2016 Comic Challenge 282 What If? Volume 02 #16

TITLE-What If volume 02 #16
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Ahh I so love What If. So it is a title I will grab anytime I find issues for cheap. Got this one at the local comic shop.It had been put into the cheap bins. So while digging through stacks of mid 90s glut stuff I found not only this issue but a small stack of Conan I didn't own.

The story starts off back during Uncanny X-men #137. While the X-men are fighting the Imperial Guard,to decide to fate of Jean "Phoenix" Grey. This happens on the part of the moon that the Watcher lives in. So during that original story Wolverine fell into a dimensional door and thanks to the Watcher breaking his code,Wolvie made it back and managed to get Jean back in charge of her body long enough for her to kill herself.

But in another world,Wolverine fell through a door on the moon and ended up back in the time of Conan the Barbarian. So that is the premise for this issue.

Wolvie and Conan of course meet up and have a battle,can't have some Marvel heroes meet up for the first time without them fighting can we?

After the battle Wolvie joins up with Conan and Red Sonja and they have an adventure. A pretty decent one to be honest.

Then at the end of the adventure Conan falls into a wizard's pool,which transports him back to the modern day,well the modern day of Uncanny #137,and since Wolvie isn't there to get Jean to take control of her body from the Phoenix Force,well Jean goes full on Phoenix Force and it looks like that world is doomed.

I have never heard of any of the creative team. But from what I have heard What If was used a bunch of the time as tryouts for new talent.Got Glenn Herdling doing the story.Gary Kwapisz on pencils. Ian Akin on inks. Yep no one I have heard of before.

What If volume 02 #16 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 281 Ghostly Tales #147

TITLE-Ghostly Tales #147
PUBLISHER-Charlton

Pretty sure I grabbed this at an auction almost 10 years ago. Grabbed it back then cause I was pretty sure from a quick glance that the cover was by Steve Ditko. And I was right. By this time,cover date March 1981,Ghostly Tales was pretty much all reprints. The cover is from issue 118. And the interior stories seem to be reprinted from issue 116.

We get three stories. Up first  is one written by Joe Gil and Sanho Kim handles the pencils and inks. It is serviceable and that is about it.The middle story has no credited writer,but the pencils and inks are by Steve Ditko. For that alone it is worth buying this comic.The final story has Joe Gil back writing.Then Bill Fraccio doing pencils and inks.

Outside of the Ditko cover and story this isn't anything special. But for those two things alone it is worth grabbing if you find it cheap. Sadly over the past 5 years I have seen the prices on all Charlton comics go up a bit.

Ghostly Tales #147 gets a Buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 280 Graphic Classics H.P.Lovecraft

TITLE-Graphic Classics H.P.Lovecraft Revised Second Edition
PUBLISHER-Eureka Productions

Look at that cover! When I saw that cover I couldn't pass up this collection. Then I glanced at the list of talent on the bottom of the cover,saw Richard Corben and I knew I had to have this.

I first discovered the Graphic Classics series at my local library. I had been getting lots of comic trades thru inter-library loan,so the head librarian decided to order a few to see if there was enough interest to have some on the shelves. She ordered 3 or 4 volumes of the Graphic Classics line. Where they take classic,and also public domain,stories and make them into comics. I had read and enjoyed a horror collection and one of Poe stories so seeing there was one for Lovecraft I had to order it.

Under that stunning Giorgio Comolo cover,which I must assume is what Mr Comolo thinks Cthulu looks like,is 7 of Lovecraft's tales. Each drawn by different artists.The three that really stand out are.
The Shadow over Innsmouth which is adapted by Alex Burrows and beautifully drawn by Simon Gane.Dreams in the Witch House,adapted by Rich Rainey and Pedro Lopez handles the art chores.Then the best piece in the book,Herbert West:Reanimator.Tom Pomplun hands adapting Lovecraft's serial to the comic form. It is broken up into 4 chapters with a different artist doing each chapter. So you got people like Richard Corben,Rick Geary,J.B.Bonivert and Mark A.Nelson doing the art.

Really if you love Lovecraft and love comics this is a nice and affordable addition to your collection. This Revised second edition claims to have 75 new pages. So that is nice.

