Get Fury #5

In the penultimate issue of this 2024-25 miniseries, Frank Castle initiates his rescue of Nick Fury from the confines of the Hanoi Hilton. Meanwhile dirty CIA operatives Steve and Dave convince General Mackie to send out a group of commandos to eliminate Castle and Fury, branding them Communist double agents. 

It's a really powerful chapter, especially when seen through the eyes of Lt. Castle. As much as he needs to free Nick Fury from the notorious North Vietnamese prison, it's killing Frank to have to overlook the hundreds of other American POWS being held under deplorable conditions. 

Man, I just brainstormed  what would be a freaking awesome What If... What if the Punisher existed during the Vietnam War? Have Castle's wife killed while he's in Nam. Have him lose all care and go all Rambo, armed to the teeth, staging a raid on Hóa Lò. Through in a few characters from 1990's The 'Nam series. Have Larry Hama and Garth Ennis pen it together. Give it the Marvel MAX treatment. I would be first in line, pre-ordered for that epic! Think it over CB Cebulski! 

An awesome issue that opens up a multiverse of opportunities.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #4

Col. Nick Fury has arrived at the notorious Hanoi Hilton. Lt. Frank Castle has established himself in the capitol city of North Vietnam, posing as a Soviet army advisor. But his Russian is limited and he's leaving a trail behind him everywhere he goes. Thankfully, Castle has found a pair of allies that have a way of getting inside the prison and they both have a history with Nick Fury. That's because one of them is Fury's former lover and the other is Nick's daughter.

Meanwhile, back at base, CIA agents Steve and Dave have uncovered further evidence that Castle and Fury are working together to end the agency's drug trade in Cambodia. Instead of following his orders to execute Nick Fury, it's becoming increasingly clear that Frank is going to rescue the Colonel. This is calling for a Plan B, which will mean the elimination of both Fury and Castle.

The scenes involving Frank Castle were perfect. I wouldn't change a thing; especially the whole added dimension of Nick's daughter being added to the mix. As for the scenes where Dave has figured out that Frank Castle was the last person to select for the Nick Fury mission, I understand the importance of those scenes. I just found that they went too freaking long. This is a 6 issue miniseries. But if Garth Ennis could have made the CIA scenes a little more streamlined, Get Fury could've ended in 4 issues. 5 tops.

I know that nothing that the CIA did in Southeast Asia was anything but concise or ethical. But I still felt like I could have done without a majority of it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #3

So you might be wondering how in the heck is Frank Castle able to operate in downtown Saigon in the middle of daylight. He's over 6 feet tall and whiter than paper. Not exactly the most Asian looking bloke in the heart of Communist Vietnam. He sticks out like a sore thumb.

It turns out that just as the South Vietnamese had American advisors, the North had advisors from the Soviet Union. This was totally new information to me but it makes total sense. So using what little amount of Russian he knows and his amazing array of survival skills, Castle is making do. But he's also leaving a rather long trail of bodies in his wake 

Back at base camp, there's a third party at play that I haven't mentioned in my previous 2 reviews: a pair of dirty CIA operatives named Steve and Dave. They've been involved in the illegal drug trafficking scheme in Cambodia; which is where Fury was captured by North Vietnamese forces. They believe that Col. Fury discovered the illicit trade and was in route to spill the beans on the whole operation. Thus why the push to send Lt. Castle into enemy territory to neutralize the future Director of SHIELD.

However, when a different pair of CIA spooks wind up dead in a locale that neither man would have frequented in a million years, Steve and Dave smell a rat. It turns out that the one guy to send to eliminate Nick Fury was the wrong G.I. to send. Because Fury and Castle have history. It turns out Nick has been using Frank to wipe out the loose threads dangling from the Cambodian drug trade.

Things just got complicated. Why couldn't Garth Ennis have just made this a simple extraction caper? Maybe you can't have the Punisher going after Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD without any sort of permanent repercussions. But did Ennis have to make the reason for Castle not eventually going through with his mission so freaking complex that I feel like I need one of those charts with the red strings going all cattywampus like an obsessed conspiracy theorist might have up in their bedroom??? 

