2016 Comic Challenge 214 Jughead #07

TITLE-Jughead #07
PUBLISHER-Archie

A new story arch has started. Chip Zdarsky is back writing the issue,but we get a new penciler.Derek Charm handles the pencils. Sure his style is different from Erica Henderson's. It actually looks closer to the modern Archie House Style.

It is summer break,and Jughead's Dad wants him to get out of the house and go do something. So after talking to Archie,who is working at the pool as a life guard,they decide to go up to Dilton's cabin and spend a weekend.

They get up there and it looks great. But then they discover that the Mantle family is having a family reunion near the cabin. So to get away from all of them they go on a hike in the woods.

While in the process of getting lost Jughead discovers Archie came along mostly to go check out some girls at an all girls camp near them. This is enough to take the usually peaceful Jughead and cause him to beat the fuck outta Archie.

After their fight they finally realize they are lost. No reception on their cell phones. Jughead has little to no outdoors skills,and Archie isn't much better.

This is a nice change of pace from the first 6 issues. Hell for a bit I thought this might be a 1 issue long story.

Jughead #07 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 213 Blue Bolt Volume 07 Issue #02

TITLE-Blue Bolt Volume 07 issue #02
PUBLISHER-Novelty Press

I got this issue at the same time as the other issue of Blue Bolt. Now the cover up at the top is from the scan of the issue at the Digital Comics Museum. Here is mine.

As you can see their copy is in much better shape. I did post both my issues covers at their forum. Mentioned what I paid and got told I got a good deal normally it would be 2 to 3 times what I paid per issue for the shape my copies are in.

But back to the cover. Pretty sure that is Blue Bolt with the blonde hair and red hat on the cover. As I said in the other issue review by this time Blue Bolt had gotten rid of his costume and his powers.This cover is signed by Tom Gill. Never heard of him before but I do like this cover. Hell my copy is already framed and hanging on my wall.

This issue starts off with the first part of a new Dick Cole story. Him and Simba Karno are going with Ted Todley to an island in the Caribbean.Where Ted's millionaire father has a castle.

Jim Wilcox handles the art chores and it is damn good. This feels a bit like a slightly longer weekly comic strip.

Krisko and Jasper are dog catchers. And this is a fairly short humor strip. The humor has aged fairly well. The art is by Jack A Warren,no clue who that is,but it looks decent for the era and a comedy strip.

Blue Bolt is now a pilot for a magazine. And this is a storyline called "Mystery of the Vanishing Totem Poles".Tom Gill handles the art. I like that this is set iin British Columbia.

Sniffy is a one page gag strip about what appears to be a homeless mutt of a dog. Think Benji's great great grandfather. The strip is signed by a Milt Hammer. I guess that is who wrote and drew it. But that is just a guess.

Up next is Fearless Fellers. A boy gang strip. Kind of like say the Newsboy Legion or any of the other youth gang strips Kirby created. No clue who does this. The art is decent. I was a bit surprised at how ,considering the time this issue came out in,good the one African-American member of the Fellers is written. But then there is the villains in this issue. Who are all Chinese. With yellow skin. And all the other racial tropes of that time.

Now it's time for my favorite strip in this issue. Sergeant Spook art by Don Rico. This ghost cop fights crime with the help of his living teenage sidekick. In these later issues of Blue Bolt Sergeant Spook is the closest you will get to a real superhero. The art is really good. I like the story. But your enjoyment of it will depend on how much you can handle all the golden age comic cliches.

Edison Bell is a Tom Swift like boy genius. It has no signature,but whoever did the art well... it is the worst of the art in this issue. It isn't bad really. But it has this flat plain look that some Golden Age art will have.

After that there is a one page Sniffy strip and a few ads and the issue is over. 52 pages,including covers,for 10 cents back then. Shit I got this for less than a 50 page comic from DC or Marvel would cost you now.

So is it worth buying? For me it is. Even though I can goto Digital Comics Museum----Free public domain comic scans and download a legal scan of the entire issue,the comic geek in me just gets too much enjoyment of owning a comic that is 70 years old.

Blue Bolt volume 07 issue #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 212 Nighthawk #01

TITLE-Nighthawk #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel

This is the Nighthawk of JMS's revamping of the Squadron Supreme. I was enjoying that series until like lots of JMS's work it just kind of petered out without any kind of ending.

So now that Nighthawk is on the 616 Marvel Earth. He is attacking an warehouse owned by a white supremisist gang. Who is tracking guns and meth.

The art by Ramon Villalobos is really good. Nice amounts of detail plus a bit of darkness. David F Walker does an ok job with the story in this issue. I do wonder how this would read to someone that doesn't know this version of Nighthawk.

The cover above is one of the variants. Drawn by the great Bill Sienkiewicz. A guy I wish was doing a monthly series or something more than covers.

Nighthawk #01 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 211 Jughead #06

TITLE-Jughead #06
PUBLISHER-Archie

This is the last issue in the first story arch of the new Jughead series.

The gang makes a plan to stop Stanger from brainwashing more students at the upcoming Halloween dance. Jughead at first wants nothing to do with it. But then gets a clue as to why the new principal is ignoring Veronica's breaking of various rules. So he joins in on the plan.

