Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy

 

by Steve Englehart (Author, Contributor), Chris Claremont  (Author, Contributor), Doug Moench  (Author, Contributor),

Publisher : ‎ Marvel (July 9, 2014)

Softcover, 390 pages

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“I conceived something very large. My hero would go from being an unpleasant, introverted jerk to the most cosmic being in the universe, and I would tie it into my then-new interest in astrology. After his earthbound beginning, his mind would be opened step by step, with a fast-action story on Mercury, a love story on Venus, a war story on Mars, and so on out to the edge of the solar system, and then beyond. But—after his earthbound beginning, where I established him as an unpleasant, introverted jerk, I left Marvel, so no one ever saw what he was to become” Steven Engleheart, co-creator of Star Lord.

Many people won’t know the character Star Lord outside of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, and I must admit to being one of them. He was a minor character for most of my time collecting comics from the Marvel Universe. From what I can tell from these early issues of the magazine Marvel Preview he really wasn’t meant to be. It was an attempt by the company to tap into the rapidly expanding science fiction market. As such none of the stories here reference any other part of the Marvel Universe and are pretty straight forward science fiction fare, with an extremely powerful protagonist who has a living ship and other advanced gadgets at his command. Most were written in the ‘70s  - except for the mini-series from 1997 at the end of the book - and the writing reflects that time period. After these appearances, the character disappeared until the 2004 Annihilation event where he finally becomes part of the 616 standard Marvel Universe.

Written by a young Chris Claremont, pre-X-Men days, what really stands out here is the amazing artwork. Perhaps the only thing which is memorable about the character is the amazing array of artists who worked on his title. John Bryne, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gene Colan, Carmine Infantino, along with a host of others. The authorial duties were taken over by Doug Moench for a few issues of Marvel Spotlight.  These are the best Star Lord stories in the book.

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Boy Maximortal Vol 2

 

by Rick Veitch  (Author)

Publisher: ‎ Independently published (March 23, 2020)

Softcover, 102 pages

Amazon Listing

Picking right up where the previous volume ended - even the numbering continues the same starting with page 54 - the plot thickens and the weird desperate threads of the first Maximortal series begin to congeal. We see the purpose of the True Man comics which is to actually educate the now adolescent Maximortal on how to behave in modern society, as well as entertain millions of children. It is a winding, twisting road traveled by this comic and I’m looking forward to seeing where this series is going next. 

One problem I have though, it that it seems the author is gearing up the story to be some sort of “anatomy of a superhero” story and, quite frankly, it's been done before. The archetypal superhero has been analyzed down to its atomic structure. I don’t mind a weird story, never tried before- or tried before in a different way, but what more is there to say meta wise about the superhero. Hopefully I’m wrong and the whole previous paragraph was just a waste of time. 

As with the previous volume only about half of the book deals with the titular characters. The rest is filled up with old sketches of the author and a few more stories. A silent one called Rebus, a splash page retrospective on the life of Sharon Tate, a post-apocalyptic tale called “Sounds in the Silence” - it has a happy ending, a rarity for this genre- a prose Sherlock Holmes short story called “A Visitor in White” and a weird one-page short called “Kasha Varniskes”. This extra material is much better than the first volume, which seemed to be made up primarily of filler.   

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Boy Maximortal Vol 1

 

by Rick Veitch  (Author)

Publisher ‏: ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (October 18, 2017)

Softcover, 100 pages

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This is the continuation of a story I thought dead and incomplete. Thank goodness for the easy independent publishing market or this might never have seen the light of day. The original seven issue Maximortal was a very weird piece of literature. At first it offered the idea that if a baby, well beyond the age of reason, had the powers like Superman does, how could a human couple possibly raise him, teach him anything, or even discipline him without getting torn apart? 

