Swamp Thing Annual #1 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

 In 1982, Bernie Wrightson and Len Wein's creepy creation, the Swamp Thing, made its motion picture debut. Written and directed by Wes Craven, the film tells a mostly faithful origin story of Dr. Alec Holland and how he is transformed into a being of sentient plant matter.

While working in a secret government lab deep in the swamps of Florida, Dr. Holland has created a formula that can transform barren deserts into futile farmland. His sister Linda, has also discovered that a single drop of the formula can also double as a powerful explosive. Anton Arcane, a despotic paramilitary leader, has caught wind of the chemical and attacks the lab in hopes of making the formula a part of his ever growing arsenal. During the assault, the chemical is spilt on Holland and he immediately catches fire thanks to its volatile properties. To extinguish himself, Holland jumps into the murky swamp and seemingly perishes.

Meanwhile, Alice Cable, a new government attaché to the project, flees with one of Holland's notebooks. With Arcane's operatives trailing her, Cable must find a way to alert Washington to the attack. However, the commandos get the better of Cable. With the notebook in their possession, there's no longer a need to keep Cable alive. But right before they silence the government agent, a mysterious creature emerges from the muck. It's the Swamp Thing and boy, is he mad!

The live action film was produced by Swampfilms and distributed jointly by Embassy Pictures and United Artists. It started Ray Wise as Dr. Alec Holland.  Adrienne Barbeau played Alice Cable. Renown French actor Louis Jourdan was the evil Arcane. Dick Durock would don pounds of rubber and fake moss as the title character. Over the next decade, it would only be Durock's body in the Swamp Thing suit. The imposing 6'6" actor would star opposite Heather Locklear in 1989's campy Return of the Swamp Thing. A year later, Durock would return for an hour long TV series on cable's USA Network. The series would run 72 episodes over 3 seasons. 

None of the subsequent Swamp Thing adaptations to star Dick Durock would receive the comic book treatment. This oversized special was written by Bruce Jones. Mark Texeira penciled; Tony DeZuniga inked. The cover image is of the original theatrical poster. It was painted and airbrushed by celebrated fantasy and sci-fi artist Michael Whelan. 

Completing this review completes Task #30 (A Movie Adaptation) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Blue Ribbon Comics #6 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 1983, Archie Comics revived it's superhero line of comics for the fourth time. Heroes such as the Shield, the Fly and the Black Hood were given darker origins as they were modernized for the 80s. To highlight some of the characters that were being revived without their own solo titles, Archie Comics, under the Red Circle imprint, released a second volume of Blue Ribbon Comics. 

The first volume of Blue Ribbon Comics was an anthology series that featured characters representing a number of genres. From 1940-42, readers of the 22 issues of Blue Ribbon Comics, Volume 1 were treated to tales about cowboys, spies, funny animals and of course, superheroes. 

The 1980s reboot of Blue Ribbon Comics was an solo feature anthology similar to DC's Showcase Presents. Each issue featured mostly all-new material that introduced the Archie heroes to new readers; although some reprinted materials were added as filler to the first few issues of the revitalized title. Not only were Archie heroes featured in this series. Characters from other publishers such as Tower Comics' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents starred in later issues.

Issue #6 featured the character of the Fox. Looking like a cross between the Black Panther and a capeless Batman, the Fox takes on street punks, organized crime and costumed bad guys. Originally, the Fox was newspaper photojournalist Paul Patton, who often benefits as being the first reporter on the scene to score a scoop for The Daily Globe after defeating the villains while in costume as the Fox. This issue marks the debut of the Fox II in the form of Patton's son, Paul Jr. Whereas the original Fox was a skilled athlete, the second generation hero was a master of martial arts. In his debut feature, the Fox is on the trail of the head of a guild of assassins when he comes face-to-face with a former fellow member of his dojo called Martial Law. Once believed dead, the foe formerly known as The Gasser, has vowed revenge on the Fox for his past defeat and a place in the assassin guild awaits him should he kill the Fox!

The debut of the second Fox is a bit muddled. On at least 2 occasions in this issue does writer and editor Rich Buckler make allusions to previous activity by Paul Jr. in other recent Red Circle titles. Originally the new Archie heroes books were to take place in the past, right around their 1940s debut. However, the timeline was soon bumped up in most of the titles to modern day 1980s America. With this retcon, actions by the Fox which were to have been conducted by the original Fox were now attributed to Paul Patton's son.

