Superman: Year One

Frank Miller, the godfather of the 'Year One' storyline, gives Superman the long overdue treatment in this deluxe sized Black Label tale. In other words - this very well could be an imaginary story. But I'd be totally fine with it being turned into canon.

The childhood story of Superman doesn't really change. His Kryptonian parents, knowing that their planet is doomed, ship baby Kal-El to Earth in hopes of becoming humanity's savior. Raised as Clark Kent by Kansas farmers, Kal-El learns the difference between right and wrong while forging a friendship with Pete Ross and a budding romance with Lana Lang.

Once Clark graduates high school, the origin changes. For the first time ever, in Act Two, we see Kent joining the Navy in hopes of learning what it means to be human while finding his place in this world as a god among men. Clark's romance with the mermaid Lori Lemaris takes an unusual twist with the Kryptonian becoming the ruler of Atlantis, after defeating her father in combat.

It appears that Frank Miller is really going to challenge the established legend of Superman by having him become a super-powered Aquaman. But that's all but forgotten in the final act; just as Clark's relationship with Lana becomes nothing more than a memory by the time he finishes basic training. When Superman meets Lois Lane in a great twist on their first appearance in the crashing helicopter trope, the very young Man of Steel just gives up his life in Atlantis, enrolls in journalism at a nameless University, and becomes an intrepid investigative reporter at the Daily Planet. 

This is not a 365 day year in the life of Superman. It's more of a series of snap shots in the first 25 or so years of life of Clark Kent. This makes for some inconsistencies in the plotting, a ton of forgotten friends and family, and an ending that didn't feel like the end. I wouldn't be surprised for a Superman: Year Two to be announced sometime in the future. Though this book is from 2019, so our chances of that might be dwindling...

As for John Romita, Jr.'s artwork, it too was inconsistent. But it's actually something that works in his favor. In my late 40s, I understand that when you have a career that involves your hands, arthritis and age are your worst enemies. Jr.Jr.'s art has really suffered over the last decade. But when he shines, he really shines here. There were several pages that I spent a long, long time marveling at his dynamic drawings. Powerful renderings. Amazing angles. Kick ass action. It helped improve my rating for this book that feels in desperate need of a director's cut edition.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Bizarre Adventures #28

This black and white magazine from Marvel is a must have for Elektra fans. It contains the assassin and Daredevil love interest's first ever solo story. With art and story by creator Frank Miller, it alone is worth the asking price which seems to range online from $20-50 bucks. Maybe it's because it's a magazine. Or maybe the asking price is less than I would have expected as maybe collectors don't know about it's importance. I know that I got lucky having bought it for only a buck at a thrift store a few years back.

A trio of characters make their first ever appearance debuts in this issue. Neal Adams, Doug Moench and Larry Hama present the Shadow Warrior; perhaps the world's smallest ninja and America's only hope against the infiltration of a cadre of brainwashed American soldiers trained by an Asian operative to overthrow our government. 

Archie Goodwin, Michael Golden and Steve Mitchell introduce readers to the world of the Huntsman. From what I can tell, this is the only appearance of the character and that may very well have been because of how much the world of the cracker jack Huntsman named Ballard is a lot like that of the dystopian sci-fi thriller Logan's Run. Citizens who must die at age 35, bounty hunters stalking 'defiers', those who wish to extend their lives by escaping into the wilderness and there's even a floating arena where winners who make it to the victory ring atop the domed ceiling can live longer lives in luxury. I wonder if Marvel got a cease and desist order from 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement. 

Upon further research, it turns out that I was right. Only in reverse. In 1975-76, Marvel Comics had the rights to produce a comic book based on the film starring Michael York. Only, the House of Ideas had the rights to adapt the film, which they did as a 5-parter. When Fox learned that Marvel was continuing on with new adventures, the studio made them stop. Issue #7 was the last issue, which supposedly ends with a never resolved cliffhanger. 

'Huntsman' was a story that was going to run in a future issue of Logan's Run. But due to the sudden cancellation resulted in the project getting shelved. Never one to let paid work sit unpublished, Goodwin and Golden made some adjustments to the story; enough to satisfy legal and the forgotten story finally saw print several years later in 1981.

It must of been Assistant Editor's Month at Marvel because two of Goodwin's assistants supplied a story for this issue. Mary Jo Duffy and Wendy Pini place the Inhuman Triton in an ecological heavy adventure involving a wrecked oil tanker and modern day pirates.

