2016 Comic Challenge 251 Alien Encounters #04

TITLE-Alien Encounters #04
PUBLISHER-Eclipse comics

I love anthology comics. And this is one of the best 80s Sci Fi anthology titles. Originally it was published by Pacific Comics. Until the name Alien Worlds.When Pacific went under Eclipse brought it back under a new name.

This issue has 3 stories. And they are a nice blend of various sub genres of Science Fiction. You get a serious story,followed by a comedy story,followed by a story that would have fit perfectly in Weird Science from EC.

Of course this being an anthology title you never knew from issue to issue how it would be. This issue turned out to be damn good. With the great Gardener Fox writing one of the stories.

Alien Encounters #04 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 194 Miracleman #024

TITLE-Miracleman #024
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Yeah the final,as of the writing,part published of the Miracleman The Silver Age story line.This is actually my 3rd copy of this comic. Got it the first time when it came out. Then lost that copy in a fire. Then right at 6 years ago got lucky and a comic shop I use to goto often had a bunch of Eclipse "File copy" issues for sale. And the owner cut me a great deal. Considering that back then it looked like this issue would never be reprinted. So it was selling for a big amount,since being the final issue and coming out right before Eclipse went under the print run is fairly small. I still have that copy. Now this 3rd copy .... well I guess the patron Saint of Geekdom smiled on me about a month ago.

We recently got a gaming/card/comic shop in town.Sure it is more gaming and cards than comics. But they got about 10 longboxes of buck comics. I was digging through them and saw the above comic. I looked at it closely and while it isn't Mint is is pretty close. I thought,ok this was put in here on accident,and once I get to the counter he is gonna tell me it is way more than a buck. I grab a few more comics. Head to the counter. And as he is going through my stack of dollar comics I said "Yeah was surprised to find the Miracleman issue in the cheap bins. We both know it is worth a bit more than a buck," He just looked at me and kept counting the dollar books. So yep got the above copy for a buck,

Under that gorgeous Barry Windsor Smith cover is a story of Young Miracleman trying adjust to the new world. Plus the revelation that Young Miracleman was/is sexually attracted to Miracleman. The latter plot point had been hinted at as far back as the early issues with Moore writing the series. Kind of neat that Neil Gaiman took something that was pretty much a throwaway line and made it a major part of his second story arch on the title.

What surprises me is even though sometime soon,if not already,this issue is getting reprinted by Marvel.The Eclipse version has still held onto most of it's value.

So yeah unless you are one of those comic fans that can't handle having how childish and cliche most superhero comics are pointed out to ya,this is an issue and a series that is must read.

Miracleman #024 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 191 Bissette & Veitch's Fear Book #01

TITLE-Bissette&Veitch's Fear Book #01
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Wow this was a great cheap bin discovery.For 4 years at Coast Con I had a guy that would bring between 12 to 20 longboxes. All packed with 70s thru early 2000s stuff. Lots of 80s indy stuff. And if you bought a bunch he would really cut ya a deal. So I grabbed this and stuck it in the to read pile.

Now if this just was a bunch of Steve Bissette written or drawn short horror stories it would be great. Same if you replaced Bissette with Rick Veitch. But nope this is even better. And I do wonder if this might become one of those books that goes from the cheap bins to being 20 bucks once word gets out. Jovial Bob Stine and Jane Stine written most of the stories. Bob Stine is better known as R.L.Stine of Goosebumps fame.

So I read through what is 12 or so 2 or 3 page horror stories,and then find a multipage text piece on where all this came from. Seems Schoolastic had a mag in the late 70s thru early 80s called Weird Worlds. And each issue had a few page long horror comic. Using at the time current students at the Joe Kubert School. Which of course Bissette and Veitch were part of the first class.

So unless something has changed this is a great collection of what has to be some hard to find fun horror comics.

Bissette&Veitch Fear Book #01 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 178 Airboy #05

TITLE-Airboy #05
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Years and years ago when I discovered the cheap bins in comic shops,back when cheap bins were either 10 cents a comic or maybe 25 cents a comic,this issue of Airboy was one I grabbed for cheap. Just goes to show you what a good cover will do. And this cover is done by the late great Dave Stevens,RIP Sir RIP.

Of course over the years I lost that copy. But I keep finding more copies in cheap bins or flea markets. Got the one pictured above for a quarter.

The story is pretty good. The Airboy of this series is the son IIRC of the Golden Age Airboy. And this is the first time in this series that the old Golden Age enemy/friend Valkyrie appears.

