Comic Book Reviews

A series of comic book related musings and history lessons

First, a couple of definitions.  One, you will never hear myself or my reviewers call a comic story a ‘graphic novel’.

Graphic novels do not exist.

Period.

This is in our opinion and history supports us.

The phrase graphic novel was created by weak ego-ed individuals who were ‘too ashamed’ to admit that they read comic books. Well, here’s a reality check: The Comic Book is the only purely American art form ever created.

That’s right, boys and girls, all the other art forms in this country originated from elsewhere and were brought over to this great country. But, Comic Books were born and bred here, in the USA.

I think the confusion lies in the fact that other countries took the art form and expanded upon it more readily than we did. The French, Japanese, and Italians were among the first to place an adult mainstream spin on it. In the U.S., the art form became relegated to ‘kid’s fodder’ and not until the mid to late 60’s did they become more adult oriented.

Of course, this could lead us into a dissertation on the amazing ‘Underground’ comics movement but that will be for future installments.

‘Sigh’ That being said, here at Corrigan’s Basement or Ed Indovina’s web page we are not ashamed at calling illustrated stories by their proper name: Comic Books. And they will remain as such.

Second, believe it or not, all the 50,000 some comic books in the O’Fletcher library have been read.

Yes, you read that right, read. Not stored, coveted, or otherwise hoarded, they ALL have been read. Again, comics are for reading, not investing, like some narrow minded individuals will have you believe. And, the purpose to attending a comic book convention is to meet the creators of these great pieces of work and to fill in holes in our reading collections!

Now, enough of my kvetching and welcome to our page of reviews. Besides myself, Dennis O’Fletcher, we will offer reviews by such comic luminaries as Maxx Weber, Kurt Andrew, and the guru of all ‘B’ and obscure horror movies: Travis Indovina.

And, remember, we welcome opposing viewpoints and comments!

05/18/2016

R.I.P. Darwyn…

In an industry infested with imitators few artists actually stand on their own.  Darwyn Cooke was one of those.

Oh, sure it can be argued that his work borrowed heavily from Alex Toth and Will Eisner but he took those influences and made it his own. His work was deceptively simple in its appearance, disguising an underlying complexity that most artists would kill for.

There’s really not much to say about his passing. Fortunately, like Dave Stevens and Michael Turner before him, his body of work was rich enough to establish a lasting memorial.

Whether drawing super heroes or hard boiled noir, Darwyn’s work was instantly recognizable and powerful.

In my opinion, no one drew noir like Darwyn. His adaptations of Donald Westlake’s Parker novels were mini-masterpieces capturing the feel and attitude of the originals. Something perhaps that every filmmaker who attempts to adapt the novels should do. (Now, don’t get me wrong, Payback is a guilty pleasure of mine but I have thus far refused to see Parker.  Something about Jennifer Lopez in a film just makes me feel like induced vomit…)

Conversely, his take on super heroes was similarly inspired.  His The New Frontier was quite simply fantastic and a primer on how to introduce many characters in a confined story telling frame, again, something perhaps the folks in Hollywood should take note of.

This isn’t meant to be an examination or biography of the man. Merely an old comic book historian’s musing on the passing of a great talent.

R.I.P. Darwyn.  You will be missed.

 

 

P.S. Besides, anyone who can draw a picture of the one-and-only Jim Steranko into a book rules in my opinion!

 

 

 

09/03/2014

Creeps #1

I have to admit. Your faithful reviewer was done in by this book. When I read the indica I could have sworn that it said published by Warren Publishing Company. No, instead it really reads “published by Warrant Publishing Company”.

What can I say? The book has a look and feel of those classic issues of Eerie and Creepy! From the Ken Kelly painted on canvas cover to inside illustrations by Frank Brunner and Rich Buckler. It’s a Warren magazine lover’s dream!

Yet, that’s where it ends, sort of.

As an homage/tribute type of magazine the boys at Warrant get it right.  Inside the wonderful cover and the beautiful inside cover by Frank Brunner, there are seven tales of illustrated horror for your hard earned dollar(s).

