TPB winner 04

Animal Man volume 1

Story by Grant Morrison

Art by Chas Truog and Tom Grummett

This is a trade paperback reprinting the first 9 issues of the best series coming out from DC comics in the late 80's. Before this series Buddy Baker AKA Animal Man was a mostly forgetten hero. He has the power to gain the ability of any near by animal. So he can have the strength of a gorilla, or the abiltity to regrown body parts like a lizard.What I love about Buddy is how he is a blue collar hero, since being a superhero doesn't pay that well He does stuntwork to earn money. The comic focuses on Buddy and his family,his wife Ellen,his son Cliff and his daughter Maxine.The first few issues find Buddy coming outta a semi retirement to help out a lab that does tests with animals. He soon finds out that this lab is doing horrible things to their test animals,and with the help of Bwanna Beast,another long forgotten hero,Buddy does his best to correct this wrong doing.These issues also have a funny scene were Buddy comes down stairs in his hero uniform ,but he has a black jacket on top of it. When asked by Ellen why he is wearing the jacket Buddy replies Well I need a place to keep my keys and money,and I feel kinda silly running around in spandex. This small touch is one of many that makes Buddy and his family seem more like real people and not just some charecters in a comic book. After the first animal testing storyline we get a handfull of done in one storys,but there is a underlying story that runs through these issues and many more to come. We see how since Buddy has a connection with animals he becomes a vegaterian,and how he becomes PETA's number 1 hero. We also get to see how Ellen and the kids deal with being the family of a superhero. Issue 5 is the acclaimed "Coyote Gospel" which is a Christ story with a Wile Coyote stand in. This issue is one that divides many people,some people think of it as the best issue of the series,and others hate it with a passion. I will admit that I like it but find it kinda preachy.The trade wraps up with an issue in which Buddy joins Justice League Europe,and since he is now a member of one of the biggest superhero teams,he gets all the perks. Which include a salary,and various home defense devices installed in his home,incase some supervillain wants to get back at buddy by attacking his family. This issue is full of humor and is a nice way to end this trade. One complaint I have heard about this trade is how you can tell it is part 1 of a longer storyline,which it is. But in my eyes it works good as a standalone. The story by Morrison is IMHO some of his best work. I am of the mind that when Morrison is working on a creator owned,or a b-list hero he is one of the best writers out there. But when you put him on an A-list title,he is pure shit. The artwork by Chas Truog for the first 8 issues is nothing to write home about,but isn't bad. It is just average. Issue 9 has very good artwork by Tom Grummett,and this is major step up from the previous 8 issues. The covers are all by Brian Bolland and each one is amazing. I would love to have a book that is just Bolland's various covers for this series,or end a series of posters of these covers. Animal Man Volume 1 gets an A.

Showcasing the Essentials 06

Mad for Decades

Written by Various authors

Art by Various artists

Mad Magazine has been for along time one of my favorite sources of parody and biting social commentary.And this is a hardcover reprint of 5 decades of the magazine.Divided up into 5 chapters,with each chapter focusing on a decade,this book is a good sampler of the best of Mad.It starts in the 50's and has the classic "Lone Stranger","Superduperman","Melvin of the apes" and others.Alot of the parodies in this decade have beautiful artwork by Wally Wood. One standout to me is "Starchie" a very funny parody of the Archie comics. Showing Starchie and Bottleneck as the bad apples most readers of the Archie comics wished they had been.It is full of subversive humor that takes the piss outta the squeeky clean image of the Archie Comics Group. The next chapter is of course the 60's.This is full of great sendups of the hippie culture and the entire Mod movement.My favorite is a great parody of "2001" which is titled "201 minutes of a Space Idiocy",a of course "Bats-man" a humorous take on the sixtie's favorite "Batman" tv show. Well anyone that has enough brains to read would know that the next chapter is the 70's. With many shots taken at disco and all various horrors that made up the 70's this is one of my favorite chapters in this tome.Next up is the chapter on the 80's,which is full of potshots taken at the greed and yuppies of the decade. And finally we close out the book with a chapter on the 90's. From grunge to gangsta rap nothing is left out. All through out the various chapters we get the many long running segments of MAD. Spy vs spy,the lighter side of...,and of course the amazing silent funnys from the man the myth the legend Sergio Aragones.This is a great "toliet" book. And can usually be found at most major bookstores on sale very cheap. Mad for Decades earns a perfect A+.

