The Return Of Reviews Of Old Comics

Anyone following me for a few years might know that I gave up on my own blog about the time I took on a regular gig at Needless Essentials Online, where they were gracious enough to let me continue something I had started, Reviews of Old Comics. Since 2020, I've written lists for CBR, and haven't had time for any more reviews. I read many comics, but I never got to write a review. Now that is changing.

I am no longer with CBR. I am going back to the last thing I did for myself that I really loved doing, reviewing old comics. I don't have a set schedule, but I want to let everyone know that I will break the "first person rule" and sometimes include my personal experiences. I have a few years of editors urging me to be more authoritative and journalistic, and I now have Grammarly keeping me straight on the various mistakes I've made.

If you have any suggestions for old comics you'd like to see reviewed, just drop me a line. I try to keep them all over twenty years old, but someone once told me that age is only a number. They're also my rules, so I can break them if I want to.

EXCALIBUR #1

October 1988

We're back with a new review of an old comic. This time we go back to the late 80s when Marvel started spinning off its popular Uncanny X-Men title. Wolverine's regular series came along about this same time. After the X-Men had apparently died in their own title, a few of the team members left behind joined with Captain Britain to form Excalibur, complete with a new series written by Chris Claremont and drawn by a fan-favorite artist who just happened to have a history with Captain Britain, Alan Davis.

SYNOPSIS: Tweedle-Dope, the inventor savant for the criminal Crazy Gang is assembling various garbage into a metal shell. Instinctively, he smashes a portable radio into the shell. He discards it when the head-like shell doesn't do anything. However, after he leaves, the head's eyes blink to life.

Three members of Excalibur are assisting with a hostage situation. Captain Britain assures police commander Dai Thomas that Shadowcat and Phoenix can assist capably. The two ladies leave a police officer behind on the roof where he is attacked and killed by one of the Warwolves, who destroy their victims, leaving only their skin behind to wear as camouflage. The death of the officer stuns Phoenix into unconsciousness, leaving Shadowcat to attempt a rescue by donning a painter's dropcloth and imitating a spirit haunting the nightclub where the hostages are being held. Phoenix comes to, taking down the gunmen before Captain Britain can storm in.

The Warwolves attack a couple killing them for their skins, which Phoenix senses again from the apartment she's sharing with Shadowcat. Shadowcat and Captain Britain compare notes on Rachel's "seizures" with Shadowcat getting the idea of doing something electronically to trace the cause. Nightcrawler and Captain Britain's girlfriend Meggan explore the Captain's lighthouse as a possible headquarters for Excalibur. Nightcrawler goes through a door to find himself in an alien world. He teleports away, but when he takes Meggan back through the door, it's just an empty room. They telepathically compare notes with Phoenix until an overly-amorous banker hits on her, prompting a threatening telepathic display from Phoenix.

Captain Britain meets with an old girlfriend, Courtney Ross who now runs one of London's largest banks. That night, Shadowcat disguises herself as Phoenix and goes out with a device that mimics Phoenix's brain patterns, hoping to lure out whatever's responsible for Phoenix's attacks, just as Meggan and Nightcrawler return. Nightcrawler is embarrassed by Meggan walking in on him in the bath, mostly because he fears Captain Britain getting the wrong idea and losing his temper. Nightcrawler ventures into the workshop and discovers Shadowcat's equipment in use and alerts Phoenix telepathically. Phoenix contacts Shadowcat just as she is attacked by the Warwolves, who scramble Shadowcat's powers, freezing her in a tangible state. Phoenix is delayed from assisting her with a chemical goop. Confused by the appearance of another Phoenix the Warwolves flee Excalibur with Shadowcat as their captive.

REVIEW: This has all the feel of a blend of a superhero comic with the pathos of one of Chris Claremont's X-Men stories. It's odd to see any of the X-Men being treated with respect by the police, but with Captain Britain, it's obvious that they get some respect by association. It's nice to see after so many years and stories where everyone, including the authorities, treats them as a menace. Claremont gets his share of pathos in there, recapping what led Shadowcat and Nightcrawler into being in London.

Alan Davis has a very clean style that is well suited to the flatter colors of the 1980s. Glynis Oliver was one of the top colorists at Marvel, and she was capable of some nice effects with the limits of the technology of the time. Alan Davis and Paul Neary adapted their art for this and given how Alan Davis's style has changed with modern coloring, I don't know how as traditional a story as this would look with modern shading and effects.

This was a great introduction to a new series and set a very optimistic tone, setting it apart from the other mutant books at the time. It seems much more innocent, so if you're only knowledge of comics comes from today's very grim and dark storytelling, as best illustrated by the "New 52" era over at DC, then you're not the ideal candidate for this series. If you're very fond of the Marvel Cinematic Universe then you might be more receptive to this series.

FINAL RATING: 8.5 (out of a possible 10)

RECOMMENDED READING:

Moving...

Just a quick note to say that the reviews are going to be incorporated into my blog over at www.carpaltunnelpress.com. It'll make everything a little easier to find and be a one-stop for everything.

The blog posts here will be duplicated over there as time permits.

No, really, it was a vampire with no legs!

PREZ #4
March 1974

I must be out of my mind to put this one here, but my studio is a mess, and I've discovered a great cache of e-comics. I do own a copy of this gem, though. As a matter of fact, I have every issue of this series and only lack the comic that has Supergirl carrying Prez on the cover to have every appearance of this character. 

