Exit Stage Left: Creatures on the Loose #37

Who doesn't love Man-Wolf? Well, apparently not enough people back in 1975 as this series was put out to pasture. Over a 4 year period, COTL had played host not only to John Jameson but also to Gullivar Jones, Thongor and an assortment of Atlas-era reprints. Like many series, this one died mid-storyline. Can I be honest? In my opinion, the move towards inter-dimensional adventures and assorted gemstones didn't mesh too well with the Man-Wolf character and I think David Kraft was heading in the wrong direction. What we do get in this issue, which was relatively rare, is a one page editorial by Kraft explaining the reasons for the cancellation and a summary of where the story was heading. That's pretty cool. Ultimately, it was picked up 4 years later in the pages of Marvel Premiere. George Perez fans may want to check this one out, but I will say that the prior issues inked by Frank McLaughlin looked better than this one, which was by Fred Kida.

Single Issue Hall of Fame: Detective Comics #485

Let me change gears in terms of Batman books. I think we can all agree that Dollar Comics are awesome. There is usually a lot of great material to be found between the covers. This one, however, sits at the upper echelon, mainly due to the amazing list of creators involved. For Don Newton fans, there are no fewer than 31 pages of his artwork. The first 20 are in a great Batman tale which sets up Bronze Tiger as a very intriguing characters. He also pencils the Man-Bat story, a character he was born to draw. I have never been a huge Demon fan, but I love it when Steve Ditko is on board and Len Wein's story is entertaining. The final two stories are worth mentioning because I think they would be unfairly dismissed by many readers and critics. The Robin story is a fairly quaint tale written by Paul Kupperberg infused with a ton of charm by Kurt Schaffenberger in his quasi-retro style. As you may know, I am a huge fan of Don Heck - an artist I think is criminally underrated. He draws women so that they have a very feminine strength and is, therefore, a wonderful fit for Batgirl. This is a solid story. Finally, we get a terrific Dick Giordano pin-up you've probably seen before with Batgirl and Robin. It is just a slice of perfection circa 1979.

You've Been Warned: Shadow of the Bat #19 and #20

I have been making my way through some of the Knightfall trades in recent weeks and this little arc is the absolute bottom of the barrel. A villain named the Tally Man is introduced - he's part Joker, part accountant. He's got a pretty strange modus operandi, and it never really made sense to me in terms of how it is executed (pun intended). His background is actually fairly intriguing but Vince Giarrano sloppy storytelling makes it very difficult to follow. Let's not even get into the action sequences. The scratchy, pseudo-abstract artwork gets in the way of the flow of things. All in all, it seems as though Alan Grant was trying to create a new villain by simply putting some grim and gritty ingredients in a blender. It did not work. The Jean-Paul Valley era Batman stories are an acquired taste at the best of times, but this one leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Happy Birthday José Luis García-López!

Mr. José Luis García-López celebrates his 67th Birthday today. If you're a comic book fan of my generation, it is impossible to not have been wowed by his artwork at some point. He is one of the top artists of his generation, with an incredible sense of design. He infused every assignment with a great deal of style. It is sometimes easy to take a creator like García-López for granted, as he was so prolific for such a long period of time. He played an important role during a tumultuous time at DC, helping maintain the overall 'look' of the DC universe and breathing some fresh air into some stale books. Happy Birthday!

Charlton Notebook: Ghostly Tales #94

This is a pretty typical Charlton horror book from the early 70s - nothing groundbreaking but pretty solid. We start off with an actual Ditko cover. I say this as the was not simply a paste job from internal art, but an original piece. The story itself it drawn by Pete Morisi (P.A.M.). That story is about Russian werewolves and Morisi gives it a chilly atmosphere. The lead story is pretty silly, as a gang of hippies (or are they bikers?) squat in a haunted house. The ornery ghost forces them to get to work tidying up. Was this an anti-littering message? Who knows? My favourite story here is the middle chapter, involving a swamp creature chasing a cowardly soldier during the Vietnam war. It is drawn with gusto by Joe Staton. That makes this a 'must-have' for Muck Monster completists. The was reprint nearly a decade later with the cover image flipped, perhaps to make people think that it was brand new. I love that Charlton ingenuity!

Add It To My Want List: Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993)

I saw this silly Disney version of the Three Musketeers while backpacking through Turkey in 1994. It was sufficiently entertaining, but immediately forgettable. Back then, had I seen the two-issue series in a comic book shop, I would have turned up my nose at it. I have since learned that Dan Spiegle provided the art on both issues. He is a perfect fit for this type of genre and I am guessing (and hopeful) that this has an old-timey Dell/Gold Key feel to it. As I have gotten older, I have really grown to love the adventure genre so this is right up my alley. As an added bonus, Gray Morrow provides covers for both issues. The hunt begins.

