2016 Comic Challenge 231 Mortar Man #01

TITLE-Mortar Man #01
PUBLISHER-Marshall Comics

Found this one recently in the cheap bins. It was a buck and I had never heard of the title,the artist,writer or even the publisher.

The cover,and that it came out in 1993,makes me think this is another tiny indy trying to start their own superhero universe. On the back cover we got the lead villain of this issue,the Rotten Apple. Of course that is our titular hero on the front cover.

So I start reading the issue expecting something like I would get from Dagger comics,who besides me remembers them?,or maybe Lightning Comics. A badly drawn and written cash grab at the comic boom. Nope instead I get a fairly well written and very very well drawn satire of superhero comics. Mortar Man relies on various grenades. Some cause him to fly others just explode. The drawback is they all look the same so he never knows what he is using. The Rotten Apple is a great arch-villain. Think a slightly silly Dr Doom.

I am kind of wondering if maybe this was written and drawn years before it got published. One of the reasons is this came out at the height of the Image craze,where comics were lucky to have 3 panels on a page.But in Mortar Man #01 most of the pages have 6 to 9 panels. It really reads and looks like one of the many superhero satire books on the 80s B/W indy comic boom.

Since I found this in the dollar bins,I am gonna guess it shouldn't be hard to find it cheap. And really if you find it for cover price or less and enjoy satire it is worth grabbing.

Mortar Man #01 gets a buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 230 Famous Funnies #151

 TITLE-Famous Funnies #151
PUBLISHER-Eastern Colour Printing

This is another of my recent cheap Golden Age comic finds.I remembered the name Famous Funnies,IIRC it was one of the earliest comic series,so when I saw how cheap it was I had to get it.

Like lots of early comics this is mostly reprints of newspaper comics. It starts with some Buck Rogers strips. Credited to Pick Calkins and Rick Yager. I never really had read much of Buck Rogers ,as a kid we got Flash Gordon in the paper not Buck. The art is OK but the strips are still enjoyable.

The next story to catch my attention was Invisible Scarlet O'Neil.Scarlet was one of the first if not the first super powered heroines. It is nice to finally be able to read one of her adventures after years of hearing about them. I love the art on this story.

And the final story to catch my attention is Scorchy Smith.While the story is kind of average comic strip adventure story,the art makes it stand out. Never heard of Scorchy before reading this issue,and honestly I doubt I would read another of his adventures. But if I find one and it has the same artist I would enjoy looking at the art.

Overall this was a decent issue. The few bucks I paid for it was worth it for the Buck Rogers and Invisible Scarlet O'Neil stories. Now if you can't find a copy for cheap I would tell ya to skip this issue.

Famous Funnies #151 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 229 Dark Horse Presents 100 (1 of 5)

TITLE-Dark Horse Presents 100 (1 of 5)
PUBLISHER-Dark Horse Comics

I love anthology titles.And over the decades of comic collecting I have found out that Dark Horse Presents offers usually the best deal.

Lets start with that cover. Mimi Rodin is by Dave Stevens and it looks gorgeous like pretty much anything the late Mr Stevens drew. The right side is the front cover. Which has Lance Blastoff fighting a dinosaur. Drawn by Frank Miller,to me it looks great.

Pretty sure this issue is bigger than a normal issue of DHP. So that means we get 7 stories.

Up first is a Lance Blastoff story by Miller.It is short but looks great. I have always preferred Miller's art in black and white.

Heartbreakers is a decent science fiction story.Pretty art and a decent story. From a few things in the story I found out the Heartbreakers appeared years ago in DHP.

Ninth Gland is decent.But it isn't anything I will bother to read again.

Aboard the drinking Leviathan by Jon Lewis is a fun story set in some woods. A turtle is talking to what I assume is a possum. THey start to share stories about drinking and waking up in odd places. This was a neat change of pace from all the more serious stories so far.

I was pretty happy when I saw that there was a Milk and Cheese story in this issue. Sadly it is one I read before,I think it was in Milk and Cheese's 666 issue. Still it is great like pretty much everything Milk and Cheese.

The finaly story is a one pager. Art and words by Dave Stevens. It is about Mimi Rodin. The art is nice,but the story is not needed.

Dark Horse Presents 100 one of five gets a buy.