All the stories are written by the Artful Artie Godwin (Really? Archie’s not haunting you guys?) and are, to put it generously, in the true tradition of the lesser Warren contributors. A Steve Skeates or Bruce Jones he isn’t, but hey. Who’s complaining?

Look, I could pick this book apart if I really wanted to. You guys know that. Heck, I could even start to compare it to the best Marvel books, but I won’t. No, what I will do is this:

I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Why?

Well, anyone who has that much love for the Warren mags of yesteryear to assemble a facsimile this well deserves my attention.  Again, from the cover, to the inside contents page(!) to even a letters page is all right in the O’Fletcher book.

This one deserves a spot in the library.

In fact, I feel so strongly about this book that if you can’t find it at your local comic retailer feel free to purchase your copy from us here at the O’Fletcher library. That’s how bad we want you to give this book a shot.

$4.95

  So, until the next review happy reading.

Harumph.

 

 

 

 

08/16/2013

Figured I’d share with you a recent comic discussion string with a fellow curator of the O’Fletcher museum.

Dennis O’Fletcher

07/30/2013

You never know….

I attended Pulp Fest 2013 this past weekend. Now, while many of you comic aficionados may be saying, “What in the world is Professor O’Fletcher, doctor of comics, doing at a pulp convention?’  Well, I will elaborate.

Without getting into an obvious award winning dissertation on the history of comics and how the pulps are actually the forefathers of the medium let’s just say that you never know what you may encounter at a pop culture fest of any sort.

And, what a fest is was for this old fan. 

First of all, Ron Fortier was there, representing his company, Airship 27. A pulp fiction imprint featuring new pulp work by Ron Fortier and his partner/art director Rob Davis.  Now, for those of you who don’t know, Ron was writer extraordinaire with Now comics writing their Green Hornet and Terminator books in addition to many other works.

Second, I had a great conversation with Anthony Tollin, currently the keeper of the flame for Shadow pulp reprints with his Sanctum books imprint. However, to me, his bigger accomplishment in life was being the colorist of most of the books that I read back in the 70s and 80s. In addition to being a colorist of remarkable talent, he also penned articles for The Amazing World of DC Comics fanzine.  Now, more details of our conversation will be revealed at a later date one item of interest is that between he and his wife, the late Adrienne Roy, they colored the majority of pages published by DC comics at the time. 

Last, but not least… I met, get ready for it…one of my favorite comic book writers of all time…. (Drumroll……….) Tony Isabella!  Yes, I met THE creator of Black Lightning, the writer of Black Goliath, It, the Living Colossus,  The Champions, Ghost Rider, Power Man, and The Shadow War of Hawkman among others (in actuality, he wrote so many  of the black characters I thought he was black)!

Needless to say, I still have a smile on my face. So, remember, you never know where and when you will meet people in your favorite hobby. Thank you again, Ron, Anthony, and Tony.

07/22/2013

News from the SDCC!

Disney Studios’ Dwight Edelstein announced the 5th phase of Marvel movies to a less than packed house today (of course, it didn’t help that Phase 3 was being announced at the same time.)

On Marvel’s slate for 2020 are the following movies:

Skull the Slayer. Created by Marv Wolfman and Steve Gan. The saga of a man who gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle an fights dinosaurs and extreme despots.

Bloodstone. Another creation by Wolfman, along with Len Wein and John Warner. The story of Ulysses Bloodstone, the possessor of a gem which helps him to fight monsters.

Millie, Model/Reality Star. An updating of a classic marvel character, Millie the Model and her adventures as former model turned reality star. The picture will dive into the excruciating decisions that Millie has to make in order to stay relevant in today’s world.

“We are very excited about this stage in our Marvel Movie properties. We call this phase, “Like the fans are actually going to care by now.” But, fans should be excited!”

Edelstein went on to elaborate. “For Skull, we’re already in talks with Johnny Depp to play Skull’s Incan sidekick, Whazoo. For Bloodstone, we hope to have Tatum Channing or possibly Ryan O’Neil, who both, by then will be begging for work. Finally, we’re very confident that Selena Gomez will be available for the Millie project. It’s no question in our minds that she will be a booze/drug addled hag by then and will be able to lend her personal experiences to her character definition.”

