Blue Devil #17

The sky has turned red. Planets are disappearing. Time has jumbled. 

 CRISIS is here! 

And the glamorous people of Hollywood have decided to celebrate the end of the world in style. 

Not everyone is going to sit idly by as reality comes to an end. A pirate by the name of The Fisherman who pilots a gigantic mechanical sea monster has decided he's going to take it all with him! Too bad this villain choose a party in which superheroes such as Blue Devil and Kid Devil are on the guest list.

Oh, and it's raining globulous creatures now!

Nobody said that the end of the DC Universe was gonna be dull!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Complete Stuart Taylor: Volume 3 (Gwandanaland Comics #1465)

The full title of this series is called Stuart Taylor in Weird Stories of the Supernatural. It's about a college student who travels to the past and sometimes the future, with one of his science professors and his daughter Laura, whom happens to be Stuart's girlfriend. In their adventures, the trio meet Shakespeare, experience the tragedy at Pompeii and jump ahead to the far out future of 1975!

I've only got one question about this series- does time travel, when done with a time travel machine, count as an element of the supernatural? Yes, time travel can be quite weird. But supernatural?! I guess in the 1930s and 40s, time travel was supernatural. But it's more science fiction than ghost story or horror tale. 

I looked to see if earlier tales involved a supernatural slant. And while Stuart and friends did visit Icabod Crane, Sinbad and Thor is some of those stories- that's just a handful of the 140 issues written and illustrated by Curt Davis. Only one such story, involving the 1,001 Arabian Nights and a flying carpet, even comes close to being classified as supernatural in this volume. And even then, I'd call that one a fantasy yarn.

By The Way- There is no Curt Davis! That was just 1 of several pseudonyms used by comics legend, Jack Kirby! I didn't learn this until after I completed this book. It's definitely a product of it's time, with some racial stereotypes, archaic history lessons and how people though the world of the future was going to turn out. But it was also ahead of it's time with the battle of the sexes between Stuart and Laura and of course the innovative framing techniques that Kirby pioneered.

Oh, and one more nitpick. Whenever Stuart travels in the future, his blue suit transforms into some kind of trapeze artist leotard. But Laura and her father's clothes never change. I'm not sure why this is and not having a answer kinda bothered me. Maybe the costume change is explained in earlier volumes. I just don't know.

As for why I started with volume 3- well, that's easy. Gwandanaland Comics was having a clearance sale and this was on very steep discount. As an amateur comic book historian and collector who just can't pass up a bargain, when I had the chance to buy this, I just couldn't pass up a bargain!

A fun early look at some of the forgotten (and unclaimed) works of Jack Kirby. Now that I know that this is a work by The King, I very well might search out the other 3 or 4 volumes in the series. I may not have enjoyed the stories that much based on the incorrect title. But I love Kirby that much to collect the rest!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #12

The Man-Thing story ends in gory fashion. 11 chapters with a total of maybe 11 images of the Man-Thing is culminated in 8 pages of Man-Thing rampage. Ironically, this was the worst chapter of the entire storyline. 

With the Colossus story- Peter Rasputin learns that he's got an ally in the group that wants to kill him and a small Midwestern family. 

The two stand alone stories star Hercules and Namorita. Once again, the son of Zeus finds himself being tested by Big Daddy. As for the cousin of Prince Namor, she's about to return to visit her people when she's drawn into a dispute between the police and a villain whom might not be as villainous as they seem.

A pretty weak offering. But that retro-looking cover by Ron Franz (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Joe Sinnott (Apache Kid) was fantastic!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #11

Colossus takes over the temporary starring role of this title which pits the X-Man with an American family who accidentally saw the wrong thing at the wrong time. It will take more than the mutant's metal skin and incalculable strength to prevent a Midwestern version of The Punisher from occurring.

In the one-and-done segments of this title, we get a fun story starring the Scott Lang Ant-Man and a gritty story starring one of the Wolfpack, Slag. The Scott Lang story was beautifully illustrated by Iron Man's Bob Layton. It has Lang shrinking down to retrieve a family heirloom that daughter Cassie dropped down the bathroom drain. You never knew the sewers were so dangerous! And I wished this fun tale wouldn't have ended.

As for Slag- I'm not really familiar with him. I've got a few Wolfpack issues. But since I don't have the complete mini, I've not read it yet. Can't really say that what I read has made me go out and find those missing chapters compared to other recent readings of things. 

Then we've got that Man-Thing story that doesn't have the Man-Thing in it. Well, it's chapter 11 (out of 12) and Man-Thing finally shows up for more than one or two panels. Things get really odd and while a little bit of the Drugs-Devil Worship-Iran Contra connection isn't clear; it still makes for a great read. 

Overall 3 out of 4 stories were really well done. #4 was forgettable. Literally. Still, this was an enjoyable read!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics

  

 Stan Lee had his chance to speak his version of the origins of Marvel Comics many times; most recently in 2015's Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible graphic novel. Sadly, The King, Jack Kirby never had a chance to give his first person account of the founding of the House of Ideas in sequential art form; passing away suddenly in 1994. That is, until now!