Not having a blueprint set out ahead of time had been mentioned by some as the reason that Red Circle, later the Archie Adventure Series, superhero revival quickly faded by 1985. Another argument for it's quick demise was that Archie couldn't navigate the burgeoning direct sales market with emerging comic book stores. I tend to follow this camp as I remember for a long time seeing the Red Circle characters adorning ads in the pages of various Archie Comics. Yet none of the comic book stores I frequented ever carried any of the titles. 

While the Fox II would disappear with the cancellation of the entire line in 1985-86, he and his allies would return to print on several occasions. In 1991, DC Comics licensed the Red Circle characters from Archie into the !mpact Comics imprint. During this incarnation, the characters operated in a universe separate from DC's main stays like Superman and Wonder Woman. However, when DC again licensed the characters from Archie in 2008, efforts were made to integrate them with the residents of the DC Universe. Sadly, neither imprint saw much success.

Archie once again has the rights to Fox and friends. The character has appeared in several miniseries as both as a solo act and member of the Mighty Crusaders in the past dozen years. Most recently, both versions of the Fox, along with Paul Jr's son, Shinji (aka the Ghost Fox) appeared in a 2022 one-shot titled The Fox: Family Values. Along with all-new material, the special features a reprint from Alex Toth.

Blue Ribbon Comics #6 was written by Rich Buckler and Stan Timmons. Art by Tony DeZuniga with inks and cover art by Rudy Nebres.

Completing this review completes Task #11 (Select a Long Box and read the 14th book in the box) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

V #9

With the loss of Ham and Chris, who went to Chicago to protect Robin from Visitor scientists, the Los Angeles Resistance is looking pretty sparse. So Julie and Donovan head to the Big Apple for a recruitment drive. Only, with the Big Apple being smack dab in the middle of the safe zone created from the use of the Red Dust, none of the locals feel that the Visitors are a threat to the New Yorker way of life. 

Meanwhile, the drama is heating up on Diana's mothership. On the TV show, Diana was about to be forced into marrying a Visitor high-up named Charles. Should Diana wed, ancient custom would require her to have to go back to the Visitor homeworld and become a breeder for her race's glorious Leader. This would have allowed rival Lydia to become the new leader of the Earth contingent of Visitors. But Lydia was also in love with Charles and secretly poisoned Diana's ceremonial wedding chalice; which Diana switched with Charles!

So now Charles is dead. Lydia is in mourning. And Diana is coming out smelling like a rose as the widowed bride-to-be. Lydia is also planning revenge on Diana and it somehow involves a behemoth of a Visitor named Walter who has a giant crush on the Visitor leader. He thinks Diana is his! With Lydia pulling on Walter's heartstrings, the second-in-command hopes to kill two birds with one stone: Diana and Resistance leader, Mike Donovan!

Bates is Back. Infantino is on the cover. As is DeZuniga. It definitely looks like a mix of Infantino's classic style with touches that seem out of place. Once again, I am thinking Tony Dezuniga was needed to help Infantino stay on top of the demands of a hectic schedule brought about from age and CRISIS. 

Regardless, this was a great story. Too bad the TV show and this book didn't succeed. I think if both readers and viewers had known that the series and the comic were complementary of each other, it might have kept V on for another season and maybe given us 8-10 more issues of the comic. Oh, the mind boggles at the possibilities.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

V #3

So the Visitors regular maintenance of those hot springs outside that small town is a ruse. Instead of purifying the watering holes, the aliens are actually stealing the water. Donovan and Julie point this out to the townsfolk. But with the Visitors restoring the severed arm of a farmer, they just refuse to believe the ill intentions of these so-called villains. But when a Visitor strike force kills a young boy in cold blood and has an even colder response to the lad's death, the citizens of this small hamlet finally join the Resistance!

It's all about Donovan and Julie, oh and Willie, the Visitor who joined the Resistance, in this issue. If you want to know what has happened to Ham Tyler and Chris Farber on their eventful trip to Catalina, well you'll have to wait until hopefully the next issue. They're completely omitted from this issue. 

Issue #3 sees Carmine Infantino's run as the series illustrator take a pause for a couple of issues. Tony DeZuniga is the inker on this. However, DeZuniga was given a cover credit which is really unheard of for inkers. I'm thinking he did a lot of pencil assists with the aging Infantino, who was starting to slow down the amount of work he did around this time period. DeZuniga inked the next issue. But with #4, he doesn't get a cover credit as I am thinking Tod Smith was more than capable of penciling things on his own. 

Great story. But there's so much other action that is just glossed over for one reason or another. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.