Today: What is the "Death of Sad Sack?" and Why haven't I been reading GI Joe Lately?

So I thought today I’d address a couple of questions I’ve been asked recently- What is the “Death of Sad Sack” and why aren’t you reading GI Joe anymore? There are simple reasons to both answers. So, let’s start with Sad Sack.

The “Death of Sad Sack” is a Simpson’s reference that highlights on of my biggest pet peeves with comic books. In a classic episode in which Bart and Milhouse are left in charge of the comic book store, the bully Nelson comes up to Bart and hands him a copy of  “Death of Sad Sack” to buy. Before he leaves, the bully warns Bart that the issue he just bought “had better not be a dream.” No, Nelson isn’t imagining he bought the comic book. He’s stating that he’d be really frustrated if he spent his hard earned (or in this case, probably stole) money and waste his time on a comic book which entire plot turns out to be a dream by the end of the book.

"I’ll be reading about a real American hero again in no time!

The notorious "Death of Sad Sack!"

I’ve had a lot of problems with comics like that. I’ve spent lots of money on books that had really cool covers, only to be told at the end of the book “Oh, it’s just a dream.” Fans have gotten so angry over books like this publishers have had to put “Not a Dream, Not a Hoax!” on their covers when something audacious happens just so fans will buy it.

Think about it- with the exception of Dorothy finding out her time in Oz was just a dream as well as the last episode of Newhart, there have been a number of works that tie up their loose ends with “It was all a dream” and it’s pissed off legions of loyal fans. Sometimes, it can even back fire, as it took a little convincing that Superman’s death wasn’t just a publicity stunt before even the casual comic book reader took notice. Why, there’s even a season of Dallas that was shrugged off as a dream and many consider that the moment when the series jumped the shark!

I think using the “it was just a dream” as a plot device has become cliché. I think every TV show and comic can use it just once. But that’s it. Make that the ending point of 5 out of every 10 books or episodes produced and I’m going to spend my time and money somewhere else, just like Nelson. So, when I label something as the “Death of Sad Sack” to that level of disgust I have in the “just a dream” plot device, you now know what I am referring to.

Now on to my next question- Why have I stopped reading Marvel’s original run of GI Joe? Well, as you’ll find out in my next couple of posts, I haven’t. I just took a break.

See, I’m not a fan of marathoning a book or TV show. It can get pretty boring or monotonous. It took me a while to want to see Empire Strikes Back again after I saw all 7 viewings of the Special Edition in one day. It can also drive you nuts. Ever seen a bunch of falling bricks after a lengthy session of Tetris? Now imagine rearranging your furniture to resemble a Tetris board. Backbreaking stuff!

What I do like are mini-marathons. Four episodes of Friends in one night or a bunch of Doctor Who’s?-Yes, please! But with this series of Joe, there are 155 issues to read (not counting crossovers.) I don’t want to experience GI Joe burnout. So, what I like to do when reading a lengthy series is a bunch of many mini-marathons. I’ve already read issues 1-60. I think it was a good stopping point to regroup and enjoy some other titles. Now, I am hungry to continue my quest through the epic battle of Joes vs. Cos. (Okay, I’m never saying that again.) Yet, dear reader, do not be surprised if in a couple of weeks, I stop reviewing GI Joe abruptly. It’s just my way of being a balanced reader and getting a little clarity if not sanity back in my life. 

Tomorrow: What is the "Death of Sad Sack?" and Why haven't I been reading GI Joe Lately?

Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror

This one shot by Marvel is a sequel to the classic Trek episode of the same name. In that episode, an ion storm caused Capt. Kirk and several members of his ship to be whisked away to a mirror universe in which everybody is evil. For those of you who aren’t Trekkers, it’s the episode in which evil Spock had a goatee because everyone know that facial hair makes one evil in a parallel universe.

This issue occurs right after the good and evil Kirk’s swap place back into their prospective universes. Now a power play between Evil Kirk and Evil Spock is waged on the many decks of the Enterprise. But while they play their deadly game of cat & mouse, there’s a squadron of Klingon Birds of Prey approaching ready to blow the entire ship into smithereens.

