"Nov. 18 thru 22"

I'm happy to report that "Johnny Bacardi" is back bloggin' again and with a bit of a different look. I'm sure that everyone welcomes him back!

"The Simpson's" show tonight was certainly a hoot, what with Alan Moore, Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman all in their glorious animated forms appearing on the show. But I was expecting the Comic Book Guy to re-open his store at the close of the episode (he didn't). Can this be the last we see of this character? Surely not. He's too good an obnoxious dealer to be gone forever. (The real joke about that character is that anyone that's bought comics over the years knows at least one comic book dealer that they think he's based on.)>

I was thinking about how I stated that Supergirl's origin was pretty silly previously here, but really, thinking about it, Superman's origin is sort'a lame as well. I mean, if Krypton had a red sun, then it must have previously had a yellow sun. That means that the star in the solar system in which Krypton revolves is a dying one. When a yellow star becomes a "red giant", it would have enlarged enough to have incinerated Krypton and any of the inner planets, destroying all life. It would have totally changed the entire planet, burning away its atmosphere and leaving it a chared, dead cinder in the freezing space. And, even let's say that the inhabitants survived and Krypton still had an atmosphere and water, the sky and water (both of which are actually clear) wouldn't appear blue (as it has in every story about Krypton I've ever seen printed). Plus things like Superman's ability to fly wouldn't come from a lighter atmosphere due to the gravity on Krypton being heavier. By the time everyone adapted to that on Krypton (if such a thing was possible), Superman would have simply weighed less on Earth. And where do things like his super-brain come from? Genetic engineering from Krypton? Certainly nothing from earth's atmosphere, gravity or solar activity from Sol could possibly give him any of these powers. Mercury is smaller than the earth (also a molden mass of circular magma), but IF an Earthman was to go there and was able to survive, he wouldn't have super powers.

(Oh the hell with trying to explain that. We still "eat that stuff up" today.) Sunday: 11-18-07


Today my wife and I needed to go by and see the lawyer in her home town of Elizabethtown (KY.) and take him the bill for the "death date" to be put on his stone. This took all of 10 minutes once we were there, so we stopped by the antique mall in E-Town and I picked up four older books. the best one is a copy of Saga of the Swamp thing (DC) #22(1984), which is the third issue written by Alan Moore and illustrated by John Totleben. A bargain to me at $2. in VG+/FN-. This issue has the first app. and origin of "The Floronic Man". FM is sort'a a minor character in the DC universe, but one that's been around quite a while first making his debute in The Atom #1 (1962) as a villian called, "The Plant Master".

Other older issues included a copy of The Unexpected (DC) #211 (1980), which contains a story of yet another esoteric character, "Johnny Peril", whose only real redeeming quality is that the artwork was by a young Trevor Von Eeden. Along with these Ifound a copy of The Question Quarterly #2 (DC/1991), written by verterin writer Denny O"Neil and illustrated by Denys Cowan (a great team), and an odd independent by Hero Comics: Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt V2 #1 (1992) where Roy Thomas revived a character from a previous series. The artwork in this is fairly nice (in B&W) by Howard Simpson, but E.R. Cruz's completely recognizable inks really dominate the pencils.

Oh yes, I also picked up a copy of DC's Prometheus #1 (1998), but just because it's written by another personal favorite writer, Grant Morrison.

We then went over to The Town Mall where I stopped by waldenbooks to pick up new comics. This week I got seven: 1 Marvel & 6 DC's. I'll be reviewing them soon as I find time to read them. They are: Action Comics #858, Batman #670, The Brave and The Bold #7, Fantastic Four #551, The Flash #233, Superman Confidential 8, and Wonder Woman #13(Tuesday: 11-20-07).