Graphic Classics H.P.Lovecraft Revised Second Edition gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 279 Hate #12

TITLE-Hate #12
PUBLISHER-Fantagraphics Books

Yeah I know should have done this issue before the last review. But they were not in order in my comic box.

In this issue Buddy and Lisa,his crazy girlfriend,decide to buy a table at a convention. And we get Bagge's satire and loving tribute to 90s comic cons. Back before they got invaded by pop culture people and it was 30 bucks to take a pic with your own camera.

The main plot is Buddy trying to get Lisa to use her status as female at a con to sell more stuff. And well since it is Lisa it doesn't work. Then Buddy runs into his nemesis Yahtze,yeah that is the guy's nickname. Yahtze is your normal early 90s bootleg VHS dealer at a con. Piles and piles of horror and cult movies that at the time hadn't gotten a legit release on any home media. So why Yahtze and Buddy are trying to show how macho they are Lisa sneaks over and steals a few shopping bags full of Yahtze's more than likely over priced tapes.  Of course once Buddy and his lady get home they settle down to watch some of these tapes,when Yahtze shows up demanding money. Lisa grabs a bat and lets her inner crazy out and in the process destroys all the tapes. So Yahtze leaves,swearing revenge,and Buddy is bummed out. Until they find that one tape didn't get destroyed so they lay down on the mattress on the floor to watch some old 60s movie.

Bagge as you can tell had been to many cons. And gets all the great parts and all the crappy parts exactly right.

Hate #12 gets a Buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 278 Hate #13

TITLE-Hate #13
PUBLISHER-Fantagraphics Books

Ahhhh Hate,the perfect 90s indy comic.Peter Bagge,who wrote and drew Hate,had a way of being about 2 years ahead of mainstream pop culture back then. And being in my teens then early 20s during the 30 issue run of this title I was the perfect audience for Bagge's extremely funny and somethings thought provoking series.

On the cover we got the lead,Buddy Bradley,as a voodoo doll. And the guy holding the doll is Buddy's ex-roommate George Cecil Hamilton the Third.Who if I recall correctly hadn't appeared in Hate in at least a year or two,at the time Hate came out 4 to 5 times a year.

Buddy learns that George has kind of slandered Buddy in the newest issue of his zine. So Buddy tracks him down to find out why. And learns that George is now living with a wealthy woman. Who takes care of George and pays to publish his zine.

Now I know that Hate is very much linked to the decade it came out in. I wonder sometimes how much appeal it would have to someone who didn't live thru the late 80s thru the 90s. I am sure lots of the jokes and references will go over anyone who wasn't around then's head.

Hate #13 gets a Buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 277 Nevada #01

TITLE-Nevada #01
PUBLISHER-Vertigo an imprint of DC Comics

Look at that cover. You got the Vegas lights,and Egyptian themed dancing girl and a fucking ostrich.When I walked into Lynn's Comics in Nederland Texas back in the spring of 98 and saw the cover I knew I was gonna buy it. Then I look close,Steve Gerber is the writer. And Gerber is a writer that should be mentioned whenever people are talking about the best comic writers of all time. But sadly that rarely happens. Honestly before reading this issue I knew nothing about the cover artist and interior penciler Phil Winslade.I do love his art.

The story is fairly simple. A Vegas showgirl,who has a pet ostrich,is the only thing that can prevent the end of the world. Someone is killing people in Vegas in really weird ways.

For me the back story to this series is as good if not better than the series. Back when Gerber was writing Howard the Duck he got way behind on his deadline. So one issue of Howard was just huge blocks of text with various artists doing pictures to go along with theses walls of text. One page had a Vegas showgirl an ostrich and an evil lamp all fighting.The story is for years Neil Gaiman begged Gerber to tell him more of the story of the showgirl,lamp and ostrich.So right at 20 years later we got the 6 issue Nevada series from Vertigo.

Anyways if you like Gerber grab a trade of this series.I doubt it is that expensive,and it is worth it for the art alone.

Nevada gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 276 Star Wars Droids #06

TITLE-Star Wars Droids #06
PUBLISHER-Star Comics an imprint of Marvel

In 86 Marvel's kid's line started up two Star Wars titles,Ewoks and Droids. Both of which seemed to be based on the cartoons of the same names.Years ago I found the above pictured issue in a cheap bin. I think I paid a buck.

