Skywald's Crime Machine (Crime)

By Various Writers and Artists

Publisher: Gwandanaland Comics (July 21, 2019)

Softcover, 133 pages

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There exists two versions of this book, one in black & white, the other in color. The original presentation of these stories from oh-so-long ago was in glorious monochrome so I went with that edition -plus it was cheaper. However, I must admit that the art was not so overwhelming that a few splashes of red, yellow, green, and blue might have done it all a world of good. Whichever your choice these are supposedly “true” crime stories presented as morality tales, but used as excuses to show excessive violence - as in the tradition of True Crime Comics and Crime Does Not Pay. These do not however live up to the old, more grotesque predecessors of the 1940s. The magazine claims that all of the stories are true, of course, but apart from one story on Pretty Boy Floyd - a very brief one- I couldn’t find much on any of the others.

Skyward was the original publisher of the magazine, The Crime Machine, back in the 1970s. They were a start-up brand which tried to horn into the rapidly expanding horror magazine business. They emulated the more popular titles of Warren’s Creepy, Eerie, and Vamperella, with their own clones of Psycho, Nightmare, and Scream. I say clones, but those magazines weren’t bad, they just were not as good as what Warren put out. You saw a cross-over between artists and writers in the two camps, as it was generally stated that if a story was rejected by Warren, it was then usually pitched to Skywald as a backup. Thus none of their magazines lasted as long as Warren’s.

I have to thank Gwandanaland Comics for reprinting these issues and all of the Skywald stock. Plus reprinting a lot of public domain comic material from the Golden and Silver ages. Much of it might have been forgotten forever if it wasn’t for this publisher.

While I applaud the publishers of reprinting obscure comics from the past, there is a reason why The Crime Machine only lasted two issues. It is pretty dull in layout and storytelling. Each of the tales are essentially the same and the art is not diverse enough to keep the interest, which adds to the sameness of the stories. However, I did enjoy them keeping in all the old ads for monster kits and various other sundries, which is a nice throwback to my youth. But man, these stories really are dull compared to what was offered in Skywald’s other magazines of Psycho, Nightmare, and Scream.

 For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

From the Belly of the Goat (Horror)

by Donald Armfield

Publisher: Independently published (April 13, 2020)

Softcover, 170 pages

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“I sent out the SOS from my fishing boat at high noon, far west from the town out of the North Channel. My crew of five men were showing signs of an unknown sickness. Their skin was deteriorating and drooping from their bones, skeletons. They looked like melting wax candles, with aggressive coughing fits, spitting out thick wads of black phlegm. I showed no signs of their sickness and stayed clear from my crew. I told the officials of the tribe, made up of men and women living in the forest outskirts of the small town.”

This is a slam-bang brutal collection of horror stories from an author who is destined to make his mark in the genre. The stories are not interlinked, but they carry a thematic quality of man struggling against forces outside of his sphere of understanding. All are different. All are worthwhile.

There are five stories, plus a bonus one at the end. They run the gambit from celestial giraffes, to classic tropes of golems and trolls (old-school European troll stories, not fuzzy-headed toys), to a near-unstoppable parasite, to an emerging albino race. The stories move at a fast-paced violent jerking motion, forcing you through the paces of the story with barely a chance to breathe. One can only sit back and enjoy the ride.

                                   For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies (Crime)

by Ed Brubaker  (Author), Sean Phillips (Artist)

Publisher: Image Comics (December 10, 2019)

Hardcover, 72 pages

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Here we go with another round in the Criminal series by the noir masters of the comic art. This is their element where no one else has quite measured up to their work - with the possible exception of James Hudnal's Shut Up and Die, but that lasted only three issues. This book is listed as a new series, but is really a continuation of the Criminal universe - though I suppose Kill or Be Killed and The Fade Out could be considered part of it as well.

Though it isn't apparent at first, we see the actual attraction and action through the eyes of a femme fatale, which is a juxtaposition rarely seen in many comics. The main character tells us all along she is poison, but as we see it from her point of view and all her problems we don't actually believe her - until the end when it's all too apparent. Her fascination with junkies comes from the fact that most artists, comedians, and musicians do their most inspired work while on something. Her obsession with old junkies is what leads her to commit such a horrible betrayal.

Part of what makes this team so interesting is how they are able to take old material and present it in a new and fascinating way. Good: The art is superb.  The story is well balanced, and even with the twist, it works in a lot of ways. The hero of this story might be the villain but there's a lot of gray in this title so it works on a few levels. Bad: The characters are a little thin, mostly due to the short length. It’s a good short story, but not a great one.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Jack Cole and Plastic Man (Biography)

by Art Spiegelman  & Chip Kidd 

Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition (August 1, 2001)

Softcover, 144 pages

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This is not a collection of Plastic Man comics drawn during the Golden Age by his creator Jack Cole - however there are a few included, along with the Cole story from True Crime, an infamous piece called “Murder, Morphine, and Me”. The last is a story so notorious in over-the-top violence masquerading as a morality tale, that it became exhibit number one presented by Frederick Wortham in his anti-comic book, Seduction of the Innocent, and at the Congressional hearings on comics. One panel, where the protagonist is having a needle shoved into her eye by a junkie, stood out for particular attack. In a sense, Jack Cole really did help bring down the comics industry and ushered in the creative desolation of the Comics Code Authority. 

