DC's Terrors Through Time #1

Finally, after several years of complaints, DC releases a holiday time special that contains relevant content but doesn't make the reader want to kill themselves because of being shamed about the sins of the world. 

For instance, in the prequel story starring the Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman face a Hawaiian earth spirit who is unhappy with how their pristine island has become tarnished by man. I did not realize how much damage cats have done to the island chains' ecosystem, including the surrounding oceans! But in this story, the Sirens 3 are given a chance to redeem the wrongs and there's a little bit of hope; something that has been lacking from DC Comics' for the past several years.

I think DC is starting to understand that the readers with money to spend want to be entertained, not preached at. If I want a sermon, I know where to go on a Sunday morning. There's nothing wrong with covering political or even social topics. Just don't be snarky with your comments and inside jokes. Not every white male in America supports Trump and his ideals...

There are 7 other stories in this book which looks at horror through the ages as opposed to time travel frights. Based on the cover with the Super Sons looking over blueprints for a time machine, that's what I thought this book was going to be about. Alas, I was wrong.

Instead, the opening story, starring the Phantom Stranger sets the tone for this 80-page giant. The Stranger's story reflects on his eternal mission to save humanity from the forces of darkness. This usually involves demons and monsters. But I would have expected a story that took place over eons would have The Stranger wearing different togs. Instead, he wears that 1960s mod turtle neck, fedora and cloak of his throughout all time. I didn't know his costume was so timeless.

The story starring The Demon, Etrigan, was perhaps one of the best stories ever published by DC. The ending was absolutely freakin' perfect! If they still do awards for story of the year in comics, this one gets my vote and full support!

Other stories of note was the Halloween set story of the Super Sons as they go to trick-or-treating to all the secret lairs of the Justice League's line-up. Then go 50 years into the future to see how Swamp Thing protects the Green after a nuclear catastrophe. 

There's also a really good Green Lantern Corps story set about 425 years in the future. I felt that it was a story that contained characters that DC isn't done with yet. If that's the case and a Green Lantern Corps series set in the 25th century is to be a thing? Well if so, expect me to be adding it to my subscription wish list at my local LCS. It's that good!

And let's not forget that I was a fan of the Gotham City Sirens tropical tale. 

The two stories I was not a big fan of involved the Justice Society of America and Deadman. The JSA story, set during WWII, involved stopping some Nazis from obtaining a magical museum piece that could turn the war in Hitler's favorite. Overall, the art was good and the plot was okay. I just felt like writer Charles Skaggs (Grayson) was trying to fit 25 gallons of pickles into a 5 gallon bucket. The pacing was just too fast and the one-liners fell flat.

As for the Deadman tale, I blame the artist, Kelley Jones (Batman & Dracula: Red Rain). I love Jones' work. But I hate how he draws Deadman. This team-up with Damian Wayne had promise. But writer Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) ruins it with Deadman waxing philosophical at times and Batman, when he appears, just doesn't seem himself. I thought Batman liked and respected Boston Brand. But here, the Dark Knight seems to treat Deadman with the disdain you'd expect from Batman to have towards Plastic Man. 

A very good offering of stories from DC. Not very scary. And like I said, there wasn't any time travel. But this also book contained what I think is the best story of the whole year of 2022! And this was probably the best holiday giant from the House The Superman Built in the last 5 years. I'm feeling a lot of hope for the December offering thanks to this issue.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Saved by the Belle Reve #1

Finally! After several over-sized duds, DC puts out a themed special that focuses on FUN- mostly! The past couple of years, the majority of DC's seasonal specials had shorts that were more political than enjoyable. There's nothing wrong with comic books being educational or topical. But if they're not entertaining then it's more like reading a text book than a comic. 

With it being the start of a new school year, I took a chance on plopping down a ten-spot on this. I know it's not a holiday comic. But it's close enough for me.

