Summer of Supergirl Special #1

Despite what some of you may think, this really has been the Summer of Supergirl. Unfortunately, a lot of you decided to forgo a really fun movie. May I just say that I am disappointed in you. Kidding. Kidding. Maybe Supergirl would have been better received if done as a series. Maybe if there was more Krypto. Maybe if Supergirl actually wore her costume in the film. Maybe if James Gunn wasn't involved.

I can see reasons to hate the film. But deep down, it was freaking entertaining to this fan of the Girl of Tomorrow. I stocked up on Supergirl merch. My office is going to look amazing this school year! While I don't buy everything with Supergirl on it, I always buy the comics. But if it wasn't for the guys at my favorite comic book store, I would have missed out on this summer special.

With my mystery blood disease, I get brain tired a lot more often than I want. One casualty in my comic book collecting hobby is that I haven't been checking out the new releases like I used to. A lot of times, I just plain forget. Others, I'm just too mentally and physically exhausted to check at the end of the day. Thankfully, Books Furnish a Room in Durham NC were looking out for me and they ordered this knowing how much a fan of Kara Zor-El I am. 

There's 3 stories in this oversized release. The main story features the main man himself, Lobo. Makes sense as he's making his silver screen debut in Supergirl. The tale opens with Supergirl and Lobo in space court. Apparently in Lobo #4, the two got into a massive brawl and were apprehended for the damage. Thankfully, you don't have to have that issue in order to follow what happens here. But I am interested enough in seeing if my LCS has a copy and getting the inside scoop.

Tale #2 is written by Gail Simone. It has Supergirl and Mary Marvel meeting for the very first time. The pair bond over the fact that both are orphans and essentially grew up in the foster care system. Dedicated to all children and families who have fostered and adopted, this is my pick thus far for story of the year! It was so poignant and sweet. And not saccharine sweet either. I loved it!

The final story is probably the most massive undertaking in Supergirl history. It sees Superboy, Jonathan Kent and the female Steel attempting to unravel the tangled history of Supergirl. Along with the real deal, you've had the Matrix Supergirl and that one that was an Angel, after a girl named Linda Danvers bonded with the shape-shifter in the 90.s You've got multiple origins. Tons of different costumes. The multiverse. Plus, a surprise for me, everyone seems to know that she died fighting the Anti-Monitor! Confessionally, I haven't been really up-to-date with DC's Crises in the past 15 years like I probably should. 

The last story was educational. But I feel like it gets hijacked towards the end by J'onn J'onnz. The middle story was the best. The opener was very funny. If you are a fan of any incarnation of Supergirl, you will want to add this one-shot to your Supergirl collection. As for the judges of the Eisners and other comic book awards, I employ you to give serious, SERIOUS consideration to Gail Simone and her story 'Lost Girls' for story of the year and writer of the year, if the nomination process for this cycle of publications are still open. It's really that excellent of a work!

Worth Consuming!

Rating 9 out of 10 stars.

Supergirl (2026)

Being such a fan of Supergirl, you might have been wondering when I will be watching the new live action movie? Well, the answer was today! I got up early, drove through Durham traffic to make a 9:45am showing so I could avoid crowds and be able to watch the movie without my mask. Unfortunately, I think the reports from Hollywood are accurate. Supergirl, at least financially, is a box office bomb. I think maybe 2 other people were in the theater with me. Even worse, there were dozens of Supergirl popcorn buckets and Lobo variants still sitting on store shelves. Only the Masters of the Universe franchise still had more collectible buckets still for sale!

On film, I thought the film was fantastic! It was loads better than the 1984 stinker, although I still think Helen Slater was a great Supergirl. I tried to stay away from the reviews of others. But with social media, occasional opinions slipped through. One of the biggest complaints was that the film, which takes place in outer space, was too much like Guardians of the Galaxy. But I for one liked the lived in feel on James Gunn's DC Universe. Anytime you see Apokolips or Mongol's Warworld, it is the opposite of sterile Krypton. In Agro City, I think you could eat off the floor of any city street whereas in the places Kara Zor-El visits, you risk getting hepatitis A-Z just by looking at the locations.

