Grubbs Halloween Spooktacular #1

Billy Watson goes by the unwanted nickname of Grubbs. But that's not what worries him at the moment. He's got his neighborhood Halloween plans all figured out. Now he's just got to find a way to ditch the rest of his group in order to maximize his candy earning potential. But when he faces the neighborhood bullies, who want to steal his hard-earned treats, Grubbs learns that it might not be a bad idea to have a partner!

Grubbs is created by Max Weaver and is partially based on his personal childhood experiences. His older brother gave him the nickname of 'Grubbs' because of how Max reminded his sibling of a grub worm. So I'm wondering if Billy Watson's ability to get into mischief might also be based on past experiences.

Grubbs is like Dennis the Menace without the snarky back talk. He's also a diabolical genius like Bart Simpson without the PG-13 attitude. And if Grubbs reminds you of Calvin from the Bill Watterson comic strip classic, it's all because of the artwork!

Max Weaver's illustrations are what I expect Calvin to look like if he was allowed to age past his eternal 6 years appearance and mentality. Grubbs is only 8 but I would have placed him at 10 or 12, especially with how he gives his older sister's new boyfriend the run around in the second, non-holiday backup story. And yet, I really didn't feel like Grubbs was all that devious behind the hi-jinx. 

This 2021 read was a ton of fun. But since it's not a book that is readily available to the public, I hesitate to make this a Family Comic Friday offering. Amazon offers a digital copy on its Kindle system. But I'm a fan of print. I don't care how affordable it is; nothing beats the experience of holding a book: smelling it, flipping of the pages, being enclosed by the intimacy of the 90 degree angled corner made when you open it for a good read. If you have kids that love Halloween or you're just a kid at heart and you can find this book in the wild somehow, you really should get it. Both stories were great reads. So good that I wasn't even disappointed that the second tale wasn't even Halloween themed.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Eternals

Thanks to my having DISH Network and the FX channel, I finally saw Eternals. Of the post-Stan and Jack Marvel projects created by Jack Kirby, it's the one I know least about. I'm more of a New Gods person. Coming out during the height of the pandemic in 2021 and my god son not having very much interest in seeing it, I bided my time waiting for it to come out in an affordable format. 

Eternals isn't really a Marvel movie that you have to watch or else you risk losing your place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. If anything, it helps to explain how Earth has legends such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and Icarus with his flying too close to the sun. Turns out it's all connected to the Eternals.

The Eternals are a group of powerful humanoid beings who are tasked by the mighty god-like Celestials to assist planets with their development. The Eternals have a monstrous counterpart called the Deviants that prey on humanity, preventing the natural evolution of things. Throughout the ages, the Eternals become the stuff of legend by the civilizations they save to the point of becoming the inspiration for the Greek gods as they claim to be from the planet 'Olympia'. 

Around the 1500s, the Eternals wipe out the last of the Deviants in Central America. With their mission seemingly complete, the Celestials haven't retrieved the Eternals back to Olympia yet. With nothing to do but wait, the group fractures into smaller cliques, assisting humanity until the the day they are called home. Now it's 2021 and when a pair of Eternals named Sersi and Sprite are attacked on the streets of London by a Deviant welding  encountered powers and abilities, they must reunite to end the Deviant menace once and forever if they ever want to return to Olympia.

Eternals is one of the lowest grossing and lowest rated of the Marvel live action films. One complaint I remember hearing was that it was a 'woke' movie. True, it's got a multi-ethnic cast that puts Sesame Street to shame. But I didn't feel like this was a movie that was preaching at me. I did however feel like it was a picture that was just way too long.

With a run time of over 2 and a half hours, it would be okay if it was action packed. But you've got 9 characters having to rediscover one another. Each time a new Eternal is introduced, you get an exciting introduction. And then you get about 20 minutes of each character lamenting how hard it is to be immortal. There is also a lot of melodrama with the Eternals struggling to accept the new reality they all face when it's revealed that the Celestials are not really whom they have seemed to be for millennia.

If you were to trim about a half hour of the repetitive speeches, you'd have yourself a fine little picture. I was excited to watch a Marvel movie that I knew very little backstory. I just wish it was a bit more faster paste. There's a lot of time jumps with flashback scenes lasting 15-20 minutes each. Plus not having any established Marvel characters involved makes for this movie to have a really odd pace to it.

But to finally see Jack Kirby get the solo credit he deserves for this film was long due in coming. Too bad there wasn't a tribute scene of a photo of him somewhere in the background. But at least, Stan Lee didn't steal the limelight from the King.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

In the bonus scene at the end of the first Venom movie, fans were teased with the special appearance of Cletus Kasady; a deranged serial killer who would one day fuse with the spawn of the symbiote dwelling in Eddie Brock. The fusion would result in the deadly Carnage, whose red body is 10 times more powerful than that of the black alien being, Venom.

In this sequel from 2021, Venom and Eddie Brock are on the outs. Eddie is tired of being bonded to an alien creature that craves human brains. It hasn't been all bad, as Venom has helped Eddie regain some of the prestige he lost when his life spiraled out of control resulting in losing his investigative reporting job and girlfriend at the same time. Venom is growing bored with a diet of chocolate and raw chicken. But above all else, Venom wants to be appreciated for the ways he's changed Eddie's life for the better, despite a very schizophrenic living arrangement that puts Brock just a bit on edge. It all comes to a head when Venom takes off in search of a new host.

Eddie thinks that his life is finally getting back to normal. Maybe he'll even reconcile with his ex, Anne. However, it seems that Eddie and Venom are destined for each other once again when Kasady escapes from death row, bonded to Venom's DNA as the rampaging Carnage, and threatening to kill Anne unless Venom and Eddie sacrifice themselves to him!

Cletus Kasady/Carnage were the big draws for fans to hit the theaters. I admit, I was thrilled about the prospect when Woody Harrelson popped up on screen in the first film. But really what made this such an entertaining movie was the dialogue between Eddie Brock and Venom. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I learned that Venom was voiced not by Jai Michael White or Khary Payton but Eddie Brock himself, Tom Hardy! When a single actor plays 2 roles on screen at the same time, there's always a time lag that ruins the illusion. Yet, here, they've managed to make it work so seamlessly. And the two characters are written so well. I'd subscribe to a podcast of just Brock and Venom going back and forth at it. They're so hysterical together.

