Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #131

I don't know how I missed this. I don't know know how my favorite comic book shop missed this. A new Christmas issue of Scooby-Doo! 

In the cover story, the Mystery Inc. gang are visiting a toy convention where they're collecting toys for the annual Christmas toy drive for the nearby orphanage. Getting donations is going to be tough because an evil elf is terrorizing the attendees of the convention and stealing the toys to boot.

The secondary story is a reprint from the 2010s. It's not a Christmas story. But it features a character that has become affiliated with the holidays thanks to a nearly 60 years old holiday special. An indoor climbing facility is being terrorized by an abominable snowman! 

Derek Fridolfs wrote the main story. While it's set around Christmas, this was a mystery that could have occurred anytime of year. Christmas just happens to be when the story occurs. Except for a festive book-ending, you wouldn't know that the this was a holiday story. I mean Die Hard is more of a Christmas story than this tale.

But those first couple of pages were so Christmasy. I want to live in that world! Plus those supporting characters were so dynamic. I forgot that this was a Scooby-Doo comic. Major praises to artist Walter Carzon.

The Yeti story was kinda silly. Like why would a Bumble haunt a climbing wall? However, this was one of the most un-Scooby-like mysteries I've ever come across. It must be because of the writing talents of the amazing Sholly Fisch! To craft a mystery that has a trio of suspects that have nothing to do (directly) with the story and to make this primarily a story about the plan to take the culprit down - that's a true sign of this Hanna-Barbera comic master's mastery!

Not 100% Christmas. And some of the content is debatable. But I enjoyed the heck out of it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Looney Tunes #279 (Family Comic Friday)

With just a week until the beginning of the 2024 Oylmpics, I've discovered another major franchise is getting into the spirit of things. In the latest issue of DC's Looney Tunes (which dropped just last Wednesday), Bugs Bunny hosts The Looney Games. Everyone from Michigan J. Frog to Taz, Lola Bunny to Foghorn Leghorn is completing in hopes of winning a medal in the games. Of course, the ever too over-confident Daffy Duck thinks he's going to sweep all the categories. But when Bugs fires the starting gun for the first race, causing Daffy to panic that duck hunting season has begun early this year, you know things are in trouble for the wisecracking mallard. 

This summer has also seen several major soccer championships taking place all over the globe. So it's only fitting that the back-up feature involves the world's most popular sport. Bugs answers an ad for a soccer tournament, which instead turns out to be a trap for some of the Looney Tunes' most dastardly characters to scare up some victims for a host of mad experiments. It looks like Bugs' goose is cooked. That is until he demands his foes challenge him in a match or- horror of horrors- the rascally rabbit will get his lawyers involved! 

Featuring Witch Hazel, Gossamer and a character I didn't know even existed, the Looney Tunes version of Dracula: Count Bloodcount! You know Bugs will play dirty against this squad of villains and we all love it!

It's rare when I think that the second story is better than the cover feature. Yet, that's how I felt with this issue and the soccer story was a reprint from like 10 years ago! I felt that the Olympic themed story was just too jammed packed. Derek Fridolfs along with Robert Pope crafted some great gags. But would it have been a bad thing to have let these two take over the whole issue with the Looney Games story? Less is not always more when it's a rapid fire of joke-joke-gag-joke-pun!

Plus, poor Wile E. Coyote! There's a scene where he's given a baton in the relay race and right before he's sent to claim victory, an anvil smashes him flat. In typical fashion, he lifts a placard that bemoans 'Why can't I win?' That just broke my heart. Why can't the Coyote win a race? He's not trying to eat anyone. I demand justice! I want a rematch!

For the parents out there, this issue has the typical amount of violence using dynamite, bear traps and mallets. Nobody stays hurt. But of course, some of the youngest of readers might not understand that sort of misadventure has long-term consequences of injury. If Looney Tunes is something you allow the little ones in your life to watch on TV, then there's nothing offensive here in this comic. As usual, it's up to the level of maturity in the readers as to whether your family can enjoy this sports themed comic this year or will have to wait until the Olympics of 2028 for a read!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #126 (Family Comic Friday)

From the romantic looking cover between Daphne and a vampire as well as this book being released just this week, I was expecting it to be a Valentine's Day special issue. Instead, the theme of the pair of mysteries contained within, is books.

