I just couldn't wait for December 1st. I've been in a festive mood and wanted to read a holiday comic so bad! So I compromised with this issue of DC's Strange Adventures from 1957!
The cover was the reason for the readings! It depicts a pair of snowmen (who look a lot like Frosty!) laying waste to the Earth with laser beams that emit from their dead coal eyes! If this image does not scream weird and wild Christmas, I don't know what does!
The story takes place during the summer. The snowmen are actually energy beings from another planet. They hope to freeze the Earth in order to make it ripe for invasion since they come from a planet far away from the sun. As their actions cause it to snow, a pair of boys end up doing what any kid would if it were to snow during a hot July day: they build snowmen.
The entities enter the snowmen and terrorize the American countryside by using their eye beams to freeze all the vegetation to death! When heat and even an Atomic bomb ends up not being able to stop these frigid fiends, what can the people of earth do to prevent mass global cooling?
The opening story was quite interesting. It had a segment based on factual science as a lot of DC sci-fi stories from this era did. Basically, everything that the writers says was responsible for global warming in 1957 is the complete opposite of what scientists say is causing the global issue now.
And yes- this 62 year old comic really does claim that the earth of 1957 was suffering from global warming!
There were 3 other stories in this book. They weren't exactly memorable to me. In fact, I had to look them back up to recall what I read. The stories involve a group of human time travelers from 1 billion years in the past, a human from the future who offers to trade spaces with a 1950s criminal and a mysterious car with a mind of it's own. Of these extra stories, the middle tale was probably the best as that one had a twist ending which was what made me such a fan of sci-fi and horror stories of the 1950s.
I enjoyed getting to cheat on my holiday comic diet. This vintage book allowed me to get in the Christmas spirit without breaking my personal rule of no holiday comics until December 1st!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
I actually waited a full-scale year to read this book. My wife gave it to me for Christmas. But since we had traveled to St. Louis to visit her family, we didn't exchange gifts with each other until after we got back a few days after Christmas 2015. So I added this treasury to my collection database, put it on my 'To Read' shelf and I waited... and waited... and waited until it was Christmas time 2016 to finally read this volume.
The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories is just that; it's over one hundred and seventy pages of classic Christmas themed comics from the 1940s up till 1960. It features the work of comic book legends such as John Stanley (Little Lulu), Walt Kelly (Pogo), and even an Al Fago yuletide yarn starring his creation Atomic Mouse. Added to the holiday fun is a rare comic story from children's book master Richard Scarry (Busytown.)
Some of these stories are quite dated, either in appearance or conventional mores. A few are quite silly and there were a couple of duds. But this was a pretty enjoyable read. Plus, not liking every story is to be expected in a collection such as this and as long as the majority of the stories are gems, it still makes for an overall favorable read.
This treasury was co-published by YOe Books, in cooperation with IDW Publishing. YOe has been building a reputation with it's massive editions of comic works featuring Steve Ditko, Dan DeCarlo, and Jack Kirby and the level of quality and detail in this treasury shows.
A really awesome Christmas present that was worth the wait.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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| Cover #1A. |
What a difference a year and another publishing company make. Snowman 1944 was supposed to end with issue #4. But for some reason be it creative, financial, both, Entity Comics never got around to publishing it. So in 1997, Avatar Press became the new home for Snowman and saw and end to the 1944 miniseries with this special one-shot.
The creative team stayed the same with the move to Avatar. So, you'd think that would have kept the quality of the book up to the same level of the original 3 Snowman 1944 issues. Well, you'd be wrong.
First of all, the book starts out with an 8-page rehash of everything that happened so far in this story. I understand that since so much time had elapsed between issue 3 and this special, that some sort of reminder was needed. I appreciate that. But none of the artwork was new! It was all cut and pasted from issues 1-3! For a $4 comic from the 90s, that's unacceptable!!!
Then comes the story itself. When we last left Tommy Gunn, his Nazi hostage had been killed by the Snowman. Though Tommy seemed to hate to see her go, there didn't seem to be any love lost. Yet most of this issue becomes some sort of twisted fantasy between the American soldier and the Nazi officer as Tommy seeks to escape Occupied territory in a stolen German plane. Yet all this daydreaming really detracted from the story. Not to mention that the language was (now) left unedited and nudity abounds in a book known only for being violently gritty.
Lastly, the story does something completely unexpected and really dumb- it becomes a time travelling romp with a trio of characters that didn't even appear in either the Snowman 1944 or Origin story from the Entity books. Maybe those characters are from the original Snowman book. But if they are, I'd expect some sort of mention of them somewhere (ANYWHERE) in this book's summary or issues 1-3.
Speaking briefly on the Snowman #0 story. It's completely gone from this issue. But I did learn that with Avatar's undertaking of the Snowman franchise, that story finally got to see print as a stand alone series. Yet, with how god awful this special was, I'm not sure if I ever want to venture out into the frigid world of the Snowman.
Not Worth Consuming
Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.
Tommy Gunn is on the run for his life from both the Nazi army and the ancient evil of the Snowman. With the Panzer destroyed, the American pilot's only chance is to make it to the airfield on the other side of a concentration camp. All out action and thrills develops a little bit of a conscience as the horrors of the holocaust are explored in this, the penultimate chapter in the Snowman 1944 saga.
While the main story hasn't dipped in quality, I'm stumped by what happened to the backup feature. In the first issue, we got a very good opening chapter in the Snowman's origin. The next issue also contained some of the origin story, but it wasn't as detailed. By this issue, the origin has completely disappeared! I have no clue as to what has happened to it either...
At least, it doesn't detract from the quality of the main feature.
Parental Advisory
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
The Snowman has been unwittingly unleashed and none are safe! Now downed fighter pilot Tommy Gunn and his Nazi hostage are in for the fight of their lives. Oh, and did I mention the Panzer? It's modern warfare VS ancient evil in a frosty battle royale!
Another great chapter in this supernatural story set in World War II. The swears are still edited and the gore level is set to 11 (just look at the freakin' cover on the right!) The only difference with this issue compared to the last is that there is a 'Parental Advisory' on the cover.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
When a waist gunner for an Allied bomber is forced to bail during the Battle of the Bulge, he inadvertently unleashes a Native America demon upon Axis and Allies alike. Thus begins a new series on a character that I am unfamiliar with. But this book from 1996 isn't the Snowman's first ever appearance. I learned from reading in on the letters page that the ice monster starred in another series in 1995-96.
The brainchild of two cousins, Matt Martin and Cameron Enders, the idea behind Snowman is that when Native American warrior was brutally murdered during a supposed peace treaty with the white man, the man's sister conjurors a demon out of an arrowhead talisman. When the projectiles touch snow, it summons the creature which kills white indiscriminately with looks of blood and gore. (It's the very same talisman that the doomed gunner is wearing around his neck as a good luck charm.)
How do I know all this? Well, if you flip this comic over, you get the first chapter of Snowman #0. That's is the never before told origin story of Snowman and it's quite good as well.
I enjoyed both sides of this comic from the now defunct Entity Comics. It was an original premise that mixed Old West folklore with the terrors of World War II. And it was full of action!
However, this is not a book for kids. Though drawn in black and white, this book was bloody and violent. Oddly enough, for such a book there's no cussing. Let me rephrase that- there's adult language but it's either blocked out or '#$%#!' are used instead of spelling things out. A little weird but still an enjoyable gritty read! And not a bad find for only a quarter at a comics show!
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