SYNOPSIS:

     A After returning from a state trip to the European nation of Moravia, where Prez's administration has helped build a billion-dollar canal for irrigation, Prez and Eagle Free (head of the CIA) remark on the Moravians' strange custom of wearing garlic wreaths. That night, the White House is unexpectedly visited by a bat shaped helicopter carrying Wolfman, the Transylvanian ambassador. It seems that the Moravian canal has drained the lakes of Transylvania. When Prez refuses to destroy the canal, the Wolfman delivers a formal declaration of war on behalf of his country's leader, Count Dracula. Wolfman storms out, with noone realizing that he has left his coffin-shaped briefcase behind.

Prez calls a meeting of the cabinet only to be frustrated by a lack of intelligence on the area other than the superstitions of legend. The next night sees Wolfman's briefcase open to reveal a vampire with no legs strapped to a small cart for mobility, wearing blocks on his hands to ease his propulsion. Dracula's attempt to turn the sleeping Prez into one of the living dead is thwarted by Eagle Free who fights off the vampire with a Indian hooked cross, which resembles a swastika.

The Monrovian Ambassador reveals that Dracula plans to release thousands of rabid bats over America. Prez goes before Congress for a declaration of War against Transylvania, but Congress doesn't believe him and launches an investigation. Eagle Free concocts a final solution against the Transylvanian plane (their only plane), using birds on a suicide mission to dive into the planes jets and cause it to crash, apparently killing Wolfman and Dracula who were at the controls of the jet.

REVIEW:

     This is just goofy, and for the time that it exists in, is wacky enough to make the various elements work in the genre of the story. As a reader, you cannot take this comic seriously. The absolute best part of this particular issue is the timelessness of it. If a young cartoonist produced something like this today, without DC having already done Prez, we'd all be talking about it. The fact that this was written by one of the co-creators of Captain America is a testament to the talent behind that creation and the range that is possible in comics, even with just one creator.

     The art conveys the story very well, and for its weaknesses, still is strong enough to add to the bizarre nature of the story, and not distract from it. Neither the story nor the art go into a wacky area that would be so easy with this issue.

     I'm serious, though, this series should be on the reading list for alternative comics creators. It reads like something that could have been published by any of the larger independent publishers or even self-published. 

NOTES:
     Everything I can find about this series shows it as uncollected. Finding it may prove tricky, given that because of the character's appearance in Sandman, demand went up and most likely now everybody that wants a copy has one. I wouldn't pay too much for a copy, since the collectability value of it has come and gone. You still won't find a Near-Mint condition copy in any dollar bins, but you should be able to get one for not much more than a new comic today. My advice is ultimately that if you think that a shop is charging too much for it, they probably are.

FINAL RATING: 8 (out of a possible 10)

     Well, I suppose that the real reason for no higher than a 8 would be the nature of the story itself. It's not the type of comic to change your life, but it has stuck with me.

Who needs new stories?

ALL-STAR SQUADRON #29

January, 1984

So, I was poking around the house and took out this comic to read while I relaxed. I remembered the first three years of All-Star Squadron as being good, especially when Jerry Ordway was doing the art on it. Jerry Ordway is probably best known for his run on Power of Shazam! but I was first introduced to him in the pages of All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc. where his art style was very organic and naturalistic. Over the years, my collection has been liquidated of these comics, but from time to time, I've tripped across an issue or two, and this is one of them. 

Also, it's been awhile since I last updated this blog, and I've noticed a little traffic coming from various places, so why not do another review? 

SUMMARY

The Shining Knight is fighting off Nazi Bombers over England. When he lands, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives him a telegram from America where Liberty Belle is convening a meeting of the entire All-Star Squadron. This takes his thoughts to another group he belongs to, the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and he begins telling a story of one of their most recent exploits.

A mad scientist named Dr. Doome (really!) uses a time machine (really!) to snatch Napoleon, Attila the Hun, Nero, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and set them on missions to steal five rare metals needed to build a greater time machine to send them into a future world that would be much easier to conquer. The first theft is interrupted by Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy, but he falls  before the overwhelming might of the five conquerors. Green Arrow summons the Seven Soldiers of Victory and using a stolen two way radio, deduce the plans of Dr. Doome. The Shining Knight thwarts Genghis Khan, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripsey defeat Napoleon, Green Arrow and Speedy stop Alexander, the Vigilante stops Attila, and the Crimson Avenger stops Nero. However, Doome has given each of the conquerors a time-rod that transports them back to their proper eras when they're thwarted.

The Soldiers then raid Doome's Lighthouse hideout only to follow him as he escapes through time to the seige of Troy. Doome's cunning is thwarted by a test of truthfulness devised by King Agamemnon and he flees back to 1942. The soldiers follow him back using one of Doome's time rods, and Doome attempts to bribe the Shining Knight with return to Camelot into betraying his teammates. He refuses, and in the lighthouse, Doome flees into the far future, just as his time machine, unstable without all five metals, explodes.

This tale convinces the Shining Knight to stay in England during her hour of need, and not yet return to America with the All-Star Squadron, although not in so few words.

REVIEW:

The artwork is amazing, no doubt about it. Even with the coloring processes of 1983, Ordway has an attractive style that conveys dimension, mood and most of all, serves the story. Rick Maygar is the inker here and looking at the artwork, you could imagine it without any color, and it would still be worth the price of any color comic.