The 2026 film is based on Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow maxi-series from 2021-22. I have that entire run but have held off from reading it because King has this annoying habit of killing our beloved characters from my childhood. But happy with the results that complete the film, I think that I might be ready to read the comic book. The story sees Kara and her dog Krypto on a planet orbiting a red sun. It's the only way she can get plastered as she attempts to escape the trauma of her parents dying from radiation poisoning and being sent to Earth to live with her cousin Kal-El.

It is on this planet that Kara runs into a young girl named Ruthye. The child witnessed her whole family murdered by a group of savage marauders led by the insane Krem of the Yellow Hills. Offering a sword made by her father, a fine craftsman whose weaponry was in high demand, Ruthye seeks someone to enact revenge on Krem. Supergirl is at first uninterested in getting involved. But when Krem shoots vulnerable Krypto with a dart containing a slow acting poison, Kara reluctantly agrees to help Ruthye in order to find the antidote which the gang leader wears around his neck.

There are some elements of True Grit with Supergirl playing the John Wayne role being hired by young Ruthye to avenge the death of her parents. Lots of great aliens and space vehicles, too. I feel that if Kenner was still in existence, the toys produced by this movie could have rivaled Star Wars!

Speaking of Ruthye; the actress who plays her, 14-year old Eve Ridley was fantastic. She brought forth so many powerful emotions. I know it's a long shot, but I really do think her portrayal deserves an Oscar nom!

As for the trolls comparing Milly Alcock to the cave person in 1970's Land of the Lost, do better Dean Cain! I might think you're a great Superman. Your Clark Kent inspired me for a brief time to explore being a newspaper reporter. But in real life, you're a total creep who confuses this country as being God.

My least favorite part of the movie was that of bounty hunter Lobo, played by Jason Momoa. The former Aquaman hams up the role. But I had to remember that in the 90s, co-creator Keith Giffen rebooted Lobo into a parody of the violent comic book characters such as the Punisher and Judge Dredd. But it seems like 2 different makeup artists worked on Momoa throughout the production because in the Czarian's first 2 scenes, you could tell that it was the former Game of Thrones actor in really bad white face. The black patches on his face looked less natural for his species and more like Surfer Dude Sting at the end of a match versus Ric Flair. His look appeared more natural towards the end of the film. But by then, the damage was done. 

At least I finally know how to pronounce the word 'bastiche.'

I really enjoyed the movie. Am I glad I went to see it in the theaters? Absolutely. But with my mystery illness, it's getting hard for me to sit still for 2 hours, even if the chair is a recliner! I think my days of going to the movies might be coming to an end. I wind up in just too much pain after going to the flicks. I just hope that regardless of how poorly the movie is doing in theaters, I hope this isn't what kills off Supergirl again for another 25 years!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Silent Tales #1

Less is not always more important in this experimental comic book. Gustavo Duarte's Silent Tales was originally published as a series of 6 digital comics under the banner DC's Speechless! None of these stories have words, with exception of the occasional sign in the background like for an exit from a building or a banner declaring items inside a store are on sale. Being essentially a pantomime, this very much is an experiment. Sadly, I didn't feel like the results of the half dozen tales had a success that was replicable.

Here's what on store in this issue without giving away too much of the plots:

• Harley Quinn takes on a DIY project.
• Cyborg looks to relax at Titans Tower with his latest record store find.
• Zatanna adopts a very hungry rabbit.
• Superman learns why it's important to separate his laundry under the categories of whites, colors and radioactive.
• The Joker partakes in some art appreciation under the watchful eye of Commissioner Gordon and the Batman.
• Intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo goes treasure hunting against a band of Nazi vampires!

Let me back that up. Nazi vampires. Vampires that happen to be demonic disciples of the Third Reich! Versus Lobo! Why hasn't DC Comics done a DC Horror series based on this idea?!

