Daniel Boone #7 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

If you're the execs at 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney refuses to sell you the rights to one of their most lucrative properties, the legendary Davy Crockett, what do you do? You've already got Fess Parker, who played Davy in a series of TV movies that spawned a craze in the mid-1950s. You even have Parker wearing a coon skin cap, like he did back then, along with a slew of frontier set scripts, some historical sets and several actors who could pass for native American Indians. You even have a corporate sponsor in the Feldspar Corp., ready to cover some of your production expenses. Yet, you just cannot come to terms on the licensing rights for your main character. 

So what do you do? In this case, you pivot and focus instead on another similar figure of early American folklore. Enter: Daniel Boone!

Daniel Boone was born in 1734 in what was Colonial Pennsylvania. He was a noted frontiersmen and behind the settlement of Kentucky. Settling the town of Boonesborough, Boone participated in a border war with American Indians, where his exploits became legend. He later represented Kentucky territory in the Virginia state assembly before encountering financial hardships and moving stakes from Kentucky to what would now be Missouri. Boone died in 1820, preceded by his wife Rebecca 7 years earlier.

The television show based on Daniel Boone debuted in 1964 on NBC. It takes place during Boone's having just settled Boonesborough and featured stories that involved skirmishes with the neighboring Miami tribe, the occasional visiting stranger with a mysterious past and legal disputes with the US government. There was very little historical accuracy however. Boone's wife, Rebecca was a character on the show, as are children Israel and Jemima. However, Boone in real life had a total of 10 children. 

Daughter Jemima was famously abducted by Indians and rescued by a posse led by her father. The incident later became inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. In real life, Jemima Boone was a hostage for 3 days. By the end of season 2 of the TV series, the character played by Angela Cartwright, soon of Lost in Space fame, Jemima was quietly removed from the show and never mentioned again.  

Jemima was no longer even a character on the show when this first hit shelves in 1966. The girl and her brother are the heroes of the backup feature titled 'Land of Giants'. When during an hunting expedition Boone and his compatriots are captured by hostile natives, the children use their knowledge of Native American folklore and pretend to be the giants of legend to scare the captors away. 

The opening story is titled 'The Battle for the Boats.' It involves a trader who foolishly believes that the Miami tribe living north of the Ohio River will embrace trading furs and other goods with him. Boone warns that the man's caravan of barges are going to be attacked and goes out to prevent the Miami from obtaining the guns and ammunition carried aboard before the weapons could be used against the Boonesborough settlement. 

Included along with the pair of Daniel Boone stories was a filler starring a character named Zachariah Yankee Peddler. He's a travelling salesman whose adventures have filled the pages of numerous Gold Key/Dell Western adventures such as The Lone Ranger. A pair of non-fiction one-pagers about Native American hunting practices grace the internal back and front covers along with a prose article on Chief Joseph. The exterior back cover features a photographed pin up of Fess as Daniel Boone. 

The 60s saw comic book artists and writers beginning to receive credit for their contributions. However, Gold Key was still rather late to that party. Current research indicates that  Paul S. Newman was the author behind all of the main stories and the interior cover scripts. Only the Chief Joseph biography is unaccounted for. Artwork and inks for this issue were split amongst Joe Certa, Mike Roy and Mike Peppe.

The Daniel Boone TV series ran for 6 seasons; lasting until Spring of 1970. Gold Key's adaptation ran for 15 issues. Published sporadically, it's last issue was dated April, 1969.

Completing this review completes Task #29 (A Fictional Comic About a Real Person) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Little Lulu, Vol. 7: Lulu's Umbrella Service

 A recent visit to a rather large area used book store uncovered this treasure. It's always fun to find something that you didn't even know existed. It's even better when you find it for a fantastic price and in excellent condition.

Dark Horse's compendium of the complete run of Dell/ Gold Key Little Lulu comic titles was published in the early 2000s. There are 29 volumes! And just my luck (in terms of trying to get the rest of the series), they've been out of print for quite a while. Believe me; if there were more books available for the price I paid for this one, I would have bought up the whole lot. 

I just wish that these were in color. Instead, these volumes are given the Essential Marvel treatment, being published in black and white to make them more affordable. However, there are at least 3 stories in which having color is vital to being able to understand the action better. I had the same issue with Showcase Presents Green Lantern volumes 1-3 because you have a superhero whose main weakness is the color yellow but you can't tell what is that hue because there's no colors to be seen.

My enjoyment of Little Lulu is a lot like a child and their palette as they mature. As a kid, Lulu and friends just weren't my style. But now as I enter middle age, I appreciate the subtle humor of innocent Lulu Moppet. I cackle at the absurd approach to life Tubby has,  especially when he assumes his role as 'the World's Greatest Detective!' Lulu's fairy tales to Alvin shows childhood naivety mixed with the brilliance of the creative mind. The children in these pages are truthfully how the children I teach and interact with every day: they hear things wrong, they think they are always right and they lack the ability to ask adults for wisdom. Any nuggets of insight are provided by their peers. 

Thank goodness I don't have to teach them!

The genius behind these stories is John Stanley. Another comic creator that it took me decades to appreciate. As a young, YOUNG comic book collector, I tended to favor the artists who used more complex lines and shadows. I went for realism. Yet I find in today's troubled world, simplicity is best. If only I could find more of these editions without having to take out a small loan.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Bullwinkle #2

The second and last solo issue from Gold Key in the 1960s titled Bullwinkle. It really didn't need to be renamed because the formula is exactly like the TV show. It just reflects that Bullwinkle became the break out star.

The opening story has Rocky and Bullwinkle investigating the so-called 'Phantom of the Soap Opera.' While squirrel uncovers the clues, moose plays bait, taking a lead role in the stage production. 

Afterwards, Snidely Whiplash infiltrates Mountie's headquarters, posing as a travelling magician whose closing act promises to be explosive for Dudley Do-right. The 'Fractured Fairy Tale' is a spoof on the Woodcutter's Daughter, becoming a beautiful starlet after she rescues a witch. Mr. Peabody takes his boy Sherman back to meet P.T. Barnum around the time he was playing manager for noted songstress Jenny Lind and the talking dog becomes the circus' latest star attraction!