Another plus for the sequel is the director. CGI and blue screen icon Andy Serkis. I for one applaud his efforts. Finally, they're was a comic book movie that didn't use slo-mo during the action scenes. Plus, Serkis really seemed to understand the whole dual nature of both Venom and Carnage with their subsequent hosts. Which makes sense considering the troubled nature of Serkis' most iconic starring roll: Gollum/Smeagol!

Take out the credits, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is 90 minutes of fun. It's also got a heavy true crime vibe to it as Brock tries to uncover where Cletus Kasady hid the bodies of all his victims during his murder spree. Really, it we could have just had Eddie and Venom kicking the crap out of each other and the crime angle, I would have been just fine with it as the movie. Harrelson's character actually was lessened when he fuses into Carnage. 

That's right: I could have done without the Carnage. I'd be a bigger fan of this movie without Kasady becoming Carnage. Though I doubt very many audiences would have shown up for Venom: Let There Be Cletus. 

There remains 1 more Venom film. I honestly can't believe that Let There Be Carnage came out in 2021. I could have sworn this film was from 2023. I didn't go to a lot of comic book films during the height of COVID and in a way I'm glad. So many haven't been all that great. With ticket prices being so freaking expensive, I'd rather wait a while and see it later on for free. I think I would have hated this movie if I paid $12 to see it in the theater. Besides, I obviously didn't wait that long to see it, since I thought it only came out about 18 months ago.

Worth Consuming!

Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

Joker: One Operation Joker, Vol. 1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After falling into a similar vat of chemicals that changed the Joker into the madman he is today, Batman reverts into the form of a baby. The Clown Prince of Crime is tempted to just kill the child but he sees a greater chance at revenge by becoming the tyke's father and raising him as his son. The Joker feels that it would be a moment of great irony if someone as sick and twisted as the Joker could raise Batman into becoming a symbol of justice. 

However, raising a one-year old isn't all it's cracked up to be and it's eating into the Joker's day job as a master criminal. Hopefully, the Joker can get the child he calls 'Batbaby' into a premium daycare so the fiend can resume plotting his numerous heists. It costs a lot of money to keep a toddler in diapers and with all the sleepless nights and new found responsibility, Mr. J's bank account is just about at zero.

Joker: One Operation Joker was originally a 21-chapter manga that ran in the pages of Morning KC. Published by Kodansha under an agreement with DC Comics, the series appeared sporadically from 2021 until about early 2023. It was written by Satoshi Miyagawa (Space Battleship Tiramisu). The art is by Keisuke Gotou (sometimes spelled Goto), who is perhaps better known as the voice of Beni in the 2014 anime series DRAMAtical Murder and it's subsequent video game spin-off.

While not officially canon, Joker: One Operation Joker culls from over 80 years of Joker appearances in comics, television and movies. For example, in the first chapter, the staircase the Joker uses to exit the Gotham City subway are the very steps Joaquin Phoenix dances on in 2019's Joker. Even if you're not a big fan of manga, fans of the Joker and DC Comics will enjoy the many, many Easter eggs hidden throughout this paperback edition that contains chapters 1-7.

Don't be fooled into thinking that because this story is set in Gotham City, that it is not a traditional manga. This book is very much Japanese in terms of both the art style and the culture. The process the Joker must go through to get Batbaby into daycare is based on Japan's points system that is determined by an applying family's financial hardship and other social factors. Also, like a traditional manga, this book has to be read from right to left.

The entire Joker manga storyline was published in 3 volumes and all 21 chapters can be accessed through the DC Universe Infinite website. 

Completing this review completes Task #35 (A Manga Work) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

City of Dragons: The Awakening Storm (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After the death of her father from cancer, a young girl named Grace and her family move to Hong Kong for a new start. Her stepfather is a researcher studying ways to lengthen one's lifespan and was the head of the clinical trial that Grace's father partook. Hong Kong also happens to be her dad's birthplace. Enrolled at a prestigious international academy of students, Grace learns about the cultural history of her father's homeland, in particular the mythos of dragons.

Hong Kong has a rich history and unique reverence for dragons. For example, many of the modern skyscrapers have holes designed in them so that dragons can safely fly through them. However, it's the landscape of Hong Kong where the real legends rest. The mountains that make up the landscape of the Chinese Special Administrative Region are known as the 9 dragons. Although Hong Kong actually only has 8 mountains. The 9th is actually an Emperor who was told to be a decedent of mixed bloodline of humans and dragons.

That's where Grace comes in. In her first real exploration of the cityscape, Grace meets a mysterious blue eyed elder who gifts her with an egg. Grace thinks that the egg is just a trinket. That is until the next morning when she finds the egg broken and a tiny blue dragon living in her toilet.

With a trio of new friends, Grace will uncover the secret of not just her dragon, Nate, but of her true Hunxue (mixed blood) heritage. Her journey will put her in considerable danger, introduce her to an inebriated shop captain who can predict the weather and take her on a journey to find the missing gem stones of the Dragon Kings. Perhaps the most shocking revelation of them all; Grace will learn that her father's death was not from cancer but from medical testing conducted by her new stepdad!

2021's City of Dragons: The Awakening Storm is the first book in a series that promises to span the globe in search of answers behind Grace's father's death as well as dragons from other cultures. Written by Jaimal Yogis, the next chapter of City of Dragons takes place in Paris. A regular contributor to ESPN Magazine and The Washington Post, this is Yogis' first graphic novel. The artwork of 'The Awakening Storm' was by London based cartoonist Vivian Truong. A frequent artist for Riot Games, Troung is also the illustrator of Cooking With Monsters, a graphic novel series about culinary students who learn the art of cooking from the dangerous and delicious creatures that they battle in the wild.

Book 2 of the City of Dragons series, 'Rise of the Shadowfire' debuted in print in October, 2023.

