The Walking Dead Vol.28: A Certain Doom

Continuing on with "The Walking Dead" and is it just me or is this turning into the most boring, repetetive series ever? I swear this same scenario has been re-used over and over for years now.

Dropping "Snotgirl"

After reading the latest issue of Bryan Lee O'Malley/Leslie Hung's "Snotgirl", I think I'm going to drop it as a monthly purchase and wait for the trade paperbacks from now on. Normally I wait for an arc to end before dropping a title (like I did with "Injection") but with three more issues to go at 2.99 a clip, it would still be around the same price to buy the issues collected at 9.99 per book.

Leslie Hung's art is beautiful but the storyline just hasn't grabbed me like I thought it would, and its meandering plot would be better served reading all at once.

The Incredible Hulk #182: "Between Hammer and Anvil!"

The Incredible Hulk, Issue #182! Coming right after issue 181's famous debut of Canada's Wild n Wool Wolverine,  this one also featured Wolverine briefly at the beginning of the issue where he is being called back by his government. Because he was in it, issue #182 is a pricey comic to own, and so very few people have actually read it. 

That’s a shame because this issue’s story “Between Hammer and Anvil!”, where Hulk meets the kindly traveller Crackajack Jackson, is one of the sweetest and most touching stories EVER.

Crackajack Jackson is on his way to the state Penitentiary to meet his incarcerated son “Hammer” Jackson. Along the way he befriends the Hulk, and during their travels, he teaches Hulk the alphabet and shows him how to write his name, saying “A man ain’t nothin’ if he ain’t got his name!”

What they don’t know is that Hammer and his partner Johnny Anvil have escaped the prison and have crossed paths with a VERY bizarre-looking alien, who gives them the power of  a cosmic chain…and when Crackajack and Hulk show up, there’s gonna be a battle ahead!

A very touching and bittersweet ending, Crackajack Jackson became a person that Hulk would reflect on in later issues as a true friend of his.
Posted by zinkognito @ zdorama.blogspot.com

Manifest Destiny Vol.5: Mnemophobia & Chronophobia

This is a series which seems more like TV show than a comic with its episodic set up: Lewis and Clark and the Gang discover a new threat. The threat attacks them (and usually kills a member). They figure out how to defeat it. The End.
And yet, I  like reading this series, in much the way i loved turning in to each episode of Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno's Incredible Hulk" TV show years back....simply comfort food for thought!

"They're Not Like Us" NEWS!

Just the other day i was wondering about the status of "They're Not Like Us", and November's Solicitations List just gave me HOPE!

As you may recall, they've been postponing and rescheduling issues 16 and 17 and have recently taken it completely off the upcoming release schedule, leaving only the final series issue 18 up (for a tentative sept 20 release). The series seemed to be in limbo! But with the November Solicitation, I was ABSOLUTELY RELIEVED to see THIS Trade coming up for November 29:

Oh MAN, can it be true!!???!!! I reaaallllly hope so!

Man, WHAT is going ON with “They’re Not Like Us”?

  

After 9 months on hiatus, I was thrilled when “They’re Not Like Us” resumed activity in January with issue #13. ..Things went well for three issues, but issue #16, which was originally scheduled for a May Release, got first pushed back to a June release, then July, then August…

   I know that sometimes things get behind and I want them to take all the time they need to produce such a fine title, but I was alarmed when I recently checked on the upcoming release page and saw that both issues 16 and 17 had been taken off the page entirely!

Now the only upcoming release posted on the site is issue #18, (which lists Sept 6 as its release date which can’t be right)…I also noticed that issue #18, which once had the title of “My Little Empire”…now sports the new title of “Move On”:

This change bothers me because it makes everything seem so “up in the air”. Would love to have some concrete news.

Monstress, Vol.Two: The Blood

Continuing on with Volume Two of the Marjorie Lui/Sana Takeda series MONSTRESS...I know I could have bought the exclusive edition from Barnes & Nobles but I was at a comic store and didn't feel like going to town so I jsut got the "regular" version...

Scapled Vol.7-10

Continuing on with the Vertigo series SCALPED. I originally just picked up  Vol. 1 to see if it was going to interest me, then ventured further with books 2-6. When all of that was intriguing, I made the move to acquire the rest of the series. reading 'em now....
PS: When I told Gerg (who had recommended the series to me) that I'd picked up the books, he groaned, saying "I was gonna give you MY books!" Oh well....

Marvel Team-Up #78

My friend and his brother always had an abundance of comics laying around to read- their grandmother had a candy store in Maui which sold used comics in the back and they always came home from a visit with boxes FULL of titles!