The story is taken almost verbatim from Leading Comics #3 (which you can download here). The major exception is that in the original story, Doome never tempts the Shining Knight, and is actually surprised when the heroes follow him back from Troy. I think Roy thomas served the story better with his addition. It's an excellent point of logic. The end of the comic is way too wordy and the logic added to the re-telling iwas apparently taken from here. The telegram was just for a meeting, and the Shining Knight has the advantage of a flying Horse and permission from Churchill to return for the meeting. The Shining Knight isn't being asked to abandon England for America, but his decision is apparently made as if he was.

NOTES:

To my knowledge, this has not been collected, but the original story has been reprinted in the Seven Soldiers of Victory DC Archive Edition. Since there's no heated demand for back issues of All-Star Squadron, you should be able to find this in back issue boxes if you're lucky, and bargain boxes if you're really lucky. All of the issues drawn by Jerry Ordway are worth dropping a couple of bucks for. I don't think you'd feel cheated by any of them.

FINAL RATING: 8 (out of 10)

Why not higher? It's a re-telling of a story that's not really considered a classic. Also, as I mentioned, the ending really doesn't make a whole lot of sense when simple logic is used.  Nevertheless, it's a good comic with solid art, but definitely not one of the gems of the title's run.

Opiate of the Masses

ELEMENTALS #22

February,1988

Yeah, I'm taking a while between these reviews, but I'll ask you to cut me some slack as I'm working on a special project and it was the Holiday season, after all. I decided that I was overdue to review some Bill Willingham work after all this time given that I've been a fan of his work since I graduated from High School.

See, on graduation night, I had gotten my diploma and was on my way to the county graduation party to have one last blast with friends, and so I stopped by the Mall to pick up a tee-shirt with the name of the University I was going to attend (I dropped out before classes started) and swing by Waldenbooks and grab a few comics. At the time, Comico had entered into a distribution deal with DC that got their comics into outlets like Waldenbooks. Entrigued by the cover, I picked up Elementals #2, the second series, not the first. I was hooked, as Willingham was writing super-heroes in a way that I hadn't seen before. 

This issue is from the first run from Comico, and it was the last for a long hiatus that Willingham had any hand in. Michael Eury told me that Willingham had upped and moved on them, but that's third hand knowledge, so take it with a grain of salt. 

SUMMARY

While the Elementals finish their battle against Chrysalis, we're treated to the story of Reverend Jeremy Skagg and a project he's started to recruit 1200 followers with military or police training to work against the perceived forces of evil, namely the Elementals.  As the project proceeds we're treated to the hypocrisy that Skagg is having an affair with the woman helping to run the project while arranging merciless abandonment of an adultrous son-in-law.

Skagg's project is at the behest of a glowing "angel." Who directs him to bring in torturers who find bizarre and unique ways to kill the follwers that volunteered for his project. This is done in the suspicion that a few will be resurrected with special powers like the Elementals were. Skagg takes a perverse religious pleasure in observing many of these executions, and indeed six emerge with powers and renamed after Bible verses and christened "the Rapture."

The Elementals, after capturing Chrysalis find  the scientist that led them to her that she had cocooned has been transformed into a pulpa form.

REVIEW:

Bill Willingham was known in the 1980s as the creator of the Elementals, one of the first superhero comics to be for grown-ups, and this is one those issues that points out why.The situations the characters found themselves in were mature, there was cursing and there was sex, and in this comic there's nudity and religion. Willingham took these particular shots at religion, and especially televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whom Jeremy Skagg was obviously modeled after, at least visually. The story breaks between two scenes taking place at different times, completely unconnected, but it flows very well. I should also mention that Chrysalis remains, in my opinion one of the most original characters in superhero comics. The elements added in this comic only strengthen that opinion.

Willingham's artwork is very organic, and is at it's best when expressing the human form. When he pulls back and works less from reference, there's the occaisional slopiness, but overall, the art hits more than it misses. 

If the story has a problem, it's that it's not very nuanced. If the character of Jeremy Skagg has a redeemable quality at all, it's his devotion to his faith, but the Christians within the story are viewed as stupid or desperate enough to go willingly to a horrible death or participate in torture and mass murder.

NOTES:

Like most comics I've been reviewing, this issue has never been collected. It's very likely never to be reprinted, as the rights are tied up in the hands of the former owner of Comico who raises the price constantly whenever someone tracks him down and tries to purchase them. Look for this issue in back issue bins, as well as other issues of this fine series. Don't pay too much, as the series is not sought after too highly, as while it's done by the creator of Fables, it has nothing to do with the Vertigo series.

FINAL RATING: 8.5 (out of 10)

It'd be higher if the book was one of those life-changing issues. It's not, and the shots Willingham takes aginst irrantinally fundamentalist Christianity are heavy-handed and completely too easy. Today, I imagine he would do the story very differently. Then again, the Bill Willingham that did this comic is very different from the Bill Willingham that writes Fables today.

Could've been so much more...

POWER PACK #1

August 1984

It's been a couple of weeks, but I'm really trying not to waste time, so I've been slack in doing the review thing.

Once I decided to do one of these, I grabbed a handful of unsorted comics and looked for one to review. I've done three Legion comics already, and doing another one would be right after a glowing review of one, and just seem redundant. There were a few comics that were more recent, and I felt like revisiting my childhood. Ah-ha! Power Pack fits the bill nicely.

