All-New Collectors' Edition #C-58: Superman Vs. Shazam! (Facsimile Edition)

I'm in no way criticizing the art skills of Dick Giordano or Rich Buckler. If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know that I am a huge fan of Giordano; having gotten to meet him at his very last con. As for Buckler, I loved his work on the earliest stories of the Marvel cyborg, Deathlok. So I believe that I have established respect for both artists. That being said, who drew the artwork for both the back half of this wraparound cover as well as many of the full sized and splash pages? They look like they were masterfully drawn by Neal Adams!

This facsimile edition is absolutely beautiful. The foil enhanced wraparound. The remastered colors of Adrienne Roy. The throwaway panel of what a brunette Supergirl would look like. This was a visual masterpiece from 1978!

An ancient wizard from a Martian civilization millennia before those of J'onn J'onzz' people, is seeking to end his singular mistake. In an attempt to become immortal, the mage got his wish. But not before first turning the rest of his kind into silent, tormenting phantoms. His hope is to place devices on two different Earths where they will vibrate in sync with the other and cause a cataclysmic explosion to should restore his people to their corporeal forms.

The two Earth's chosen are Superman's Earth-1 and Captain Marvel's home, Earth-S. To prevent the two heroes from discovering the devices, the wizard forces Black Adam and the 'Quarmmer', a duplicate of Superman made of living sand, to cloud the minds of the heroes so that they see each other as mortal enemies. Thus, fans finally get their wish: an epic battle that will definitively prove who is mightier? The Man of Steel or the Big Red Cheese?

The fight was epic. The team-up of Supergirl and Mary Marvel was awesome. The villain Karmang was pretty cool looking. But like most DC Comics of the late 1970s, the plot fell flat.

For one thing, I didn't quite understand Karmang's costume didn't really make sense. He's got these wicked looking eyeballs which adore the epaulets on his cape and apparently makes some fashionable earrings.  But he never uses them. They'd be really cool if they helped Karmang see the action occurring on the two Earths. Instead, he's got TV set-up sweeter than any wall of boob tubes at Circuit City. 

Another issue with the plot is the pacing. There are 4 acts in this issue, along with interludes and a prologue and epilogue. If writer Gerry Conway would've cut the unnecessary comic relief provided by Lois Lane and sports reporter Steve Lombard playing the role of cameraman, I think we could have gotten a much smoother ending that really hyped up the tension. Instead, we get Superman racing around the world to counter the pull of the magnetic field while Captain Marvel literally decides which color wire to clip on one of Karmang's devices. 

And as much as I enjoyed Supergirl being in this story, the ending where she and Mary Marvel fawn over each other's super hunky relative was clunky at best. At worst, it's a groaner and brother did I groan over that dumb ending...

At least we got an answer as to whether Supes or Cap are stronger than the two. At least for this clash.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DC's Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg #1

This year's annual holiday special from DC Comics is rather unusual. For one thing, they embraced the classic parodying of Jingle Bells with a cover and title that confirms that the Dark Knight indeed has odor issues.

Other than the cover, and a couple of cameos by millionaire Bruce Wayne, Batman doesn't star in any of the octet of Christmas stories in this book. But even odder is the complete absence of Harley Quinn. Is she no longer the darling of DC? And if you're looking for Poison Ivy who appears on the cover, you're out of luck. And the egg laying Damien Wayne only appears in a couple of panels at the beginning of one story.