The first story does kinda reflect the cover. Daphne and Velma attend a midnight drop party for a highly anticipated book at a local bookstore. The reclusive author of the work makes a special appearance at the book shop, as does the star of the book: a dreamy vampire/zombie hybrid that wants revenge on the scribe for penning a second rate sequel novel.

Mystery #2 takes place at a library. Some rare manuscripts are going on display very soon and the Mystery Inc. gang have been hired in to prevent the tomes from being stolen. What no one expects is that not one but two ghosts are threatening to steal the antiquities. And there not just any old ghost but the spirits of famed bard William Shakespeare and Gothic novelist Edgar Allan Poe!

The opening adventure written by Derek Fridolfs was so unlike the standard Scooby-Doo formula. For one thing, Scooby barely makes an appearance. Fred and Shaggy take off to investigate a spirit haunting a buffet leaving the girls to solve the mystery for themselves. Plus instead of a ghost, it's a monster! And for once, the real villain isn't a businessman trying to buy real estate for cheap dressed as a ghost!!!

The second tale by Sholly Fisch, is a little more formulaic. But with the presence of a pair of ghosts instead of the standard solo spirit, the ending, while still predictable, was enough to make the reader feel like there was a real whodunnit to be solved. I only wished that the lettering of this story was a little more legible. One of the suspects is an experimental writer who goes by a unique name. Only I couldn't tell if their name was 'Z' or '2'. I think if the characters name was a little more easier to read, maybe I could have enjoyed the story a bit more. Plus if I knew that characters name, I would understand if Fisch was trying to use rhyme to make parts of the story flow better or not. Context is everything...

A fun all ages read that generations of Scooby-Doo fans will enjoy. A great opening story that skewers the Twilight series while satirizing it's fans. A decent follow up caper from one of my all-time favorite children's authors that was marred by indistinguishable font choices.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Grumpy Cat: The Grumpus and Other Horrible Holiday Tales (Family Comic Friday)

Although the world was only graced with 7 years of life of Grumpy Cat (real name: Tarder Sauce), the spirit of the prickly puss lives on. In a brand new collection of holiday stories, Grumpy Cat and her ever so positive brother Pokey, celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Three Kings Day in ways only feisty feline could. The title story of the Grumpus is Grumpy Cat's Christmas time warning to her brother that the holidays is not a season of glee but doom! Later we learn that cinnamon is Grumpy's greatest foe. Witness as aliens make first contact with Grumpy and Pokey in order to learn about Christmas. A malevolent spectre warns Grumpy of potential Christmas future troubles before this collection wraps up with Grumpy filling in for Old Saint Nick.

There have been Grumpy Cat (And Pokey!) comics before. But from what I can tell none of them were holiday specials. That means that the complete Grumpus and Other Horrible Holiday Tales is 100% all-new material! And I had a humongous amount of fun with this book!

There are a number of tales involved in this book including Steve Orlando, Derek Fridolfs and Silvia Bancora. Each story has differing art as well as differing ways of story framing. One tale is done in rhyme. Another is told partially. I'm thankful for that variety as I think if all the stories were told in a similar fashion, it would have gotten a tad stale. The main thing is that throughout 9 different tales, the snarky catatude of Grumpy and the wide-eyed wonder of Pokey never wavers!

Recommended by Amazon for readers aged 12-14 I think that there's something for everyone. Think the Grumpus, which is a Grumpy Cat version of Krampus or the Ghost of Christmas Future is too intense for the young readers in your life? Just skip those tales for the all-ages fun of the 'Grumpy Cat Vs. Merry Martians' or the hilarious chaos of the Hanukkah entry. Then in later years when those readers get old enough to read those slightly more intense Christmas Carols, it'll be brand new material for them!

A new holiday classic from a beloved feline icon. I miss Grumpy Cat.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Looney Tunes #272

A while back when I reviewed an all-Stupor Duck issue of Looney Tunes, I closed my post asking DC for an all-Duck Dodgers issue. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad!

