What Comic Books Have You Read Today?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This was a big week for me; not in terms of periodicals, but rather in terms of archival material. (See "Your Favorite Things of the Year!") Consequently, I bought fewer new comics today than I might have otherwise. Therefore, this installment is going to be mostly about new comics I did not buy. Let's take a look...

DANGER STREET #12: Every once in a while a new series comes along which restores my faith in the medium and reminds me why I still read comic books. Danger Street is such a series.

DARK CRISIS: BIG BANG: I posted my thoughts in Bob's thread.

LORD OF THE JUNGLE #2: Cap and I were discussing this series over in this week's Comics Guide, whether the art was a tribute to Joe Kubert or John Buscema. The sample he posted looked to both of us more like Buscema, but up close it  does, indeed, look a bit like Kubert (as if Kubert inked Buscema maybe). I meant to at least look at #1 and, flipping through #2, I remembered that I did.  The thing is, I have 20 or so volumes of Burne Hogarth I (blushingly) haven't worked my way through yet. I have no business buying this knock-off series.

TOO DEAD TO DIE: I hadn't heard anything about this Howard Chaykin project until I read this week's Comics Guide. I didn't see it shelved with the weekly periodicals, and by the time I realized it was an OGN ($20, softcover) I had already checked out. No matter. I'll be back in the store on Saturday for a signing; I can buy it then.

IRON MAN #1: Marvel's been releasing a flurry of "new number ones" lately, and I have been dutifully checking (some of) them out. I didn't particularly care for the last issue of the previous series a month ago, but I had been planning to buy the first issue for cataloging purposes. Too bad it shipped on such an expensive week.

PHOTON #1: Another one I almost bought. It is written by Eve Ewing. I would have bought it if it had been written by Al Ewing (or Roger Stern). 

THE MARVEL FUMETTI BOOK: Marvel originally published this in 1984 and I had the good sent not to buy it. Today they tricked me into paying money for it by including it in Marvel Masterworks Vol. 334 (for some reason). 

POGO: THE COMPLETE SYNDICATED COMIC STRIPS v8: This volume includes the dailies and Sundays from 1963-1964. During the Presidential election, Walt Kelly ran four weeks of dailies parodying Barry Goldwater and the John Birch Society. Knowing in advance some editors would refuse to run them, he also prepared four weeks of what has come to be known as "The Bunny Rabbit Strips." (Volume 8 includes bother versions.) He did the same thing for the 1968 election, but refused for the 1972 one, saying something to the effect of, "Hell, no. If papers want to drop me, they can drop me." 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

RICH KOSLOWSKI: I just got back from a signing at my LCS. I bought a copy of his latest, F.A.R.M. System, from Top Shelf Productions for which he provided a very nice personalized sketch. (I'll post something about it here in a day or so.) I also bought a copy of his previous hardcover OGN, BB Wolf and the Three LPs, which I had missed somehow. It's a fictional history of "BB Wolf and the Howlers," an anthropomorphic blues band along the lines of Three Fingers and The King! He was also selling a seven song CD of his band performing as BB Wolf and the Howlers. I have listen to that already; it's a hoot! 

I told him I met him (very briefly) once before (at SPX in Baltimore) and reminded him of a contest he once ran in which I won an original page Three Geeks art. I told him that only comic of his I ever missed was Jim's Jerky (which originally came packaged with an actual piece of his dad's homemade beef jerky), and he told me that everyone who makes a purchase gets free swag, including a copy of Jim's Jerky (no actual jerky, alas). He also had a ton of original art for sale, mostly Archie pages. All in all, I had a very nice time. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

F.A.R.M. SYSTEM: The high concept is: "If superheroes were real, they'd be a lot like pro athletes." Rich Koslowski blends the business model of professional sports with superhero comics. (F.A.R.M. is an acronym for "Free Agent Recruit Management.") For those of you with long memories, it reminds me (in concept, not execution) of a title launched by one of the Image founders thirty years ago. He thought that if superheroes existed in the real world that they would be treated like celebrities or movies stars... but he never did anything with it (other than mention it). Koslowski develops his concept. 

Superheroes are mysteriously dropping dead, and one of their number takes it upon himself to investigate their deaths. There are dozens of characters as well as intertwining plotlines. At a time when "anniversary" issues of certain mainstream comics often go for $10 SRP, one could do worse then to spend $20 on this 208 page OGN. Recommended. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

JUSTICE SOCIETY: After reading the Justice Society of America tpb last week I was still in the mood for more JSA so I moved on to volume two, which features Joe Staton rather than Wally Wood but is still excellent. 

THUNDER AGENTS: After reading JSA tpb v1 and Captain Action last week, I was still in the mood to read more Wally Wood, so I moved on to THUNDER Agents. So far I've reread just the first issue. It occurs to me that I have never finished reading the entire series. I'm considering an in-depth discussion, but I'm not sure how much interest there would be.

BIG BANG COMICS: The mid-'70s run of All-Star Comics also put me in the mood to read something else similar. So far I have read ten of the first eleven (color) issues. the one I skipped was v1 #4, the "modern" issue. 

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

THUNDER AGENTS: After reading JSA tpb v1 and Captain Action last week, I was still in the mood to read more Wally Wood, so I moved on to THUNDER Agents. So far I've reread just the first issue. It occurs to me that I have never finished reading the entire series. I'm considering an in-depth discussion, but I'm not sure how much interest there would be.

