2016 Comic Challenge 169 Dark Knight III The Master Race #04

TITLE-Dark Knight III The Master Race #04
PUBLISHER-DC Comics

After a bit of a delay issue 4 is out. Most of the issue is Lara vs Superman. And once the Kandorians defeat Superman,they give an ultimatum,turn over Batman or they will wipe Gotham off the face of the Earth.

In the back up story,Carrie Kelly is now Batgirl. And is off on a mission Bruce sent her on. Lots of good fights scenes,then she gets rescued by Aquaman. And the dreaded to be continued appears.

This was decent. But I really am feeling like I should have just waited till it was over and grabbed a trade of it. Damn you Miller.BTW best of luck with your health issues sir.

Dark Knight III The Master Race #04 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 168 Kid N Play #09

TITLE- Kid N Play #09
PUBLISHER-Marvel

With the final issue of the pretty damn good KiD N Play comic we get a fun crossover with lots of the Marvel heroes.

Play has just lost his woman. So is staying in his room. Kid and another friend come over to cheer him up. And they brought a coupon for a free delivery pizza plus a stack of Marvel comics. Play tells them thanks but then asks them to leave.

A bit later Play is hungry so he orders the pizza. After pigging out on what looks like a great pizza Play falls asleep. And in his dreams is where the Marvel Heroes crossover starts.

First up Hulk knocks on Play's front door. Then punches Play so hard he flies way out of the city. And once Play gets out of the trench his body created on the landing,he runs into the early 90s X-men team.

Play gets away from them,but runs into Venom in the sewers.Who throws him away. He lands in another part of the sewers,where Wolverine,Punisher and Ghost Rider happen to be. The heroes fight over who gets to I guess kill Play,still not sure why the heroes all want to kill him.

Plays escapes the trio and makes it home. But pretty soon the Avengers,FF and X-factor surround his house. Using dream logic Play ends up in armor and armed with a lightsaber fighting himself.He wakes up from this dream and lets the readers know he is better now.

Kind of a neat but odd way to end this series. It reads a bit like the new Archie and Jughead comics read. In that it is written for a 14 year old or older,but can still be read by younger kids.

Kid N Play #09 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 167 Old Man Logan #05

TITLE-Old Man Logan #05
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Seems we have skipped ahead at least a month or so. Logan has been living with the X-men,who now have the X-mansion in the Limbo dimension. He leaves and ends up in the Northwest territory area of Canada.

Then towards the end of the issue we learn not only what happened to Logan after he killed the X-men in his world,but also when he met the woman he ended up marrying.

Old Man Logan #05 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 166 Old Man Logan #04

TITLE-Old Man Logan #04
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Steve Rogers and Hawkeye take out Logan. And then take him to where the 616 Wolverine is buried. Thus proving to Logan that this isn't the past of his universe. And Logan goes off. Just drifting around. Until one night he runs into a Sentinal and two old friends.

This issue was good. But not as good as the previous 3. I knew that one day soon Logan would learn this isn't his universe. But didn't expect it to happen this soon.

Old Man Logan #04 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 165 Southern Bastards #14

TITLE-Southern Bastards #14
PUBLISHER-Image

So after a few months wait we get the conclusion to the current story in Southern Bastards. Seems Earl,the guy who died in the first story,had a daughter. Who is ex-military and has come home. Also forgot she is half-black. Which of course goes over big with the racist inbreds of the town.

Even though I had to wait a bit over 2 months to get this issue,fuck was it worth the wait. Aaron perfectly captures how it is to live in a small southern town. And what it is like if you are living there and not white/straight and Christian.

Southern Bastards #14 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 164 The Tick FCBD 2016

TITLE-The Tick FCBD 2016
PUBLISHER-NEC

For the past 5 years NEC has put out one of the best of the Free Comic Book Day comics.So I never miss it.

This one is almost perfect. We get three stories.That all happen over the course of a day or so. Up first is one about how a bunch of alternate reality version of The Tick showing up. Plus a cameo from one of the best villian from the Tick cartoon. The second story answers the question "What do you do with a few hundred versions of the Tick".Then in the last Tick and Arthur find out they have a convention appearance. And we get to meet a great idea for a super villian.

