Treasure Chest (of fun & fact) Volume 22, #7 [December 1, 1966]

  Every week, When I was in elementary school, it was a  treat when the teacher passed out our copy of Weekly Reader. It was a varying age appropriate booklet about 4 or 8 pages long filled with news, facts, activities, and cartoons. Usually, there was a giveaway or some other project you could take home and complete with mom and dad. February of 2012 was a period of some sadness when the publication was bought out by Scholastic and publication ended in favor of a cheaper (digital) method.

   So why all the talk about Weekly Reader if the comic book I am reviewing is called Treasure Chest (of fun & fact)? It so turns out that this rare gem that I unearthed at one of my all-time favorite used bookstores was the Catholic version of the Weekly Reader. Published by Ohio's George A. Pflaum, Treasure Chest was given to students at parochial schools on a bi-weekly basis from 1946-1972. 

    In this issue of Treasure Chest, students would've learned about the weather balloon experiments of the Piccard Brothers, solved brainteasers using toothpicks, watch a young man fly a plane when his flying instructor has a sudden heart attack, better understand the rules of scoring in bowling, and much more. With assorted gags, riddles, and fun facts; this comic might not seem like much but for 1966 this was cool stuff.

    Treasure Chest was known to have employed comic book legends such as DC's Murphy Anderson, EC's Joe Orlando, and Graham Ingels, as well as Marvel's Joe Sinnott. This is pretty odd since, during the comics scare of the 1950s, community groups led by the Catholic church organized comic book burnings, many of which featured art by the aforementioned artists.

    Though this issue doesn't feature any work by those comic book legends, this comic is about as rare of some of their pivotal works. But if I have learned anything from the TV show Pawn Stars, rare doesn't mean valuable. This book's condition is pretty beaten up and I had to be ultra careful since the pages wanted to break away from the staples. But for an almost half-century old educational comic, it was still readable and didn't feature any pen or pencil marks on it. ( I would actually consider getting this book slabbed at a free grading event in the future to keep it better preserved.)

    An interesting look at American Catholic school life during the mid-1960s. If you are a fan of silver age books, comics aimed at children, or free publications from yesteryear, this is definitely something to look out for to add to not just a comic collection to your overall book collection as well.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Volume 3: King Radical

 

Oooooooh, slanty.

 In volume 2, the whole world saw Dr. McNinja and mayor of Cumberland, Chuck Goodrich die in a fiery shuttle crash as they tried to save the world from dinosaurs. Or was it zombies? Or was it zombies riding on dinosaurs? Without it's heroes, a power vacuum forms in the city, as McNinja's arch-enemy King Radical seeks to claim the burg as his criminal base of operations under the guise of being the community's new benefactor. But when a hobo uses a bizarre clause in the city's charter to become the new mayor of Cumberland, it puts a serious crimp in the Monarch of Awesome's style. Though having a powerful mummy for assistant mayor helps too.

    Join McNinja's family, his 12-year old mustached sidekick Gordito, his ape secretary Judy, and the rest of the McNinja gang of oddballs as they try to keep the peace in the good doctor's memory. That's easier said than done now that a powerful demon has come searching for Mayor Goodrich's soul and an insane Jesuit gym teacher has shown up at the local Catholic high-school. And just who is this mysterious new doctor wearing a Lucha libra mask and has the ability to cure a disease that turns people's butts into spiders at night?

   Okay- I can't believe I just typed that last sentence...

   Anyways. I was first introduced to the madcap world of Christopher Hastings and Anthony Clark's Dr. McNinja about a year ago when my library had volumes 1&2 on the new shelf. The udder ridiculousness of a ninja doctor trying to thwart the attempts of a Burger King look-a-like powered by Mountain Dew from taking over the world was just perfect for me.  I love absurd stuff and this is about as surreal as it gets. Time travel, mummy's curses, cities turned into giant robots, zombies, and massive orders of 200 expensive pizzas are just some of the bizarre things waiting inside this book based on the webcomic of the same name.

    Readers of my blog will note that I love the oddball comic series The Tick. But Dr. McNinja is completely different. For one thing, the Tick is a parody whereas, okay, honestly, I don't know what the hell to classify McNinja as... The closest I can I come to classifying this series is that it is a surrealist slapstick comedy a la Buster Keaton or the Three Stooges. In terms of other comic books, this book is a lot like another Dark Horse publication called Axe Cop. Only, this book wasn't written by a 5-year. (And that's not an insult! Axe Cop really was written by a 5-year old, though he's much older now. Google it...)

    I enjoyed this book but not as much as I think I could have. Having been so long since I read volumes 1& 2, I was a little lost trying to re-familarize myself with this series. It's one reason why I like to have all of a series before I read it but when you are depending on the library to help supplement your comic book collecting and reading, then beggars can't be choosers.  But if you are new to this series and somehow get the chance to get your hands on all three volumes at once, I think you'll truly benefit by reading them all in a close grouping.

