S.H.I.E.L.D. by Lee & Kirby: The Complete Collection

By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Publisher: Marvel (October 20, 2015)

Paperback, 256 pages

Amazon Listing

This book collects issues 135 - 150 of Strange Tales, plus issue 78 of Tales of Suspense and issue 21 of the Fantastic Four. These issues date back to the beginning of Marvel blossoming out of mobster books and taking the comic world by storm. In the early sixties D.C. ran supreme but with the new interest in revamped Superhero titles, Marvel started to catch up. However, due to publishing problems, Marvel was limited in the number of titles it could publish. Thus they often doubled-up titles to hedge their bets. Thus the stories here are truncated as they were spilt between The SHIELD stories and those of Dr. Strange.

Nick Fury was already part of the Marvel Universe as part of the Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos title which took place in World War II. He was brought into the modern times (of the 60s) with Fantastic Four #21 , where he is a colonel in the CIA. Starting with Strange Tales # he is inducted into the newly created SHIELD to fight the menace of Hydra.

Hydra's origins would later be retconned (Marvel's first retcon in fact) so as to be created by Baron von Strucker with Nazi gold and the remnants of the Odysessa organization.However, for these issues it was started by Arnold Brown, an unobtrusive nobody in real life. He is eventually accidentally killed by his own agents. Later on we see the origins of A.I.M and the Secret Empire, both wings of Hydra - though the Secret Empire isn’t used much anymore.

The stories are what you expect from Lee and Kirby. Over the top. Crazy material. Loaded with kinetic energy. Each had a distinctive style that added to the 60s elements of wild spy agencies with acronyms names. Loads of retro fun. Additionally, despite what the title states, several of the issues are drawn by John Severin instead of Jack Kirby. That's okay in my book, Severin was just as good an artist as the King.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Essential Power Man and Iron Fist, Vol. 2 (Superhero)

by Chris Claremont, Kurt Busiek, Denys Cowan, Kerry Gammill, Ernie Chan, Mike W. Barr, Steven Grant, Greg LaRocque 

Publisher: Marvel (2009) 

Softcover, 624 pages 

Amazon Listing

This collects Power Man & Iron Fist issues 76 - 100, and Daredevil # 178. Just a reminder to all you comic fans, most of these were written in the 1970s and as such the demographic for such material was much younger than those written today.

Power Man and Iron Fist, two heroes with cancelled series, who were then packaged together in a sort of buddy-superhero title. Obviously, Luke Cage has super strength and steel-like skin, while Iron Fist is the world's greatest martial artist and able to summon his chi to create the titular iron fist - a massive destructive force. While they don't work on their own, the characters play off each other well.

We see the runs of three writers through this book. Mary Jo Duffy who took a light touch to the tales, many of them filled with tongue-in-cheek moments. Denny O'Neil with his grounded flair and ability to mix real world issues with superhero realities. And Kurt Busiak who, in his characteristic style, offers tons of throwbacks to earlier issues - not just of this series but Power Man and Iron Fist's original series- to build on the mythology presented.

The art stays steady throughout the book. If there's a problem with this title it's that most of their villains are forgettable. Do you remember Shades and Commanche? Or Fera? Or Montenegro? Or Black Mariah? Of course you don't. The best villains they had was one issue which featured Constrictor and Sabertooth - this was Sabertooth pre-Wolverine related times, when he was just a random villain. To sum up these issues are fun and well done, but not great.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

 

The Complete Elfquest Volume 5 (Fantasy)

by Wendy Pini  (Author, Illustrator), Richard Pini (Author)

Publisher: Dark Horse Books (November 27, 2018)

Softcover, 792 pages

Amazon Listing

This large tome collects the remainder of the Hidden Years series, numbers 16 through 29, plus the Metamorphosis one-shot, and The Wild Hunt storyline from Elfquest volume 2, all of which were first published in the mid to late 1990s, when the Elfquest creators turned their indie comic into a franchise, creating at least a dozen titles (mostly limited series) dealing with the Wolfriders and their kin. Now that they’re collecting those stories which they consider cannon, a lot of those titles have been left in the trash. The only way to experience them is to pick up some back issues. Still, this volume is close to 800 hundred pages, so it should fill your Elfquest itch for a while. 

