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: April 1985 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2017 Price Range: $2 – $16 Stats: 32 color pages plus Crisis Beginnings column. (No ads!) Writers: Marv Wolfman, Len Wein and Robert Greenberger Artists: George Perez, Dick Giordano, Anthony Tollin and John Costanza Notable Notes: DC finally decides to clean up its continuity and parallel Earths!
I picked up this entire series 18 years ago, and am just now getting around to reading it for the first time! Sheesh – I feel like such a comic slacker. I know it is one of the most influential comic series of all time, but my desire to experience it hasn’t been very high. When I was a kid I never read DC comics, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I started getting into them at all. So there’s that – plus for some reason I always thought this was a serious, no-fun series whose only goal was correcting horrible DC continuity problems. That last part may be true, but this first issue turned out to be really cool, and I am excited to read more! In the introduction the writer even states that a fun and interesting series is one of the goals. So I am happy to verify that, for this issue anyway, it was accomplished! 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: November 1985 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 65¢ 2017 Price: $3 Stats: 22 color pages plus Knight Mail, Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writers: Jo Duffy and Chris Warner Artists: Chris Warner, Alan Kupperberg, Rick Parker and Christy Scheele Notable Notes: Moon Knight helps bring White Cobra to justice!
This is the first Moon Knight comic I have read. I may have read it when I was younger, but I didn’t remember anything about it. It appears that the titular hero gets his strength from the moon, and the more full it is the more strength he gets. Moon Knight’s first comic book appearance was to help take down a Werewolf, but he has been in many other series, and a bunch of his own series as well. Anyhow, I quite enjoyed this issue and am looking forward to more Moon Knight stories in the future! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: December 1978 Publisher: WaRP Graphics Cover Price: $1.00 2017 Price Range: $3 – $30 Stats: 32 color pages plus Rayek pin-up art, Meet the Wolfriders and Elfquotes letters page Writers: Wendy and Richard Pini Artist: Wendy Pini Notable Notes: Cutter and Rayek battle for Leetah’s love!
Would you fight, literally fight, to win the heart of your sweetie? What about your job? Or your family? Or your home? Or your comic book collection? 😉 Sure, we’ve all heard of fighting for true love, but as I read this comic I asked myself “What do I consider worth fighting for?” It gave me a little bit to ponder… but not for too long, because I had the rest of the comic to read! Here is a great comic – beautifully rendered and fun to read! 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: September 1978 Publisher: WaRP Graphics Cover Price: $1.00 2017 Price Range: $3 – $40 Stats: 31 color pages plus pin-up art, welcome and Elfquotes letters page Writers: Wendy and Richard Pini Artist: Wendy Pini Notable Notes: The first book from WaRP Graphics
Ah, love at first sight… does it really exist? I tend to think that it should more accurately be called “lust at first sight” – at least in the real world. But in the world of fiction perhaps love at first sight is a thing that actually works out. In this issue of ElfQuest the Wolfriders’ leader, Cutter, is so smitten with a beautiful woman that he kidnaps her! But that works out OK for him – and that is another way to tell that we are in fictional world! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: March 1973 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 20¢ 2017 Price Range: $5 – $75 Stats: 20 color pages plus ads, Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and letters page Writer: Steve Gerber Artists: Jim Starlin, Mike Esposito, Charlotte Jetter Notable Notes: The origin of Ichabod Rasputin
My daughter is really into rollerblading right now. She even got me to go with her yesterday, and now I have sore legs! Anyway, I was telling her that when I was a kid it was roller skates that were the big thing. Why am I telling you this? Because this issue of Iron Man starts out with him zooming around NYC on his jet powered roller skates! Yes, it is quite ridiculous! Iron Man himself even admits that he feels like a kid. Heaven knows he sure looks like one! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: April 1978 Publisher: WaRP Graphics Cover Price: $1.00 2017 Price Range: $4 – $50 Stats: 31 color pages plus forward, pin-up art and Elf-olution Writers: Wendy and Richard Pini Artist: Wendy Pini Notable Notes: A spruced-up reprint of ElfQuest’s first appearance!
