2016 Comic Challenge 154 The Punisher Meets Archie #01

TITLE-The Punisher Meets Archie
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics/Archie Comics

Nope this is a real comic. One that I wanted to get when it first came out. But I refused to pay the almost $4 cover price. So it wasn't until years later at a con that I found it for 10 cents and grabbed it.

Not sure if you can tell from the above picture but the area around Archie's head is cut out. When you open the cover you get.

This 48 page,with no ads as the cover proclaims,comic is written by Batton Lash. With John Buscema handling the Punisher side of the pencils and Stan Goldberg doing the Archie side. And Tom Palmer is on inks.

The story is simple and actually works fairly well. A crook,Mel Jay AKA Montana Bob AKA Freckles and currently known as Red Fever has managed to escape the Punisher. And is now hiding out in Riverdale. And shocker he looks a lot like Archie Andrews.

So we get a mixture of typical Archie style comedy mixed with Frank Castle chasing down this killer. It sounds like it wouldn't work and would be horrible. But Batton Lash does a great job and makes this one of the best and oddest comic crossovers I have read.

Quickly funny story about this issue. I got it at a con cheap as I said. During the con I end up staying with my cousin. So that night I get back to her house and her 10 year old wanted to see what I bought. He is looking thru the comics sees this issue and asks me "Who is Archie?"

The next day of the con he came with me I mentioned to the dealer I got this from,who I was also buying another 50 bucks worth of comics from,about my cousin's lack of knowledge of Archie.The dealer dug thru his bins pulls out right at 15 issues of various Archie titles.Which the dealer gave to him for free.

The Punisher meets Archie #01 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 153 The Ren & Stimpy Show #029

TITLE-The Ren & Stimpy Show #029
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I loved the show. But never really bothered with the comic. And had no idea it ran for a fairly long time.

The issue starts off with the cover story. Sherlock Hoek and Steeped are called into to solve a locked room mystery. It looks like Steeped has destroyed a vital piece of evidence the mystery is instead solved.

And the other story has the duo in Scotland. After running thru every kid friendly Scottish stereotype in a page,they find out there is a big reward for proof off the Loch Ness Monster. So off they go. Stimpy does find the Monster. But after hearing of the reward,the Monster heads off to collect it himself.

While the comic looks like the cartoon.And even has wacky stories like the cartoon,it isn't nearly as good.Ren's accent loses a lot when read instead of heard.

The Ren & Stimpy Show #029 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 152 Crossed+100 #02

TITLE-Crossed+100 #02
PUBLISHER-Avatar

Our group of scavengers ends up in Memphis. And after running into a herd of elephants,they stumble upon what they think is the Governer's mansion. Which is actually Graceland. While exploring it they find another shrine like they found in Jackson.

Again Moore has dropped quite a few clues as to were this story is heading. But they are subtle. Very subtle.

Crossed+100 #02 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 151 Crossed +100 #01

TITLE-Crossed +100 #01
PUBLISHER-Avatar

Yeah after reading Badlands 95 I wanted to go back and re-read the Moore run on  Crossed +100.

We are introduced to a group of humans 100 years after the Crossed outbreak. They are traveling by a coal powered Bus/train/wagon hybrid. And this mission is to get info. Books,films,whatever they can  find. They stumble upon a public library. And are busy gathering books when a family of Crossed attacks.And as far as they know there isn't any Crossed south of the Mason Dixon.

I love the idea of taking the already well established Crossed universe and jumping ahead 100 years. By doing this Moore also got a chance to create a new language. They use words we know. But they have new meanings now. At first it makes this a hard read. But you slowly manage to puzzle it out.

Also since I have already read this,going back I am seeing all the clues Alan Moore left us. First time reading this run I was kind of shocked at the big reveal. But now I am seeing he leaves major clues even in the first issue.

Crossed +100 #01 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 150 Crossed Badlands #095

TITLE-Crossed Badlands #095
PUBLISHER-Avatar

So the traitor is now helping Smokey,the Crossed name for the big dude with the fireax,build a sustainable Crossed society.

And it feels to me like this story might end up being majorly connected to Crossed +100 series. Maybe we are seeing here the start of the Crossed society Alan Moore showed us in his short run.

I heard a rumor that this series is ending with issue 100. And with the way I think this will go next issue I can see maybe these last few issues used to fill in  more gaps between Badlands and +100.

Crossed Badlands #095 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 149 Jughead #04

TITLE-Jughead #04
PUBLISHER-Archie Comics

Jughead is back in school,and still suspects something major is going on with all the personal changes at Riverdale High School.

Like with every other issue so far Jughead goes into his fantasy world. This time it is pirate themed. But the lady from the time police in issue 2 shows up near the end of Jughead's fantasy. So I am wondering these dreams are just dreams or are they leading to something in a future issue.

