2016 Comic Challenge 015 Feral #01

TITLE-Ferals #01
PUBLISHER-Avatar


Thanks to the Rock Shock Pop forums I found out about this David Lapham series from Avatar.

Set in a small town. Were there is only 3 police,Ferals is about the discovered of a dead body and the local cops trying to figure out who did it.

Our lead is a drunk,womanizing,young cop. Who near the end of the issue has one of his women attacked by a werewolf. He tries to stop it and gets his ass handed too him.

Ferals #01 gets a Borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 014 Crossed:Badlands #091

TITLE-Crossed:Badlands #91
PUBLISHER-Avatar

This is the start of a new story line. Max Bemis is back from the previous storyline. And he has come up with another interesting setup. When the Crossed outbreak happened a female indy comic creator got stuck in a shop ran by 3 Comic Book Guys.

After a few weeks they start demanding she create a weekly comic since they have already read everything in the shop.If she does she will get better treatment.

With Crossed either you like it or you don't. While some stories are much better than others,it never drops below a read for me.

Crossed:Badlands #91 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 013 Archie's R/C Racers #7

TITLE-Archie's R/C Racers #07
PUBLISHER-Archie

We got Archie,and most of the main gang vs Reggie in a 50 state RC race.

After Reggie pulls a sneaky trick,attacking the Archie driven motorhome with RC planes,both groups find out from Mr Weatherbee that they must goto the Cleveland Airport.

Part II of the story has Reggie's group,which also has Veronica,heading into a town where some costumed oddball is draining all the power from everything.

By part III we have Ms Beasley leading all of Archie's group,who are wearing pots on their heads to avoid the evil villain,in to save Reggie and his group.

This is just such an odd comic. I know at the time it was coming out RC cars and racing them was pretty popular. But to base a comic around that was kind of odd.

Archie's R/C Racers #07 gets a borrow. I would say buy this if you find it for a buck or less just cause of how strange it is.

2016 Comic Challenge 012 Supreme #3

TITLE-Supreme#03
PUBLISHER-Image

Supreme is now leader of Heavy Mettle. Hostage situation. Bloodstrike,remember Feel the Blood on issue #1?,are also brought in for what seems to be crowd control.

Supreme uses his eye power beams to microwave some bad guys head. And generally the art this time is Liefeld clone good.

I am actually kind of liking this series. Over the course of about 5 cons I built a set of whatever wasn't out in trades.Most of the issues costing me at most 50 cents.

I don't know or understand why.But I enjoy seeing Rob Liefeld being not only the Stan Lee  but also the Jack Kirby of his corner of the Image Universe. So who does that make Ditko and Heck? Chap Yaep and Mayrat Michaels?

Supreme #03 gets a buy,but don't pay more than a buck. Really try to find this for under 50 cents and know going in you are getting Liefeld's 3rd rate versions of silver age DC and Marvel characters.

2016 Comic Challenge 011 The Walking Dead #149

TITLE-The Walking Dead #149
PUBLISHER-Image

I normally read Walking Dead as soon as the new issue comes out. But I got behind. Since the comic took a jump ahead in time it has been a slow build.With a new group of villains introduced. And they made a huge impact 3 or 4 issues ago.

This issue is mostly showing us the aftermath of the Whisperers attack on the new communities. Rick is at his wits end.And goes to an unexpected source for advice on how to handle this.

I am expecting the next issue to either be bigger than normal or something major to happen.

The Walking Dead #149 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 010 Razor-Bleeding Heart #01

TITLE-Razor Bleeding Heart #01
PUBLISHER-Avatar

OK back in the mid 90s I ended up with about 20 copies of Everett Hartsoe's Razor #1 that I got for under 50 cents each. When the bad girl craze hit I sold all but one and made enough to pay for my con trip that year.

Outside of that issue and one other I had read nothing else from Razor. Who was pretty much a 3rd rate female Crow.

This issue starts off and I get informed that Razor is now a vampire. So I am thinking OK they are changing stuff up. This might be worth the buck I paid for it a few years back.

.........

....................

Nah that didn't happen. Lightning Comic's Hellina,really I am sure no one else remembers this shitty bad girl character from 94 or so,shows up and fights Razor.

Then the book shifts into straight up "Hey you better be 18 and show ID before you buy this comic that is kept behind the counter in the short box with Omaha the cat dancer and old copies of the Cherry special Neil Gaiman wrote a story for" land. Yeah I mean I know Avatar has kind of taken the bad girl stuff to a new level. But this was Faust level perversion stuff.

And the worst part bad written and drawn 2nd and 3rd rate clone hack tripe.

