2015 Reading Challenge Book 082 Mirrorshades

TITLE-Mirrorshades
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-50 cents

This is a collection of cyberpunk short stories. It came out in 1986,right about the time the cyberpunk genre was starting to take off. Before finding the book I had never heard of this collection. But once I saw it had a story by William Gibson I had to get it.

The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson
A fairly short story about a photographer that is going around the USA taking pictures of stuff that was designed with a "futuristic" look back in the 30s and 40s. And he starts seeing visions. All full of stuff that was common in the science fiction stories of the 30s and 40s. I really enjoyed this story.

Snake-Eyes by Tom Maddox
A man who underwent having a cybernetic implant is having issue with it. So he is sent to a space station and taught how to live with this implant. This story has that dark grimy feel that all good cyberpunk fiction has.And is the first thing I have read from Tom Maddox.

Rock On by Pat Cadigan

This really short story is a dark look at how music has evolved in the near future. Really dark and kind of disturbing.

Tales of Houdini  by Rudy Rucker

Not good. Not good at all. What I got from this is in the future someone has brought Houdini and his mother into the future. And they keep setting up more and more elaborate deathtraps. Each of which Houdini manages to escape from.

400 Boys by Marc Laidlaw

This makes up for how bad the last story was. It is a futurist version of West Side Story or the Warriors. Trapped in a bubble that surrounds part of the city a gang of male youths tries to survive. Once they discover a new threat they end up teaming up with a few other youth gangs to combat this new enemy.


Solstice by James Patrick Kelly

Set in the near future,where designer drugs have taken over. This is a tale of a man that has created a bunch of the now legal designer drugs. And how he just wants what is best for his clone/daughter. She is dating someone he doesn't like. So he plans on making sure this relationship doesn't last.


Petra by Greg Bear

Wow this was boring and made no sense. Besides being set in the future I see no cyberpunk stuff at all in this story. Took me 4 nights to finish reading it.

Till Human Voices Wake Us by Lewis Shiner

Sent on a vacation by his work,a man discovers what secret stuff his company has been up too.

Freezone by John Shirley

An aging rock star loses is band. Then joins up with a gang of criminals. All while stuck in on the floating city of Freezone.

Stone Lives by Paul Di Filippo

A man from the slums of NYC gets hired on to spy on a big corporation. And is shocked when he finds out why.

Red Star,Winter Orbit by Bruce Sterling & William Gibson

Set on a space station orbiting the Earth. A Russian ends up being the savior of a bunch of humans.

Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner

A group of people from the future travel back to the past to steal artwork and treasures. When it all goes to hell an Army of Mongolians on motorcycles comes to save them.


So 2 horrible stories and the rest are at least decent.

Mirrorshades gets a 3.98 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 081 Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet...

TITLE-Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet...
AUTHOR-John Byrne,Roy and Dann Thomas
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Gift

This is a trade collecting the abrupt end of Byrne's run on the title. And then Roy&Dann Thomas wrap up the plot threads Byrne had started. Of course with Byrne writing the title he also does the pencils. Once he leaves Paul Ryan takes over.

So what and how is the story. Scarlet Witch does her first that I know of heel turn in this run. After having ,in the previous storyline before the trade,the Vision's brain wiped clean which stripped him of all his emotions Wanda is slowly losing her mind. Then the secret behind her twins is revealed and she teams up with her father Magneto.

While all this is going on we have a side story of the golden age Human Torch trying to adjust to the modern world. Plus there are hints that Hank Pym and the Wasp might be getting back together.

I loved West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast since the 4 issue mini series. But about a year before John Byrne took over I had stopped reading it. And came back right around the time Byrne brought the golden age Human Torch back. And somehow never read the end of his run.

Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet gets a 3.11 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 080 Human Target Volume 1 Strike Zones

TITLE-Human Target Volume 1 Strike Zones
AUTHOR-Peter Milligan
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-gift

A few years back I had got all the other trades collecting 75 percent of the various Vertigo Human Target minis,one shots and ongoing series. And as a birthday gift I got this trade.

It collects issues 1 through 5 of the ongoing series.Our title hero is discovered in his new identity and after some tense moments leaves and heads off to NYC.And we get two full adventures sent in NYC before the trade ends. The first we have an accountant who faked his death in 9/11. And now needs the Human Target's help. Then Christopher Chance ,the titular Human Target,is hired on the be a NYC baseball player. This time he has to find out why the star player has just jumped out his penthouse window.

I love how Peter Milligan took a fairly one note spy character into a really fleshed out person.Javier Pulido does the pencils. Also the interiors are on a nice grade of newsprint.