In a rarity, there's also a 3-page solo story starring Boris and Natasha. The spies film a promotional video touting the benefits of living in Pottsylvania and wind up making the Communist country sound so good that nobody will want to escape from it!

Bookending this issue has Bullwinkle resulting in trickery to win a kiddie TV show contest. Also posing as a child in hopes of winning is Boris, who thinks his short stature and former childhood prowess will net him a humiliating win over the children of the United States.

Another fun read that includes a Ripley's Believe It or Not type feature of unusual and somewhat comical facts. It would be almost a decade before Bullwinkle and Rocky returned to comics with a very poor adaptation from Charlton. If you can't get your hands on the classic episodes, this is the next best thing for many laughs and a few groaners. But that's was to be expected from the toon as well.

Worth Consuming!

Rating; 8 out of 10 stars.

Bullwinkle and Rocky #4 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After a brief defection to Charlton Comics, Moose and Squirrel returned to Western Publishing. From 1972 to 1980 under the Gold Key imprint. Legacy numbering was used for the series with the fun beginning with issue #3. Over the course of the series, at least 6 Whitman variants would be produced.

The new series, now retitled Bullwinkle and Rocky, from just being named after the noted alum from Wottsamotta U, was still riding high from syndication reruns. After The Bullwinkle Show ceased producing new material in 1964, the show continued on network television in reruns on Sunday mornings under several titles. Thanks to syndication packages that also included a repackaged run on a series called The Hoppity Hooper Show, it would not be until the 1990s before America saw a Bullwinkle void on the airwaves, albeit very briefly.

Seeing that Bullwinkle and Rocky were appealing to a new generation of cartoon viewers, Western Publishing was able to cut costs by recycling in material from their Dell and Gold Key archives. Even cover art from that era was reused, with only the new title and a new price tag being the only changes. A small handful of issues saw new material, mostly starring Rocky and Bullwinkle. Backup features starring Dudley Do-right, Sherman and Peabody and 'Fractured Fairytales' were all reissues, as the smaller page count for the 70s Gold Key issues allowed for those segments to be spread out over multiple issues. Some issues, such as issue #12 was compromised of only reprinted material.

In issue #4, Bullwinkle is signed by a producer to become the next singing sensation. A la Johnny Bravo on The Brady Bunch, Bullwinkle fame is more based on appearance and very little talent. The second story has the friends at a carnival where Bullwinkle wins a special prize. Unknown to the colorblind carny, who is secretly an agent of Pottsylvania, he's accidentally given a hollowed out cane filled with top secret blueprints to the Moose instead of Boris and Natasha. The dastardly duo spend the rest of the story chasing Bullwinkle around the festival in hilarious attempts to steal the cane.

There are 2 back-up features. Sherman and Peabody travel to Roman times to see a very indecisive Julius Caesar stymied by superstition. The 'Fractured Fairy Tale' skewers the classic Jack and the Bean Stalk with Jack's mother taking a more active role.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #19 (Cartoon Comic Adaptation from the 1970s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Bullwinkle #1 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Jay Ward's beloved characters Rocky the flying squirrel and his best friend Bullwinkle J. Moose made their first comic book appearance in what is collectively known as Dell Four Color #1128 (Aug., 1960).  The first issues were titled 'Rocky and his Friends' and included fan favorite segments and characters such as Peabody and Sherman, Dudley Dooright, and Fractured Fairy Tales. However, once it became clear that Bullwinkle was the star of the show, later issues forthcoming from the Four Color series were singularly titled Bullwinkle.

Those Four Color editions are quite rare and command hefty price tags. CGC listed a 9.6 rated slab of issue #1270 as being sold for $980 in 2013. As long as you don't mind getting a facsimile edition reprint, you could take your chances with a more affordable issue of the moose and squirrel's first official solo series from Gold Key. The risk being that while material from the nearly dozen issues of Four Color devoted to the NBC cartoon that ran from 1959-64 ran as reprints in the 1962 Gold Key series, not every issue was a faithful reprint of that earlier material. 

Making things even more difficult for collectors is that this Gold Key series was later retitled Bullwinkle and Rocky in 1972 with issue #3, after a nearly decade long hiatus. Some collectors try to overlook the repeated contents in various issues and set a goal to own a copy of each Four Color release as well as the 25 total issues that made up the first series. Some of the Gold Key issues also had Whitman variants. 

Issue #1 has a full slate of segments, just like a typical episode of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, at this time retitled The Bullwinkle Show on NBC. In the bookending Rocky and Bullwinkle stories, the duo run afoul of secret agents Boris and Natasha. First, they stumble upon a plot where the spies have been stealing rare birds for use in appropriating Top Secret government blueprints. Later, Bullwinkle gets a chance to start in a major Hollywood picture. Only it's another plot by Boris and Natasha to kill the Moose. 

The Dudley Do-Right story is a caper in which Snidely Whiplash kidnaps the Mountie's girlfriend Nell during a blizzard. Mr. Peabody takes his boy Sherman on a trip to visit Odysseus inspiring him to build the Trojan Horse. Lastly, the Fractured Fairy Tale sees the Ugly Duckling trying to find his place in the world, only to become a model for beauty cream: the BEFORE model!

Credit for artists and authors were not yet common place in comics published in the early 1960s. Al Kilgore was originally believed by most comic book historians as being the main artist of these pages. However, later research has come to light that Jerry Robinson, Fred Fredericks and Mel Crawford all may have contributed to this issue as well, as they all worked at times on the previous Four Color series issues. Dave Berg and Jack Mendelsohn are amongst those attributed as having written in various Rocky and Bullwinkle titles.

Completing this review completes Task #18 (Cartoon Comic Adaptation from the 1960s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #15 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In this Gold Key/Whitman Variant issue based on the NBC series starring Gil Gerard and Erin Grey, it's a double feature. 

In the cover story, Buck Rogers' arch enemy Killer Kane has escaped from his prison cell thanks to a new mutation. Able to suddenly change shape and form, Kane plans on killing Buck while crippling the fleet of the Earth Defense Directorate leaving the planet vulnerable for attack by the Draconian Empire. As skilled, decorated pilots die in very unusual ways during routine patrols, Buck and Dr. Huer uncover evidence of a traitor in their midst. But is it jealousy instead of credible evidence when the finger points at an old flame of Wilma's?

