True Believers: King in Black- Beta Ray Bill #1

Marvel's True Believers series was great. For only a buck, you could purchase reprints based on some of the most iconic moments in comic book history. In full glorious color. They were great for collectors like me who didn't want to pay beaucoup bucks for the originals. The True Believers helped me make affordable dents into collections that would have to go without if I had to rely on purchasing an original copy of the story to complete my runs. Plus, for those of us who tried to support younger readers who were interested in getting their collections going, these were cheap ways to provide essential reading material.

This volume reprints issue #337 of Thor (Vol. 1) which introduced fans to the hugely popular Beta Ray Bill. A member of the Korbinites, Bill has the face of a horse with a slighter snout. Armed with cybernetic enhancements and a specialized suit, Bill was chosen by his people to lead them to a new home. During this exodus, the Korbinites are attacked by demons of Surtur and almost Bill, despite saving his people, nearly died in the assault. To save him, his mothership encases him in a crystalline structure that places Bill in a state of suspended animation.

All of this backstory gets revealed later on. SHIELD tasks the thunder god in investigating Bill's space ship which has gotten too close to earth's orbit for Nick Fury's taste. Aboard the ship when Thor meets Bill, it's classic Marvel. Both think the other are enemies. Naturally, Bill thinks Thor is one of those demons. Thor thinks Bill is a dangerous alien intent on conquering his beloved adopted planet. In the melee, Thor drops his hammer which to the Odinson's shock is picked up and used with ease by Beta Ray Bill. 60 seconds have now passed and Thor reverts back into his human form of Dr. Donald Blake.

And wouldn't you know it, just when it looks like Beta Ray Bill is about to make ketchup out of Blake, Odin interferes and whisks Bill away to Asgard! That's because with Bill holding onto Mjolnir, the Highfather believes that he's Thor and calls him away to an emergency brewing in the nine realms.

You'd think for a god with the ability to see everything, Odin would know that an orange skinned fella with huge teeth and an equine face is totally different looking from a scrawny white dude. And this isn't the first time Odin makes these sort of impulsive mistakes. Believe me when I say that the most unworthy character in this story is the leader of Asgard!

While you get to see Beta Ray Bill in action, you don't get to see much of him as Thor. The cover is the biggest glimpse you get of Beta Ray Thor! But it's one of the most memorable covers of all time! This issue was originally published in 1983 and in my original comic book collection, I was the owner of this book. That previous ownership is why I wanted this book again. This 2020 reprint was issued as a tie-in to the King in Black major Marvel crossover event. I had zero interest in that storyline. Nostalgia was the main reason I needed this book. 

Written, penciled and inked by Walt Simonson, this is the issue that turned him into a definitive creator of Thor stories. When I was just a mere lad of 5 when I bought this book, I just wasn't old enough to appreciate it. Now in my mid-40s, I am so fond of this era of Thor. Why I just haven't done more than dip my toe into the Thor stories of the 1980s, it's not because of hatred. I'm still into the mid-70s on my run of Essential Marvel collections. I'll get to this period of time. It's just going to take me some time to get there.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #18

Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela pay tribute to just about every dog and cat character to ever grace a DC comic in this issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up! 

Krypto, Ace, the Bat Hound, the Super Friends' Wonder Dog, and Green Lantern G'Nort, along with Scooby, travel to an alien planet inhabited entirely by felines and canines. That planet's version of the Justice League, The SCPA (Space Canine Patrol Agents) are plagued by the ghosts of some of their original members. Taking a page (actually several pages) from the history of many JSA and JLA crossovers, these heroic pooches make contact with the original team only to be faced with a quartet of bewitched missing protagonists. 

Once Scooby and pals get to the bottom of this mystery, it will become a multi-species battle royale that must be seen to believed!

Even though this is a 7 year old comic, I don't want to spoil it too much. But if you ever wanted to see Scooby-Doo pairing up with Yankee Poodle from the Zoo Crew, you will get your wish. If you've ever wanted a Scooby-Doo story without those meddling kids, you will get your wish. This was a story that I never really thought in a million years that would ever transpire. 