Silent Tales wasn't without good ideas. It's just proof that words are important. We live in a society that is obsessed with emojis and text speak. This book proves that comics need words and dialogue just as much as they need pictures. I like Gustavo Duarte. His artwork in Bizarro, the road trip adventure with Jimmy Olsen was so fun. That's why I wanted to buy this 2023 one shot. Unfortunately, the stories in this book are far from superior to his previous work because some of the details get lost without those oh so important words. (To be fair, Duarte didn't write Bizarro. Heath Corson did and that might have something to do with the better storytelling.)

Still, Duarte's art was fantastic as usual. So whimsical. Quite funny. He's a master of caricature. And those creative Ideas. I'm game to read more future works by Gustavo Duarte. But the emphasis has to be on the word 'read'. We live in the age of talkies!

As for DC Comics - please keep taking digital works and giving them the paper treatment. Each trial might not be a success. But for those of us who love the floppy, please don't keep us in the digital dark. 

And please, make that Lobo against the Nazi vampires miniseries a reality... PLEASE!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Lobo #1 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

After a popular tryout miniseries, DC Comics decided that the time was right for an ultra violent regular series starring the Czarnian bounty hunter Lobo. Only this version of Lobo was nothing like he was envisioned by creators Keith Giffen and Roger Slifer.

When he first appeared in the pages of The Omega Men #3, Lobo was a hardened baddie that never let a bounty go unclaimed. This is rather like the 1990s version of Lobo. Only, instead of dressed like a Hell's Angel from Hell, the original Lobo wore a skin tight leotard hued in purple and neon orange. The new Lobo had long, greasy hair and wore earrings and chains. Giffen's Lobo had a feathery bouffant and was free of adornments. Actually, you couldn't see his ear from the hairstyle that invokes images of Farrah Fawcett and Vinnie Barbarino. He might have been wearing earrings.

The biggest difference in the two versions of Lobo was in how the character was presented. Giffen's Lobo was like Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name' outlaw Western character. The 1990s Lobo was like the 'Man With No Name' set to 11- make that 12!  Keith Giffen claimed in a 2006 interview that his Lobo was  'an indictment against' Marvel's violent antihero, the Punisher." But as Alan Grant took over the reins from Giffen after the 1990-91 miniseries, in 1993 Grant shifted Lobo to become an over-the-top parody of Marvel's Wolverine. 

It's ironic that a character meant o criticize the disturbing 80s trend of mega violent characters evolved into a character noted as one of the industry's most Uber violent, no holds barred, irreverent figures of all-time. It's even more ironic that Lobo's lack of sacred cows, except for those space dolphins, would give birth to a number of imitators that continue to push the envelope to unthinkable levels. Topps Comics, Image and even Marvel created their own parody versions of a character that was a satire in of itself. Talk about the snake eating it's own tail.

In this premiere issue, Lobo is on assignment. He's on the hunt for a real nasty. Only instead of being hunted for killing somebody's loved one or for stealing something valuable, the bounty is for missed alimony payments! Things go wrong for Lobo, leaving the bounty hunter with only a single body part to claim his money. Only a nose and two nostrils isn't enough to make a claim which leaves this bastich extremely P-O'ed. 

After roughing up his handler, Lobo is given a new bounty, a milquetoast accountant named Quigley. Only it's the handler who's having the last laugh as Lobo is being lured into a trap as his quarry is protected by the most dangerous bunch of henchmen in the galaxy. 

The original version of Lobo would return to much controversy with DC's New 52 relaunch. Readers were left to find that the rebooted Lobo was actually an impostor, much like how Jodo Kast impersonated Boba Fett. Only in this case, it's the pretender who comes out on top. Today's Lobo has become more of an offensive buffoon. Now the father of a half human teen prone to bouts of papa's bad attitude, Lobo's intensity and insensitivity are balanced by daughter Crush's ability to think things through before acting. 

Interior art and cover by Val Semeiks.

