Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #35

After having Happy Sam Sawyer recount how Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan formed the Howlers, the attack on Pearl Harbor sees the death of a friend that was closer than a brother to Nick. In my review of the issue before, I stated that I hoped for the next issue (this issue) to provide the origins of how Izzy Cohen, Gab Jones and the rest joined the team. But I guess seeing several random Joes get draft notices from their local postman isn't very exciting storytelling. Surely one of them signed up voluntarily. Could there be an interesting story about that? 

Instead of going backwards, Stan Lee and Dick Ayers both move forward with the current events of 1942-43. With exception of Fury, the rest of the squad were captured by Nazi forces during a pre-D-Day invasion mission that took place in Greece. Transferred to Berlin, the Howlers undergo torture and questioning by the Gestapo. 

In order to rescue his men, Nick has to team up with his arch rival, Sgt. Bull McGiveney. Normally the Howlers are busting heads with Bull's bunch of soldiers in a macabre sort of friendly rivalry. If you can call fists, chains and 2x4s friendly rivalry.

When the action is over, a Howler will be seriously injured, a Nazi will defect and McGiveney and his men will earn a little bit of the respect of the Howling Commandos.

A really exciting issue that opens up some interesting possibilities with a German defector on the Howlers. For one, can Eric Koenig be trusted? And while I hate to see the injured Howler go, I appreciate the level of realism that the creative team put in this series. Sure, there's a level of comic book grandiosity to the villains. But with at least 2 former Howlers dead, countless injuries, and now another facing a medical discharge, Lee and Ayers really don't hold back on the fortunes of war.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Advent: Advent 2024, Day 20

Some Advent calendars like yesterday's offering are a feast for the eyes. Today's Advent calendar is music to my ears. Manufactured by Coppernrath, the standard cardboard poster board or display box is replaced with plastic and vinyl in the form of a gramophone, which is an old school record player.  (Kids, a record player was a device used to play music on large thin black discs.)

Since this is a miniaturization, the discs are about the size of a drink coaster. Select the corresponding day's disc, which are numbered from 1-24, insert into the center depression of the gramophone, place the needle over the disc and hit play. 

I haven't heard of most of the songs selected. Since this is a German made Advent calendar (Germany, by the way is the birthplace of the Advent calendar), I suspect those carols are from the Old Country. But there are some songs that should be familiar to American audiences such as Jingle Bells and Joy to the World. 

Throughout this Advent, I've been disappointed in the packaging spoiling the surprise of the Advent gifts. However, considering how many of these songs are ones I suspect not many have even heard of, the playlist on the back of the display box might actually be necessary in order to fully enjoy this unique Advent.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: The Graphic Novel (Family Comic Friday)

The holiday classic is presented in graphic novel form for the first time ever in this 2020 graphic novel from 2020.

I'm kinda familiar with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet. I've attempted to watch it a couple of times. But by about the time the Nutcracker shows up, I would get bored and go to something else. What I didn't know was that The Nutcracker wasn't originally a ballet. It was a novel written in Germany and later adapted into English by Alexandre Dumas. This graphic novel takes its inspiration from the original German text by E.T.A. Hoffman.

On a snowy Christmas morning,  a young girl named Marie discovers a wooden Nutcracker underneath her Christmas tree. Nobody seems to know how it got there. But that doesn't matter to Marie. She's completely enamored with it.

Later that night as Marie plays with the Nutcracker, a mouse in Royal garb attacks. The Nutcracker comes to life and beats back the Mouse King. However, the war is far from over. During the skirmish, Marie injures her arm, which becomes infected and she's afflicted with a terrible fever. As she recovers, an old family friend regales Marie and her brother, Fitz with a story of a faraway kingdom besieged by mice. 

As the story unfolds, Marie begins to suspect that there's a hint of truth behind the fairy tale. Nightly, the Mouse King torments her with threats against the Nutcracker. Final conflict is looming. Can Marie break an antique curse and save not only the Nutcracker but her own family from the threat of the kingdom of mice?

Written and illustrated by North Carolina native Natalie Andrewson, this was a delightful holiday tale that started off kinda weird. I don't blame Andrewson for that. I think it's the fault of E.T.A. Hoffman. Plus whatever prior knowledge I had of the ballet was probably tampering with how the story unfolded for me. For years I always thought that the weird old family friend with an eye patch, Herr Drosselmeyer, was in love with Marie and thought it was kinda creepy. Man, did I get that part of the ballet wrong...

Andrewson's art was wonderful. I was saddened to learn that some of her childhood art teachers didn't encourage her more cartoonish style. As a culinary teacher, I try to teach my students the basics. But I then try to encourage their creativity with the dishes they practice to thrive past the set guidelines of their recipes. I'm glad Andrewson didn't give up on her personal style. This book would have been severely lacking without that  attention to detail that I just loved. I also marveled at how traditional 1800s German Yule time she made everything look. 

This adaptation is recommended for readers aged 6-10 years old. I think 6 might be a bit too young. 7 too. This is a very wordy book. So unless there's an older trusted adult helping, this might seem like a mighty task for a first grader to read on their own. 

Parents have been bringing younger children to performances of The Nutcracker for generations. However, with the graphic novel, there's several scenes of war and violence. The Nutcracker and Marie get bloodied. A lot of mice die as do a couple of toy soldiers. Plus Marie and her brother Fitz are pretty disrespectful to their parents and they tease elderly Drosselmeyer for his ugly appearance. Christmas stories are filled with horrible people learning the true meaning of Christmas. So parents and guardians: take that into account when presenting this to the young reader in your life 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.