Derek Fridolfs penned an all-new Duck Dodgers epic with the semi-heroic mallard being sent on a mission to the future to find a rare element. However, the time machine has a glitch and instead of sending Dodgers to the future, it sends him to medieval times. As Duck Dodgers keeps tinkering with the faulty time machine, our hero risks changing the time line; thus potentially preventing the existence of Earth's defense forces from alien invaders!

The reprint story at the end of the book, also by Fridolfs, sees Duck Dodger's sidekick, the Eager Young Space Cadet, getting promoted. Now he's Duck Dodger's superior! Of course, our 24 and 1/2th Century hero is NOT happy about this!

Sandwiched between the two Duck Dodgers stories is a classic Looney Tunes parody of Star Trek. From 1994, this Ivan Cohen story is a riff on everyone's favorite Star Trek movie, The Wraith of Khan! Seeing your favorite Looney Tunes characters dressed in the maroon uniforms was great and I loved the flashback scene of characters in those TOS tunics. 

Okay, so we didn't get 3 stories starring Duck Dodgers. Instead, we got an all-space parody issue and I am completely okay with that! That Star Trek send-up was hilarious! I guess if DC is paying any attention to my blog, I'm going to make another wish. I want an over-sized 80 or 100 page special of nothing but all-Christmas themed Looney Tunes stories (No reprints, if possible!) If DC isn't reading my Madman rants, then I guess I can dream, right?

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Looney Tunes #262

Daffy Duck is the star of this issue. More importantly, the focus is on Daffy's amazing superhero character Stupor Duck! Starring in a trio of stories!

Based on a 1956 Looney Tunes short of the same name, Stupor Duck is a parody of Superman, The Man of Steel. By day, Stupor Duck is Cluck Trent, a mild mannered reporter for a Large Metropolitan Newspaper, whose nose for news is questionable at best. In fact, that spotty track record is what kicks off our 3-story tribute to the Mallard of Steel.

In an all-new story by Derek Fridolfs, Cluck Trent finds himself out of a job. With the paper going digital due to a lack of sales, the managing editor sends Trent packing. With no employment, this means more time to be Stupor Duck. Only, the superhero makes a gigantic mess of everything along the way. 

The second adventure is a reprint story in which Stupor Duck attempts to help a citizen, played by Porky Pig, with the washing machine that took his money! Reprint story #2 (story #3 overall) is a tribute to legendary DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz who firmly believed that putting monkeys on the cover of his books resulted in massive sales. Here, Stupor Duck takes on a giant gorilla that is terrorizing the fair city. 

The two reprint adventures told more cohesive stories. The first adventure is an awful lot like that 1956 cartoon in which we see more of an array of super-heroic feats that end in hysterically bad ways. Like for instance, at one point, Stupor Duck comes across some bank robbers. But instead of seeing them as bad guys, the hero thinks the criminals are bank patrons who are having trouble accessing their funds. In the end, Stupor Duck helps the crooks rob the bank, feeling like he's a hero who just helped out a bunch of stand-up townsfolk. Add about 3-4 mishaps and Cluck Trent's job search has been all but forgotten while the city reels from the destructive good intentions of Stupor Duck!

I like the Looney Tunes comic book very much. It captures the spirit of the original cartoons very well. Knowing that this was an all-Stupor Duck issue is why I wanted it. This issue did not disappoint. There's just so much going on in that first story. I feel like maybe 10% of the antics of Stupor Duck could have been trimmed back in order to circle around back to a closing gag that would have again featured Cluck Trent's job search woes. I think that would have made for a better ending than the one we get. But the two reprint stories were masterpieces and I understand why DC decided to reissue them in this tribute to Stupor Duck. 

Now, could we get an all-Duck Dodgers issue as well?

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer

This year's giant-sized holiday annual from the folks at DC Comics seems to hit the right notes- literally! All 8 stories are titled after popular Christmas carols. And for the most part, DC got things right.