Honestly, I feel like maybe some of these characters are made up. I know all characters are made up. I mean from the mind of Sholly Fisch just for this issue. But a quick Google search shows that a bunch of these characters are from the Krypto The Superdog TV show that aired on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s. Thus, I rescind any complaint about that. But really has G'Nort ever before been portrayed as a wise leader? That's got to be from Fisch's imagination for sure!

A Scooby-Doo story unlike any other I've ever read. Thank you SCTU creators for keeping this fantastic series fresh!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #29

The top dog meets Top Cat and his gang of felonious felines in this all Hanna-Barbera edition of Scooby-Doo Team-Up. Top Cat is up to his ways of playing tricks on Officer Dibble. This time, he's got one of his gang dressing up as the Ghost of Hoagy's Alley! With the Mayor making a real push to clean up the neighborhood, the policeman calls in the Mystery Inc. Gang to solve the mystery. 

In a twist on the corrupt land developer trope of Scooby-Doo stories, the detectives actually go out of their way to prove that the neighborhood really is haunt, least a pair of scheming real estate agents will buy up everything for real cheap and tear it all down to build luxury condominiums. This will not only evict Top Cat and his gang, it will put Officer Dibble on having to work a really dangerous beat. So cops and cat crooks work together to stop the plans of some modernizers from putting a lot of nice folks out of house and home. 

Community Gentrification. The only thing worse than monsters and ghosts. 

I'm not normally as much of a fan of the Hanna-Barbera crossovers as I am the DC Comics ones. They tend to be more formulaic and predictable. However, this story was such a switcheroo to the standard Scooby-Doo mystery that I actually felt like I was reading something entirely fresh and new. It probably helps that I know next to nothing about Top Cat. Still, what I know about Scooby-Doo, and I know a lot, is changed up so much to a point that everything was totally unexpected.

The writer Sholly Fisch is the reason this story was so original. He's a masterful writer who knows how to not just write for kids but the whole family! 

The only thing that I didn't like about the story was the unevenness of the art. But I don't blame Dave Alvarez for it. His renderings of the Mystery Inc. team is spot on. His drawings of the Top Cat universe of characters are great. However, the two franchises couldn't be any more different from each other. Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne are drawn much more realistically than Officer Dibble and the developers. Scooby-Doo looks like a pure-bred next to Top Cat. Thus, when these two worlds of characters meet, it just doesn't gel. At least when the Flintstones meet up with the Jetsons, you felt like Fred really could have been George's long lost ancestor. The art styles of these two franchises are like Edward Hopper's Nighthawks meeting Picasso's 3 Musicians.

If you can get over how striking the artwork is, you're in for a treat. This really is one of the most original Scooby-Doo mysteries ever written and it's a ton of fun.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars Adventures (2019 Free Comic Book Day Edition)

This 2019 Free Comic Book Day offering features a scary story starring Han Solo and Chewbacca. Only it's not the real Han Solo. I don't care that this is a comic book. But the version of Han illustrated in this book is the Alden Ehrenreich Solo origin film version. The only (acceptable) version of Han Solo is Harrison Ford. Plain and simple. There is no substitute. 

Now one thing added to the appeal of this book is that this is a Tales From Vader's Castle story. Since 2018, Star Wars fans have been delighted by an annual all-ages horror themed anthology set in the Star Wars Universe. It's become a new Halloween tradition. However, there's no such thing as Halloween in Star Wars. That doesn't matter as it still makes for a fun October time read. 

Compared to other Vader's Castle stories, this one isn't really that scary. Probably because this was a Free Comic Book Day offering. Mistress Lina and her droid Crater, who are the story's narrators, make a return appearance from the 2018 debut of Tales From Vader's Castle. As they explore Vader's home, Lina recalls an early adventure from Han and Chewbacca's early days involving a heist as a droid museum. 

