Date: 2007-09-30 20:37 Subject: Gumby #2 Security: Public

Gumby #2 (November 2006)
Ongoing series
Wildcard Productions



This is quite possibly the greatest comic book in the history of things.

I'm a hug fan of indie super-hero The Flaming Carrot, and was thrilled to learn that Carrot creator Bob Burden was writing the Gumby series. With Burden having been hospitalized last year, he's not been able to spend the time at the drawing board necessary to put out more of his flagship title, and so I have had a carrot-shaped hole in my heart that Gumby, courtesy of his malleable clay nature, has managed to fill.

Rick Geary's art in this comic is spot-on perfect -- wonderfully cartoony, but more friendly and less disturbing than Burden's own artwork tends to be. And the colouring by Steve Oliff is simply spectacular. I don't normally pay much attention to colouring, but with a title as vibrant as this one it was impossible not to.

But the real selling point is the script. Burden has an unmistakable style, and it fits perfectly with the world of Gumby, Pokey, and the rest. I read this during some down time at work, and was literally laughing out loud practically every other page -- and by the time a very special guest-star appears to help Gumby jump through a ring of fire, I knew I had to spread the Gospel of Gumby to the masses.

I give Gumby #2 one gazillion cents on the dollar. Buy it. Buy it now.

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Date: 2007-09-29 16:17 Subject: Starriors (1984) Security: Public

Starriors
Four issue mini-series
Marvel Comics



(A version of this review appeared on Comic Book Resources Classic Comics Forum.)

Last weekend, I swung by my dad's place and picked up some comics that I had left behind when I moved out on my own three years back. That's where Alpha Flight #108 came from, and next on the list was the four issue Starriors miniseries. As someone else said with respect to ROM -- ah, for the days when Bill Sienkiewicz would do covers for toy tie-ins. In all honesty, those covers are the only reason I bought these comics from a dealer at a comics and cards show, but for a comic produced to sell toys, this is actually pretty good.

The visuals (by Mike Chen, who also did the art for the Robotech comic) are interesting, because there isn't a single human being shown until the last couple of pages of the final issue. At first it takes some getting used to, but eventually you start to get a feel for the mechanical characters and can even read some of their body language. Plus, there's the absolutely bizarre imagery of the "circuits" in these robots, which man "made in his image," which really threw me for a loop. You see, when I was a youngling I owned one of the Starriors toys (the leader, Hotshot, to be precise) and I thought it was a giant robot and the little guy in its head was its pilot. Turns out the robots are human-sized, and they're governed by "circuits" in their heads in the shape of tiny men. It's quite creepy when you see an image of one of them after its been damaged.

The story itself (scripted by Louise Simonson) is a fairly straightforward tale of evil robots oppressing good robots and keeping mankind asleep in suspended animation after a terrible catastrophe. But there's a fair bit of characterization for a toy comic -- some of the "evil" robots realize that they're being misled by their leader and turn against him to help awaken man, and the heroes refuse to save the "good" robot who betrayed them. I'm always pleasantly surprised when toy or media tie-ins turn out to be anything but drek, and it seems like the 1980s were a prime era for such surprises.

I give the Starriors mini-series 75 cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-23 20:49 Subject: Alpha Flight #108 Security: Public

Alpha Flight
#108 May 1992
Marvel Comics




I've always been a sucker for what Bob Burden calls the "second-string, blue collar" superhero. Guys like Blue Devil, Nomad (Jack Munroe version), and the 1980s iteration of Starman. And so this comic spoke to my thirteen year old self when I first saw it on the shelf at the local comic shop; it starred Canada's own team of b-listers, Alpha Flight, and promised more international also-rans inside: Peregrine! Shamrock! Micro Max!

But what was that in the lower corner? "The mind-numbing of Brain Drain!"? Even in my early adolescence, I recognized the brain-in-a-jar (with eyeballs!) for what it was: really freakin' cool.

This was my first exposure to Brain Drain, but he actually appeared earlier in the Marvel Two-In-One/Invaders crossover reprinted in Essential Marvel Two-In-One volume 1, reviewed below. In that comic, he flies around in a giant spinning swastika until the Thing takes him out. That's the sort of thing that us comics bloggers are supposed to freak out over, and I will admit that some out-freaking did occur.

But even better is that in this, which appears to be his first appearance since then, he has realized the error of his Nazi ways and turned over a new leaf -- and that is what makes him a bad guy. Because he sees the unification of Europe as an extension of his flawed Nazi ideology, and so he wants to prevent it at all costs, using his brain-in-a-jar hypnosis powers to mind control Europe's heroes into killing their leaders.