If you've been paying attention to this review, you'll remember I said that this book contains 3 debuts. Lastly, Steve Skeates and Steve Smallwood introduced a rather odd little fellow named Bucky Bizarre. In his premiere, this guy is a time traveler who winds up in the 1950s, where non-conformity is a thing to be mocked and berated. Bucky tries to help a living garbage heap that came alive because of pollution and nuclear water only to set up the punchline to a really awful plotline. 

I'm really torn about this issue. Having the Elektra story makes it sorta valuable. Only I don't really have room nor a bag and board for a magazine sized book. I think the materials to keep it pristine and clean are more important than having a place to keep it. If I could get it, that would be great.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Mysteries #2 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Ms. Tree was created by crime novelist Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty. She made her debut in 1981 in the pages of Eclipse Comics' anthology series Eclipse. The idea behind the creation of Ms. Tree was inspired by mystery novelist Mickey Spillane and his character Velda, the spitfire secretary of private eye Mike Hammer. According to Collins "What if Velda and Mike Hammer eventually got married, and on their honeymoon he was murdered?- that's Ms. Tree!

A play on the word 'mystery', Ms. Tree is a widow who takes over her husband's detective agency after his murder. In her first story titled 'I, for an Eye', the private investigator captures the murderer; uncovering ties to the Muerta Crime Family in the process.

This begins a private war between Tree and the Muertas that will unfold for years throughout the pages of her first solo title Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Mysteries. Eventually Tree's stepson fell in love and married one of the daughters of the Muerta Family's matrons. The Muerta declared Ms. Tree as 'family' and the feud was quashed before eventually going legit. In this 1983 issue, Tree is ambushed by a highly skilled hit-man, who is also a master of disguise, and is wanted for the murder of the daughter of one of the Muerta brothers. Recovering from her assault, Ms. Tree takes on the case as things have just gotten personal and if she can bring down the mobster who ordered the hit on her hubby; all the better!

Ms. Tree's publication history is just about as complicated as her family tree. After issue #3, the title was shortened to simply Ms. Tree. Eclipse stopped publication after issue #14. Eclipse publisher Dean Mullaney, the book was cancelled due to low sales. However Collins has gone on record defending the book's popularity; instead claiming that once his contract with Eclipse was up, he got a better offer to publisher the continuing adventures of Ms. Tree with Cerebus publisher Aardvark-Vanaheim. 

The legacy numbering for Ms. Tree continued with issue #15 at Aardvark-Vanaheim. When married co-publishers Dave Sim and Deni Loubert divorced in 1984, Loubert formed her own house, Renegade. Ms. Tree, along with titles such as Flaming Carrot and normalman, were retained under the new company as Sims departed with his intellectual properties. Three issues of Ms. Tree were co-published as Aardvark-Vanaheim/Renegade as the company restructured. 

Ms. Tree made it to issue #50, just as Renegade was going defunct in 1989. However, Ms. Tree wouldn't languish in comic book purgatory for long. In 1990, she found a new home as DC Comics. No longer a monthly series, the detective would pop up about every 3 months in the pages of Ms. Tree Quarterly. The title ended with issue #10 in 1993.

It would be almost 25 years before the world saw the return of Ms. Michael Tree, which is not only the first name of her deceased beloved, but her actual birth name as well. Collins wrote a few short stories about the character around the time she was being published by DC. In 2007, Collins collaborated with the imprint Hard Case Crime to produce the full length novel Deadly Beloved. Terry Beatty even got in the act, painting the book's cover. Sister publisher Titan Comics would eventually reissue the entire Ms. Tree comic portfolio with the Eclipse run, all the way through her tenure at DC Comics in a 6-volume compendium. 

Along with the continuing Ms. Tree story, this issue introduces a new vigilante hero called the Scythe. Created by Dean Mullaney, the Scythe is a private investigator named Roger Loring by day. A contract killer called the Button Man is killing detectives who are snooping around a criminal playground called Patterson's Dancehall. Figuring that the mysterious killer cannot assassinate someone they don't know, 'Rog' dons a cowl and wields a whip with a silver hook at the end. 

Frank Miller contributes a 2-page center spread pin-up devoted to famous detective Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe.

Collins and Beatty also contributed to a one-page interactive whodunnit called 'The Mike Mist Minute Mist-eries.

