Date: November 2015 Publisher: Archie Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 22 color pages Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Fiona Staples, Andre Szymanowicz, Jen Vaughn and Jack Morelli Notable Notes: Veronica makes her debut at Riverdale High School
Another long-running gag in Archie comics has been the lunch lady, Ms. Beazley, and the terrible food she produces. I was delighted to see her make an appearance in this issue – and she even looks like the classical character… in a new sort of way. Here she serves up Veronica’s first lunch at Riverdale, and that sets the stage for a great, pivotal scene to follow! I wasn’t disappointed – and I doubt you will be either! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: July 2001 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.25 Stats: 22 color pages, ads and The Spider’s Web letters page Writer: J. Michael Straczynski Artists: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Dan Kemp, Richard Starkings and Wes Abbot Notable Notes: Peter intervenes and saves lives during a school shooting
This issue of Amazing Spider-man tackles a social issue that is still disturbingly relevant today, 17 years after the book was published: school shootings. When I read this issue, I thought it was kind of prophetic since the only major school shooting at that time was the Columbine one… at least that is what I thought. Sadly, I was sorely mistaken. Here is an old article from U.S. News that lists school shootings (in the USA) up through 2008, and as you can clearly see there were many before this comic book came out in 2001. And just think how many more have happened in the last 10 years – it is terrible. Sigh.
But, don’t get too downhearted! This is still a great comic book, and there is plenty to cheer for as Peter Parker saves the day – on multiple accounts! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: October 2015 Publisher: Archie Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 22 color pages Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Fiona Staples, Andre Szymanowicz, Jen Vaughn and Jack Morelli. Notable Notes: The New Riverdale universe’s new Veronica!
One of the many classic running gags that this new series preserves is Archie’s beat up clunker of a car! I think it has been a nearly timeless way for teenage boys to identify with Archie – he has car problems just like they probably do in real life. Except… is that really true anymore? I may be way off base here, but I don’t know of any boys who have really terrible cars – well… except my oldest son! It seems that many kids nowadays have nicer cars than I do, and keep them looking pristine. Also, how is it that Betty is still so mechanically good? I don’t know any teenagers who can fix a car’s engine these days. It would be nice though, wouldn’t it, to have a cute girl next door to take care of your car problems? Ah, we can all dream I guess. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: October 2007 Publisher: IDW Publishing Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 22 color pages Writers: Cory Doctorow, adapted by Dara Naraghi Artists: Esteve Polls, Robert Studio and Neil Uyetake Notable Notes: The first time a Cory Doctorow short story has been adapted to comics!
Several years ago I read and reviewed Cory Doctorow’s short story “Anda’s Game” . (You can still read that post over on my science fiction blog) I thought the story was pretty good, but definitely not his best work. He has written a ton of cool short stories and novels, so I was excited when I recently learned about the comic adaptations of some of his stories! I started with this one because it was the first story in the free (and legal!) TPB download. I kind of think there was something lost in the translation to graphic form, but it was still fun seeing a great short story in comic book form! Kind of like seeing a movie that was made from a novel you read. Anywho, here’s what I thought of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: June 2001 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.25 2018 NM Price: $6 Stats: 22 color pages, lots of Spider-Man themed ads and The Spider’s Web letters page Writer: J. Michael Straczynski Artists: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Dan Kemp, Richard Starkings, Wes Abbot, with J. Scott Campbell cover Notable Notes: A new writer and two new characters begin with this issue!
In 1999 I started reading the comic book series Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski and I totally loved it! There was a lot of hype, at the time, about the writer of the hit TV series Bablyon 5 writing his own comic series. Even though he had worked on a few comics in the 1980s, it seemed like it was Rising Stars that made him super popular in the comics world. Shortly after that he was tapped to write The Amazing Spider-Man , beginning with this issue. Again, lots of hype about him and the story he crafted. I figured it was high time I give his Spider-Man books a try – and this issue, at least, turned out to be really cool! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: September 2013 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 30 color pages Writer: Jeff Parker Artists: Jonathan Case and Wes Abbot Notable Notes: The Dynamic Duo returns – to comic books!
I was born just after the original Batman TV show ran its course – but I saw plenty of re-runs when I was a kid and later in life. Honestly, I was never a fan of the show – it just seemed too silly for me, although I realize now that the campiness was part of the allure. I had no plans to pick up this comic book series when it debuted several years ago, but all the rave reviews made me change my mind and grab the first trade paperback. I’m glad I reconsidered because this series has turned out to be loads of fun to read! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: June – July 1997 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.95 each 2017 NM Price: $3 each Stats: Each: 22 color pages, Bullpen Bulletins, letter column and ads Writers: Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton Artists: Patrick Zircher, Greg Adams, Marie Javins and Janice Chiang Notable Notes: Non-logical Vulcans!
In the late 1990s Marvel briefly held the Star Trek license and published a few short-lived series, of which Early Voyages was arguably the most popular. The unique aspect of this series was that it featured Captain Pike – who, if you don’t know, was the original series captain in the un-aired pilot episode. (You can watch that episode on Netflix if you are interested.) He was replaced by Captain Kirk in the second episode and never seen again… until this series! Since I am a big Star Trek fan, and I only owned these 2 comic books from the series (which contain one story arc) I figured I’d give them a try and see if they satisfied both my comic and Star Trek geekiness! So, let’s see how they did. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: September 2015 Publisher: Archie Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 22 color pages Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Fiona Staples, Andre Szymanowicz, Jen Vaughn and Jack Morelli. Notable Notes: The first comic book in the New Riverdale universe!