Completing this review completes Task #43 (A Fantasy with Dragons) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Judge Dredd: Christmas is Cancelled

With a title such as 'Christmas is Cancelled', don't expect any of these holiday tales set within Mega City One to have happy endings. While the 8 or so stories are set within a dystopian society, there's a cheeky element to many of these tales. One story is a sci-fi parody of the Nativity complete with mutant versions of donkeys, sheep and cow. Another is a retelling of A Gift of the Magi which takes the selling of a body part to a new level. 

Featuring the talents of Al Ewing, John Wagner, Paul Marshall, Dave Taylor, this collection of Judge Dredd stories set during the month of December, this read is very British. Nothing is sacred. There's drugs. There's murder and violence. Both big government and even bigger business are corrupt. But unlike another book of similar material, this Rebellion Developments publication has something the previous didn't- HOPE. Because no matter how bad things get in the year circa 3000, there's always Joe Dredd and his fellow Judges to help bring about a semblance of law and order in hope of bringing forth a better tomorrow. 

Containing reprints from Xmases past from 2010-2014. This book was issued in gratuity with Judge Dredd Magazine #439; released December, 2021.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Garlic and the Vampire (Family Comic Friday)

Garlic and the Vampire is an adorable graphic novel that families will delight in kicking off their Halloween reading season with. Garlic is just one of a group of magical vegetable folk who grow and sell fresh produce for the humans in their village. One day, the enchanted edibles notice smoke coming from the nearby castle overlooking the town. It's supposed to be abandoned. It's also fabled to house a vampire!

As garlic is known to ward off a Vampire, the vegetable people elect little Garlic to scout out just who is living in the scary old fortress. Armed with an assortment of items known to fight off a nosferatu, brave Garlic makes it to the castle and comes face to face with the Count! Only, he's not such a bad guy. In fact he's nice and he's been trying to cut himself off from his regular diet of Type A-negative. 

Can Garlic trust the word of the Vampire? If not, does she have what it takes to save her village from the Count?

This book was a delight! Garlic and the Vampire was the solo first work of writer and illustrator Bree Paulsen. Every page was magical. The water-colored effects of the art. The enchanted dialogue. The warmth of every character. I didn't just want to read this book. I wanted to live in it. 

Amazon suggests that Garlic and the Vampire is appropriate for readers age 8-12. I think the only reason some aged 6 might not be able to read this book is because some of the words are rather advanced. There's a slight creepiness to the book as the vegetable people speculate as to whether a vampire does reside in that old castle upon the hill. But I don't think there's really anything parents and guardians should object to. There is a vampire in the story. And there is a witch. How else do you think those walking vegetables turned into people? If monsters on the level of what you might see on Sesame Street or an old-fashioned Disney cartoon, then this book is sure to become a classic for the whole family!

Garlic and the Vampire came out in 2021. Not sure why my local library just picked this up as a new book, but I am sure glad they did. Thankfully, the story of Garlic and her magical friends is far from over. Last year Bree Paulsen released a sequel, Garlic and the Witch! I'm hoping my library has this book as well. If not, I'll be ordering myself of copy of it for sure!

A fantastic read full of magic and wonder!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1

This 2021 special was released to do three things: 1) build on the popularity of the Stargirl TV series on TheCW, 2) act as a lead-on to the revamped Stargirl mini-series and 3) be a sort of bridge for yet another revamp of the Justice Society of America. I like to think that this one-shot has a 4th purpose- explain how Green Arrow and Speedy were members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in the Golden Age way before the two characters even existed in the modern DCU.

The answer it turns out is time travel. Okay. Mystery solved. Still, that wasn't all this book was about. But it did do a very good job explaining a plot hole that's been dogging DC Comics since the CRISIS.

The remaining Soldiers are planning a reunion- in Myrtle Beach of all places. Pat Dugan is eager to see his old friends. Just as eager is Stargirl, who can't wait to get out of school for Spring Break and meet some other super heroes and hopefully, their younger sidekicks. The reunion starts off fairly well until one of the newer heroes makes an ominous proclamation resulting in the disappearance of Pat, Green Arrow and others. 

Together with Arrow's newest sidekick, Red Arrow, Stargirl begins a search for the missing Soldiers. The prime suspect behind all of this is the Clock King. Add some time displaced dinosaurs, the unsolved mysterious death of one of the Seven Soldiers and a time loop thanks to a malfunctioning time machine and you've got an exciting story that could be read as a stand alone or be your introduction to Stargirl #1. 

Only, there never was a Stargirl #1. 

Thanks to COVID related delays, the follow-up series to this special didn't debut until late 2022. With a cover date of January, 2023, Stargirl and the Lost Children continues the search for the missing member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory as well as a whole bunch of child sidekicks from the Golden Age who also went missing. 

As of right now, that 6-issue miniseries has not been collected as a hardback or trade paperback. But if it did, I would pick it up to read for sure. Just as this special was, the miniseries was written by Geoff Johns. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Geoff Johns could write the phone book and I'd read it. But don't think I won't read that story in single issue form. If I was to find these issues in a dollar bin, I'd definitely snatch them up for a read. Not knowing until now that The Lost Children was the follow-up to this book is why I hadn't read the mini before. 

Fun in the sun with some time travelling mishaps thrown in. Plus a preview of Justice Society of America #1, which was also delayed until 2023 and a fun page by the great Fred Hembeck!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

With Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, we got an honest-to-god martial arts film. Originally, the main character was billed as Shang-Chi: The Master of Kung-Fu. I'm not that familiar with fighting styles, so I don't know if any actual kung-fu was used. But the viewers got a masterpiece. 

The Legend of the Ten Rings is set right in the middle of the MCU. Events start in San Francisco, which we've already explored thanks to the Ant-Man films. But as the plot progresses, the map expands to include Macau and then the mythical Chinese village of Ta Lo. In fact, when the main characters reach Ta Lo, the film becomes a beautiful work of art. There are mythical Chinese creatures (I loved the lion things!), Chinese culture, artwork, fashion, and much, much more. That second half of this movie was just breath-taking. 

