V #5

There's a lot going on in this issue. But despite the amazing cover, what happens inside this issue just isn't as powerful and intense as the fiery destruction of an American city. 

Ham and Chris have found Elizabeth, the Star Child. Now with her psychic help, the mercenaries have a solid lead on Nathan Bates' missing son, Kyle. Disguised as security forces, Ham and Chris stumble upon the most sickening Visitor processing plant yet; camouflaged as a fat farm! Only it is a fat farm! One intent on fattening humans up for Visitor consumption.

Speaking of consumption, the peace conference between Diana and that Carl Sagan-like human character has begun aboard the mothership. The leader of the Visitors has prepared a feast based on French cuisine and it seems to soften the resolve of the human representative. But fret not- there's sabotage afoot on both sides of the chess board!

Like I said, a whole bunch is going on here. That twist on the fat farm was a shocker. But again, the action that occurs in book #5 just isn't on par with the Independence Day level destruction on the front. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Piracy #6 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The comic book known as Piracy was produced by EC Comics. It ran for 7 issues from October/November, 1954-October/November, 1955. The timing of Piracy's publication places it at an awkward time during the history of William Gaines' publishing house. 

Piracy was the last New Trend title EC released before the company shifted focus of its publications. That's because from April to June, 1954, the US Senate held several public hearings on juvenile delinquency and comic books were placed under the microscope as being its number one cause. Across America, civic groups lead massive burnings of comic books. 

There's actually a famous photo taken in the Norwalk, Connecticut community of a Catholic League community bonfire composed of thousands of comics going up in flames. And there's my future grandmother-in-law smiling triumphantly over the paper barbecue. Also in the picture is my wife's 7 or 8 year old uncle, frowning despondently as his prized comic book collection went up in smoke. 

Needless to say, comic books were on life support. To prevent the complete extinction of the art form, several publishers got together and formed the self-governed Comics Code Authority. Gaines was initially hesitant to concede to the CCA, instead, opting to cancel most of his controversial line of comic books.

Only 3 books made the cut. The humor comic MAD changed to a larger format and was exempt from CCA rules operating as a magazine. Panic, another humor title, remained comic sized. Piracy, was the third surviving title. 

Piracy still had EC's signature twist endings. But they were no longer sensationalized. Haunt of Fear #19 had for a shock conclusion, a rival baseball team dismembering a baseball player who used poisoned cleats and using the guys entrails for a ballpark foul line. Issue #1 of this series has a boat captain finding the man who shanghaied him decades earlier and getting revenge on him... by thanking him for his cowardly deed. 

There are 4 stories that fill issue #6 of Piracy. Reed Crandall's 'Fit for a King' has a drunkard regaling the patrons of a tavern with the truth about a missing fabled swashbuckler known as The King of the Pirates. 'The Skipper' by George Evans tells of a sailor whose been stuck as first mate for so long, that he secretly begins sabotaging his cargo ship in a twisted plan to have the captain removed from the helm. Then readers head back in time to the seal hunts of the great white north in Graham Ingels' 'Fur Crazy.' Lastly, Jack Davis spins a yarn about a shipmaster haunted by the screams of the crew he lost years prior in 'Solitary.'

The cover was illustrated by Bernard Krigstein.

EC Comics launched 7 new titles in early 1954 as part of its New Trend line of titles. Because Gaines refused to issue a CCA stamp on the cover of his books, newsstands refused to carry them. Gaines would eventually acquiesce later in the year. But at that point, the financial damage was done and most titles were cancelled with issue #5 (Nov/Dec, 1955). A controversial ruling by the CCA for the powerful anti-racism story 'Judgment Day' in Incredible Science Fiction #33 led to William Gaines turning his back on comic books, devoting himself as publisher of MAD Magazine until his death in 1992.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #33 (An EC Comic (Reprints are allowed)) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

V #4

After a story that focused solely on Donovan, Julie and that town of Visitor loving humans, issue #4 devotes some time to the other characters of the V TV show.

First of all- Ham Tyler and Chris Farber. The two mercs finally make it to Catalina...to the front door of Nathan Bates' Science Frontiers home office... in a body bag. 

Uh-oh. I think I've painted myself into a corner. If I go much further, I'm going to be spoiling things. I mean this is a nearly 40 year old comic book. But, I try really hard not to produce spoilers. So, let's just say for now, that what happens in Bates' office leads us to find out what has happened to the Star Child.

Don't know what the Star Child is? That's okay. I'll get you up to date. During the original miniseries, Visitor leader Diana wanted to know if her people could mate and breed with humans. So a young girl named Robin was seduced by a Visitor soldier. Robin had a human looking child, with a forked tongue. Named Elizabeth by her mother, the hybrid child ages rapidly and develops super natural powers that lead members of the Fifth Column to dub the now adult Elizabeth to be called 'Star Child', a prophesied savior that could lead the Visitors in an age of peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, a Carl Sagan type character has taken to the airwaves to challenge Visitor leader Diana to peace talks. Diana accepts, planning to kill this peace monger at the conference. But don't worry about this guy walking into a trap; our modern-day stargazing Gandhi has plans of pulling the rug on Diana himself!

Lots of action. Lots of plot wheels turning.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Batman/ The Spirit One-Shot (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Batman/The Spirit one-shot team-up titled 'Crime Convention' won the 2007 Eisner Award for the 'Best Single Issue/One-Shot'. Written by Jeph Loeb, this madcap adventure is the first ever pairing of the Dark Knight and 'the real only middle-class crimefighter.'

The story has Gotham City's Commissioner Gordon and Central City's Commissioner Dolan heading to Hawaii for a convention of police and law enforcement officers. On his way to the airport, Dolan is swooned by a fiery redhead named Ivy while Jim Gordon is being accompanied by his new girlfriend; a sultry brunette by the name of P'Gell!

The villains of the Batman and the Spirit have joined forces to make the convention an explosive event that nobody will ever forget! Everyone from the Cossack to Killer Croc have converged on America's 50th state to have some fun, get some sun and hit at the heart of their arch-enemies. Thankfully, Batman and the Spirit are en route to Hawaii. But are they too late?

The star of this book is artist Darwyn Cooke. Introducing the Spirit to the DC Universe, Cooke would later go on to be written and illustrator for the first 14 issues of DC's Spirit ongoing. A student of the golden and silver ages of comics, Cooke combined classic artwork with modernized poses and Kirby-esque framing. As a result of his efforts on both this one-shot and the Spirit monthly, Cook earned the 2007 Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding artist.

Dave Stewart won the 2007 Eisner as best colorist for this special. 

A Late Freeze, The Preposterous Adventures of IronHide Tom, Skyscrapers of the Midwest #3 and They Found The Car were the other nominees for this category. 

Batman and the Spirit would team again, along with Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze in the 2010 miniseries First Wave.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #9 (Best Single Issue or Serialized Story to Win Eisner Award) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Simpsons Comics #85 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The Simpsons came about because of publishing rights. James L. Brooks was looking for a filler segment on his forthcoming Tracey Ullman Show on the newly developing network, Fox. Brooks had come across an issue of Matt Groening's Life In Hell and the producer wanted it to fill in segments of the sitcom whenever the writers had trouble ending a sketch. Groening realized that he would have to give up a slew of rights if Life In Hell went animated. So Groening developed a new series based on his family and friends from his childhood in Portland, Oregon.

During the first season of The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons alternated places with another animated short called Dr. N!Godatu about an optimistic therapist who recalled zany episodes with her patients. The Simpsons debuted in the third episode of The Tracey Ullman Show. It became an immediate success. By the second season, Dr. N!Godatu was gone and it was The Simpsons all the way. Soon, watchers of the sketch series were putting the live action segments on mute, only to hit sound while things got animated. 

A spin-off of a Simpsons holiday special materialized in December of 1989. Animator David Silverman helped to refine the rough Matt Groening art style into something more sleek and fluid. 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' was an immediate success and an instant Christmas classic. The following month, Fox took a gamble with a 13-episode mid-season replacement run of animated episodes. 

The past 20 years had not been very kind to live-action animated series in prime time. But Fox was consistently running fifth place out of a 4 major network ratings war and needed a hit. Needless to say, the gamble paid off. Jump ahead to 2023 and The Simpsons are now in their 34th season. The cartoon series shows no signs of stopping. In January, the longest running animated series in TV history was renewed for an impressive 35th and 36th season!

In 1993, Matt Groening went back into comic book publishing. Bongo Comics, named after one of Groening's rabbit characters from Life In Hell, published mostly titles based on The Simpsons. However, Bongo also published a handful of non-Simpsons properties including a 12-issue sketch series based on the art of Sergio Aragones and an adaptation of Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants. In 1995, Groening created Zongo Comics, an imprint devoted to adult oriented series. Zongo only released a pair of minis before going defunct about a year later. Oddly enough, neither Bongo nor Zongo released a Life In Hell comic book.

The last Simpsons comic book was published in 2018. Issue #245 was the jumbo-sized swan song. Over the course of the series 25 year run, a number of talents worked on Simpsons Comics. Bill Morrison, Phil Ortiz, Ian Boothby, Gale Simone, Michael Allred, Kyle Baker, Aragones, even glam rocker Alice Cooper contributed to a wide number of stories that starred America's favorite family. 

Just like the TV series, the comic book version of the Simpsons skewered every aspect of modern day life, pop culture and social norms. In this issue, the Simpson family is selected to be a Neilsen Family. When their viewing habits are reviewed, analysts discover that the Simpsons reflect the exact center of the populace. Soon, everything the Simpsons like, including favorite foods, clothes and even their hairstyles are what the citizens of Springfield are sporting! So, Homer, Marge and the kids decide to switch things up!

In the backup story, Comic Book Guy looks at a series of rejected Bongo Comics titled 'Crap Nobody Wanted...'

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #28 (Humor Story) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

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.

Terry's Crew (Family Comic Friday)

From the ultimate multihyphenate (that means a person with several professions or skills) Terry Crews, comes an original graphic novel story based on the actor's childhood in Flint, Michigan.

First of all, let me say that I love Terry Crews. I've been a fan of his since he played the dad on Everybody Hates Chris. He was brilliant as detective Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And I was thrilled that he was named the host of America's Got Talent (and it's recent bunch of spin-offs). Terry Crews just seems like a legitimate guy that cares about people. He'd be one of those people that I would love to have a dinner party with...

In Terry's Crew, we see Terry about to begin the school year at a prestigious institution called Rock City Academy. Terry won a lottery to get to attend the school which contains a student body comprised of mostly rich kids. Terry's mom and dad have put a ton of pressure on Terry to maintain good grades while at the school. But that's okay because Terry has a plan for many great things to accomplish when he gets older and he'll need those good grades to achieve those dreams.

Terry hopes to use his artistic gifts to earn some new friends. Together with the forceful but determined Rani and shy genius Xander, Terry thinks he's got what it takes to create the best act for the Rock City Academy talent show. Unfortunately, there's a bully who wants to win the show just as bad as Terry does and is willing to intimidate the new student to drop out of the competition. If Terry stays in the lineup, the villain will reveal a humiliating secret to the whole school.

Meanwhile, Terry's guidance counselor is trying to steer him to join the school football team. Terry's interested in doing that, eventually. But for now, Terry wants to explore the arts, which are his passion. it's going to be hard for Terry to stick to his vision quest as the advisor is doing everything in his power to point out that Terry doesn't come from the right socio-economic background to be a great artist. Instead, the so-called school leader is doing everything he can to pigeonhole Terry to staying in his lane and become just another colored jock.

You know, the real villain in this book is not the bully. It's the guidance counselor! The school advisor is the one pushing the bully, who's also a student of color, to be an over-achieving athlete. Plus the teacher is also pushing the bully to get Terry to join the football team as some kind of sick rite of passage.

I wish I could say that I don't work with such educators but I do. It's far too easy to just look at the shell of the students we have and just refuse to dig further into the surface. Teaching Culinary, I often have students who claim that they'll never get a job in the restaurant industry. I just smile and think of how being a Chef was the one career my mom refused to let me pursue and yet one day fate intervened. So, I really try not to push them with their career choices. I just hope that I am teaching my kids that someone supports them when it looks like the whole world is going against them.

My biggest complaint about this book was that it felt a little long. But I get the impression that this book might have been the frame work for a whole series of graphic novels for kids based on Terry Crews' childhood. So it might have just been that the introductions were a little slow going. 

I'm really intrigued by the character of Emilio. He's fully in support of Terry being the best Terry there is. Yet, there's something mysterious about him Terry's dad thinks Emilio is bad news. But I am hoping that in reality Emilio had to drop out of school to support his family or something like that and not in reality be a drug dealer or thug like this story wants you to believe.   

The artwork for Terry's Crew is by graphic designer and illustrator Cory Thomas. If you are a fan of the more modern Archie books, you're probably familiar with his name. Thomas's art style is lifelike and expressive with an attention to fashion. That's more than likely due to the excessive number of hats he claims ownership to in the artist's biography at book's end. 

I really do hope Terry Crews along with Cory Thomas see success with this late 2022 graphic novel. It really feels like that the potential for other books in the series is within this book. It has a great message without sugarcoating the reality that not everyone who is supposed to have children's best interests at heart really do. 

If you are a fan of Terry Crews then you know that he's a celebrity with a wholesome image. And it's one that I believe is genuine. If you adults out like Terry Crews then you should have no problem sharing Terry's Crew with the young readers in your life. 

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.