Instead, it is a rather odd biography of the man’s albeit short life. He successfully remade his career twice over. Unable to find work in the larger magazine mediums, Cole started out in comic books - the gutter slums of the print world at the time. Unlike his counterparts however, he attacked the medium with all his skill could muster, going out of his way to refine his technique. 

He created some of the best events of the Golden Age. Specifically the multi-issue battle between the Golden Age Daredevil and The Claw - catapulting both characters to among the most popular of the 1940s. His most notable works being the creation of Plastic Man, the first super-stretching hero. And it has been pointed out that no one ever did Plastic Man as well as Cole did, or in the same vein. Mostly because he was eventually included in an expanded universe of superheroes, while he was supposed to be mostly a parody of them. 

After the comics collapse, Cole became one of the lead artists for a start-up magazine called Playboy, filling the pages with his distinct style. These are so different and iconic from his comic material that I had no idea they were from the same hand. His third successful endeavor was a unfortunately short comic strip called Betsy and Me, which would’ve been well had not Jack Cole killed himself. The reasons for this are up in the air, so I won’t even attempt to speculate why. 

The format of the book is rather odd, because most of the prose text is printed on plastic sheets and inserted with a lot of Cole’s reprinted art. Additionally, the comics sections are printed on old quality cheap brownish pulp paper, just as they were originally sold back in the forties. This was a mistake. Maybe those who were used to reading old-time comics wouldn’t have a problem, but so many of the modern reprints are much cleaner than the original printings, the revert back to the 40s style made it slightly difficult to read and thus lowered my enjoyment of the material. 

          For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Terms and Conditions (Experimental Fiction)

by R. Sikoryak  (Author)

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (March 7, 2017)

Softcover, 108 pages

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This is not so much a graphic novel, but an extended piece of concept art to make a point. Perhaps it’s much more than the average person expects or wants. One hundred and eight pages of material done in a variety of classic comic book and comic strip styles. The main character, a cartoon version of Apple creator and child slaver Steve Jobs, wanders through the world of the graphic novel while reciting the ridiculously long and tediously complex terms and conditions for Apple products. Don’t bother trying to take in the actual material, even in this interesting format it’s nearly incomprehensible, almost as bad as Finnegan’s Wake.

As such to review this book, which I can’t do an honest review of as it is mostly experimental fiction and meant to be viewed in a different light. So instead, I went page by page through it all and attempted to identify the artist or comic it is from. So far I’ve found: A Wolverine cover, a Steranko Agents of Shield interior cover, Little Lulu, Astro Boy, Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, John Byrne X-Men, Charles Schultz; Gaiman’s Sandman, Dilbert, The Walking Dead, Something by Seth possibly from Palookaville, R. Crumb, Watchmen, Calvin and Hobbes, Little Nemo in Slumberland, The Incredible Hulk, Archie, Jim Davis’s Garfield, Prince Valiant, Mignolia’s Hellboy,Cathy, Little Dot, Transformers, Dr. Strange, Ketchum’s Dennis the Menace, Hot Stuff, Hagar the Horrible,  Beetle Bailey, Lone Wolf and Cub, daniel Clowes, Rube Goldburg, Felix the Cat, Eisner’s The Spirit, Herge’s Tin Tin, Dick Tracy, Spiderman, Akira, Josie and the Pussy Cats, Edward Gorey, Wally Wood, Pogo, Charles Burns Black Hole, Smurfs, Love and Rockets, Nancy, Scott Morse, Popeye, Mobius, Scooby Doo, Scott Pilgrim, Snuffy Smith,  Green lantern, My Little Pony, Persepholie, Donald Duck, For Better or For Worse, Cable, Bagge’s Hate, Original Wonder Woman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rawhide Kid, The Family Circus, The Simpsons, Silver Surfer, From Hell, Brenda Starr, Ziggy, & finally Chris Ware something or other.

Best I could do. There were about thirty I couldn’t figure out, either because I hadn’t read the book or there were too many possibilities.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Alias the Cat (Humor)

by Kim Deitch

Publisher: Pantheon (April 17, 2007)

Hardcover, 136 pages

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This is a weird one. The author is Kim Deitch, the best underground cartoonist you’ve never heard of. He won a ton of awards for Boulevard of Broken Dreams back in 2000-whenever, and now everyone claims they always liked his work, even though two-years before Boulevard came out none of them knew who he was. Still this is his follow up to Boulevard, where the author places himself in the center of the action.

Deitch’s main character for the majority of his stories is Waldo, an anthropomorphic cat with evil intent and a noticeably dangling penis. While Waldo is not the protagonist of this graphic novel, he is the (mostly) unseen antagonist, as the author begins to feel that the character has dipped into his reality and - worst of all- has always been there. This leads to a long, weird rambling tale, mostly set in the first quarter of the 20th Century.