The answer of course is that it couldn’t. The government intercedes and eventually the creature is destroyed. Yet it still remains somehow and is reinvigorating itself through the burgeoning comic book industry, reinventing itself as True Man - an obvious Superman analog - through which it seemingly will emerge. This tale is as much about the history of comics - specifically superhero comics - so those who aren’t familiar with it might be a little confused. Personally, I’ve often thought that Rick Veitch was a wildly underrated writer and author and I’m glad more of his material is being published. This book, along with a lot of Veitch’s materials, leaves you wanting more. 

One thing to mention though is that only the first 53 pages out of the hundred or so are part of the Maximortal story. The rest is filled up with sketches and an unrelated short four page story about heroes having sex. That’s not to say the book isn’t worth it, the price being fairly reasonable, but there is more than your normal amount of filler in this book. The story continues in Boy Maximortal 2. 

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The Mighty Crusaders: Origins of a Superteam

by Various (Author)

Publisher ‏: ‎ Archie Comics; First Printing edition (December 1, 2003)

Softcover, 96 pages

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"It was the 1960s. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko became overnight 'number one with a bullpen' success stories as the Marvel superhero style took the comic book world by storm. By January 1966, the ultra-camp Pop-Art exaggeration of Batman on TV exploded across America's culturally 'vast wasteland', imbuing art, design, and clothing styles with new Pop sensibilities - along with assorted 'Pows', 'Zaps' and 'Whams'. These were wild times! Super-heroes were in and everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. Charleton, Dell/Gold Key, Tower, ACG, Harvey and others leaped into the super-hero business, hoping to emulate not only DC's prosperity, but especially Marvel's torrid success in the changing marketplace. And then, it was Archie Comic Group's turn…" from the introduction

They're not superheroes, they're ultra-heroes. That's the difference Archie comics put on their superheroes. Written by Jerry Siegel of Superman fame, this series reincarnated several old school heroes - many created by the legendary team of Kirby and Simon - The Shield, the first patriotic themed superhero; The Black Hood, and The Comet, while teaming them up with Fly-Man and Fly-Girl. Fly-Man being another Kirby and Simon creation called The Fly, but his name was changed to be more like that of Spiderman. This book doesn't actually contain any reprints of The Mighty Crusaders comic except for the first issue, but mainly consists of issues 31 - 33 of Fly-Man. This is after all the origin of the team.

Don't expect too much from these issues. They were written in the 1960s aimed at the thirteen year old market and at a time when the 60s Batman show was at full hypes, meaning comics were all about camp then. This the writing is deliberately over-blown and purple, with much of the dialogue describing what was happening in the panel. Granted this wasn't much different than any other super comic, but it's laid on extra thick here. The comics are very much self-aware of their campiness. While the parallels to the Avengers are obvious, the real test of any super comic is the villains. And they are the campiest bunch you might ever see. We have The Spider, a very similar creation to a character that Siegal wrote in England Alias the Spider; Eterno the Tyrant, the former king of sunken Atlantis, disturbed from a five million year sleep; The Destructor, a weird science villain with a sonic weapon; The Hangman and The Wizard, two golden-age heroes turned villain; and The Brain Emperor a weak character from another planet with psychic powers And who I forgot about the second I turned the final page.

The Mighty Crusaders didn't last long, only about seven issues. Fly-Man didn't last much longer. A victim of market oversaturation and its own camp tone. While the Batman series was a success, it seems most comic collectors wanted their heroes to take themselves and their situations seriously. Camp is only fun short term.

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Taskmaster: Unthinkable

  

by Fred Van Lente  (Author), Jefte Palo (Illustrator)

Publisher : ‎ Marvel (May 18, 2011)

Softcover, 112 pages

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The Taskmaster is a minor character from a forgettable Avengers storyline, who has made good in modern comics - as happens from time to time, think The Punisher. From the beginning he was a different type of supervillain, blessed/cursed with photographic reflexes, which allows him to mimic any fighting style he witnesses at the cost of his long and short-term memory. Instead of a criminal enterprise, the Taskmaster earned his daily bread by training henchmen for terrorist organizations and supervillains. The character has always popped up in strange places.

