2015 Reading Challenge Book 085 Mail Order Mysteries Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!

TITLE-Mail-Order Mysteries Real Stuff from Old Comic Book Ads!
AUTHOR-Kirk DeMarais
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$8

As a kid I would spend piles of time looking at all the ads in comics. Wanting to order stuff like x ray specs,lock picking kits and the Charles Atlas muscle building kit. I never ordered a thing cause my parents would always say "It's a ripoff!".

Found this book and guess what they were right. But it doesn't matter the book is a great tour through all kinds of fads. I love all the monster related stuff in here. The posters,masks,make up kits,etc.

Hell it wasn't until this reading that I discovered the front and back cover have glow in the dark paint on them. The front is mostly just outline stuff. But the back has a skull painted on it. I was heading out of my room with the book in my hands. Flipped the light off and saw this huge skull on the back glowing.

Now I wish there was a bit more writing in the book.Sure there is lots of pictures of the items. But with some of them there is barely 2 sentences of info.

Mail Order Mysteries gets a 3.33 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 084 HOLY SH*T The World's Weirdest Comic Books

TITLE-Holy Sh*t The World's Weirdest Comic Books
AUTHOR-Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$10

Found this book a few years back on sale. And took a chance on it. It is a collection of what the two authors think are the 61 weirdest comics. It is a nice blend of promotional comics,underground comics,foreign comics and just plain WTF comics.

Each comic gets a one page write up and a reproduction of the cover. Before reading it I had heard of a few of these. I even own two of them. One is a Popeye promotional comic where he talks about personal service careers. The other is the Dark Horse published comic Charles Barkley vs Godzilla.

While it is a pretty fun read. I wouldn't pay cover price for this. But at least now I know about stuff like the Spiderman inspired Italian made softcore porn comics. And great underground titles like Tales from the Leather Nun and Amputee Love.

Holy Sh*t gets a 2.98 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 083 Preacher volume 1 Gone to Texas

TITLE-Preacher volume 1 Gone to Texas
AUTHOR-Garth Ennis
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$12

Most years I take the time to re-read Preacher. I was gonna save it for the end of the year. But with all the news coming out about the upcoming TV adaptation I grabbed the first trade off my shelf.

Preacher at it's core is a love story. Jesse Custer is a preacher in a small Texas town.One night he gets really drunk and goes to the local bar. Where he reveals most of the residents secrets. He gets the shit beaten out of him. But the next day during the church services he gets the biggest turn out in a long time. Right before he starts his sermon something flies into the church. Goes into Jesse's body. And then the entire church explodes. Which kills everyone but Jesse.

Around the same time Jesse's ex Tulip happens to be heading towards that tiny Texas town. She has hitched a ride with a guy named Cassiedy. They find Jesse and so our journey begins.

Going back and re-reading this trade for what has to be the 20th time I am pleasantly surprised at how good it is. And how many clues Garth Ennis leaves as to what will happen in later volumes.

Now I am assuming some of the people reading this have not read Preacher. So here is a small synopsis. And since I plan on reading the rest of the series as part of my reading challenge I am only gonna cover what happens in this volume.

Jesse finds out the thing that flew into him is the offspring of a demon and an angel. Which at birth was imprisoned in Heaven. He also learns that as soon as this being,known as Genesis,was born God fled Heaven. And no one knows where he is.

The angels have been left in charge of Heaven. So they send the Saint of Killers out to find Jesse and Genesis. Yeah there is a Saint of Killers.

The first 4 or 5 issues in this trade cover all the above. After that we get a short story line. Cassiedy has a friend in NYC who is a reporter. Who deals in stuff like UFOs,Jesus appearing in various objects. So they go to visit him. And just so happens there is a serial killer on  the loose in NYC. And of course our trio run into the killer.

Pretty sure this was one of the first comics written by Mr Ennis that I read. And since then I have given anything he has wrote a try. The great Glen Fabry does all the covers. And his art is perfect for the series. It has this realistic,but ugly,look that fits the tone of the series. And you got Steve Dillon doing the art on the insides.I love Dillon's art. Hell I will buy any comic he draws.

Preacher volume 1 Gone to Texas gets a 4.88 outta 5.

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.