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!

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Project Superpowers: X-Mas Carol - This is a comic I didn't know existed until a couple of months ago, until I saw it Half Price Books. I thought I could read it around Christmastime, and for once I actually followed though.

Here we have The Clown who is a member of The Supremacy who has a new plan to hatch. But before he puts into place he is get the three visitations of the spirits. This time its the Fighting Yank who shows him his past, which ties directly into The Clown's current plans.

The Ghost then tries to stop him in the present, but The Clown is ready for this and causes great mayhem to get the Ghost to go save some lives.

Finally, the American Spirit shows him what the world will be like if he completes his plans, and that is why The Clown must die. The Clown pleads for his life, stating that now that he know what will happen he will change his ways. What we don't know if The Clown was being sincere or not, or just said what he said to save his skin.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SERIAL #8: 

SNELSON #5: 

SPIDER-MAN #82:  

(Spider-Man doesn't actually appear, but "Parasite" and "Killer Croc" do.)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"THE SEAL MEN'S WAR ON SANTA CLAUS": Most every December 25th I start the day with a "Christmas classic". I also administered the "Christmas Quiz" from Christmas with the Superheroes to Tracy. (She flunked it.) 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SPIDER-MAN #83: 

THE DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE #4: 

SUPERMAN '78 #5: 

[The Baron]

Justice League Incarnate #2

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Mort Meskin: Out of the Shadows - While I find these books interesting to an extent, a lot of the stories are a chore to get through. I usually enjoy the introductions more. Now I did enjoy the Black Terror and Fighting Yank stories, by virtue of reading Project Superpowers. The Golden Lad stories were kind of crazy. Some of the crime stories were good. Outside of that, I didn't really find the stories here that good.

[The Baron]

You get down into the weeds, and you find that there were a lot of crappy stories published in the Golden Age.  Imagine some kid in 2060 coming across (Name of Your Least Favorite Current Comic) and thinking, "This is the stuff that the old-timers are always saying was so great?"

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:

Mort Meskin: Out of the Shadows - While I find these books interesting to an extent, a lot of the stories are a chore to get through. I usually enjoy the introductions more. Now I did enjoy the Black Terror and Fighting Yank stories, by virtue of reading Project Superpowers. The Golden Lad stories were kind of crazy. Some of the crime stories were good. Outside of that, I didn't really find the stories here that good.

[Richard Willis]

I like the idea that there will be comic fans in 2060.

[David Warren]

I'm in a rotation of Superman Animated, Detective Comics (starting with # 400, 1st Man-Bat) and Blackest Night Omnibus

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Oh, for sure. I read these type of comics about once or twice a year. That's about all I can take. I know Cap and Jeff read a lot of them though, I admire their tenacity.

The Baron said:

You get down into the weeds, and you find that there were a lot of crappy stories published in the Golden Age.  Imagine some kid in 2060 coming across (Name of Your Least Favorite Current Comic) and thinking, "This is the stuff that the old-timers are always saying was so great?"

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:

Mort Meskin: Out of the Shadows - While I find these books interesting to an extent, a lot of the stories are a chore to get through. I usually enjoy the introductions more. Now I did enjoy the Black Terror and Fighting Yank stories, by virtue of reading Project Superpowers. The Golden Lad stories were kind of crazy. Some of the crime stories were good. Outside of that, I didn't really find the stories here that good.

[JD DeLuzio]

I've never read Paper Girls before, despite its positive reputation. When the entire series became available in a full-colour collection the size of a pre-web big city phone book back in October, I bought it (the local moved and had a grand re-opening sale). I finally cracked it open the other day.

I'm three-quarters of the way through now. It's excellent.

[Captain Comics]

I finished three books last night that I had been alternating between.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Balloonatics is like Vol. 25 or 26 in the Carl Barks Library, pretty close to the end. And, while I hate to say it, it shows. Most of these stories are pedestrian (by Barks standards) or they just rehash jokes or themes I've already experienced (sometimes more than once) in previous volumes. I used to read these Barks books at a sitting, smiling all the way, but it took me a while to slog through this one.

The Phantom the Complete Dailies Volume 18: 1962-1964 isn't the latest one; somehow I'm reading the latest batch out of order. It doesn't matter, though, since each volume collects four or five storylines that, while consecutive chronologically, are unrelated. Given the time period, it's no surprise to see a lot of familiar, comforting ghosts on Sy Barry's work (I'm told he employed a lot of them), like Frank Giacoia and Joe Giella. In fact, sometimes the strip strongly resembles early "New Look" Batman or Detective.That probably adds to my overall assessment, not just of this book but of the entire series, of comfort-food reading that leaves you with a warm feeling.

Silver Age Classics: Ghost Stories Vol. 1 collects the first five issues (1962-64) of the Dell series, all of which have lovely painted covers of the coolest ghost I've ever seen. Neither the GCD or mycomicshop.com seem to know who the artist was, but I love those ghosts!

The interiors are largely by George McCann, a new name to me, but one whose style is pretty familiar. He seemed to have been ground out by the same factory that produced all the artists who followed DC's late 1950s/early 1960s house style for suspense books. Pretty bland, but comforting in a way -- a reminder of an era long gone, but as familiar to me as anything else from my childhood. You know what they say: First learned, last forgot.

The stories are of similar stripe: vaguely formulaic suspense tales that can be occasionally creepy or scary, but largely of the "uncanny" variety, avoiding anything resembling violence or gore. Again, nothing to write home about, but I enjoyed the walk through memory lane just the same.