Some comic book series just really fly through the publishing companies. Astro City is one that comes to mind. ElfQuest is another one. Beginning in the late 1970s the Elf saga started off in Fantasy Quarterly #1 by an independent publisher, then it switched to the Pini’s homegrown company WaRP Graphics. Years later both Marvel and DC would pick up licenses to it, and so would Boing Boing and Dark Horse! Sheesh! Oh well, at least it is a good series, and one that deserves to be published – regardless of who is doing that publishing! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: October 1952 Publisher: Quality Comics Cover Price: 10¢ 2017 Price Range: $97 – $1500 Stats: 29 color pages plus ads and text story Writer: Robert Bernstein Artists: Reed Crandall, Chuck Cuidera, Pete Morisi, Charles Nicholas Notable Notes: First issue of one of the longest running war comics titles!
I have never really been a fan of war comics. My older brother read Sgt. Rock, but I could never get into it. In fact I have ever only had mild, passing interest in anything related to war or the military. Recently that changed, at least temporarily, when I started taking a college course about technology and global conflict. After spending several weeks reading and discussing military stuff, I have kind of been in the mood to watch war movies and try some war comics. So that is what I’m doing today – giving a classic war comic a try, and seeing how it turns out!
I decided to start with the first issue of G.I. Combat. Why? Well, because it was a famous, long running series, and it is the series where Sgt. Rock and The Haunted Tank got their starts. I figured that was as good a place as any to start!
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Date: May 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.50 2017 Price Range: $9 – $160 Stats: 40 color pages plus ads and house columns Writer: David Michelinie Artists: Todd McFarlane, Rick Parker and Bob Sharen Notable Notes: First full appearance of Venom!
I was a young, comic reading teenager in the mid 1980s, and I remember when Spider-man got his new black costume. I got caught up in the first, original Secret Wars series and thought Spidey’s new costume was pretty cool – especially given how it could read his thoughts and transform itself into different types of clothing. But then I became “too grown up” to read comic books, and so fell away for about a decade. When I came back, however, I was really surprised to see that his black costume was now a separate villain know as Venom. It took me a long while to piece together what had really happened (remember, this was back before Wikipedia!) and when I finally did I had mixed feelings about Venom. Anyway, I recently decided to go back and read this classic comic book and see the beginning of the villain known as Venom.
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.
Date: 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.25 Stats: 43 color pages plus ads Writers: Jim Shooter, David Michelinie Artists: Paul Ryan, Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and Bob Sharen Notable Notes: Peter and MJ get married!
Hey, I’ll admit that my feet started to get cold before my wedding. It was a big commitment, and as the day got closer and closer I got more and more nervous. Luckily I had some good friends that helped me stay the course, and now I have been married for nearly 20 years! But I never thought of how a super hero would get nervous before his or her wedding – at least until I read this issue. It gives me a new kind of respect for those that are married. This issue deals with a lot of concerns that Spider-man has going into his marriage – and he ends up handling them pretty well I think!
Date: September 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 23 color pages plus ads and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: David Michelinie Artists: Alex Saviuk, Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and George Roussos Notable Notes: Spidey goes to Pittsburgh!
I like to travel to new cities and places I’ve never seen before. And even though I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, it was fun to virtually visit that city as Peter and Mary Jane made their way past many of its sites! I think it is fun to see super heroes go to different places – as long as they don’t permanently stay there (I’m looking at you Daredevil in San Francisco!)
Date: August 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 24 color pages plus ads Writer: David Michelinie Artists: John Romita, Jr., Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and George Roussos Notable Notes: MJ in Pittsburgh and the Spider-Slayer in New York!
For the most part I love older comics from the 1970s and 1980s. But I gotta admit that there are some really stupid ideas in some of them! This issue is a case in point, what with the stupid elongating robot and the stereo-typical angry villain. Oh well, I guess you gotta take the bad in order to appreciate the good, right? Right?!
