Scotch McTiernan's Holiday Party #1

Thanks to my experience with their Halloween special, I was willing to give the Brian Posehn/Gerry Duggan/Scott Koblish holiday follow-up a try. I really wish I had saved my money.

The entire book is a stoner's Christmas Carol warning of the dangers of a 2024 Trump/Red Wave election victory. While I support free speech and I understand the fears of what MAGA candidates are going to do win OR lose after the November elections; it's just not appropriate for a Christmas themed comic book. (And if I am wrong about that- then at least put a warning label on the front cover!)

I'm okay with Christmas horror. I'm even okay with a little bit of Christmas dystopia. Usually with all those types of tales, there's at least a glimmer of positivity and hope. Not so here! There's not one single bit of joyful anticipation in this 2022 comic from Image. The writers are so angry that if this comic book could fester cancer from the bitterness, then the case would be terminal.

Maybe I should have realized from the shocks of the Halloween special that there would be no sacred cows here. Based on the cover, I didn't expect a reverent comic. Heck, I was expecting a lot of drug culture humor and Deadpool level violence. And I was OK with all that. Based on the cover, it all looked so cheerful and fun. I was instead sucker-punched with this woebegone tome. I really didn't expect this to be such a downer in expectation of what 2024 might bring. Hell, I wasn't even expecting the next election to even be a glimmer in the eye of the creators being published so far away from 2024.

January through October of 2024 is going to have enough fear and loathing on its own. I just don't need it during my holiday reads. That's my time to delight and wonder. The team of Duggan/Posehn/Koblish stole that from me with this book. 

Grinches....

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 2 out of 10 stars.

Thor #38 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Destroyer roams the Earth once again!

Loki, along with Karnilla, have decided to have a little bit of fun. They've removed the soul of the Asgardian ally Tarene and placed her essence into the armor of the Destroyer. Try as she might, Tarene is unable to control the destructive rage of the Destroyer. 

Sensing something is wrong, Thor approaches the Manhattan mayhem with caution. This results in the thunder god losing control of his trusty hammer Mjolnir to the Destroyer, making the creation of Odin even more indestructible! As 60 seconds count down, Thor reverts back into his moral form of EMT Jake Olson?!

When Thor first appeared in the pages of 1962's Journey Into Mystery #86, Thor's mortal secret identity was that of crippled doctor Donald Blake. Odin had placed Thor into the broken shell of a healer in order to teach his arrogant son a little humility. Years later, Thor Odinson becomes fused with the mortal body of architect Eric Masterson. After a brief time in exile, Thor seeks to take a leave of absence from his heroic responsibilities and entrusts Masterson to wield his hammer in the thunder god's stead.

When it comes to EMT Jake Olson, things mirror the complex relationship of Batman and gangster Matches Malone. With Matches Malone, only Batman knows that the criminal is really dead. So the Dark Knight masquerades as Malone when he needs to infiltrate the criminal element for information and clues. In the pages of Thor, Jake Olson is killed in an explosion in which only a couple of close friends know. Needing a new identity to hide from the Dark Gods, Thor takes on the fallen man's identity with help of Marnot, one of Odin's trusty ravens. 

Dan Jurgens pens this 2001 issue. Underneath the battle of Thor and the Destroyer, Odin is faced with a difficult choice. If the ruler of Asgard allows the Destroyer to kill Thor, a prophesied golden age of peace for the entire universe will be ushered in by the Designate Tarene. If Odin interferes and gives Thor the victory, a future in which the Odinson becomes a despotic ruler will become Thor's destiny. 

Stuart Immonen was the penciler and inks were done by Scott Koblish. 

The cover was by Barry Windsor Smith. It's a stunning image of Thor's hammer creating a diamond-patterned rainbow. It looks like the colors are wrong. But if you start with the center image of power, radiating an intense yellow hue and then work your way out, the viewer will notice that the colors follow ROY G. BIV correctly recycling back when the palette goes from indigo to red again. An absolutely keen eye to detail here!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #30 (A Thor Story) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

O.M.A.C., Vol. 1: Omactivate!

