Flare #31

I bought this 2006 Thanksgiving themed issue last year. I either bought it after Thanksgiving or I never got around to it. I'm not familiar with the character of Flare. Nor am I with its publisher Heroic Comics, formerly Hero Comics. 

After a little research, I learned that Hero Comics was created in the mid-80s, after gaining the licensing rights to Hero Games' Champions role playing game. When the publisher began to focus more on cheesecake than meat and potato plots, Hero Games pulled its license and a name change to Heroic Comics came about. Several characters also had to undergo name changes. But Flare was not one of them.

Flare was the result of Nazi genetic testing after World War II. Scientists fleeing to South America, continued to create their master race of soldiers and Flare and several of her siblings were test subjects. Exhibiting powers of flight, light manipulation and the ability to change her appearance, Flare and many of her kin revolted against their genetic overlords and became heroes in America.

In this issue, there are 3 stories. The first tale is Thanksgiving themed. It sees Flare meeting her boyfriend's family for the first time. All seems well until the boyfriend's little sister throws massive shade at Flare for being a rich, privileged white girl.

The middle story is a rather odd story about 2 teen girls, who after a massive session of reading comic books, turn into their heroes, the wholesome Flare and the murderous Tigress. Things get rather erotic between the two and it's very unsettling as these are teen girls. What the frick were the writer and artist thinking?! Thankfully, the pair change back into their regular mortal selves before I had to throw this book away for becoming kiddie porn. 

The last story was surprising, based on how PG-13 heading into R territory the last story was. It sees Flare in costume going to a children's hospital on Christmas Eve to deliver presents. While there, she also takes out a Bible and reads the Christmas story from the Book of Luke: the very same verses Linus reads in A Charlie Brown Christmas!

I was impressed. The first story deals with faith and prayer and thankfulness. The last story actually recounts the birth of Jesus. So, what was the deal with that middle story? It just didn't fit and it almost broke several state and federal laws.

I'll keep this issue, only for the bookends. But I just don't know if I can give this book a high rating because of the filler!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

The Complete Web (Gwandanaland Comics #1137)

I bought this book by mistake. No, I didn't accidentally pick it up or drunkenly one-click it on Amazon. Instead, I mistook it for another of Archie's Red Circle heroes when I bought it. But I was pleasantly surprised by it's quality!

In 1959 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were freelancing for Archie where they created a character called The Fly. Clad in green and yellow spandex, often illustrated on covers that bore a spider-web motif and of course a Red Circle Hero; when I found this book, I thought I was getting my hands on an affordable collection of one of my favorite artists' forgotten works. But instead of starring The Fly, this book stars an earlier character called The Web!

Created in 1942, The Web was a war-time hero, often battling Nazi saboteurs and Japanese spies. Created in part by John Cassone, along with an unknown co-creator, the Web was just a physically fit man in a green/yellow costume with webs dangling from his armpits, much like Spider-Man in his Ditko days. There were no super-bug powers or anything like that. His name represented the web of justice that was to ensnare all who worshiped evil! A professor of criminology by day known as John Raymond, our hero is motivated by his brother who turned to a life of crime and is implied to have later died while imprisoned.

Featuring the talents of Bob Montana, Irv Novick and others, the writing was melodramatic, sensationalized and finger pointing evidence of why parents freaked out about violence in comics! There's a level of death, torture and sadism that you would not see in a Silver Age comic. I think if these 12 stories hadn't been publishein the pages of Zip Comics during World War II, these issues would have been standout examples in early comic book history of ultra-violence and racism. But this is pre-Code comicdom. It was still an industry much like the Wild West. The Web was a dime-a-dozen characterization of anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese propaganda. There's at least 2 scenes in which Hitler is portrayed as being in a homosexual relationship with some of his underlings while almost every Japanese character in these books has sharp fangs and long claw-like fingernails. The only difference between this Batman clone and those dozens of other imitators from Second World War is that the Web has at least made a couple returns over the year's with Archie's frequent reboots of the Red Circle heroes. 

The material in this book is definitely dated. Normally, I'd be torn as to whether to continue owning this book or not. However, I view myself as a semi-pro comic book historian and I am a fan of the Red Circle heroes. It might not have been the yellow and green superhero I was hoping for. But I was entertained by this time capsule of pro-American comics that came about as an almost immediate reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Probably not the kind of material a more modern comic book reader would favor. Though this is a book from Gwandanaland Comics with definite historical value if only to show how far we've come and how much more work there is to accomplish!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.