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.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 091 Infinite Crisis

TITLE-Infinite Crisis
AUTHOR-Geoff Johns
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-10 bucks

In 2005 DC started this series. Which is a sequel to the 80s classic Crisis on Infinite Earths. I would listen to the reviews of each issue on the Comic Geek Speak podcast. Then at a con found the trade for about $5 off cover. Grabbed it. But almost didn't,mostly cause I am not a big fan of Geoff Johns. In lots of ways his writing reminds me of Peter David. And I do not like Peter David's comic work. But since this was a sequel to one of my favorite big comic book events I felt like I needed to read it.

This trade reprints issues 1 thru 7 of the Infinite Crisis mini series. And includes all the alternative covers. Some of which are from Jim Lee. I have always said Lee is a great artist for cover,posters and pinups. But that his storytelling skills are lacking. The cover you see above is from Jim and it looks damn good.

So what is the story? Well cause of a recent reveal ,that the JLA mindwiped some stuff from various villains and Batman's minds,Batman is now refusing to work with any other hero. To save the world Wonder Woman had to kill a man which was broadcast world wide. And something has attacked the JLA HQ and almost killed the Martian Manhunter.

SPOILERS BELOW YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

So what has happened is this. At the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths all the alternate Earths in the DC multiverse got merged into one. And so that meant no more 2 Supermans and various other things. The Superman of Earth 2,which is the one that appeared in Action Comics #1,along with Earth 2's Lois Lane,Alexander Luthor of Earth 3,a world where all the heroes are villains and vice versa,along with the Superboy of Earth Prime all are shuttled off to a pocket universe. Where they are suppose to live in peace for eternity.

What wasn't known was they could see what was happening on this new merged Earth. And after seeing how dark the heroes have gotten Superman and the others come to believe if they can bring their old world back it will correct this.

Now to me this entire series was Geoff Johns kind of crapping on all the bad ripoffs that happened after Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen were such huge hits not long after Crisis on Infinite Earths ended.And I kind of agree with Johns on this. I don't mind so called dark or edgy heroes,hell one of my favorite comics of all time is Miracleman,but most of the ripoffs of DKR and Watchmen missed what made those two series so good. It wasn't that they were so dark and gritty. It was how each writer took the common superhero tropes and used them in new ways.

So how is this 7 issues collection? I enjoy it a bunch. I got it back in 2008 and since then usually read it once a year. The writing it pretty good for the most part. There is a few too many storylines that sadly do not get enough room to breathe.And the art is really good on most pages.And as a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths it works very well. Even if by the time I read this I knew all the big reveals and surprises.

Infinite Crisis gets a B.

I love the cheap bins 01

Americomics Special #1

Sentinels of Justice

published by AC Comics in 1983

Written by Dan Saint John

Art by Greg Guler

Backgrounds by Matt Feazell

This is one of two issues published by AC comics in the early 80's that features the old Charlton Action Heros. In this issue Blue Beetle,Ted Kord,Captain Atom,Nightshade and The Question are the super team Sentinels of Justice. They are called together to meet up with the police commissoner. He tells them about a rash of robberies that all involve alternate forms of energy. So he sends the four masked heroes to protect a new solar battery. Turns out a villian ,The Manipulator,is the mastermind behind these robberies. He has assembled a team consisding of Iron Arms,Fiery-Icer and "the lunatic terrorist group" The Madmen. The next day at Whittier Hall the battery is being shown to the public,Captain Atom and Nightshade are inside in their civilian identities. And Beetle and Question are outside keeping watch. Beetle spots a hovercar,and radios Question and they both head into the hall. An 8 page battle happens with the heroes taking out every villian but the Manipulator. But seems Manipulator has an ace up his sleeve. He presses a button on the cuff of his jacket and The Banshee flys in through a window grabs the Manipulator and flies off. The four heroes try to follow him,but it turns out that Iron Arms isnt as defeated as they thought he was. So they work together to take him out. On the final page we see Manipulator bragging about he has a spy inside the Sentinels of Justice team,and we see a shadowy figure who it turns out is the real lead villain. Sadly we will never find out who this shadowy man is. Since right after this book was finished the Charlton Action Heroes were sold to DC. This was a fun comic. It was the basic first story of a superteam that any comic fan has read many times,but you can see where it has plenty of pontential. The artwork while not the best is still nice and clean. I would have loved to see what AC had planned for futher issues of this title,but that never happened. But since I found this for $1,it is more than worth what I paid. If you are a fan of either the Charlton run of these four heroes,or the later DC run it is worth finding a copy. One thing I liked about it was it was printed on slick paper,but it wasn't the super shiny paper that is used a lot today. Americomics Special #1 gets a 7 outta 10.