2016 Comic Challenge 069 Carnal Comics:True Stories of Adult Film Stars Jasmin St. Claire #01

TITLE-Carnal Comics:True Stories of Adult Film Stars Jasmin St. Claire #01 Limited Photo Cover and Numbered Edition
PUBLISHER-Carnal Comics AKA Re-Visionary Press

I was pondering what comic to do next. Then saw it would be comic 69 and remembered a long forgotten comic from my collection.About 2 years ago my cousin's now teenage older son was visiting for part of the summer. He wanted some comics to read and since his parents are fairly lax in what they let him read/watch,pretty much as long as it isn't porn he can watch it,I had told him he was free to dig thru any of my longboxes I had out. Knowing that stuff like the few Robert Crumb comics I won,the 2 issues of Omaha the cat Dancer and that Cherry Special Neil Gaiman wrote a story in,for the non-hardcore comic nerds those are all comics that mine possibly get a NC-17 rating,were all in a shortbox I kept in the closet there wasn't anything he shouldn't see in my boxes. Then he pulls out the above comic. Which of course was missing the big black stars I added so Google wouldn't flag me again for having a nipple showing that is so tiny an ant would need a magnifying glass to see it.

So what the hell is this comic? It starts off ,after the black and white picture of Jasmin on the inside of the front cover,14 pages of b/w artwork on a biography of Jasmin. Which is supposedly written by Ms St. Claire. The art for this biographical story is just listed as done by Kevin Breyfogle. Looking him up seems he did 1 issue of Batman and 1 issue of Green Arrow. And then the rest of his work was for Carnal Comics. Also a Jay Allen Sanford gets credit for story. Seems Ms St Claire became huge into heavy metal music as a teen. And started getting into trouble. Mostly sneaking out to go see bands.Since she is dating a nerdy guy,well she did date Blue Meanie for a few years so maybe she is into geeks,Jasmin ends up at a convention. Were she meets producers of a few low budget horror films.Jasmin mentions being in the following films,all of which I have never heard of or ever found copies of,Naked Horror,Beauty Academy,Like Mother Like Daughter and Monster Squad. I am assuming that last one isn't the 80s classic. While doing these films and even posing for Scream Queens Illustrated,am I the only person that remembers this John Russo mag?,Jasmin is working as an investment councilor.She has a bad break up with her boyfriend. And is super pissed her stole her Barbie collection. So to get revenge she starts dancing at a topless club,yea makes no sense to me either.Topless dancing leads to layouts in porn mags. Which leads to porn movies. Which leads to her setting the "world record" for having sex with 300 men in one day.

Up next is 4 pages of b/w photos of Jasmin in various stages of undress.But they are all Playboy style pictures. T&A and that is it. Nothing too graphic.

Then there is the 13 page story titled "Surfer Safari". Story credit again goes to Jasmin and Jay Allen Sanford. And art is by Fauve. No not Brett Fauve. Just Fauve. Looked him up at the great www.comicbookdb.com. All Fauve has done is pencils and inks on stuff for Carnal Comics.And he seems to have had a long run on the Vamperotica series of mini series,now there is a comic I bet almost no one remembers.In this story Jasmin lives on a private island off the coast of St. Croix.Somehow a bunch of surfers end up on the island. And they all have sex with Jasmin. The art is much much better in this story. With a few pages feeling like they came straight out of sometime Ripoff Press published in the early 70s. But there is no story. It is just an excuse to show sex. And nothing wrong with that. But with the art being so good I would have liked more story.

The next page is ad add for Atomic Comics and FOXE. FOXE is Fans Of X-rated Entertainemnt. Then at the bottom of the page we get a little info on the two artists that worked on this issue. With Kevin Breyfogle we just get what I assume is a self portrait. And of course mention of him working on Batman. But Fauve we get a picture. Seems Fauve is a woman. So that is kind of neat. A female artist doing a straight up porn comic. For Fauve they mention her work on Vamperotica and also Vampfire. Seems she also did some work for Screw magazine.

The next page is a full page add for the Jasmin St Claire Fan Club.For just $25 you got 
A regular newsletter
a list of all of Jasmin's videos
A list of all her upcoming projects and appearances
A 8x10 picture
A discount on various merch Ms St Claire is selling
And the opportunity to bid in periodic auctions of personal memorabilia. 

Then on our final page of the comic,we get a listing/sale ad for all the Carnal Comic comic books,some trading card sets,vhs,pictures,and audio cassette and original artwork from the comics. 

And finally on the inside back cover we get a b/w version of this picture,of course without the censoring stars.