Showcasing the Essentials 05

Savage Dragon Archives Volume 1

Story and art by Erik Larsen

This is Larsen's version of Marvel's Essential line or DC's Showcase line. It reprints in black and white the original 3 issue Savage Dragon mini and the first 21 issues of the ongoing series. Savage Dragon was and still is the only one of the orignal titles that came outta the beginings of Image that I read consitantly. Dragon is a tall man with green skin and a fin on top of his head. He is found naked in a abandoned lot in Chicago. He has amnesia and can't remember anything about his past,but he seems to have vast knowledge about most things that have happened in the past 20ish years. He is recruited by Frank Darling of the Chicago Police department. The police want him to help combat all the villianous super powered "freaks" that are running rampart in the city.Dragon ends up becoming the city of Chicago's first line of defense against these "freaks".In the 3 issues of the mini and the first 10 or so issues of the ongoing we are introduced to the many heroes and villians that populate Larsen's ficticious version of Chicago.One thing that stands out to me is most of these charecters were all created by Larsen when he was a youngster. Through out this trade Dragon manages to get a group of heroic "freaks" to also join the police force to help his fight against crime. But the restrictive rules and various other things ends up making these various heroes time as cops very short. One very interesting "freak" is Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster, he was created for a "Create your own freak"contest. Jimbo is a Lobster/human hybrid and has a very "colorful" was of speaking. I find it neat that unlike similar contest ran at either Marvel or DC,the creator of Jimbo is the copyright owner. Through out the 24 issues reprinted in this trade we get to meet a buttload of heroes/villians. Some standouts are Powerhouse,who has the head of a chicken and seems to be Larsen's villianous take on Superman. Overlord,who is the leader of the main gang of "freaks" and is Dragon's arch enemy. Rapture,and electrical powered former hooker who becomes Dragon's girlfriend.She Dragon,who started out as a parody of John Bryne's version of She Hulk,but ends up becoming a well written female hero that hears voices in her head. Super Patriot,a hero from the world war II era ,who after almost dying is now more machine than man. And finally Mighty Man,who shares alot with the Billy Batson version of Captain Marvel. But in this case is a young adult female nurse that turns into a adult male with amazing powers. Some issues that I really enjoyed are issue 3 of the mini series. In this issue Badrock,a member of the government super team Youngblood,attacks Dragon to see if he is tough enough to be a member of Youngblood. After Dragon defeats him,Dragon arrest Badrock and refuses to join Youngblood. Issue 2 of the ongoing series is a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And this is the Mirage version of the turtles,not the pizza eating version that most people are use too. Issue 10 is the first appearance of Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster,and has a Pier 6 brawl between Jimbo and Dragon.Issues 15 and 16 has Dragon possessed by a leech that turns him into a mindless force of nature,and he ends up destroying some building and injuring his partner in the police force. The only real negative to this trade is that since it is in black and white sometimes the artwork is hard to follow. This isn't a huge detriment,but since I had read most of these issues when they first came out it stood out to me. Savage Dragon Archives Volume 1 is a great way to get into the world of the Dragon at a cheap price,and earns a respectable B.

