2016 Comic Challenge 090 Canadian Squalour 2010

TITLE-Canadian Squalour 2010
PUBLISHER-Colin Upton Comics

Another of the many mini comix I got from Colin Upton. This one talks about how Colin was suppose to be working on a comic with Harvey Pekar. And had been waiting a year and a half for all the details to be ironed out. Then one crappy day he goes to check his email and finds out Harvey has passed.

As I said in the previous review of one of Mr Upton's comix,it is obvious he was influenced by Harvey. And this comic is a nice tribute to a great talent. Done by a great talent.

This comix doesn't use the same style of shading as the last one. Instead it has a more scratchy/line intensive look. And the people are way less cartoony. That is another of Colin's great talents,he has more than one art style.

Canadian Squalour 2010 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 089 Sad Sack and the Sarge #101

TITLE-Sad Sack and the Sarge #101
PUBLISHER-Harvey Comics

This has to be the first time I have read any Sad Sack since the early 80s.Issue 101 came out around summer of 1973. So  bit before I was born. But this was when Harvey was still at it's peak sales wise. Flipping thru the issue I see ads for lots of other Harvey titles. And just from these ads they seem to be publishing 8 Sad Sack titles in the next 6 weeks. 10 Richie Rich and who knows how many Casper and Hot Stuff the lil Devil issues. Before the direct market took over comics the newstands would always have a nice sampling from the big 3 all age companies.Which was Harvey,Archie and Gold Key/Whitman.

Sad Sack is pretty much a Beetle Bailey like character,even though Sad Sack started right at 8 years before Bailey. So you get a nice assortment of 1 page gag strips and 3 to 7 page more developed stories. The art isn't bad for a comedy comic. All the characters have a kind of cartoony look which works.

The only two stories really stood out. The first was Sad Sack and the Sarge in World of Gloom and Doom!Sad Sack develops a zit gun. Which is non lethal. And takes about how if you removed the killing and injuries war would be fun. Of course Sarge doesn't agree.Then the General shows up. And in a comic from the summer of 1973 meant for kids admits that hell let me take a picture of this page BRB.

Yeah.... didn't expect that at all.

The other story is one were either Sad Sack is out of the Army and married with a young son. Or the young son is Sad Sack as a kid. It is never made clear which is right. And that is what really made the story stand out.

Other things that are of interest.The cover price is 20 cents.The comic has 23 pages of comics,a couple page long text story about Lil Sad Sack. A handful of house ads. The few non-house ads are definitely targeted at younger kids. I do wish someone would get the rights to all the Harvey characters and do new stuff with them. Even if it is just say one double sized issue every 4 months.


Sad Sack and the Sarge #101 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 088 The Shield #02

TITLE-The Shield #02
PUBLISHER-Dark Circle Comics/Archie Comics

After a long delay,which sadly seems to plague various Archie titles,the next chapter in Daughter of the Revolution is out.

Written by Adam Christopher and Chuck Wendig,haven't heard of either of them before,and has Drew Johnson,Ray Snyder and Al Barrionuevo listed as artists.When I saw the comic had 3 artists I was expecting a jump is style and look somewhere in the book. But besides  a slight change in the flashback ,which oddly seems to have been done by the same artists as the first few pages,the art looks the same thru out the entire issue.

Our heroine is escaping with some woman. With what I am assuming is some black ops team after them they go underground in a tunnel. Taking a river for 150 miles.

Once they arrive at the end we see what looks like The Shield's version of a Batcave. With lots of versions of the uniform. Shield grabs one and dashes out when an alarm goes off. Which lets the duo know that the quasi-military group is there.

And we end up getting a neat twist,that I should have seen coming.

I am enjoying the little bit of the story we have gotten so far. I love how Shield is a legacy hero. Like say the Phantom or the Flash.I do hope that this is also the last of the long delays between issues.

The Shield #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 087 The Black Hood #09

TITLE-Black Hood #09
PUBLISHER-Dark Circle Comics/Archie Comics

This comic just keeps getting better. Black Hood is trying to figure out who has been kidnapping various homeless in town. And we get the history of the town's most well known bum. A former reporter gone drunk.

In his civilian identity Black Hood visits the bum and really gets nothing. But when he comes back as the Hood,he gets a pretty good clue. He goes out to the warehouse district,but gets ambushed.And they know who he is and proceed to beat the shit outta him.

Each issue of this series Duane Swierczynski weaves more and more threads together while creating new ones. Greg Scott's art is as good as it always is. And the cover by Francesco Francavilla is nice. But I do wish he would concentrate more on Afterlife with Archie,I do see that the newest issue is suppose to be on sale this month.

Black Hood #09 gets  Buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 086 Self-Indulgent Comics #38

TITLE-Self-Indulgent Comics #38
PUBLISHER-Colin Upton Comics

Last year,or maybe the year before, I got a package in the mail. It was full of mini comics from the Canadian artist/writer/painter Colin Upton. And to make a great package even better every issue was signed and had a quick doodle on it.

This issue has Colin walking around Vancouver Canada. And he runs into a group of guys on a scavenger hunt. They need a sketch of themselves by a major landmark. And they lucked out cause Colin just so happens to be a damn good artist. He does the best with the meager art supplies the guys have,standard paper and some crappy markers. After they leave Colin starts to let his mind wander and wonder if they won the hunt and who they worked for. Then on the last page we find out they do and get a small scan of the sketch.

