February 2008
NOTE
The Mark Evanier hardcover Kirby: King of the Comics was delayed until February for whatever reason, so look for it in stores now.
AC COMICS
No comics listed for this month...we may be observing the beginning of the end.
DARK HORSE
The Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 2
With the first volume of this series not yet on the stands, Dark Horse is already soliciting for this second volume and it features....well, I've got no idea. The solicitation in Previews gives me no information and, seems to be a partially edited duplicate of the blurb for the first volume. The website ain't no help either. Let's face it, if the first volume featured the material from Savage Tales and then Savage Sword, there is no way that the artists listed in the solicitation could be in the second volume, since most of them had moved on and Conan was left in the hands of John Buscema layouts and Philipino inks, with mixed results. Proceed with caution here and take a close look before you buy. SRP $17.95
Indiana Jones Omnibus
On the flip side, we have this volume which is well described and tells me exactly what to expect. Back around the time of the first Indiana Jones film, Marvel jumped in with a tie-in series that featured new comic stories. Byrne started off the run, but soon bailed because he found that Lucas Films was way too restrictive in what they would let him do with the character. Later issues were hit and miss and the series was soon cancelled. Dark Horse picked up the Indy comic franchise back in the 80s and started doing a series of Indiana Jones stories. I believe this book reprints their total output: "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis", "Thunder in the Orient" and "Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold" with art and story by William Messner-Loebs, Dan Barry, Leo Duranona, Karl Kessel and others. This one is especially worth having for the "Fate of Atlantis" story, which, if memory serves me right, is all by Dan Barry and was done shortly after he left the Flash Gordon newspaper strip. Worth a squint. SRP $24.95
DC
Doom Patrol Archives Vol. 4
Reprints The Doom Patrol #106-113 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. More stories featuring the themes and alienation that make the title the X-Men of DC (and if you need more proof, their leader is in a wheelchair!). The stories of The Doom Patrol were uniformly excellent with a sense of adventure that made the super-heroics secondary to the actual story (what a concept!). Highly recommended, just with they would do an Showcase Presents, so that more readers could have access to these stories. SRP $49.99
Superman Chronicles Vol. 4
Reprints the Superman stories from Action Comics #26-31 and Superman #6-7 in chronological order. Written by Jerry Siegel with art by Joe Shuster, Jack Burnley, Wayne Boring and others. You really need to give these stories a try, especially at the bargain price of $14.99. No grim, no gritty, no paranoia, or craziness: just good solid storytelling about a guy who is the most powerful being on Earth. What can I say? the early Superman stories are unbeatable...period. SRP $14.99
Showcase Presents: Superman Family Vol. 2
Reprints Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #23-34, Showcase #10 and Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #1-7 with art and story by Otto Binder, Jerry Coleman, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger and others! Ah, for the simpler times, when Jimmy Olsen appeared in the wackiest book in the DC Universe and Lois Lane's greatest aspiration was to marry Superman. Heck, these stories are just plain fun, especially when compared to the comics of today. Lois wants to marry Superman and embarks on outlandish schemes to make her dream a reality. Superman must protect his secret identity, since Lois wants to know that too. Jimmy...well, the Jimmy Olsen stories are in their own little corner of reality and, suffice to say, are as outlandish as the Lois Lane stories are, in some ways, pitiful. This should be a great collection if you remember those days gone by and also features some great art by Swan and Schaffenberger; both of whom were on creative peaks during these years. Definitely belongs on your sagging bookshelf. SRP $16.99
FANTAGRAPHICS
Nothing of interest this month.