The second adventure sees the Earth imperiled once again. Only it's not by any of the multitude of current adversaries doing the threatening. Instead, it's a threat from the very Earth itself and almost 500 years in the past. 

While Buck Rogers was in his cryogenic slumber, the Earth had a nuclear war that almost made the human race extinct. Most of the warheads were launched from Earth's orbit. Now one of those bombs has returned after floating off course for centuries. With time running out, it's up to Buck and his robot sidekick Twiki to navigate the gigantic bomb's booby traps and deactivate it; least the rest of humanity be wiped out!

Both 'That Which Seems to be...' and '10 Levels of Death' were written by B.S. Watson and illustrated by Mike Roy. 

The penultimate issue of the series, Whitman's legacy numbering puts the total series run from 1964 through to 1982. That means issue #1 debuted 15 years before Buck Rogers appeared on TV. Though a single season series had aired on ABC in 1951, the lone issue from the 1960s was based on the newspaper comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan. The first issue to be based on the NBC series was published in 1979. Issues 2-4 are an adaptation of the 2-hour pilot which debuted in theaters before NBC green-lit a full series. The live action series aired for 2 seasons for a total of 37 episodes, with the last episode airing in April 1981. The comic book continued on until May of the following year.

Completing this review completes Task #24 (Starring Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Bullwinkle #3 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle debuted in animated form in 1959. The creation of animator Jay Ward, the iconic team of Moose and Squirrel first appeared on ABC and eventually NBC where the show wrapped up it's original run in 1964. Over the next 5 decades, Rocky and Bullwinkle would reappear in reruns and new series with the flying gray squirrel always getting top billing, with exception of a Sunday evening show titled merely The Bullwinkle Show. However, when it comes to their appearance in comics forms, it's almost like Rocket J. Squirrel doesn't even exist. 

The furry friends first appeared in comic book form as part of the much beloved Dell Four Color anthology series. Their first 4 appearances were titled 'Rocky and His Friends' before being switched over to 'Bullwinkle and Rocky'. Despite being named in the title, Rocky disappeared from the front cover, with issue #1270 showing only Bullwinkle and the villainous female spy, Natasha, enjoying a piano recital. Eventually, even the supporting players vanished with solely the starring Moose on the cover and the title reduced to being called solely 'Bullwinkle.' Putting Bullwinkle in the spotlight would be a trend that would continue in comics through the 1990s.

Dell, Gold Key, Charlton and Marvel's all-ages imprint Star would publish officially licensed comics based on the Jay Ward Productions series. Every series starring Rocky and Bullwinkle from 1962-1988 would be published as Bullwinkle and Rocky. For the Gold Key series, of which I read issue #3, the publishing credits on the bottom of the opening page would list the series as only Bullwinkle. 

This issue is framed like a classic Rocky and Bullwinkle episode. The main story is broken into 2-parts. In-between the main story arc, there's a segment starring genius pooch Mr. Peabody and his boy, Sherman. Then to finish out the issue, Rocky recites a 'Fractured Fairy Tale' to his buddy Bullwinkle.

In the main tale, a slight parody of that holiday B-movie classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, the children of the Moon are absolutely ga-ga for the antics of Bullwinkle. Wanting to make the children of the Moon happy, a pair of Moon Men come to Earth in the hopes of luring the moose to the Lunar surface. In order to achieve this, the aliens sprinkle an anti-gravity powder to Bullwinkle's antlers which makes him begin to float. Seeing an advantage of Bullwinkle's magical antlers in the Cold War, spies Boris and Natasha seek to remove them as a potential power supply for a squadron of jets. 

The Sherman and Peabody segment puts a spin on the mythos of Billy the Kid, with the notorious outlaw actually being a pistol packing infant! You'll never look at the story of Cinderella the same ever again after reading her story in Fractured Fairy Tales!

The Moon people story is noteworthy in that all of the Lunar residents look like Quisp, the alien spokesman of the Quaker Oats cereal of the same name. Instead of a spinning propeller atop their heads, the Moon people have shaggy mop tops. But with their pink flesh, bulbish heads and googly eyes, the shared ancestry of Quisp and the Moon people cannot be denied. That's because Jay Ward designed Quisp as part of the cereal's original animated marketing campaign in 1965. Whether the likeness was an homage or accidental influence of the works of Jay Ward on the unlisted and unknown artist of the Rocky and Bullwinkle main story is up for debate. GoCollect.com claims that Al Kilgore was a writer and an artist for the issue. Kilgore did work on the Rocky and Bullwinkle newspaper strip that ran from 1962-67. His comic book work in 1972, however, is not confirmed.  No credits for either backup story are available either.

Rocky would finally receive top billing again in the 2014 4-issue miniseries, Rocky and Bullwinkle, published by IDW. It's a position that the level headed squirrel has maintained with other publications ever since.

Completing this review completes Task #10 ( Funny Animal Book starring a SQUIRREL, POLAR BEAR or ANTEATER) the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Mighty Samson #30

It's not really a Christmas comic book. But there are definitely elements of the holidays in this issue. It's been on my radar since I learned about it during the pandemic, when I spent a lot of time researching Holiday comic books. When I finally found an issue for sale, I pounced despite the fact that I probably could have gotten it cheaper somewhere else down the road.

Mighty Samson was one of several post-apocalyptic comics that came about after the premiere of the first Planet of the Apes film. The main character is a member of a tribe of mutants. Both a giant and super strong, he explores the ruins of New York which was devastated by a nuclear bomb. He's joined by a professor and his daughter. While quite brilliant, the professor doesn't quite get the facts about pre-war New York, now N'Yark, that quite right and it's that wrong information where the fun begins.

Samson and his compatriots are in need of supplies. So they head to the ruins of Macy's department store. It's there that they stumble across a few of the balloons used in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Samson attacked one thinking it was a monster lurking in the shadows. But it turns out that the balloon had been revered as a god by a tribe of survivors who dwell in the derelict mercantile. Certain death is nigh!