Showcasing the Essentials 04

Predator Omnibus Volume 1

Art by Various
Stories by various

After Dark Horse had a huge hit with their "Aliens" comic line they quickly scooped up the Predator franchise. The first mini is a direct sequel to the first Predator movie. Starring Arnold,He is now back in the city. And lots of strange deaths are happening. Needless to say the Predator is back and he aint happy. The second mini reprinted in this trade is Cold War,which has Arnold out in a cold cold area of Russia,and of course their is another of the Predator species there. There are 5 more stories reprinted in this hefty tome. And overall they are good to very good. The artwork is decent,nothing too flashy. And the writting is way better than most other comics based on movie properties. The trade is smaller than a normal trade,it is about the same size as your standard Manga trade. And since it is in color,the price is around $25. I got it cheaper thru Instocktrades.com. And if i ever find the next volume on sale I will pick it up.Predator Omnibus Volume 1 gets a B.

ET was a good video game Damn IT!!!!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Nintendo DS

I was a big fan of both of the X-men Legends and the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance games. Even if all three were not much more than a updated version of arcade classic Gauntlet with Marvel heroes instead of the standards of fantasy gaming. So when I heard about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 coming out I knew I would have to pick it up. Well turns out the only gaming system I own that it came out for was the DS. I figured no biggie,I play my DS more than any other system I currently own. So off I go to my local Gamestop and after trading in a game that I hated I got this for about $15.First the good things. The graphics and sound is really good for a DS title.All the heroes/villains look like they should.Second the line up consisting of Thor,She Hulk,Iron Man,Sentry,Ms Marvel,Venom,Green Goblin,Hulk,Spider-man,The Thing,Storm,Luke Cage,Captain America,Wolverine and Invisible Woman,is a decent selection of heroes/villains. And there is alot more that you see in the game but can't play as.The storyline which is a mish-mash of the recent Secret war,and Civil War stories from the comics, is not too bad. I also enjoyed that after the first couple of missions you have to choose to be on Iron Man's pro registration side,or Cap's con registration side.The controls are also as good if not better than the previous 3 games in this series. But even with all that is good with this game the negatives far out weigh the positives. First of all there is multiple times were you will walk half way into a wall,or some other thing on the playfield. Second there seems to only be one level of difficulty. And last and the worst is the length of the game,on the first play through I choose Cap's side and it took me about 5 hours total to beat the game. So next play through I choose Iron Man's side and it took about the same amount of time. So to completely play through the game takes around 10 hours tops. Not nearly long enough for a game that retails for around $30.And besides not being able to choose certain heroes/villains there really isn't much difference in the game based on which side you choose. I am currently trying to decide if I should trade this game in,or give it to my cousin's boy who loves the Marvel heroes. So Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the DS gets a C+.

Showcasing the Essentials 03

Showcase Presents Warlord Volume 1

Story by Mike Grell

Pencils by Mike Grell

Warlord was an attempted by DC to cash in on the minor sword and sorcery fad that was happening in comics in the 70's. Marvel had a huge hit on their hands with Conan. Warlord is Travis Morgan a military man who's plane crashes through and open spot in the earth near the north pole,and he ends up in a world that is inside the Earth. Where the sun always shines. Kinda a cheesy concept,but in the capable hands of one Mike Grell it turned into a very long running series. In his first appearance Morgan meets the lovely Tara,a princess of a society that seems to be the most advanced in all of this world. The first 10 or so issues deal with him meeting people and traveling back to Tara's homeland. Along the way he meets up with Machiste,a King of another society,and Mariah,a Russian scientist that follows Morgan back to this hidden land. Early on he faces what would become his arch enemy Demios,a wizard that also knows about a lot of the tech that is laying around. Seems this world was settled by the remnants of the survivors of the lost island of Atlantis. After many adventures Morgan joins back up with Tara to learn that she is with child. And not too long after the child is born it is kidnapped by Demios. This leads to a multi-issue storyline . When Morgan finally confronts Demios,he ends up having to fight to the death with his rapidly aged son. After a long battle Morgan ends up killing his son,and it seems that Demios is dead. But all is not what it seems. Turns out Morgan only killed a clone of his son and the evil Demios is still alive. This Showcase reprints the first appearance of the Warlord,plus the first 28 issues of his series. Along with the good to great stories,it has some simply breathtaking artwork by Mike Grell. Most issues have a two page title splash that is just amazing.I ended up getting this hefty tome in the mail yesterday and read it all in one sitting. And now I can only hope they publish another soon. Showcase Presents Warlord gets a A.