Human Target Volume 1 Strike Zones gets a 4.15 outta 5

Milltown Antique Mall finds part 2

 Yep back with more stuff I found at the Milltown Antique Mall.

Warlock 5 #10

I had heard about this black and white series from Aircel for years. Created by the infamous Barry Blair. It was one of the bigger hits of the b/w comic explosion of the mid 80s. The art is pretty nice for the era. Sadly the story isn't nothing special.

Thriller #3

This is another 80s series I have heard about and wanted to read. The Trevor Von Eeden art is great. And I thought the story was well done.With this series only lasting 12 issues I shouldn't have much trouble tracking down the remaining 11 issues.

Freex #6

When the Ultraverse started I read Sludge and Prime. Over the past 10 years I have been slowly collecting the other Ultraverse series. Freex is one that I have found many issues of. And really enjoyed it. They are a group of young adults with various powers. Feeling like outcasts they band together. This issue also has Nightman in it. 

Firearm #8

The Dan Brereton cover is what caught my eye while I was digging thru the box of comics. Firearm was one of the better received Ultraverse titles. All I really remember about Firearm was issue 0 came with a VHS tape. Which had a short Firearm movie on it. 

Overstreet Update

Before there was the Internet and monthly comic price guides all you had was the annual Overstreet price guide. A few times a year they would publish an update. Which contained the titles that the prices had changed the most on. I grabbed this just to see what prices were like in the mid 80s. Plus I love the Shatter cover. Shatter was the first comic done on a computer. And was huge at one time.

I grabbed these two WWF compilation vhs cheap. I doubt there is anything on either tape that isn't out on DVD now. But at 50 cents a tape I figured what the hell. Eve of Destruction has the matches clipped. But Most Memorable Matches of 2000 has the matches uncut. I need to hook my VCR back up to check out these tapes.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 079 Cinema Sewer volume 3

TITLE-Cinema Sewer volume 3
AUTHOR-Robin Bougie and others
FORMAT-Trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$20

Thanks to DVDmaniacs I discovered Robin Bougie and his amazing zine Cinema Sewer. Published once a year CS covers cult,exploitation,horror and even classic porn films. Every few years Bougie collects the best stuff from the magazine and this material is made into a nice book.

I pre-ordered this volume straight from Robin. By pre-ordering I got a custom sketch. That Robin did on a bookplate then pasted in the front of the book. I thought long and hard about what I wanted. Knowing Robin gets asked to do all kinds of crazy and sleazy sketches. Then I remembered that David Lynch was offered the job of directing Return of the Jedi. So I told Mr Bougie "Hey what if David Lynch directed Jedi." Robin told me he had to think for a long time about what to sketch from my idea. And once he had done it he showed it to his wife. Who found the sketch unnerving.

Yep it is "the man from another place" as an Ewok.

But how is the book? Well it is great. With my favorite thing the 12 page article on Cannon films. I am pretty sure this is one of the new articles Bougie created for the book. The morning the book came in I was flipping channels and saw the movie "Undercover" was airing on one of the movie channels. It looked interesting so I set the DVR. I go check my mail and was reading the Cannon article. And Bougie mentions Undercover. Saying he has always wanted to see the film. So I jumped online and sent him and email saying I had it and would make him a dvd-r of it.

Another fun article is on the movie career of singer Vanity. I had no idea she had been in so many films. The various drawings Bougie and others did to go with the article range from laugh out loud funny to HOLY FUCK THAT IS AMAZING.

A word of warning. Since Bougie covers lots of non-child friendly cinema this isn't a book you want to leave laying around if you have kids. But if like me you enjoy oddball and sleazy cinema it is a book you should own.

Cinema Sewer volume 3 gets a 4.55 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 078 Essential X-men volume 2

TITLE-Essential X-men Volume 2
AUTHOR-Chris Claremont&John Byrne
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$12

From when I was about 5 until I was 14 the X-men was my favorite comic. Back in 2008 I was on Ebay looking for some cheap comic trades. Found the first volume of the Essential X-men run. After reading it I remembered how much I loved the Claremont era of Uncanny X-men. So two times a year I end up ordering a volume of this series of trades. Usually getting them from Instocktrades.

This volume starts off with a 2 part story where the X-men are in Canada and end up fighting Alpha Flight. And while this is a great pair of stories,there is 2 other storylines in this trade that are much better known. First off is the Dark Phoenix Saga. Where Jean Grey,now possessed by the Phoenix Force,turns evil and over the course of 10 or so issues ends up becoming such a threat the Shiar Empire steps in and wants to kill Jean to protect the universe. The old trade of this storyline was the very first comic trade I ever got. And it is great story. By this time John Byrne's art was at it's peak. And Claremont was also at his peak.

