The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

It's another day in detention for Byron. It's not because he's a trouble-making kid. Once again, Byron just happens to know more about American history than his teacher does and the instructor cannot stand to be embarrassed by a pupil.

Bryon spends his detentions reading history books. In particular, his favorites are about the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Always wanting to have met his hero, Bryon seemingly gets the chance when the deceased visits detention with his own version of American history. No; Benjamin Franklin was never elected President! That's not why he's on the $100 bill. And no; the heads on Mount Rushmore are not a natural rock formation created by volcanoes millions of years ago.

Bryon's after school encounter with Lincoln appears to have just been a really weird dream. However, the next day on TV, Bryon learns that his bizarre history lesson is about to get weirder as President Clinton has just resigned from office in order to let Lincoln finish out his 2nd term as the 43rd President of the United States. 

This Honest Abe seems anything but as he appears to have a hypnotic trace over the populace of the US of A. With time running out before Lincoln's inauguration, it's up to Bryon, his rebellious friend Marcie, his wheelchair bound veteran pop and the real time-displaced Abraham Lincoln to save America from itself!

Understanding Comics' Scott McCloud wrote, illustrated and programmed this 1998 graphic novel published by Image. With technical advice from Kurt Busiek and Neil Gaiman, The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln is a computer generated story in which McCloud used 3-D models of important Washington buildings and monuments, along with photography and hand drawn images to create a political satire that seems crafted for today's America. 

On more than one occasion, the fake Lincoln promises to 'Make America Great Again!'. Around the end of the book, the impostor's  followers hold Congress at gun point if they refuse to confirm him as the next POTUS. It's very difficult to laugh at this obviously humorous look at how American politics has become less like C-SPAN and more like professional wrestling, if it just wasn't so gosh darn accurate.

Completing this review completes Task #32 (Fictional Comic Based on a Real Person) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Frontline Combat #9 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

From the letter from the Editor placed on the inside cover, this was to be the first of 7 issues devoted to the American Civil War. Readers had requested the conflict of 1861-1865 be included in EC's war torn title. However, Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines felt that a single issue just wasn't enough space to adequately devoted to this important period in American history.

Frontline Combat was a sister series to the very macho Two-Fisted Tales, which originally focused on adventure stories. The book started off well, but with the end of the Korean War, EC saw a decline in sales. Ultimately, Frontline Combat's last issue would be #15. 

This issue would focus on the start of the war. There are 4 segments, all penned by Kurtzman. The first chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln from childhood to his inauguration as the 16th President of the United States. Readers then experience the first shot of the Civil War with the siege of Fort Sumter. The action heads West to the neutral state of Missouri as both Confederate loyalists and Union soldiers fight over possession of Camp Jackson. Lastly, we witness Union overconfidence turn the battle of Bull Run/Manassas into the Rebels first major victory of the early days of the war. 

While this issue highlights the constitutional crisis of the legality of the succeeding Southern States, slavery is never overtly addressed in this book as the main cause of the Civil War. Yet in true EC twist fashion, the narrator of the opening segment on Lincoln is revealed on the last page as being a black man who lives in Charleston, South Carolina on the eve of the Fort Sumter blockade. 

The artists featured in this issue are Jack Davis, John Severin, and Wally Wood. Cover art by Harvey Kurtzman. The one-page prose story was replaced with excepts of the inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln, featured in the opener titled 'Abe Lincoln!'

Though the full 7 parts of the Civil War series never came about, Two-Fisted Tales did devote a pair of issues to the Civil War before being cancelled in 1955 at issue #35. For those who might wish to follow up on learning more on the Civil War in comics and graphic novel form, check out Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War by Ari Kelman and Jonathan Fetter-Vorm,  Marvel's 4-issue Epic Battles of the Civil War and the 'Big Bad Ironclad!' and 'The Underground Abductor' entries in the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series for all-ages readers.

Completing this review completes Task #21 (Set in the 1800s) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day

   The days of the New York mayoral election are coming to a close and the polls show the race neck and neck. The only thing that could swing it in either sides favor is a massive takedown of a super villain or maybe your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

  A serial killer is on the loose and the murderer been planting patented Spider-Tracers on the corpses. With the cops on his trail, Spider-Man is seriously wounded. A quick escape is just what the web-slinger needs. But a run-in with a new Goblin-like menace (aptly named Menace) arrives on the scene and gives Spidey the fits, resulting in the wall-crawler's arrest. Thankfully, Spider-Man has lawyer Matt Murdock on retainer...

    Then in a history making team-up, Spider-Man comes to the aide of a guy named Barry on the streets of Washington D.C. The Spidey villain Chameleon seems to think that if he can take President-Elect Barack Obama's place during the inauguration, he'll become the 44th POTUS. But with the Spider-Man's Spider-Sense and the Knight Rider-like driving skills of Joe Biden, Democracy should still be save- for now.

  Lastly, Captain America and Spider-Man join forces to fight a group of robots that look like Abe Lincoln and members of his historic cabinet. Offended by the poor imitation, Capt. regales Spidey with a tale of the time the Sentinel of Freedom met Honest Abe thanks to the always trusty cosmic cube.

   All three stories were very good. I had read the Obama Election special somewhere before. Though, I don't remember Joe Biden being such a goof. I guess the VP's antics being constant fodder for the likes of Jimmy Fallon made me more aware of it.

   The main election story reminds me of how little I know of this era of Spider-Man. Yes, I am more of a DC person but I try to be very well round. Yet for some reason, the 90s and 00s were just a period of Marvel history that I have considerable gaps of knowledge.

   Published in 2008, Election Day to me marks the beginning of John Romita Jr's 'Big' period. I dunno if it's arthritis, or age, or just a change in styles, but this is the earliest accounts of all of the characters in his works becoming more barrel-chested and broad-faced. The art isn't lacking in quality and there are still glimpses of his iconic touch that made him a comic collector's household name in the 80s. But his artwork has definitely changed over the years.

   A very good volume that 5-6 years ago would've been priced in the $30-50 dollar range due to the hotness of Obama collectibles. But controversies, approval ratings, and the fickle nature of comic collectors have resulted in this book's value to drop considerably. I found my hardcover copy for $2.99 at Ollie's Discount!

    Take a gander for it, folks. You might get lucky like I did. And who knows... maybe after the election, this book might rise in price again...

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.