Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 1

Been reading through Essential Fantastic Four, Vol. 1 the last couple of days. Now, I'm not a Marvel zombie, but I did read some FF back in the 80's -- I've always had a fondness for the team. I've always been a DC reader -- Swamp Thing, Superman, Phantom Stranger, Batman, etc. But I decided to give Stan Lee and Jack Kirby a chance and let me say, I haven't been disappointed. Jack Kirby's creatures are cool... I can really see his influence, especially on Mike Mignola's artwork and for that I'm appreciative.

The funny thing is, with Stan Lee's writing, I get ideas for other stories... for instance, when the FF first encounter the Skrull, 3 of them were left on Earth after the first invasion attempt, hypnotized in to thinking they were cows. Not being a Marvel zombie, did a little research and found out they broke the spell and came back later in another story. But I wondered if they mated with normal cows during that hypnotic stage, why types of creatures would have resulted -- Shape shifting cows? Super-smart mutant cows? :) This in itself wouldn't be the story, but the backdrop for something more interesting... I'm wondering if there's enough loose threads like this for an interesting non-super-hero types of stories.

Rate: B+

DC Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger, part 3

Finished it today! Great Len Wein stories. Terrific art work by both Jim Aparo and Tony DeZuniga. I'll have to pick up a few more Showcase trades; it's a nice format and a great read, especially when I don't want to spend $7+ dollars per comic to read a continuous arc.

With as the series develops, the stories are no longer formulaic. But with Len and his story-telling style, there seems to be more of a back-story to the Phantom Stranger; just not a supernatural super-hero that show up out of the moment of kismet -- his word, not mine, but I love it.

Rate: A+

DC Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger, part 2

Hadn't had much time to read my copy of DC Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger, but I've read through the first few issues... It's a little formulaic at this point, 3 mysteries, one solved by the Phantom Stranger, one solved by Dr. Thirteen, then the over-arching mystery that requires both the Phantom Stranger and Dr. Thirteen to solve. So far it's a good read, but can't wait till I get into the later issues with Neal Adams and Jim Aparo artwork.

DC Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger

Picked this up last week; started reading it. I'm glad that this is back in print, even though it's in black-and-white format. I've been missing a few of the earlier issues and it's great to finally read them...


I'll talk more about it in a little bit...

Pirates & Octopi

From the 100 Pirates in 100 Days project, I give you #13, this cool octopi-pirate... I think the flag is very cool as well.

Orlando Comic-Con

So I read about the Orlando Comic-Con on the Orlando Metro Blog. Since Erika was working Sunday, I thought I would go and check it out. Didn't recognize any of the names except maybe one... I might have recognize some of the artists from stuff I've read over the years, but no real big names come to mind.

Got talked into buying some stuff (people were very friendly; it was hard to say 'no thank you', especially when you consider how hard these people work to make a living). One guy ended up talking to me about his hilarious take on a werewolf comic -- I just didn't have the heart to say that it wasn't my cup of tea.

Anyway, passed up buying The Song of the South boot-leg copy... again. I might break down and buy it at the next Con... I think next January or February in Orlando.

I had a good time, but the Con was small, compared to the Mid-Ohio Con I attended a few years ago -- there the dealer space was just as large as the artist space. This one had maybe 60 booths, but the vendor space was small. I was looking for some back issues of Powers or that missing issue of Promethea I need for my collection, but vendors seemed to have really limited their stock for this event... And is seemed to me about 90% Marvel (zombie) stuff... Not much DC, Vertigo, or Wildstorm...

And I'm not a big fan of digging through crap to find what I'm looking for. Lots of $0.50 to $1.00 bins; not much golden/silver age comics... It was diversified, but almost to the point of blandness. I did find a few House of Mysteries, House of Secrets, and a Phantom Strangers that I didn't have, but hadn't plan on spending $10+ for a reading copy. One dealer had tons of The Witching Hour, but again at dealer's prices; when all I really want is a reading copy, not a collection copy... Hmm... maybe I should write DC about releasing a collection of some of those great old horror titles...

Happy Trogdor Day!

Happy Trogdor Day! It was 3 years ago today that he started to burninate the web. :)