February 2006
AC
Golden Age Science Fiction Treasury Vol. 1
A 216 page trade paperback, featuring Wood, Williamson, Evans, Kirby , Crandall, Ditko, Orlando on stories from Fiction House, Avon, Ziff-Davis and others. Ac has long been the featured company among collectors of old comic material, as owner and editor Bill Black has a good eye for good comics and the reproduction on the AC books is always top notch. As of late, AC has started to offer trade paperbacks of their previously published material and this book would be a good place for you to start exploring some of the great art and story that was done in the 40s and 50s, providing you don't already have many of the AC reprint titles in your collection. SRP $29.95
Golden Age Greats: Adventure Heroes Special Vol. 1
A 14 story collection featuring Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Crimebuster Ibis and Senorita Rio by Fujitani, Raboy, Maurer, Overgard and others. What I said about the previous volume applies here. Of particular interest are any of the Crimebuster stories that were published by Lev Gleason in the 40s and 50s (not sure which ones you will find here). These stories were always excellent. SRP of $29.95. Great stories and great reproduction!
DARK HORSE
Hellboy: Makoma #1 (of 2)
Mike Mignola teams with Richard Corben for this story set in Africa. Apparently, Mignola does part of the art with the rest by Corben and the preview I've seen looks really good. For those of you who haven't seen Corben's work before, this looks like a good place to discover him for the first time. SRP #2.99 ea.
Chronicles of Conan Vol. 10: When Giants Walked the Earth
Reprints Marvel's Conan the Barbarian #72-77 and 79-81 by Thomas, Buscema, Chaykin and assorted inkers (I believe these are all by Ernie Chan). I've often said that the Marvel series only had 60 issues (not including the excellent material that appeared in the early Savage Sword of Conan) that were any good and these stories don't change my mind. Buscema was doing only layouts at this time and it was really Ernie Chan's book, since the Chaykin issues look the same as the Buscema issues that precede and follow them. Better to stick with the fond memories found in the earlier issues. SRP $16.95
Magnus, Robot Fighter 4,000 A.D. Vol. 3
Gold Key had two series that seem to be more fondly remembered by fans than most and Magnus was one of them (the other was Solar, Man of Atom, for reasons I don't understand) This volume is the last in the Dark Horse Magnus reprints and covers the end of the Manning run: issues #15-21. Manning was one of the great comic book artists, who was also associated for many years with Tarzan in both the newspapers and comics. His creation, Magnus, was the equal of anything that Marvel or DC were producing at the time and deserves to be seen by a wider audience than Dark Horse will get with these "Archives" style editions. Maybe trade paperbacks should come next? Definitely a necessary addition to your already overloaded bookshelf. SRP $49.95
DC
Hope you have your wallets at ready, 'cause DC has a ton of stuff coming out this month!
Batman reaches another milestone this month, as issue #200 of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight is released this month: a larger than normal issue written by Eddie Campbell & Daren White with art by Bart Sears. Its kind of interesting to recall that when LOTDK first came out, there was a large amount of controversy over the release of the book on the grounds that the comic market couldn't possibly support a third Batman title (yeah, and look at what we have today!). And there was also something different about the first issue...it had multiple covers...sort of. DC didn't want to invest in multiple covers, so each issue of LOTDK #1 had a paper cover over the regular comic cover. I think there were 4 total and each just gave the title of the book with the logo and issue number and each was a different color. Didn't do much for sales and I would be interested in how many copies are still floating around with the paper covers attached. SRP $4.99
Superman: The Daily Planet
Reprints Action Comics #211, 429, 436, 461; Superman (1st Series) #280; Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #17, 24, 45 and 56; Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #42, 63, 75, and 124 by lots of people. Here's a collection covering the 60s to the 90s featuring stories that revolve around the Daily Planet and Clark at the office (anybody out there remember Galaxy Broadcasting?). Could be fun, especially because it includes some stories from Jimmy Olsen (which I've always considered the wackiest comic ever made. Worth a squint. SRP $19.99
Superman: Man of Tomorrow Archives Vol. 2
Reprints Action Comics #248-254 and Superman #127-131 all from 1959 by Binder, Finger Boring, Swan and other folks. If you have the Showcase Presents: Superman volume, you have all these stories, but if you want them in color, here they are. The Weisinger era in full gear with lots of fun stuff, including Metallo, Lori Lemaris and Bizarro. SRP $49.99
All Star Archives Vol. 0
Reprints All Star Ccomics #1 and 2 by Fox, Siegel, Finger, Moldoff, Nodell, Bailey and lots of others. Before All Star featured the team-ups of The Justice Society, it had individual stories of the JSA founding memebers (except for Superman and Batman) and most were written and drawn by the usual writers and artists (hence the title, All Star). DC is adding this special "0" volume for those who want have bought the other All Star Archives, so they can have a complete series of All Star in hardback. Personally, I find the volume a bit overpriced and wish they had combined this material with something else: along the lines of the DC Rarities volume. A bit over priced, but I've read there stories and they are just plain ole Golden Age fun! SRP $39.99
Doom Patrol Archives Vol. 3
Reprints Doom Patrol #98-105 and Challengers of the Unknown #68 by Drake, Premiani and Brown. The Doom Patrol was DC's sideways version of the X-Men and with this volume, Beast Boy was added to the mix in order to, hopefully, draw in the younger readers. These stories come from a time when adventure, and story, were more important than super-heroics and are enjoyable, although they aren't what I would call A list. Worth a squint SRP $49.99
Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Vol. 1
Reprints House of Mystery #174-196 by a whole bunch of people. House of Mystery began in the 1951 as a low key horror book and became even more boring once the Comics Code Authority was established. It became an SF book in the 60s, where, among other characters, J'onn J'onz and Robby Reed hung their hats. In the 70s, however, Joe Orlando took over as editor of the book and turned it into an artist's showcase and it is from the first Orlando issue that this volume begins. There's tons of great stuff here, work by Adams, Toth, Kane and, most importantly, the first pro work of Berni Wrightson. You also get to enjoy the interplay between the horror hosts Cane and Abel, who were throwbacks to the EC days, which is where Orlando gained his greatest fame. A good volume to have on the shelf, just because it would be hard to find all this material anywhere else. SRP $16.99
The Will Eisner Companion
A soft cover version of the book by N.C. Christopher Couch and Stephen Weiner that takes a critical look at Eisner's Spirit work and his later graphic novels. Eisner cannot be overlooked for his influence on comic art, since he did have a career that began in nearly pre-Golden Age times and was only ended by his death this last year. SRP $12.99
Paul Levitz will return to the JSA beginning with issue #82 for a short story arc. Long time readers will remember the great stuff he did on the title with Joe Staton and Bob Layton back in the 70s. To kick things off, this first issue also features art by George Perez. Rumor also has it that there is a trade paperback collection of the Levitz/Staton/Layton JSA stories in the works!
CHECKER PUBLISHING GROUP
Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon: 1950
Reprints the strips from 1/29/50-10/07/50 of Milton Caniff's newspaper strip. Caniff gained his noteriety on the newspaper strip Terry and the Pirates and left Terry when he got the chance to do Steve Canyon: a strip he owned outright. Although not quite up to the quality of Terry, the Canyon strips have a charm all their own. Reproduction is good and Checker mentions that this is the 4th volume of Steve Canyon they have produced (just in case you were wondering). SRP $17.95
EUREKA PRODUCTIONS
Graphic classics Vol. 13: Rafael Sabatini
Sabatini was an extremely popular author in the early 1920s and 30s, who wrote a number of swashbucklers, including Captain Blood, Scaramouche and The Sea Hawk, and many of his works were made into films, including those mentioned here. This volume adapts 7 of Sabatini's short stories to comics, including the origin of Captain Blood and an illustrated biography of Sabatini. Worth a squint. SRP $11.95
MARVEL
Fury: Peacemaker #1 (of6)
Written by Garth Ennis with pencils by Darick Robertson and inks by Jimmy Palmiotti. Here is a new retro-continuity series that focuses on Sgt. Fury before he ran the Howling Commandos. Might be worth a squint, although the description makes things sound more like Sgt. Rock (see the next entry). SRP $3.50 ea.
Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury Vol. 1
Reprints Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1-13 by Lee, Kirby and Ayers. WAHOO! This is probably the collection I've wanted Marvel to do the most as a part of their reprint program. What is often overlooked is that the early Sgt. Fury stories were, along with Marvel's super-hero titles, were simply twists on the conventions of the time. Spider-Man had problems, the FF had no secret identities, the Avengers argued with one another and in the case of Sgt. Fury, war was not necessarily fun, but it was possible to defeat the Nazis using only good humor and a machine gun. In other words, Sgt. Fury was nearly a parody of the serious war books that DC was doing at the same time. While Sgt. Rock slogged through the mud and questioned the "why" of war, Fury and company were a pack of regular joes, who leapt about the fields of battle with a wisecrack and a smile; acting like super heroes without the powers.
While these stories are pure fantasy, they are very enjoyable, along the lines of the Simon & Kirby Boy Commandos series from the 40s and are another good addition to your bookshelf.SRP$49.99
Marvel Romance
Reprints Love Romance #89 and 101-104; My Love #2, 14, 16 and 18-20; Teen-Age Romance #77 and 84; Our Love Story #5; and Patsy Walker #119 by a bunch of people including Lee, Kirby, Giordano and Brodsky. Simon & Kirby invented the romance comic back in the 1947 and soon every company had a number of titles devoted to the trials of the lovelorn. Marvel was no exception to these trends and the stories in this volume are from the 60s and 70s. Probably worth a squint, although more for the art than the story, since the romance comics of the Silver Age were far from the more "adult" (meaning stories about real people) fare they offered when they started. The price is right. SRP $19.99
Essential Moon Knight Vol. 1
Reprints (yeesh!) Werewolf by Night #32-33, Marvel Spotlight #28-29, Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23, Marvel Two-In-One #52, Hulk Magazine #11-15, 17-18 & 20, Marvel Preview #21, Moon Knight #1-12 and Marvel Team-Up Annual #4, by a whole slew of people including Doug Moench, Brank Miller, Mike Zeck and Bill Sienkiewicz. Well, here's an interesting item. When Moon Knight first appeared, he was a throw-away character in Werewolf by Night. From there, he slowly changed until, with the stories in Hulk Magazine, the character took off as Marvel's answer to Batman, something that became even more evident when Moench and Sienkiewicz were doing the self-titled book and Sienkewicz was did his best Adams imitation. These stories, as were the stories in Hulk Magazine, are really excellent and worth the price of admission. One can only hope that the Hulk material is going to reprinted from the original art, since it was very heavily colored in its printed form. Nice to have all the early appearances in chronological order, but be warned that the earlier stories are not the best. SRP $16.99
Essential Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2
Reprints Spectacular Spider-Man #32-53, Annuals #1-2 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 by lots of writers and even more artists. Once Peter Parker got beyond the early issues, it became less a Grade B version of Spider-Man and started to take on a life of its own, but I never really warmed to the series. These stories are okay if you need a Spider-Man fix, but you would still be better off with the Essential Amazing Spider-Man volumes. For the completist only. SRP $16.99
MOONSTONE
Kolchak: The Night Stalker-Terror From Within
A tradepaperback which collect the 3 Moonstone Kolchak graphic novel into one handy volume. These are about the original Kolchak from the 70s...you know, Darren McGavin in the rumpled suit pre X-Files Kolchak? Haven't read any of these, so take your chances! SRP $16.95
TOWMORROWS
Modern Masters Vol. 6: Art Adams
A 128 page overview of the career of Art Adams featuring a career-spanning interview illustrated with rare and unpublished art and a large sketchbook section. SRP $14.95
Alter Ego #56
This issue features interviews with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jack Adler, commentary by Neal Adams and Howard Stern (yes, that Howard Stern) and lots of art by Curt swan, Wayne Boring and Al Plastino: a DC/Superman issue with a Neal Adams cover. SRP $6.95