Edelstein wrapped up his presentation with the following: “Disney, as you know, has an outstanding reputation of working with fans’ beloved iconic literary characters. Our recent successes with John Carter and The Lone Ranger only go to show that if there is a great property, we certainly know how to enhance it.”

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05/14/2013

Getting ready for Pulp Con!  How many of us were introduced to the pulp characters in addition to the paperbacks via comic books?

Great stuff!

Also, have to love the ‘frugalness’ of Marvel comics using the same cover for two books back then!

 

 

 

03/13/2013

Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter

Some new acquaintances of mine started to talk about a great comic book series from the lat 80s. And of course, being the comics aficionado that I am, that series brought to mind a prior series written by the same author. After some thought, I realized that perhaps The Question is really a sequel/continuation to the Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter series. Regardless, if this is a series you haven’t checked out before, do so.

As usual, with most of the books on my Spinner Rack, these are available at below new comic prices in back issue bins or e-bay sellers.

Richard Dragon:Kung-Fu Fighter was DC’s entry into the booming martial arts fad that was moving through the country. If you were an entertainment entity worth your salt you had a player in this field.  Remember, it was also around this time Wonder Woman was trained by I-Ching and Batman displayed some martial arts prowess beyond the obligatory Judo skills that every non-super powered hero had back then.

The comic began as an adaptation of Dennis O’Neil’s book Dragon’s Fistspublished in 1974 (with Jim Berry). After the novel adaption was finished, Denny concentrated on bringing in other characters.

Unfortunately, this book suffered from the same fate that many DC books did during the mid 70s. Lack of apparent editorial support and a rotating cast of artists (i.e. Sandman, Justice Inc., Claw, Man-Bat, etc…) This caused an extraordinary lack of continuity to the reader and clearly diminished sales.

The series also seemed to suffer from Denny’s lack of focus and eventually faded into cancellation. Although it still lasted 18 issues, which was better than most of the books at the time.

In spite of its shortcomings the book is a great read. Another thing to note is that it introduced three major characters in the DC universe that have survived to this day. Many a book wouldn’t be the same without Lady Shiva, The Bronze Tiger (aka Ben Turner), or Richard Dragon himself.

Another note to consider is how quickly Richard Dragon became THE Shihan of the DC universe. Instructing not only Vic Sage, but Barbara Gordon, Renee Montoya, Connor Hawke, and even Bruce Wayne among others, replacing the O’Sensei and the I-Ching (which was kind of odd in itself to replace Asian masters with an American. But, to steal a phrase from another great comic writer, I digress…)

Denny used this book, more so than he did his famous GL/GA series as his sounding board for his philosophies on life and politics at the time. In the pages of RDKFF he was able to share especially his love for Eastern Philosophy which he greatly expanded upon in the pages of the Question later on.

I say it like a broken record, but do yourself a favor and pick these up. You won’t be disappointed.

 

02/15/2013

There isn’t much to say about this series except:

Just….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freakin…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read it…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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12/13/2012 The Phantom Stranger
What can I say about this book? Only that it is the best New 52 book to come out in months! Great re-conceptualization of the character (of course, borrowing from a bit of the origin by Alan Moore) and writing from Dan Didio.

And, fans of DCs previous mystical characters he laying the seeds for many of them.

Jim Corrigan is back!!!!

Of course, I’m seeing sales like Dan’s previous re-invention of Omac, not good.

Pick this up. I implore you!

 

 

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10/18/2012  Swamp Thing Annual #2

‘Harumph’

“Coincidence is the secret thread that holds the world together”

Phantom Stranger to Deadman

Mention the name Alan Moore and numerous Kevin Smith comic collectors raise their nasal, alabaster voices and faces in indignation, “That’s the creator of Watchman, you simpleton” they spit out as they adjust their glasses staring at a CRT, Pad, or their smart phone.

And, they would be right on that small part. But, today on the spinner rack is what I consider to be one of Mr. Moore’s masterpieces, pre-Watchmen.  The precursor to Mr. Gaiman’s treatment of DC’s supernatural characters in his Sandman opus.

Yes, I’m talking about Swamp Thing Annual  #2, “Down Amongst the Dead Men”. 