SUMMARY

There's a battle in space, just outside the Earth's atmosphere, and it's sevral ships attacking a lone white starship. It's observed by Katie, the youngest of the four Power children, whose father is desuigning a new energy source for the government. Their parents let them spend the night in their sleeping bags on the back deck of their beach house. Katie sees the attacked spaceship in the surf on the beach. She wakes up her siblings and they investigate. The oldest child, Alex waits by the ship with Katie while younger brother Jack goes with his older sister Julie to wake their father.

As they near the house, one of the ships that attacked the downed ship landsby their house. Alex and Katie are greated by the ship's pilot, an alien nick-named Whitey, who then rescues Julie and Jack, but is too late to keep the attacking aliens, lizard-like beings named Snarks from abducting their parents. Whitey is injured in the rescue andas the Snarks leave with the Power kids' parents, he teleports himself and the children to his ship, Friday.

Whitey is dying from his wounds, and uses the last of his energy to transfer his powers to the children. When they are caught in the Snarks' trator beam, they discover their new powers. Jack controls his own gravity, Julie flies fast, leaving a colored trail in her wake, Katie disentigrates objects and then shoots off energy balls, and Jack can expand into a cloud. They use these powers to escape the Snarks and giving themselves codenames vow to rescue their parents before the Snarks can get the secrets of their father's Energy Converter.

REVIEW:

The kids have a natural feel to them. I once heard Louise Simonson complain that she'd gotten fan mail wanting her to have Katie talk like a toddler, using "me" instead of "I" and crap like that. Each kid has ahis own personality, and the powers don't match those personalities. Let's face it, does the person with fire-based powers always have to have a short temper? Does the person with shrinking power have to be shy? Louise did really well with this issue and the next two, but given that this was a first issue it was written very well and led brilliantly into the next while having a natural ending of its own.

This was June Brigman's first comics work and its absolutely great. The kids look like kids of their stated ages, and not a uniform age.  The scennes, despite being set at night, aren't too dark, although the flip side of that is that the scenes involving light aren't bright enough to convey that. For this, I primarilly blame colorist Glynis Wein, who colored it like an issue of X-Men or Avengers instead of the next generation comic it was.

Bringing Brigman, a first-time artist with no background in super-heroes, on as penciller is the giveaway that this comic is the beginning of a new era of comics. That's not because of the technology used in creating the comic, for it's produced for the most opart, in the same old manner. The characters aren't seen in their costumes at all in the issue, and the origins are based in the straight science fiction realm. While the kids mention super-heroes, it's not definite that they exist in the Marvel Universe, or if they know these characters from comic books. This book could've gone in a different direction entirely, away from New York and Super-Heroes and ventured into uncharted waters for a mainstream comic. It probably would've died a speedy death in the mainstream market of the mid 1980s, but it would have definitely been influential in the development of the comics medium.

NOTES:

Like I said, this could've gone differently. The issue has never been collected, but if you find this at a comic shop or convention, look for the next two issues as well. They make for a great closed storyline. Love and Rockets was being published by Fantagraphics at this time. Comico was getting started, and would eventually publish some of the first work by Matt Wagner and Bill Willingham. First Comics was going on and publishing some the greatest independent comics of the time, including Nexus, American Flagg and Sable. If Power Pack had been published anywhere else, it may have been a very influential comic book.

Also, I apologize for no scans of panels from the comic. This review has been sitting in edit mode for a while, so to keep from delaying it further, I decided to post it without scans. (sans scans?)

FINAL RATING: 7.5 (out of 10)

The limitations of the technology of the period, lumped together with a lackluster coloring job lowers the rating for this book. The premise is great, the writing is fantastic, and the art is extremely good, and shows Brigman as a top notch cartoonist.

Adam Hughes, Mermaids, and Girls in Bathing Suits

LEGIONNAIRES #7

October 1993

I'm stuck on the current phase of my project so I decided to talk about a good comic book.

Legionnaires #7 is a done in one story that takes place right after a six-issue storyline that was very heavy. At this point in time, when you needed a lighter story with a fill-in artist, DC went to Adam Hughes, most famous at the time for his work on Justice League America. This was before Adam Hughes worked with Wildstorm FX on Gen13 and learned Photoshop which revolutionized his artwork.

As an aside, my copy is signed by Adma Hughes, probably at a time prior to his adoption of Photoshop as a primary tool, taking his talent to a different level entirely. If you check out Adam Hughes' origins for Wonder Woman and Power Girl in 52, you know how even his panel to panel work has been transformed by his evolution.

SUMMARY

Inferno, Triad, Matter-Eater Lad, Brainiac 5, Andromeda, Apparition, Ultra Boy, and Shrinking Violet are taking a vacation to the Atlantis dome of New Earth. They check into an inn run by an Atlean family complete with a cute mermaid daughter with a crush on Inferno. Operating under the assumption that everything is being comped, Inferno and Matter-Eater Lad indulge in play, and Matter-Eater Lad tries to put the moves on Shrinking Violet, who's interested in just being friends.The Legionnaires get caught in the crossfire of Atlanteans and alien Devil-Fish, and discover that the Devil Fish secretly settled on Earth, and thought the Atlanteans were responsible for the deaths caused when the domed cities of New Earth fled the destruction of Earth.

The Legionnaires leave, much to the disappointment of the hotel owner, and among them all, Shrinking Violet realizes that they were supposed to pay. Inferno returns and learns that the hotel owner was ashamed to embarrass the Legionnaires by correcting them. Despite their pleading, the other Legionnaires refuse to pony up more credits to Inferno and Matter-Eater Lad who ran up the highest bills while on vacation. Meanwhile Violet does admit that Matter-Eater Lad is cute.  

