2016 Comic Challenge 133 Original Turok Son of Stone #01

TITLE-Original Turok Son of Stone #01
PUBLISHER-Valiant

Back in the early to mid 90s Valiant was huge. They went from being a tiny company that was trying to create a new universe while using a handful of superheroes from the old Gold Key company.To being the number 3 company in the States.

After starting up the Turok Dinosaur Hunter series the demand for the old Gold Key series started going up.So in the spring of 1995 Valiant put out the first of 2 issues reprinting some of those old stories. But with redone coloring.

Under a nice looking Rags Morales cover we get 5 reprinted stories. 5 stories that show how very different Gold Key's version of Turok was from Valiant's version.

In these old Gold Key stories Turok and his buddy are trapped in the Lost Valley. Were they have to fight off dinosaurs. In the Valiant Turok series he is in modern day. Fighting off bionic dinosaurs. And not to long into that series run the premise was expanded.

Original Turok Son of Stone #01 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 132 Illuminati #03

TITLE-Illuminati #03
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

After Black Ant killed a scientist in the Fenris bar last issue we have all the other villains out to kill the Illuminati. We get a multi page brawl. Then they manage to escape.

Once they are safe Titiana starts to question if she wants to keep working with the group. The Hood has a talk with her,but it seems like she is out of the group. So the rest of them prepare for their assault on the Roxxon research facility.

They get there and at the last minute Titiana shows up. Once inside they make their way to the artificial Bi frost bridge. And then the new female Thor shows up.

Honestly unless the next 2 issues of this series have a major change happen I will not be reading it anymore. That first issue was great. And issue 2 was almost as good. But this issue felt more like the writer wanted to make sure the first storyline was at least 6 issues long. So the fight at the Fenris club last way more pages than it should have.

Illuminati #03 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 131 Captain Harlock #02

TITLE-Captain Harlock #02
PUBLISHER-Malibu Comics/Eternity Comics

Long before the 2000's manga boom there was a small explosion of manga into US comic shops. Back in the mid to late 80s various indy publishers got the rights to reprint various manga in the states. So when on a trip to a not so close junk store and I found 2 issues of Captain Harlock I just assumed it was reprints of the manga. Turns out I was wrong.

Written by Robert W. Gibson and art by Ben Dunn,Captain Harlock is an Americization of the manga. Ben Dunn is obviously a big fan of Anime and manga. And this is the second comic I have read where he took an manga and adapted it for the US audience.

Since I have never read the original Harlock manga or seen any of the anime I can't tell ya how closely this adaptation follows the original material. I can say I did enjoy the story. And the art looks pretty decent.

Captain Harlock #02 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 130 Trollords #04

TITLE-Trollords #04
PUBLISHER-Tru Studios

Trollords is a great example of one of the many great b/w indy comics that managed to come out and do well enough for awhile,mostly thanks to the b/w comic explosion after TMNT was a huge hit. But also a great example of a great title that sadly was killed by the b/w indy comic bust that happened when the direct market got flooded with b/w indy comics. Most of which were horribly written and drawn.

So what is Trollords about? The three green guys on the cover live in the suburbs with Kelly. A young woman that is having some issues. Our 3 trolls Harry,Larry and Jerry show up at the right time and help save Kelly's life. I have only read 3 or so issues of this series. But all of the ones I have read do a great job blending normal life with just a few touches of fantasy.

Written and drawn by the team of Scott Veaderstadt and Paul Fricke,Trollords is a title I wish some company would either bring back. Or at least put out a trade of all the issues.The thing with these issues is while they are not worth much more than cover price,they are kind of hard to come by. I found my first issue in the early 90s. Back when comic shops were trying to get rid of all the left over 80s indy stuff. To make way for all the 90s indy stuff that was coming out. Since then I have only seen a few more issues. And they are always tucked away in the cheap bins.

Trollords #04 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 129 The Crusaders #01

TITLE-The Crusaders #01
PUBLISHER-DC comics/!mpact comics

Back in the early 90s when DC licensed out the Archie heroes for the !mpact line I had no interest in it. In 2005 when I got into collecting so called Dead Universes I did grab a few issues from !mpact. And since then thru various random lots of comics I have ended up with a few more issues from this failed subimprint.

Now with Archie doing so well with their Dark Circle stuff I have been wanting to go back and read the previous versions of these heroes. So while digging thru a longbox of comics I grabbed this issue out. No clue when I got it or where.

The issue starts off back in the early 60s. We see the aftermath of the first group of Archie heroes and some big battle at a bunker. The surviving heroes get the government to lock down this bunker. Skip ahead 30 years and The Fly,The Comet and Fireball are investigating this bunker.And over the course of the issue the rest of the main !mpact heroes show up. Then on the final page the menace the original group of heroes locked up in the bunker is loose.