Jughead is sure the new principal is up to something. So he talks Dilton into installing a device on the new Principal's computer. So that they can see everything he does on the computer. Jughead invites the entire gang over to Dilton's to prove the new principal is up to evil. And quickly finds out the principal knows what Jughead did. But this is enough to convince the Riverdale gang that something is strange.

Jughead #04 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 148 The Walking Dead #153

TITLE-The Walking Dead #153
PUBLISHER-Image

Picking right up from where the last issue ended. We got Rick and a few others knowing that Negan has escaped his cell. Maggie leading a big group of people back to Hilltop. And Dwight training a new group of soldiers.

The Negan parts were my favorite of this issue. And after that last page I am really wondering what the hell Negan's plan is.

Now it might just be my bad memory,but I really didn't know any of the people that were part of Dwight's training session.

Anyways once again another month and another damn good issue of TWD.

The Walking Dead #153 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 147 The Three Stooges #01

TITLE-The Three Stooges #01
PUBLISHER-American Mythology Productions

Never heard of the publisher before,but I have been a 3 Stooges fan since I was 5 or 6.

This issue has 2 new stories and one reprint. The first story has the Stooges working at a baseball park. Typical Stooge hijinks's happen. Up next is a noir story. With the Stooges being hired by a Kim Basinger in LA Confidential lookalike. They have to get some private photos of her back from some mobster. This story had much better art than the first one. But the actual story was kind of lacking.

Then it is the reprinted story. From Dell Four Color #1170 we get a story of the Stooges going to the circus. A ex-carnie lets a tiger loose. And after seeing how Curly Joe handles the tiger,the ringmaster hires Joe to be the lion tamer for the evening. The art is OK. But doesn't look that much like the Stooges. The story is decent.

Besides the three stories,there is also a page of Stooge facts. Then a couple of pages of production art and sketches of the cover.

The Three Stooges #01 gets a borrow.

Captain America Civil War Cereal

 While doing some grocery shopping the other day I ran into a new cereal,Captain America Civil War cereal. Normally I don't bother with movie tie-in cereals,but this one was on sale.Plus it has Cap on the front. How can I pass it up?

 On the other side is that drunk traitor Iron man.I for one am looking forward to Cap beating the shit out of Iron Man in the film.

This is the side panel that actually had something on it. The other is just the nutritional facts.I actually like the image of Cap and Iron Man fighting above a giant bowl of cereal.

Well the cereal is your typical generic Kellogg's stuff. Pieces of sugar flavored corn stuffs. Then a few colored marshmallows.

Yeah I know there isn't nearly enough marshmallows in the mix. Now I eat all my cereal dry.Mostly cause milk and my body do not agree.And dry cereal makes a decent quick meal.

The cereal is OK. The corn pieces taste decent.The marshmallows have very little flavor. Also why isn't there a toy or something in the box. A poster,trading card or even a Cap themed spoon. But I got nothing.So unless you just gotta have every piece of Civil War merchandise skip this cereal.

2016 Comic Challenge 146 Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa #02

TITLE-Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa #02
PUBLISHER-Archie comics

I remember this franchise. Never had any of the toys,and until a few months ago never saw the cartoon. But it was obviously inspired by TMNT. Set in a wild west setting,this is about a team of bovine cowboys. Who fight crime in the western town of Moo Mesa.

As you can see in the pic Doug Brammer,never heard of him,gets scripting credit. And Gary Fields and Ron McArdle handle the inks and pencils. This is the second part of a three part story. Our leads are running towards town and away from a angry T-rex. Through out the issue we learn that last issue one of the CowBoys found a baby dinosaur in a very Turok like hidden valley of dinosaurs. And the Cowboy brought the baby triceratops to town. Which they assume is the reason why the T-rex is heading towards town.

So the issue is pretty much the team being split up. Some of them going to get the baby dino and return it to the hidden valley. While the rest of the team tries to stop the T-rex from doing massive damage and possibly killing someone.

And by the final few pages of this 22 page story,not only is the baby dino returned to it's mother but the T-rex returns to the hidden valley. Then the entrance to the valley is destroyed.

There is a few things that stood out besides the main story.

 Somehow in the second issue there is actually a letters page.Which either means Archie sent out preview copies of the issues or the letters are just made up. I know that made up letters in a comics letter page aren't that uncommon. But the way this is done it is pretty obvious that the letters are made up.

 Since the story is only 22 pages,and the cover price was a bit higher than normal,Archie threw in a few pin up pages. Out of the two in this issue the above is much better.

 One thing I have always enjoyed about the various comics Archie published years ago was they in almost every issue printed some fan art. And in this issue there is 2 pages of it. The stuff on the left is almost as good as the art in this issue. The other page,well the age of the artists is pretty young so I will just say it is decent for how old the artists are.

Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa #02 gets a borrow.