REVIEW:

Tom & Mary Bierbaum were known for scripting some of the darkest stories in Legion history. It's nice to see it contrasted with this story. It's light and fun, and it would have been great to see this tone continued for years and years. However, DC Editorial felt the need to reboot the Legion so that it could attract new readers. This is now being tried for the third time. Enough about current DC Editorial policy, this is one very well written story. It's simple, cute, and concise. There's nothing here that doesn't need to be there.

The artwork by Adam Hughes is excellent and could only be better if it were done by the Adam Hughes of today. The Adam Hughes of fifteen years ago was an exceptional artist. The Adam Hughes of today is a phenominal artist. The best example of this in this story is when the hotel owner says good bye and violet looks back, realizing their mistake. The empty space on the page shows more skill than any line put on the page. Sometimes being a good artists is all about what you don't draw.

NOTES:

Again, this issue has never been collected. I'm sick of saying that about really good stories when crap like that issue of Spider-Woman gets collection treatment so people can be reminded of how crappy comics can be. Look for this issue. You might pay a little more because it's an Adam Hughes comic, but you shouldn't pay too much.

FINAL RATING: 9 (out of 10)

The highest rating I've given so far for a comic. It'd get an extra half point if it were a life-changing story or the inker and colorist blended better with Adam Hughes. I'm really looking forward to All-Star Wonder Woman.

Okay back to trying to figure out this page.

The Ratings So Far

Because things are now starting to archive, here's a rundown of the rankings for the comics reviewed, from highest to lowest, and in the event of ties, most recently reviewed.

• 8.5 Legion of Super-Heroes #92, Twilight #1, New Mutants #18
• 8.0 Legion of Super-Heroes #305
• 7.5 Minimum Wage #2
• 7.0 Legion of Super-Heroes #26, Starstream #3
• 6.0 Namor the Sub-Mariner #8
• 3.5 Spider-Woman #5
  

I'm really surprised that I haven't done a 9 rating yet, and I've given thought as to what a 10 would be. I'm really trying to steer away from anything published within the last couple of years, because sometimes some distance does take away the initial emotional impact of the experience, and makes for a more academic review. There are some series that I don't have copies of individual issues of, such as Watchmen, and so, I can't review those. I am limiting myself to those comics that I actually own, so I do have a restriction on myself.

It'll go on your permanent record!

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #92

May 1997

I'm killing a little time waiting on the wife, so here's another review to take up some time on a blustery November day.

Legion Of Super-Heroes #92 was a nice little pause middle of a period where my interest in the Legion was beginning to wane. The creators of the time split the team up into two, stranding one in the 20th century where they participated in the "final Night" crossover and got to interact with just about every hero in the DC Universe. That team got the Legion of Super-Heroes title, while the others left back home in the 30th century carried on in Legionnaires.

During this period, Curt Swan who pencilled a good many of the Silver Age Legion stories died and this issue was a tribute to him. The striking cover harkens back to the "alien space monster" theme popular in sci-fi during the late 1950s, where the story is set. That seem like as good a place as any to launch into the story recap, so get ready for some fifties themed monster fun.

SUMMARY

Mr. Swan, an art teacher in a sterotypical high school, is teaching a group of teens that look suspiciously like our familiar Legionnaires. The names are plays on their alter egos: Rick Crane (Cosmic Boy), Irma Arden (Saturn Girl), Earl Docks (Brainiac 5), Ella Rand (Spark), Joe Knotts (Ultra Boy), Laura, Lorna, and Lauren Dugan (Triplicate Girl), and Sandy Anderson (Inferno, but we never learned her real name). The teens are also members of the school design club who are preparing for a visit by President Eisenhower. On the way home, Joe Knotts true to his young hood nature, hits on the cheerleader Sandy, whose rescued by teen lovebirds Irma and Rick. Joe instead follows the Dugan triplets. Ella thwarts some mushiness between Irma and Rick as Joe observes the Digans merge in their bedroom using X-Ray Vision, revealing to us that there's something odd about both, uh all four(?) of them.

G-Men are monitoring the work on the stage by the Design club when missing Legion member Gates materializes above them. When Gates refers to Rick as "boss," since he is the only one that remembers them as the Legion with Cosmic Boy as the team leader, the G-Men detain the lot of them. Joe is recruited by one of the G-Men that secretly observed Joe break the steering wheel of his car. Joe uses his Ultra Boy powers to spot Gates hiding under the podium, and thinking that he's an alien out to kill the president captures him.

When confronted with the G-Men's intentions to vivisect Gates, Earl leaps to his defense and a blow from the G-Men reveals Earl to be wearing make-up to conceal green skin, which restores the memories of the Legionnaires. They subdue the G-Men and escape, wondering who stranded them in 1958 without their memories and they fly off to the astonishment of the crowd, including Mr. Swan who reminds the crowd, and us, that nothing is impossible.

REVIEW:

This is a great tribute to Swan with a complete story within one issue of a comic, with justa little nod to the running storyline near the end. The hole being how the Legionnaires return to the 20th century at the end. Eventually, the Time Trapper was revealled to be the one behind theis little detour, but that wasn't made clear here. Tom Peyer and Tom McCraw crafted an excellent story, and the feel of a cliche 1950s story is there. It's very refreshiong and breaking the story up into chapters retains the feel of the 1950s. The art is what breaks that feeling, with computer color gradients and modernvisual storytelling techniques.