The comic itself is a bit of a letdown, because it's very much an artefact of the early 90s, with proto-Image art and a script by a writer who encapsulates that period almost perfectly, Scott Lobdell. But between a kinda-nifty silent fight between the Italian hero Omerta and the Alpha Flight member Weapon Omega, and the final sad lament of a disembodied brain with low self esteem, it's certainly a fun dollar bin catch.

I give Alpha Flight #108 70 cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-17 20:43 Subject: Essential Marvel Two-In-One vol. 1 Security: Public

Essential Marvel Two-In-One volume 1
Black and White Trade Paperback
Marvel Comics



After reading Idol of Millions, I had a hankering for another helping of the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing. So when a local comics shop, which already sells trades and new comics at US cover price instead of Canadian, had a sale on their trade paperbacks, I snatched this up.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Essentials line, it is a project Marvel put in place a few years ago where they collect a large number of issues in a very reasonably priced black and white format; they're often referred to as "phone books", although to be honest that exaggerates their thickness a bit. This particular title collects most of the first 25 issues of the 1970s series Marvel Two-In-One, in which the Thing teams up with various other Marvel heroes -- sometimes after the clichéd "heroes misunderstand each other and fight."

For the most part, the art doesn't suffer for being reproduced in black and white; it gives you a clearer appreciation (or lack thereof) for what the penciller and inker (a job I find arcane and mysterious) brought to the table. For my money, the Thing is one of the greatest character designs of all time -- I have a soft spot for bulldogs and groundhogs, and Benjamin J. Grimm's rocky persona cuts a similar chunky but cuddly figure -- and the format of this book really lets it show.

The volume is uneven, though; unsurprisingly for a title like this, the creative team changed routinely, and this results in variable quality in both the art and writing. There are times when the "snappy banter" gets a bit too much, with characters saying things because they sounded hip to the writer, rather than because they made sense coming out of that character's mouth. And when that snappy banter makes its way into the narration, well... It all gets to be a bit much.

Combined with the overall sameness of the stories, this makes Essential Marvel Two-In-One a title best dipped into over a long period of time, rather than plowed through a breakneck speed.

Aside from this, my only lament is that they didn't include the Thing/Doc Savage issue of the series, presumably for rights-related reasons. Will I purchase volume 2? Perhaps, but not for a few months at least. I've had my fill of Mrs. Grimm's baby boy for the time being.

I give Essential Marvel Two-In-One volume 1 82 cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-11 22:46 Subject: Typhoid (1995) Security: Public

Typhoid
4 issue limited series
Marvel/Marvel Edge



"What makes a killer kill?"

This is the question posed by the would-be auteurs filmmakers who play a significant role in this story, and over the four issues we see a number of different answers -- childhood trauma, jealousy, a skewed sense of ethics, and sheer perversion.

The eponymous protagonist of Typhoid was first introduced in the pages of Daredevil by author/editor Ann Nocenti, who returns to the character with this limited series. She (Typhoid Mary, not Nocenti) suffers from multiple-personality disorder, her mind having splintered into three personae when she was younger -- passive, virginal Mary; sexual, assertive assassin Typhoid Mary (or just Typhoid); and man-hating avenger of women everywhere Bloody Mary. When Typhoid starts, the personalities have been partially integrated into a fourth, almost-whole persona -- the others still manifest themselves, but usually at her instigation, when she finds she needs traits one or the other possess. Usually. She's even managing a social life, passing off her other personalities as "roommates" to her skeptical boyfriend.

This all begins to change when she returns to the big city to investigate the murder of her landlady's daughter, a prostitute there. Circumstances spiral out of control as corrupt cops, non-corrupt cops, prostitutes, and the aforementioned "directors" weave in and out of both Mary's life and her investigation.

The writing by Nocenti convinced me that my enjoyment of her run on DC's Kid Eternity wasn't just that of an impressionable youth, and I think it's a real shame that she seems to have all but disappeared from the industry over the last decade. Someone needs to snap her up and get her writing comics again; we need all the prominent, talented female writers we can get.

Van Fleet's art took some getting used to, but it is certainly quite distinctive. It's a hybrid of stylized, angular elements (similar to what I think of as the 90s "Vertigo style") and near-photo-realism. This results in some awkward or stiff poses, but overall it fits the story. He's done a lot of cover art over the years, and worked on a Batman/Poison Ivy story with Nocenti, for which I'll be keeping an eye peeled.

In the end, this was exactly what I'd hoped for when I picked it up based on the cover art alone, and I intend to see if further titles from the imprint are of a similar quality -- it seems that Marvel Edge was the mid-90s attempt to capture a Vertigo-style maturity for Marvel (which they had all but lost with the demise of the old Epic imprint), and in that way presaged the Marvel Knights and Marvel MAX imprints that would follow.