Volume five focuses on Ember, Cutter’s daughter, and her trials in leading a separate tribe from the main Wolfriders pack. The Hidden Years stories take place at the same time as the Shards storyline - where Cutter leads an attack against a warlord to gather the remains of the broken castle. These stories deal with Ember’s inexperience at being chief and her growing pains, as the new tribe look for a place to call their own in a world that is rapidly shrinking and filling up with their natural enemies, humans. 

The Wild Hunt stories take place after Shards, and focus on a more experienced Ember dealing with the final few monsters created by Winnowill. They then become embroiled in a series of back and forth raids with the remaining humans warriors, which eventually force the Wolfriders to become more nomadic than they like. This causes stress amongst the group, challenges to Ember’s leadership, and introduces a new antagonist - a ranger type who knows the ways of elves and knows how best to hunt them. 

Like certain portions of the previous two volumes, none of the issues here were drawn by Wendy Pini, and most of the stories were written by others as well, with the Pini’s acting in an editorial capacity. This is not to say the stories are bad, but they are different stylistically than early Elfquest volumes where they were only two people working on them. In fact I like the stories quite a bit. 

Out of necessity, Elfquest had to switch venues to where the human would pose a greater threat. They were always sort of menacing in the past, but not much more than a passing problem. In these stories, they represent a monumental threat. Which leads to the basic philosophy behind all of these stories, how much will the Wolfriders have to change in order to fit into the new world? Will their “way” be compromised or abandoned completely? Well worth a look. 

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Local (Drama)

by Brian Wood  (Author), Ryan Kelly  (Author, Illustrator)

Publisher: Oni Press; First Edition (September 10, 2013)

Hardcover, 384 pages

Amazon Listing

This is a collection of twelve interconnected stories of a woman (and sometimes her family members) traveling across the United States, living on the bum, sometimes sleeping in her car, and never staying anyplace too long. Whenever trouble starts up or things become too real, she bolts to another city six states away. Some have called her a complex character, all I see is a young girl with standard growing pains, having difficulty metamorphosing into an adult - like we all do. She often deals with it by running to another city, which is unusual, but metaphorically standard. The character does grow though and we follow her across several years and finally into her organically changing into an adult - like a comic version of Hayden Caulfield.

Together the stories paint a great picture. However, individually they are hit and miss. There are some fascinating ones dealing with Megan and her brother's memories of their deceased mother.  One was the beloved child, while the other was abused. The low point of the book is a story centered around a recently broken up band, returning to Richmond, where the vocalist gives a boring and pretentious interview about music and its importance and blah, blah, blah. Masturbation and a waste of ink.

Most of the credit for this book success must go to the artist. The bold black and white drawings, captured the flavor of each setting, each locale. They come alive in each panel, and much of the nuance of the book and subtext are deftly placed by the artist. Normally I would’ve go for a prestige format of a book, being much too frugal. But they are going cheap now on Amazon, and they are beautifully put together, with at least fifty pages of annotations, sketches, and other additional material.  

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

The Original Daredevil Battles Hitler (Superhero)

by Dick Wood  (Author), Various (Author), Bob Wood (Illustrator)

Publisher: Dark Horse Books (June 25, 2013)

Hardcover, 250 pages

Amazon Listing

This is a golden oldie and don’t feel ashamed if you’ve never heard of the titular character or any of the other heroes within. They are all leftovers from the original golden age of comics in the late 1930s and early 1940s. And while Daredevil comics (the original that is) was one of the most popular titles, when consumers dropped it- they left it behind and didn’t look back. As such, our blue and red friend here, was only revived maybe ten years ago with the Project Superpowers comic that brought back a ridiculous amount of public domain comic heroes.

This collects the first four issues of Daredevil Comics from 1939 and 1940. These are a little different from what you may be used to. Every comic title in this time was almost an anthology. While the titular character (if there was one) would almost certainly be shown and given the most space, this would be only 8 to 10 pages out of 64. The rest would be filled up with shorter features and recurring characters. These secondary features were usually bought by the yard from third party agencies as volume stuffers. Thus, they could appear and disappear as needed to fill up an issue. Plus a handful of bad letters from the fans could spell the death of a virgin backup character in these comics.