The story is that for reasons unknown a billion dollar bounty is put on the Taskmaster’s head. To discover who and why, he has to fight hordes of his former students and delves into his own forgotten past. I liked the story here a lot. Centering on the Taskmaster, a man who constantly forgets huge chunks of his past, cannot be easy, but the revelations in this mini-series are fairly big, interesting and make sense within the context of the Marvel Universe.

The problem I have with this story is not the excellent art, nor most of the developments, but the ridiculousness of the main villain, Redshirt the Uber Henchmen with his organization Minions International Liberation Front (MILF) who is attempting to destroy the Taskmaster. I don’t mind some over-the-top action in a superhero comic, but this injection of silliness is just off for what ends up a pretty tragic story for the Taskmaster. Not only is this villain pretty stupid, the author feels the need to explain this obvious joke to us, thinking that we must all be morons for reading his material.

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Foolkiller: Psycho Therapy

 

by Dalibor Talajic (Illustrator), Max Bemis (Writer)

Publisher ‏: ‎ Marvel (July 11, 2017)

Softcover, 112 pages

Amazon Listing

There have been four characters calling themselves the Foolkiller, this deals with the second one, who is now out of a mental institution, gotten a degree in psychoanalysis, and is attempting to cure psychopath supervillains on behalf of what he believes is SHIELD. When he can’t cure them of their foolishness, he kills them. This is the basic plot at the beginning and it stays good for a while, but either the author became bored or sales were down and the story became very meta quickly. It was ground-breaking when Grant Morrison did it back in the ‘80s with Animal Man. Now it’s old hat, especially when you toss Deadpool in there as this comic does. I suppose it was supposed to come across as witty, but instead it seems lazy, as if the writer couldn’t come up with a serious plot, or thought they were better than the material so they decided to half-ass it with ‘witty banter” and now-dated pop culture references. Either way, I’ve read the meta-commentary and its been done before.

I know this sounds stupidly fanboy, but it really bugged me that the Foolkiller presented here, Greg Salinger is brown haired rather than the blonde he has always been portrayed as - and this brown hair appears in all of his flashbacks, so it's a definite oversight. Maybe it’s stupid, but I have mad love for the Foolkiller limited series from the 1990s - which has never been collected for some weird reason - and it is easily one of the darkest and best comics Marvel has ever produced. So when the third Foolkiller shows up, not written by comic legend Steve Gerber, and a piss-poor job is done in writing this character, I have to tune it out.

As you may have guessed by now, I really didn’t enjoy this comic too much. The art by Dalibor Talajic was excellent however, stylish yet sticking to the Marvel esthetic. It was probably the only thing that kept me reading, as the story got worse and worse. The very end however wsa good and fit in with the character of the second Foolkiller, even if the third Foolkiller was really a different character than I had read before. I really wished he hadn’t been ruined like this.

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Fury: My War Gone By vol 1

 

by Goran Parlov (Illustrator), Garth Ennis  (Contributor)

Publisher : ‎ Marvel; First Edition (December 19, 2012)

Softcover, 144 pages

Amazon Listing 

A minor entry into the Marvel Max imprint which was a late response to D.C.’s very successful Vertigo imprint. It was designed for “adults-only readership” which, when translated into plain English, meant it only ramped up the sex, swearing, and violence. Unlike its competitor’s line, most of these imprints took existing Marvel characters and added ultra-violence. While some of them immediately leant itself to this treatment ex: The Punisher. While a few others didn’t work so well - The Rawhide Kid - though I must admit I loved the Howard the Duck series, absolute weirdness at its best. Fury: My War Gone By like The Punisher lends itself to the Max treatment.