I'm not totally dismissing the artwork. Lee Moder was a really good artist for the Legion, and was sucessful in believable anatomy, perspective and reference that was dynamic, yet not overly exaggerated. His shots are cinematic, and his characters are unique, and similar where they need to be, such as with Triplicate Girl, which proves to be a challenge for any artist, as they have to draw the same character multiple times within the same shot. I imagine that Jamie Madrox is a similar challenge for artists. I would have liked to have seen the artwork with a 1958 feel and color separations to resemble to four color printing of the time, evolving as the characters remember their identities. 

NOTES:

Like most Legion stories of the modern age, this issue has never been collected. Given that this was the tail period of the great glut of the 1990s, there should be plenty of copies out there and be easy to find. Don't pay too much for it, as you should be able to find a decent copy in bargain boxes, provided that you look hard enough.

Curt Swan was one of the artists that lured me into comics, and the week he died he was scheduled to be at a convention near me. I wanted so much to meet him and tell him how much he meant to my development as a fan. he would draw fantastic things with the same care that he drew mundane ones. His characters existed in their world and he never cheated on his work. The comics industry is richer that he was a big part of it, and poorer that he's no longer around to pass on his perspective and knowledge to a younger generation.

FINAL RATING: 8.5 (out of 10)

Again, this could have been done much better if the artwork had reflected the period. This is a good comic for a casual Legion fan, even one that abandoned the Legion after the first reboot of Legion history.

Never Be Your Own Editor

SPIDER-WOMAN #5

August 1979

Last week seemed to work so good by digging through a box full of books that I was trying to get rid of, that I decided to try it again. I've got a few books that I want to throw around and see if I get a review out of them or not. 

Looking back at the few reviews I've done so far, I really haven't had one that was a bad comic. I set out to have one this time and I looked for something that would be that fodder. Enter, a 1970s Spider-Woman comic.

Before we go on, notice that I finally got around to doing the header graphic which lets you know that SPOILERS ABOUND! 

SYNOPSIS:

Spider-Woman wakes up bound and gagged in a dusty, decrepit, abonded house. Freeing herself, she recalls that she was captured by a masked vigilante calling himself the Hangman, who has a warped sense of chauvanism that leeds him the hold women captive in order to "protect" them. Almost immediately she's assailed by hallucinations and flying furniture, briefly knocking her into unconsciousness. She wakes up trapped in a giant spider web to be attacked by more hallucinations.

Meanwhile, Spider-Woman's ally the magician Magnus is getting familiar with his landlady, who seems like a lonely old widow.

Back at the old, abandoned house, Spider-Woman is confronted by hallucinations of her father and Magnus before blacking out again. When she wakes, she's attacked by empty suits of armor and then nearly drowns when the chamber she's fighting in is flooded. Upon escaping, she discovers Magnus unconscious and held captive before being confronted by the materializing form of the villain behind her ordeal, Morgan Le Fay.

REVIEW:

Okay, what the hell was that? How did Magnus get from his afternoon tea with the old widow to being held captive in the same house as Spider-Woman? How does Morgan Le Fay, who has never appeared before now, and we can only assume is supposed to be the same character from Arthurian legend, despite the mispelling of her name, know about Spider-Woman and her origin? What about that Hangman guy that put her into the house? This story is just one big confusing mess. Marv Wolfman would go on to write some really good comic stories, but on this is one he really dropped the ball. Would it surprise you to learn he was his own editor on this? Lesson number five for good writing, folks, have a good editor!

Artwise, Carmine Infantino has a style that's just plain goofy. Check out his run on Star Wars that was published around this time, as well as his run on Flash in the early 1980s if you don't believe me. Infantino's work was always best when when he had an inker and a colorist that worked for him. On Star Wars, he had Bob Wiacek and Gene Day, as well as George Roussos on colors, and that worked. Here, he has Wolfman's wife coloring for him, not a good match, and the worst match I've ever seen as an inker for Infantino, Tony Dezuniga. Infantino artwork can be very intriguing to follow. There are a few panels, especially towards the beginning of the comic, that have that potential, but the poor match of the inker completely loses that.

NOTES:

With Spider-Woman's reintroduction in the Avengers comics of recent years, and her pivotal role in Secret Invasion, there's a level of real interest in her older stories. This comic has been collected in Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1. I'd recommend picking up the Essential volumes, since they're cheap. It's also been collected in the early 1980s as part of a pocket digest collection, which could possibly be found at a flea market, antique mall, or a comic shop that has some really cool stuff instead of overstock from the glut of the 1990s. 

FINAL RATING: 3.5 (out of a possible 10)

With better art collaborators, this would be higher. The story is hard to follow, and really just leaves me with a headache.

I need more zip-a-tone!

NAMOR, THE SUB-MARINER #8

February 1990

I've got a few minutes this afternoon, so how about another review? You down with that?

Right after High School, I was big into John Byrne. It was a good time to be into John Byrne, too. He had produced Omac for the DC, West Coast Avengers, She-Hulk, Next Men and of course, Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Of course he didn't do them in that order, but those are the comics that he worked on in the late 1980s and early 1990s that just seemed to be Byrne flexing his artistic muscles. I got rid of a lot of my mainstream comics a long time ago, but just cruising bargain bozes has gotten me replacement copies of a few that I really remember fondly.

This particular comics was stashed away in an office paper box, since it's not really among my prized possessions, comic-wise. I have to admit that nostalgia is the main reason that I own this, so a lot of this review will hinge on that perspective.