There are 8 short stories in this special. Let's take a brief look at them all:

• The Suicide Squad are tasked with protecting the son of a generalissimo who is friendly to American interests. To do this, the Squad must pose as teachers. But as hordes of demon soldiers keep attacking the school on a daily basis, Task Force X must get creative. That means Killer Shark is now teaching English and Weasel is the new lunch lady!
• In a story from the past, Oliver Queen learns an important lesson in parenthood. While Speedy's grades aren't up to snuff, Ollie becomes a tyrant. Now things with Roy Harper are worse than ever before and the Emerald Archer must learn a balance between being an inspiration to an eager sidekick and a caring guardian to a lonely young boy.
• In a surprise return, the students of Gotham Academy return! School is about to return to session but some of the students will not. With Olive Silverlock still missing from something that happened at the end of Sophomore year, Maps is putting her classmates things away in storage. However, when it's discovered that Olive's journal is also missing, Maps and her classmates will go on one last mission to find it.
• Also returning in this issue- the Tiny Titans! Thanks to Art Baltazar and Franco, the pint-sized heroes take a literal wrong turn at Albuquerque and pop up in Belle Reve prison!
• Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, the Super Sons, join forces to help the new kid in school deal with a pair of bullies- in their own super ways.
• Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson run afoul of Mister Freeze on the way to their Senior Prom. 
• John Paul Valley is led by his Azrael personality to the very school that trained him to become a trained killer for God. While at the abandoned institution, Valley's memories of the Brotherhood of the Order of St. Dumas come to the surface. 
• Finally, get it straight from the source, Jefferson Pierce, as to just why did Black Lightning decided to become a part of President Lex Luthor's cabinet. The answer itself probably won't surprise you. But it's nice to finally get a concrete answer to one of DC's most enduring mysteries of the past 2 decades.

The Suicide Squad story was the best. It was 100% insane! And I loved it. With the inclusion of Weasel and Peacemaker, you can tell that 2021's The Suicide Squad movie and director James Gunn was a direct influence on this story. Tim Seeley was the writer and the artist was Scott Kolins. I did a quick search online and it doesn't seem that this team is the crew behind the current Suicide Squad title. But if DC was to do a run with the two of them at the helm, I'd subscribe to it at my LCS! (BTW- Seeley and Kolins were behind a King Shark mini so I'll be adding that to my wish list!)

I loved having the Tiny Titans back. I miss their hi-jinks and you can't go wrong with Baltazar and Franco! The classic style Green Arrow story and the return to Gotham Academy were also really good reads. I liked the Azrael story. But the level of abuse that poor kid had to endure and how those supposed 'men of God' turn young Valley into a ruthless killer is just really disturbing. 

I had a little bit of trouble with the Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson story. For one thing, Dick is in high school. Yet, in this story, he's also Nightwing. And Barbara is Batgirl. Now, I think I remember somewhere that they retconned that part for Barbara. But wasn't that part of the New 52? Plus, the end was so ambiguous and I hate ambiguous endings!

The remaining two stories were the least entertaining but at least one of them was inspiring. I had long been wondering why did Jefferson Pierce decide to accept Lex Luthor's appointment to the Secretary of Education. I had also wondered why in the pages of Superman/Batman that Black Lightning went toe-to-toe with the World's Finest when clearly Lex Luthor was going insane with power. Well, I got my first question answered with this special. Having lived through January 6th, I still don't have my answer to that last one.

And then there's the Super Sons story. It starts off as a fun little read in which 2 secretly powered pre-teens help a bullied new classmate to tap into his own special powers. But that last panel got really preachy and I don't think it was necessary to the story. Peter J. Tomasi's (Nightwing) story had written an amazing story about acceptance. But for one brief moment, DC decided it hadn't done enough to anger some fans. The panel didn't anger me. But it did ruin what was an otherwise fine 'Afterschool Special' type story.

I had a Lit professor who talked about some theory. I don't remember the name of the philosophy. But I do remember that he talked about how there are moments in works where things go in a different direction than what has been built up in the mind of the consumer and it ruins the enjoyability of the work. I had just finished up the Suicide Squad story before going on next to the Super Sons tale. With the Suicide Squad being completely off-the-wall, I was expecting the rest of this special to be just as wacky. The Super Sons story started off kinda silly with Damian taking a Sikorsky to his first day of school. So I wasn't expecting things to take such a dramatic turn. But I think if it wasn't for the ending of the Super Sons story, I probably wouldn't have been on guard for that tragic Azrael story.

Oh! I loved the title of this special! What a great throwback pun to a 1990s classic kids show!

Please DC, PLEASE! Put Seeley and Brendan Kolins behind the helm of the Suicide Squad! And bring Tiny Titans back!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Crow: Hark the Herald #1

The Crow has a new vessel of vengeance in this holiday themed one shot from Dark Horse. 

