Date: December 1996 Publisher: Sirius Entertainment Cover Price: $2.50 2014 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 21 black & white pages plus “Letters to Akiko”, 1 gag page and 1 house ad Story & Art: Mark Crilley Notable Notes: Akiko and her friends finally reach the Great Wall of Trudd.
Well… are you? I like to think that I’m not, but I am… a little bit. You know how I can tell? Whenever I get somewhere that is too high, or I see a movie where the people may fall a long ways, then my palms get all sweaty. Yeah, so its a good thing that I wasn’t a character in this issue when the gang has no way around the Great Wall of Trudd – so they climb over it… or start climbing anyways. I’m afraid my slick hands would have dealt me a quick death!
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Date: July 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2014 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page. Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., Christie Scheele Notable Notes: A search for the Casket of Ancient Winters!
If there is one subtle take-away from this issue it is this: that characters in Thor should *always* be wary of beautiful or helpful women. Why is that? Well, because in this comic those kinds of women are nothing but trouble, that’s why! The doctor’s secretary, Melodi, the jail guard and especially the hot woman in the car – they all have really mean ulterior motives. For the most part they get what’s coming to them… but the car woman – she turns out to be something very different (and very bad) indeed!
Date: December 1986 Publisher: Gladstone Publishing Cover Price: 75¢ 2014 Price Range: $2.00 – $16.00 Stats: 27 color pages plus house ads, Letters to Donald Duck and A Letter From The Duck Man. Writer: Carl Barks Artists: Carl Barks with Daan Jippes and Mike McCormick Notable Notes: Donald and the Nephews travel to South America!
I have always dreamed of going to South America – especially Brazil and the Amazon rain forest. I think it would be a wonderful adventure, and a little bit scary too. Probably not as scary as for the first explorers to visit that region of the world, but still, there might be a few things. In this issue Donald and his nephews do just that – they head to Brazil to capture some rare insects… and brave the ferocious wild life that lives there – ulp!
Date: July 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads, 2 pages of behind-the-scenes and an 8 page back-up story. Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna Notable Notes: Daredevil finds out who has been behind his recent attacks!
I am a big fan of science fiction novels, and one of my favorite series is Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space books. There are some rich people who seal themselves inside motorized boxes so that they can avoid contact with the nano-technology destroying Melding Plague. Anyway, there is a character in this issue of Daredevil that reminded me of those Palanquins, but this one can’t move and the brain behind it is still very deadly!
Date: December 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2014 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Postbox: The Pit!” letters page and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Larry Hama Artists: Mike Vosburg, Jon D’Agostino, Edward Norton, George Roussos Notable Notes: Joes and Cobra invade Coney Island!
Have you ever encountered an old, abandoned amusement park? I have, once, in Guam! I remember seeing it from the highway – all the rides overgrown with tropical vegetation. It was downright spooky! I did think it would be fun to play hide-n-seek or some sort of war game in though. Can you imagine how fun that’d be – running around and hiding amongst all the old rides and game booths! I’ve haven’t thought of that old amusement park in a long, long time – but this issue reminded me of it because both the G.I. Joes and Cobra head to a famous amusement park to carry out their plans.
Date: November 1970 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 15¢ 2014 Price Range: $6 – $80 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Letters to the Batcave” and 4 page backup story Writer: Frank Robbins Artists: Irv Novick and Dick Giordano Notable Notes: Origin of The Man with Ten Eyes!
Would being blind be so bad? I’m not saying I want to try it, just that blind people seem to live incredibly full lives – especially in comic books. I’ve mentioned before that when I was a little kid I would wrap a blindfold around my head and play for long stretches of time while pretending to be blind. And Daredevil doesn’t do too bad does he? In this issue Batman is temporarily blinded, and has a tangle with another blind man – but the other man has a secret that Bats doesn’t know about!
Date: September 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2014 Price Range: $1.00 – $10.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page Writer: Tom DeFalco Artists: Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, Joe Rosen and Christie Scheele Notable Notes: 1st appearance of Puma!
I always have a bit of a chuckle when I read Spider-man or Superman comics – you know, the part where our hero swoops in and catches somebody. It seems like the energy from a collision like that would seriously injure someone! Doesn’t it sometimes feel like the writers of these books never learned any real world physics? Yeah. Anyway, here is an issue where Spider-man learns about inertia the hard way: when he grabs onto a wall while falling! Yoink!
Date: December 1986 Publisher: Gladstone Publishing Cover Price: 75¢ 2014 Price Range: $2 – $15 Stats: 30 color pages plus “Letters to Uncle Scrooge” and house ads Writers: Byron Erickson, Carl Barks Artists: Carl Barks, The Gutenberghus Group, John Clark, Ken Feduniewicz, Mike McCormick Notable Notes: The ducks search for treasure on a tropical island!
