Saturday, July 16, 2016

2016 Comic Challenge 214 Jughead #07

TITLE-Jughead #07
PUBLISHER-Archie

A new story arch has started. Chip Zdarsky is back writing the issue,but we get a new penciler.Derek Charm handles the pencils. Sure his style is different from Erica Henderson's. It actually looks closer to the modern Archie House Style.

It is summer break,and Jughead's Dad wants him to get out of the house and go do something. So after talking to Archie,who is working at the pool as a life guard,they decide to go up to Dilton's cabin and spend a weekend.

They get up there and it looks great. But then they discover that the Mantle family is having a family reunion near the cabin. So to get away from all of them they go on a hike in the woods.

While in the process of getting lost Jughead discovers Archie came along mostly to go check out some girls at an all girls camp near them. This is enough to take the usually peaceful Jughead and cause him to beat the fuck outta Archie.

After their fight they finally realize they are lost. No reception on their cell phones. Jughead has little to no outdoors skills,and Archie isn't much better.

This is a nice change of pace from the first 6 issues. Hell for a bit I thought this might be a 1 issue long story.

Jughead #07 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 213 Blue Bolt Volume 07 Issue #02




TITLE-Blue Bolt Volume 07 issue #02
PUBLISHER-Novelty Press

I got this issue at the same time as the other issue of Blue Bolt. Now the cover up at the top is from the scan of the issue at the Digital Comics Museum. Here is mine.


As you can see their copy is in much better shape. I did post both my issues covers at their forum. Mentioned what I paid and got told I got a good deal normally it would be 2 to 3 times what I paid per issue for the shape my copies are in.

But back to the cover. Pretty sure that is Blue Bolt with the blonde hair and red hat on the cover. As I said in the other issue review by this time Blue Bolt had gotten rid of his costume and his powers.This cover is signed by Tom Gill. Never heard of him before but I do like this cover. Hell my copy is already framed and hanging on my wall.

This issue starts off with the first part of a new Dick Cole story. Him and Simba Karno are going with Ted Todley to an island in the Caribbean.Where Ted's millionaire father has a castle.

Jim Wilcox handles the art chores and it is damn good. This feels a bit like a slightly longer weekly comic strip.

Krisko and Jasper are dog catchers. And this is a fairly short humor strip. The humor has aged fairly well. The art is by Jack A Warren,no clue who that is,but it looks decent for the era and a comedy strip.

Blue Bolt is now a pilot for a magazine. And this is a storyline called "Mystery of the Vanishing Totem Poles".Tom Gill handles the art. I like that this is set iin British Columbia.

Sniffy is a one page gag strip about what appears to be a homeless mutt of a dog. Think Benji's great great grandfather. The strip is signed by a Milt Hammer. I guess that is who wrote and drew it. But that is just a guess.

Up next is Fearless Fellers. A boy gang strip. Kind of like say the Newsboy Legion or any of the other youth gang strips Kirby created. No clue who does this. The art is decent. I was a bit surprised at how ,considering the time this issue came out in,good the one African-American member of the Fellers is written. But then there is the villains in this issue. Who are all Chinese. With yellow skin. And all the other racial tropes of that time.

Now it's time for my favorite strip in this issue. Sergeant Spook art by Don Rico. This ghost cop fights crime with the help of his living teenage sidekick. In these later issues of Blue Bolt Sergeant Spook is the closest you will get to a real superhero. The art is really good. I like the story. But your enjoyment of it will depend on how much you can handle all the golden age comic cliches.

Edison Bell is a Tom Swift like boy genius. It has no signature,but whoever did the art well... it is the worst of the art in this issue. It isn't bad really. But it has this flat plain look that some Golden Age art will have.

After that there is a one page Sniffy strip and a few ads and the issue is over. 52 pages,including covers,for 10 cents back then. Shit I got this for less than a 50 page comic from DC or Marvel would cost you now.

So is it worth buying? For me it is. Even though I can goto Digital Comics Museum----Free public domain comic scans and download a legal scan of the entire issue,the comic geek in me just gets too much enjoyment of owning a comic that is 70 years old.

Blue Bolt volume 07 issue #02 gets a buy.