March 2006
AC
Best of the West: Roundup Special #2
Another trade paperback collection of 50s comic material featuring Roy Rogers, Red Mask, the Haunted Horseman and others with art by Ayers, Bolle, Guardineer, and many more. AC has been reprinting classic western material for some time now and, what those of us who collect the regular book Best of the West know, the material may not always be "A" list, but the reproduction can't be beat. As a part of their new trade paperback line, this book does contain previously reprinted material, so, if you have been collecting the AC books sporadically, you need to check this one out before you put your money down, pardner. SRP $24.95
Men of Mystery Supersized Album Vol. 1
This trade paperback collection contains previously reprinted material from the Golden Age, including Bulletman, Nyoka, Crimebuster and others by Eisner, Meskin, Robinson and many more. Again, the reproduction here will be excellent and the line-up for this volume is top-notch. Care needs to be taken, however, that you don't already have this material. SRP $29.95
DARK HORSE
Little Lulu: Lucky Lulu
I'm always impressed by the work that John Stanley & Irving Tripp did on this strip, since they were able to take the simplest of stories and spin it into something of interest. Remember, Lulu ain't just for girls! SRP$9.95
DC
Pickings are a bit slim this month, as DC is advance soliciting many items in the March catalogues for sale in April. I've tried to separate things up as best I can, so what you're getting this month is only releases due out in March.
Batman: Dark Detective
Reprints the complete mini-series of the same name by Englehart, Rogers & Austin in one handy volume. A reunion of one of the best Batman creative teams from the 70s, but lightning did not stike twice in my opinion. Just look at the covers and then the interiors and, at least from the art, you will see what I mean. On the other hand, Silver St. Cloud makes her re-appearance, but again, one of the great adult relationships in comics can't really be rekindled once it has ended. Up to you, but you might ask Mike to point you to the reprint of the original material from Detective #469-476 called Batman: Strange Apparitions. SRP $14.99
Showcase Presents The Superman Family Vol. 1
Reprints Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1-22 and the first Lois Lane solo story from Showcase #9 by Binder, Swan, Moreria and others. Don't know why they didn't just do a whole volume of Jimmy Olsen, but that's the way it goes. Anyway, the Olsen stuff is priceless, it is improbable, it is just downright wacky, but that's why it is so enjoyable. This is a FUN volume that you should add to your overloaded bookshelf. SRP $16.99
FANTAGRAPHICS
Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1953-1954
Reprints all the single panels for the years in the title. I recall reading Dennis at a very early age and, although he lives in a world that is light years away from our world of today, the situataions and Ketcham's view of the human condition will be familiar to all. The stories in this volume have the first appearances of George and Martha Wilson, the next door neighbors to the Mitchells. Lots of fun and I really like the packaging of these fun, little hardbounds! SRP $24.95
MARVEL
The character of Captain America turns 65 this year and Marvel seems to be soft-pedaling the event. All that seems to be happening is the Captain America 65th Anniversary Special which will be a 48 page special with an SRP of $3.99. Don't have any other details, except that it is a WWII adventure that weaves the present with the past. Cap has improved greatly in the last year and this adventure just might be worth a squint.
Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man-Giant-Man Vol. 1
Reprints the Ant-Man/Giant-Man stories from Tales to Astonish #27, 35-52 by Lee, Leiber, Kirby, Heck and others. These were fun stories about one of the earliest heroes from Marvel during the Silver Age and they cover Hank Pym's adventures as the Ant-Man to just beyond his changover to Giant-Man.
For those of you who have never encountered the Ant-Man, these early stories were fun as only the early Silver Age can be and I would also venture to say the Hank Pym had one of the lamest rougue's galleries in comics, only to be eclipsed by the early Human Torch stories. Of course, the love interest between Hank and the (soon to be) Wasp is also fun, especially when read from the perspective of what has been done to the characters over the years.