This story sets up the framework for prospective fans to pick up the trade paperback which collected the first series. There was a Han Solo ghost story in the first anthology. I double-checked. This story is not a reprint of that issue as writer Cavan Scott managed to have both versions of Solo (the true and the reboot impostor) in the same story. There's no Harrison Ford in this book.

Featuring art by Derek Charm, this issue has a certain charm to it; even if it doesn't feature MY Han Solo. Loved the closing panel! And the back cover by Francesco Francavilla, featuring the imposing visage of Lord Vader overlooking his Mustafar is just breathtaking. Oh, how I would love to have a print of it to hang in my office!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild and Wonderful Foods: An Intrepid Eater's Digest

Andrew Zimmern. Host of Bizarre Foods and several spin-offs. Minnesota Chef and writer. Man who will eat just about anything. 

I really like Zimmern. He seems authentic. I don't get the vibe that he's conceited or feels like he's the smartest person in the room compared to a lot of other celebrity and professional chefs that I know and watch. Zimmern has a world view that the things we eat are what can bring us together, despite differences in both opinion and taste. It's something I try to emulate in my culinary classes; especially when we discuss global food cultures. 

Over the past 6 months, I've been trying to increase my culinary knowledge by reading all kinds of works about the food industry. After the recent loss of our oldest cat, Lily, I felt like I needed something light for a while. Thankfully, Andrew Zimmern's Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild and Wonderful Foods was sitting on my to-read shelf and it helped me during my time for grief and recovery immensely. 

Though there are a few recipes in this book, this is not a cookbook. It's also not 100% culinary related. There are about 3 dozen alphabetical listings of foods that Zimmern finds to be kinda oddball. Some of the things he lists like Bird's Nest Soup and Durian (both of which I have sampled), I wholeheartedly agree with. Twinkies and Hot Dogs (again, things I have consumed), I just don't. I understand Chef's argument that how they are made with a terrifying assortment of parts, bits and chemicals can be looked upon as weird. I would define those foods as troubling. As for things like alligator, (one of my all-time fried favs), I would classify them as exotic. Wonderful, not Weird. But to a non-food professional, I can see those large lizards are being both weird and wild to eat.

Amazon rates this book as being for readers aged 8-12. Zimmern in his opening chapter says his book is for all ages. I know that kids and adults alike love Zimmern's TV travel series that explore foods that the common American kitchen lacks. So this book has a universal appeal to fans. However, with some very advanced terms and a frank but necessary discussion of how feces, urine and blood are often intertwined with some of these foods, I can see where not all readers will be fans of this book. OR that all readers would be ready for the material.

The all-age appeal that I think Zimmern is talking about is some of the additional factoids he includes. For example, under his chapter on bats, he includes facts about some of the greatest baseball hitters of all-time. That appeals to generations of readers. I know his TV shows cover non-culinary aspects of the cultures he visits and if Zimmern had stuck to that as additional information, I would totally be on board. I would have liked more entries of bizarre foods and less about how to defeat a zombie, as discussed in the chapter on brains. The off-the-wall non-culinary segments were fun. Just not what I wanted in a Bizarre Foods related read.

Going back to the bats. This book was written in 2012. Of course, many of us know of the urban legend that somebody in China eating a bat was who started COVID in 2019. I'd be interested to know how if this book was re-issued today how Andrew Zimmern would cover the eating of bats due to the rumors. It would be an opinion that I would definitely be interested in hearing.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Carlos Gomez Freestyles ... Heavy on the Styles (Family Comic Friday)

This is a graphic novel that I would advise is geared for younger readers in grades 3-7, some of the topics explored are quite controversial for the time. This book explores bullying, gender identity, homogenization in America, racism, and also bigotry towards immigrants (as well as anyone born in this country that are not white) and homosexuals. 

Young Carlos Gomez is having trouble fitting in at his new school. He's the only Hispanic student in his class. He likes to do things with flair, especially when it comes to his fashion choices. Though not very athletic, he's an amazing artist. Carlos has a lisp and along with his love of the color pink, his sister's wigs and glam rock, he's bullied and called 'gay' by most of his peers. The lad also has some sort of panic disorder or is epileptic, because he often has to calm his breathing and sometimes faints.