Completing this review completes Task #26 (The first issue of a series or miniseries) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun #1

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun is the title of this Halloween oversized special from DC. I love the punny title and I love the main cover by Alvaro Martino Bueno. That prancing monstress dressed as Mary Marvel was just so cheerful. The dragon off to the left wearing a Flash mask is just adorable. And the looks on Lois and Clark's faces was timeless.

But was the interior just as fun as the cover? How about I describe some of the stories and you decide? Here's a run down of my favs...

• Adam F. Goldberg, the creator of ABC's The Goldberg's crafts a tale in which Lobo comes to his daughter Crush, to help him find a costume for a Halloween party at the House of Secrets. Crush recommends that her pop goes as a certain Hugh Jackman character. What she's hinting at is going as Wolverine. What Lobo hears is a whole bunch of other characters played by the Aussie actor.
• Lois tasks Clark to help her with a Halloween deadline, which means exploring an abandoned mental hospital. What Superman uncovers is a closet full of ghosts, all waiting for long overdue justice.
• Animal Man spies on his daughter on her first Halloween trick-or-treating since the death of her brother.
• A woman goes out for her nightly walk on the dangerous streets of Gotham. Her hope is to run into the Batman. Instead, she comes face-to-face with a Man-Bat!
• Hal Jordan battles an escaped inter-galactic villain. He also comes head-to-head with the demon, Etrigan. It's good cop vs. bad cop. If they work together, will this fiend they stop?

There were a couple of stories I liked but I hated the ending.

• In Bludhaven, Nightwing battles a werewolf. In order to stop the beast, he'll have to team up with Jason Todd, the Red Hood. It's a story of bad blood that ended with the promise of more. Only there wasn't any sort of blurb telling readers to catch the rest of the story in some other issue. As much as I hate having to read the rest of a story in the pages of another book, I hate it just as much when a story ends without really completing anything.
• On the anniversary of the first time the world thought that the Doom Patrol died, Robotman is haunted by the ghosts of fallen teammates. I love the classic Doom Patrol. There's a whole lot of modern characters that I just don't know. I probably would like this more if I had more of a connection to most of the ghosts.

And then there was one story that I didn't hate, but I wasn't completely sold on it either

• Renee Montoya investigates a number of murders during Gotham's annual Halloween Fashion Week. When she realizes that several of the models she's been questioning have been dead for a while, Montoya becomes the Question to complete her investigation as a pair of villains from Batman's Rogues Gallery prepare to take the catwalk for one final act of terror. The story wasn't so bad. Art was actually good. The first act was intriguing. I just didn't buy the team-up of the 2 baddies. It just didn't make sense to me their motivations.

5 stories were winners and I loved that Lobo tale from Adam F. Goldberg. I want a Lobo/Crush series written by Goldberg! I would buy each issue new on the day it came out! 2 stories were good but could've been better. Technically that Question story could have been better but I think only if 2 different antagonists were teamed together, could it truly have worked. 

For one of DC's holiday specials, there were 2 noticeable omissions. Harley Quinn is absolutely absent from this book and Batman is only represented by members of his family. I thought it was a law that DC had to include both characters in everything the House That Superman Built published these days. Not that I didn't miss either character. I'm an original member of the Gang of Harleys and Batman plays into a lot of my posts. I'm just surprised DC left both heavy hitters out of this book.

And then there's the missing story. According to Previews, Mary Marvel and Psycho Pirate were supposed to star in a story together in this book. As I had mentioned earlier, there's a ghoul dressed like Mary Marvel on the cover. So are monsters dressed on Man-Bat, Animal Man, Lobo and the Flash. Other than Flash, the other 3 characters do appear in this book. What happened to Mary Marvel? And was the Flash supposed to be in this special too and he got bumped for some reason as well?

Once again, this special was $9.99. That's been the price for these holiday specials for several years now. I know of some fans that say with conviction that paying $10 plus tax is too much for a comic book. In the past some of these books have not been that good. That's not the case here. Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun was one of the best DC oversized releases I've read in years. More fun and exciting than preachy and political. I didn't feel like any of these stories were trying to talk down to me. In fact, that Lobo story felt like something my own warped sense of humor would come up with. Plus- no ads! 

