April 2007
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
Free Comic Book Day will be held on Saturday, May 5th this year and there are a couple of titles that you might want to keep an eye peeled for, amongst all the junk that the publishers have started offering in place of actual issues that someone might want to read.
First up is Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse-FCBD Edition from Gemstone, which will reprint the Floyd Gottfredson newspaper version of Mickey in "The Robin Hood Adventure". It's great fun and worth reading, even if it weren't free. Second, arrives from Fantagraphics and is called The Unseen Peanuts-FCBD Edition and will reprint over 100 Peanuts strips that have never been reprinted before. Also worth a squint.
For more information about Free Comic Book Day (like maybe the name of a participating store near you, go to www.freecomicbookday.com!
PASSINGS
Writer Arnold Drake passed away in early March, apparently as the result of an illness he contracted in February. Drake is probably best known for his work on DC's Doom Patrol, Deadman and Marvel's X-Men, but he also was a humor writer who worked on The Adventures of Bob Hope, Little Lulu and The Adventures of Jerry Lewis. Drake is also credited with co-creating the first graphic novel, It Rhymes with Lust, which was released by St. John in 1950. A bit more information about Drake from Mark Evanier can be found here: http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_03_12.html#013083
Soon after writing the above, we also found out that comic artist Marshall Rogers has passed away. He was 57. Rogers came to DC in the 70s and quickly set the fan world abuzz with his work on Detective Comics with writer Steve Englehart. He also did work for Eclipse and Marvel during his comics career and had just returned to DC in the last year to work with Englehart on another Batman collaboration.
BREAKING NEWS
IDW announce last week that they will be publishing a 6 volume hardcover series that will reprint all of the Terry and the Pirates strips by Milton Caniff, starting in July of 2007. No price or frequency of release has been set as of yet, but IDW is saying that the books will be published in an 11" x 8.5" oblong format, with the Sundays set to run in color! Since this was one of the best adventure strips ever done, and a personal favorite, I'll keep you posted as I find out more!!
AC
Best Of West #60
Red Mask, Haunted Horseman, Durango Kid, Black Bull, Lone Rider & Wyatt Earp with art by Ayers, Severin (also Severin with Will Elder), Bolle and others and a cover by Alan Weiss. Since interest in westerns is on the rise, you should ask Mike about this title, since the stories are good and, in the style of older comics, episodic with little, or no, continued stories.SRP $6.95
Golden Age Spotlight Vol. 2- Revised Edition
A large book reprinting super-heroes from Quality Comics with an additional 32 pages from the first printing. Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Jack Cole, Reed Crandall, Paul Gustavson, Ruben Moriera, Klaus Nordling, Alex Kotzky, Arthur Peddy, Jim Mooney & Rudy Palais handle the art chores on characters such as Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Stormy Foster, Wonder Boy, Dollman, Phantom Lady, Manhunter, The Ray, Lady Luck and a host of others. While Marvel and DC had the more memorable characters, mainly because they never went out of business, Quality had a ton of artists who, in many cases, put the art of the other publishers to shame. The problem was that their characters were not as memorable as the other publishers. These are simpler stories from a simpler time, but are gorgeous to look at. Unlike some of the AC collections, the first printing of this one was a trade paperback, although I have no idea what format will be used for this one. SRP $24.95
Men Of Mystery Fawcett Fighting Favorites Special #1
Focusing on material produced by Fawcett, this (thick comic or trade paperback??) reprints the 5 adventures of Spy Smasher, along with other tales of Commando Yank, Mr. Scarlet, Ibis & Don Winslow and art by Sultan, Gershwin, Schaffenberger & Carl Pfeufer. In the Golden Age, Fawcett's big gun was Captain Marvel, whose sales rivaled, or even surpassed, those of Superman. They did have a large stable popular characters, however, and they are the ones presented here. Good stuff, but if you are an AC collector you just bought some of this book a couple of months back in Men of Mystery #58 and the rest is from the Men of Mystery Spy Smasher Special #1, which wasn't all that good. For the completist only and only available from Diamond. SRP $32.95
BIG BANG COMICS
Big Bang Comics Presents: TeenREX #5
Features the adventures of TeenRex, a teenager who lives in a land that time forgot (gee, don't that sound familiar?) and, using technology from outer space, transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex when trouble threatens. Don't know about you, but this sounds kind of wacko, don't ya think? SRP $3.95
DARK HORSE
Aliens Vs. Predator Omnibus Volume 1
Reprints Aliens Vs. Predator and Aliens Vs. Predator: War. Apparently we are in the era of the omnibus, although this Dark Horse volume is around half of those found at Marvel. The first series was arguably one of the finest Alien/Predator stories that ever came out of Dark Horse and the second, while not nearly as well constructed, still has enough high points to make it worth a squint. Both show that the characters had a lot of potential that was lost, or mangled, in the later film versions. This is a volume deserves a place on your bookshelf, especially considering the bargain SRP of $24.95.