The action parts are fantastic. The introduction of clandestine government programs was muddling at best. Yeah, I know that the CIA did some really unethical and illegal stuff in Southeast Asia during Nam. I have no doubt that they're still doing something in the name of American interests that would result in plausible deniability if the agents running the scams were ever found out in the open.  I just didn't need it's historical insertion into this story.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Get Fury #1

When this miniseries was first advertised in Previews, I put it on my wish list. I didn't need to buy the issues new. But I am a big fan of Nick Fury, owning complete runs of many series, titles and one shots involving various incarnations of the character. Considering that Fury fought in World War II and Korea, it's natural to assume that the one-eyed super spy was poking around Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. 

In Get Fury, Nick has been captured by North Vietnamese forces while involved in a clandestine operation in Cambodia. CIA Intel has information that Fury is being transported to the infamous Hanoi Hilton POW prison, where he will be tortured until he reveals every little government secret hidden in the folds of his brain. To prevent sensitive information from getting to the Communists, Lt. Frank Castle, currently on his third tour of duty, has been assigned to enter Hanoi, infiltrate the prison and assassinate Nick Fury before his torturous information sessions can begin.

Get Fury was written by Garth Ennis. Had I known that, I probably would have skipped putting this title on my radar. I'm just not a fan of the North Irish writer. His stories have tons of blood, viscera and the F-word. Plus he's no fan of the American government, or just about any world power, unafraid of upsetting the skeletons in any nation's closet. Ennis is a lot like Tarantino; only without the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. At least he refused to kill the puppy!

This 2024-25 miniseries marks the long awaited return of the Marvel MAX imprint. In other words, the House of Ideas version of Vertigo. If you ever wanted to see Nick Fury operating outside of the confines of the Comics Code, this is your chance. It's rather unsettling as I prefer the character when presented as a Our Man Flynn type of secret agent with an unlimited budget and madcap imagination. I'm going to trudge through this 6-issue series all the way through to the end. I just don't think that I'm going to like it.

Fantastic cover by Dave Johnson. Love this homage to the first appearance of the Punisher!

Worth Consuming, so far...

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Doomed and the Damned #1

I am a huge fan of crossovers. My collection is full of titles that generally pits a well known superhero like Spider-Man or Batman with an assortment of pals ranging from A-list allies such as The Human Torch to B-listers such as Plastic Man to never-rans like the one-time Avenge,r Jack of Hearts. It was always a treat when a villain was paired up with a do-gooder, as those tales were often unpredictable. 

This year, DC Comics gave us 2 Halloween themed specials. I never got around to the Swamp Thing book. (I guess I have that to look forward to next year.) But I could not wait to get my hands on The Doomed and the Damned. 

This volume features 10 spine-tingling tales featuring some unbelievable team-ups. Green Lantern learns a lesson in facing personal demons when the rhyming Etrigan appears looking for the same criminal. Man-Bat and Madame Xanadu investigate a literal ghost story with a twist. The Frankenstein/Aquaman trip to the Moon was far-out and I enjoyed the Superman/Swamp Thing mystery but that one seemed to leave out some important details that left me wondering who really was the narrator of that tale…

The final story had the despot of Apokolips, Darkseid seeking solace in a Gotham City speakeasy only to be shamed by some social justice warriors into a drinking contest with some guy named Baytor. It’s needless to ask just what Darkseid is doing in a bar in Batman’s back yard. This story was insane. I liked it. But I was also surprised that it saw print. 

The tale was written by Garth Ennis, whom has become the target of a number of sexual harassment accusations from young women who sought the Preacher creator as a mentor and might have gotten hit on in return. Truly, I am shocked that there was not a fire storm of protests from the social media populace demanding the removal of the Ennis story from this collection. Especially since Ennis skewers the SJWs in their over-the-top needling of Darkseid. 