It was definitely money well spent.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection

The 1990s was the cross-publication crossover era. After a brief blip in the late 70s, the DC and Marvel universes went through most of the 1980s without the two sides ever meeting. Then in the 90s with Marvel facing bankruptcy, the worlds of the two big publishers collided. Not to be outdone, the major indy publishers followed suit. Shi meet Daredevil. The Ninja Turtles meet Savage Dragon. And Batman meet everyone!

That's how the DC Universe came to meet the citizens of Mega City One!

In Judgment on Gotham, a futuristic piece of tech transports the feared Judge Death to Gotham City. In a melee with Death, the Batman gets his hand on the dimensional warping gadget and finds himself in Mega City One facing down the one and only Judge Dredd! Meanwhile, back in Gotham, Judge Death forms an unholy alliance with the Scarecrow! 

Vendetta in Gotham sees Judge Dredd in Batman's backyard and he's come with a sentence on the Dark Knight- a death sentence! 

The story Die Laughing is supposed to be the next story. According to the ending of Vendetta in Gotham, that's where things wrap up. Yet, for some reason, The Ultimate Riddle came next. It has Batman, The Riddler and Judge Dredd enslaved by a powerful being who has joined the mightiest fighters in the galaxy in a no holds barred battle royale.

Vendetta in Gotham wraps things up with the Joker joining forces with the Dark Judges in Mega City One! 

Finally, the last Czarnian, Lobo is hired to protect an intergalactic children's host who happens to get kidnapped by the mutants of Mega City One. The story was a wild ride. What would you expect from a 1990s era Lobo story? Not sure why this one was added to a collection of Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers. But I am glad it was. Now if we could get a Lobo/Deadpool crossover!

5 amazing adventures. The level of violence, gore and naked flesh would make this a Vertigo property. But I guess DC saw a cash cow and thought they'd lose sales and they might of! I'm sure 2000AD didn't care one bit. But this is definitely not something for all ages. Maybe not mature audiences only type stuff. But please don't buy this for your under 11 years old Batman fans!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Lobo/Road Runner Special #1

After years of failing to capture his nemesis The Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote takes to the stars to hire the baddest bastiche in the galaxy Lobo! But in order for Lobo to take the job, the Coyote has to fulfill a hit for the last Czarnian. Honestly, I don't know who's in it more over their head- Wile E. or Lobo? 

Bill Morrison's take on the Road Runner/ Wile E. Coyote mythos was quite interesting. The super-intelligence of both animals is due to genetic testing on a group of animals from the New Mexican desert. If you look closely, you'll see that a gray hare, black duck, and a canary are some of the test subjects as well. 

But where I got lost from Morrison's story is a scene in which one of the assistant's is talking to a scientist but then everybody acts like she's talking to thin air. That plot point wasn't clearly explored further and I read over that sequence like 5 or 6 times just trying to figure out what I was missing.

I liked Morrison's art. It was done in the gritty Lobo style that still allowed for reader to clearly understand who was who in of the Looney Tunes despite their new designs. Plus, the old 1940s style sci-fi slant used by Bill Morrison was perfect for this type of bizarre story.

The Warner Bros. style story in the back was also very good. It too had Lobo trying to exterminate the Road Runner. But with the addition of Bugs Bunny holding Lobo to the family friendly standards of a Looney Tunes cartoon, it was a laugh riot instead of the more series main feature. This is one story that I would have loved to see as an animated short.

For a gritty property like Lobo marketed younger readers, it could have gotten too sugary sweet. Instead, this was a very good crossover read that didn't lose it's essence nor was it overly shocking for a crowd used to it's characters surviving explosions and falls from enormous heights. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Superman: Cosmic Bounty Hunter (Family Comic Friday)

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's not really a comic book I'm reviewing this week. For today's edition of Family Comic Friday, I thought it would be interesting to review the DC Super Heroes series of readers. This books originally published from around 2008-2011 feature artwork based on various DC cartoon series such as Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: the Animated Series, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.

