2016 Comic Challenge 141 X-O Manowar #00 GOLD

TITLE-X-O Manowar #00 Gold variant
PUBLISHER-Valiant

Anyone that was into comics in the early to mid 90s remembers Valiant. And almost all of us wanted one of their Gold variants. Back then the above issue was going for between 50 and 100 bucks. I never had a Gold variant back then.

Back in 2008 I was talking to one of my older cousins. And he mentioned he had 3 longboxes back at his house. And he didn't want them. So before I headed back home I stopped by and got them from him. In those boxes was piles of early 90s Image and Valiant stuff. And it was in these boxes that I got my first Valiant Gold variants. Of course now that once 100 buck X-O zero gold is now at the most a 30 buck book.

But under that shiny gold and chromium there is a damn good story. Aric is a visagoth. Who gets kidnapped by a group of spideraliens. While on their ship he meets an old man. Who looks a lot like Elvis. Elvis gives Aric a map to the Spider Alien's biggest weapon. Which is the X-O Manowar armor. Aric dons it and escapes back to Earth. But cause of various time space things it is now the modern day.

I had the normal version of this comic back when it came out. Mostly cause X-O was the only Valiant title I bothered reading every month back then. Jorge Gonzalaz and Bob Layton scripted this issue. And Joe Quesada handles the pencils.

X-O Manowar #00 Gold variant gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 140 Youngblood Super Special #01

TITLE-Youngblood Super Special #01
PUBLISHER-Maximum Press

Yep I am back with more Youngblood.By the time this issue came out,cover date winter 1997,I had just gotten back into comics. But was ignoring everything coming out that was superhero related. Then a few years ago I found a big stack of Liefeld stuff. And it was cheap,average issue was costing me a quarter. When I bought it I flipped thru the comic,saw that Chris Sprouse was doing the art. And the comic ended up getting filed away in a longbox.

So about 2 weeks ago I was going through some of my boxes of comics. And pulling out stuff that I had either never read or had read but was wanting to read again. I flipped through this comic again and wanted to read it since the art by Mr Sprouse looked damn good.

This issue is about Sentinel going off with a team mostly comprised of new recruits to the Youngblood program. They get attacked and now this team of new and untested heroes has to prove they have what it takes to be part of Youngblood.

The story,written by Eric Stephenson,is kind of an average story. But compared to lots of the other Youngblood stuff I have read it is so much better. What really made the issue stand out to me is Chris Sprouse's artwork. I had gotten use to either Liefeld art on Youngblood or art from one of the many Liefeld clones on Youngblood.

I am guessing not many people read this issue. By 97 all except the diehard Liefeld fans had given up on all the stuff he was putting out. Plus when this came out Alan Moore was busy writing Supreme. So that title seemed to get all the attention.

Youngblood Super Special #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 139 Youngblood Vol 01 #08

TITLE-Youngblood Vol 01 #08
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Studios

Set right after Team Youngblood #11,this issue gives us the battle I wished had happened in the Team Youngblood issue.

Shaft and most of the Youngblood team go to capture/kill the villain who killed their teammate. And on the way there we get introduced to some new members. None of whom stand out.

But there is another story in this issue. We are taken to the alley Spawn is living in. And who happens to show up but Chapel. The man who killed Spawn.

I was surprised when I looked at the credits and saw that Liefeld actually drew this issue. I figured by this late in Extreme Studios run he wasn't doing much besides recruiting more talent. And Liefeld and Eric Stephenson wrote the issue.

I am kind of tempted to go dig out the next issue and read it. Mostly to see the continuation of the Chapel vs Spawn stuff.

Youngblood Volume 01 #08 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 138 Team Youngblood #11

TITLE-Team Youngblood #11
PUBLISHER-Image/Extreme Studios

Yep once again into the early 90s with another comic from Extreme Studios. Team Youngblood was a spin off of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood. Each series was suppose to focus on the home or away team. But that was never really stuck too.

Rob Liefeld and Eric Stephenson seem to have wrote this comic. With Chap Yaep doing the pencils and Danny Miki/Marlo Alquiza/Jonathan Sibal handling the inks. I don't mind Yaep's art. He is the best of the many Liefeld clones that worked at Extreme Studios.