The character of Daredevil started in Silver Streak Comics as a backup feature, until a classic five part story by veteran Charles Biro, pitted him against The Claw. This story was so popular that it catapulted both hero and villain into top-tier sellers. Now he is given his own comic and unfortunately the writers didn’t learn from the experience. A superhero’s popularity is based primarily on the villains he fights. Daredevil, who has a Bruce Wayne background and no super powers, fights the standard array of smugglers, jewel thieves, Nazi saboteurs, and assorted gangsters. The only memorable ones are in the first issue when he takes on the Nazi high command in a series of stories.

The Claw is one of the rare villains to star in a backup feature. He is twenty feet tall monster, with sharp teeth, piss yellow skin, and a fanatical desire to destroy and conquer. His origins are shaky, but eventually he is described by his followers as The God of Hate. He is on a mission to conquer America and is brutal in his attempts. These stories - again, very rare for their time - are brutal and fun. There were written before the Comics Code Authority was commissioned so people were openly shot and killed without hesitation or repercussions in some cases. 

Following him were a menagerie of different heroes who all managed to be bland. Nightro - a near blind man who needs polaroid lenses to see and fights crime with his trusty seeing -eye dog (no joke). How he can beat people up so well has remained a mystery. London - an English adventurer who spends his time as a news announcer and nights stopping Nazi spies and saboteurs. Pat Patriot - a woman who accidentally stops a smuggling ring and then goes on a USO tour and keeps stumbling into pockets of saboteurs trying to demobilize the troops with drugs and diseased women. Real American No. 1 - a Native American lawyer who dresses up as superhero The Bronze Terror when defending the people on his reservation from crooked politicians and sheriffs in modern America. Whirlwind - a boxer who keeps getting into trouble with gangsters. Dash Dillion - a “humor” piece about a dizzy college student who is good at sports and all the hijinks he gets into. Thirteen - A man whose life is plagued by the number thirteen, dons the disguise of 13 and goes to fight crime in order to rid himself of the number’s curse. I think?  Pioneer - who only made an appearance in issue 2, then disappeared. Kind of like an early Forrest Gump, a simple man stumbles in with some gangsters and then winds up on top with five grand.

What struck me about most of these is how none of them have superpowers. Not even our titular hero. Yet they easily swing around, doing back flips, and knock out villains with one punch. Even the dog jumps around on fire escapes and up walls and so forth. It makes perfect sense why most of them were forgotten and never revived - with the exception of The Claw and Daredevil.

Usually when a person introduces a new superhero, the first question asked is “What their superpower.”

For most of these, the answer would be, “None, but they can hit really hard.”

Where’s the fun in that? And when you’ve seen it ten times in a row, it is incredibly same-y.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Winsor McCay's Dream Days (Comic Strips)

By Windsor McCay

Publisher: Hyperion Pr (June 1, 1977)

Hardcover, 178 pages

Amazon Listing

Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator around the turn of the previous century. This is when the circulation wars were at their height and every paper was competing heavily with their neighbor. The daily comic’s page was just starting to develop and grew in popularity exponentially. It was well known a paper couldn’t survive without a good comics section. Winsor Mccay was one of those who first developed the comic’s page into what it is today - or used to be before everything went online.

While there were many firsts in cartooning at that time, there is little that stands out as still being exceptional. The one big exception is McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland - still touted as one of the greatest American comics ever. This book does not contain any of that material. Instead it is a collection of various strips the author worked on prior to Little Nemo, from 1904 - 1914. These begin from a time when comics didn’t have titles, to emerging short lived bits like It Was Only a Dream, Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, Poor Jake, Midsummer Day Dreams, and Autumn Day Dreams.

One of things you’ll notice in these comics is the use of the dreaming theme (which encompasses all of Little Nemo in Slumberland) begins quite early and seems to have obsessed him throughout his entire career. Much of the material in the early 1900s was pratfalls and word play, grounded in reality. The dream scenarios allowed him play out whatever fantastic ideas popped into his head without people being turned off. It worked for Alice in Wonderland. I’m also including a clip of his cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur. It was one of the earliest cartoons and all animation cells were hand drawn by McCay himself. Enjoy.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.