2016 Comic Challenge 136 2001 Maniacs Special

TITLE-2001 Maniacs Special
PUBLISHER-Avatar

I discovered the 2001 Maniacs film about 6 months or so before it finally hit DVD.Someone I knew had been sent a screener DVD of it and gave it to me. I loved the film and wanted more out of this rebooting of the Hershal; Gordon Lewis gore classic.

This comic tells the story of when the town the maniacs live in was attacked by a army from the North.So we get to see the slaughter and destruction of the town. Which is a good idea. It is a nice way to fill in some gaps but also not contradict what we already know from the first film.

Tim Sullivan gets the story credit.And Raulo Caceres is credit as the artist. Pretty sure Mr Sullivan was the director of the film. Caceres I do not know. But his art has that sameness look that most art on Avatar books has.

2001 Maniacs Special gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 135 Gore Shriek Vol 01 #04

TITLE-Gore Shriek Volume 01 #04
PUBLISHER-Fantaco

Ahh Gore Shriek! I have written about my love and pursuit of this b/w gory as hell horror anthology comic at least one time before here at my blog.

There are 5 stories in this issue. Plus a nice piece on Monster Magazines by Steve Bissette.That is one thing I love about Gore Shriek it not only has some great comics,but it also after a few issues started putting nice articles in every issue.

And while all 5 stories are entertaining,the first one by Steve Bissette is the best. Titled Sleeper. It is about a kid who hates Sundays.Mostly because while his parents goto church,he is forced into a dresser drawer and has to stay in it until they come back. Then one day something happens and they don't come back.

Gore Shriek #04 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 134 Bloodstrike #01

TITLE-Bloodstrike #01
PUBLISHER-Image Comics/Extreme Studios

There are times you want a great comic,say something like Grimjack or Badger. Other times you want crap. And thanks to the early 90s huge print runs there is so much crap you can get for cheap or even free.

Well after having read 3 good books,2 biographies and a entertaining book about 80s and 90s horror zines,I was ready for some crap.And it is hard to find more entertaining crap as the swill Rob Liefeld was putting out in the early days of Image.

Bloodstrike is a team of mercenaries. Most of which have ties to either Brigade or Youngblood. So in this issue,which I am pretty sure is their first appearance,you get an issue long battle. Which some what lets you know who the various members of the team are.

So who created and produced this turd? Let me check the credits page. Liefeld gets credit for Creator/Plot/Layouts. Dan Fraga does the pencils.Eric Stephenson is credited for script and as the editor. And finally Danny Miki is doing the inks.

Oh forgot a few things. Looking around it seems like this issue sold right at 1 million copies. Think about that,big titles like Batman would love to sell 1 million copies currently. Plus it has one of the most unique cover gimmicks I have seen. The blood on the cover will disappear if it gets heated up. Yep rub your finger across if and it goes away.

Bloodstrike #01 gets a pass.

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.