The issue starts with the Sentinel lead team. They have just lost a team mate and need help. Then a quick cut to Badrock. He is on vacation off in Colorado. When he gets attacked by the cyborg hitman Overtkill. So a many page battle happens. And near the end Shaft shows up and grabs Badrock. And they head off to take care of whoever it was that killed one of their teammates.

The fight between Badrock and Overtkill is ok at best. Lots of huge panels and what all. I would have rather that part was skipped and we got straight to the battle that I am assuming happens in the next issue.

Team Youngblood #11 gets a pass.

2016 Comic Challenge 137 Extreme HERO

TITLE-Extreme HERO
PUBLISHER-Hero Illustrated/Extreme Studios/Image

And it's another comic that I forgot I owned until when last year  I started thinning out my collection.Extreme HERO is a preview comic that came packaged with an issue of Hero Illustrated. In it is 8 short previews of upcoming comics from the Extreme Studios part of Image.

The cover is by Rob Liefeld and Danny Miki. And I am guessing the guy on the cover is Cybrid. And that is just based on that fact that Liefeld and Miki did both the cover and the Cybrid preview on the inside.

The first preview is Cybrid by Liefeld and Miki. We get 4 pages of a cyborg man running around fighting stuff.I looked all over online and could find not evidence that Cybrid got it's own comic. I don't remember him showing up in any of the Extreme Studios stuff I have read. And after reading this 4 page preview I can say it is no loss if Cybrid never showed back up.

Preview number 2 is Law & Order. No not the long in the tooth tv show that has infected too many channels. This was instead created by Marat Mychaels.Who also writes and draws this 2 page preview. Like Cybrid I don't think this set of characters appeared outside of this preview comic.

3rd preview is Code 9. Again you get 2 pages. This time with Eric Stephenson getting credit for script. And the infamous Chap Yaep credited for creation,story,pencils and inks.I have no clue what the lead in this preview is called. He talks about being a good man until he was changed by Code 9.The art is decent for Yaep. But really 2 pages isn't enough to let me figure out if I want to read more of this character. But it doesn't matter cause once again it looks like Code 9 never appeared again.

L.A.N.C.E.R.S. is the 4th preview. Again it is 2 pages ARRGGGHHH. Richard Hornie is credited as creator and for the story and pencils.And Danny Miki did the inks. This at least is somewhat connected to the Extreme branch of Image. With a footnote telling you to read Extreme #0. I haven't seen Lancers appear outside this issue,and know he didn't get his own series.

RISK is the 5th preview. And again,I am really starting to hate this,it is 2 pages.Chuck Jones,not the guy who worked on Looney Tunes,gets credit for everything but inks. And the 2 pages of story is shit.I seem to remember Risk showing up in a future comic from Extreme.Which is better than the previous 4 characters showcased in the increasingly annoying comic.

6th is Meta-Force.Created by Jeff Matsuda and Eric Stephenson,am I the only one who loves how Stephenson started off as Liefeld's jack of all trades and moved up to being a big part of the business side of Image.It seems to be about a kid that can bring stuff out of his dreams into the real world. The art is nice. But then I like Matsuda's art. Sadly I am pretty sure Meta-Force didn't show up again.

Up next is two pages of hype for whatever Extreme Studios titles were coming out the month this shipped.With a spotlight on the Jack Kirby created Phantom Force.

Then 2 profile pages of Dan Fraga's Black Flag. I know they show up again. Pretty sure there was a Black Flag one shot or extremely short lived ongoing series.

And our final preview is of Art Thibert's Black&White. I am sure they appeared again cause somewhere in a longbox I got at least 1 issue of their series. The art is nice. Thibert was a great artist but so slow that he rarely did pencils.

The rest of the issue is just full page ads for various Extreme Studio titles. I really like the Jae Lee art on the Bloodstrike ad.

I have always loved Jae Lee's art. But seems like he is another artist that is too slow to do a regular series.

Looking around online this comic seems to be uncommon. But worth at most 2 bucks. I got mine with an issue of Hero Illustrated. And most issues of that I got for free or for 3 bucks tops.Unless you are trying to collect everything from Extreme Studios I see no reason to go out of your way to track this down.

Extreme HERO gets a borrow.

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.