And yeah the comic has good art,that sadly pales when compared to the cover.Plus the story is well written. But honestly I picked this up again just cause of the cover. I have started framing various comics to hang on my walls and this was one I had to have for framing.

Airboy #05 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 161 Miracleman #01

TITLE-Miracleman #01
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Having recently found a second copy of issue #24 of this series I wanted to go back and start reading it again from the beginning. Sure I could read those nice new reprints from Marvel,which while very nice have way to high a cover price.But instead I dug out the old Eclipse run.

Coming out in the summer of 85 I was fairly young when Eclipse started publishing this UK series. Thankfully the comic shop I went to was run by a guy who had lived most of his life right outside Blackpool. So his shop always had copies of 2000 AD and even Warrior. Which back in the mid 80s wasn't that common.Around the time issue 3 hit the stands I was in the comic shop. I had 3 bucks left over after grabbing my normal monthly stack,and the owner handed me issues 1 and 2 of Miracleman. From then until it ended when Eclipse went under I read every issue.

Starting off with a reprinted 60s story of Mike Moran and the rest of the Miracle Family,by chapter 2 we are in 1983 England. Mike is a freelance reporter that is having the same dream over and over. After he is taken hostage by some terrorist at a nuclear plant,Mike remembers the magic word that turns him into Miracleman. And for the first time this world has a legit superhero.

Moore took a character that is basically the bastard grandson of Superman and made him into a much more nuanced and thought out person that Supers has ever been.And even in this first issue there are pieces of what Moore kept doing and brought to the forefront of the comic issues later. The idea that superhero comics are a very childish genre. And in the early 80s and hell even now most of the superhero comics published are written to appeal to kids/middle age man childs. These are reasons I think that some people hate this series. They can't accept that the genre they have loved since they were kids is at it's very core kind of silly and stupid. But being the great writer he is Moore manages to take this childish genre and by injecting a bit of realism make it into something that broke most of the genre rules. And by the end of his run a title that was more science fiction/religious based than just a silly comic with guys in colorful tights punching each other.

Right now is the best time since the early 90s to get into Miracleman. Marvel has reprinted most of the 24 issues Eclipse put out. And what isn't reprinted currently will be out soon. Plus finally Neil Gaiman,he took over the writing of the series after Moore left,will be able to finish his 2 and 3rd stories lines.


Miracleman #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 041 Mr Monsters 3D Hi-Octane Horror #01

TITLE-Mr. Monster's 3D Hi-Octane Horror #01
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

In the mid 80s Michael T Gilbert took his Mr Monster comic book and started putting old pre-code horror comics in the backs of lots of the issues. This must have done well,cause not to long later it spun off into the Mr Monster Super Duper Specials. With most issues of  the specials focusing on a genre. I actually discovered Mr Monster cause of these specials. I was in a comic shop in Mobile Alabama. And was digging thru the cheap bins,which were 25 cents a comic. Ended up with a Mr Monster comic reprinting lots of crime comics. I loved it and have slowly over the past 25 years managed to get every issue.

In 2008 Mile High Comics was having a big sale. Which is the only time I will buy from them. Mostly cause their prices are usually way high. But when they have a sale you can get stuff for a good price. I was on  a 3D comic kick. And saw not only did Mile High have the 3D horror issue of Mr Monster.But it was extremely cheap.  I of course bought it.

So how is the comic? It starts off with a 3 page intro with Mr Monster and his lady Kelly. Then we get the first pre-code story. Which is Joe Kubert's Picture of Evil. A story that according to some sources is the first horror comic story in 3D. Being a fan of Mr Kubert I loved this story.

The second story, The Damned, is the only original story in the comic. Written and drawn by Gilbert,it is a neat exercise in graphic storytelling.

The final story is a classic from the late Bob Powell,Until I started getting all the various public domain comic reprints that Eclipse put out I had never heard of Mr Powell. And "The Blind,The Doomed and the Dead!" is classic Powell. Great artwork  and a great story. With your kind of standard horror comic twist at the end.

After the Powell story we get a one page wrap up from Gilbert.Followed by a letters page. I so miss comic book letter pages. As a kid and a teen I would write into my favorite comics. And the first thing I would do when I got my new comics was flip to the letters page and see if my letter got published.

Unlike lots of the comics I have reviewed this year,this one isn't a cheap find. To get a mint copy with the 3D glasses you are gonna have to spend at least $5 if not more. If you are a fan of pre-code horror comics this is totally worth tracking down.

Mr Monster's 3D Hi-Octane Horror #01 gets a BUY!