Completing this review completes Task #22 (With an Original Cover Price of $1.00) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Power Man and Iron Fist #73

In the opening half of a two-part crossover, the Heroes for Hire are tasked to investigate the murder of a woman whom ROM the Spaceknight identifies as a Dire Wraith hiding as a human. 

Akira's Jo Duffy pens an exciting first act that features cameos from a bunch of Marvel characters including the Fantastic Four. I don't own this issue. I was fortunate to have a buddy who had a PDF of this issue. I do have the companion issue, ROM #23. 

I have the entire run of ROM. I am looking forward getting to read it one day. But I have a feeling that with the number of crossovers in this series, a lot of the story is going to be missing in the regular series of the characters ROM encounters. Plus, since Marvel doesn't own the rights to ROM anymore, I have a feeling that some sort of complete omnibus of ROM stories from the House of Ideas will never happen.

Featuring an amazing cover by Frank Miller. Greg LaRocque (Moon Knight) does the interiors. He does a great job, but it would have been epic to have the Daredevil artist doing the artwork of the entire story and not just that psychedelic cover!

Lots of fun done in the mighty Marvel way of the 80s. Some of EIC Jim Shooter's best!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander #1

Xerxes #1 (The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander)

Written and Illustrated by Frank Miller
Colors by Alex Sinclair
Logo Design by Steve Miller
Published by Dark Horse Comics

The Wait Is Over

Twenty years after the release of Frank Miller’s opus 300, the master has returned to ancient Greece to continue the story of the god-king Xerxes. This series had been promised as a sequel to 300 but the first chapter actually takes place prior to the events of King Leonidas at Thermopylae. So Xerxes is a prequel/sequel hybrid instead.

Miller’s art is unchanged. His brilliant use of shadows, blinding colors and splatters of ink are just like the art was in 300. Miller studied the art techniques of the Greeks, Syrians, and Persians at the time of 490 BC and masterfully blends it into an epic retelling of war and honor. But visual appeal can only get you so far in a comic book.

Issue 1 of 5

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book for quite some time. But when I first read 300, in was in a collected over-sized form. Unlike a majority of trades, 300 was published in a way that looked like an over-sized square children’s picture book. That same kiddie book format is how Miller has rendered this continuing story.

Unfortunately, Dark Horse decided not to release this book in the format Miller obviously intended. All of the proportions are thrown off. It’s like when you watch an old TV show from the 70s on a big screen 2018 model television. The characters look like they are being seen through a fun house mirror.

This change in format often makes the characters on film sound funny too. Obviously, there’s no sound in Xerxes, except what is in the readers mind. However, using a rectangular standard format instead of square like with Archaia’s Mouse Guard makes for some tough reading. The word bubbles and narration are so tiny in this issue that magnifying glasses should be sold with every copy.

Ready Upon Completion

As much as I am excited that the story Frank Miller began two decades ago is finally seeing print, I am going to wait for the entire book to be collected into one volume. I have very good reason to believe that Xerxes will be released in the correct format that Miller intended as that is what Dark Horse did 20 years ago with 300. Plus with the jumping storyline throughout the Persian Wars, I think the collected volume with be easier to follow especially with such a massive cast of characters.

Frank Miller proves in this first issue that he’s still got it. I just wish that Dark Horse had as much faith in him as this reader does and would have released this issue in a 9×9 sized. The production move would have made this issue much more easier to read. And in terms of plotting, the pacing of the book would flow much more smoother, like blood from the spear of a Persian warrior.

I’ll just have to wait until later this year in collected form to finally appreciate it complete.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Dark Knight III: The Master Race

The latest chapter in the Dark Knight saga by Frank Miller has Bruce Wayne dead after being unable to recover from injuries in a battle with a super-powered Lex Luthor. Cassie, the Dark Knight's former apprentice has taken up the mantle of the Bat and has declared war on the corrupt cops of Gotham.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is ruling Themyscira alone with her new son; the product of a union between the Amazon and Superman. While their eldest daughter seeks her place in the world, the Man of Steel has exiled himself to the Fortress of Solitude after an unknown defeat. When a forgotten evil presents itself as the savior of the human race, which side will both Cassie and Lara, the Last Daughter of Krypton, take?

Yes, a lot seems to have transpired from the events of the Dark Knight Strikes Again. Some things which seem to contradict said events. For example, in the sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Green Lantern had become just a source of Emerald power. Yet here, Hal Jordan has seemingly returned to human form and no explanation is given.