Razor Bleed Heart 01 gets a Pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 009 Supreme #2

TITLE-Supreme #2
PUBLISHER-Image

Once again Rob Liefeld is writing and Brian Murray is handling the art chores. Like with lots of the early Image stuff there is a 2 page spread to show the reader how vast and connected the titles of Image are.

Supreme goes to visit his arch villain Grizloc.Who is currently in jail.Grizloc keeps on taunting Supreme. Which just causes Supreme to try to kill Grizloc. Sadly he is stopped by the superhero team Heavy Mettle. And the rest of the issue is a big brawl between Supreme and Heavy Mettle.

Like lots of the early Image stuff there is way too many single and double page splashes. And this time the art has this weird muted colors thing going on.

And while I know the first issue had the highest print run of any issue of Supreme,issue 2 is the one I am always finding copies of. Since 1997 any time I have looked in the cheap bins,be it in a comic shop or at a con,I always seen piles of copies of Supreme #2.

Because of the muted colors and the very little story development in this issue,Supreme #2 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 008 Jericho Season 3 #4

TITLE-Jericho Season 3 #4
PUBLISHER-IDW

I was hooked on Jericho with the first episode. And was very happy when thanks to a fan campaign it came back for a short second season. And while the writers wrapped up lots of the major story lines with the 7 episode long second season. You could tell they had plenty more ideas if the show had managed to get a 3rd season.

Skip ahead a few years and I find out that season 3 of Jericho happened. But it was in comic book form. So I the 6 issues that made up season 3. And after re-watching the first 2 seasons started reading season 3.

Now for some reason,and I can't remember why,I only read the first 3 issues of season 3. And it was about 3 days ago when I remembered I had not only season 3 but also season 4 to read.

And season 3 picks up right at the end of season 2. Hawkins and Jake have delivered the last nuclear bomb to Texas. So now they must track down the mysterious John Smith. The supposed mastermind behind the attacks. While they are trying to break into the maximum security prison he is being held in,the citizens of Jericho along with Major Beck are forming an army. To help defend Jericho from the ASA,Allied States of America. Who are the group that lead the nuclear attacks on the USA.

The issue is written by the staff that wrote Jericho seasons 1 and 2. And the art is by Matt Merhoff. Who I have never heard of. His art kind of reminds me of the artist that did the first 4 or so issues of the X-Files comic Topps was putting out years ago. He does a good job of making each character look like the actor/actress that portrayed them on the show.

Jericho Season 3 issue #4 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 007 Supreme #1

TITLE-Supreme #1
PUBLISHER-Image

In fall of 92 Supreme started. Written by both Rob Liefeld and Brian Murray and with Murray doing the pencils and Liefeld doing the inks.

When it was coming out I grabbed the first 3 issues. Read them and that was it.While I did enjoy the series at the time I wasn't able to get to a comic shop that often,so I pretty much stopped reading most comics.

The premise is what if Superman was an asshole. Yeah that is pretty much the basic plot. Supreme is all powerful like Superman. But decades ago he left the Earth. And in this issue finally returns. And he is a total dick.

It wasn't until about 5 years ago that I started re-reading Supreme. I had just read most of the acclaimed Alan Moore run on the title. And wanted to see how bad the  pre-Moore stuff was. Cause every review I saw called this the worst of the Liefeld created early Image stuff. Between my local con and the late Torpedo online comic shop I managed to get an almost complete pre-Moore run for around 25 cents an issue.

Having now read the entire series it is kind of obvious that Liefeld was heavily influenced by Moore and Gaiman's runs on Miracleman.And that is what the pre-Moore issues of Supreme are. Miracleman for a younger audience.

Really the only bad parts of this comic are the same ones that were plaguing most of the early Image stuff. IE way too many single and double page splashes. And back up stories that have nothing to do with the main story. They mostly fill like they are there to fill up space.

Supreme #1 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 006 Supreme #0

TITLE-Supreme #0
PUBLISHER-Image

From the summer of 1995 here is Supreme issue zero.Even though it actually takes place between issues 30 and 31 of Supreme. Which means unlike most other zero issues,this one doesn't happen before the first issue of the series. So why is this issue zero instead of say issue 31? I am not really sure. Normally zero issues tell the past and/or the origin of the lead hero. And Supreme #0 does do both.

Written by Eric Stephenson with Todd Nauck doing the pencils and Norm Rapmond and 2 others handling the inking duties. All contained within a cover done by both Stephen Platt and Rob Liefeld.

In the issue we have the current Supreme being taken to an abandoned Army base. Where he is told the origin of Supreme as the general public knows it. Plus the real origin of Supreme. And while most people will tell you that Supreme wasn't worth reading until around issue 41,when Alan Moore took over writing it,for me the stuff before the Moore run is worth reading. Because of how oddball and out there the ideas are.

Supreme #0 gets a buy.