After that a lot happens. The professor uses his knowledge of science disguised as magic to save their lives. A jealous witch doctor betrays the tribe of Macy's dwellers. A mysterious woman with her lustful eyes set on Samson arrives. As do a pack of mutant birds with the heads of dogs. Arm Samson with some beach umbrellas and put him astride a reindeer balloon and you've got yourself one heck of a story. Cheesy. But entertaining enough that if I ever came across another issue of the Otto Binder created antics of the Mighty Samson, I'd gladly find a way to purchase it.

I know I get mad if I buy a comic book with a holiday cover but there's nothing Christmas, Hanukkah or even Kwanzaa inside. I call such books 'Scrooges'. And if I'm being honest, this isn't a Christmas time cover. Even though Samson and a foe ride Christmas balloons on the cover of this book, nowhere does Gold Key make a claim that this story takes place during Christmas time. Having this book on my Christmas comic wish list was in error. However, any sort of belief that this was a holiday book was a mistake on my part. It was the idea of having survivors of a nuclear use balloons from the Macy's parade that awoken fantasies of a wasteland Christmas!  

This issue really entertained me. I felt the wonder of Christmas along with the happiness of Thanksgiving. Plus cameos from Bullwinkle and Tubby! This book is staying in my collection and I'm keeping it in my holiday boxes. It's a Christmas miracle of guilty pleasure proportions!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #22

A while back, I was at my favorite comic shop, checking out when I saw this stack of Disney digests. I'm a fan of the books from Gold Key and Dell. I know that these treasuries are in high demand. Plus I just adore the Disney Ducks. So I took a chance and asked if they were for sale. Thankfully they were; but the owners hadn't come up with a price yet. After a touch of friendly haggling, we agreed upon a fair price and based on how much money I had left to spend, I bought 3. 

Wouldn't you know, I then misplaced these for about a year and I would have forgotten all about them if I hadn't been working on organizing my comic book collection during my summer break. 

The cover for this June, 1970 volume is what sold me. It's got Donald and Uncle Scrooge in a victory pose on the very center of the cover. While Scrooge is dressed as a champion prizefighter, his contest to prove he's got more money than anyone in the world isn't quite so pugilistic. Challenged by Flintheart Glomgold, McDuck must liquidate his assets to prove that he's got more money, by volume, than that of his legendary foe. With assists by nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie and Donald, Scrooge has to outfox Glomgold who's clearly cheating. Only without proof, it looks like McDuck's going to lose the contest. Should Scrooge fail, he has to eat his opponents hat, which for the Scottish businessman is a fate worse than death or losing all his money to the Beagle Boys!

A pleasant surprise running throughout this book was the team-ups. In one adventure Tinkerbell saves Dumbo the elephant from the clutches of Captain Hook. In another, Jiminy Cricket visits his bug friends of Silly Symphonies fame for a picnic! Chipmunks Chip and Dale have had a number of capers driving Pluto and Mickey Mouse crazy. But they've never teamed with Bambi's best friend Thumper to get the upper hand over Mickey and company before... At least to my knowledge!

Something Disney was noted for was its nature films. In this issue, we get part 3 of the comic book adaptation of 1953's Bear Country. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, it's not a read where you have to know everything that has happened beforehand in order to enjoy it. There are also non-fiction one-pagers called 'Real Life Adventures' about dolphins and robins along with a longer essay on famous trains. Being that he was a lifelong railway enthusiast, I wouldn't be the least surprised to find out that old Walt Disney himself wrote that segment. 

Peter and the Wolf, Little Hiawatha, Li'l Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, Cinderella and many more stars of Disney's A, B and C level tiers appear in this digest filled with some puzzles, jokes and stories galore. A really enjoyable gem that felt like those Christmas mornings when I'd open a grab bag of comics up as a gift and just pour over the contents inside while the world outside melted away.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan #2 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

If you were there to ask the average fan of mysteries 'what was the only project to cast as Asian actor to play legendary detective Charlie Chan?', who would correctly respond with a Saturday morning cartoon sitcom? Not many, I'm sure. But in 1972 actor Keye Luke was cast as the lead role in Hanna-Barbera's The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan.

This wasn't Keye Luke's first time in the Charlie Chan universe. Luke played Chan's eldest offspring 'Number One Son' Lee Chan in 1930s in several films beginning with 1935's Charlie Chan in Paris. While white actors in heavy makeup and even heavier accents would portray author Earl Derr Bigger's Chinese-American master sleuth, studios had no qualms with Asian actors playing the supporting roles.

Jumping ahead to the 1970s, you would have thought that Hollywood had learned its lesson about casting Asian actors in Asian roles. At first Hanna-Barbera did just that, using an all Asian voice cast. Unfortunately, it was decided that the accents of the actors were too authentic for American audiences to understand. Ultimately, most of the Amazing Chan's ten children were recast with actors sporting American accents. Along with Keye Luke and Don Messick, who provided the voice of the Chan Clan's family dog Chu-Chu, only Robert Ito and Brian Tochi's original voice recordings made it to American TV sets. Of those new voice actors brought in was a future Academy Award winner. A young Jodie Foster provided the voice of second oldest daughter Anne Chan.

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan was met with fierce criticism. Some opponents criticized the cartoon of stereotyping Asian Americans, mostly due to the 'fortune-cookie' witticisms spouted by Mr. Chan as he solved cases with his children. The series was also subject to an hearing by the FCC based on a complaint by the Chinese Media Committee of Chinese for Affirmative Action. Ultimately, the series only ran for a single 16 episode season. Reruns would continue to air on CBS until the following summer. The show was then syndicated regularly through 1982.

Thanks to the reruns and syndication package, Gold Key Comics released 4 issues based on the series from 1973-74. The first issue of The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan marked Mark Evanier's English language debut in comics. 'The Hot Ice Cream Man' was an adaptation of the first episode. Issue #2 was an adaptation from the series as well. 

"To Catch a Pitcher' was based on the second episode of the cartoon. It begins with Chan and his sons enjoying a baseball game. When the star of the game winds up missing, Detective Chan takes the case but not before sending his boys home. Not to be deterred, all 10 of the sleuth's kids break up into teams and work the case independently, discovering that a bookie is behind the disappearance after the athlete refuses to take a dive. 

No author byline was given in this issue. The artwork was by Warren Tufts whose other more well known Gold Key contributions included Korak, Son of Tarzan and The Pink Panther.