On one occasion, this Marvel Team-Up issue starring Spider Man and Wonder Man was among the haul, and I immediately sat down and started reading it. The villain of the piece, the Griffin, was your basic one-shot villain type (as they usually were in the Team-Up and Two-In-One titles) as a guy in a suit, but as Spidey and Wondey duked it out with him, I was gripped with tension as the guy in the suit began slowly changing…from man into a REAL griffin!

WHOA! The idea of this slow-morphing of a man into monster during the heat of battle just FLOORED me! I remember finishing it, putting it down and telling the guys, “Th-this issue was freaking AWESOME!”

And I ain’t gonna lie, when me and my friends began drawing our own comics, I would regularly have villains who slowly changed into creatures during fighting, I was THAT impressed by it!

Uncanny X-Men #125

My very FIRST X-Men comic, the one that introduced me to those Uncanny heroes, and WOW, what a issue to start off with! Not only was I introduced to all the X-men, but also Moira MacTaggert, Phoenix, Beast, Havok and Polaris AND the Danger Room! EVERYTHING was in this issue!

And if that weren’t enough, this was the first part of the incredible PROTEUS storyline, the beginnings of the HELLFIRE CLUB storyline and, of course, the seeds of what would eventually become the “DEATH OF PHOENIX” saga!

To this day this run remains the title that all others must compare to, and John Byrne and Terry Austin are STILL my favorite Artist/inker combo of all time!

Cross-Over Comics

The year was 1978 when my friend BLEW MY MIND by introducing me to what was called a “CROSS-OVER”!!  He showed me Captain America #230, where Cap went up against the Hulk (and what a COVER!), and I was astounded when the story continued into Hulk’s OWN title with Incredible Hulk #232!!!

MAN, I remember thinking comics couldn’t get COOLER!!!

The Complete Phonogram

As a HUGE fan of Keiron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie masterpiece THE WICKED+THE DIVINE, I decided to check out their previous work "Phonogram", a much-lauded work consisting of three story ars. Hmmm, can't say I was a real fan of this series. While I can clearly see the roots of WicDiv here, I just couldn't get into it...very snarky, IMO.

Infinity Gauntlet

Saw a used copy of Jim Starlin's "Inifinity Gauntlet"  and decided to check it out. Was surprised to find that this was the FOURTH in a SERIES of books, Infinity War, etc. Just as well I didn't know because I don't know if I could have sat through FOUR of these.
 I grew up with the original "Power Of Warlock" series and REALLY loved the original Jim Starlin run from STRANGE TALES to its killer conclusion in Avengers Annual 7, but somehow, this new series just didn't grab me...

Super-Villain Team-Up #15

My Favorite Marvel Villain of all time is Victor Von Doom, and as a kid, I tried to grab every issue I could with him on the cover. Living in Hawaii, there weren’t a whole lot of places to buy back-issue comics, but there was a shoppe in Waikiki that sold Hawaiian stuff (koa bowls, carved statues, etc) and in the back of the store, the little old lady that ran the place sold used comics!

Me and my friend would bicycle down there every weekend to see what new comics she had, and when I saw this Super-Villain Team-Up in one of the comic boxes, I couldn’t WAIT to check it out!

 Getting home,  I was treated to one of the finest Doctor Doom stories ever! I was used to seeing Doc Doom as drawn by artists like Jack Kirby, John Buscema and Keith Pollard, but George Tuska’s take on him was SO different…very robotic and archaic looking that made me feel like I was reading a ancient tale of Doom.

Even as a kid I could tell that this story of Doc Doom VS Red Skull was made up of two parts- there was a very distinctive split in the middle of the story, and sure enough, the first page said “Originally presented in Tales to Astonish 4-5” and when I was a teenager and seriously collecting, these were issues I just HAD to have! 

Still one of my all time favorite Doctor Dooms stories, with one my FAVORITE Doom quotes ever (when a thief tries to rob him in his sleep): “ What’s THIS?A common thief who dares disturb my royal repose? Such audacity borders on madness, and towards the mad, I am nothing if not merciful! Hence the merest TASTE of my weaponry! (electrocutes the robber to hell)!

Lazarus Vol.1-5

With the arrival of Book Five, i decided to read LAZARUS right from the beginning, and now, having finished book 5, can honestly say this is one of the best freaking books out there!!!!
Sad to hear that the creative team is taking a break and handing it off to others...hope they retain the book's greatness!