It is the first part of a 3 parter. Which ended up being the final story arch in the Marvel Droids comic.In this arch we get the story of New Hope,but this time told from the POV of C-3PO and R2-D2.

This first issue is the only issue I have read of this comic.It isn't bad. Ernie Colon does the pencils,Marie Severin handles the inks and Dave Manak mans the writing.

Star Wars Droids #06 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 275 Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #27

TITLE-Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #27
PUBLISHER-Marvel

This beat but complete comic is one that I just kind of lucked into.Right at 10 years ago I was at a local auction,one that never had comics. And a guy tosses up 5 stacks of comics. Asking $5 for each stack. Each stack was about 40 issues but looked to mostly be 90s glut crap from Marvel and DC.No one was bidding so he dropped it to 3 a stack,no bids so asked for an offer. I said I give him 10 bucks for all 5 stacks and after some back and forth paid 13 bucks for what ended up being about 250 comics. In that stack of lots of glut crap was this issue.

So what makes this issue stand out from any other late 70s Marvel Spidey comic? Besides that really neat Dave Cockrum and Al Milgrom cover? Lets check the interior credits.

Hmm Bill Mantlo is the writer,and who is this as guest penciler? Frank Miller.... Yep so this has a cover date of Feb 78,which means it more than likely hit the stands in late 77. Which makes it the first time Frank Miller drew Daredevil!

I had heard of this issue for years. And even owned it 2 times before. But never read it. Mostly cause of fear of damaging it and I had gotten copies planning on selling them later on for a profit. But with the shape this copy is in,which even in this beat up shape checking the big two online retailers of comics it is still worth a few bucks,I finally read it.

Well after after almost 30 years of hype it doesn't live up to it. Sure it is kick ass to see early Miller art on not only Daredevil but also Spider-Man. And Mantlo does a decent job with the story. But for the price this issue sells for ,unless you luck out and get a beat up copy,it really isn't worth getting.

Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #27 gets a Borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 274 Southern Bastards #15

TITLE-Southern Bastards #15
PUBLISHER-Image

Picking up after the end of the last story,the Running Rebs are trying to deal with their devastating loss last issue.

One of the coach's guys offers to take a few of the players over to an opposing teams home,beat the fuck out of him and make it look like a robbery. Coach turns this down,proving my point that in small southern towns High School Football on Friday night is the true Sabbath.

The Rebs think they are ready for their next game. Then get their asses handed to them again. So Coach makes a call and seems the "robbery" plan is in motion.

On the other side we keep seeing Roberta in the background all over the issue. At the end when Coach grabs Roberta's father's old stick it looks like next issue will start with a fight.

The delay this time thankfully wasn't that long. Art and story are as great as they have always been.

Southern Bastards #15 gets a Buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 273 Code Name Danger #02

Never heard of this comic before finding it.Seems it was a bi-monthly title from Lodestone Publishing. Who I only know cause they published an issue or two of Evangeline.

We start off finding out an elaborate hoax behind the hijacking of the QEII.And some guy,no clue who he is suppose to be is asked to recapture the boat,free the hostages and capture the enemies alive.

Our lead,I am again assuming this ,gets chewed out by some blonde lady cause the day of the mission is also tennis night. But then she quickly gets un-mad and leads him to a double page spread of what I assume is screens. Each with people that could go on the mission to free the QEII.

They pick out the team,with the lady complaining about some guy with electromagnetic powers. Paul Makor,our lead I finally learn his name, goes and gets the plans for the QEII.While off in Toronto we get to finally meet Captain Energy. Who is the previous mentioned person with electromagnetic powers. Paul shows up to recruit him for the mission and the Captain agrees.

The rest of the team gets recruited and they go and sneak on the shit. The rest of the issue deals with the mission and the fall out when the New York Post reveals the hijacking was a hoax.

I am thinking I got this for 50 cents at a junkstore a few towns over. And for that price it was worth it.Kyle Baker does the pencils and inks. And they look good. One thing that kind of hurt this comic was it was very very dialogue heavy. Plus pretty much every recruitment sequence was the same.

Code Name Danger #02 gets a borrow.