Garth Ennis Mad Irish genius 01

The Boys Volume 1 The name of the game

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Darick Robertson

The Boys is a creator owned series first published by the DC imprint Wildstorm. When it first came out I was not reading many comics and didn't bother to pick it up. Then the series was dropped by Wildstorm.This stirred up a lot of press for the book. And when it was quickly picked up by Dynamite Entertainment ,I went out and bought the first trade. The story is a world were superheroes are real. And there is a team of heroes that are sponsered by the government to keep and eye on the other heroes and make sure they don't get outta control. We start off with Wee Hughie an englishman who looks alot like Simon Peg,he is out enjoying a carnival with his girlfriend when she is accidentlly ran over by a super speed possessing hero who is chasing after a villain. This kills Hughie's girlfriend,and he settles into a deep bout of depression. After a few weeks he is contacted by Billy Butcher,the lead of the BOYS. Butcher has a huge grudge with all the various superheroes,and recruits Hughie to help make sure the heroes stay in line.Hughie agrees to temporarly join the team and meets the other members. Mother's Milk ,who seems to be the most level headed. The Frenchman,a small man who goes into major rages of violence. And The Female,a quiet asian woman who works on the side for various mafia types. This trade reprints the first 6 issues and is mainly about how Hughie decieds to join the team,and his first mission in which they send a warning to a team of super powered teenagers. Turns out this group of teens are sexual deviants and have almost no morals. After a quick fight,The Boys end up beating the shit outta the teens and Hughie accidentlly kills on of the teens. This causes Hughie to have second thoughts about being a member of the team. But thanks to a chance meeting of a cute blonde girl in Central Park ,he agrees to keep working with The Boys. This girl it turns out is the newest member of this universe's version of the JLA. And we see how this JLAish team is also full of some of the most dispicable people. The trade ends with the feeling that eventually The Boys and JLA parody will end up in a huge war. Garth Ennis is one of my fave comic storytellers,ever since I read the first issue of "Preacher" he has been one of the few writers that I will pick up anything he does. And he doesn't dissapoint. The trade is full of the usual Ennis black humor,and of course he street level way with words. Darick Robertson is an artist I hadn't seen much from before,but his art on this title is good. He is able to draw the various scenes of ultra violence ,and even his scenes of plain conversation are eye catching. Overall Boys volume 1 gets a A-.

TPB winners 02

Metamorpho Year One

Art by Dan Jurgens and Mike Norton

Story by Dan Jurgens

Metamorpho is one of my favorite DC heroes. He has the power to transmute any of the elements in his body into any other element. A pretty versitle power that over the years he has used to very interesting results.This is a trade paperback of the 2007,2008 mini series. It lasted 6 issues. The story is an updating of Metamorpho's origin,mainly to bring it into the modern age. Rex Morgan is a treasure hunter with his own reality show. The show is a huge hit and he decides to go out and try to find the legendary Orb of Ra. Rex's show is funded by Simon Stagg,a kinda evil billionare. Rex is in love with Simon's daughter Sapphire Stagg. And he figures with the ratings boost from when he finds the Orb will give him enough money to finally ask Sapphire to marry him. So Rex is off to find the Orb and along for the ride is Java,a prehistoric ape/man that works for Simon Stagg. Java double crosses Rex and leaves him to die inside a booby trapped pyramid. But Rex finds the Orb of Ra and is transformed into the chalky white skinned orange and purple clad Metamorpho the Element Man. Using he newly aquired powers,Rex escapes the pyramid and goes to get his revenge on Java and Simon. But outta his love for Sapphire he decides to let bygones by bygones and starts having adventures.The last few issues in this trade are all about the JLA confronting Metamorpho,mainly as a test to see if he is JLA material. Turns out he is,but Rex turns down the offer of membership. So ends Metamorpho Year One. The artwork by both Dan Jurgens and Mike Norton is very appealing. I prefer Mike Norton's art on this title to Dan's,but still both are very capable artists. One last thing about this trade I have to mention is,I got this trade in a kinda blind lot. IE I had no idea what I was getting in,but turns out it was worth way more than I paid. So not only was a surprised by a trade paperback that I was planning on buying,but it is also autographed by Mike Norton. Metamorpho Year One earns a solid A.