Now, for those of you who know me you’ve heard this diatribe before. In fact, most of you have had this issue given to you as a “Shut the fuck up about what you think is good and read this. Then tell me what you think” in our comics discussions in the vastness of the O’Fletcher library.

I will tell you one more thing: If you are fans of ‘The Crow’ you’ll love this story even more.

Now, I don’t want to ruin anything for any of you but, let’s just say that any story where the hero of the story travels into Hell to rescue the love of his life’s soul can’t help but be fantastic under Alan’s direction!

This story also begins to solidify the relationship between Alec and Abigail in Alan’s saga.

This story has Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Demon, and the Spectre even!

And, if you’re still undecided, how about the Spectre being a prick!? It’s worth it just for that!!

Like most comics on my spinner rack, as usual, this issue can be had in either the collected edition of Swamp Thing or on its own for less than ten bucks!

Some other things to ponder: How does a character like Swamp Thing keep gathering such great writers and artists (Len Wein, Berni Wrightson, Rick Veitch, John Totlebon, Steven Bisette) and how is it that Alan Moore had such an impressive run of projects early in his career. (I won’t even get into his early 2000 AD stuff and how Marvelman/Miracleman is the most criminally underrated superhero saga ever created. INMHO much better than Watchman for substance…)

Another thing, marvel in Tatajana Woods’ coloring! Remember the days before computer coloring? No, you probably don’t!  Even on the crappy paper this coloring job rocked!

Again, pick this up, have fun, and keep reading!!

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9/18/2012     Omac by John Byrne

‘Harumph’

When Jack Kirby moved over to DC it was clearly a different time. Jack was, in his time (and since) the most important comic creator to have ever lived.

Yes, I stand by that. Just pick a Marvel character and trace its origins. I think you will find that ‘The King’ had a role in most of them. However, that is fodder for another musing.

At the time Jack moved over to DC it was disastrous. Whether it was professional jealousy or just short sightedness on the part of Carmine Infantino and his cronies we will probably never know. What we do know is that DC didn’t support any of Jack’s creations for the company.

Which, as we now know, is embarrassing. Because, for a bunch of creations that garnered no respect back then, they are clear mainstays of the company now (similar to Jim Starlin’s work for Marvel).

But, I digress. Today’s column is about Omac, and mores specifically, John Byrne’s take on Jack’s character.

For some reason, probably Jack’s frustration with management at the time, when Omac first hit the stands it was disjointed and scattered from the beginning. Similar to Jack’s Sandman, none of it seemed to make sense. Where before in Jack’s stories there was cohesive plotting, Omac just seemed to be high concepts and little story. Yet, what great concepts!

Imagine, if you were selected by a technological entity to be the One Man Army Corps! This was right up my alley. Jack combined the fantasy of Captain Marvel (Shazam! to you neophytes) and the brutal aggression of the Hulk! Great stuff.

Unfortunately, I think the only ones who bought this book were myself and three others. Thus, Omac faded into backup features (thanks Jimmy) and mentions.

And, I waited.

Then, in 1991 John Byrne came to my rescue!

In a limited 4 issue series (Prestige as we used to call it because it was square bound!) John grabbed all of the Kirby loose ends and crafted a great story around it.  Again, for you newbies, Byrne was, in my time, what Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, David Finch, et al in modern time. To say we were excited is an understatement.

However, again, it must have been myself and my unseen trio buying this.

Regardless of all that, do yourself a favor. You can pick up these books at shows or online for less than the price of a new book (all four of them!).  It is great fun and a worthwhile read.  So, for far under the price of two issues of A vs X or whatever your reading you can enjoy a great story, great artwork and a great character!

Oh, by the way, for a character that no one gave a damn about, it was one of the ‘New 52’ launch (and in the Batman: Brave and Bold series). Of course, keeping in its history, the series is cancelled already but in this Professor’s opinion was one of the most fun of DC’s new releases. Then again, there wasn’t too much back story to ignore or offend readers!

In the end, thanks Jack for one of the best characters you ever made. Albeit half-heartedly. (and, think of this, even his half-hearted characters have more staying power than most creator’s full-hearted ones.)

-Professor O’Fletcher