This is the sequel series to the Fury series from 2001. It lasted thirteen issues, the first six of which are contained in this volume. The story is split up into two different three issue arcs. The first arc concerns Fury's time working for the C.I.A., which he did before joining S.H.I.E.L.D.. He is aiding the military in French Indochina and informing a politician named McCuskey. Fury is there to assess the situation and get an understanding of the Communist threat and how America could theoretically impact the situation on behalf of the French. The second arc takes place in Cuba in 1961 when Fury attempted to help assassinate Fidel Castro. The Bay of Pigs and its lack of preparation leading to a half-assed invasion attempt and Kennedy’s ultimate betrayal of those freedom fighters. Fury and crew barely escape Cuba with their lives.

This is not the over-the-top violent ridiculousness of a lot of Ennis’ work, but a straight up sober war story. An old fashioned book even, harkening back to E.C.’s Frontline Combat, Warren’s Publishing Blazing Combat, and even Charlie’s War from Battle Picture Weekly. It doesn’t glamorize combat, nor does it openly condemn violence. It is a neutral observer looking on armed combat as a fact of life for humanity, and amorally accepting that his side needs to win, because they might not be perfect, but the other side is even worse. Grim and well researched, this is worth a serious look.

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The Complete Elfquest volume 6

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

Publisher‏: ‎ Dark Horse Books (November 19, 2019) 

Softcover, 584 pages 

Amazon Listing

Dark Horse is continuing their rendition of publishing the Complete Elfquest series. This is the penultimate volume before they collect The Final Quest into one complete volume. Now while it claims to be “the complete” edition, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of Elfquest titles and issues which have been left out of these books. The original Wave Dancers series and the extra pages which the Pini’s created for the Marvel/Epic reprint of their first series - though there are issues of rights attached to these, I believe. But also missing is the Jink and Rebels storyline, the 6 issue Kahvi series, The Blood of Ten Chiefs series, the Two-Spear series, several of the Worldpool stories, the two issue King’s Cross series, and maybe one or two issues from Hidden Years as well - Plus the newly written Stargazer’s Hunt, published after the Final Quest. 

So this series is more a collection of what the Pini’s have put their official stamp on and called “cannon”. The ones they are most proud of. So to be accurate, this is really the Best of Elfquest, rather than the whole of it reprinted. What you do have here is the entire Wolfrider story, which retells the conception of Cutter and his eventual rise to chief. This story was first told in the original Elfquest series, but is retold in greater depth and feeling. This is added to by various short stories from across the time frame - and while not very important tales continuity wise, they art is amazing and they are fun to read. Also included are reprints of The Discovery and The Searcher and the Stone- which are both well worth reading. 

While this is a great collection of material, most of which needed to be reprinted, there are several stories here which were originally published in color and the art reflects that decision. Specifically I’m talking about The Discovery, The Searcher and the Stone, Homespun and possibly The Jury. All the rest were originally printed in black and white and are perfectly reprinted here. But for these tales some of the magic is lost. This is compounded by the fact that The Discovery and The Searcher and the Stone are both easily available on Amazon and eBay.

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The Bruiser

 

by Jim Tully, Mark Dawidziak (Introduction), Paul J. Bauer (Introduction)

Publisher ‏: ‎ The Kent State University Press / Black Squirrel Books (June 7th, 2010)

Softcover, 248 pages

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“A battalion of huge, black and white clouds moved slowly up from the west and completely obscured the blazing sun for a moment. It burned through them, more appallingly hot than ever. A sprinkle of rain, not dried by the blazing sun, fell over the audience of a hundred and fifty thousand.

“A box containing the new gloves was brought into the ring. The bandages were adjusted.

“Managers and chief seconds handed them from one to the other. Sully’s second took a pair and twisted them about, then stopped to wipe his face with a handkerchief. He quickly put the piece of linen in the neck of his collarless jersey shirt, and jammed his right hand into the glove. Taking his hand out and twisting the glove again, he fitted it on Sully’s outstretched paw.”