It has been a few years since the All New Archie series re-launched the Riverdale Universe. Even then I was late to the game, and only picked up a few issues after it had been going for a while. Knowing that Mark Waid was the writer helped, because I like most of his stuff. Anyway, I had been wanting to get some more issues of this series, but they were turning out to be expensive and hard to find. So I was excited when Humble Bundle offered a bunch of the electronic TPBs recently, and I jumped on that bandwagon while I could! Anyway, here are my thoughts on the first issue of this re-launched series. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: May 2001 Publisher: CrossGen Comics Cover Price: $2.95 2017 Price: $3 Stats: 29 color pages plus creative team bios and house ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Steve Epting, Rick Magyar, Frank D’Armata and Troy Peteri Notable Notes: The Sigil comes to Earth!
Back around the turn of the century, in 2000 and 2001, I was a big fan of the newly created CrossGen Comics. The fantastic artwork and intricate, inter-leaved story lines really impressed me. I collected a lot of their titles, and really enjoyed nearly all of them. But I had not read one issue of this series, Crux, until today! I picked up the first four issues of the series on the cheap after the company folded, but just now got around to reading them. Sheesh – what a slacker I am! Oh well, it was worth the wait, because this turned out to be one cool comic book! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: August 2010 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $3.99 2017 NM Price: $4 Stats: 23 color pages plus More About The Young Allies and ads Writer: Sean McKeever Artists: David Baldeón, N. Bowling, Chris Sotomayor Notable Notes: The first issue featuring the Heroic Age Young Allies
One cool and frustrating part of being a comic book reader is that there is so much history that sometimes ideas are recycled and you don’t even know it! Take this team of young super-heroes for example. I took a chance and bought the first issue of this series several years ago, and ended up loving it. I didn’t realize then that this was the third time there was a Marvel super-hero team named “The Young Allies”. Usually I don’t really like it when former ideas are resurrected and re-hashed into a newer version, but this book was an exception. See, I guess there is some value to not knowing history! 😉 Read the rest of this entry »
Date: January 1997 Publisher: Image/Homage Comics Cover Price: $2.50 2016 NM Price: $6 Stats: 24 color pages plus “Greetings from Astro City” letters column and house ads Creators: Kurt Busiek, Brent E. Anderson, Will Blyberg, Alex Ross, John G. Roshell and Alex Sinclair
Astro City superhero, Confessor, has a new sidekick: Altar Boy! They train and do detective work at the sprawling Grandenetti Cathedral, and the master teaches his apprentice to see patterns and notice what doesn’t fit. Alter Boy takes his training seriously and uses it to figure out why another superhero has recently turned to petty crime.
Read the rest of this entry »
Date: August 1995 Publisher: Image Comics Cover Price: $2.25 2015 NM Price: $12 Stats: 24 color pages plus pullout poster, “Greetings from Astro City” and house ads Creators: Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, Richard Starkings, Steve Buccellato and Alex Ross
When I was a kid I had many dreams where I could fly – heck, I still have them! Wouldn’t that be something – to just take off like Superman and fly away? Those were always the dreams where I was totally upset once I woke up and realized it wasn’t real. But still, it’s fun to dream isn’t it? Apparently we normal humans aren’t the only ones who dream of flying – this issue shows us that superheroes have those dreams too… even when they really can fly!
Date: February 1999 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.99 Stats: 20 gray and color pages plus ads Storytellers: Mark Waid, Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Chris Sotomayoor, Todd Klein
This issue of Captain America has some similarities to the movie Schindler’s List . Most noticeable are the black and white (or gray tone) images, with splashes of red here and there. The red, in this case, being the Red Skull’s big, ugly head! Also, this is a story about WWII – in a round-about sort of way. Here we get to see an alternate life of one of Cap’s biggest foes – and it isn’t pretty!
Date: October 2014 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads Storytellers: Dan Slott, Michael Allred, Laura Allred, Clayton Cowles
Do you ever have bad dreams? I do, and sometimes they are the really scary ones where I start awake and my heart is beating 100 miles per hour! I often find that I have the same dreams / nightmares over and over too – whatever that means. You know – the one where you can’t run, or you can’t help somebody or something like that. Sheesh – maybe I need to see somebody about that huh? Anyway, this issue of Silver Surfer involves the king of bad dreams – Nightmare himself. And a sinister plot is afoot that may allow him to rule over the Earth forever! Gasp!
Date: January 1997 Publisher: Sirius Entertainment Cover Price: $2.50 2014 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 20 black & white pages plus “Letters to Akiko” and 2 page back-up story Story & Art: Mark Crilley Notable Notes: The gang surmounts the Great Wall of Trudd.
There is a popular hang gliding mountain near where I live in Utah. Although I have never been, every time I pass it on the freeway I see loads of gliders lazily circling their way down from the top – and I get a hankerin’ to join in! I imagine it to be fun, a little bit scary and a bit relaxing too. Maybe some day I’ll get the nerve, time and energy to do it. In this issue of Akiko the gang makes use of a giant flag to do some hang gliding of their own – and it turns out to be pretty useful too!