Before reading this comic I had read maybe 4 issues of the Black Hood,1 of the Comet and a few of the Jaguar. So I really knew almost nothing about these heroes. Which is why it is a good thing this issue did a good job introducing me to all the heroes.

What kind of surprised me is this came out during the peak of the Gimmick age. Where any #1 or anniversary comic had some kind of special cover. Which also meant a big price increase. Not The Crusaders #01. Cover price is a buck. Which is what most comics cost back in 92. And the closest thing it comes to a gimmick is some bound in trading cards. And these aren't even perforated for easy removal. Nope ya gotta cut them out yourself.

Looking at the backs of the cards looks like they use the Garbage Pail Kids gimmick of having a puzzle on the backs of the cards.

Honestly this was good enough that now I need to make a list of what !mpact comics I have. So I can track down what I am missing. From what I have seen none of the !mpact stuff is worth more than cover price. So shouldn't be hard to track down a full set.

The Crusaders #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 128 Supreme #06

 TITLE-Supreme #06
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Comics

Yeah been a while since I read more of Liefeld's anti social version of Superman.

Last issue left us off with Supreme fighting Khrome near DC. Quickly Supreme realizes his punches are not effecting Khrome and uses his super vision and hearing to detect an energy signal. Seems Khrome is boosting his abilities using some kind of power source that happens to be in his ship. Supreme flies up destroys the ship. And comes back and traps Khrome in a wacky science fictiony gadget thingy.

Liefeld gets credit for story.Brian Murray gets credit for Pencils,story,script and colors. And Chris Ivy get Inks credit. The art looks like the last few issues so that is good. I kind of doubt Liefeld had more to do with this than saying "yeah Supreme figures out how to beat Khrome."

The fight between Supreme and who we are told is his arch-nemesis is kind of boring and flat. Only two things stand out from this issue.

Since Thor is public domain,Liefeld created his own version. Who looks like a Liefeld character but armed with a huge hammer. And the hammer IIRC hangs around for much longer than Thor does.

Look at the extreme gore in the page above. This is from right after Supreme defeats Khrome.I just double checked and this issue has no Comic Code Authority seal on the cover. I couldn't remember if Image bothered at all with the CCA.Thinking they might have at the beginning when you were finding Image stuff on newstands and in grocery stores. But nope. And really I doubt if even in 1993 if the CCA would have approved the above page.

Supreme #06 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 127 Old Man Logan Vol 02 #03

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #03
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

So Logan ends up teaming up with the other Hawkeye,the female that I think was part of Young Avengers. And she uses her SHIELD access to find out where Mysterio might be.

They arrived and it is kind of obvious that Mysterio is long gone. But Logan goes nuts on some low level street ruffians that are there.Kate aka Hawkeye stops him and starts pointing out all the ways this time is from what he knows happened in this time. I am guessing that Marvel has more than one Earth. And our titular hero is from a different one from what I am just gonna call the Marvel Earth 616.

But the ending of this issue is what makes it. Old Man Logan is running from Kate and runs into Old Man Steve Rogers.

Old Man Logan Vol 02 #03 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 126 Old Man Logan Vol 02 #02

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

Besides the last few pages this entire issue is either focusing on Logan's fight with the current Hulk. Or a flashback to when the Hulk's descendents were terrorizing Logan's neighbors.

Lemire is putting out a good story and the artwork is damn good. Even without me reading much Marvel until a month or so ago,I kind of knew that the current Hulk wasn't the Hulk Logan was after.

Old Man Logan Vol 02 #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 125 Old Man Logan volume 2 #01

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I had read the first few issues of the Bendis written first volume of this series and enjoyed them.Ended up with a backlog of this series so while waiting on a file to process I started with the first issue of the new volume.Instead of Bendis ,now Jeff Lemire is writing it.I can not remember who did the art on the first volume,but from my memory it looked similar.Andrea Sorrentino is credited as artist.

The so called Old Man Logan from series from a few years ago is now in the modern 2015 Marvel universe.And he quickly realizes if he kills certain people in this time his future might not happen. So all the people that stepped all over Logan before he lost everything,he is paying them a visit.

Yeah this has me enough that I am gonna read at least the first year of it. And of course I love the story ending DKR homage.

Old Man Logan volume 2 #01 gets a buy.

First trip to Maw Peb's Needful Things Junkstore March 9th 2016

Since I couldn't sleep my plan was to go to town.Hit the library book sale.Then Dirt Cheap. Then grab a bite to eat on the drive home.