Jim Tully, along with Dashiell Hammet, was the creator of the hard-boiled style of American writing. This style was later picked up and refined by Ernest Hemingway, H. L. Mencken, and Raymond Chandler, but Tully stands out from all these others. They simply wrote in the style. He lived it. The introduction describes him as the biggest longshot in American literature. Growing up poor, abandoned by his family to an orphanage, Tully spent much time tramping about as a bum, a circus hand, and -for a short time - a boxer.

Original Cover for The Bruiser

Originally published in 1936, The Bruiser may have been one of Tully’s more successful novels - at least successful enough to be reprinted several times over the next few decades. Though his true success seems to come from his autobiographical works, The Bruiser was the exception to the rule. If there is one flaw, which many modern readers have pointed out, is the uneven flow of the narrative. It is choppy, like a rough cut piece of ice, and sometimes jolting as the action jerks the reader into an area, brings up a plot point, and then resolves it behind the scenes.

Tully wanted this to be as realistic a picture of boxing life as is possible, hence the irregular action. And I must admit he succeeded. It is a very knowledgeable look at boxing, complete with punchy old boxers, sleazy rip-off managers, and the general corruption which has been always associated with the sport. This is all wrapped around the traditional story of a young man going up the ranks of his chosen sport, and wondering if it is with all the trouble.

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Original Bantam Book Cover

American Blood

 

by Benjamin Marra

Publisher ‏: ‎ Fantagraphics; Illustrated edition (September 27, 2016)

Hardcover, 208 pages

Amazon Listing

This is a collection of independent comics by indie artist Benjamin Marra. For those who are unaware of his work, buckle up. These are weird, ultra-violent, foul-mouthed pieces of work, and I couldn’t put the book down. I feel as if many of these works have something very profound to say about American society and culture, I just don’t know what the hell it is. Seven stories are encapsulated here, each of varying skill and achievement. Some are well done, others are barely passable. Marra’s art may not be for everyone. Many have said that his style is stiff or amateurish, while that certainly can be seen in these early works, I still had a lot of fun reading this book.  

The first tale is that of the Gangsta Rap Posse - which is exactly what you might think- a gangster rap group who, for two issues, run about killing everyone in their path, smoking weed, selling crack, putting women out to be prostitutes, and almost recording an album. It treads the line between parody and insanity so closely, that I can’t tell. Next is the tale of Lincoln Washington a freeman who tries to start a farm in Butchergrass, SC after the Civil War and run afoul of a false rape accusation and the Klan. Violence ensues and our hero rips a few people in half. Next is Maureen Dowd, an investigative reporter, whom every man wants, looking into the Bush Jr. administration, while navigating a date with George Clooney. Ultra-violence ensues. This story proves that nothing goes staler faster than political humor or comment. Ten years ago, this was cutting edge. Now it’s old hat and ancient history. 

Ripper and Friends is a funny animal story with lots of shitting, pissing, drugs, sex, and violence. It reminds me most of the underground comix from the 1960s with its attempt to take what looks like kid’s fare and sexualize it. But again, I’ve seen it done better and becomes a little tedious after about ten pages. Zorion: The Sword Lord is perhaps the oddest one in style. First, it looks like I used to draw in the margins of my high school notebook, and then periodically the art gets worse and worse until it’s almost a doodle, as if the artist was rushing to get it done. This is not to say it isn’t fun, but it’s definitely indie fare. Essentially Zorion is a futuristic barbarian type who kills everything and has sex with all the women. Again, parody or insanity? You be the judge. 

The last two has some of the best art in the book, and may take place in the same universe as Zorion, but who knows? The Naked Heroes are a duo of interdimensional singers who get trapped up in a dimension where all the powers-that-be want to capture them and steal their souls. They solve the problem by shooting everyone. Blades and Lazers are a pair of bi-racial “Galacto-Demon Hunters” hired to destroy a massive demon which they do with blades and lasers. Not much to be said about these two, except you know it will be violent. 