One of the reasons for these inconsistencies maybe that Frank Miller isn't doing the majority of the writing here. Instead, it's 100 Bullets Brain Azzarello who has taken on head writing duties. Miller is still involved in the project but at the time of production he was suffering from a number of health problems. Thus Azzarello's need to take over.

Unlike in the first two books, Miller does more art. Original series artist Klaus Janson is still around but he is on inking duty only here. Frank Miller is instead assisted by Andy Kubert for a majority of the nine issue series. But it's what Miller focuses on throughout this mini's run was my favorite part of the Master Race. 

At the end of each issue was series of tie-ins called The Dark Knight Universe Presents. These back-up features focused on characters mainly unexplored in Miller's Dark Knight universe such as the Atom and Aquaman. I actually wanted more of those stories than the main story of the Master Race I was presented. 

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this chapter in the Dark Knight story. But I enjoyed the back-ups more. I am told that a fourth volume is in the works and if so, I really hope Miller focuses more on the supporting cast as they were a lot more interesting to me than what was going on with the DCU Trinity.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars. 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

    Have you ever heard of String Theory? It's a principle of quantum mechanics in which you look at time as a string. On one end of the string is the past and on the other is the future. Now imagine that you put a little red bead on the string. That bead represents you in the present and as time moves on, the bead keeps moving to the right: the future. 

   Well, if you take that string and roll it into a ball parts of the past will touch the future. At the same time, some part of the past and future are touching the present as well. Some say this is how you'd be able to explain time travel. But this idea also represents how stories with time paradoxes can operate. In these type of stories, dinosaurs end up in the modern era or Ben Franklin goes on a walk with Marilyn Monroe and Brad Pitt in 1600 Venice. 

   So why have I am discussing temporal physics when I should be reviewing Sin City: A Dame to Kill For which isn't about time travel but a gritty crime noir film based on a series of comics by Frank Miller?

  A Dame to Kill For was like someone took all of Miller's Sin City tales and threw them into a blender. Characters who were killed off in the last film appear in starring roles. Stories that happened in the last film haven't occurred in this one yet even though some of those previous events did. Don't even get me started on one character whose new appearance is explained by a plastic surgery that happened in the last film but didn't happen prior to the beginning of this movie. It's all very confusing.

   The problem with all of this is that instead of making Sin City(2) either a prequel or a sequel. Co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller decided to make this film both! I'm pretty sure they teach not to do that in Film Making 101. But with the scrambled timeline, you really don't need to see the first film to understand what goes on in a Dame to Kill For.

   If you can get over the initial confusion of the warped timeline, A Dame to Kill For is a pretty good movie. But it's no Sin City! Both films use creative CGI and green screen techniques to make this look like a comic book comic to life. The acting, especially of Mickey Rourke as Marv and Powers Booth as the slimy Sen. Roarke was quite good. But there was a spark missing from the formula that just didn't make the second film hold a candle to the original. 

   With lots of gore, sex, profanity, and violence, this is a gritty drama done in the classic Frank Miller fashion. So, that being said, this ain't for kids. But if you are Frank Miller fan like I am, you will enjoy this. 

   Rodriquez is from that school of film like Tarantino in which they both love to play around with director's cuts and reissue 'definitive' editions of their movies every so often. I think if Robert Rodriguez would take both Sin City films and re-edit them into a way that they were as one film in correct temporal order, you'd have a much more superior film that's more enjoyable to watch and it probably won't have you pausing the movie every 5 minutes and going on Wikipedia to find out what just happened.

    I'm waiting for that edition and hopefully, it will come packaged with one of Miller's Sin City graphic novels as a bonus.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
   

Tales to Offend #1

 The cover to this book looks like those old EC Comics that I just adore. That's why I picked it up. Up until then, I'd never heard of this book and I thought at first that  it was a just a parody of those old comics from the 50s published by Dark Horse Comics. But to dig under the surface, I learned that this 1997 one-shot was so much more.

   The comic was written and penciled by comics legend Frank Miller. His cover story is a series of sci-fi short stories starting a character named Lance Blastoff. This is the first time I've ever heard of Lance, but from trolling the web and Facebook, he's sort of a cult hero. Lance is rude, crude, and likes to have his way with the ladies. He's a lot like Lobo without the bloodshed or Han Solo without the heart of gold. He's serviced in more ways than one by a squad of sex-starved, busty fembots while he tours the galaxy in search of a quick buck.