    At my library, I found about 30 different titles and they were located in the children's graphic novels section. Plus there is colorful artwork on every fourth page. Not only that, the stories are about superheroes, the stars of comic books. So, I decided this might be an interesting read to review for FCF.

     The story has Darkseid hiring out the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo to bring the Man of Steel to Apokolips so that the despot can finally do away with him. When Lobo then shows up in Metropolis causing havoc with a new laser-chain weapon it appears that things might be too much for Superman. But when Darkseid's son, Kalibak, double-crosses Lobo and captures both the Man of Tomorrow and the Czarnian Main Man, it may very well be Darkseid who will be the only doing all the suffering.
   
    The story was fresh and fun. But it also brought back a little nostalgia for me. I grew up watching Superman: the Animated Series and some of my favorite episodes from the show involved Lobo and Darkseid fighting the Last Kryptonian. To my knowledge, the two adversaries never appeared in the same episode together. So this all-new story was like reading a script from a lost episode with some storyboards thrown in for good measure.
 
     If I had a child, I would be all over this series. While I think comic books are the cat's pajamas, I feel that from time to time it is required to read something that's done in prose form. These books are a fun way to get kids to transition kids to reading more wordy works. I got started reading thanks to comics and went to readers and then to full-on chapter books. But when I was a kid, they didn't have anything like these readers ideal for 1st-4th graders. At least not anything with the world's greatest superheroes in them!

   One neat thing about these books is the sound effects. While the story is written like a book, when Superman hits a bad guy with his fist (POW!) or the villian flies through a glass window (CRASH) the words are embellished like in the comics. (See picture example of these unique fonts.) It makes the reading experience all that more fun.

     The way I see it the best method to get a child reading is to find them things that they would enjoy reading about. If your child loves superheroes, then you start with picture books and comics about them. Then you move on to readers like this. Then there's older kids chapter books and eventually 200-page plus works without pictures that star your favorite DC and Marvel heroes.
 
 
(By the way, you can pretty much substitute superheroes with any subject they desire and work them up to reading word only literature. It's how I learned to read and I have found in my experience as a former educator to be the best way to get children reading.) (JUST DON'T FORGET TO LET THEM RETURN TO COMICS WHENEVER THEY WANT.)

   So besides the library, where can you find these DC Super Heroes readers? Amazon has dozens of different titles for less than $5 a book. Some titles can be bought used for as low as a penny plus shipping.  There's also a companion series called DC Super Villains that star some of the more colorful rogues of the DC Universe like The Joker and Sinestro. Along with a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts, these readers will not only get your child interested in reading but might get them hooked on the creative process.

    Who knows? These books might be training and inspiring the next generation of writers right now!

   Worth Consuming

    Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

   

Lobo Convention Special #1

The comic book industry isn’t safe when Lobo decides that comics speculating is the easiest way to making fast cash without wasting ammo. But, when he accidentally destroys his pristine copy of the Death of Superman, Lobo hits the Convention circuit in search for a copy at or below cover price. Now, ComiCon is no longer safe, as well.

It’s a very funny parody of the comic book industry. It's much like when William Shatner told those Trekkies on that SNL sketch to “Get A Life.”, this book skewers fans and creators alike.

Being a Lobo title, there’s plenty of violence and gore. First issues get destroyed, boorish writers and artists are dismembered, rival publishers get their comeuppance, and nerds are given atomic wedgies. Sadly, the one group Lobo doesn’t wipe out are those yuppie jerks who created the whole speculating blitz in the first place.

Their wanton purchasing of first issues and limited edition titles created an supply and demand problem so fierce that the inflation of book prices was so high only the very rich could afford to buy comic books in the mid-90s. It was the single most reason I had to stop collecting for a very long while and it almost destroyed the industry as a whole (the speculators, not my brief hiatus from collecting.)

Read it for the humor and gore or for the brief “day in the life” history lesson hidden in between the lines. You decide.

Not for kids under 12.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.