Plastic Man comedy adventure show

Plastic Man got his own saturday morning cartoon back in 1979. It lasted a couple of seasons then was syndicated untill the late 80's. Recently the entire series was released on DVD. And since I had fond memories of this show I ended up getting the first disc in from Netflix. The basic premise of the show was Plastic Man worked for the government,and had two sidekicks. The southern belle Penny,who had a major crush on Plas. And the hawaiian comedy relief Hula Hula,who was known for always having bad luck. So every episode Plas would get a message from the Chief and go out in his Plastic Plane,that had VTOL abilities, and fight crime. So far it seems like every show had two Plastic Man adventures in them. The first one is usually about 19 minutes long,and the second one is a little bit shorter. The stories are above average for the era,with lots of jokes that totally flew over my head when I first watched it as a kid. And the animation is the usually Ruby-Spears quaility. On this disc was a special feature that was a basic history of Plastic Man,and it also mentions a Plastic Man Pilot from a few years ago. They show alot of the conceptuial art and it looks great. Sadly this pilot was not picked up. The only main drawback to this dvd is the picture quailty. It seems that they didn't go in an clean it up at all, there is piles of debris and dust on the print,and it does kinda hurt the overall presence of the show. But considering that in all my years of collecting cartoons I have never found more than 5 episodes of this show out on the grey market,I will just have to be happy that this was released. Plastic Man Comedy Adventure show gets a B-.

Showcasing the Essentials 02

Showcase presents House of Secrets Volume 1

Art by Neal Adams,Dick Giordano,Gray Morrow,Alex Toth,Don Heck,Bernie Wrightson,Gil Kane,George Tuska,Micheal Kaluta,Wally Wood,Murphy Anderson,Jim Aparo,Sergio Aragones,Nick Cardy,Jack Sparling and various others

Written by Gerard Conway,Marv Wolfman,Len Wein and various others

This reprints issues 81-98 of the first volume of House of Secrets,which was a long running horror anthology title from DC comics. This title along with House of Mystery was used a lot as a place to try out new artists and writers. An average issue most of the time had four or so short stories of various lengths. Hosted by Abel,of Cain and Abel fame,he is the caretaker of the house of secrets and introduces each story with a short usually funny blurb. One of the things I love about this trade is that it is perfect for a quick pickup and read. I has held the top spot on the back of my toilet for almost a year now. Most of the stories have O Henry twist endings, and thankfully they are not always obvious from the beginning. The three main highlights to this collection for me are the origin of the House of Secrets,Swamp Things first appearance,and one panel gag strips by Sergio Aragones. The origin story is the first story in issue 81,with great moody art by Jerry Grandenetti and written byMike Friedreich. It tells how the House was built by Senator Sandsfield who was a few cards short of a deck and how every piece of material used to build it all came from Kentucky. A man buys the abandoned house for cheap and is trying to move it to Tennessee. But not too far from the Kentucky/Tennessee state line all hell breaks loose. The first appearance of Swamp Thing has stunning Bernie Wrightson artwork and was written by Len Wein. It is the Swamp Thing origin that most comic fans already know but with a few small changes. I have read this issue before in a reprint but find that Wrightson's artwork looks even better in black and white. Abel's Fables is the short gag strips by Sergio Aragones,and are very much like his gag strips you used to find in between the panels of Mad Magazine. Sure with so many stories there will be a few clunkers,and some of them just haven't held up. But over all 80% of the stories are worth reading,and it is a great sampler of many great artist. Some of whom are barely remembered now. Showcase presents House of Secrets gets a B.