GEMSTONE PUBLISHING
Nothing notable on the Disney front this month. Also scheduled to appear is EC Archives: Weird Science Vol. 3 which will reprint Weird Science #31-18 in their entirety by the usual writers and artists. The EC science fiction comics were beautifully done and are still very readable today. Oddly enough, Weird Science was one of the lowest selling EC titles back when it was originally published in the 50s. Readers of the time just couldn't get into the stories and wanted the more grisly offerings of the EC horror books. Gaines loved science fiction and kept publishing the books due to his love of the genre. SRP $49.95
IDW
IDW is slowly becoming the newspaper strip fan's best friend and in February, will begin The Complete Little Orphan Annie Vol. 1, which will start with the first strip from August of 1924 and continue through October of 1927: material that hasn't seen the light of day in a long time. The Annie strip is not the sacharain sweet storyline that was in the movie or musical, but is the story of a tough little girl who comes to be adopted by a wealthy industrialist. Along the way, creator Harold Grey turned the strip into a world spanning adventure and also gave healthy doses of his conservative politics. Similar format as IDW's Terry and the Pirates series. Lots of good stuff here and please, no "where are the eyeballs" jokes. SRP $39.95
IMAGE
The Nearly Complete Essential Hembeck Archives Omnibus
One of the funniest people to ever take a look at comics, this huge, 900 page volume will reprint practically everything Hembeck has ever done, including his 7 magazine collections, and every Dateline:@#$% strip. A massive collection that will serve to amuse, astound, or will be great for smashing small animals, this is one that definitely belongs up on your sagging bookshelf! SRP $24.99
MARVEL
Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure
We mentioned this one to you many months ago and here it finally is! The book will print the contents of what would have been Fantastic Four #103 (had Stan not vetoed the issue), with pencils by Kirby, new inks by Sinnott and new scripting by Stan Lee. Also included will be Kirby's uninked pencil pages with their border notes, an analysis by John Morrow and a complete reprint of Fantastic Four #108 by Lee and John Buscema, which used parts of #103 as a flashback sequence. Since I am of the belief that there was more Kirby than Lee in the Fantastic Four, I've long wondered about this "lost" issue and why Lee decided to pull Kirby's last FF job. Was it a change in direction that Lee found unacceptable? Was the issue a veiled allegory that Lee happened to catch? Or, was the rumor true that Lee was worried about sales and wanted to keep a Kirby story in reserve to use later on? Guess we'll all find out together! Well worth a squint and, what the heck, a part of history! SRP $4.99
The Incredible Hulk Omnibus Vol. 1
Reprints Incredible Hulk #1-6, Tales to Astonish #59-101 and Incredible Hulk #102 by Kirby, Lee, Ditko and about anybody else who was anybody back in the early days of Marvel! What you get here is a chronological reprinting of the Incredible Hulk, from the first series, through the second series and into the first issue of his own title. Great work by Kirby on the first 6 issues and later high points feature Ditko, Everett and Bob Powell. As originally conceived by Kirby, the Hulk was a twist on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: the Hulk being the raging Id that we all have within us and keep in check. The first series ran for a mere 6 issues and was, reportedly, cancelled before all the sales figures were in as marvel struggled to get a toe hold into the comic market in the early 60s. It was also discovered that grey was not the best color for the character and he became green when he became the other half of Tales to Astonish and stayed that way up into the 80s. The Tales to Astonish stories have a wonderful assortment of artists and are well worth perusing just for their art alone. When Tales to Astonish changed its name to The Incredible Hulk, it kept the same numbering but, unfortunately, the Hulk had become a mere shadow of his former self and most of the stories focused on the "Hulk smash!" type of story that tended to ignore the dichotomy that had made the character interesting in the early days. I've been a fan of (most of) the Omnibus volumes for awhile now (especially since I was able to dispense with weight lifting and just do 10 reps with an Omnibus each day) and find the reproduction excellent and the larger page size a help to my (*ahem*) aging eyeballs. Definitely worth adding to your sagging bookshelf! SRP $99.99
Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man Vol. 2
Reprints Tales to Astonish #53-69 by Lee, Leiber, Ayers, Heck, Ditko and others. The "other" half of Tales to Astonish featured the enjoyable adventures of Hank Pym in his guise of first Ant-Man and later Giant-Man. Ayers did a credible job on these stories and it is also interesting to see the later work of Carl Burgos, who was the original creator of the Human Torch way back when. The Bob Powell stories are also of interest as he is another vastly underrated artist. These are fun stories and worth reading, although an Essentials volume collects them all for a much cheaper price, albeit in black and white. Kind of leave this one to you, but it is worth, at the least, a squint. SRP $54.99
Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes Vol. 2
Reprints Men's Adventures #27-28, Captain America #76-78, Human Torch #36-38 and Marvel Super-Heroes #18 by Lee, Romita, Ayers, Everett and others. Delving back into the vaults once again, Marvel is giving us some more of their brief super-hero revival of the mid-50s. Some interesting items here, including early John Romita on Captain America, Burgos covers on Men's Adventures and Human Torch and a brief appearances by the Sub-Mariner with drop-dead gorgeous art by Bill Everett. The oddity of the volume is a Human Torch story done in the 50s, but never printed until the late 60s (hence the inclusion of Marvel Super-Heroes #18 in the contents). The solicitation also promises that the next volume will feature more Everett Sub-Mariner! I'm currently reading the first volume and the stories here are well worth reading. Although the art gets downright cartoony by the end of the first volume, these are short stories with a beginning, middle and end and also have a terrific 50s flavor to them: meaning that Communists, spies and other nasty types get to run amok. Worth a squint and adding to your sagging bookshelf. SRP $54.99
Marvel Fanfare Vol. 1
Reprints Marvel Fanfare #1-7 by a whole bunch of writers and even more pencillers and inkers. Back in the hey-day of the direct market, Marvel produced an anthology series that featured various one-shot stories by (mostly) name creators that was printed on heavy Baxter paper. This series, Marvel Fanfare, was extremely well done, which was due in no small part to the series editor Al Milgrom. Here we have the first 7 issues of this bright spot from Marvel's past and, since Marvel Fanfare ran a lead story with a shorter backup, you get around 14 stories-all of which are a treat for the eye. I've long considered Fanfare to be to be a sadly forgotten gem and now you have a chance to see what you've missed. The first four issues feature an X-Men/Spider-Man tale written by Claremont and drawn by Michael Golden...and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Definitely one that belongs up on that sagging bookshelf! SRP $24.99
PURE IMAGINATION PUBLISHING
Due to an error in Previews there are two volumes of Kirby material available this month. Both The Complete Jack Kirby Vol. 4 and 5 reprint stories from the fall of 1947, with volume 5 featuring the debut of Young Romance, which was the first romance comic to hit the market many years ago. Lots of good stuff here and if only Theakston would actually publish these books, they should be up on your sagging bookshelf. SRP $25.00 each
SANCTUM PRODUCTIONS
Doc Savage Double Novel Vol. 14
The origin of Doc Savage is recounted in the very first Doc Savage story, "Man of Bronze," then Doc and his companions travel to a prehistoric island and fight some dinosaurs in "The Land of Terror." Extras include the art of Walter Baumhofer and Paul Orban, commentary by Will Murray and a never before published autobiographical essay by Lester Dent!. SRP $12.95
TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING
Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine
This book collects all 11 issues of Alter Ego with introduction and notes by Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly. Considered the first comic fanzine, Alter Ego was published by Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas (yes, that Roy Thomas). It featured interviews, original art and even original stories. At times, the material seems a bit "fannish", but the content here is a snapshot of an era and the interviews are especially insightful. Worth a squint. SRP $21.95
Kirby Five-Oh!: Celebrating 50 Years of the "King" of Comics
Not real sure about this one, but it is advertised as an overview of Kirby's 50 year career with sections on his 50 best covers, 50 best characters and a 50 page gallery of Kirby pencil art, along with a color section of photos and finished art. Worth a squint. SRP $19.95
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