I have read a decent amount of mini comix over the years. But the art in the various ones of Mr Upton's I have read is just soo damn good. The shading is perfect.The linework is perfect. I suspect that Colin is a fan of Robert Crumb. The next to last page feels like a loving tribute to various piece of Crumb artwork.

If you have an interest in Colin's work here's his website.www.colinupton.com

He has lots of his comix for sale and the price is great. One small warning,Colin lives in Canada so if you live outside Canada the postage will be a bit higher than you would suspect,but not that much higher than US postage. And it takes a bit longer for sometime to get to you. But it is at most 3 or 4 more days.  To me Colin's comix are worth the extra postage and wait.

Self-Indulgent Comics #38 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 085 Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #04

TITLE-Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #04
PUBLISHER-Archie comics

Yes Kool-Aid Man not only had his own comic but it got at least 4 issues. I just looked and there is actually 8 issues of this series. Which started in 1983 and the final issue came out in 1991. Issue 4 was released in 1988. I know I had at least the first 2 issues of this series. As a kid all I drank was sugar free Kool-Aid. And of course I saved up my Kool-Aid points. The only things I ever remember getting with these points was the 2 comics and the Kool Aid Man Atari 2600 game.

This issue we get 2 stories.Both of which Michael J Pellowski wrote.The cover and interior pencils are by Dan Decarlo. Yep the same Dan that did so much work for Archie a few decades ago. And a Jim Decarlo handles the inks.

Honestly the comic isn't that good. But it is much more than just a shill for Kool-Aid. Plus it came with a great poster.

Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #04 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 084 X-force #01

TITLE-X-force #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Travel with me back to the summer of 91. New Mutants had just been cancelled and replaced with X-force. Rob Liefeld is one of the hottest comic artist in a long time. And of course since this was around the time the comic speculation boom started issue 01 was bagged with a trading card. 1 of 5 cards to be exact. And yes I did buy 6 copies of this comic. So I not only got all 5 cards but I had a copy to open and read.

Even though this comic is pretty much a direct sequel to the New Mutants series,they spend over half the issue introducing us to the various X-force members and setting up their history.

When I read this when it came out I loved it. Liefeld's art was so different from what I was use to getting from the big 2. And I liked the idea of taking the New Mutants,who were always pretty much X-men Jr,and making them this pro-active more military style team. Going back and re-reading it...well it doesn't hold up that well. The art I loved back then cause it was so different,but now when I see it all I see is all of Liefeld's faults. The story could have been told in 5 pages.

But you know what,even though the art isn't that good. And the story is kind of a big cliche,I still had fun while reading this. I brought me back to a time when I just wanted something to read while bored in Algebra II class.

X-force #01 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 083 Typhoid #01

TITLE-Typhoid #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel/Marvel Edge

I have no clue where I got this comic. By the time it came out I had given up on Marvel. So I didn't buy it then. I don't remember buying it at a shop or con. I am guessing I got this in one of the many random lots of comics I won off Ebay.

I have always enjoyed Typhoid Mary. Having had read a decent amount of Daredevil comics where she appeared. And seeing that her co-creator Ann Nocenti wrote this issue I knew I wanted to read it. John Van Fleet's artwork reminds me a lot of Michael Gaydos art on Alias. I love it cause it isn't the standard bright cheery superhero art you get in lots of comics.

Typhoid is in hiding. Living a fairly normal life for her. Two guys with cameras and other equipment seem to be searching for her. And Mary ends up helping out one of her neighbors. Who's daughter is missing.

The comic seems to be flashing back in time fairly often.Lots of stuff,which is captured on videotape and viewed by the aforementioned 2 guys with cameras,showing her in the mental hospital. Since she is in her Typhoid makeup in these pages I am assuming she got put in the hospital after one of her arrests.

I want to give a quick shout out to Davlin.He recently mentioned Typhoid to me and that reminded me that I owned this issue and had never read it.He is a indy film maker based out of Ohio and has a few of his films up on this youtube channel Davlin's youtube channel click here

Typhoid #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 082 Yakuza #01

TITLE-Yakuza #01

PUBLISHER-Eternity 

After how bad the last comic was I just wanted something to get the stink of that comic out of my brain.So I dug into my longbox full of random comics I have bought cheap and never read. I saw the cover and thought Hey this might be OK. I was so wrong.

The story,what little there is,is crap. The art,even with Jimmy Palmiotti doing the inks,is terrible. The best parts of this comic are the cover and the fucking ads.

Yakuza #01 gets a PASS!

2016 Comic Challenge 081 Injustice:Gods among us Year One #01

TITLE-Injustice Gods Among Us Year One #01
PUBLISHER-DC comics

This was a tie in comic for a DC hero fighting game. So I skipped it. Cause really how good could it be. But then I had someone constantly talking about how great the series was. Plus it is free.

The story is fairly simple. We are a few years in the future. Gotham is free of crime. Thanks to Superman taking over control of the world. And now Batman is gonna stop him.

Up next is a flashback. Were we see Superman finding out Lois is pregnant. And doesn't want her to go on a semi-dangerous assignment. She goes anyway.

From this issue,and I went ahead and read 2 more,what I have been told about the series I see it for what it is. A watered down mash up of Mark Grunwald's Squadron Supreme 12 issue mini,the whole superhero takes over control of the world and the non powered superhero member of the same super team must stop him/them. And Mark Waid Irredeemable.So take those two really good comics. Mash them together. Then water it down so it won't offend anyone. And you get this turd sandwich.

I am gonna be fair and finish reading the rest of Year One of this series. Mostly to see if it gets any better or just gets worse.

Injustice Gods Among Us Year One #01 gets a Pass!