The rundown of the holiday heroics are as follows:

• John Stewart teams with a substitute Santa when the Toyman steals the famed bag of toys from St. Nick's sleigh.
• John Constantine must save a woman targeted by death at midnight. However, it's magic that will save her but a kiss under the mistletoe by the Hellblazer.
• An old flame reappears in Vixen's life. With a reunion date set for Christmas, she has 12 days to find her old flame the perfect gift.
• Deadman comes across a Pennsylvanian mining town in need of a Christmas miracle after the local mine experiences a cave-in.
• The Secret Six introduces Bane to the concept of Secret Santa.
• The Joker gets a chance to see what Gotham City would be like if he was never born, with the Jason Todd Robin playing the role of the angel Clarence.
• Doctor Mid-Nite tries to help a down on their luck family during the holidays. But it might be his day job as a noted physician that saves the day.
• After an encounter with a different Toyman, Superman finds his entire body glowing like Rudolph on steroids. Watch as the Man of Steel runs through his gambit of foes to discover the source behind his illuminating predicament.

I liked that some of the lesser rans such as Doctor Mid-Nite and the Secret Six got a chance to shine. John Stewart's tale was adorable and I got a great kick out of the Joker's Christmas Carol. DC really wants Vixen to jump up to A-list status. This is like her 3rd appearance in a Christmas special in I think 4 years.

Major kudos to the Superman story which took inspiration from one of my personal favs, Superman: The Animated Series.

Every story was well written. But the art varied and most of it was not good. This was probably the least preachy holiday special issued by DC in decades. This was also the most Christmasy of the Christmas specials done in this modern format by the publisher EVER! Neither Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa or Ramadan is celebrated in any of these tales. Only Christmas! It really makes me wonder if DC is trying to stay under the radar of the incoming administration or is this the calm before the storm? Will next year's holiday special aim to skewer our returning President or is DC going to try and re-patch severed relationships with it's older readers, since they're the ones with the most expendable income?

These holiday specials are usually touchstones for the direction that the House That Superman Built is heading in the coming year. But I'm kinda flummoxed considering how uncontroversial this 80-page giant was. Not complaining. Just not sure what to expect next from DC...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Mera: Tidebreaker (Family Comic Friday)

Borrowing pretty heavily from the 2018 Aquaman movie starring Jason Momoa, Mera: Tidebreaker is a young adult graphic novel from DC's woefully short- lived DC Ink imprint. If you're expecting the traditional princess Mera from a water filled extra-dimensional world, you better stick to Silver Age floppies. Here, Mera is still royalty. Only now her kingdom of Xebel is subject to the rule of Atlantis. Betrothed to a prince she does not love, Mera seeks her own path, which she hopes is like that of her dearly departed mother: as a fierce warrior and benevolent ruler of her people.

In order to win her father's favor, Mera heads to the surface world in order to locate and kill the fabled exiled prince of Atlantis. Mera immediately finds him. Only Arthur Curry is nothing like she expected. He's kind, generous and just so gosh darn handsome. As Mera waits for the perfect time to commit regicide, she finds herself falling for the Atlantean as Arthur has no idea about his underwater heritage. Now with agents of her father coming to the surface in search of Mera, the princess of Xebel must decide to follow her destiny or her heart.

Tidebreaker was a good story that could have been great. Writer Danielle Paige, crafts a classic love story between the children of two rival kingdoms and she executed it with a totally modern interpretation of the Aquaman mythos. I didn't feel like Paige didn't do her homework in writing this teen graphic novel. She deftly digs into the rich history of these DC icons. It's only that the formula seemed off-kilter. 

There's very little humor. Okay, don't think there was any humor. Lots of melodrama. A fair smattering of drama. Lots of romance. Some action and adventure. Yet, any character that you'd feel might be a potential source of comic relief just isn't funny. Plus, things are pretty tame in a book recommended on Amazon for readers in grades 7-9. Yet then 3/4th of the way through this book, Paige throws in a fairly big swear. Not an F-bomb. But also kinda unnecessary based on how smoothly things had been since that and thus after. It's those little quirks that throw a perfectly good read off balance. 

At least I cannot complain about the art. In fact, Stephen Byrne actually manages to fix a pet peeve I have about photo-shopped artwork. In a few scenes, instead of drawing different characters that look uniform, the artist copies and pastes the same image to make it look like a swarming army of underwater warriors. But instead of leaving them to all look the same like some artists have done to an annoying degree, Byrne actually tweaks each character to be just a tiny bit different from the rest. I appreciate such touches in modern day comics that tend to see artists taking sloppy shortcuts.