Completing this review completes Task #12 (A Comic Book Based on a Saturday Morning Cartoon) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Marge's Little Lulu #166

I haven't really been a fan of Little Lulu. However, thanks to their addition to the Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics and a classic treasury of holiday comics by YOe Books, I've warmed up to Lulu and her friends. 

I found this 1963 Gold Key book at an antique store over the Summer. There were about 5 Little Lulu comics and while I had those good experiences recently with the property, none of those books were crying out for me to buy them until I got to the last book in the pile- THIS ONE! At 80 pages, there are about a dozen comics stories along with 2 prose tales, all starring Little Lulu. All but one story was set leading up-to or during Christmas. The lone story that wasn't a holiday tale did involve snow. Add the piece about 'Christmases Around the World' on the inside covers of this issue and the whole book was full of festive winter fun!

In the snow story and another set in the Arctic circle, Lulu tells little brat Alvin some of her patented fairy tales with a twist. Lulu's best friend Tubby has some dumb lucky with a dried-out Christmas tree and a missing 50-cent piece in a couple of stories. However, Tub is at his hilarious best when his detective alter-ego, the Spider, solves the mystery of Lulu's missing stocking. 

Lulu is known to be a little selfish and her greed almost comes to bear when she is gifted a new dolly for Christmas. However, Lulu overcomes her green-eyed monster when she runs into a poor little girl whose family can't afford gifts for the holidays, by giving her that prized doll. Yet even that story has a heartwarming twist.

The one thing missing from Lulu's 'Christmas Diary' is her battle of the sexes with Tubby. Tubby and his pals have a club house that bears a sign warning 'No Girls Allowed'. That sexist policy often sees Lulu leading her fellow girlfriends to challenge the boys segregation from the fairer sex. I'm guessing with Santa's arrival being so close at hand, the two best frenemies were able to put away their differences in order to not wind up with lumps of coal in their stockings. 

This was an enjoyable read. A fast read. I was probably done with it in less than a half hour. Yet, this was a nice way to enjoy the holidays set during a seemingly simpler, innocent time. I know of one more Christmas themed Little Lulu comic book out there. It's on my wish list and I hope to find it some day. If I'm lucky, there might be a few more Little Lulu holiday classics that I didn't even know existed. 

Onward to the hunt!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Boris Karloff's Gold Key Mysteries #1

This revival title is something that was on my pull list as soon as I found out about it earlier this summer. In 1960, Boris Karloff, you know, the guy who played Frankenstein's monster and the Mummy in those old Universal films, hosted a horror anthology series on NBC from 1960-1962 known as Thriller. Gold Key released 2 issues based on Thriller, but it wasn't enough to save the show from cancellation. 

In a strange twist of fate, those 2 issues were big, big hits for Gold Key. Not wanting to let a good thing pass, Gold Key signed an agreement with Karloff to continue to use his name and likeness. Starting with issue #3, the comic became Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery. The anthology ran for an impressive 97 issues, ending in early 1980; 11 years after the death of the film legend!

The Gold Key and Whitman books have a cult following. If there's a comic book based on a TV show or movie from the 1950s-70s, there's a good chance, one of these publishers was behind its release. Reprinted editions have been hot sellers with older collectors and good condition first runs are prized finds that bring about coveted likes and jealous comments on social media. 

Gold Key folded in 1984 after Western Publishing was sold off by Mattel. The only way to get Gold Key comic books now was through searching or revivals of popular titles in which someone still owned a trademark. Public domain titles were brought back to life by indy publishers such as Gwandanaland Comics. Then in 2021, comics creator Robert Willis obtained the copyright to the original Gold Key logo and began to work with talent to bring some of those fan favorite titles back.

Boris Karloff's Gold Key Mysteries is the first title to be released by the revitalized Gold Key publisher. After several months of anticipation, plus an extra week of waiting for my LCS to get my copy in, I must say that I was rather disappointed with the end result. 

The book starts off with a rather boorish agent from some unknown government bureau investigating the appearance of a mysterious house that suddenly appears in the deserts of Arizona. This house was last seen in 1980. Now with its unexpected return, the spook wants to know what's inside this haunted house of legend. But he'll have to hurry as the mansion is known to disappear to parts unknown when the sun rises.

At this point, we are introduced to 2 tales. One about a woman whose plastic surgeries impacts her doppelganger in a way similar to Dorian Gray. Then an up-and-coming chef takes advantage of his mentor's unexpected death to cash in on the celebrity chef's name and reputation to a disastrous opening night bathed in blood. After those two stories, we meet the government guy again who is now in Texas with that mysterious house having appeared just recently. Law enforcement, dressed in tactical gear, search the domicile only to run into Boris Karloff.

End Issue #1 with a dreaded To Be Continued!

I don't mind that this series has a running story. I kinda like the idea of Boris Karloff and his Thriller mansion wandering through time and space. Introducing that agent playing Fox Mulder in search of the secret of the old house is a cool way to frame the disappearance of Tales of Mystery the comic into the real world with its 2023 revival. Elvira's House of Mystery and Vertigo's House of Mystery were both horror anthologies that had running story lines involving the hosts interconnected with various stories. I liked both series and thought that integration was great. My problem is how little Boris Karloff there is for a comic book bearing his name. 

Karloff's character only appears on the last page. He says only a single sentence. Then a 'To Be Continued!' I hate cliffhangers. But I hate a bait-and-switch even more. If Karloff had at least appeared in more pages than he did, I would probably be okay with the cliffhanger. But they don't even have Karloff narrating the stories or introducing them. This was not Boris Karloff's Gold Key Mysteries. Instead, the book should be called The Gold Key Mystery is Where is Boris Karloff?

I want to support the new Gold Key. The storytelling was uneven. The artwork was too dynamic to really understand what was going on. Especially that culinary thriller. Yet I can overlook those sorts of technical flaws you'd expect with a TV pilot. It's just based on how little Boris Karloff was in this issue, I'm not sure I would want to keep getting individual issues. Not for $5.99 each. Now I would still be interested in the collected edition and I'm planning on signing up for Gold Key's newsletter. But in terms of budget, I'm going save my money for one of the rebooted publisher's other revival titles.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! #73 (True Ghost Stories)

When Gold Key (later Whitman) started producing comics based on the long-running Ripley's Belieive It or Not! newspaper strip, the publisher had issues devoted to singular subjects. There was an issue devoted to 'True War Stories'. One about 'Weird Stories' in general. A couple of issues about real life demons and monsters. But the subject matter in which Gold Key struck gold was in books devoted to real ghost stories. 