Culling from decades of journals, interviews and first person accounts, Go Bots' Joe Scioli grants Jack Kirby the chance to tell his side of the story. It all influences Marvel Comics and DC's Fourth World! From his rough and tumble days in the Brooklyn ghetto (The FF's Ben Grimm) to his bloody tour of duty in the European theater of World War II (Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos) to his epic romance with wife Roz (Big Barda) and of course, his love/hate relationship with Stan Lee (Flunky Flashman), if you always wanted to learn the full story of Jack Kirby- now is your chance!

This graphic novel will definitely sour your opinion of Stan Lee. Marvel's most famous employee was an opportunist. Lee's love of comics and most importantly, it's fans, cannot be disputed. But I think it's arguable to say that popularity went to Stan's head. Unfortunately, the influence Jack Kirby had on the Marvel Universe was railroaded by the Stan Lee popularity train.

Kirby says it best when he tells readers that he 'saved Marvel's ass!' There is absolutely zero doubt in that. Marvel, then Timely, was just about to shut up shop. As Jack Kirby entered the office, the furniture was being repossessed. Loyal secretary turned editor, Flo Steinberg, has gone on record to admit that's true! If not for Jack Kirby, your favorite Marvel characters may never have seen the light of day. Or maybe they would have, but they would have been property of DC Comics or Charlton or even Archie...

The majority of this book is about Marvel. But the third act is deep in  Jack's days at DC Comics; which as epic as they were, they didn't turn out as promising as the King had hoped. As it got harder for Kirby to hold a pencil, he went into animation. I had no idea he was behind some of my favorite 80s Saturday morning cartoons like Thundarr, Turboteen and Mister T!

I loved this biography by Tom Scioli, even if I did get him confused with Ed Piskor. The art was great. The book was full of great stories and facts. I might be on the fence with my former love of Stan Lee. But my love for Kirby is unwavering.  If anything, this book has given me a desire to finally bite the bullet and complete my Sgt. Fury collection. 

The King may never have gotten his just due when he was alive. I'll admit, I never gave the New Gods the respect they deserved until I was in my 20s. But, in the past 20 years, Kirby has been cemented as a member of the Mount Rushmore of Comics. Thanks to books like this, Jack Kirby might finally be placed on his undisputed throne as the one true King of Comics!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #10

I love the Fastball Special coming my way from Mike Harris (Marvel Team-Up). It signifies the end of the Wolverine/Tyger Tiger epic, which ran about 2 chapters too long and the beginning of Colossus' solo epic, 'God's Country"; a story that I've reread at least twice so far and I like it more each time.

The Man-Thing story that isn't a Man-Thing story is hitting the home stretch and it's getting weird. Good weird. 

Then we've got a one-and-done starring Machine Man. According to the title, M.M. will meet the F.F. Only it's not the Fantastic Four. Nor is it the the First Family of Marvel's rotating line-up of arch foes, The Fearsome Four. No, this is a bunch of odd balls called the Failure Five. If it wasn't for the fact that the creative team behind this story consists of greats Steve Ditko and Dave Cockrum, it would have sucked major rocks. 

An uneven issue. But when you've got 4 chapters of 4 different stories going into completely off-the-wall directions, I guess this is the best you can ask for. 

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Simpsons Comics Barn Burner

Thanks to a trip to a funky Wilmington, NC used books shop, I found a couple of treasuries devoted to Matt Groening's comedic genius. I reviewed the Futurama find a few days back. Now, I wanna talk about America's favorite dysfunctional family- The Simpsons!

Five issues from the late great Bongo Comics series are reprinted in this volume. Stories include Bart running afoul of Jimbo and his cronies after getting ratted out to Chief Wiggum, Homer winning the services of Smithers in a poker game with Mr. Burns, and then Homer running for mayor after Mayor Quimby bans beer on Sundays. There's also a clever entry in the long-standing Burns vs. Lisa storyline when the nuclear mogul attempts to turn protected woodlands into an exclusive golf course. 

And then there's the 5th story...

In that tale, Homer sees dollar signs when he creates a boy band made up of Bart, Ralph, Nelson, Rod Flanders and cool guy Roy. Hmmm... This sounds an awful lot like an episode of The Simpsons. And it is!

If you are a longtime fan of the show, you might remember the episode in which Bart, Ralph, Nelson and Milhouse were recruited to form a boy band. Their big hit 'Yvan Eth Noij' turned out to be a ploy by the US Navy to up recruitment rates. While this print story doesn't follow the plot of that episode- and no NSYNC doesn't make a cameo either, its awfully similar to that classic episode. 

So which came first?

 It turns out that the episode beat the comic story by about 2-4 months. I'm not 100% sure as comic books often are released 2 months prior to the cover date as a sort of sales trick with retailers. The Bongo story was released June, 2001. But I am not sure if now defunct Bongo Comics released it's books out of date or not. 

You might want to say that the Bongo story was a rip-off of the cartoon. But in this case, with how close the release dates are to each other, I really don't know. Maybe writer Eric Rogers learned that such an episode was in the works from Fox and so he took inspiration. But based on my knowledge of comic book production history- this whole event could very well be a coincidence!

I loved this collection. As with any grouping of Simpsons comics, the fun was over way too soon. It was a fast read and I was completely to blame as I just can put these fun times reads down. But it was so worth it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.