I really enjoyed this issue. Written by former Marvel editor, Tom Defalco, though published in the 90s, the issue and the art is timeless. I can believe what occurs in the book really happened after the classic Star Trek episode ended. And from what I’ve read in this book, I see it as a canonical segue way between the classic Trek episode and the revisiting of the Mirror Universe decades later on Deep Space Nine. This is required reading for any Trek fan!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

 

Showcase Presents: The Doom Patrol, Volume 1

  The 60s series Challengers of the Unknown and the Doom Patrol are often mentioned in tandem. Both series started about the same time as well as ended just before the dawn of the 70s. Also, both series saw a revival at about the same time in 1977 and again in the 80s and 90s, though the Doom Patrol had more success as a long term series (thanks to the genius of a Scotsman named Grant Morrison.)

What I read were the first couple of dozen issues of the Doom Patrol. From their first appearance in My Greatest Adventure #80 to the series being retitled The Doom Patrol about 5 issues later, this series is about a group of self-proclaimed “freaks.” These freaks include a woman who can grow and shrink in size and strength, a human brain encapsulated into a giant robot, and a mysteriously mummy wrapped man who houses a radioactive entity called Negative Man. The team lives in a super deluxe mansion where they conduct training drills in a “War Room” and are led by a wheelchair bound genius named “The Chief.” (Hmmm, this sounds a lot like a bunch of mutants in upstate New York, but the Doom Patrol beat the X-Men to newsstands by just a couple of months.)

There’s another similarity to a famous Marvel group- the Fantastic Four. The Doom Patrol has a pogo-type rocket plane in which they fly off on their worldwide adventures and they fight amongst themselves like wet cats and dogs. Yet, when the chips are down, they know that they are family that can achieve wonders when teamwork is involved. (This time, Marvel won, as their formula for a dysfunctional family of oddities was almost 2 years old when the Doom Patrol first appeared.)

For a 1960s non-Marvel comic, the Doom Patrol is pretty good. They’ve got a Rogue’s gallery that’s even kookier than them and many of these stories are not dumbed down. I think DC really tried to aim this title to adults. It only took about 30 years for a much more R-rated DP to find its audience.

But, back to the 1960s. This series sees the first appearances of one Garfield Logan, AKA Beast Boy, later of Teen Titan fame. There’s also an oddly helmeted super hero named Mento, who later will became an enemy of the Titans. The DP also fights several villains such as Monsieur Mallah and his boss, The Brain, who’ll eventually become thorns in the side of those pesky Teen Titans. If you want a glimpse of the early days of the Teen Titans, this is the book for you!

Before I give my final verdict on this book, I want to come back to the Challengers of the Unknown. In the final issue of this book, the Doom Patrol intercepts a message from the Challengers, requesting their assistance for some unknown reason. The issue ends with a blurb telling the reader to check out next month’s issue of Challengers and then the following issue of Doom Patrol to learn what happens. I so very hate it when books require another title to complete a story. That ticked me off a little bit here.

  Thankfully, I want volume 2 really bad. But, I have no idea if that book will have the needed Challengers title as a companion piece in it or not. I currently own Showcase Presents: Challengers of the Unknown, volumes 1 and 2. Having read them, I don’t remember a Doom Patrol team-up. So, I really don’t have a clue if the next volume of Doom Patrol will have the complete story. Also, as of this point, I don’t know what issue of Challengers to look for as DC neglected to put that info in their caption. Much research might be needed.

Worth Consuming, but with an irksome pet peeve at the end.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Unwritten, Volume 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity

This is an interesting series that takes its inspiration from a host of literary works. The premise is that a famous author wrote a series of books about a young wizard named Tommy Taylor. The wizard is modeled after the young son of the writer. Before the series can be finished, the author mysteriously vanishes without a trace and young Tom Taylor is left all alone in the world. Now, the youngster is all grown up and must make the Convention circuit in order to make ends meet. The real world has trouble distinguishing Tom from Tommy.

Things get really ugly when a man claiming to be Tommy's antagonist from the books kidnaps Tom and attempts to kill him on a live web cam. This event will lead Tom to discover the truth about his father’s disappearance and find out if the man was really his father in the first place. He’ll also learn that there is a squad of crazies out in the real world ready to either call him the messiah or to crucify him.

If this book seems like something you’ve read- you’re completely right. The wizards are Harry Potter and Voldemort. Tom’s life being a combination of real and fiction prose is taken from Vertigo’s House of Mystery. There are even elements of National Treasure and Di Vinci Code as Harry seeks to learn the truth about his father.