By issue #30, every issue of Ripley's was devoted to the ghost tales. The public must have really eaten these spooky yarns up as another 64 issues of just 'True Ghost Stories' were published before giving up the ghost with issue #94 (February, 1980).

This October, 1977 issue tells 4 ghostly tales. A couple on the verge of divorce are given marriage counseling by a colonial specter. A pair of greedy men are haunted by the man whose untimely death has just made them very rich or has it? A widower and his son are swept away at sea only to be saved by the ghost of their deceased loved one. Finally, a family moves into a coastal cottage only to be visited by 'The Spectral Schooner.'

Yes, folks, it appears that even ships have ghosts.

Honestly, for late 1970s horror comics, this one is rather tame. DC loved to have its gruesome monsters. Marvel played a little too close to the gates of Hell. Charlton had it's horror hosts and femme fatales. Apparently, Gold Key/Whitman had ghosts and they were really tame. I've read early 1960s Comics Code horror scarier than these tales.

What sold me this book was the Ripley's name. I was a fan of the strips, the live TV show starring Jack Palance and I am a fan of the various museums and aquariums. When it came to creator Robert Ripley, the reason I kept coming back to his various endeavors was the provenance. Ripley would at least tell you the location of his strange discoveries. Sometimes you get a name and a date. There's none of that here with the comic book. As much as I would like to believe these encounters with the afterlife really happened, without some factoid with some references added, these ghost tales are lacking something; true or not. 

I'm not really feeling motivated to go out and find more copies of this series. Even the artwork is generic. At its best, it looks like illustrations you'd find on the back of a magazine or Sears Catalog. Or it's what you'd expect from a really low-budget grade school textbook at worst. And this issue really was a mix of both types of artwork by uncredited artists.

Look, if I found a bunch of these in a bargain bin, I'd very well consider getting them for my collection. Less than a dollar a piece would be optimal. Otherwise, if I had to pick between these and the lowest of the low horror offerings from Charlton, I'd go with Charlton every time.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Bonanza #13

How was the West won? It's a question I once asked my grandpa to which he responded 'You know, that's a very good question.' So good, that he never answered me. Well, if you are to believe this issue of Gold Key's adaptation of the hit Western TV series Bonanza, the West was won thanks to the use of bicycles!

Thieves steal the horses of all 4 Cartwright men: Pa, Hoss, Little Joe and Adam! The only way to get after these varmints is to use this new contraption called a bicycle! But we're not talking about a single bike or even a two-seater. Oh, no! Instead, they all mount up on a 4-person tandem bike!

This has got to be the goofiest Bonanza story of all-time. The family can't use their 2-horse wagon as the animals are too tired. Got to use a bike instead! The Cartwrights at one point rode the bike across an icy pond. One of the sons decides it's faster to use roller skates, but falls through the ice because clearly he's too heavy than a bike with 3 people on it! And for some reason, you have to show how stupid the Indians are and include a scene of the Native people thinking a bicycle is some force of white man magic. 

I'm not making any of this up folks. This all really happened in a title story dated from 1965. 

There are two follow-up stories included in this issue. The middle story doesn't appear to have any characters from the TV show that I recognize. Instead it stars a weary prospector called Bedrock Barnes. Is he like a recurring character? Was he regular filler in the Bonanza books? Not sure. All I know is that Bedrock finds a wrecked ship in the middle of the desert; a ship that contains a valuable lost shipment of gold. Only when he brings help to bring back more gold, it appears that the desert has reclaimed the fabled relic. 

Story #3 does have the Cartwrights in it. It's a very unusual tale about a Mexican grandma who packs heat. It's not as silly as the bicycle story. History has produced some bad ass grannies. I find the story more confusing as the lady is trying to fund a revolution down in Mexico and yet when she reaches her family (which might just be members of her gang), it seems like the Abuela's intentions are a lot more selfish. 

And where do the Cartwrights fit into all this? Adam Cartwright just happens to be on a stagecoach that the old lady robbed. Now she's got him at gun point, forced to carry the gold back to her hideout. Naturally, instead of calling for the Sheriff or US Marshalls, the rest of the Cartwright clan decide to take vigilante justice into their own hands. 

37 issues of Bonanza were released by Gold Key from 1962-1970. While there are some much more attractive covers out there, perhaps filled with less far-fetched stories in them, I found this book in a bargain bin for only a dollar. A sucker for Dell/Gold Key/Whitman comics based on old TV shows, I could not pass this one up. It will stay a part of my collection. This book will also be listed as containing one of the weirdest, wildest, implausible Western tales of all time.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek: The Key Collection, Vol. 3

Volume 3 does see some vast improvements in the artwork and coloring in terms of technical merit. The representations of actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and others by Alberto Giolitti continue to be second to none. Well, I take that back Nevio Zuccara, who drew several issues in Volume 1, is just as impressive on the likenesses. But things are still far from perfect on the Enterprise. 

The bridge still looks like the cockpit of the Space SHUTTLE Enterprise with everyone crowded around a tiny view screen. The phasers used by the crew are varied and futuristic. But they are not Federation issue. And while the visuals of the crew being transported is starting to look more like what you'd see on the original TV show, the transporter room looks like it is off to the corner of the main bridge, instead in another part of the ship. 

Captain Kirk finally is portrayed wearing an orange/tan looking tunic. But everybody else, including Sulu and Chekov, who makes 2 brief first appearances, are still wearing green. Bones is finally in blue. But I don't think anybody knows for sure what color tunic Scotty is supposed to wear as he's decked out in blue, green and red in different issues of this series. 

It doesn't look like Len Wein was involved in the scripts at this point. The Swamp Thing co-creator's name isn't listed in the credits at the beginning of this book. In fact, nobody is credited as to have written these stories and that's a shame because many of them were very, very good. 