As always, Spoilers abound from here. That means I'll tell you exactly what happened.

SUMMARY

In 1961, German agents, including a scientist stash away a project before the Russians seal them into the city of East Berlin. While escaping the scientist is shot, and the two agents violently get him past the US checkpoint in an effort to get him help.

Namor wakes up in a puddle of sludge on top of a skyscraper, after flying a viral agent into the heart of a Sewage based creature inadvertantly created by scientists that was threatening New York. In attempting to fly down, he finds that his ankle wings have vanished and only his strength and skill save him. Namorita escapes from a pod she'd been placed in inside the creature, and she proceeds to rescue other captives as Namor walks up. One of the scientists to survive tells that the creature was an attempt to escape funding cuts, and Namor and the authorities were misled by the creator, now killed by her creation. Phoebe Marrs then runs up and begs Namor to help her brother, who struck a horrible deal with the corporate raider known as Headhunter. he rides off with her, and seems to be falling prey to her charms.

Meanwhile, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing are shocked to see the return of Banny Rand, aka Iron Fist, who they believe to be dead. Namorita is being brought uiup to speed by Namor's allies, Caleb and Carrie Alexander, as Carrie confesses her love for Namor, which does not appear to be returned, as Namor looks to be enthralled by Phoebe Marrs.

Namor and Marrs arrive at Headhunter's offices and we learn that her agreements with businessmen come at a high price as she reveals her collection of their mounted heads on her wall!

REVIEW:

The story flows by a series of coincidences, someone walks up, someone runs up, and everything happens in the course of an afternoon. There's not really a reason for this, as time could have passed before Marrs approached Namor, with no ill effect to the story. Namor's personality is very stoic and pompous, which is the biggest trouble in centering a book on him. Byrne did seem to make it work, but Namor's though balloons should reveal more of the trouble in dealing with his loss of flight.

The largest attribute to the art that's noticeable is the zip-a-tone. Byrne used this on Omac and after leaving Namor, on She-Hulk. He uses it for shading and the colorist Glynis Oliver adds subtle colors to accentuate them so it doesn't get terribly distracting. It's an added effect that Byrne didn't need, but took the time to add, which gives some sense at how much pride he took in his work on this book. No one can fault Byrne's anatomy or basic artistic skill. If I find fault with anything in this comic, it's in the writing.

Byrne took, in this issue, a character seen at the time as one of the more powerfuul characters in the Marvel Pantheon and gave him more limitations. At the same tiem, there seemed to be no pondering of the circumstances that brought. The dialogue seems to render the characters two-dimensional in the context of this issue. Byrne was better at writing long-term, and in an era of sub-plots, he was able to excel at that. In smaller stories, he seemed hindered.

NOTES:

Like many comics that I've reviewed, this issue has never been collected. Also like most of the comics that I've reviewed, it should be cheap, provided that you can find it. Don't pay more that two bucks for an issue, and if you do, pick one up, try to pick up a run of several issues. Byrne makes Namorita interesting.

FINAL RATING: 6 (out of 10)

The story weakness really hurts this comic. If it was on par with the art, then we'd be looking at at least an 8. John Byrne comics of this era probably need to be read in a series rather than individually.

These Ain't Your Granddaddy's Star-Rovers!

TWILIGHT #1

1990

Another weekend, and the wife is sleeping in, so here's another review of a comic from the old collection at casa de Stanford. Hmmm, that really doesn't work work with an English name. Oh, well, until we come up with another name for the homestead, let's just get started with the review.

Twilight #1 was a prestige format book, the first in a series of three books by author Howard Chaykin, famous for the 80s independent comic American Flagg, and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, who'd done a lot of work for DC over the course of the 1980s, even having the mass-marketed Superman image for the late 1980s.

My friend Joel first exposed me to this book and for the better part of eight years, I sought to complete my own collection of all three books. Being square-bound, they usually sit on my bookshelf, which probably isn't good for their longevity, but who cares, they're just comics. 

As always, Spoilers abound from here. Don't say that I didn't warn you. A word of warning, the set-up is so huge for the story, that my Summary may have some factual errors.

SUMMARY

It's the future, an elderly Homer Glint, while chasing after his seeing-eye cat, comes across momentos of his past. The story begins during a hostage crisis in the jungle, where bio-engineered animal men are holed up with the journalistic adventurer team known as the Star-Rovers while military hero John Starker prepares a commando team to storm in and rescue the hostages. Tempers flare in the hut, when Rick Purvis goes nuts after learning that teammate Karel Sorenson has had a sexual relationship with one of the ape men, and he proceeds to behead their leader, which makes him a hero across known space, even as far as the fleet of ships commanded by the Nazi-esque Tommy Tomorrow, on a search for immortality, long promised. Purvis's perceived heroism gets the Star Rovers an assignment off world that looks promising in the legend of a "new messiah."

Private detective Star Hawkins rescues his brother John Starker from drunken self-imposed exile in a Mexican robot brothel, because he's needed to rescue a robot companion, Ilda, whose been captured in a mad quest for immortality involving Starker's old military partner, Tommy Tomorrow. Ilda's being held by Tomorrow's ex-wife Brenda, believed killed in the final battle with an alien race called Mesthusaloids years before. In meeting with Tomorrow, Brenda reveals the secret to immortality is in the flesh of the Mesuthaloids.