Well the library sale was a bust.Even though they had 3 boxes of brand new CDs,saw names like Reba Mcintire and The BeeGees in there.

Dirt Cheap was a total bust. The toy department is over run with opened lego sets,yeah not gonna take a chance on opened legos,and various Star Wars flying drones that are missing pieces.

So while driving to a little corner store that I know has good breakfast stuffs,named The Guy with the Good Biscuits and the name isn't a lie,I spotted a junkstore. One I had driven past a bunch but it was always closed.

I pull into the parking lot and the only other vehicle is a old pick up truck with both the back window and passenger side window covered with black garbage bags.I put my headphones on and continued listening to a podcast. Walked up to the door and saw the name painted on a big window "Maw Peb's Needful Things".Looking thru the windows looks to be lots of household bullshit and clothes.So I enter,but if I see Max Von Sydow I am getting the fuck out of this place. I walk in and to my right is a huge shelf of DVDs,VHS,PS2 and X-box games.A lady comes out of a back room and I get her attention and ask her what the prices are. "DVD is 2,PS2 is 5,X-box is 10 and VHS is 50 cents."I go thru all the DVDs first. Mostly shit that was in the Walmart $5 bin 4 years ago. Lots of grey market Sonny Chiba films. Then on the next to bottom shelf I find a VHS.

I looked closer at it once I got home and saw it was from an old video store.

But more on that in a bit.

The lady had went back into the back room. I was getting closer to the register and all of a sudden this huge great dane jumps up and barks. I was startled by the movement,didn't really hear the bark cause of my headphones. She comes back out tells the dog "Scooby be nice or no snacks today!" I chuckle cause the great dane's name is Scooby. Since she is back out I ask her if she has any toys in the store. Get pointed to a far corner.

The first thing I find was a blind buy DC mini statue thing. She tells me "Yeah all the toys are 1 buck if not in package.2 bucks if in the package." I figure 2 bucks is a decent amount to take a chance on the blind buy. Looking at the back there is only one figure I do not want,which was a crappy looking Superman.

I opened the DC mini statue package once I got out in my car. And here is who I got....

A pretty decent looking Cyborg. One nice thing to come out of the universe wide reboot DC did a few years ago is how much of a higher profile Cyborg now has in the non-comic merchandise.

Behind a stack of puzzles. I see a green package.So I pull it out.

 From the modern Nick TMNT toy line it is Head Droppin' Leonardo. I remember the old 80's line had the head droppin' action feature.

As you can see the packaging was beat up. I do like how they put the other figures from the line on the back. Seems like lots of the modern toy lines don't do this. As  a kid I would save the cards so I could figure out which figure to get next.

 Leo has 14 points of articulation. Most of them in his arms. His neck doesn't move. And besides at the hips his legs have no other articulation spots.

There is Leo with the head dropped. Unlike the old ones,were the head only stayed down if you held it down,these lock down. Then you squeeze the legs together to make the head come back up.

Leo comes with 2 swords. With one being slightly shorter than the other. And has a great set of scabbards on his back.

And there was another thing in the package that I remember toy lines  doing when I was a kid.

I got 2 huge foldout product catalogs. One of them is mostly cars with the Turtles permanently affixed to them.Then lots of pictures of a huge amount of action figures. This might end up being the toy line that gets me back into collecting modern toys.

Heading back to the register to check out,thinking that a $5 will cover what I am buying. Then the lady tells me the back room "While it is mostly clothes there is some books and VHS back there. Go take a look."

I walked back there and see another huge shelf. This time it is mostly books. With maybe 40 VHS near the bottom. And I find one that as far as I know isn't out on DVD or Blu Ray...

Shock'Em Dead!!! I rented this decades ago from Phar-More Video in Mobile Alabama.Back then I am sure I rented it cause I knew who Traci Lords was an wanted to see if she could act or not. Currently I want it cause not only is it not out on a digital format,watch as soon as I post this someone will link me to a Blu Ray of this,but also cause I am wanting to get copies of every 70s thru 90s Heavy Metal+Horror film.

So I mentioned when talking about Scream Blackula Scream,that the VHS was from a video store.

 I wonder when Video Stop closed.The sticker seems to say the store was inside Sack And Save. Which was a grocery store that our friends up here went to.And now is the Piggly Wiggly that always smells slightly of vomit. Then I looked at the other sides of the tape.

No idea how hard that will be to read. But it says West Coast Video. I am guessing this might be the name of the distributor? I really have no clue.

So I finally head to the register to check out. I jokingly ask her if they charge sales tax."Too early to bother with that.5 even." I hand her a five. And then get in my car and head home.

Finding this much VHS that doesn't look picked over is rare in this area.So I am adding this store to my "Must check every month"list.