The author digs through his past, comes across a series of images of Waldo (or Felix the cat whom Waldo is the darker image of) and discovers a series of bizarre coincidences regard some ancient film cans, a comic strip from the 1910s, and a bakery run by little people. It sounds insane, but makes sense when laid out in the book. Apart from intriguing me with the semi-wandering narrative, I actually learned a few details on how things were done back in the olden days. Well worth a look for the right price.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Shattered With Curve of Horn (Horror)

by Max Miller Dowdle (Author)

Publisher: Artagem Graphic Library; First Edition (2014)

Hardcover, 154 pages

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On the eve of a major exhibition of new paintings, prosperous artist Matthew and his wife Caitlin, a pharmaceutical company researcher, encounter an old friend, a philosophical ex-con named Pierce. Pierce confronts the couple about the enigmatic experimental drug they took eight years ago, and the puzzling circumstances that led to his incarceration. In light of Pierce's revelations, Matthew must fight to keep his marriage and career secure, for the secret of all of his success may have sprung directly from Pierce's tragedy.

This is the first work by the author and illustrator, so I tend to go a little easy. Essentially this is an interesting story with sci-fi overtones - a drug that allows a person to share dreams with others, which the protagonist uses to steal inspiration from others and literally paint their dreams. The problem with this story is one of pacing. The story easily could have been told in half the time and much of the action takes place in a bland motel room - which doesn’t really allow the artist to show off his full range of skill.

Additionally at the end of the book, there are various bits and pieces - fake police reports, autopsy, various other personal effects of the characters- which probably would’ve been better used scattered throughout the story as hints of what was coming and the eventually big reveal. Again, this isn’t a bad book. It had some great ideas, but it doesn’t live up to its potential, especially when it comes to the dream sequences.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Daredevil: Ultimate Collection (Superhero)

By Ed Brubaker & Michael Lark

Publisher: Marvel (February 8, 2012)

Softcover, 304 pages

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Collecting Daredevil 82-93 from the second volume of the series. I haven’t read much Daredevil recently. To be honest, I stopped reading it after the Fall of the Kingpin storyline in the 1980s, because most of the time any new Daredevil stories were just the Frank Miller stuff rehashed. Or worse they brought back dead old characters, Elektra & Bullseye, and just revamped the same old stories. The title had been stagnant for quite a while. The only new elements have been the names and hair colors of the women Mathew Murdock has hooked up with who eventually end up dead.

So what do you do, when real innovation will be frowned upon, but you still want to do something decent with the character? Follow what the authors here did and toss it all in together. Every major character, every major arc, has a part to play in this story. And it works! It works damn well. The Kingpin, Bullseye, Elektra, The Punisher, The Owl, Tombstone, Ben Ulrich, Dakota North, Foggy Nelson, Turk, plus a few others I’m not too sure about, all make appearances, and all seem to fit in well with the ongoing mayhem of this great story. I assumed I would be underwhelmed, but I was wrong.

Matt Murdock finds himself behind bars, a victim of a governmental conspiracy, and essentially charged with being the vigilante Daredevil. Behind the scenes, the most vicious of his adversaries are relocated into his prison, in the hopes that they will kill the hero and the Kingpin, thus saving the government a trial. A copycat Daredevil turns up and Foggy Nelson is murdered while visiting Matt in prison. And behind it all a shadowy character cackles as the superhero twists and turns. A great comic.

      For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Avengers: Kree/Skrull War (Superhero)

by Roy Thomas  (Author), Sal Buscema (Illustrator), Neal Adams (Illustrator), John Byrne (Illustrator)

Publisher: Marvel (January 15, 2019)

Softcover, 208 pages

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If there ever was an early 70s story that had weight, it's the story arc in issues 89-97 of The Avengers. This is the big one. It reintroduces every element of the Kree and Skrulls from every previous appearance, going back to Fantastic Four issue 2. The writing duty is broken up between Neal Adams and Roy Thomas. Both of whom added to the overall arc, but neither can agree on the specific details on who initially came up with what.

It contains nearly every Avenger at that time Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Goliath - which is Hawkeye when he was taking Pym particles to grow. With brief appearances by Ant Man, the Wasp, the Inhumans, Annaihlus, Ronan the Accuser, The Supreme Intelligence, Carol Danvers. With special guest appearances by Rick Jones and Captain Marvel - this is pre-Starlin Captain Marvel. What a freaking cast.

The long lasting effects of this story is well known, but the reader may be surprised when they are shown very little of the actual war between the Kree and Skrulls. It is mostly a series of independent stories that time together in an overall arc. Each story could be read independently, yet had leads to the issue previous and the following one.

Essentially the plot revolves around the aforementioned war where Earth is a perfect beachhead for either side. Thus what begins as a cold war between various espionage agents turns into a life or death fight for the preservation of Earth.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.