The other well known storyline pretty much ends this trade. And that is the Days of Future Past two issue long story. Thanks to the most recent X-men film this story is well known even with non-comic fans.It starts off in a dark future. Where mutant hunting robots have taken over. There is very few of the X-men left alive. And Kitty Pryde manages to send her mind back into the body of her teenage self. Hoping she can prevent the murder that caused this dark future to happen.

The other stories in the trade are good.Really from issue 100 of Uncanny X-men until about 200 there wasn't a bad story.

Essential X-men volume 2 gets a 4 outta 5.

Milltown Antique Mall finds part 1

A couple of weeks back I found out about an Antique Mall in Wesson. Which is a small college town about 20 minutes away from where I live.One of my neighbors had went recently and told me they had seen lots of comics. So early one morning I head up there.

Got to Wesson found the store and walked in. The booth to my right had a box of comics. And the sign on it said "10 for a buck"! I dove into the box.

To prevent this post from being way too long I am gonna divide it up into multiple parts.

Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1 second printing.

After the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic was a hit,lots of companies put out black and white marital art animal comics. And the Black Belt Hamsters was the best of the bunch. Originally produced by Eclipse comics,this series is still around. With various companies bringing them back for short runs. I love how the wraparound cover parodies the covers on the then new Frank Miller's Ronin series from DC.I haven't read this issue yet. But have read later issues in the series and it wasn't bad. I like the theme to the 4 hamsters names. With the Turtles being named after famous painters,the Hamsters are named after action movie stars. So we got Clint,Chuck,Bruce and Jackie.

Toyboy #1

When they were coming out I rarely bought anything from Continuity comics. Mostly cause their cover prices were always so much higher than DC and Marvel. I am currently trying to get a complete run of Continuity. And Toyboy was one of the series I had no issues of. I haven't read this yet. Looked thru it and it seems Neal Adams does most of the art. So even if the story is shit at least it has good art. The plot seems to be about a kid with a robosuit. Which he uses to fight crime. Yeah I know it sounds kind of stupid.

Bone Chillers VHS

From the mid 90s this Goosebumps inspired live action kids show aired on ABC Saturday mornings.I never saw it. But heard it was good. Plus it has Linda Cardellini. And I will watch anything she does. Doing some research this show is based on a series of kids books. But unlike the similar Goosebumps books,these books are all connected. With the same characters appearing in each book. Our leads in the show are Freshmen at Edgar Allen Poe High School. Each tape contains 2 episodes. And there was only 3 tapes released. So far this series isn't out on DVD. So these VHS are the only legal way to watch this show.

Harbinger #14

Back in the early 90s for about 2 years Valiant comics was the hottest comic company around. And Harbinger was their most popular series.I never read the series back then. But in 2008 I decided I wanted to own 1 copy of every comic Valiant put out. Thankfully most of them have very little value. So in 7 years I have gotten close to 80% of the way to a complete run of Valiant. Harbingers was a team of teens and young adults. Most of whom had super powers. It was Valiant's version of the X-men or the Teen Titans. I really like the cover of this issue. No clue who the lady is. But the guy in the red tunic is Magnus Robot Fighter. 

Little Monsters #4

Yep that is Fred Savage on the cover. From NOW comics,this was a 6 issue limited series. That adapted the kid's movie. NOW did lots of licensed comics. Stuff like Married with Children,Speed Racer and their most famous title Terminator. I don't remember Little Monsters being a huge hit. And really wonder who thought it was a good idea to turn it into a 6 issue series. Hell I had forgotten about the movie until The Hub network started showing it 10 times a week for what seemed like 2 years.This is a comic I grabbed just for the cover.I love comics with photo covers. Looking on ComicbookDB I see that every issue of the series had a photo cover. It is doubtful that I will get the rest of this series. But it is neat to have a comic with a giant picture of Fred Savage on the cover.

And the last item of this installment. Kickers INC #3,from Marvel's New Universe line.Kickers INC was a team of super powered football players. Who aren't allowed to play pro ball anymore since they got super powers. So now they are a team of bounty hunters. And it is just as stupid as it sounds. Back when the New Universe started I was reading all 8 titles they published. I stopped reading Kickers after the second issue. And this comic didn't improve with age. Hell it got worse.

Well that is all for now. Check back in a few days for the next installment.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 077 The Hardcore Truth

TITLE-The Hardcore Truth The Bob Holly Story
AUTHOR-Bob Holly and Ross Williams
FORMAT-Oversized Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free,was a gift

Yeah I can hear some of yall laughing. "Bob Holly wrote a book LOLOLOL!" I am a huge fan of Hardcore Holly,so as soon as I heard he had a book coming out I knew I had to read it. A few years back one of my Aunt's ordered it for me as my X-mas gift.