That's not to say that this film was perfect. I did at times find myself getting bored, as I have with stale bits of superhero films. It wasn't Shang-Chi, who is to blame. It's an industry thing as a whole that has some elements which just seem to be getting old. 

The premise of the film is linked with the events of 2013's Iron Man 3. In that film, we learned that the Mandarin, the so-called leader of the Ten Rings was really a ruse. Instead of an Asian man, a drunken actor named Trevor Slattery was hired to create a diversion for a foe of Tony Stark's. Well, the real leader of the Ten Rings wasn't so happy about that...

Originally, Shang-Chi's father was the legendary dime pulp villain Fu-Manchu. The character, created by San Rohmer, was based on racist stereotypes with his long, straggly facial hair and hideous claws. That tendency to imprison white women in a number of masochist, demeaning ways didn't help things either. Marvel about 15 years or so ago, rebooted the origin of Shang-Chi from which the comics is now more in line with the 2021 movie. 

A thousand years ago, a Chinese warlord named Xu Wenwu obtained the magical 10 rings. These rings, which technically are bracelets, granted him immortal life along with a number of various powers. Looking to increase the power of his criminal organization, in 1996, Xu Wenwu attempted to breach the mythical Ta Lo. The man is stopped by the village's guardian Ying Li. The episode earns the mutual respect of both and the pair fall in love.

Xu Wenwu forsakes the rings during his marriage to Ying Li. Two children are born, Shang-Chi and his sister Xu Xaling. All appears bliss. However, Xu's past catches up with him, resulting in the death of Yin Li. Xu Wenwu bears the rings again, training his children to become assassins in revenge for their mother's death. However, Shang-Chi escapes his evil destiny, winding up in San Francisco under the name of Shaun.

Over time, Xu Wenwu begins to hear the voice of his fallen bride. The voice claims that if he can pierce a sacred barrier in the village of Ta Lo, the entire family can be together again. As Shang-Chi and his sister learn more of their mystical heritage, they prepare for battle with the forces of the Ten Rings to stop Xu Wenwu from his fool hardy quest which threatens to unleash hell on earth.

I know that there's a lot going on here. The story was complex, which is something many of the Marvel films have been missing lately. The martial art scenes were amazing. They were fluid, alluring and sometimes funny, like from a Drunken Master movie. When the theatrics appeared more like a typical comic book and not staying in the legacy of Bruce Lee, I got bored. 

I don't understand why this film didn't become the cultural touchstone for the Asian community like Black Panther did for the black community. Actually, I do. Blame COVID. Even though this 2021 movie made over $400 million in theaters, the crowds just hadn't returned yet. Heck, the crowds still haven't gotten back to pre-pandemic levels and if things continue the way they do, I don't think they will any time soon...

Lots of great actors. Michelle Yeoh, the reigning queen of Asian cinema who has taken Hollywood by force. Tony Leung was great as the villain. He's the actor that you've seen before, really like and just can't remember where you've seen him from previously. Relative newcomer (at the time) Simu Liu was great as the lead. But the actor who stole the show (and maybe my heart) was comedienne Awkwafina, who stole the show as Shaun's best friend Katy. Look, if Margot Robbie decides to hang up her harlequin costume, I would put my vote behind Awkwafina as the next Harley Quinn! But with all this amazing Asian talent, where were legends such as Sonny Chiba, Donnie Yen and the king of Hong Kong cinema, Jackie Chan? Maybe they'll be available for the sequel? 

Please tell me there will be a sequel...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Training Day: El Toro and Friends (Family Comic Friday)

Spinning off from the very popular series ¡vamos! (Let's Go!) comes this bilingual graphic novel from Raul the Third!

El Toro is a very popular luchador (that's a masked wrestler who combats in lucha libre style wrestling. He's about to take on the world champ. But El Toro is just too lazy to train. Thankfully, he's got encouragement in the form of his trainer, Kooky Dooky.

I recently read and reviewed the all-ages graphic novel Lowriders to the Rescue. It was the amazing artwork by Raul the Third that I was a huge fan of. I am in awe of Mexican artwork. Especially sugar skulls. While Raul the Third doesn't seem to have added any of those signature dia del los muertos decorations in this book, it's that art style I became enamored with in my previous experience with Raul the Third which flourishes throughout every page..

Adding to the wonderment of the art is the brilliant color palette used. Mega kudos to Elaine Bay for making every page explode with color.

Training Day is a little bit silly. But it's also a little bit of a travel guide about Mexican culture. Plus it's a language lesson book as well. I love that Raul the Third first has the characters say phrases first in English and then follow up in Spanish. I've read a few bilingual comics that assume that the reader knows both Spanish and English. Here, the author allows readers to see how the two sentences might be saying the same thing. But  he also shows how the voice and sentence structure can change in translation.

Training Day was published in 2021. There's currently 4 books in the World of ¡vamos! series. I think with the most current release of Tacos Today in March, 2023, that's why my local library had this and the other 4 books in the series on the new shelf. 

Amazon recommends this book for readers ages 6-8. I think that's a perfect age group for this book. If you know of a child that speaks English as their primary language and they're about to start learning Spanish in grades 1-3, get them this book! If you have a young readers in which English is a second language, get them to this book. Forget the age suggestions. Books like this one can be a valuable tool helping integrate Spanish speaking students who are learning English into the multilingual integrated classroom. 

I hope that Raul the Third continues to produce important learning tools such as this one. I also hope parents, guardians and teachers will use these books to teach both English and Spanish. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Darkwing Duck: Just Us Justice Ducks: Disney Afternoon Adventures, Vol. 1 (Family Comic Friday)

The Disney Afternoon. From 1990-97, Disney ran a 2-hour block of TV shows in the late afternoons after school let out. The event was syndicated, but eventually ran on the Disney Channel. Shows like Ducktales, Tailspin, The Adventures of the Gummi Bears and Darkwing Duck ran in a rotation that was a direct competition to Fox Kids. As part of the Disney Afternoon marketing campaign, Disney's publishing imprint released a monthly magazine called Disney Adventures.