Now why the hell did I buy this comic back in 98ish? At the time I was shopping at Lynn's Comics in Nederland TX. And he made it a point to order at least one copy of every comic in the Previews Adult supplement. Most of it was cause he was strongly opposed to any form of censorship. And like he told me a few times. "I can pay $1 for a comic that I turn around and sell for $5." While I do not like breast implants,back in 98 I did find Ms St. Claire a pretty attractive woman. And by then she had started getting into the pro wrestling business. So those are all factors in why  I bought it. And another factor was good old comic book speculation. See Carnal Comics usually did two version of their porn star bio comics. One would have a drawn cover. And then there was the limited and numbered photo covers.I got the limited and numbered photo cover. Just glanced at the cover and it's cover price is $3.50. And that is for 32 pages of b/w comics. I am sure I got my normal 25% off cover but still the price is stupid high.And hell since I mentioned it here is the drawn cover.

Jamie Murrey is listed as the artist for the above cover. And all he has done is porn comic work. Notice how that cover has a $.2.95 cover price. So you had to pay 55 cents more to get the photo cover and the limited number. Of and speaking of the numbered.

I have seen quite a few limited numbered comics. Hell Triumphant comics did it for every comic they put out. But it is always printed on the cover. Not with Carnal Comics. They made a sticker and stuck it on the cover. Seems I got number 866 out of 2500 made.

Carnal Comics:True Stories of Adult Film Stars Jasmin St. Claire #01 gets a Pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 068 Horus Lord of Light Hero Premiere Edition #06

TITLE-Hero Premiere Edition #06 1963 Horus Lord of Light
PUBLISHER-Image/Hero

This little oddity seems to be pretty unknown. Back when Image had the great 1963 mini series coming out,in an issue of Hero Illustrated this mini comic was included. It is slightly taller and wider than your normal digest sized comic. And the cover is printed on a heavy cardstock.The insides are all on very cheap newsprint. And as far as I know the only way to get this was to by the issue of Hero Illustrated it was packaged with.

But instead of being just a smaller sized reprint of the Horus issue of 1963,this Hero Premiere Edition is very different. We get the first 7 pages of the normal sized issue.Then four pages of interviews with Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette. But they are done in the style of the stuff from the 1963 mini series. By this I mean the interviews are done as if Rick and Steve are actually in the year 1963 and working for a very silver age Marvel like comic company. After these interviews,which includes a pull quote from Alan Moore,we get the next 5 pages of the Horus comic.And that is it. Nope you don't even get the end of the story. The inside back cover is a reprint of the great "Turn your armpits into the best self defense" ads that appeared in at least one issue of the 1963 mini series.

With all the crap between the various creators of the 1963 characters the chances of us ever getting the decades late 1963 annual,that was suppose to wrap up the first storyline. And I doubt we ever see a trade or hardcover collection of this very under rated series. Now one good thing is because this series came out when any comic from Image would have pre-orders in the millions,there is plenty of copies of all 6 issues. I have never seen any of the issues selling for above a buck since 1995. What might be harder to find is this Hero Premiere Edition. The copy I have is the only one I have seen in years. And it and a kind of hard to find ashcan of one of the 1963 issues are the only other pieces of this unsung masterpiece to come out.

Hero Premiere Edition #06 1963 Horus Lord of Light gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 067 Americomics Special #01 Sentinels of Justice

TITLE-Americomics Special #01 Sentinels of Justice
PUBLISHER-AC Comics

Out of all the comics AC/Americomics has put out this has to be the most infamous. The company is pretty much known for their long running Femforce series. But back in the early 80s,cover date August 1983,they got the rights to the Charlton Action Heroes. You know people like Blue Beetle,Captain Atom,Nightshade and The Question. And AC planned on using these four heroes as the building block of their new superhero universe. But ,and the story varies every time I hear it,not long after this issue came out DC comics bought the rights to all the old Charlton properties. So this issue and one other,that was a spotlight on Blue Beetle,were the only things AC did with the Charlton Action Heroes.

So how is the comic? Dan St. John is the writer. And Greg Gulier & Matt "Cynical Man" Feazell handling the art chores. The story reads like Dan had a lot planned out with these heroes. And is pretty much 25 pages of set up. Which sadly leads to nothing.

Like I mentioned in my review of Worlds Unknown #06 there are certain comics I must find in a comic shop or at a con. And this was one of them. I had looked for years. Only finding it once at a con. And the dealer wanting $15 for it. Then back sometime in 2009 or so I was in 5 Alarm Comics in Diberville MS. The owner mentions he had just bought a huge collection. "So there is lots of 80s and 90s indy comics in the cheap bins." He knows my love of 80s and 90s indy superhero comics. And showed me which box of the cheap bins had the start of this new assortment of comics. And after about 5 minutes of flipping thru the box I found this issue and the other AC comic,the one starring Blue Beetle I mentioned earlier. Now normally in the cheap bins if it isn't bagged it is a buck. If it is bagged it is half off the lowest sticker price. This was bagged and I look and the sticker price is $15. With the other issue have a $10 sticker. So I am thinking it is gonna be 12 bucks or so for me to get both. But the owner being the nice guy he is let me have both for a buck a piece.