I also loved the minimal palette of colorist David Calderon. The fiery orange hair of Mera stands out in a book full of muted grays and an assortment of hues based on sea foam green. For someone like myself who has partial color blindness, the look works to great effect and was greatly appreciated.

This book debuted way back in 2019 when DC execs thought that Mera was going to become a film franchise darling. And she almost did for a while. That's until Amber Heard was essentially cancelled due to her explosive history with then husband Johnny Depp came to light in a scandalous defamation trial. Once Heard was all but removed from the 2023 Aquaman sequel, plans for Mera to lead the DC Universe as the next Harley Quinn went up in a poof of smoke. That's probably why this book ends with the promise of a sequel and yet 5 years later, we've got bupkis. It's almost indicative of the DC Ink and DC Zoom imprints. Both had such promise and then DC turned their back on it. Thankfully, their line-up of planned stories that seemed so amazing, still saw the light of day. Even if it has taken half a decade to see all those dreams become realities. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight #3

A relatively harmless prank resulted in a misunderstanding that led to Santa Claus banishing Krampus to a nether realm. While in this 'negative zone', something caused Krampus to lose his mind. 

So now we know what turned Krampus evil. And we learn why the demonic being becomes a forgotten part of holiday lore. However, that's not what makes this issue worth the price of admission.

There's a ton of monsters unleashed in this issue. Big baddies. Ugly suckers. Some threatening to destroy London. A London defended by Wonder Woman and friends. But that's still not what makes this issue worth the price of admission.

What makes this the single most greatest DC holiday comic of them all is that childlike wonder of Superman in the presence of Santa. Add the contrasting skepticism Damian Wayne has towards Claus and you have this dichotomy of differing views on the magic of Christmas that is just universal. Marvel was a Scrooge this year focusing on a handful of Star Wars Life Day covers and variants of Avengers going skiing. I applaud DC Comics putting out such a book as this that promises to separate fans because of the subject matter. Yet, this is a timeless story that is for everyone and I believe it will become a DC classic.

Great story by Jeff Parker. Amazing covers by Dan Mora. Very good art by Michele Bandini.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock Vs. The Army of the Undead #1

Bruce Campbell has made a career out of over the top macho characters that have a smarmy sense of humor. Not afraid to step on anybody's toes, his works are terrifying, insensitive and kinda gross and I love it! When I found out last year that the Chin was writing a 6-issue horror themed Sgt. Rock miniseries, I immediately contacted my LCS and pre-ordered it. 

The first couple of issues were released in time for Halloween 2022. I was hoping that I would have the complete run in order to read it for last season's spooky reads. Unfortunately it wasn't until the Spring of this year that the 6th and final issue debuted in stores. That's okay. I get to enjoy the spooky offbeat fun this season!

It's 1944 and things are going really bad for the Nazis. Running out of resources, fuel and especially conscripts, Hitler has a plan to build up an army of the undead! To stop the zombie goose-steppers, the Army recruits their top non-com, Sgt. Rock and his boys of Easy Co.! The mission won't be easy though as Rock and his men will have to dive deep into Nazi territory to find where the ghouls are being manufactured. Added to the complexity of the assignment, these low-budget Deadites cannot be killed by normal means. You've got to take them out with a head shot and not just any head wound will do as there is a special device in each corpses' head that keeps them going. 

At least if they bite you, you won't turn into one of them. Right???

Issue #1 was a good start up. You get Hitler. You get Sgt. Rock. You know what the mission is and you're introduced to an assortment of tech that Easy Co. will use to go up against this army of the undead. It almost felt like the first 20 minutes of a James Bond film. Not exactly oozing with Bruce Campbell's humor and charm, but it's a very good first chapter.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.