The non-Fourth World world of Jack Kirby is given the New 52 treatment in this oh too brief miniseries. I'm typically not impressed with the grandstanding style of Dan DiDio. He's self-indulgent and smarmy. Plus, DC Comics wouldn't be in half of the financial mess that they're in right now if not for DiDio. Yet, this time around, I was more than impressed. It's probably because of the assist by Keith Giffen (Larfleeze) on the script. But I will give kudos where kudos are due. 

Not only does this book retool the character of OMAC, this book also ties in another Kirby classic, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. Add in Project Cadmus from Kirby's Jimmy Olsen tenure, Max Lord (a Keith Giffen creation) and Dick Giordano's Sarge Steel, this felt like a tribute to classic DC Comics. 

I did not want this book to end. It was so very fun. I would love for this to be turned into a movie. Heck, I would love for there to be a sequel. Though, with this being New 52, I'm not sure how connected to continuity this is and I don't want to support something that would contradict DC canon. But if a sequel doesn't do such a thing- please, oh please, continue the story!

With artwork by Scott Koblish (Scotch McTeirnan's Halloween Party), this is a fantastic story for those who like their DC Comics to be a little off-the-wall. A reluctant sci-fi superhero in the vein of Neo from The Matrix. You don't have to be a Kirby fanatic (of which I am). But it helps. And for those established Kirby-ites, as long as you understand that this book isn't trying to replace Kirby's OMAC, they should enjoy this as well!

Don't ask me why this is listed as Volume 1. There is no volume 2. This sort of oversight infuriates me and is about the only thing about this book I dislike.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

Scotch McTiernan's Halloween Party #1

I'm rather familiar with Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn. Both were the writers of an epic run of Deadpool stories that saw the Merc With a Mouth gaining a daughter, taking on a zombie horde of dead presidents and the return of the demonically funny Madcap! With their stories, I've learned to expect the unexpected and that there are no sacred cows! But man, was the opening to the book a real punch to the face.

This Halloween special starts off with a maniacal clown about to kill a whole bunch of party goers. Yet, the fiend is beaten to the punch by a mass shooter and then another mass shooter and another. The whole opening sequence of this story was meant to ask the question 'whose is the real monster- those of our nightmares or the regular man on the street?' But with the gore and blood and language and that poor dead bunny rabbit, I was so dumbstruck and shocked; it was like a climate activist had come into my comic book collection and poured tomato soup over everything.

After the initial shock, things got less in-your-face but the wildness and impulsiveness factors never dwindled. When  the 'hero' of this story, Scotch McTiernan, finally appears, the theme of the story has already changed. Over the course of this special we go from biting social commentary to 80s action hero satire to a parody of the 1982 classic E.T., and then things wrap up with a skewering of the religious right while channeling The Most Dangerous Game and Suicide Squad.

In the 1990s, Frank Miller created a character named Lance Blastoff. This souped up rocket man was gritty, grim, bloody as hell- oh, and irreverent. Nothing was safe from Frank Miller's take on the overly testosteroned super hero. Critics claimed that Miller created the character as his form of nose-thumbing at activists who saw mature comics as something to be banned and abhorred. For a while, Miller's character was used in campaigns and fundraising comics produced by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and it seemed the more they did, the wilder Lance Blastoff got. I get the same vibe here with Scotch McTiernan. Only I don't think Duggan and Posehn are doing it for the CBLDF...

Scotch McTiernan first debuted earlier this year in a book called The Secret History of the War on Weed. I didn't know that it was a book meant to celebrate 4/20 Day. Regardless, it wasn't on my radar and if I had known that the former was based on that April tribute to pot, I probably wouldn't have placed a request on this special. Yet Duggan, Posehn and their Deadpool favorited artist, Scott Koblish, were listed as the creators and that was good enough for me. 

Now that I've completed this book, I've got a couple of decisions to make. Do I want to own The Secret History of the War on Weed since it is a 'holiday' book? And do I want to own the forthcoming Christmas special that Duggan, Posehn and Koblish have lined up about Scotch McTiernan? I'm going to say yes to both. However, I'm also going to be wearing a whole lot of armor when I do. Those first 6 pages of this Halloween special are going to haunt me for decades and the horror had nothing to do with the creatures of the night. 