I didn’t really like this book at first. I wasn’t sure where it was going and I felt like it was a rip-off of several works I’ve already read. However, once allusions to Tom Taylor and the disappearance of his father are compared to real life authors and their troubles like Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling, I was hooked. I liked that the book tried to tie in real life events with a shadowy conspiracy that’s trying to control the world through its authors and greatest works of fiction. It’s been said that the pen is mightier than the sword and this mysterious cabal is attempting to make that axiom come true.

It’s not my favorite non-super hero comic. However, it’s something that deserves a second chance. So, I am very willing to give volume 2 a try. Maybe it’ll become a favorite of mine like similar works such as Fables and the mentioned House of Mystery. It’s a little graphic, but it’s not gruesome. There are lots of allusions to Tom as a Christ figure, but it’s not blasphemous. Plus, if this series keeps delving into the tragic lives of other writers and uses those events to further the plot of the Unwritten further, I’m all for it.

A rough gem that needs a little polish. Like a TV pilot that’s not quite up to snuff, I’m willing to give this series another round before I make a final verdict on the quality of this series.

Worth Consuming- for now!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Sergio Aragones Destroys DC

If you grew up reading MAD Magazine, the name Sergio Aragones is probably well-known. He’s the artist who draws those legions of tiny cartoons in between the panels on every page. Where a typical MAD artist might’ve seen his work on maybe 6-8 pages, Aragones’ work was on every page, sometimes 3-4 cartoons per.

When I found this book in a bargain bin, I jumped for joy. I’d been looking for it for a very long time and most places I’d seen it wanted about $5 per copy. For a bargain hunter like myself, that was just way too expensive. But last November, I found it for a quarter. DEAL!

There’s two stories intertwined in this issue. First there’s Sergio trying to break his way into the DC ranks as a super hero artist. Along for the ride is writer Mark Evanier. Clearly Sergio is missing the mark when it comes to creating super heroes, but that’s part of the fun. Aragones is written as a Latin America yokel, whose ideas about super heroes comics is as fractured as his English. I seriously doubt this is how the talented artist is in real like. But like his work, much of it is caricature. However, his views on modern comics (in the 90s) becoming a farcical mirror image of what they were when I was a kid is spot on.

The second tale is Sergio’s creation of a crossover to end all crossovers, as Hawkman, Batman (sorry- The Batman), Superman, Wonder Woman, and dozens more face a menace of incalculable proportions- Themselves and the loss of pop culture innocence.

Destroy DC is a parody of comic books in the 1990s. When the book sticks it to the comics genre it is pure genius. Aragones dabbles with skewing topical humor, like the 96 presidential races, and it falls flat. But most of this book really does damage to the DC façade. Unlike Marvel’s Fred Hembreck Destroys the Marvel Universe, where the cartoonist actually killed everyone, Aragones destroys the DC universe by turning it on its ear. Oddly enough, people must’ve been listening, because the comic book bubble officially burst right around the time this book was published and the big two publishers went scrambling to fix their house before the fell like a house of cards.

Destroys DC is a very funny, but hard to find book that’s filled with classic Sergio Aragones artwork. I very much enjoyed it. 

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman, Volume 3: Death of the Family (New 52)

The Joker makes his triumphant return to the DC Universe unleashing his sadistic version on Hell on Batman and the members of the Batman Family. Nobody is safe from any of the Robins to Commissioner Gordon to even Alfred. It’s that target that makes the Batman family doubt their trust is Bruce Wayne and to question if the Joker may have deduced their secret identities.

This is the Joker at his most gruesome. Till this volume, I thought the psychological terror the Prince of Crime unleashed on the Gordon’s in The Killing Joke was the Joker’s worst. But the villain has degraded so much, even his lady love, Harley Quinn, doesn’t know who he is anymore. Not only are the actions of the Joker the most gruesome, so is his new appearance- wearing his own smiling visage as a tanned mask. It makes Two-face look attractive in a GQ sort of way.

The ramifications of the Joker’s attempt to destroy the Batman family will have an epic impact on how the Batman and his allies operate. Trust has been broken and may never be restored. I cannot wait for the next chapter.

Another bonus to this book is the reason why the Penguin was obligated to leave his criminal empire and hole up in Arkham in Detective Comics: Emperor Penguin is finally revealed. I’m glad that that loose end is finally tied up in my readings. That’s what happens when you rely on your local library for your current comic book readings. The books might be free to read, but they don’t become available to you in chronological order.

A terrifying read that just may give you the creeps.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.