I don't happen to own currently.

    The art by Dan Duncan, along with coloring by Ronda Pattison were very good. They emulated the early works of Eastman. As a bridging of generations, Eastman even pencilled several of the covers, including this one. 

   Speaking of covers, my copy says in the top left corner 'Happy Halloween.' However, there is nothing Halloween themed in this story. For someone trying to collect holiday tales, this is a disappointment. (It turns out that while issue #1Q was re-released for 2011's Halloween ComicFest as a giveaway, it wasn't Halloween themed. Nor does it seem intended that way)

It's not bad for a TMNT fan such as myself. But I am a purist of the original Eastman and Laird title (and a fan of the cartoon, which the Archie Comics titles were based on.) So, I will probably stick with collecting those.  But I wouldn't be opposed to picking up a trade of this continuing series for the right price.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Feynman

   It seems like everywhere I go right now, Richard Feynman is there. From a factual account of the Oppenheimer's involvement in the Manhattan Project (Fallout) to Jonathan Hickman's alternate history of the program in the pages of the Image series of the same name to an article about the strange quirks of famous people on Cracked.com; I just keeping running into Feynman. Why, even his van achieved some notoriety when it appeared on an episode of the Big Bag Theory a couple of weeks ago. It seems that the noted mathematician and physicist has achieved that rare rock star status of Einstein or Hawking in which they are more than science royalty but pop culture icons!

   From my recent readings, including this graphic novel by Jim Ottaviani (who also wrote Fallout) and Leland Myrick, Feynman has become my personal favorite genius (he's also Sheldon's on Big Bang Theory.) Feynman is very down to earth and while he looks at the mysteries of the universe with an analytical mind, he's not opposed to the idea of a creator nor does he claim to know or even understand all of the puzzles of science. 

   From Feynman's odd hobby of picking locks while at Los Alamos to his attempts to join a Carnival krewe in Brazil, it didn't matter if the subject was trivial or not, as long as his continuing self-education exercised his mind it was a subject worth studying for the Nobel Prize winner. This book maps just about every step of Feynman's life, but it's not in linear order. Just as his autobiographies rambled out of sync with his personal timeline, this graphic novel jumps from time period to time period. Thankfully, unlike Hickman's 'Manhattan Projects', Ottaviani and Myrick are keen to inform the reader of the year in which events unfold.

    While I enjoyed the heck out of this book, it was not an easy read. But that's okay. Complexity doesn't have to equal enjoyment. In at least 2 sections of this book, Ottaviani and Myrick place Feynman behind a lectern as his attempts to explain to the reader his award-winning theory on QED. It has something to do with how light particles reflect off of a surface but not at the same time or in the same fashion every time. (Please, don't ask me to explain more because I would be doing a terrible disservice to both the genius behind the theory and to you my loyal blog readers.)

    Even though understanding his groundbreaking theories were not easy for me to accomplish, I am in no way turned off by Richard Feynman or his work. In fact, the author posted an extensive assortment of suggested readings on Feynman that have inspired me to pick up a few in the coming new year. I am particularly interested in his mostly autobiographical works 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' and 'What Do You Care What Other People Think?'

    Feynman is an interesting read that like the physicist himself, challenges the reader to think, expand, and grow with every life experience. Don't be intimidated by scientific jargon in this 2011 work because even the late physicist's didn't have all the answers either. Look at this as a doorway to world of new ideas and when someone says to you that graphic novels are kids stuff, show them one of Feynman's formulas and ask them if they think a 5-year old could solve it or not? 

   Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Holiday Special 2011

Not the best effort by Marvel.

The first story is supposed to be a Spider-Man tale, but he’s merely a bit player in the story and has no lines. The main character is a female villain that I’ve never encountered and it made the story a little hard to follow; much less care for.

The next tale involves Wolverine and his merry bunch of students at Jean Grey School for Gifted Mutants. It’s a lighthearted tale where Wolverine teaches leadership by hosting a hockey game. Not much holiday here, but it’s a fun story.

The third tale has the real Nick Fury invading a Hydra base on Christmas Eve. The art is fantastic and I hope one day Marvel will issue a follow up, because I really want to know what happens next.

Lastly, is a Hanukkah tale starring The Thing and every Jewish super hero in the Marvel U.
I didn’t know there were that many. I actually felt a little bad for the bad guy in this tale because he was just trying to help out some needy kids. Thankfully, he was invited to Chinese food with the rest of the Jewish characters at the end of that tale. I would have be sad if they didn’t.

Again, okay tales. I’m not really a current Marvel guy, so I probably missed lots of little details, in-jokes, etc. I mean, I didn’t know who the villain was in story 1, didn’t I? Marvel went the way of DC and Scrooged us with no holiday special this year. Hopefully, that’ll

change real soon.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who Annual #1 (2011)

This annual contains 4 stories featuring the 11th doctor and his companions Amy and Rory Pond. I love the Escher-type cover. It fits the story of the doctor landing on a planet that’s so topsy-turvy that up is not only down but left, right, and sideways. Then Rory becomes the King of England while Amy leads an alien revolt and the Doctor is imprisoned by a Napoleon wannabe. Lastly, the Doctor takes on a 4th companion, a robot T-Rex named Kevin. The interactions of Kevin with the gang over the course of a week is hilarious and it leads to the final tale in which a space station is having some trouble with immigration. However, to read the story's conclusion, you have to read it in an issue of Doctor Who’s monthly IDW publication.

Normally, that ticks me off, but thankfully, I have this issue already and so I’ll follow up soon. Hopefully.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.