I give Typhoid 85 cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-05 20:40 Subject: The Thing: Idol of Millions (2006) Security: Public

The Thing: Idol of Millions
Collects #1-8
Marvel



I feel a little guilty about this book, and that's why I'm writing about it in spite of the fact that it's a collection and retailing at cover price.

You see, I bought the first issue of this series when it came out, enjoyed it, and never bought another. Eight issues later, Marvel canceled it due to low sales. Who knows? If I had kept on buying it, maybe we would still be seeing Dan Slott's Thing in stores today. Ha ha.

All puerile humour aside, this is a great, fun read. It came on the heals of the revelation in J. Michael Straczynski's first issue of Fantastic Four that the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing is a multimillionaire, and follows his life as a member of the nouveau riche -- dating movie stars, being kidnapped, and building youth centres in his old neighbourhood. The series is played for laughs, but it's not shallow like some humour books can be -- there is real characterization and growth to the protagonist and the other cast members as the series goes on.

I personally think that Dan Slott is one of the best writers in mainstream comics today, and I wish that I could bring myself to do more than sample Marvel's current Mega-Crossover-Heavy output. Not only does Dan write a tolerable Reed Richards (by which I mean, I can tolerate the character; the writing is more than tolerable) but he writes the best Spider-Man I've seen in years, works in continuity from other titles (admittedly, mostly his own, She-Hulk and the Great Lakes Avengers), and shows that he can write different characters without them all sounding the same -- something that many writers today seem to have a problem with. This last trait is put on display at the high-stakes poker tournament the Thing hosts in the final issue.

Plus, there's a superhero bar mitzvah! What's not to love?

In the end, although I do feel guilty about not buying this issue while it was on the stands, I'm glad I was able to read it all so close together. And while I would have liked to see more Thing, the short run meant that Dan could wrap the story up with the last issue and leave you feeling like it was a proper ending -- something that is sometimes hard to find in an inherently serial market.

I give The Thing: Idol of Millions ninety-eight cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-03 17:16 Subject: House of Secrets #1-5 Security: Public

House of Secrets (1996)
#1-5 by Steven T. Seagle & Teddy Kristiansen
DC/Vertigo



I was originally going to comment that this was the first book I've ever read by Steven T. Seagle, but then I discovered that he wrote Primal Force, one of the questionable post-Zero Hour titles from DC comics. But all that I remember from that title is that the Red Tornado was in it, so this may as well be my first exposure to his work.

The first five issues of House of Secrets are devoted to an arc called "Foundations", following teenage runaway Rain and her interaction with the eponymous house as it draws her into its affairs. Outside of the house, she grows more involved with people in her new city of Seattle while constantly protesting to herself that she doesn't want to form any attachments.

Rain (who may not be going by her real name) proves to be an unreliable narrator as the story moves on, and by the end you're left uncertain as to how much of what she says -- both to other characters and to the reader -- should be believed.


"Foundations" suffers a bit of the same problem many readers find with today's 'decompressed' storytelling, as it feels like the tale was stretched out to make five issues. This is especially interesting in light of the fact that Vertigo itself was putting out some anthology titles (Weird War Tales, for instance) around the same time; it may be worth noting that those anthologies were being released as limited series, while House of Secrets was an ongoing monthly title.

This book definitely has the feel of a mid-90s Vertigo title -- it's moody, the artwork is highly stylized but is still comprehensible, and it deals with urban squalor and typical 'mature themes' while revisiting an established but languishing DC title (House of Secrets was a supernatural/horror title that began in 1956 and ran for over 20 years, sister publication to the similarly-named House of Mystery which has been getting the bargain-priced Showcase Presents... treatment in trade paperback form.) This is probably my favourite Vertigo period, so I was quite happy to be able to pick up a run of issues 1-16 for a dollar each this weekend.

On the whole, I give the first arc from Steven T. Seagle's ongoing House of Secrets 75 cents on the dollar.

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Date: 2007-09-03 17:10 Subject: Welcome to my home. Enter freely and of your own will. Security: Public

Welcome to Dollar Bin Blues, where I will attempt to bring to your attention comics that are good, cheap, or both. I have a habit of cruising back issue bins for comics I've never read before, particularly for extended runs of series in the dollar bins, and it finally dawned on me that I should put this occasionally-expensive habit to constructive use, and thus Dollar Bin Blues has been born.

Despite the title, I shan't be limiting myself to just the dollar bin comics; I'll also cover reasonably-priced back issues, trades (particularly those that are good value for your money), and perhaps even the occasional currently-available title if the mood strikes.

First up: The House of Secrets.

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