There is a great fight between Jughead,who is dressed up as Captain Hero,and Moose. But our unsung hero manages to save the day.

Chip Zdarsky took my favorite Archie character and made him even better. All the homages to previous Jughead series were great. Erica Henderson's art fits this series perfectly.

Yeah gonna have to get the trade of this 6 issue run soon.

Jughead #06 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 210 The Black Hood #11

TITLE-The Black Hood #011
PUBLISHER-Dark Circle/Archie

The issue starts off with our lead giving up the Black Hood identity. And after that we are given a flashback. To the man that wore the hood before our Phillie cop.

Seems the previous Black Hood was also a cop. Who was using the Hood to track down someone known as Nobody.

Tracking down Nobody lead this version of the Hood to Phillie. And we get to see what actually happened the day our main lead became the Black Hood.

While this was good,it wasn't nearly as good as the previous 10 issues. According to an ad in the back this is the end of volume 1 and a new series will start soon. Looks like it will have the same creative team.

The Black Hood #011 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 209 Moon Knight #04

TITLE-Moon Knight #04
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Our group of 4 escapees get confronted by a cop. But Moon Knight/Marc sees him as Sobek. The cop ends up mortally wounding Jean-Paul/Frenchie. So Marc beats his head into the street.

Now down to 3 they make their way to a diner. Gena's Diner,which I remember from the Bill and Doug run on this series.Once she mentions her two sons I had a flood of memories of her in the original series.

Marc and Marlene leave the diner and are heading to the pyramid. They arrive and Marc is knocked in the back of the head by something. He turns to see who/what it was and is shocked to see Moon Knight.

Yeah this is getting really good. I do wonder how much longer before we get a proper answer to if this is all in Marc's head or if the Egyptian Gods are coming back.


Moon Knight #04 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 208 Moon Knight #03

 TITLE-Moon Knight #03
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Holy fuck is this getting good.

Marc,Crawley,Frenchie and the others are down in the subway/ancient Egyption temple. Khonshu shows Marc a way to get out,right when the Doc/Ammunt shows up with some orderlies. The group barely manages to escape. But something Marc sees causes him to doubt himself.

Off to the othervoid.Marc and Khonshu have a long discussion. Were Khonshu explains to Marc that his madness and mental instability are his greatest asset.

With this meta-physical pep talk over Marc runs off to meet up with his friends. They all end up meeting Anubis/a bus driver. Crawley pays Anubis's price of one soul to take them all away.

They reach a dock.Say their goodbyes to Crawley. Find a ladder and think that they are now in NYC. After making it to the surface they see winged people flying thru the skies and a huge pyramid in the middle of NYC.

This is one of the best Moon Knight series I have read since the original series.Lemire realizes that it is Marc's various mental illnesses that make him much much more than Marvel's Bat-clone.

Moon Knight #03 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 207 Moon Knight #02

TITLE-Moon Knight #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Took me a bit to find and then read the second issue of this series. Marc/Moon Knight gets a visit from his power bestowing Egyption God. Who tells him that one of the other gods has crossed over and Marc has to prevent more from doing the same.

Back at the nut house Marc keeps on running into people from his past. Like Frenchie and etc. Then one of the other patients tells Marc they will escape that night. And to go down not up.

That night they make their escape. And end up in what appears to be an abandoned subway station. But instead of people in the subway cars they are packed with mummies.

Moon Knight #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 206 Jughead #05

TITLE-Jughead #05
PUBLISHER-Archie

Been awhile since I read some of this really good series. I let a few issues pile up.

After being told by their parents that their belief that the school is being turned into a secret agent school is insane,our 4 teens start trying to figure out a way to get rid of the new principal Mr Stanger.

They find out he was principal of a school a few towns over. The Archie gang head over and see that in this town each of them has a gender swapped twin. After talking to former student that was in school when Stanger took over,they find out that after a year he disappeared. Right after getting a bunch of the teens to sign up for the military. But the worst is they find out Stanger managed to shut down the local teen hangout in this town. So of course Jughead freaks out and they rush back to Riverdale to check on Pop Tate's malt shop.

Jughead passes out in the car and this issues dream has him as Captain Hero. Teaming up with the rest of the Super Teens and facing their gender swapped twins. We find out that Iron Mantle is behind all the chaos and that story ends.

Back in Riverdale Jughead wakes up in time to see that somehow Stanger got Pop's lease on the shop to end sooner than it should. Jughead admits defeat to Stanger and walks off.

Once this gets a trade of the first story out I am gonna have to buy it.

Jughead #05 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 205 The Walking Dead #156

TITLE-The Walking Dead #156
PUBLISHER-Image

The entire issue is Negan trying to join the Whisperers. And through this we get to learn a bit more about them.

Once he is allowed to join the group Negan quickly lets it be known that he is attracted to the groups female leader Alpha.

After the last 3 pages  I am now wondering where the fuck Kirkman is going with this. That is not a bad thing,it is stuff like this that keeps me reading this monthly instead of waiting half a year for a 6 issue trade.

The Walking Dead #156 gets a buy.