Along with features on upcoming Disney TV shows and films, Disney Adventures contained comics! Stories based on the Disney Afternoon line-up, along with adaptations of long-form Disney films were released on a semi-regular schedule. As many of these stories were multi-parters, this rather irregular schedule meant that part one of a Ducktales story might be released on issue #1 but part two might not appear in print until issue #5!

Disney Afternoon Adventures Volume 1 was released in the summer of 2021. So yes, I am a little late maybe on reviewing something new. But the reason I found out about this book in the first place is because Volume 2 was released just last month and seeing the advertisement for that collection got me rather interested! Plus, I've really been digging some volumes from the Carl Barks Library lately and I've been wanting so more Disney goodness to read.

My kid sister is 12 years younger than me. So I am rather familiar with the stories despite the fact that I was 12-15 when the shows these comics were based on aired. Well, Ducktales actually came out in 1987 and I am a fool for anything with Uncle Scrooge in it! But everything else in this book was stuff that I probably was too old for. Yet, because of her, I'm actually pretty familiar with most of the material in this book. 

There's a lot of short stories in this edition and they are rather fun little reads. But the highlights of this book are the two larger stories that take up much of the real estate of this 200-pager. First up was a comic adaptation of A Goofy Movie. The second tale was a 5-part adventure that crossed-over all the way from Tailspin to Darkwing Duck, with Goof Troop, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers and Ducktales filling in the gaps! A crossover that wasn't really a crossover, it was an epic romp on par with the works of Carl Barks, Don Rosa and William Van Horn! 

By the way- did you know that Tailspin took place 50 years before Ducktales and the other members of the Disney Afternoon? I didn't either. But now I understand why there weren't any flying pirates in modern day Duckburg!

I really enjoyed this book. I just wished that Fantagraphics did a better job letting fans know where these stories originally appeared. In the Carl Barks books, the level of research and background material on the Donald Duck stories is professional grade stuff. Here, we get a small bit of info on the material of origin on the ISBN info page and it's printed in a font of 3 at best!

A 3rd volume is scheduled for release in July. Hopefully, I can get both volumes for a good price. And hopefully, the amount of background material will get even better. Sure, these volumes are targeted for millenials and their children. But surely, even 30-something comic book lovers will delight in knowing more about the publishing and design history of these stories!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool: Black, White & Blood

Over the years, several superheroes have explored their noir sides with black & white miniseries in the style of Frank Miller's Sin City. Not wanting to be outdone, Deadpool adds a bright shade of scarlet (and a few shades of gray) to this minimally colored 4-issue mini-series from 2021. 

As each issue consists of 3 short stories, there are exactly a dozen segments to Deadpool: Black, White & Blood. Several are very bloody. A few feature the Merc with a Mouth teaming up with other characters in the Marvel Universe. All are extremely insane. 

Roughly a team of a dozen talents from comics, Hollywood and Manga offer unique takes on Wade Wilson. All 12 stories were rather good. But some stood out among the rest as being of superior quality. Deadpool's cross-town team-up with Wolverine clone, X-23, was a laugh riot and yet unusual. I didn't know the pair were actually that good of friends as they appear to be in the opening story. In another story that utilizes a disgusting eggplant hue, Deadpool has fallen under the thrall of the Daredevil villain, the Purple Man. Fans who hate what the David Tenant portrayed Purple Man did to Netflix's Jessica Jones, will delight in how even under mind-control, Deadpool still manages to keep the villain on his toes!

The story in which Deadpool visits Omega Red's gentrified Soviet Era town in middle of the the Canadian Rockies, was the zaniest one of them all. Fellow Russian super-villain Ursa Major wants to become the ruler of the makeshift community, igniting an arms race with Omega Red. For once, it's up to Wade Wilson to play referee in between two aging Cold Warriors. 

The story I was most disappointed with guest stars the X-Man, Doop. It was by Mike Allred, who is in my top 5 list of all-time favorite artists. The artwork was impressive as always. But story-wise, things were trippy at best. I read it twice and I still don't think I understand everything that was happening. 

This was a near-perfect anthology of Deadpool stories. The only thing missing was a time travelling epic by one of the definitive Deadpool writers of the past 20 years- Gerry Duggan. Oh! And something by Deadpool creator, Rob Liefeld. As much as I am not a fan of the guy's work, a variant cover by Liefeld would have been nice at least. 

This book comes in 2 formats- your basic trade paperback and a tabloid sized treasury edition. Honestly, I don't see a need for this book to be in the larger size even though that's the format I read it in. Save yourself the $8 and go small!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Turkey Day One-Shot

I closed my 2022 Thanksgiving comic book readings with this 2021 horror one-shot from Source Point Press.

A small town in Illinois is about to host its annual community theater Thanksgiving pageant. This year's organizer promises a huge surprise is in the works. Meanwhile, an alien invasion force has landed in a nearby field chock full of turkeys. Taking over the brains of the delicious fowl, the alien army waddles over to the theater house in order to make their first kill, though the theater goers think this is all staged as part of the big surprise. Truly, this will be a Thanksgiving Day to remember when everyone realizes that these guys aren't here to just 'talk turkey'.

I bought this book right after Thanksgiving last year. So I've been waiting just about a full year to enjoy this sci-fi black comedy. This book was grim, gory, irreverent, and fun as hell! I loved just about every moment of it; though the story did take a turn I wasn't expecting at all. And I thought that homage final page, which was just darn near perfect. 

I did briefly think that this book made a slightly wrong turn adding in a certain former POTUS in a cameo towards the end. Just seeing his face made me feel for a brief moment of 'here we go again' with some sort of political statement. But the use of this character for 1 panel was actually pretty funny and it added to the dark humor tone of the story. 

I'm going to let you dear readers in on a little secret: I am terrified of turkeys. They're mean. They're evil. They'd kill you if they had the chance. But over the past year, I've made friends with a turkey at a local farm. Though she has a different name, I've started to call this bird 'Swanson' after the turkey TV dinner. Over this time, I've come to realize, 'Swanson' is a salt & pepper hued turkey. All the turkeys in this comic and countless viewed videos of poultry on human violence have been perpetrated by brown feathered turkeys. Thus, I change my stance that only those brown feathered foul are direct ancestors of velociraptors! 