Every year, six of the most deadly assassins in the business take a week off from their dehumanizing profession to come together as a family. Celebrating Christmas, the killers hunker down in a cabin and play cards, sing carols and exchange gifts. 

Last year, one of the killers decided to take a pair of innocent lives. Now exactly 1 year later, one of the innocents has been resurrected by a crow to revenge their murder and the death of a loved one. 

This is not a holiday special for those who like their Christmases sweet and happy. Hark the Herald is gritty and violent. There's no punches pulled here! But if you know what your in for; then you are going to love this festive take on The Crow. 

Hack/Slash's Tim Seeley crafts a Crow story that actually answers some long standing questions that I've had about the franchise since I was first introduced to it way back in 1996. I'm not sure why the character of Eric isn't used here. But I can completely understand why the crow has chosen a replacement.

Filled with a ton of violence, this is not an easy read. But it was definitely a great entry for those who need their holidays to be a little more R-rated for a change.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Tim Seeley's Action Figure Collection

Published by Image Comics
Art and Stories by Tim Seeley
Additional Art by Sophie Campbell, Steve Seeley, Jim Terry, & more

A Kid at Art

At the end of this collection of outrageous stories, creator Tim Seeley gives the reader a chance to look at some of the earliest drawings he ever did as a child. Many of those pictures ended up the inspiration behind the characters collected here. So in a way, Tim Seeley's Action Figure Collection reads as a sketch book as well as a psychological look at the mind of a child artist.

There's 3 main story lines that run through this book:

• Colt Noble & The Megalords- A young prince is being trained to become the next warrior leader of his home world of Solus. But his hormones are getting the best of him. When he's not being chased out of Solus's strip clubs, he's trying to score with one of his female trainers. On one fateful day, young Jaysen falls in a chasm and discovers an ancient figure of action. This figurine turns Jaysen into Colt Noble, a super-strong hero with a very long sword.
• Jack Kraken- Agent of H.I.M.- The Kraken is a mysterious agent with special abilities and powers that enable him to find Bigfoots, aliens, and even ghosts. But what's even more mysterious about the agent of H.I.M. is that nobody has ever seen his face before. That is, except for two orphans that Jack rescued from paranormal abductors. What is the secret that Jack and the two girls share and what would it mean to the world if that confidence should ever be broken?
• Animaliens- A group of anthropomorphic aliens are stranded on a prison planet. Their leader is the young Princess Poodlea who lacks the experience to lead a kingdom of convicts, much less defeat them. Will she have what it takes to restore order to this lawless land?

Introducing the Seeleyverse

There's a number of short stories that tie in to one or more of these three main tales. Further stories include a team of alien sex-kitten dodge-ball players stranded on a hostile planet in parts unknown. Then there's a team of superheroes made up of the Boogeyman, Dracula, and a ghost. Oh, and don't forget the college adventures of a featherless mutant bird and his best friend, a Polish sausage. But Colt Noble, Jack Kraken, and Animaliens are the centerpieces of what should be referred to as the Seeleyverse.

Action Figures has a childlike wonder to it. I can imagine Tim Seeley as a little kid having off-the-wall adventures with his Star Wars, He-Man, and G.I. Joe figures. It's almost as if someone wrote scripts to those play sessions too. Because the dialogue is a little off, more like how a child would explain a story than a grown-up. There's definite elements of those classic 80s toys as Prince Jaysen/Colt Noble is clearly inspired by He-Man/Prince Adam. Add in a few dashes of swears and T&A and this is what Axe Cop would be if wunderkind Malachi Nicolle hit puberty.

The art is from a variety of artists that Seeley meet through DevianArt. Their styles vary from cartoony (Deadstar Divas) to near Jim Lee-level of detail (Jack Kraken.) My favorite artwork was of the Colt Noble adventures by the late Mike Dimayuga. His clever use of throwing Easter eggs such as Leia in Jabba slave gear at the Solus strip club made those adventures all the more enjoyable.

Please Sir, Can We Have Some More?

Tim Seeley's Action Figures says that it's volume 1. So I am hoping that more adventures involving Kraken, Poodlea, and Colt Noble are on the horizon. There's quite a few laughs to be had and quite a bit of adventure as well. If you are looking for something that doesn't quite fit the traditional mold of a superhero comic, then this is the collection you've been requesting ever since you became a kid at heart.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.