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]

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE:

Don't let the uninspired (and incorrect) title of this series fool you: this is a really good crime noir murder mystery. I suspect that the title was editorially mandated, but it is correct in the sense that story tells the origin of how Gotham City became such a cesspool. Batman is in the story only peripherally, just enough to justify the use of his image on the cover. The main action is set in 1961 and the main character is Slam Bradley. He is investigating the kidnapping of Helen Wayne, daughter of Richard and Constance Wayne, Bruce Wayne's grandparents. I missed this series when it was first released (because I don't "see" Batman), but it's written by Tom King, who is very definitely on my radar. It is drawn by Phil Hester is a style that reminds me somewhat of Frank Miller's, if Sin City had been done in color instead of black and white. 

I'm not often a fan of mysteries, but this one had enough twists and turns throughout (not just at the end) to keep me guessing right up until the last chapter. Just yesterday I read issue #9 of Mad Cave's Dick Tracy, and not only is it not a good Dick Tracy story, it's not even a good detective story. But even if Gotham City: Year One was not a "Batman" story, it would still be a good crime story in its own right. 

[JD DeLuzio]

Dagar the Invincible. I only sporadically found copies of Dagar the Invincible, Gold Key's take on Conan the Barbarian, when I was a kid. I spent some time the other day making my way through the entire series after finding it scanned online. It has some good ideas and stories, and it's different enough from its inspiration. It wears a little thin towards the end.

We're sometime after the Stone Age, and smilodons and mammoths remain fairly common; Sword and Sorcery novel tech that would not be developed for millennia is even more commonplace. One issue indicates that people were living in caves only 300 years earlier, but that might have been that particular tribe. A mish-mash of "ancient" tech is to be expected in the genre, and Dagar encounters a lot of interesting monsters and sorcerers and suchlike. One issue features a mid-issue crossover with The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor, and, of course, Doctor Spektor frequently deals with the same Dark Gods (and, at least once, the Warrior Gods) who dominate Dagar's world.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

That Dagar series (as well as The OF of DS) was written by Don Glut and collected by Dark Horse back in the 2K-teens, which is when I read it. According to his introductions, Glut had an editor who steadfastly refused to entertain the possibilty that any one reader would read more than a single issue of a comic book series, any comic book series, in a row. Glut had to fight tooth and nail to introduce recurring characters. One of his introductions included his e-mail address, so I sent him a brief note about his (brief) run on Captain America. He was gracious but a bit surprised to receive the e-mail because he hadn't realized the archive collecting his work was out yet. (I contacted him on the day it was released.)

[JD DeLuzio]

Great story! Tragg and the Sky Gods, which I posted in Cover a Day, was another one of Glut's series. He tied them all together and incorporated some of Gold Key's superheroes, like the Man of the Atom and The Owl. He tried very hard to create some kind of interconnected universe at the Key, and gave general story arcs while giving each issue some kind of contained story. He also attempted to include diverse casts. These could be clumsy (sometimes because of his characterization, and sometimes because of Gold Key's colorists), but they were sincere attempts. I have a nearly-complete run of Doctor Spektor. I think it's his best work from that era.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Tragg and the Sky Gods, which I posted in Cover a Day, was another one of Glut's series. 

I found that just after I posted. (I always work the main page from top to bottom until I get to my last previous post.) the way you began your post above sounded as it it was following up from something, but I at first couldn't figure out what.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

FLASH GORDON and JUNGLE JIM:

I just finished volume two in IDW's "Champagne Edition" format (June 7, 1936 through March 5, 1939) and I must admit, reading both "Jungle Jim" and "Flash Gordon" really breaks up the flow of both stories. This is probably the last time I will read the Jungle Jim Topper; it just isn't given the space to develop properly. Jungle Jim gets approximately ⅓ of the page (actually a little less in most cases). Then it is further subdivided into two tiers, whereas Flash Gordon gets two tiers, ⅓ page each. It looks almost as if Flash gordon and Jungle Jim are drawn by two different artists, or rather by the same artist at two different stages in his career. That's not the case, though; Jungle Jim just simply doesn't have the space for the lavish illustrations Alex Raymond gives to Flash Gordon. Furthermore, even at its best, Jungle Jim isn't as good as other contemporary "action" strips such as Captain Easy or Buz Sawyer or Terry and the Pirates. In 1938, Raymond largely drops the second tier of Jungle Jim giving him one tier to Flash Gordon's two, and the art improves but the story suffers. 

The end of this volume ends a storyline for Flash, so volume three with begin with a new story.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

PEANUTS EVERY SUNDAY v6 (1976-1980):

The WWI flying ace appears only a relative handful of times in this volume in cmparison to the last. I think the reason I focus on him is largely due to the influence of the Royal Guardsmen (not to mention the Irish Rovers) in my preschool years. Other than that, new character Eudora is moving into the fore. 

Six down, four to go!