Being a comedy, did this book do anything to make me less afraid of turkeys? No, not really. In fact, when the alien leader plucks out a turkey's eye in order to take over its brain, I wasn't mortified like in previous books where other adorable animals are hurt or killed. If anything, I think the use of turkeys are things of holiday horror are a thing of brilliance and I would strongly recommend to SyFy channel getting the rights to this comic and turning it into next year's Thanksgiving movie ASAP! It's campy like Sharknado and bloody like The Evil Dead. I'm sure doing so would make this the next Turkey Day classic for generations of families to come!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Elvira Meets Vincent Price #1

Just because Halloween is over means I have to stop reading and reviewing horror titles. This 6-issue series pairs one of the most iconic horror hosts of all-time with one of the most iconic horror actors of all-time. 

I know you are wondering how does Vincent Price, who has been dead for nearly 3 decades, happen to team-up with the still living Elvira. Does this story occur before his death in 1993? Nope! Price is a ghost and he's returned from the Great Beyond to save the world from total destruction. 

In the 1970s, Vincent Price filmed a movie titled 'Rise of the Ram.' The horror picture involves an actress recanting an ancient Egyptian spell that is supposed to prevent the rise of an old deity who seeks to destroy all of creation. To prevent the spell from ever being reversed, the only remaining print of both the film and the spell book were lost to time. However, a handful of devotees to the forgone god have located and stolen the missing items and are planning on unleashing hell on earth. 

With time running short, Vincent Price recruits Elvira to his cause. With the hostess' knowledge of B-movie lore and her extensive number of Hollywood contacts, Vincent is able to locate the original producer of Rise of the Ram. Only before they can get some answers, the bigwig bursts into flames. In his place, a demonic devotee to the Egyptian dark lord and this guy is mad as hell!

I didn't realize that Elvira has been in so many comic books. I knew that there was a Vincent Price horror anthology. I've read and reviewed a couple of issues from that series from Bluewater Productions. But I only thought Elvira had her version of the House of Mystery and maybe a couple other releases from Dynamite. But she recounts a whole slew of other comics that she has starred in previously and I was just unaware.

I've been waiting over a year to read this issue. The first issue came out in stores in the summer of 2021. The final issue didn't arrive until this past winter! It took a really freakin' long time to produce 6 issues of a comic book. The heck with blaming things on COVID and stuff. This miniseries should not have been released bi-monthly.

Thankfully, this book was worth the wait. I'm really hoping Vincent Price was as nice as a guy as he seems in this comic. I would hate to learn that he was the horror community's version of Joan Crawford or Bing Crosby. I had a lots of fun reading this book and I hope the remaining issues are just as good as this opening chapter was.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Victor Crowley's Hatchet Halloween Tales III #1

Sure. It's November 1st and I'm reviewing yet another Halloween comic book. In Mexico, today and tomorrow is Dia de los Muertos and today in Europe, it's All Saints Day. Both holidays are what All Hallow's Eve or Halloween lead up to. Thus, expect 2 more Halloween comics for review!

One of those two books up for review is this one: Victor Crowley's Hatchet Tales III is based on the main character from the Adam Green horror franchise Hatchet. I was really looking forward to this book after I had read a small preview of another Hatchet one-shot in the pages of American Mythology Monsters II #1 earlier this year. That preview had deranged ax murderer Victor Crowley taking on a Sasquatch in the Louisiana Bayou. I was hooked. I was also thrilled as I realized that I had another comic starring Crowley and was pumped into thinking it was going to be as good as that preview. 

Boy was I wrong...

First of all, Victor Crowley doesn't host any of these stories. In fact, I don't think the character has the ability to really speak in the first place. Instead, this trio of terror all takes place during several very deadly Halloweens on or very near Victor's home base of Honey Island, La.

In one story, a group of corrupt cops lure an honest cop to his demise only to meet ghastly fates at the hands of Victor. In another, a young man seeking revenge against Victor for the death of his father, unleashes a demon. Soon, Victor appears and everything goes to hell. Lastly, in the somewhat near future, a group of teens uncover the legend of Victor Crowley and head out to Honey Island to find out the truth behind the mythos.

The story with the corrupt cops was perhaps the best of the 3 stories. I just wish that there was more backstory between the bad cops and the one good policeman. 

The story that occurs in the future was rather interesting because one of the characters in the story was a real person. The year prior, a young man won a silent action benefiting yorkie terriers. The fundraiser was hosted by Hatchet creator Adam Green and the prize was the chance to be killed by Victor in one of the stories of this book. I had learned that there was another auction going to be held for someone to win the chance to be in the 2022 special. But I missed my chance of a lifetime as that auction had occurred earlier in the year. Maybe there's a chance for 2023!

The one problem I had with all these stories was that they were just too freakin' gory. I think the encapsulating stories were good. It's just that the way Victor kills indiscriminately. It actually was making me a tiny bit nauseous. 

I also wasn't a fan of the story involving that demon. That kind of horror really isn't my thing. But I will admit that the opening narration about how the boundaries between good and evil are razor thin on Halloween night, was one of the best openings in a horror comic that I have come across in a very long time. 

For the most part, Victor Crowley's Hatchet Halloween Tales weren't scary. But they were sick and bloody. If you were one who went to see Terrifier 2 and it didn't make you vomit nor faint, then this might be the sort of comic book for you. In reverse, the way I felt reading this comic is proof I should never see Terrifier 2. EVER!

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Eeek! Halloween Special #1

 A couple of days ago, I praised Asylum Press for their 2021 Vampires Halloween Special that was devoted to pre-code horror stories about bloodsuckers. Pumped by the quality of that special, last night I dove into the Eeek! Halloween Special from Asylum. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same level of satisfaction with this 2021 special.

Eeek! is designed to look like black and white horror magazines of the 1970s like Creepy and Vampirella. Written and illustrated primarily by Jason Paulos (Hairbutt the Hippo), there are 3 stories in this one-shot.