I also love how inside the front cover NEC has a deal.All you gotta do is send a SASE with the proper amount of postage and they will mail you all the FCBD issues.

The Tick FCBD 2016 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 163 Crossed Badlands #096

TITLE-Crossed Badlands #096
PUBLISHER-Avatar

Well looks like I was wrong. After last issue I figured this one would go into the beginnings of the new Crossed we see in Crosse +100. Nope doesn't happen. Smokey gets double crossed by the traitor. And a bunch of Crossed get let loose in the hospital were Smokey has been keeping the pregnant humans.

I am assuming that the next 4 issues will all be one story. But who knows. With the series ending soon...hell it has been great. With so many standout moments.

Crossed Badlands #96 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 162 The Black Hood #10

TITLE-The Black Hood #10
PUBLISHER-Dark Circle/Archie Comics

Somehow I missed this one when it came out. But got it the other day.

Since the first issue Black Hood has been my favorite superhero comic in years. Hell I would say since the late 90s run of Astro City.

The Hood has been captured. And they know about his addictions. So they shoot him up with some kind of painkiller.

After escaping the Hood goes back and tells his partner everything. An convinces him to let him have one more mission as the Black Hood.

What can I say each issue of this series is as good as if not better than the last. Sure it is some times a bit late. But it is worth the wait. If you like the superhero genre of comics and are not reading this WTF go grab the trade of the first story.

The Black Hood #010 gets a buy!

2016 Comic Challenge 161 Miracleman #01

TITLE-Miracleman #01
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Having recently found a second copy of issue #24 of this series I wanted to go back and start reading it again from the beginning. Sure I could read those nice new reprints from Marvel,which while very nice have way to high a cover price.But instead I dug out the old Eclipse run.

Coming out in the summer of 85 I was fairly young when Eclipse started publishing this UK series. Thankfully the comic shop I went to was run by a guy who had lived most of his life right outside Blackpool. So his shop always had copies of 2000 AD and even Warrior. Which back in the mid 80s wasn't that common.Around the time issue 3 hit the stands I was in the comic shop. I had 3 bucks left over after grabbing my normal monthly stack,and the owner handed me issues 1 and 2 of Miracleman. From then until it ended when Eclipse went under I read every issue.

Starting off with a reprinted 60s story of Mike Moran and the rest of the Miracle Family,by chapter 2 we are in 1983 England. Mike is a freelance reporter that is having the same dream over and over. After he is taken hostage by some terrorist at a nuclear plant,Mike remembers the magic word that turns him into Miracleman. And for the first time this world has a legit superhero.

Moore took a character that is basically the bastard grandson of Superman and made him into a much more nuanced and thought out person that Supers has ever been.And even in this first issue there are pieces of what Moore kept doing and brought to the forefront of the comic issues later. The idea that superhero comics are a very childish genre. And in the early 80s and hell even now most of the superhero comics published are written to appeal to kids/middle age man childs. These are reasons I think that some people hate this series. They can't accept that the genre they have loved since they were kids is at it's very core kind of silly and stupid. But being the great writer he is Moore manages to take this childish genre and by injecting a bit of realism make it into something that broke most of the genre rules. And by the end of his run a title that was more science fiction/religious based than just a silly comic with guys in colorful tights punching each other.

Right now is the best time since the early 90s to get into Miracleman. Marvel has reprinted most of the 24 issues Eclipse put out. And what isn't reprinted currently will be out soon. Plus finally Neil Gaiman,he took over the writing of the series after Moore left,will be able to finish his 2 and 3rd stories lines.


Miracleman #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 160 Boffo Laffs #01

TITLE-Boffo Laffs #01
PUBLISHER-ParaGraphics

Yep the first comic book with a hologram on the cover. Coming out in 1986 with a $2.50 cover price I bet this didn't sell that well. And now after reading it I see why it is only remembered for it's cover gimmick.

The insides are your standard mid 80s B/W comic boom humor anthology shit. Nothing is really that funny. The art is kind of shit. And it really feels like they were sure the cover would sell this book.

Well they can't all be winners.And I got this for basically cover price. It is a neat piece of comic history to own. But nothing to go out of your way to get.

Boffo Laffs #01 gets a PASS!