All of these stories, and more, have already been reprinted in Essential Ant-Man and, if you don't have that volume, here is your chance to get these stories in color. SRP $49.99
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 2
Reprints Marvel Mystery Comics #5-8 by Burgos, Everett, Gustavson, Anders and others. As Marvel slowly moves through its Golden Age vaults, it is interesting to see what surfaces. Here we have one of Marvel's major Golden Age books and, most surprisingly, most of these stories have not seen the light of day since they originally appeared in the 40s. You will find the Sub-Mariner here, but the under-appreciated Bill Everett and this volume also features the first battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner; a story that has been reprinted often and, come to think of it, quite recently. Everett's work is not to be missed, however, and although every story will not be a winner, it is still worth seeing the history of comics unfold as each new volume of this series comes out from Marvel. Rumor also has it that Marvel has cleaned up the production problems they had on the first volume. Definitely one for the bookshelf. SRP $49.99
Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby Vol. 2
Reprints stories from Captain America Comics #1, Marvel Mystery Comics #23, Yellow Claw #4, Strange Tales #89 and 114, Two-Gun Kid #60, Love Romances #103, X-Men #9, Tales of Suspense #59, Sgt. Fury #13, Fantastic Four #57-60, Not Brand Ecch #1, Thor #154-157 and Devil Dinosaur #1 all by Jack Kirby with Joe Simon and Stan Lee and a host of inkers. I have long said that the Marvel Visionaries volumes are not really the best place to read stories by Marvel creators, since, by their very nature, the Marvel Silver Age stories were plotted as continuing serials and not as individual stories. This volume, although a bit better than the previous Kirby volume since it does reprint some continuity, is no exception. Kirby was one of the true geniuses of the comics medium and, except for the Greg Theakston material, there has never really been a decent overview done of his work. If you really want to read Kirby, then you should pick up his work in the Fantastic Four, either the Essential volumes or Materworks. Until somebody gets around to doing a decent overview, the FF is about as close as you can get to seeing what Kirby could do when he was on his game. For the completeist only. SRP $34.99
The Essential Nova Vol. 1
Reprints Nova #1-25, Amazing Spider-Man #171 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #3 by Wolfman, Wein, Buscema (both), Infantino, Colan and Andru. (*Yawn*) Nova was an attempt to create a new Spider-Man, but it was a truly forgettable stirp. Oddly enough, it seems that the only sequence that is remembered of the series was when Nova fought the Yellow Claw, the only part of this series that I ever remember reading. Save your money for a Masterworks or Archives. SRP $16.99
I will go on record here by saying that the cover to Ms. Marvel #1 is not only downright ugly, it's grotesque!
MOONSTONE
The Phantom: Legacy
A 96-page story that, according to the blurb, tells the story of the first Phantom and how the tradition of the Phantom began. Ben Raab is the author of this one and he has written some good Phantom stories in the past. The art is by Pat Quinn, whom I don't recall seeing before and the inks are by Art Lyon, another cypher to me. It is really hard to top the original Lee Falk stories and that's probably why I buy many of the fine Australian reprints of the newspaper strips. The Phantom is one of those classic characters that doesn't do well when updated and it might have been nice if Moonstone had included any artwork in their solicitation for this book. SRP $12.95
PURE IMAGINATION PUBLISHING
The Best of Help! Magazine Vol. 1
Published by Jim Warren, Help! was the brainchild of Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman, for those of you who don't know the history of comics, was a brilliant writer, who did his best work, in my opinion, at EC. Although a gifted artist, he was at his best when writing Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and, the magazine that he is most associated with, Mad. Under Kurtzman, Mad was a brilliant piece of satire that managed to skewer most of the icons of the day and, what is not as well known, was originally a comic book sized publication. Kurtzman stayed on after Mad became a magazine (in order to avoid the Comics Code) and then had a falling out with Bill Gaines. and left to seek his fortunes elsewhere, starting short lived runs of both Trump and Humbug during the intervening years.
Help! ran from 1960-65 for a total of 26 issues, and featured most of the major humor figures of the time (the cover to the first issue featured Sid Ceasar): something that Kurtzman had attempted to do with Mad. Although it reads a bit dated today, it still might be worth a squint. This collection will be a selection of the cartoons, strips and articles that made the mag famous along with a 12 page interview with Kurtzman that was conducted while he was producing Help!. SRP $25.00
TWOMORROWS
Alter Ego #57
Spotlight on the Golden Age of Marvel with a painted cover by Jack Kirby and Peter Van Sholly, a complete index of Timely/Atlas/Marvel super-hero stories and an article on 1940s Timely super-heroes by Gene Colan and Allen Bellman. I'm sure this issue will be up to their usual standards and editor Roy Thomas is often finds some incredibly rare art for each issue. SRP $6.95
Back Issue #15
This issues is sub-titled "Weird Heroes" of the 70s and 80s and that is only because, by any standards, they were weird. After all, demonic posession in comics seemed to originate during these decades. This issue is set to include interviews with Mike Ploog, Matt Wagner and Joe Kubert covering Ghost Rider, The Demon and Ragman. Also a section on the pencil art of Gene Colan. SRP $6.95