Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

This issue introduced me to yet another Timely character that I had never heard of. Well, actually, I have heard of the Vision, but brother, this isn’t the Vision I grew up with in issues of the Avengers. This Vision is an other-dimensional alien who can enter this world through smoke and flame. He’s powered by those very elements and often appears to his victims but is invisible to the naked eye of other observers. So when a baddie has a grisly demise, it looks like a suicide.

This vigilante hero is very gritty. His modern story was pretty gruesome with visions of rape, mutilations, and gore. I had to remember half way through this story that this is the modern tale, and not the 1940s version. But the 40s story was just about as violent.

I actually liked this issue. It’s definitely not for kids under age 13 though. It’s like Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino got together and created a noir supernatural comic book. Very unusual stuff. But who ever said unusual was a bad thing.

Worth Consuming.

Rating 9 out of 10 stars.

All Winners Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special

 

The tribute story takes place during that brief period of time that All Winners was still published and the very end and just after WWII and contained Capt. America and Bucky as members. It explains that those heroes were replacements created by the government to prevent people from losing hope upon hearing that those symbols of freedom had “died” at the hands of the Nazis.

This is all said and good. However, when a zombie horde attacks NYC, the All-Winners are faced with a dead Capt. and Bucky. Both of which weren’t dead but in suspended animation. Did the writers and editors of this anniversary special forget that?

The reprint tale is quite good and the Simon/ Kirby art is awesome! I loved it. Not a bad issue, but there are some serious plot nits in the tribute tale.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

One of the few times where the cover is the best part of the entire book. It features a man called the Phantom Reporter, poised on a rainy stoop with zeppelins in the background, guns cocked and loaded, about to leap off the rooftops onto an unseen aggressor. The scene looks like it’s almost in motion and I kept coming back to it as it is visually striking.

But, the story was almost pure crap. The secret identity is nothing more than a purple cape on a beat reporter. It seems everybody knows the Phantom’s real identity and the classic 40s tale isn’t any better. In fact, that story has choppy plotting and the scenes segue ways are non-existent. It’s a poor-man’s Superman, minus the powers, costume, and better writing.

Not Worth Consuming

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars