01/05/10 - Releases for January
AC COMICS
Men of Mystery #81
Aside from the increased page acount and price, AC's flagship reprint title has (I guess) gone to bi-monthly publication, as well. This issue will focus on the Ace Comics line and include a complete reprinting of Four Favorites #3, along with other Ace Comics heroes and additional reprint material from assorted publishers. SRP $29.95
BOOM STUDIOS
The usual Disney titles are due this month, including the "Donald as secret agent" series in Donald Duck and The "Wizards of Mickey" storyline has gotten its own title (but exactly what has happened to the Mickey Mouse title, is not known). The one book listed for this month (or, let's just say, "some month"), is Donald Duck Classics Vol. 1: Quack Up, which is a hardcover with an SRP of $24.99 and no information as to what it will contain, outside of mentions of Carl Barks. I'll leave it to you.
Do take note that this is the last month I'm going to waste time trying to figure out what, and when, Boom! is going to release anything. They have a real good thing going now that they have the Disney reprint license, and they've done nothing constructive with it, since they won't tell me either contents, or release dates, for the hardcover books like the title listed above. Life's too short to play around with this type of twaddle and, if they ever clean up their act, they'll be welcome back to this page.
DARK HORSE
January is sort of a light month overall, and Dark Horse, at least for our purposes, has nothing of interest for this month.
DC
Superboy: The Geatest Team-Ups Ever Told
A trade paperback that will reprint stories from Adventure Comics #216, 253, 271, 280, Superboy #55, 63, 80, 171, 182 and New Adventures of Superboy #13 by Finger, Binder, Siegel, Swan Planstino, Forte and others. This one is most interesting, as DC is reprinting some vintage Superboy material...something they have avoided since the copyright suit was filed by the Siegel heirs. These earlier stories are just plain good fun, as Superboy existed in a nearly separate continuity back in the old days. Smallville was a small corner of the world and unlike the current incarnations where the young Clark Kent seemingly has ties to most everyone from his future life, the Golden/Silver Age Superboy only knew that someday he would grow up to be a Superman. The appearance of the Legion was a bit of an eye-opener for the youngster since his early adventures were mainly concerned with righting wrongs around the town, keeping that pesky Lana Lang from finding out his secret identity and helping Ma and Pa out at their grocery store (yes, Superboy's foster parents were not farmers in the early days). In any event, you get Superboy teamed with Superman, Robin, the origin of the Silver Age Lex Luthor and many tales from the simpler time before multiple earths and when time travel was fun. Worth a squint. SRP $19.99
HERMES PRESS
Land of the Giants: The Complete Series
This is a hardcover that is set to reprint all 5 issues of this Gold Key adaption of the Irwin Allen series (and, one hopes, the nifty photo covers as well). Art is by Tom Gill with no information about who wrote the stories and the volume is set to also include essays about the show, unpublished photos and other background material. Might be worth a squint. SRP $39.99
IDW
King Aroo Vol. 1
IDW continues to explore the market for newspaper strips, this time around focusing on the Jack Kent series King Aroo. The volume will reprint the full dailies and Sundays (in color?) from the beginnings in 1950 through 1952. Wish I could tell you more, but I have no memories of the strip and don't even think I've ever seen it reprinted before. Give it a squint and let me know... SRP $39.99
Krazy & Ignatz in Tiger Tea
Reprints the only continued adventure of George Herriman's tenure on Krazy Kat, which focuses on Krazy imbibing a psychedelia-inducing substance. As with other things dealing with Krazy Kat, I have no opinion, since the characters in the strip just don't interest me, but you may want to give this volume a squint, simply to enjoy the more surreal aspects of Herriman's work (which I'm sure will be on display here). SRP $12.99
MANUSCRIPT PRESS
Comics Revue Presents February 2010
120 pages of your favorite newspaper strips, including the Phantom, Falsh Gordon, Little Orphan Annie, Steve Canyon and eight pages of full-color stirps, all under a color Tarzan cover. Worth a squint. SRP $16.00
MARVEL
Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 4
Reprints Doctor Strange #180-183, Sub-Mariner #22, Incredible Hulk #126, Marvel Feature #1 and Marvel Premiere #3-8 by Thomas, Lee, Fox, Colan, Windsor-Smith and a whole bunch of others. This is quite a mixed bag of comics. It starts with the beautifully drawn (Colan and Palmer), but poorly written (Thomas) issues that appeared at the end of the good Doctor's first series. In a mis-guided attemtpt to improve sales on a dying title, the decision was made to present Doc as a costumed character and he donned a mask to create an aura of mystery about himself...it didn't help much. From there we have some guest appearances (and, oddly, some of the other guest appearances are not being reprinted here) and then finally arrive at the back-up story from Marvel Feature that re-defined the character for a new audience. All in all, this is an iffy volume. There is some great art by Colan and Palmer, Windsor-Smith, Russell and Brunner, but the stories are pretty much lacking-especially the last stories from the Doctor Strange title. Of interest is that the Fox mentioned in the credits is Gardner Fox, who, one could assume, was brought in by Roy Thomas to give a stab at working at Marvel (he did not warm to the Marvel method of comics). Ergo, I've got to recommend this on for the completeist only and recommend to the rest of you that you hunt around for these stories in a cheaper format. SRP $54.99
Marvel is reprinting, in hardcover, a story that has already had two paperback reprintings, but is still worth checking into. X-Men: Asgardian Wars is done by Chris Claremont, Paul Smith and Arthur Adams and gathers together a storyline that originally appeared in Alpha Flight #1-2, New Mutants Special Edition and X-Men Annual #9 and it is quite an impressive storyline. Loki, everyone's favorite villain from Thor, is up to some nastiness and it takes that combined power of the X-Men, New Mutants and Alpha Flight to stop him. Toss in some great art by Paul Smith and Art Adams and you have a book that is worth a good, long squint and possible inclusion on your sagging bookshelf, even with the rather painful SRP of $34.99.
Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Jungle Adventures Vol. 1
Reprints Lorna, The Jungle Queen #1-5 and Lorna, The Jungle Girl #6-9 by Don Rico, Werner Roth and a bunch of others. Back in the olden days, comic companies had a full line of characters, not just super-heroes. All the companies had a war book or two, humor, westerns and jungle adventures. Here we have a rather forgettable series from the 50s that is being given the Masterworks treatment. I've only read some scattered reprints of the Lorna series and they don't have the charm of other jungle characters, nor the good girl art that added some tittilation to other titles. I've also not been able to discover why Lorna was demoted from Jungle Quenn to Jungle Girl and would welcome any info as to the why of the title change. Anyway, this one, again, is for the completist and not the casual reader. SRP $54.909
Timely 70th Anniversary Collection
Here are all 11 anniversary specials (All Select Comics #1, All Winners Comics #1, USA Comics #1 Marvel Mystery Comics #1, Captain America Comics #1, Mystic Comics #1, Young Allies Comics #1, Miss America Comics #1, Sub-Mariner Comics #1, Human Torch Comics #1 and Daring Mystery Comics #1 that came out over a good portion of 2009 by a bunch of creators and, like so many reprints from many sources, it's a mixed bag. Some of the stories are good, some bad, some just "eh" and it is not clear whether the reprint material that appeared in the original comics will be included here...but I sort of doubt it. I found many of the issues to be forced and just sort of dark and gloomy, so I'll leave it to you whether to give this one a squint or not. SRP $39.99
Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Vol. 3
Reprints Fantastic Four #21-30 by Lee, Kirb, George Russos and Chic Stone. Here's another great collection of early Kirby/Lee comics at the bargain trade paperback price. The FF meet the Hate Monger, the Watcher, Diablo and others with a whomping-good Thing/Hulk battle that spreads over two issues. These are great stories and, if you don't have them in another format, you should get them up on your sagging bookshelf posthaste! SRP $24.99
Essential Avengers Vol. 7
Reprints Avengers #141-163, Annual #6 and Super-Villain Team-Up #9 by a whole ton of folks. Here's a large batch of The Avengers from one of the more fertile periods. There is a great sequence with Kang (a sort of follow-up to the stories in the previous volume) the Squadron Supreme (an evil incarnation of DC's JLA) and other odds and ends. The art in this period is a bit uneven, although Perez and Sal Buscema both do some excellent work. The end of Englehart's run on the title is here, Gerry Conway turns in a passable sequence and then we have some excellent writing on the part of Jim Shooter who, when working under a strong editor, could write circles around most anybody. All in all, a volume worth giving a good squint and possible inclusion on the sagging bookshelf. SRP $19.99
PURE IMAGINATION
Alex Toth in Hollywood Vol. 2
This one is set to reprint at a number of Toth illustrated stories that were adaptions of TV and movies. Titles mentioned are Sea Hunt, Roy Rogers, Sugarfoot and others. As with all things Toth, these should be worth a squint. SRP $25.00
TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING
Alter Ego #91
A "Fantastic Fawcett Festival" with a huge FCA section that will focus on Marc Swayze and Emilio Squeglio. Also more odds and ends, including more on the Mad imitations of the 50s. SRP $6.95
Back Issue #38
A focus on John Byrne's run on Fantastic Four, a look at Power Pack, the Huntress and lots of art.SRP $6.95
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