    Amazingly clean art, crazy plots and even crazier ideas, and tons of surprises, Dr. McNinja, volume 3 is a great read, even if you did forget some of what happened earlier in the story. It's not like we've got the brilliant photographic memory of a ninja or something...

   Worth Consuming

     Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg

The title is longer than the book itself.

   

There's nothing more Jewish than Fiddler on the Roof! I first saw the movie based on the film in middle school and was in love: not so much with the film but the Jewish culture, itself. As a result, I started frequenting Jewish restaurants, learning about Jewish customs, and I set a personal goal: I was going to marry a Christian Jew! Despite many of my friends and teachers in high school saying it was an impossible dream, on July 24th, 1999, I married my Jewish Princess! Since then, my wife and I have celebrated Christmakkuh, attended a Seder, and explored more of her Jewish heritage, which we've shared with dear friends and family. 

    Thus why I read this book. I found it being given away on Goodreads and I know how much my wife loved to play to the soundtrack with her sister when she was a little girl. So, I entered the giveaway and I was one of the lucky few to win a copy.

    The book covers just about every aspect of Fiddler on the Roof. From the Tevye tales written by Sholem Aleichem at the turn of the 20th Century through its first run on Broadway beginning in the 1960s over to London's West End where an up-and-coming Israeli actor named Topol would become so synonymous with the role of Tevye the Milkman that he would wind up in Yugoslavia filming the movie adaptation. The story of Fiddler then covers numerous revivals in New York and London then examines versions of the play being performed in schools and worldwide (it's particularly popular in Japan), finishing up with modern versions of the musical and it's songs finding a home on the internet.

    Tradition is a very good brief record of the history of the beloved musical. But it's not without its flaws. The biggest problem is that I think author Barbara Isenberg needs a thesaurus or something. When she refers to Fiddler's composer Jerry Bock, she almost always calls him 'librettist, Jerry Bock' or 'Librettist Bock.' This happens over and over to the point of being annoying. She also likes to point out that film director Norman Jewison isn't kosher quite a bit as well.

    Another issue I have with this book isn't Isenberg's fault- it's the use of pictures and text boxes to the point of redundancy. I mentioned that this is a short read. Officially about 272-pages, Tradition's story ends at page 200 with about 65-pages of notes and an index. That's all well and good but this tome would be about 30-pages smaller if it wasn't for the use of the aforementioned photos and text boxes which merely reprint information used immediately before or after the insertion of the dark gray boxes.

   This kind of issue is a problem on the behalf of the editors. I think they and the book's designer realized that they were overusing this publishing device as the text boxes disappear in the last third of the book.

    Despite these flaws, I really did enjoy the book quite well and I highly recommend it. But because of those mistakes I can't give this a perfect rating. What I can give you is a suggestion that you really should heed: just before you complete this book, maybe once you get to page 150, get your hands on a copy of Fiddler on the Roof. Because once you finish Isenberg's story of perhaps the greatest American musical of all-time, the songs will start to get stuck in your head and you are going to want to watch Fiddler again.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
   

Tick's Massive Summer Double Spectacle #2

   After the city shaking battle with the supervillain allies of the Multi-millionaire,  the Tick, Arthur, and their superhero teammates take a much-needed vacation. Yet by sheer coincidence, the heroes wind up on the same cruise ship as their archenemies! Looking make the best of it, the two sides forge an uneasy truce.

  It appears that the worst thing that is going to happen on this cruise is some cheating at shuffleboard. But criminals will be criminals and before you know it- the bad guys have turned pirate and commandeered the ship!

  Part two was just as good as the first. But it lacked that zany factor of issue one.

  Another problem is that the story ends with a cliffhanger that can only be resolved by the purchasing of not issue #3 but another Tick special altogether! (The Tick's Big Cruise Ship Special.)
   
Now this sorta thing would so get my crawl. But thankfully, I was made aware of this before reading the Summer Spectacles. (Many thanks to theTick  Wiki  for the heads up.) And now you, dear readers have been warned as well.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Halloween ComicFest 2015 World of Archie Mini-Comic (Family Comic Friday Halloween ComicFest 2015 Edition)

   When Archie and Jughead are late catching a ride to Veronica's secret costume party, it looks like the two best buds will have the worst Halloween ever. But when a friendly guy in a Frankenstein outfit invites the boys to a party, their evening of spooks might be saved. Enjoying the night with werewolves, mummies, ogres, and ghoulish eats, Archie and Jug come to the sudden realization: these guests might actually be monsters!

    Archie Comics have been a staple of Halloween ComicFest for several years now. Usually, those mini-comics are the lamest of the bunch, yet this one was pretty awesome. The art was pretty clean and the artists  who drew the monsters, Rich Koslowski and Fernando Ruiz, did a really fantastic job on them. Even better was the story.

    Bad puns, corny jokes, and really dumb storylines are abundant in the Archie free comic giveaways. Yet, this one was really good. It was clever and I didn't feel like the story was dumbed down for younger audiences. Major kudos to writer George Gladir's effort on this Halloween tale.

    Kids of all ages will delight if they receive this mini-comic in their trick-or-treat bucket. Parents won't have anything to disapprove of either. The art isn't scary and the story really isn't either. Some of the words are a little advanced for most readers, but those aged 8-12 shouldn't have any qualms enjoying this tale.

   The only thing that might disappoint young readers would be days or weeks down the road when they might try to find more Archie Comics to read. Currently, the entire line of Archie Comics that aren't a licensed property such as Sonic the Hedgehog has been rebooted. If you try to buy a new Archie comic you'll find that the art is now drawn in a modernly edgy. The stories are a little more grown-up and honestly it's more of a teen drama than a funny book. 

   Fret not! Archie Comics does still release treasuries of classic Archie stories regularly, along with their Double Digests. Plus, Archie Comics are ubiquitous with bargain bins. So, if your child enjoys those puzzle games where they have to search for missing items in a picture, then they might very well enjoy inspecting a dollar box or two for some affordable Archie books. 

   Who knows? They might discover a new title or two along the way...

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Maddy Kettle: The Adventures of the Thimblewitch (Family Comics Friday, 2015 Halloween Edition)

My first selected reading for Halloween, 2015 is Maddy Kettle: The Adventure of the Thimblewitch. This book from 2014 is the first work by up-and-comer Eric Orchard. His prose is whimsical and his art style is very quirky. There's also a slightly eerie tone and a light sweet air to this book, which is set up as the first in a series. However, it's been over a year since the first book was released and Amazon does not have a listing for a book two set to be released anytime soon.

   Orchard's artwork is reminiscent of the films 'James and the Giant Peach' and 'Coraline' with its steampunk stylings. The Thimblewitch's army of Scarecrows and Maddy's animal friends are crafted in such a way that I'm positive that the artwork from Baum's OZ books were a direct influence as well. I just wish that Orchard had continued to use some of those characters a little more extensively, like the very funny snake Maddy meets at the beginning of her quest.

    So, I've covered the tone and artwork, but what is the book about?

  

  Maddy Kettle is a young girl who used to work in her parent's bookstore until the faithful day when the supposedly nice Thimblewitch turns Mr. & Mrs. Kettle into mice. The family end up on the run from the creepy spider-goblins who eventually kidnap Maddy's parents and her pet flying moon-toad, Ralph. Determined to get her family back, Maddy enlists the help of the cloud cartographers Harry and Silvo, a bear and raccoon who just happen to have a wonderful balloon ship that can take Maddy to Thimble Rock, the home of the now rotten Thimblewitch.

      There are some spooky moments in this book, especially involving the Spider-Goblins. But this is the type of book that while a little scary at first, ends on a pleasant note. It's also the type of book that if your child asked you to read it again, when you acted like the scary parts were frightening again, they'll just explain why it's not a scary book anymore. Plus, the Thimblewitch is more like those in Wizard of Oz and less like the one's in Harry Potter, so parents, you should have to worry about this book being a tool of 'occultism.' (Personally, I don't think Harry Potter is an instrument of Satan, but there are those parents who will not allow their children to read anything heavier than the Wicked Witch of the West, thus my previous analogy.)

     Maddy Kettle is a great graphic novel that on paper should be an instant classic. But for some reason, maybe it's lack of word-of-mouth or poor distribution, it just hasn't caught on like a Captain Underpants or a Geronimo Stilton. I found this book in the new section of the all-ages graphic novel section (though it is over 1-year old.) Available on Amazon and eBay, this is a great seasonal read that will delight readers aged 7-11 during the build-up to Halloween.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Planetary #1 (After Watchmen...What's Next?)

A couple of years ago when the Watchmen film came out, comic book stores were giving away samples of similar titles. This was one of those reprint examples released under the banner: 'After Watchmen... What's Next ?' 

Here, a mysterious man named Winter is recruited to become a member of a clandestine team of metahumans. In their first mission, they discover what happened to a superhuman team that disappeared during World War II.

I liked this title. I was very impressed with the plotting and writing. The dialogue, while a little crude, was original and Warren Ellis didn’t dumb down to the audience. The art was very good and there were some impressive amounts of gore and action.

Not sure if I want to make this series part of my collection, but I wouldn’t mind finding additional stories at my library or trades for very cheap at a used book store or comic’s sale.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.