I have all six volumes of the THUNDER Agents Archives. I'd be up for a reading.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

I have a lot of the THUnDER Agents reprints, and that is some of my favorites. As far as I'm concerned a Silver Age shield of greatness.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Well, that's enough interest to get me started.

B.B. WOLF & the THREE LPs: This is one of the two OGNs I bought Saturday from rich Koslowski at a store signing. I thought it was the story of an anthropomorphic Blues musician (based on B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf) and three of his post-war discs, because that's how my mind works. It is actually the story of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs set against a background of the Jim Crow era. As it turns out, it has more to do with George Orwell's Animal Farm than it does Mother Goose. As I mentioned above, I also bought a seven song CD of B.B. Wolf & the Howlers (sold separately). These came out in 2010; I don't know how I missed them. 

[The Baron]

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7

I Hate Fairyland #2

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 ("DAWN OF THE DCU"): In a previous post, I described this series as being "exactly like every other DC 'event' only more so." Specifically, this issue is like "the pounding of Superboy's fists" to the Nth degree. The heroes and the villains are involved in a physical altercation of some sort. I'm not certain what either side's objective is, really, but they pound on each other so much that it brings back the Infinite Earths. "Infinite Earths" and "The Multiverse" are treated as two separate things, in that the "Multiverse" (52 universes) forms the basis of "Infinite Earths." There is a page, similar to the last page of the original COIE #12 in which the new status quo is sort of "summed up" in a nine-panel grid, but then the story goes on for another nine pages after that, followed by an additional five-page epilogue foreshadowing things to come.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #2: Despite the fact that DCOIE #7 was the big "Dawn of the DCU," I have to give Stargirl #2 the nod for "Pick of the Week" by default because it, at least, has a story. Bob, I surprised you didn't buy this one. Did you not see it?

AIRBOY #52: Eclipse Comics published 50 issues of Airboy back in the '80s. Two years ago, It's Alive! resumed publication with issue #51 with the intention of publishing monthly. IIRC, #51 did a pretty good job of recapping the end of the previous series (which ended on a cliffhanger), but I feel I'd have to read it again before delving into #52. The story is "To be continued" in #53... in 2024?

[The Baron]

Either my local didn't get it - which happens sometimes - or I didn't  see it.  . I'll check later.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #2: Despite the fact that DCOIE #7 was the big "Dawn of the DCU," I have to give Stargirl #2 the nod for "Pick of the Week" by default because it, at least, has a story. Bob, I surprised you didn't buy this one. Did you not see it?

[The Baron]

A quick walk in the 28 degree cold and I now have a copy.

The Baron said:

Either my local didn't get it - which happens sometimes - or I didn't  see it.  . I'll check later.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #2: Despite the fact that DCOIE #7 was the big "Dawn of the DCU," I have to give Stargirl #2 the nod for "Pick of the Week" by default because it, at least, has a story. Bob, I surprised you didn't buy this one. Did you not see it?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28:

It's Wednesday afternoon and I just got back from my weekly trip to my LCS. My buying habits have drastcally changed in the last year or so. I have often commented that I am out of shelf space for books and that I am out of floor space for shelves, but the simple fact of the matter is I am out of room for comic books as well. That has made it increasingly easy to make some of the choices I have made recently. Just today, for example, I passed on five comic books I would have bought under other circumstances. 

JOHN STEWART: THE EMERALD KNIGHT: Time was, Green Lantern (any of them, all of them) was my favorite character. The last couple of series, though, just haven't clicked with me, and I seriously doubt if I will ever read them again. Any comic book I buy I do so with the intention of reading it not just once, but twice. If a new comic has no potential for being read a second time... sometime... it has less appeal to me. Besides, I have so many (so many) comics I have never read, coupled with the ones I want to reread, coupled with a lack of space...

BINGE BOOKS: Three new "Binge Books" shipped today (or "Sit-Comics" or whatever they're called). I have been buying them right along, every one, and enjoying them, but I doubt they're something I will ever make the effort to read again. I dropped the whole line.

TIMELESS: This is Marvel's big "Kang the Conqueror" thing: "The Future of the Marvel Universe--Revealed!" Sure it is... until the wind changes direction. 

That's 24 bucks.

But look, what I found for 25 bucks...

BUNGLETON GREEN & THE MYSTIC COMMANDOES:

"In 1942, almost a year after America entered the Second World War, Jay Jackson-a former railroad worker and sign painter, now working as a cartoonist and illustrator for the legendary Black newspaper The Chicago Defender-did something unexpected. He took the Defender's stale and long-running gag strip Bungleton Green and remade it into a gripping, anti-racist science fiction adventure comic. He teamed the bumbling Green with a crew of Black teens called the Mystic Commandos, and together, they battled the enemies of America and racial equality in the past, present, and future-Nazis, segregationist senators, Benedict Arnold, fifth columnists, 18th-century American slave traders, evil scientists, and a nation of racist Green Men. Never before collected or republished, Jackson's stories are packed with jaw-dropping twists and breathtaking action, and present a radical vision of a brighter American future."

Doesn't that sound great!? I have never even heard of this! I haven't read it yet (of course) but the art looks kind of like a mask-up of early Simon & Kirby with early Chester Gould.