   This book also features a short story set in Miller's Sin City universe. It's got all of Miller's great black and white artwork, along with a sick twist ending and lots of grit, sex, and dames to die for- literally.

   The book may seem very rough around the edges. With a title like 'Tales to Offend,' you could think that Miller's got this "Who gives a F#@%?" mentality. That is until you get to the last page. There, you uncover yet another layer to this book. Miller explains that this comic is his gift to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. As you know, I'm a big supporter of the CBLDF and it's work to oppose censorship in the comics industry. When I have a chance, I donate money. But often I use my time and energies spreading the word of this important charity. For someone like Miller to devote his time and talents and not get a dime is so Miller and as kick-ass as Blastoff himself.

    Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Wolverine (2013)

The Japan Saga is supposed to be the quintessential Wolverine solo story. Written by Chris Claremont with assists and pencils by Frank Miller, the story is Wolverine at his best both as a mutant hero and as an honorable rogue. So, when it was announced that the next Wolverine film will be set in Japan, I was immediately thrilled to the possibilities.

The opening sequence in which Logan is a POW outside of Nagasaki at the end of WWII was awesome. I thought to myself that I am in for a treat. Instead, I feel like I was sorely tricked. The film, while made years after X-Men 3, takes place just a few months after the events in which Wolverine kills Jean Grey. Haunted by her ghost, he’s a shell of his former self and unwillingly goes to Japan to honor an old debt.

Right off the bat, things just don’t seem right- Logan loses his mutant healing factor and can be killed. Hmmm…. This sounds oddly familiar to the Death of Wolverine story arc getting set up for a September climax in which the clawed one supposedly dies. My theory is that by having Wolverine die, it reboots his healing factor and he emerges bigger and badder than before. That’s what happens at some point in this film and I would not be surprised if that happens next month.

Along with some anemic fight scenes and a convoluted family battle over a pharmaceutical company, I wasn’t very happy with The Wolverine. The only real saving grace is the addition of Wolverine’s true love Mariko. Played by first time actress Tao Okamoto, Mariko’s character as well as her childhood friend Yukio, steals every scene that they are in.

Usually, a love story is box office poison to a superhero film (See Superman II.) But since Wolverine’s Japan saga is a love story underneath the layers of honor, Yakuza, and gore, it makes sense that those scenes are the best scenes in the entire film.

There’s a very confusing character named Viper. She’s a mutant geneticist, who has the ability to produce toxins that can damage even Wolverine. But she’s supposedly based on Madame Hydra in the comics. With the whole “Hail Hydra” storyline in both Winter Solider and Agents of SHIELD, I’m not sure if this Viper person has anything to do with that or not. Since Fox owns the rights to X-Men, I doubt it, but it makes for some confusing settlement of tangled plotlines and in-house box office politics.

Speaking of Fox, the secret scene at the end of the film is awesome. I won’t spoil what happens but it sets up this year’s X-Men Days of Future Past feature. Despite my dislike of this film, the extra scene had me pumped ready to see the next film as soon as I can find a copy of it for rent or cheap!

Not Worth Consuming.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Batman: Turning Points

Turning Points is a five issue series that highlights the strange friendship between Jim Gordon and the Dark Knight. Taken from their earliest encounters, we see the strange evolution of begrudging trust mold into a symbiotic guardianship of Gotham City. Unwavering partnership was never the final destination of these two. As long of Gordon never really knows whose under the cowl, there will be the slightest doubt as to the Caped Crusader ability to not cross the line from vigilante into ruthless criminal.

Each issue features a famous artist and writer duo from the past 70 some odd years of Batman’s career. I loved issue one very much as it was a return to Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One storyline. Though, I wish they’d got Miller to do the writing or at least the plotting. Other issues involve Gordon going up the GCPD ranks from Lieutenant to Captain to ultimately Commissioner while Batman goes through a number of partners and gains members of the Batman family.

I do wish that the fourth issue wasn’t set when Azrael was the Batman. I know that that issue highlighted the doubt that will forever linger in the back of Gordon’s head like I mentioned earlier. I just wish that all five chapters could’ve involved the Bruce Wayne Batman. Also, I think a sixth issue epilogue would’ve been great. That one could’ve been set during the Dark Knight Returns timeline and maybe in a twist featured the Batman: Beyond Caped Crusader rising to ranks as the new protector of Gotham City.