Like most wrestling biographies the book starts off with Bob's childhood and works it way forwards. And while reading about Bob's youth was fun,what I was really wanting to hear was about his life once he got into pro wrestling. I happened to be at what had to be one of Bob's first few matches. And thanks to him at the time working as a welder on the Gulf Coast,I got to meet him. He was working with the same company my father worked with. That summer at a company picnic I got to meet the person my father referred to as "Dat bastard Robert". I am sure Bob got tired of answering all my questions that day. But he was nice and talked to me for hours that day.

I figured going into book,since Bob was in the WWE for 15+ years and him not wanting to go back all the best stories would come from that time period. Trust me there is some great stories from then. But my favorite actually comes from before he started wrestling. Bob was raising his young child and wanted a way to make some extra money. So he started entering "tough man" contests held in various bars along the Alabama coastal area. He kept winning.Which made a few people mad. So one night he shows up and finds out they had brought in a bear for him to fight. Yep Hardcore Holly fought a bear in some redneck bar outside Mobile Alabama.

Now onto the WWF/WWE years. I love how much details Bob gives about "Wrestler's Court". I had heard a few stories about wrestlers court before. But never in the amount of detail that Bob goes into. Wrestler's Court for those that haven't heard of it,is the wrestlers in WWE's way of self policing the roster. The Undertaker is the judge,JBL is one of the lawyers and the other lawyer changes each time. This is how the wrestlers resolve differences. With the loser usually having to buy the winner beer.

Bob also goes into great detail on why he left the WWE. Seems Ken Anderson ,currently in TNA,had told Bob to go into his bag and get a pain pill. Then Anderson turns around and ratted Bob out to the office. After this Bob was sure once his contract was over WWE wasn't going to renew it. So once it was ended he left and as of this writing hasn't attempted to go back.

One thing that stands out about this book compared to other wrestler bios is that since Bob is pretty much retired he doesn't bite his tongue. Which means he dishes lots of dirt on various WWE wrestlers.

Like with my review of The Gunslinger it is hard for me to be objective about this book. Hardcore Holly is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. Minor only complaint about this book is I wish it was longer.

The Hardcore Truth gets a 4.93 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 076 Rabid Eye the Dream Art of Rick Veitch

TITLE-Rabid Eye the Dream Art of Rick Veitch
AUTHOR-Rick Veitch
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Free was a gift

I first discovered Rick Veitch when he was handling the pencils on Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run. After that I lost track of him until Brat Pack came out. I loved it so any time I saw his name in the Capitol City catalog I would get my comic shop to order it for me.

This is collecting the first few issues of Roaring Rick's Rarebit Fiends. Which was Veitch's dream comic. He would take his dreams and make them into the comic. With each dream lasting for a page or two tops. Now this makes for an interesting read. In that as with dreams lots of stuff doesn't make sense. But to me that is a major part of the appeal. There is also lots of cameos from various other comic creators that Veitch is friends with.

The art is great. I consider Veitch one of the most under-rated artist in modern comics. And I love that it is black and white,just like it was in the comics. And Veitch does everything,pencils,inks and lettering.

My only complaint is in the original issues Veitch would include dream comics from other people. And the letters page was always a fun read. Neither of these are included in this collection.

I had pretty much forgotten about this series then in 2013 at Coast Con I found an issue in a comic dealers long boxes. And then last year my Aunt Midget asked me to make a wishlist on Amazon of stuff I would like. I saw they had this trade extremely cheap,something like $2 and shipping. So last X-mas I got it. And while it is an ex-library book at least the stickers were easy to take off.

Rabid Eye the Dream Art of Rick Veitch gets a 4.88 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 075 The Far Side Gallery 4

TITLE-The Far Side Gallery 4
AUTHOR-Gary Larson
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-25 cents

When I got the previously reviewed Far Side collection I also got this one.

And like I said before it is hard to review a collection of comic strips. But there is a few things about this collection that make it better than previous one. First the cover not only is diecut,the old lady's glasses,the lenses are cut out. And what you see in them is actually on the inside of the book. Plus her earrings are sparkly.

So you get what I must assume is a years worth of the Far Side strip. Including the Sunday strips. Which in this collection are reprinted in color. One thing I noticed is I doubt these are printed in order. Cause there will be 3 or 4 color strips in a row.

Really there is nothing much else to say about this collection. I enjoyed it. And am very happy to have it.

The Far Side Gallery 4 gets a 4.99 outta 5.