In 'The Green Fairy', as a painter drowns himself in a bottle of Absinthe, he reflects on the ups, downs and mistakes of his life. With 'Sick Joke', an upper crust couple go on vacation in hopes of rekindling their troubled marriage and run afoul of a horrible family of hillbillies. Lastly in 'False Alarm', a lonely man calls 911 one time too many in a twist on the boy who cried wolf legend. 

'The Green Fairy' was pretty good at least in terms of its twist ending and sexy artwork. But it rambled on a little too long. It probably could have been 3-4 pages shorter than it was.

'Sick Joke' was a complete mess. The ending was unbelievable in my opinion, the addition of a new character midway through the story was kinda implausible and it too was just way too long. 

'False Alarm' was the best story of the three. That could be because Jason Paulos doesn't write the tale. It's crafted by Jason Crawley (Bloke's Terrible Tomb of Terror) and flows much better than the previous two stories.

There's also a one-pager that looks at the differences in monster attacks between the sexes. I've never though of it before, but wrtier Dan Cox (Hitsville UK) might be on to something. Women mostly get mauled by vampires and mutant creatures while men are attacked by beasts like werewolves. But no matter who you are, nobody is safe from the vilest of creatures- the lawyer!

The reason I purchased this book last year was because this was a recommendation by my favorite LCS. Every once in a while the guys there order something I wasn't even aware of because they know that I'm all about holiday comics! It wasn't a bad offering. It just lacks the oomph that the other Asylum Press special that I read a couple of days ago. It very well could be because this is all-new stuff paying homage to horror legends and I go more for the classic stuff that came from the original source material.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Vampires Halloween Special #1

A Halloween special about vampires featuring lost stories from pre-code horror? Uh, yes Please! Horror from 1955-1970 might be kinda lame. And you'd have the Comics Code to blame for that. But horror comics published before 1955 can be pretty gory and gruesome. 

Leading the way were the titles from EC Comics- The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear and last but not least, Tales From The Crypt. The stories selected by the editors of Asylum Press weren't of the quality of EC. Yet, this wasn't a bad collection of tales starring bloodsuckers either. 

The best story was the opening haunt. It takes place in Florida of all places. Two people are found dead. The evidence points to a vampire. Well, there's a trail of blood that points to the new lady in town's domicile. Bound to her cot in a cell, the police will wait out the night to see if the prisoner changes into a vampire. It turns out that the lady really is a vampire. Yet if she can deceive one of the guards into giving her a blood transfusion, the fiend will beat her murder rap. The real twist to this story is what happens afterwards!

Another thriller that is almost equal in quality to that prior story is set during the Nazi occupation of France. A housewife, fearful of being sent to the concentration camps, forces her husband to eagerly join the Nazis as a traitor. As the couple rise in the ranks of the gestapo, their blood lust and cruelty reach ungodly heights. 

Where's the vampire in this story you ask? Oh, it's there. So is a zombie. It's a match-up I never expected to ever see. But I think the horrors of the holocaust were more terrifying than the addition of the creatures of the night.

The next best story is set in the old country. The time period, uh I'd say 150-200 years ago. Here, an evil baron takes a village girl to be his wife. It's a marriage arrangement that will most likely end in death. Can her true love rescue her from the baron's legion of human headed bat things?

The real twist to this story is that there's no twist! I know, right? Isn't that a law? I didn't think stories in horror comics could end without some sort of Hitchcockian twist ending! 

My least favorite ghost story involves a man who runs a side show that promises to host a true vampire along with several other monsters. His wife is cheating on the man with one of his assistants. When the business man learns of the affair, he takes matters into his own deadly hands. 

The problem with the story was multiple. I didn't quite understand how he got his monsters to come alive even though their supposed to be in giant bottles of formaldehyde. The dialogue was cheesy. And whomever was the artist apparently never took a lesson in anatomy. If you take both the left and right arm of a torso and put them both on the right side of another that already has a right arm on it, you should have 2 right hands and 1 left- NOT 3 RIGHT HANDS!!!

There were also a couple of one-pagers that were supposed to be true ghost stories that involved vampires. They weren't Eisner award winners. But for fillers, they were still entertaining. 

I got to say that I'm very impressed with Asylum Press. This is only like the second or third time I've read something from them, yet they've aroused my interest in more from them every time I do! There are ads for at least one other Halloween special from them and I'd love to add it to my collection at some point. Plus, I'm now prompted to also search for other past Halloween haunts offered from the publisher in year's past.

The stories weren't all perfect. Though I think that Nazi story is gonna stick with me for quite a while. Will it be for what was intended to scare- the vampires? No. But sometimes the true horrors come from real life.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 

American Mythology Monsters Vol. 2 #1

I'm not really sure why I had this issue filed as a Halloween comic book. Despite the monsters, the horror, and the gore, there's nothing to tie-in Halloween. None of the trio of stories are set during Halloween. There's not a single jack-o-lantern or kid trick-or-treating in this black and white comic.

I also thought that this 2021 book was a one-shot. Instead, it's the first issue of a 3-part miniseries. That means that all 3 stories end in cliffhangers. However, all 3 stories that comprise this story have endings that if the editors or authors didn't put a 'to be continued' blurb at the end of each segment, you wouldn't know that this any of these stories had continuations. So I am actually okay with that even though comics unexpectedly ending with cliffhangers are major pet peeves of mine. 

Despite my accidental belief that this was a Halloween one-shot special, that mistaken believe isn't what irked me to no end! It's the banner on the bottom of the cover! It says 'The Frankenstein Monster! The Mummy! The Werewolf! Reimagined!' Well, despite there being a Frank and a Wolfman on the amazing cover pencelled by Neil Vokes (Untold Stories of Spider-Man), there is not a single mummy in this issue. And None of the stories are about a Frankenstein monster or a lycantrope!

This was a major print issue that somebody in the editing department made a giant goof on. You see, the 'reimagined' banner was used in the first volume of American Mythology Monsters. And those monsters were used in that series! The logo looks completely the same, with the exception of a pair of Roman numerals I's. I'm thinking whomever designed the cover used the same template for the 2021 follow-up, but they forgot to change that pesky banner on the bottom of the cover. 