Uncle Scrooge issue #211 was the first comic book I reviewed for this blog, and now after 1 and 1/2 years I decided it was time to search out some more of these fantastic, classic Disney books. I got a good deal on a bunch of them on eBay, and have whole-heartedly enjoyed reading me some great duck stories from some of the most famous duck authors! If you are a fan of classic duck stories then you’ll most likely love this issue too.
Date: November 2007 Publisher: Red 5 Comics Cover Price: $2.95 Stats: 22 color pages Writer: Brian Clevinger Artists: Scott Wegener, Ronda Pattison, Jeff Powell Notable Notes: Atomic Robo recalls the hardest thing he’s ever done!
Have you ever had a pointless argument? I sure have – and most of the time it has been with those closest to me: my family and friends. Why is that, I wonder? It sure seems like a worthless thing to do (at least in hind-sight), but even knowing that I still sometimes do it. Anyway, in this story a couple of the characters get into a stupid argument that helps no one – its a good thing Atomic Robo is more practical and above all that. Otherwise who would crack the jokes while cracking the bad guys’ heads??
Date: December 1998 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.99 2014 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 29 color pages plus 9 page Red Skull backup story, “American Graffiti” letters page, Bullpen Bulletins, fold-out gate cover and ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Chris Sotomayor and Todd Klein Notable Notes: Cap and Sharon do battle with Nightmare!
Have you ever felt trapped in your dreams? You know, like when you have a nightmare about running from some horrible thing, but your legs won’t work! I had those kinds of dreams all the time as a kid, and I still have them every once in a while now. (Maybe I need to see somebody about that, huh?) Anyway, in this issue Captain America and Sharon Carter experience something similar to that – but about 100 times worse! I guess that’s why the villain in this issue is called “Nightmare” huh? Ha ha!
Date: July 2009 Publisher: Th3rd World Studios Stats: 23 color pages Writers: Mike Raicht & Brian Smith Artists: Charles Paul Wilson III Notable Notes: A toy rescue party is mounted!
When I was a small boy, we didn’t call him the “Boogeyman”, we were just afraid of the scary monsters in the dark – especially the ones outside! We felt marginally safer when we finally got a dog, because then we had a built in warning system when the monsters were near, right? Anyway, now I look back at some of those irrational fears and smile… at least until my young daughter screams and runs into my arms. What is she hiding from? The Boogeyman, of course!
Date: June 1998 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $2.95 2014 NM Value: $4.00 Stats: 38 color pages Writer: Ty Templeton Artists: Rick Burchett, Terry Beatty, Lee Loughridge Notable Notes: Joker gets a big, big price on his head!
The rational, non-fun, part of me has always been a little bit disappointed that the Joker is still running around being crazy after all these years. It seems like if Batman isn’t able to put the kibosh on this villain, then maybe there is another, better way? This issue addresses that very topic, and shows us that one dedicated and vengeful man can come up with a clever method for bringing down the Joker once and for all!
Date: June 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads and “Letters Without Fear” Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna Notable Notes: Daredevil meets someone just like him… well, almost.
I know that Matt’s dad was a big part of his life, and ultimately the reason he became Daredevil. However, the “father” card has been played a few too many times for my taste. So I wasn’t expecting much out of this issue when I saw the cover – but boy was I surprised, and in a good way too! Mark Waid and the current creative team on DD have managed to create another awesome issue – cementing their place as the best team to *ever* work on Daredevil!
Date: November 1986 Publisher: Gladstone Publishing Cover Price: 75¢ 2014 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 30 color pages plus “A Gander at Gladstone” and house ads Writers: Daan Jippes, Tom Yakutis, Carl Barks, Carl Fallberg Artists: Daan Jippes, Fred Milton, Walt Disney Studios, Carl Barks, Paul Murry Notable Notes: Donald and Gladstone get into a fierce competition!
The lead story in this comic is about a competition between 2 ducks – a competition to see who can make the most money from an old boat. That is kind of a cool idea! As I started reading it I thought of a few ways the ducks could make money… but alas, it was nothing compared to what they thought of! Both Donald and Gladstone came up with some clever and devious ways to get the most out of their old clunkers!
Date: June 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page. Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Balder is summoned by Odin!
I love wolves, and always have. In this issue we get to see a very cool messenger for Odin: Geri the wolf – which delivers a personal invitation to Balder. How cool would that be? Having a wolf summon you to an audience with the king – very awesome indeed!