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The Fall (Action)

 

by Jared Muralt 

Publisher: Image Comics (March 23, 2021)

Softcover, 152 pages 

Amazon Listing 

Collecting the first six issues of the Kickstarter funded series, this book was originally published in French and certainly has a very European vibe to it. Which is good in my opinion, we have had many, many stories of society collapsing set in the United States - many actually written by Europeans - but this is the first one I’ve read - and maybe I just need to expand my reading pool - set in Europe. The blurbs constantly compare it to The Walking Dead, to attract American audiences no doubt, but apart from the collapse of civilization, The Fall is its own unique book. 

Set in the German speaking section of Switzerland, a deadly flu has been ravaging the continent, killing large numbers of the population - Gee, I wonder what his inspiration was? After his wife succumbs, a man must protect and provide for his two children and a baby picked up along the way. Starvation, dehydration, infection, and predators all of sudden become the forefront of their lives. While not the most brutal of these types of stories, it does not shy away from animal death - you gotta eat - child suffering, rape - not actually shown - and sexual coercion. 

The book is mainly plot driven, with not much character development except that certain people go from being alive to dead. There are also no division pages given between issues, so sometimes the action takes a major leap from one page to the next. It would be less jarring, had the issue numbers or covers been included between each chapter. This is also not a complete story. It is only part one and ends on a bloody cliffhanger, with all the character’s fates up in the air. Let’s hope there is a lot more of this story to follow.

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The Surrogates (Science Fiction)

 

by Robert Venditti  (Author) & Brett Weldele (Artist) 

Publisher : ‎ Top Shelf Productions (September 12, 2006)

Softcover, 208 pages

Amazon Listing

As you may or may not know, this graphic novel - the original series - was made into a film starring Bruce Willis in 2009. While the book and film begin similarly enough, they alter course pretty quickly after the first two surrogates are electrocuted. People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates - mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. But most of the population is shut away in homes. We see all sorts here – people gender swapping, alteration of physicality, and even insane activist groups hell-bent on destroying the surrogate population. 

The plot flows at an even pace. Sci-fi noir, police detection mixed with science fiction elements, being the key. We are balanced with the main character abandoning his own surrogate in order to catch a madman with a plan to plunge the entire city, 92% of which are people who have given their lives over to living via robot, into darkness. This is juxtaposed against the protagonist's own personal life. His wife is a person who cannot conceive of a life without her surrogate. 

Various additional news reports and histories and articles from fictional sources are included after each chapter. These real help build a fascinating world where everything is run via remote and all risks to the individual are eliminated. It is as if every person is in a panic room and working, afraid to come out. The one thing the book didn’t address was that this inevitably would result in a population decrease of catastrophic proportions. The next generation of children would be a fraction of the normal amount, if everyone only used robots as sexual surrogates. Besides this point, an excellent story overall in art and plot. 

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Lobster Johnson vol. 5: The Pirate's Ghost & Metal Monsters of Midtown (Horror)

 

by Mike Mignola (Author), John Arcudi (Author), Tonci Zonjic (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator)

Publisher ‏: ‎ Dark Horse Manga; Illustrated edition (December 26, 2017)

Softcover, 168 pages

Amazon Listing

For those who are unaware, Lobster Johnson is a spin-off character from the Hellboy universe. He is first mentioned as a throwaway character in Wake the Devil and actually appears for the first time in The Conqueror Worm as a ghost who helps Hellboy defeat brain-in-a-bottle Herman von Klempt and the Ogdru Jahad. In this series, set in the 1930s, he resembles the type of pulp masked vigilante common for the era such as The Clown or The Shadow. He is known simply as the Lobster, due to his habit of branding his kills with a lobster claw shaped burn. It wasn’t until after his death that his alter-ego was uncovered and became known as Lobster Johnson. Two three-issue arcs are collected here. 