While that story would’ve been awesome, the final chapter is a unique and heartwarming ending to events that unfold in issue 1. Thus a cycle of what is old is new again is complete. So, despite my fan boy dream team, I think Turning Points ended as strongly as it began a fantastic tribute to two of the DC Universe’s most trusted crime fighters.

Worth Consuming.

Rating:

Issue 1: 10, Issue 2: 10 Issue 3: 7, Issue 4: 3 Issue 5: 9

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10

Superman: The Secret Years #4 (of 4),

Well, the joy couldn’t last. Once again, Superboy is down in the dumps. First his arch-enemy escaped Juvenile, then his roommate was paralyzed from the waist down after drunk driving, then his girlfriend turned out to be a mermaid who went back to live with her people. To top things off, Superboy’s best friend died in a fiery accident and the Boy of Steel was just seconds too late to save him.

 

In order to ease his pains, Superboy goes off to live with the survivors of the Bermuda Triangle, who were discovered to have found paradise in a parallel universe a couple of issues ago. With Superboy gone, all hell has broken loose as Lex Luthor has taken control of the USA’s nuclear arsenal and will destroy earth, unless the Boy of Steel agrees to die at Chrome Dome’s hands.

How will this work? Well, let’s just say that Luthor’s come up with a way to steal Superboy’s powers and thus if and when Superboy ever answers Luthor’s challenge it’s going to be an uneven fight in the opposite direction.

The biggest conflict in this issue isn’t if Superboy will defeat Luthor but will he be reached in time to keep earth from being vaporized. Remember, Superboy is on a parallel earth and despite super-hearing can’t hear Luthor’s global communiqué. Thankfully Superboy created a sort of dog-whistle and pre-cursor to Jimmy Olsen’s signal watch in order to give to his best friend in case of emergency and we all know how that turned out.

Perry White in his pre-editorial days at the Daily Planet plays a major part in this conclusion to the Secret Years. 'Where’s Superboy?' has become the leading headline and solving this question could earn the reporter who breaks that story a Pulitzer- and editorship of the Planet. I’m just glad White was around to offer some sage fatherly advice that Clark Kent has sorely been missing in this mini-series. So, all-in-all, I was very happy with how this series ended.

Lastly, I want to talk about the cover art. It features a pre-Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller. I’ve really enjoyed these covers. But, this one of Superman in a very patriotic pose is one of my favorites. It’s classic Superman!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars (Overall series rating: 8.75)

Marvel Fanfare #18

A darn fine cover by the terrific Frank Miller.

Captain America faces off against an arson ring. The story seems awfully similar to a previous Fanfare story in which Daredevil fought against a firestarter. Later, readers will comment that this story wasn’t the right fit for Capt. and I am willing to agree. It’s like Marvel had decided it’s time for another Captain America story but didn’t have one ready, so they erased Daredevil and drew the American Hero over him.

I enjoyed the issue, it’s just that not all the pieces fit correctly to make for a superb story.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Criminal Vol. 2: Lawless

An escapee from a military prison returns to his home town to solve the mystery of his brother’s murder. His list of suspects is comprised of lil' bro’s former crew, whose most recent heist went sour and were the last folks to see him alive. Finding answers will also lead to discovering some painful family secrets as well.

The grit and grime of volume 1 have spilled over into this volume and it totally works. I thought each Criminal volume was a separate story. However, the speakeasy and some characters from volume 1: Coward appear in this story. While Lawless is a stand alone tale, Criminal is a brilliantly crafted series that weaves a mosaic of deceit, sex, and murder. Awesome stuff!

Worth Consuming.

"Wolverine" — by Frank Miller (The Japanese Saga)

WORTH CONSUMING!

Excellent story and amazing art! A fantastic independent story of the Clawed One in the Land of The Rising Sun. The Afterword by Frank Miller is worth the book alone. A+++

If you want to learn more about Wolverine’s Japan origins read Essential X-Men Vol. 1 and 2.

 

"The Complete Frank Miller Batman" — 2006

WORTH CONSUMING!

This book contains three stories. Batman: Year One-five stars. Wanted: Santa Claus, Dead or Alive-five stars. Dark Knight Returns-three stars (great story, but art is downright goofy.)