Americomics Special #01 Sentinels of Justice gets a borrow. Unless you are a huge Charlton Action Heroes fan.

2016 Comic Challenge 066 Worlds Unknown #06

TITLE-Worldss Unknown #06

PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I first became aware of the cult made for tv movie Killdozer sometime in the early 80s. Some UHF channel aired it as their Saturday night horror film showcase. I saw it that one time then forgot about it. Until sometime in the early 90s Killdozer was mentioned as a throwaway gag in an episode of Beavis and Butthead. And if became an obsession with me. I had to find the movie.

While doing some research,was mostly trying to find out if it had ever gotten a VHS release,I discovered it was based on a short story. And Marvel had adapted it for their Worlds Unknown title the same year the made for TV film came out.

So now I had three things to track down. The film,which since it had no VHS release I had to hope some channel would rerun it and I could manage to record it.The short story,which at the time was a bit hard to find. And the issue of the Marvel anthology title that adapted the TV film. 

Now I could have just broke down and ordered the comic from Mile High Comics or one of the other comic shops that advertised in the various comic books I read. But sometimes with certain comics I want to find them live. In other words find them myself in a comic shop or at a con. Not just call a place and order it. 

I looked in comic shops,going from Florida all the way to Texas,used bookstores and various conventions. And never found a copy. I even had the owner of my local comic shop asking customers if they had a copy. Nothing turns up.

We skip ahead about 10 years. I have pretty much forgotten about this comic. I had managed to find someone with a vhs copy of the film. So got that in a trade. And it is pretty entertaining. Thanks to a meteor a bulldozer on a small island construction site becomes sentient. And starts killing people. It is a pretty simple story. But the film is fun. In the way that lots of those 70s era made for TV horror and science fiction films are fun.

It is 2010 and I had given up on finding a copy of Worlds Unknown #06 in the wild. And was about to order it from Mycomicshop,when I see on the Comic Geek Speak forums a member made a post about reading the issue. I made a short reply about how I had been looking for the comic for years and thanking the guy for posting the review.

Back then since I was still using dial up I wouldn't be able to get online until after 10pm and then at most a few days each week. I hadn't been online or to the Comic Geek Speak forums for at least a week,when I sign in and see I have 3 PMs at the CGS forums. The person that had written the review of the comic was offering to mail me the comic for free. I thanked him and offered to pay him for the comic and shipping. He tells me "Nah call it comics karma. I got a comic I paid almost nothing for and I am never gonna read it again. You have the same comic you have been looking for for years. So it is yours. All I ask is next time you got some comics you don't want pass them on to someone for free." And since then I have tried to keep the comic karma thing going. Cause I buy decent amounts of random lots of comics online I end up with lots and lots of copies of various comics I don't want. So I end up making 3 stacks out of them. One stack is family friendly,this stack gets divided between my local hospital's children's ward and a local woman's shelter. Another stack is non-family friendly stuff. Which usually ends up being giving to someone or sold in bulk to comic shops. And the last stack is comics that I know others are looking for so I pass them on to keep comic karma going.

So after at least 2 decades I finally got the Killdozer movie and comic book. The day the comic came in I was excited. I opened the package and the guy had been nice enough to also toss in about 5 other comics and a note "From reading your posts at teh CGS forums figured these other comics are stuff you might enjoy. And remember keep the comic karma going." So I filled my favorite cup with some sweet tea. Grabbed a toy for my dog. Then went out to my back porch. Sat in a chair in the sunlight. And read the comic while my dog chased her toy. How was the comic? Well Dick Ayers does the pencils and Ernie Chan handling the inks. So the art is really good. Gerry Conway wrote the comic. And did a good job adapting it into a comic.But unless you are a Killdozer nut like me. Or just really enjoy all those wack 70s Marvel Horror/Sci Fi anthology titles I would say borrow this unless you find it really cheap.

Worlds Unknown #06 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 065 Batman/TMNT #01

TITLE-Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #01
PUBLISHER-DC Comics/IDW

I wasn't expecting much out of this cross over. Mostly cause I am tired of Batman. Yeah fire up the rage Batfans.

A bunch of labs are being hit by the Foot Clan and Batman and the TMNT are investigating.That is pretty much what story we get.

The art is pretty good. Though I wish Eastman had done more than just the variant cover. Freddie Williams II is a good artist that needs more work.

The story is bare bones. And with this being the first of six issues I expected that somewhat.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #01 gets a borrow.