The stories themselves were decent. The first story is about a man whose visit to the doctor for a wound that will not heal could bring about the end of the world. The middle story seems like a typical crime noir about a coal magnate trying to silence a rabble-rousing union rep. About halfway, the story goes from criminal to kinky to killer to just plain mysterious. Our last story is about a scientist whose desperate to save her son from a dread disease and accidentally kills herself from an untested cure. Buried in her family plot in New Orleans, the researcher returns as a cross between a zombie and a vampire. 

That last story was definitely a reimagining of both the zombie and the vampire- combined into 1. The first story was one that I really have not a care in the world if I ever find out what happens next. Good story. Just not my thing. But that middle story. Man, it was intriguing. And dirty. And bloody. I really need to know the rest of that story. But what I am really wanting to read more about isn't even something that is officially part of this story.

At the end of this comic, there's a 5 page preview of a comic book based on the slasher flick villain Victor Crowley from Adam Green's Hatchet series of films. In the preview, a group of filmmakers and their guides are in a swamp looking for an elusive type of Bigfoot known as a Skunk Ape. Instead of finding the cryptid, the documentarians find Victor in the swamp. Oh, and then the Skunk Ape appears! As soon as that glimpse at that book was over, I was crying foul! I wanted more! I'm definitely on the hunt for that one-shot special.

I enjoyed this read. But the flaws of the cover threw me way off and hampered my enjoyment. One story was a dud. One was so-so. One was fantastic! But my biggest enjoyment was the sneak peak of Hatchet: Unstoppable Horror in the advertisement section of the book.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular

A little unusual background about this UK Halloween special. It was published last October over in England. However, due to whatever reasons, shipping delays, customs, you name it, I didn't buy this book new until later this past spring. That means I've been hanging on to this tabloid sized release for quite some time.

In the spirit of British publications such as Beano, Monster Fun isn't a brand new anthology. Instead, it's a revival of a cult favorite weekly magazine from 1975-76. That book along with this bi-monthly reboot is aimed at readers aged 7-12, containing series devoted to the more macabre, unusual and bizarre comic book characters from across the pond. Most of the stories are humorous franchises. Yet, there are a couple of more dramatic pieces included in this book.

According to the publisher, this special was 48 pages in length. But it felt longer than that and mostly in a good way. The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular read to me like a deluxe British version of the Sunday funny pages. About half of the stories were less than 2 pages in length, making for some immediate laughs. Of the remaining segments, I don't think anything was longer than 8 pages.

My favorite segment was probably the Leopard From Lime Street, about a teenager who is granted the mystical powers of the jungle cat when he's attacked by one at the local zoo. It was a legit superhero story with a creepy antagonist and great art. French artist, Laurent Lefeuvre's work is a cross between Francesco Francavilla (Afterlife With Archie) and Derek Charm (Star Wars Adventures). I'm really hoping to find more adventures of this character in the future.

Another favorite was the superhero parody starring the classic duo known as the Birdman, and Chicken and their new partner, the Sparrow. It's All Hallows Eve and the 3 heroes are summoned to save the city from Solomon Grundy of all people! Grundy is a character of folk legend. But wonder if this version is in any way affiliated with DC'S big baddie...

Other enjoyable stories involved a company of monsters trying to compete with the internet in the no-quite-so lucrative jump scare business, a young girl who helps her father save his fledgling studio by putting on an impromptu blockbuster horror picture, and family that goes on a Halloween yard sale for some spooky bargains. (BTW are Halloween yard sales a thing in the UK? Because if so, I am in!)

A lot of the remaining stories were entertaining, just not favs. But there was a story inside that I absolutely hated. Called Sweeney Toddler, The Demon Baby, it's a story about a devil of a toddler with foul intentions and that emirates even more foul odors. The story was one endless diaper joke after another. With it's what I am assuming cockney slang, the yarn was also darn near impossible to understand. I thought that this was a gross parody of the British version of Dennis the Menace that I couldn't wait for to be over. Ironically, the ending was most cerebral thing about the whole thing. Neat twist ending. But not enough to save it in my opinion.

I also really liked the lead story that starred Frankie Stein. Mostly for the amazing array of Easter Eggs that artist John Lucas peppers throughout the short. Speaking of Easter, I recently got a copy of this year's Monster Fun Easter Special and I can't wait until next spring to read it! Mostly because it's extremely rare to score an Easter related comic in the states for some reason...

Lots of British fun. But you'll need to check with your favorite LCS for availability due to the really wonky delayed releasing of this series.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Haylee and Comet: A Tale of Cosmic Friendship (Family Comic Friday)

Haylee and Comet: A Tale of Cosmic Friendship is the first in a new series of graphic novels for beginning readers. In this debut volume, little human Haylee wishes upon a falling star for a new best friend. At the same time, our falling star, Comet, is also wishing for a new BFF. Soon it's a lifelong friendship between young girl and dirty snowball! 

In their first series of adventures, the pair build a friendship. Not just a bond between pals. But an actual ship that is half rocket and half sail boat. Afterwards, Haylee presents Comet with a very special gift. But when the present is damaged, what can Comet do to not upset his new friend?

This growing series is written and illustrated by Deborah Marcero (Ursa's Light). Marcero is a K-8 educator and professor of creative writing. You can really tell when a children's author has some sort of education background. Because along with being fun, this book is also imaginative and educational!

In between chapters, Deborah Marcero includes a page of fun ideas for readers (and maybe their best friends) in order to continue the narrative of Haylee and Comet and to put to practice through imaginative play. Then at book's end, there's a 2-page feature on just what are comets. 

With all the extras unexpectedly peppered in, I was an instant fan of this book. It hits all of the right elements I look for in a graphic novel or comic for younger reads. Fun-Check. Funny-Check. Encourages play-Check. Educational without being dull-check, check. This was a perfect book for readers in grades K-5 to second grade.

If this book is an instant favorite of the young reader in your life, then the fun doesn't end. A second volume debuted earlier this year and just last week, book 3, 'Over the Moon' became available for retail. 

I highly recommend!

Worth Consuming!