A Taj Mahal in space! Space Mummies! Kirk on trial for assisting iron poachers! A war between two tribes of teens as Spock races across the galaxy to find a cure for a deadly disease! A brat becomes the leader of his planet after his father is murdered by an unknown assailant. Machine/tree hybrids run amok! All very good stories, though I also saw a couple of these stories when they were TOS episodes 'Court Martial' and 'Miri'. 

Also, I refuse to believe that Captain Kirk doesn't know what a black hole is. Granted, his ignorance was used as a plot device to help educate readers as to what this anomaly in space is. But Kirk shouldn't have been the character used for this scene. 

The space Taj Mahal story is also notable for its artwork of an all-new crew member. The Federation historian Dr. Krisp, is assigned to unravel the mystery as to why almost anyone who visits the intergalactic shrine never returns. Dr. Krisp looks amazingly like Julie Newmar (Catwoman on TV's Batman)! Not sure if Giolitti or Zuccara drew that issue, as Gold Key didn't give artist credits. But BRAVO nonetheless. 

This is my last hurrah with the Checker reprints of the Gold Key books. I've already read volumes 4 and 5. Unfortunately, the publisher went defunct after Vol. 5. That means I still need issues 43-61. IDW released 5 hardcover volumes of these books. But they only went to issue #30 and the last edition was published in 2016. So, it's going to bargain bins and affordable back issues in order to complete my read of this entire innovative series that was a constant work in progress.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek: The Key Collection, Vol 2

I really enjoy reading the Gold Key Star Trek books. True, they are filled with errors, inaccuracies and glitches. But they are still amazingly creative stories that bring the original Enterprise crew back to life.

When I reviewed Volume 1, I noted that the tunics worn by Kirk and Sulu were green and not gold. While Captain Kirk did wear a ceremonial tunic that was green, that shirt is not the worn being worn by him in these books. Then I read an article on Mental Floss. 

A couple of days ago, I learned that the 3 tunics worn by the crew of the Enterprise were supposed to be the colors of red, blue and GREEN! However, due to the lighting of the sets, the green uniforms came out appearing as yellow/tan on screen. I've got some mild color blindness issues, especially with green. Thanks to that online article, I now understand why it feels like my brain was always playing tricks on me when I watched classic Trek. I always felt like when I looked at Kirk or Sulu or Chekov, I was seeing 2 colors at once and I really was!

As for some of the other errors, I don't think I can excuse them anymore. In the forward of the previous volume, the editors remarked on how many of the problem with the early Star Trek books was the fact that artist Alberto Giotlitti and Nevio Zaccara both had never watched the show. They mostly had stills from the series and props to work with in order to craft the artwork. This is why Gold Key printed Kirk's tunic as green- because it was! However, we're now covering books 9-16 and it's 1970-71. The artwork problems should be fixed by now!

The Federation phasers look more like a Klingon disruptor. Spock's ears are the size of my feet! And for some reason, Bones' tunic is green instead of medical officer baby blue. And Scotty isn't wearing his engineering reds. The bridge of the Enterprise- it looks impressive but it's not the Enterprise. The very act of transporting from ship to planet also looks really different- cool- but different. But since none of the artists ever watched the TV show, I can't fault the creative license. 

I will say that the likenesses of the main characters are second to none. By issue #16 of Marvel's Star Wars series, the art team still couldn't get Luke Skywalker to look like actor Mark Hamill. By issue #16 of this old school series, not only does Spock look like Leonard Nimoy, I'm expecting him to jump off the page. Alberto Giolitti's work is that lifelike! But not all Klingons look like French wrestler turned actor Maurice Tillet!

As for the writing, I did see a large jump in quality. Len Wein pens these stories and you can tell that he at least had watched the series. I'm not sure if he was a Trekkie as some of Spock's dialogue seems too emotional. But if you really think about it, it's hard to not be emotional. I tried to write some Vulcan appropriate dialogue in my head recently and it's darn near impossible. But everybody else sounds pretty close to their onscreen counterparts. 

This was a fun read. Quite flawed. But it was an enjoyable adventure that I wish to continue by getting my hands on the remaining 30 some odd issues that I don't own.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! #5 (True War Stories)

In 1965, Gold Key Comics released a book with the cover title of Ripley's Believe It or Not: True Wars Stories. It has one of those World War I planes on the cover and looks great. That is not this book. For some reason, when this comic was released in 1967, it was done as as part of another series based on the amazing world of explorer and champion of the macabre, Robert Ripley- Ripley's Believe It or Not: True Ghost Stories. This all very well may have to do with the limited number of titles the United State Postal Service aloud at the time for comics publishers in regards to first class postage.Regardless of what the issue is, there's a glowing oversight here: this book doesn't have any ghosts in it!

The opening story is set in the waning days of World War II. It tells of a Japanese commander who plans a massive attack on allied forces, even though the Emperor of Japan has declared the country's unconditional surrender. This story about honor and anger ends with that trademark Ripley's twist. But there's no spooks here. 

Stories set during the two World Wars fill the rest of this book. They all contain those killer twist endings. But again, there are no ghosts in this book.

All of the stories in the book are supposedly based on real stories. I would have liked something that expounded on these facts, like a behind the scenes letter from the editor. One requirement for comics to meet first class mailing was to include a prose story of at least 1 page in the contents. This book fills that requirement with 'The General Was a Spy'. Surely, a page or two digging deep into the facts behind all of these war stories would have counted as that prose requirement.

Though credits still weren't a common occurrence in comics yet, experts have determined that Sal Trapani, Andre LeBlanc and Joe Certa were the artists of these stories. Oddly enough, the artwork looked consistent throughout, as done by just one hand. That's the most Believe It or Not thing about this book.

A good collection of strange events in the history of warfare. Whether these were 100% factual or just based on anecdote is something I feel is missing from this book. But I enjoyed the read and I thought the artwork was amazing. But for the life of me, I just don't understand why this book is labelled and categorized as it is.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

PT 109 #1 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

During the Summer of 1942, in the Pacific Theater, young John Fitzgerald Kennedy is given his first command. The aging patrol torpedo boat PT-109 is in need of massive doses of TLC. The 3 engines are considered really 'tired.' There's rust everywhere. And there might not be enough guns on the deck. 