Carlos' dad has just joined a civic group similar to the Lions Club. His first task is to manage the upcoming talent show which is a big fundraiser for the group. This means dad picks who gets to perform in the talent show and Carlos really wants to be a part of it. Sadly, Carlos is quite a bit clumsy and all of his ideas don't turn out as planned.

When Carlos meets a new kid in school with amazing feathered hair, instantly, Carlos feels that he has found a kindred spirit. One day after following his new friend home, Carlos learns that the new kid is a skilled BMX biker and arranges for both of them to perform stunts in the talent show. Only Carlos doesn't know any stunts and despite still having training wheels on his bike, he can't stay upright on it! So maybe Carlos needs to hang out in the back of the stage. But at least he'll get to be a part of the talent show. Now if he can just come up with an amazing costume for the event.

Carlos Gomez Freestyles ... Heavy on the Styles is a semi-autobiographical. Creator Chuck Gonzalez based the story on his own life as the only Hispanic kid when his family moved to a new place. I appreciate at the beginning of this book that Chuck Gonzalez lays out his background in this book. He talks about his early struggles figuring out gender identity. He tells the reader that he is gay and happily married to another gentleman in the Chicago area. Plus he dives into how he was bullied and ostracized by a mostly white community.

So there should not be anything in this book that is a surprise for any parents. If a parent or guardian reads the back cover description and the author's forward, they will know immediately if the book's subject matter is right for the young readers in their life or not. 

As for me, I thought that the quality of the artwork was lively. A mix of Mexican, New Mexican and Midwest art styles. The story wasn't preachy. Considering how everything wraps up in a nice tiny package of acceptance, I do feel like the story was a bit too much of a fairy tale. But I liked the optimism that promotes a possible future where people's differences don't divide with hostility as in today's current culture.

I was a big fan of the dialogue between Carlos and his older siblings. They make a great team. And the closing scene where they tease Carlos during the mouse funeral was one of the most cleverly written scenes in comics and graphic novels. Still, after all of this, I have no idea why the kid keeps fainting. Is it just nerves or is it something a bit more worrisome?

This was an adorable book that covers a lot of topics that aren't appropriate across the board for all age groups. This is definitely a book that should be read by adults before they decide if their children should. Do one better and read it with them and when questions come up, be ready to answer them openly and honestly. You as a parent may not agree with the subjects in this book. That's okay. Explain to your young readers the reasons why for those differences. Willingness to talk about uncomfortable things is better than sticking your head in the sand waiting until they forget the conversation and move on to something else. As a parent or guardian, wouldn't it be better if little ones hear your opinion instead of from someone else who might not even have a clue what they are talking about.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #33

The Mystery Inc. gang travel to the 31st Century to solve a caper!

The members of the Legion of Super-Heroes have been terrorized by the ghost of their departed teammate and friend, Ferro Lad. Working on clues, the teen detectives question Ferro Lad's twin brother. But he's not the culprit. After a series of red herrings and misdirects, the combined teams discover just who is behind this haunt and it's not just one foe, but five. A Fatal Five!

A great romp through the ages by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela. There's so much Legionnaires lore packed into this book. So much, that the story felt like it needed a part 2 to give proper attention to the plethora of heroes who have been members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. 

The only thing I was really disappointed in was the ending. I pretty much knew from page 1 who the bad guys of this story were going to be. I mean, do the Legionnaires have any other villains than the Fatal Five? Yes, they do. But when compared to the Fatal Five, those other antagonists are nowhere near as memorable. I think a cliffhanger in which both Superboy and Supergirl pop up in the future instead of that cliched reveal who the villains were by pulling their masks off would have made this story have been a lot more interesting. I know I would have been shocked with appearances from members of the House of El sending me on to a 'To Be Continued.' 

That's got to be the shocking statement of the year. If you are a frequent reader of my blog, then you know that I am NOT a fan of cliffhangers. So for me to demand a two-parter to add an element of surprise to things is a big deal.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.