I've always said that DC is better when it's trying to be light and fun as opposed to going the Marvel route, which is realistic, dark and gritty. All 8 stories were great. But there was one that just wasn't holiday themed. 

The story titled 'Silent Night' was a brilliant story in which Granny Goodness has unleashed a series of satellites that has changed the brainwaves of the population of Earth. Instead of free speech, all anyone can say is the word 'Darkseid.' Turns out anytime someone says the ruler of Apokolips' name, the verbal praise gives energy to Darkseid's beloved Anti-Life Equation. Starring Black Canary and John Constantine, this was a great story that I could see being turned into a 5 or 6 issue long miniseries. But gosh darn it, despite the title, nothing had to do with Christmas. 

A majority of the stories were freakin' hilarious romps. The Superman/Wonder Woman crossover in which some poor guy with a head injury mistakes Krypto as a demonic reindeer, Harley Quinn meeting her Bit-Mite equivalent and title star Grifter getting the Li'l Gotham treatment from Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen and playing Grinch to the DC Trinity were all laugh out loud riots. 

The more serious stories were quite good. Maybe not as great as those more off-the-wall stories but I enjoyed them. Plus, the cover of former Wildstorm wild man Grifter actually getting run over by a Harley Quinn driven reindeer was great!

The past couple of holiday specials have gotten better- Halloween and Valentines included. I think DC is learning that alienating it's fan base through constant Trump references and trying to be relevant at the sake of quality storytelling and artwork is what has allowed the House that Superman Built to crumble. Not everyone can be Marvel Comics and when I read DC Comics, I want the type of stories DC was known for. This is more like those DC holiday specials I grew up with and I love it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Batman Tales: Once Upon A Crime (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime takes 4 classic children's stories and adds a Dark Knight twist to them.

+ Damian Wayne is home sick with a fever. In his dreams, he imagines that

he's a little wooden boy who dreams to become a real life sidekick. 

+ Detectives Bullock and Montoya are tasked with finding who stole a very

expensive diamond called ‘The Green Pea’. So let's haul in every baddie

Gotham has into questioning from Harley Quinn to Two-Face in order for Bullock and Montoya to get to the bottom of things.

+ Faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth is cleaning Wayne Manor when he falls

through the looking glass into Wonderland. They ought to call it Arkhamland

as all of the characters Alfred meets are from Batman's Rogue's Gallery.

+Lastly, Batman is assisted on a wintery night by a mysterious woman clothed

in snow and frost in this adaptation of Han Christian Andersen's The Ice Queen. 

Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen reunited to bring young adult readers this digest volume of myth and fable. In 2009, the pair first joined forces in the

creation of the L'il Gotham Universe where Batman's friends and foes are just a bit smaller and a whole lot cuter. Fridolfs and Nguyen's first entry was a short story in Detective Comics Annual #27. This resulted in a digital miniseries spin-off, the aptly named L'il Gotham.

 

In the digital series, Batman and son Damian celebrated the holidays in a way only the Caped Crusader can- fighting bad guys! On Thanksgiving they fight bargain shoppers and thieving birds during a scheme planned by the Penguin. On New Year's Catwoman contemplates whether to spend the next 12 months

on the straight and narrow or keep on as a master cat burglar. 

Once Upon A Crime continues with that same fanciful style first ushered forth in the annual and digital spin-off. Fridolfs and Nguyen are real students of the Batman Family. The creative duo seem greatly influenced by Batman: The Animated Series with appearances by series characters such as Roxy Rocket, Condiment King, Nora Fries and the Phantasm.

The second story which is modeled after The Princess and the Pea was the best of the quartet. Great dialogue and very creatively plotted. The Pinnochio story was pretty good as it paints a picture of what life would be like if Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul wed. I felt that the Wonderland story was just too gosh darn silly. Lewis Carroll's classics starring Alice weren't known for being

very logical. But that yarn lacks that mathematical edge that reflected Caroll's passion for numbers. Though Nguyen’s illustration of the Jabberwock was breathtaking.