The first arc is “Metal Monsters of Midtown” and demonstrates that the best part of these Hellboy spin-offs is when they reuse or expand upon a part of the Hellboy Universe already uncovered in a previous volume. In this case, three men from Zinco industries run across a cache of Hyborian technology, high up in the middle of nowhere - as they tended to be. They create giant metal robots operated by remote mental control from the technology, but find themselves addicted to the experience. Lobster Johnson and crew take it upon themselves to take these destructive devices down. 

The second arc “The Pirate's Ghost” is not as good as the first, and is a sequel to “Get the Lobster” a ghostly pirate ship appears on the Hudson River, and the Lobster’s hunt for a major mob boss may have something to do with it. Old villains pop up, the female character is kidnapped and it becomes the object of a hunt. Very over-the-top and the plan doesn’t really make much sense, but the action is fun. 

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Ten Thousand Years in Hell (Action)

 

by M. Tillieux (Author) & Jenna Allen (Translator)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fantagraphics; 1st edition (August 1, 2017)

 Hardcover, 96 pages

 Amazon Listing

A classic series finally translated into English. Often when the greatest artists, writers, and series of European origin are discussed, the name Tillieux and the series Gil Jordan are mentioned. High praise is heaped upon these two, but alas myself being an ignorant American and cannot read French - mostly by personal preference - I haven’t been able to read any of it.  By the way the protagonist’s surname is spelled Jourdan in French, but when translated to English they changed it to Jordan. Not sure why. 

This book contains two albums of the series, which were originally published in 1960 and 1961 respectively in the Belgium comic Siprou during its golden age. Gil Jordan ran from 1956 until 1978 when its creator died. Essentially similar to Tin Tin only with a more adult edge, Gil Jordan worked as a private investigator. His stories involved him being hired by people to solve crimes and mysteries and generally getting himself into trouble.  

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In the first story, “Ten Thousand years in Hell”, Jordan and his trusty sidekick and comic relief, Crackerjack, journey to a South American dictatorship in order to find a kidnapped weapons designer. Arrested on trumped-up charges of espionage, they are taken to the prison-mines of Xique-Xique, located in the middle of a scorching desert and from which escape is said to be impossible. This is the better of the two tales and contains some decent action and a tension-mounting chase scene, which is really excellent. 

For the second, “Boom and Bust” Jordan receives a threatening letter which is actually addressed to someone else. Intrigued, he and Crackerjack go to see the letter's intended receiver in another city. There, they become embroiled in what would be a ridiculously complicated bank heist. Too much of this story depends on luck and the main characters just happening to run into things, which fit the plot together. 

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Cruel Summer (Crime)

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

Publisher ‏: ‎ Image Comics; Illustrated edition (August 18, 2020)

Hardcover, 288 pages

Amazon Listing

For those who were looking forward to some more Criminal action, this story is the answer to their prayers. It travels back in time to the original anti-hero of the series, Teeg Lawson, to demonstrate how he lost everything and became the foul jerk from the original series. This book collects issues 1 and 5-12 of the third volume of Criminal. It is just as brutal, amoral, and heartbreaking as every other arc in this series - Perhaps more so, as long time readers already know each of these characters are already doomed.

Taking place in the summer of 1988, the narrative flips position with each issue, giving every character a chance in the limelight and to add their voice. The technique gives depth to that character’s action in other stories, where they are relegated to a minor appearance. Thus this straight-forward tale is expanded in ways which would be impossible had the story been handled with only a single main character. In this case every character is the protagonist and antagonist simultaneously.

The plot revolves around one of our previous heroes, Teeg Lawless - well named - falling in love and straightening out his life. Not to say he goes straight, but his new love teaches him a better way of life, this making him a much better and more careful thief. However, his new ladylove causes more problems than she solves. The plot is excellent, the art is as well. The only niggling difficulty I have with this book is that the motive of the private investigator seems a little thin, more time should’ve been taken to show him as a mentally disturbed individual. 

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