Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Golden age reprints 03


Issue 3 of the Mr Monster Super Duper Special series. This issue is focused on the crime comics of the golden age. Added bonus is every story has wonderfull Jack Cole artwork. Cole is now mainly known as the creator of Plastic Man. "Murder Morphine and me" has the infamous needle to the eye panel,that gained fame thanks to "Seduction of the Innocent". Nice quick little story that is helped along by the amazing artwork. Up next is "Demons Dance on Galloway Moor" decent story,but the story is outshined by the art. Finally is "A Match For Satan" a story about a criminal who has the gimmick of always having a matchstick in his mouth. This smooth talking guy manages to talk his way outta jail time many times. But finally he gets sentanced to the electric chair. Neat panel at the end that has him being fried by the chair and his ever present matchstick also lights up. Ended up paying $2 for this,but it was so worth it. I wish more fans knew who Jack Cole is. 9.5 outta 10.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I love me some Secret Origins 02


Secret Origins was a mid 80's DC series that I have loved since it started. Each issue would have 1 or more origins of various heroes/heroines. The issue I am talking about this time is issue 5. It has the origin of the Crimson Avenger,who at the time this issue was published was considered the first true super hero in the DC universe. Written by Roy and Dann Thomas and with beautiful art by Gene Colon,this issue was such a hit that soon after its publication DC released a Crimson Avenger mini series. CA is a very pulpish hero in the shadow/spider/grey ghost/etc tradition. Fighting crime with a gun and a mean right hook,he is a hero for a simpler time. Since this story has great writing and AMAZING art I will give it my first 10 outta 10.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I love me some Secret Origins 01


Animal Man is one of my most loved DC heroes. I first saw him in the Who's Who series in the 80's. I managed to track down some of his appearances. Then the Grant Morrison series started up and it became my favorite DC title for it's entire run. Animal Man is Buddy Baker a man who is exposed to a mysterious ray from a UFO. He acquires the ability to absorb the natural abilities of any animal that is with in his range. What makes me love Buddy so much is he is a working class hero. He has a family,wife and two kids. He works as a stunt man ,since heroes don't get paid. And he questions the whole superhero shtick.Then there is Man-Bat a Batman foe who at one time in the 70's managed to get his own title for a short run. He is a scientist who is experimenting with bats to see if it can repair his damaged hearing. Instead he mutates into a half man half bat. More of a tragic hero than a villain he has fought Batman many times,with most stories ending with him being cured. But the cures always last until he is needed again for a story.The Man-bat origin is written by Jan Strnad aka J.Knight and has art by Kevin Nowlen. Where as the Animal Man origin is written by Grant Morrison with art by Tom Grumett. Both of who were the creative team on the Animal Man series that was running at this time. The Animal Man origin is the better of the two art wise and story wise,but the Man-Bat one is still pretty good.8 outta 10

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Golden age reprints 02

Ahh the second issue in the Eclipse series Mr Monsters Super Duper Special. This one focuses on public domain horror stories. First up is "The Secret Files of Dr. Drew: Leo's Ghost" written by Marilyn Mercer and art by Jerry Grandenetti. While not the worst horror comic story I have ever read this one wasn't that great. Next up is "The Man Who Never Smiled" written by and art by Basil Wolverton. Great little short story that has a twist ending that even though I saw it coming was still fun. Plus you can never go wrong with Basil Wolverton artwork. "The Metamorphosis of the Gkmloooms" written by unknown and art by George Evans. Again this story isn't the worst but is far from the best. Thanks to middle of the road stories and one great Basil Wolverton one I can't highly recomend this comic. It is another of my dollar bin finds and even then I feel like I paid about 50 cents too much. 5 outta 10.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Golden age reprints 01


Mr Monster was a semi-popular indy hero in the mid 80's. Eclipse decieded to have him host a series that was gonna reprint alot of public domain comic stories from the golden age. This was the first issue in what ended up being called Mr Monster's Super Duper Special. It reprints in 3-d,two stories that were printed in 3-D a long time ago. "Picture of Evil" is a story with art by Joe Kubert,sadly the writer's identity has been lost. Interesting story that is helped out alot by the amazing Joe Kubert art which really pops in 3-D.The next and only non-reprint story is "The Damned" is both written and drawn by Michael T. Gilbert,who is also the creative force behind Mr Monster. This story is like an acid trip gone bad in 3-D. Finally we get to the last story which is another reprint."The Blind, the Doomed -- and the Dead" another great slice of golden age 3-D horror goodness. The art is by Bob Powell,and again sadly the writer's name is lost to the sands of time. I managed to find a copy of this somewhat uncommon issue for a buck. But it didn't have the 3-D glasses,luckily I had also picked up the "Friday the 13th 3-d" dvd so I used the glasses from it. Over all this comic is worth searching out,and if you can find it with the glasses I can see spending as much as $4 for it. But if it is missing the glasses don't pay more than a buck. 8 outta 10.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog. I have been a comic collector over 30 years. I am also a huge fan of cult/horror/sci fi fiction in any form. This Blog is mainly a place to house my various reviews. Hope yall enjoy it.