NEW COMIC BOOK REVIEWS:

Before I get into that, I want to take time here to compliment DC Comics on such nice covers they are producing these days. Their figures really stand out on the covers and reflect the true quality of the heroes whose stories are within. Superman looks "dynamic", and Batman the mysterious. Their covers aren't quite as cluttered up as with, say, Marvel, and the colors are bright and attractive. I'm not sure who's in charge there of finally approving the cover artwork in its finished form for DC these days, but a "hat's off" to either him or her for doing a decent job!,br>
And now...on to the new books:

Action Comics(DC) #858 is artists, Gary Frank's, debute issue on this title and he really gives it a "slam dunk"! from the drawing of Supes flying towards you on the cover, it grabbed my attention instantly on the stands. Frank's work has always pretty much appealed to me. I must admit though, that the first time I took notice of his work it was in Marvel's the Incredible Hulk right after Dale Keown had ended his run on the title, and it didn't impress me "that much". But looking back at that, I don't think it was Frank's art that didn't keep my attention as it was Peter David's writing at that time. Now I'm a big fan of David's work, but by then I feel he'd gotten a bit too tired of the character, issue after issue after issue. But...by the time the 1996 Supergirl series came along, I was instantly impressed with frank's artwork on that.

Geoff Johns presented a very acceptible script with this issue, re-telling the first meeting between Clark kent and the original three members (Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl) of "The Legion of Super-Heroes". This then leads into Superman getting into a time-bubble and going into the 30th. Century 9the era, of course, OF the LOSHs. It's the first part of a multi-chaptered story which I'll be following. An excellant superman tale; "A+".

Grant Morrison's story in Batman #670 of "The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul", was also well presented and had nice artwork by Tony Daniel. Unfortunately, this story is not continued "in" the Batman title, but over in "Robin" next time (a title I don't buy with any regularity). This just seems like a gimmick to get you to buy a different DC title. What I read of
it was very good, but a story that's continued, to me, should remain within its own title. A "B".

The team-up between Wonder Woman and Power Girl in The Brave & The Bold (DC)#7 reminds me of the silver-age teamup's with WW and Supergirl in both the original B&B and Wonder Woman titles, which I'm sure it was meant to. The guest-app. of Superman was fine, and even that of such an obscure villian as "Dr. Alchemy". I'll give this issue an "A", and REALLY look forward to the next issue featuringa teamup between The Flash and THE DOOM PATROL!

Fantastic Four (Marvel) #551 features the return of our good ol' "Dr. Doom", but not the one with which we are familiar. Along with this we get The Black Panther and Namor...or "something like them". It's not as bad as it sounds. Even though I had a hard time getting into this new storyline, towards the end it picked up steam and gave me one hell of a surprize ending! Shock value alone, a "B+".

The Flash (DC)#233 should be a LOT better book...but it isn't, and a guest-app. by the JLA didn't save it. I did enjoy the back-up feature of the original Flash ("Jay Garrick"); probably much more than the first story. About a "C" on this one.

Superman Confidential (DC) #8 (8???? What happened to #'s 6 & 7! ARRRGGGG!!!I've missed two whole issues "somewhere"!) was pretty good. It features "The Forever People" and "Darkseid". in fact, it's pretty much a re-telling of Kirby's original Forever People #1 (1971). Interesting tale. An "A" rating.

And finally...

Wonder Woman (DC) #13 appears to be just tying up a storyline to be enough pages for compiling into some TPB edition. I wasn't impressed at all. In fact, I haven't been impressed by this new WW title by any issues I've read so far. I wouldn't call it a stinker, but pretty close to it.(Wednesday: 11-21-07)


44 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas, Texas. For those too young to have remembered that, it doesn't mean a lot. But to a young lad of 12 in 1963, it certainly did to me. President Kennedy was not "just" a president. In this day and age, there's a lot of people in this country that don't particularly like whomever we have in the oval office, but back in the early 1960's, most everyone looked towards President Kennedy for courage and leadership. To most Americans he reflected an admiration close to that one would have to royalty. It was, indeed, one of the saddest days in The 20th. Century.

And, today is Thanksgiving. It began for me by getting up at 6:30 A.M. so I could be ready to go down to my mom's and help her prepare our holiday dinner. By 8:15 we had "the bird" in the oven, and she and my wife and I, enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving Day this year.(Thurday: 11-22-07)