Little Lulu Vol. 15: The Explorers
Reprints Marge's Little Lulu #64-68 by John Stanley and Irving Tripp. Lulu cannot be discounted in the history of comics and this is a great series for both you and any little ones you may have scampering around your bookshelf. SRP $9.95
DC
The Spirit Archives Vol. 21
Reprints the Spirit sections from 7/2-12/31/50 by Will Eisner and his team of assistants. Slowly approaching the end of the series, Eisner and company were still able to create good, solid stories on a weekly basis. I've said it before, I'll say it again Eisner's work is blah blah blah and blah blah blah...well you've read all I can say before. Get the Best of volume and then jump into the Archives! Definitely belongs up on your bookshelf. SRP $49.99
Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1
Reprints Adventure Comics #247, 267, 282, 290, 293, and 300-328, Action Comics #267, 276, 287 and 289, Superboy #86, 89, 98 and 117, Superman 147, Superman Annual #4, and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #72 and 76 with story by Jerry Siegel, Otto Binder, Edmond Hamilton (among others) and art by Curt Swan John Forte, George Papp (and a whole bunch of other folk, as well). Here is a huge dose of The Legion presented in chronological order and quite a collection it is. It features the Legion stories from Adventure Comics, but also goes off into the stories that one might have missed, like those in Jimmy Olsen or Action. Oddest item of the bunch is the 2-pager from Superman Annual #4: it was the only new item in that particular 80-pager! These are all fun stories, even though some of them are dead serious in intent. The Legion of Super-Heroes was the ultimate kid gang book, since they were teens who were treated like adults by those around them. No keepers or guardians. No infighting or squabbling, over who is in charge. Just the freedom to hang out at the clubhouse and fight evil. Those were the days! Since these stories are some of my favorites, you really need to give this one a squint and then add it to your sagging bookshelf, especially if you like time travel and science-fictional stories. SRP $16.99
Showcase Presents: Superman Vol. 3
I really wish DC could get its act together. Here is a new volume in a series that has, at least from what I've heard, been selling extremely well for them. So, what do they do? Solicit this volume with no indication of what it will contain and some of the sparest credits I've ever seen. Here is part of the listing taken verbatim from the DC website:
Written by Jerry Siegel and others
Art by Curt Swan and others
and then it goes on to describe some stories that could be from most any period of the Silver Age Superman! Now, I'm going to order this one and will also recommend it to you as well (since the previous two volumes have been so enjoyable), but I sure wish I knew what was in it! SRP $16.99
Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told
If the previous listing weren't bad enough, here is an even higher priced book with even less information. While I find the words "Wonder Woman" and "Greatest" in a title to be an oxymoron, I still think that DC needs to give us more information beyond "Written by Charles Moulton and various" and "Art by H.G. Peter and various" (well, duh, they created the character). After all, this book could be anything and, with an SRP of $19.99, do you really want to put your money up blindly??
FANTAGRAPHICS
The Complete Peanuts Vol. 7 1963-1964
Reprints another year or so of Charles Schultz's examination of life through children. Over 150 of the strips in this volume have never bee reprinted before, making this a better than normal volume. Introduction by Bill Melendez, the animator of the TV specials. SRP $28.95
GEMSTONE
Uncle Scrooge #365
Reprints a wonderful Don Rosa story, "Treasure Under Glass", in which Scrooge constructs a giant diving bell to salvage a sunken treasure. Really great story and worth picking up, since it has some wonderful Rosa action scenes, even at the outrageous SRP of $7.50.
EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories Vol. 2
Reprints issues #7-12 by the usual gang of artists and includes the wonderful tale (featured on the cover) of a guy who is handcuffed to a corpse and has to drag the corpse through the desert. Ah, if they wrote stories like this nowadays, I might consider buying more new comics! SRP $49.95
IDW
The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Vol. 2
Reprints the Dailies and Sundays from May 1933 through January 1935. With this volume, IDW begins to reprint material that has only been reprinted before, in an edited format, in the Dell Feature Books series. Great stuff and one of my two all-time favorite strips (the other being Terry and the Pirates). Gould's version of Tracy is like watching some of the old Warner Brothers gangster pictures. There are odd criminals, lots of gunfire and the cops are as tough as the villains. Justice is swift and usually ends in a gruesome death for those who break the law. Reproduction on the first volume was great and this one should be no exception! SRP $29.99
Marvel
Marvel Illustrated: Jungle Book
Reprints the adaption of The Jungle Book that appeared many years ago in Marvel Fanfare #8-11 by Gil Kane and P. Craig Russell. Russell's work has always been detailed, but more posed and illustrative. Kane's work, on the other hand, tends to lack some detail, but is very action oriented. Together, the two artists blend well together and you get the best of both worlds: action and detailed illustration. Apparently, this is the first of a new series of Marvel adaptions of classic books. I often wonder why someone doesn't just reprint the original Classics Illustrated as a series of trade paperbacks. Print them in order with the original covers and the painted re-issues...put them out at a decent price...Since Classics Illustrated is still collected today, it would seem like something the market of today could support. In any event, this one is worth a squint, and a bargain at an SRP $2.99 for 64 pages!
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1
Reprints Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-38, Annual #1-2, Strange Tales Annual #2 and Fantastic Four Annual #1 by Lee, Kirby and Ditko. In a more civilized society, we would call this one what it is: The Complete Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko (with an assist by Jack Kirby), because this is exactly what this one is. The book reprints ALL of Ditko's work on Spidey and is definitely something you need to add to your sagging bookshelf. I've been looking at these Omnibus editions and, although they are pricey, they are worth it, since they reprint the full comics and are also larger than the regular comic book. Ditko had a tremendous input on the early Spider-Man and he was able to get the character of the teen-age Peter Parker correct, unlike the later incarnations.These stories are great and if a better case for Stan's not writing everything in the early days of Marvel was needed, these stories say it all. SRP $99.99 and worth every penny!!
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4
Reprints Tales of Suspense #84-99, Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1 and Iron Man #1 by Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan and a host of inkers. Of all the early Marvel comics, I consider Iron Man to be the closest to a soap opera in content. Tony Stark can't be with the woman he loves because of his injured heart. Pepper, the girl in question, loves Stark from afar, but hates his alter ego of Iron Man. Happy Hogan gets caught in the middle of it all and, amid all this trauma, is some great super-hero action. This volume reprints the last portion of the Tales of Suspense run, where the soap opera elements were running their course and, with the arrival of Archie Goodwin with Iron Man #1, we get more super-heroing and less soaping. One of the high points is Colan's art, which is an acquired taste, but once you figure out what he is doing, you will find some excellent material. Personally, I would recommend the less expensive Essential volumes over this, but these are good, though not great, stories. SRP $54.99
Alpha Flight Classic Vol. 1
Reprints Alpha Flight #1-8 by John Byrne, John Byrne and assorted inkers. During the heyday of the X-Men, Byrne came up with Alpha Flight as a Canadian super-hero group that had ties to Wolverine. Eventually, they spun off into their own book, where they had their own, non-X, continuity and also had the junior group, Beta Flight. What kind of gripes me is that for some unknown reason, Byrne reprint books are always more expensive than reprint books of similar size. I mean, we get eight issues here and it has an SRP of $24.99?? Much as I like the stories, I would hold out for an Essentials volume.
SANCTUM PRODUCTIONS
Doc Savage Double Novel Vol. 6
Reprints "The Polar Treasure", which features Doc and his crew at the arctic icecap and Pirate of the Pacific, in which Doc is attacked while aboard his submarine. Cover by Walter Baumhofer and interior illustrations by Paul Orban and commentary by Will Murray. SRP $12.95
The Shadow Double Novel Vol. 7
The Shadow battles the Cobra in a tale that has no name in the solicitation and then meets two Shadow copies in "The Third Shadow". Illustrations by Tom Lovell, covers by George Rozen, article by Will Murray and an introduction by Dick Ayers. SRP $12.95
NOTE: Mike is stocking both these titles on a regular basis, so ask about them when you stop in the store!
TWOMORROWS
Comics Gone Ape!
An overview of primates in comics with rare and classic artwork, cover galleries, 11 interviews with ape artists and writers and an Art Adams Avengers as Gorillas cover. I sometimes look at a book and ask myself why and then remember that this is comics, after all. Apes, or apes as an alter ego for a character was a trend that started, I think, after the Golden Age. Where it really kicked into high gear, however, was when DC put a gorilla on the cover of a comic and noticed that sales jumped on that issue. Another was tried and the same thing happened. This led to DC's ludicrous run of gorilla covers that featured the even more ludicrous gorilla stories that were contained inside. Tell 'em Congorilla sent you! SRP $16.95
Alter Ego #67
Focus on Bob Oskner and his work in comics, along with material on Shelly Mayer, Irwin Hasen, Lee Elias and a host of others. Also another installment of Fawcett Collectors of America. SRP $6.95
Jack Kirby Collector #48
Articles on Kirby's knack for creating high-tech gizmos, gadgets and concepts, along with a complete 1950s story, interviews, Mark Evanier's column and a cover inked by Terry Austin. SRP $9.95
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