The final story was very different in tone. That story was completely in verse. It also lacked the humor of the other 3 tales. I'm not very familiar with Andersen's The Ice Queen. Isn't this what Disney's Frozen is based on? If so, then geez did Disney take a lot of creative license. While I didn't really know the original source material, I really liked this story for its tragic journey that ends in hope.

For my reading challenge, I'm supposed to read and review a Young Adult Graphic Novel. Amazon classifies this book as being for readers aged 8-12. According to several educational websites, a Young Adult reader is one from ages 12-17. While I am on the low end of the spectrum of the age range with this book, I'm still meeting the qualifications for this task.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #35 (Young Adult GN) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. 

The Secret Hero Society, Book 3: The Detention of Doom (Family Comic Friday)

For today's Family Comic Friday, I want you to imagine that all of the members of the Justice League got their powers as kids. It's not that hard to believe since over 60 years of DC Comics history is filled with tales of Superman and Wonder Woman saving the day as little kids. It's occurring in the present as well with a teenage Bruce Wayne becoming the Dark Knight on Gotham.

Today's book selection is 'The Detention of Doom.' It's the third book in the DC’s young readers series, The Secret Hero Society. Written by Derek Fridolfs, this series follows a young Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Diana Prince and friends as they try to save their middle school from Lex Luthor and his band of bullies.

The Secret Hero Society books are one part graphic novel and one part chapter book. The prose parts of the book are written up as parts of the SHS’s dossier on the events of their most recent mission. Those parts are drafted up by Derek Fridolfs. On art is Fridolfs’ Lil’ Gotham partner Dustin Nguyen.

I'm a big fan of the seasonally themed Li'l Gotham. It's one of the main reasons I choose this book. 'The Detention of Doom' is also a pretty new release by DC Comics; bearing a copyright of 2018.

The book has Clark Kent mysteriously disappearing after winning an award for being a top student in the Gotham City school district. The Luthor Corp sponsored the event. Thus Bruce and the rest of the SHS are on high alert suspecting that Lex Luthor has something to do with Clark's vanishing.

While tinkering with the award, the pint-sized superheroes find themselves transported to another dimension. Filled with sand, a run down school and soul-sucking phantoms, the team think that they have found Clark! Well, he looks like Clark. Only this kid is paler than young Kent and a lot more bizarre.

I thought Dustin Nguyen's art was just great. He's never disappointed me before and he didn't here. Nguyen is supposedly working on a sequel to Li'l Gotham and I can't wait for it.

The writing was pretty good too. Great characterization of your favorite DC heroes as kids. But I thought that the plotting was a little confused at times. On more than one occasion, it's mentioned that a character or two have wandered off from the group. But a couple of pages later, they're back without any explanation.

I know that Fridolfs and Nguyen were splitting the writing duties based on what format the book switched over to. I'm wondering if when Derek Fridolfs wrote out a character he forgot to tell Dustin Nguyen and vice versa.

Plus, there's one scene where Bruce plays very fast and loose with the timeline. Yes, time travel is a big element in the DC Universe. But this instance felt like a cheat for the writers to get themselves out of very deep plot hole.

The Secret Hero Society books are recommended for readers 8-12 years old. There's nothing objectionable for younger readers if they'd like to give the series a shoot. But some of the terms are a little more advance. So younger readers may need an adult's help defining those words.

A very enjoyable blend of novel and comic book. It had a few kinks in the formula to work out. But it was a fun read. Now with DC recently announcing the formation of two new young reader imprints, I am more excited that ever to see what DC Comics has in store.

Who knows? Maybe one of those books will be my selection for an upcoming Family Comic Friday! Until next week- read more comics!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

SummerSlam 2017 Special

Writers: Box Brown, Ryan Ferrier, Aaron Gillespie
Artists: Derek Fridolfs, Kendall Goode
Published by Boom! Studios

Epic Battles

Next to Wrestlemania, SummerSlam has been the WWF/WWE’s top showcase. Some epic battles have happened over the years at the event. Hulk Hogan & the Macho Man Vs. Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant. Bret Hart Vs. The British Bulldog. And who can forget when the Undertaker fought the Undertaker?!