Lt. (JG) Kennedy has 1 week to get the boat operable or else he'll be assigned somewhere else, probably as a lower ranking crew member. With an eager crew, Kennedy manages to get PT-109 ready for its first mission, assisting in the evacuation of some marines pinned down by Imperial Japanese forces. That first assignment becomes a rescue mission as one of the barges used transport troops capsizes in the choppy tropical waters.

After that first mission, Kennedy's crew are transferred to the isle of Rendova. Due to its ideal location near Japanese naval routes, the patrol ship operates as a floating David against Japanese Goliath's, attempting to poke holes in the massive fleet. On one moonless night, PT-109 is rammed by a destroyer. Sliced in half, the crew is thrown into the water. What transpires next is a week worth of Lt. Kennedy led his men between nearby islands in hopes of rescue. Avoiding Japanese patrols,angry natives, and the limits of his physical body, Kennedy fights the unyielding elements without losing another member of his crew. 

PT 109 was a 1964 copyrighted comic book based on the 1963 film of the same name. Both versions lack the hyphen in their titles. The accounts of young Jack Kennedy are based on Robert J. Donovan's 1961 work PT-109: John F. Kennedy and World War II. The semi-autobiographical film was produced by Warner Bros. and starred Cliff Robertson (Charly) as JFK. 

This Gold Key adaptation was illustrated by Dan Spiegle (Space Family Robinson). Spiegle was noted for his eerily exact representations of famous people in the pages of numerous Gold Key and Dell works. The artist's Kennedy looks amazingly lifelike. Only sometimes the lieutenant looks like the real thing and sometimes Kennedy looks like actor Robertson. So there is realism, just not consistency in the renderings.

The cover, which depicts the patrol boat being eviscerated by that Japanese destroyer, was painted by Frank McCarthy. McCarthy first achieved notoriety for having painted a number of realistic covers for the pulp mag True Western Adventures. He was also behind the artwork of many theatrical posters in the 1960s and 70s, including The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare. The image used on this comic's cover was taken from the theatrical poster.

After World War II, John F. Kennedy would enter the world of politics. A member of the powerful Kennedy family of Massachusetts, the newly established war hero would serve his home state as both a congressman and senator. In 1960, JFK was elected the 35th president of the United States. Kennedy did manage to watch PT-109 at least once in his lifetime. He called the film 'a good product' but with a nearly 2.5 hour run time, the President thought it was a bit long. With the Sept. 1964 publication date, Kennedy likely never saw the comic adaptation as an assassin's bullet would take his life in November, 1963.

PT 109 was a commercial failure. But the film can be seen in regular rotation during certain holiday weekends on AMC and TCM.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #6 (Based on a True Story) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Captain Nice 10211-711 (#1)

Captain Nice is one of those TV shows I remember from my childhood. Seeing it in rerun in the late 80s, Captain Nice was something that aired on Friday nights on WGN or Nick at Nite. I can't remember which. But I do recall that it was something I only would get to watch during the summers as it aired late at night like 10pm or later. 

As a kid, I loved Captain Nice. I thought it was goofy fun even though my mother swore that it was a stupid show. (Though why she'd keep watching it if it was so insipid is a mystery to me.) The William Daniels (Kitt from Knight Rider) series aired on NBC for only 15 episodes in 1967. Obviously, the American public thought this attempt to collect on the Batman TV series craze was pretty moronic. But for a 10-year old Madman, it was pretty funny.

Probably 30 years or so passed before I even thought of this show again. With the occasional appearance of Daniels on some TV show, I honestly never gave Captain Nice another thought. But then about 6 months ago, I started seeing people around the country on Facebook posting pics of finding this rare comic and adding it to their collection. With this revelation that there was a Captain Nice comic book, I immediately became intrigued and added the title to my wish list. 

Jump to early August. I got a tip on some really affordable Dark Shadows comics. That title was on my top 10 list of TV adaptations to add to my collection, so I went shopping. Needing to spend a few more dollars to achieve free shipping, I took a shot at seeing if I could add Captain Nice to my collection as well. The store had one in stock. The price was right. And in a few days, it was in my possession. 

That first night, I gave Captain Nice a read. Immediately, I am struck by a couple of things thanks to the photo cover and a number of stills from the show inside. One, William Daniels looks a heck of a lot older than you would think a young man just out of college would appear. (In reality, Daniels was 40 when the show aired). Second, the actress who played Captain Nice's mother isn't old enough to be a mother. (With that, technically, I am right. Alice Ghostly (Bewitched) was only 4 years older than Daniels in real life.)

As for the comics themselves, what is there to say that wouldn't prove my mother right. There are 4 shorts which are roughly 8 pages apiece. All of them are pretty goofy with Captain Nice bumbling about for 6 pages and then saving the day, mostly by accident, at the end. One story has Nice attempting to stop a rampaging flood. Another has the hero accidentally helping the very arch-villain he's sworn to stop! The best story involves a love triangle with Captain Nice, his sometime girlfriend meter-main Sgt. Kandy Kane and a slinky cat burglar. I cannot for the life of me remember what transpired in the fourth story. But I do know that every story was formulaic.

In every story, Nice as his alter ego Carter Nash is berated by his mother for not trying hard enough to be a better crime fighter. Kandy Kane tries to get Nash to woe her. Then a crime wave occurs. Ma Carter gets even more snarky, prompting Carter to act. Then, Kandy gets romantically frustrated being cast aside by Nash, now acting as Captain Nice, as he tries to save the day. Then the hero goofs frequently. But at least once, he lucks out and saves the day and though things don't turn out ideal, it's good enough for the citizens of whatever town Captain Nice operates out of.

The best story, that love triangle, at least doesn't follow that formula completely. Mom is mostly absent from that yarn and Nice ends up in the dumps. Literally!

This was a fun trip back to the 1980s. Sure, this book was down right goofy. But it was an entertaining goof. I don't feel like I wasted money on a dud. This was a parody of superhero stories. Maybe not perfect. But from the mind of the legendary humorist, Buck Henry (Saturday Night Live), the whole project has a little gravitas to it. 

I can't imagine many of these are still out there on the market. Like I said, it's rare. But rare doesn't always mean valuable and the few I've seen online aren't too expensive. So if you are looking to add a book to your Dell/Gold Key collections, this one shouldn't wipe out your bank account. 

Now ain't that nice?

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.