The Star Rovers meet with the Mesuthaloids on a distant planet, only to be attacked by Tommy Tomorrow, whose careless sniper fire ignites the Star Rovers' wooden ship (yes, they bought a wooden space ship) which causes a huge explosion that kills Purvis, blinds Homer, and merges Karel with many of the Mesuthaloids making her the new messiah, a living Goddess that gives immortality to the enitre human race.

REVIEW:

This story is really good, even if you don't know the original characters that the cast is based on. Supposedly, Space Ranger shows up, but I'll be damned if I know where. The book is written very well, and the world of the future, circa 2070 we can guess by the inclusion of John Starker, Manhunter 2070, is very real and this should be considered a very good sci-fi story. The language is very harsh at times and the predilictions of Starker for robots meets the definition of "adult situations." Like I said in the spoiler warning, the first issue is a little hard to follow givwen that the cast is broad, and getting them to meet near the conclusion does take some doing that could have done with a little more exposition. There are no vast leaps in technology that ask for such suspension of disbelief that would make the story unreadable, unlike in the stories that this is based upon.

The artwork is by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, who I cannot remember a time when he has not delivered excellent storytelling and expert anatomy. My favorite parts of this story are his renderings of robots, especially Ilda. The original Ilda had a football-shaped head, but this Ilda is very desirable, and heck, who can fault John Starker for wanting to visit the robot brothels in old Mexico?

NOTES:

This issue, this series has never been collected. That's a shame, as it's really good. Finding it in back issue bins is really hard as you'll inevitably come up one issue short. You shouldn't pay much over cover price for them, and may even luck out in the bargain bins.

FINAL RATING: 8.5 (out of 10)

The issue is a little harder to follow and really requires devotion to read and study. Chaykin is a writer for intelligent readers. It can be a little inaccessible for a casual comics reader. Garcia-Lopez is a very detailed artist here, and at times his layouts seem to break the rules that are taught to aspiring comic artists, but that's where he excells and proves his mastery. A great comic artist knows when and how to break the rules. Overall, the series is really good and merits a 9, but this issue, while pivotal and necessary, is a little weaker than the whole.

How to beat the crap out of Supergirl without beating up Supergirl.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #26

February 1992

It's the weekend, so I decided to do another review for those of you taking the time to read these things.

Legion Of Super-Heroes #26 was the middle of a period where I was really into the Legion. A lot of people speak bad about the Giffen/Bierbaum period, but I really enjoyed it, as well as the friends I had at the time. At this point, Giffen was working on a ton of stuff at DC, so the art chores had been taken over by Jason Pearson, a newcomer at the time, who'd done some work at Innovation. Later, Pearson would go on to create Body Bags and work on a few other comics as well.

As always, Spoilers abound from here. That means I'll tell you exactly what happened.

SUMMARY

The Dominator controlled Android B.I.O.N. has attacked Laurel Gand, who's been covertly monitoring the situation on Dominator controlled Earth as Celeste Rockfish, another Legionnaire. Their battle is distructive and seemingly futile for Laurel, , and when it starrts to endanger civillians, she takes it outside the city.

The Dominators maintain the illusion of an independant Earth government, but the Earth President is beginning to break down. B.I.O.N. reveals to Laurel that he possesses all the powers of the Legionnaires combined, which is taking its toll on Laurel, who manages to distract B.I.O.N. long enough to run away.

The Underground Resistance, led by the Subs, are taking Dominator chambers, while their organizer, Universo, is holding the SW6 Legion, a teenage version that recently escaped the chambers in reserve.

Laurel makes her way back to Legion headquarters on the asteroid of Talus, with B.I.O.N. unknowingly in pursuit. Since B.I.O.N. has left Earth, things look bad for the Dominator occupation, and it looks like their only option is to blow up the chambers rather than lose them to the Resistance.

REVIEW:

It's been said that if you love your characters, you'll put them through hell. During the Terra Mosaic storyline, Giffen and the Bierbaums really put the Legion through the wringer, so they must've had a lot of love for them. A battle as destructive and large in scale as Laurel Gand, the equivalent of Supergirl with an android three times as powerful, was very well handled, even with the nine panel grid that was the hallmark of this period in Legion history. The story is enthralling, but a little hard to follow unless you have read some of the issues that preceeded this one. There are little jokes hidden within the story, and the diagram of the Legion headquarters is the humor highlight as we learn the details of its past as a brothel.

Pearson has panels, like the ones I've shown here, that are so well done, that they scream out for you to ignore the panels that don't work as well. Of all the artists that drew this Laurel Gand, I love his rendition of her second best. Stuart Immonen is first. 

NOTES:

This issue has never been collected. That's not unusual for the Legion, since only recently has there been interest in its past, and likely, we will not see this storyline collected, since it has fallen out of favor within the comics community. You should be able to find it very affordably in back issue bins, maybe even as cheap as fractions of a dollar. While you're at it pick up other issues of the Terra Mosaic storyline which ran, pretty much uninterrupted for about 40 issues or so.

For insight into this period, I recommend picking up the Legion Companion from Two Morrows publishing. I'd put it in the Amazon sidebar, but it's only available from outside sellers, who feel that it's worth $50.00, so just go to Two Morrows' web site to get it.

FINAL RATING: 7 (out of 10)

Pearson's artwork at this stage is not terribly detailed and the panels that he excels at are undermined by the ones that just weren't pulled off. If this were Pearson of 1997, then we'd be talking about a better book. It's so dependent on the other issues in the storyline it really shows the flaws of the monthly format that mainstream ciomics are locked into.