 The annual summer match-up is just a couple of weeks away. This year’s going to be a big one as it’s the 30th anniversary. In celebration of the event Boom! Studios has teamed with the WWE to bring fans the 2017 Summer Slam.

Major Talent

   The special gives background ‘stories’ to some of fans most beloved wrestling team-ups. Andre the Giant biographer Box Brown chronicles the class struggle between the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and elitist Macho King Randy Savage. D4VE’s Ryan Ferrier examines the twisted psyche of Mick Foley right before a match with the Undertaker. Looney Tunes’ Derek Fridolfs brings back those insane Australian wrestlers, the Bushwhackers. Then modern era grappler, Seth Rollins, in given nightmares by Lady Death’s Aaron Gillespie.

    Overall, these stories weren’t bad. The Mankind/Mick Foley story was a bit spastic but so is Mick Foley. I didn’t quite understand everything going on with the Seth Rollins story. But that's because I don’t really keep up with wrestling that much any more. But the stories set during the 80s and 90s were fun trips inside a scrapbook of SummerSlam memories.
 
  The artwork was pretty decent. Daniel Bayless, Rob Guillory, Fridolds, and others do some amazing work making these wrestling legends come to life. I only wish that Box Brown was allowed to give Dusty Rhodes and the Macho Man story his distinctive artistic touch. But hey, only getting the story by Box Brown is better than no Box Brown at all.

A Pessimistic New Day

   There was one story that I absolutely hated. Titled ‘The New Day’s Optimistic Odyssey’, it features the trio of wrestlers call ‘The New Day.’ My reasons were multiple. First of, all this was part 5 of a series. Okay, I get that but where are the other 4 parts to be found? So, right away, I didn’t understand anything that was going on. Why are there unicorns and marshmallow cereal everywhere?

    Secondly, and this is coming from my godson- the New Day’s gimmick is considered incredibly racist. My godson is African American and he’s told me that he and his friends had to stop watching WWE due to the New Day. He says it’s because of how the WWE portrays this stable of black gospel singing wrestlers as ‘stupid and dumb.’ I think the word he was going for was ‘stereotypes.’ But if it’s a good enough reason for my godson to not like, it’s good enough for me too!

Money Trouble

      Lastly, let’s talk price. The book retails for $7.99. In the past couple of years, I have shelled out eight bucks for holiday specials. But not for only 42-pages of material!!! It’s a special, I get it. So I could maybe pay $5.99. But eight bucks? If this was a 64-page or 72-pager, I could do it. But this price is just way too steep for me.

I suspect this one is going to wind up in bargain bins pretty soon and that's a shame. It's a decent collection of wrestling themed stories. But that price tag is going to put quite a few fans off of getting it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman: L'il Gotham: Volume 2

 

When volume one of this series came out, I couldn't sing its praises loud enough. So you could imagine how thrilled I was to get my hands on the companion piece. Well, this concluding volume by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs just couldn't hold a candle to the first.

   The genius of L'il Gotham is its devotion to the Batman mythos while focusing on the Caped Crusader's gallery of foes and the Batman Family during a particular holiday. But since a Flag Day story is probably pretty dull, Fridolfs had to get some ideas elsewhere.    
            
   That quandary has the series creators sending Batman to the island nation of Japan in an adventure with Aquaman. But by having them fight enemies of the King of Atlantis and no holiday theme available, this opening story didn't have that magic as other adventures have.

     Thankfully things do pick up in the next tale that involves Bruce Wayne going on vacation and getting kidnapped by pirates. But it isn't until Batman and son Damian go to Comicon that the fun and quality of the series returned to its original levels. At this point, we are back in the holiday season with fun times through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Sadly, when we get to the New Year, the series ends with flashback tale.

   Like many great series, this one ended too soon. Li'l  Gotham  was one of those rare all ages affairs that appealed to both kids and adults. But for whatever reason, this book only lasted for 12 short issues. The often great writing and always fantastic art makes this a must for any fan of the batfamily. In fact, a line of action figures based on Nguyen's designs is a fan favorite amongst collectors. Plus, holiday comics are always a special treat. And there are quite a few in this series. 

   Worth Consuming. 
  
   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.