The opening of Scotch McTiernan's Halloween Party will hit you like a ton of bricks. While those elements of this story, which as a teacher hits very close to home, are temporary, the irreverence and insanity that turned me into a Deadpool fan never wanes from this comic. Maybe if Wade Wilson was doing all of this craziness and not just some random dudes with guns and body armor, I wouldn't be so unsettled. If so, I might have really enjoyed the last 3/4 of this book much as well.

This is definitely not a Halloween special for kids! Mature readers only!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Despicable Deadpool Volume 1: Deadpool Kills Cable

The reign of the Despicable Deadpool begins with this volume that takes place immediately after the events of Secret Empire!

SPOILERS: 

The reign of HYRDA Cap has been thwarted. But the damage has been done. The public still doesn't forgive or trust the true Captain America. Wade Wilson has been declared and enemy of the state! And the Preston family is in serious disrepair. 

On the run, Deadpool now must complete a series of 4 murders in repayment of his debt to Stryfe. His first target: Cable!

I must admit when I first heard that Deadpool was going back to a baddie, I was afraid that he was going to loose all of the elements that led to me falling in love with the character over the past couple of years. Thankfully, he's the same old Merc with a Mouth- he just doesn't give a damn anymore!

Another thing that should have led me to not worry is the fact that Gerry Duggan is still penning the further adventures o Deadpool. The quality of the stories haven't diminished and Scott Koblish continues to pencil the series in his 'pen is mightier than the sword' ways. 

Though it's a more gruff Deadpool, everybody's favorite mutant- besides Wolverine, and Cable, and Kitty Pryde, and Storm, and Professor X...(okay, I could go on for ever)- anyways Wade Wilson is still in very talented hands and this is a series very much Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool: World's Greatest, Volume 6: Patience Zero

Madcap has returned! And he's mad as hell!

Things seem to not be going Deadpool's way right now. His marriage is falling apart. His Avengers team has been disbanded. And the Mercs for Money are making money, just without Deadpool.

Now with the return of Madcap, things have gone from bad to worse. The former resident of Wade Wilson's head seeks revenge on Deadpool. The fiend has unleashed an incurable plague upon his daughter and members of Agent Preston's family. In order to save them, Deadpool just may have to make a deal with the devil...

Then jump ahead to the year 2099. The Deadpool 2099 saga comes to an end. Which of his daughter winds up with the mantle of Deadpool? Where is Deadpool's bride Shiklah? And what does the Immortal Iron Fist have to do with any of this?

This volume was not as good than the last. Things aren't great for Deadpool and I like my Deadpool to be a little more upbeat.  If I wasn't used to a funny Deadpool, then this would be great as it's quite gritty and dark.

I know things aren't supposed to be great for Wade Wilson. He's like Charlie Brown in a self-deprecating manner in which everyone thinks he's a real blockhead. He never can get ahead and if Deadpool does, he's quickly snapped back to reality.  But I read books with the Merc With a Mouth when I need a pick me up and this did not do the job. 

It's not the worst thing I've ever read by Gerry Duggan. It's just not my favorite either. The artwork by Scott Koblish on the on the hand was pretty awesome and that cover of Madcap bursting through some dude's chest is pretty wicked.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool, Volume 3: End of An Error

     Untold tales of the non-Deadpool members of the Mercs for Money, a super-sized anniversary issue, an all-Spanish tale starring Massacre: the Mexican Deadpool, and a trip to the Marvel 2099 universe. This Deadpool volume was filled with fun, laughs, and tons of violence. 
      I really enjoyed just about all of this book. The only part I didn't really enjoy was the Mexican Deadpool story. Being all in Spanish and considering I cannot speak a lick of it, I just couldn't read what was being said. Is it wrong to ask for an Spanish-to-English translation? 
     Slapstick is featured in this book as is the 90s horror character, Terror. Both shine in the first half of this book. I'm thrilled that Slapstick has a series again. Now the House of Ideas needs to give the Terror another shot.
     Writer Gerry Duggan continues to thrill, so does artist Scott Koblish. But I think Amazon got it wrong- Brian Posehn isn't still on the creative team. He left shortly before this new series of Deadpool.
    
      Worth Consuming

       Rating: 9 out of 10 stars