I felt that the Batman story wasn’t a true team-up. He helps an orphan boy who believes that his brother was kidnapped by a demon hiding in the orphanages’ lavatory. Then there’s the Wonder Woman adventure with Raven. The implications of that story. Was it canon? Because if so, Princess Diana is going to have a DEVIL of a time in future issues of Wonder Woman and probably even Justice League Dark. 

I was really confused by the semantics of the last story. It was written fairly well in terms of the plot. But I guess I am just too old nowadays to understand the nomenclature of gender/ non gender pronouns without a road map. 

The characters of Klarion the Witch Boy and his adversary Beast Boy keep referring to Klarion's cat Teekl as 'they'. And I kept thinking that I was missing something because only 1 character had kidnapped the Teen Titan Raven. Being a magical creature, I was thinking maybe Teekl is actually two characters fused together. Plus in previous stories, the cat has always been referred to as a boy. But that's apparently not the case in 2020 comics.

It seems that Kirby originally made Teekl a girl. But sometime in the 90s, Grant Morrison changed Teekl over to being a male. I'm guessing that writer of this story decided to end the confusion once and for all using the non-binary they/them to describe Teekl.

I support those wanting to use non-binary pronouns instead of he/she. But I also support good grammar. I was always taught that THEY was plural, meaning more than one. I know that I will never have the impact to change this. But I think to avoid confusion, those who are non-binary might consider the use of THY or THOU. Using THEM is okay as it can be grammatically correct for the most part. But using THEY for just 1 person doesn't sound right in terms of syntax. But maybe that's just me getting old…

Despite feeling (and possibly showing) my age, I enjoyed this book. It’s been a couple of days since I read this book to now writing up my review. And it’s probably best I did as I feel that my rating on this book has improved over time. (Except with that Wonder Woman story. That just really feels unforgivable in so many ways.) 

A chilling collection of classic crossovers with modern day advancements. They may not all make sense to me, a traditionalist comic book collector in his 40s, but they made for a fun read this pandemic ridden Halloween season.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Superman 80-Page Giant #1

This 80-page Giant is very 1990s.

For one there's a story about a big Kryptonian brute named Scorn. He looks a lot Blue Devil but seems to have about 40 less IQ points. Now on the straight and narrow, Scorn is trying to fit into life in Metropolis as a hot dog vendor. It does not turn out well.

Then there's the Sixpack story by Garth Ennis. He's clearly a mentally ill man with alcoholism to boot. His story has him dreaming of becoming teammates with Superman. I just feel that in today's climate, this story would never fly. But in recent years DC has done at least 2 miniseries based on the character and friends. So what do I know?

My favorite story was the Mr. Mxyzptlk affair in which the Fifth dimensional imp take Lois and Clark on a genre filled ride through cable TV. I loved the parodies of The X-Files and kids cereal commercials. 

There's also a very charming story about an all-new character named Captain Tomorrow. He's a cartoon character in the Daily Planet's funny pages and for some reason, his life parallels that of Clark Kent. Has someone discovered Superman's secret identity? The ending was super heartwarming and classic DC!

For a Superman special, this one was pretty great. All-new stuff...no reprints! Yeah, it was a little dated. But I enjoyed it quite a bit. The only thing missing was an appearance by Bizarro!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 

Weird War Tales Special

Vertigo's 2000 special devoted to Weird War Tales was just plain weird...

In a tale from Garth Ennis, a quartet of buddies swap war stories while waiting out a rain storm. Then learn the secrets behind Helen of Troy. The brief history of warfare reveals a never ending pattern of bloodshed while a custodian attempts to make a nuclear holocaust a little bit prettier place to live. Plus a POW in Vietnam is saved thanks to his dynamic drawing skills. 

I should have known from the book's cover that this isn't my Weird War Tales. I have such fond memories of that title. This thing gave me heartburn.

The book doesn't have a rating but this definitely isn't for kids. There's some very, VERY graphic material here- mostly it's all in conversation (and mostly I'm pointing my finger at the Garth Ennis tale!) That one really shook me to my core and not in a good way at all.

I only paid a quarter for this from a bargain bin. Yet, I feel like I want my money back on this. 

And just what the heck is that thing on the cover supposed to be?

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.