Hidden Gems: Wonder Woman 80 Page Giant Annual (2003)

Just over a decade ago, DC published a bunch of this sweet retro-comics filled with Golden and Silver Age goodness. I will admit that I was put off by the price tag at the time and admired them from a distance. The beauty of the back issue market is that, for most recent books, the prices will eventually come down. I picked this up for $1.99 and was delighted with it. It gives the reader a great sampling of two eras in Wonder Woman history: the lunacy of the Golden Age stuff from the minds of Martson and Peter and the charm of the Silver Age, featuring the inventive storytelling of Robert Kanigher and beautiful artwork from the Andru/Esposito team. This is a great way to get a sense of early Wonder Woman stories without having to spend a ton of money on Archive collections. I am now wondering if the all-star team of villains in the Villainy Incorporated story from 1948 represents one of the first super-villain team ups in DC history. If you ever stumble upon this while flipping through back issue bins, I recommend picking it up.

Happy Birthday Karen Berger!

Happy Birthday to the woman who saved comics! Ok, ok, that may be Stan Lee-level hyperbole, but there's certainly a kernel of truth to it. Think for a moment how much Karen Berger did to steer comics through the 1980s and into the 1990s. The bar was raised substantially during her tenure at DC, to the point where she was given the keys to the Vertigo kingdom. It's impossible to overstate the role she played in shaping comics into the sophisticated medium they have become. How many titles that are now regarded as classics may have never existed had she not been in the editor's chair? It's impossible to say, but I would not want to live in a world without Sandman Mystery Theatre.

Single Issue Hall of Fame: World's Finest #113

Back when I was actively collecting Golden and Silver Age books, this one became somewhat of a holy grail. For a long time, I had owned a beautiful copy of World's Finest #123, featuring the second team-up of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk and I became obsessed with getting my hands on this particular issue. This was long before everything was available via reprint and it actually took me quite a while to find a nice, yet affordable copy. Was it worth the effort? I certainly think so. To see the two imps interact for the first time is a real treat. The come across as a bickering old couple, nad it's a hoot. That said, if you don't think the Silver Age can be charming, it may not be for you. The Swan penciled cover is pretty great, and Dick Sprang penciled the story itself. The real bonus here are the two back-up stories. The Green Arrow tale features the introduction of Miss Arrowette. She was always just an interesting footnote in Silver Age history but has become more important in recent years. I'm not much of a Tommy Tomorrow fan, but this particular tale is fun as he encounters his younger self. I think that all of these stories have been reprinted elsewhere, but it is still nice to have them all in one spot.

Exit Stage Left: Sea Devils #35

As a concept, the Sea Devils made a lot of sense circa 1960. Other scuba-related books were on spinner racks such as Dell's The Frogmen and the tie-in to the Sea Hunt series. As the decade progressed, the comic book landscape shifted. Superheroes were back in a big way and universe-building was underway at both DC and Marvel. Dane Dorrance and his team never really fit into the DCU all that well. They still managed to chug along, with Bob Haney telling self-contained underwater (pun intended) tales in typical loopy yet entertaining Bob Haney fashion. This issue was par for the course, with alien creatures arriving via an inter-dimensional portal in the ocean. In this case, however, after winning the battle, the good guys simply swam off into the sunset, not to be seen again until Showcase #100.

Steve Ditko Cover of the Week: Ghostly Haunts #25

Here's a pretty cool Ditko cover that is absolutely ruined by the coloring job. I understand that Charlton wanted its books to stand out of the racks, but this garish green was a bad decision. Ditko has never been one for highly detailed artwork but we still want to be able to see what he has drawn. I'm not sure whether or not this is a paste job based on interior images, but I actually really like the layout. There is a lot to absorb, much of it quite sinister. I've written about my love for Ditko Water before, but now I feel as though I should focus on Ditko Flowers. They are so simple and yet so effective. Overall, this is a subpar Charlton cover due to the color work. Too bad.

Memoirs of a Bronze Age Baby: Wulf the Barbarian #1

I have likely mentioned the 10 cent rack at my local comic book store when I was a kid. Circa 1979 or 1980, my LCS had a rack at its front door that featured comics that had obviously not been great sellers. This included titles such as Devil Dinosaur and Yang. The  rack was also packed with Atlas-Seaboard books. I was far too young to understand the differences between various publishers and certainly did not know the sordid history of Atlas Seaboard. I let covers inform my purchases, and what a cover this was! I still think it looks great to this day and I understand why my 7 year old self slapped down a dime for it. As far as Atlas-Seaboard books go, this one is very solid. There's nothing terribly original considering it was a common genre at the time, but the origin story is engaging and the art by the team of Larry Hama and Klaus Janson is often spectacular. Over the years, I've picked up nearly every Atlas-Seaboard book published and this remains in the top tier.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: The Atom #24

Here's a body horror cover that the likes of David Cronenberg would love. Gardner Fox had a background in science-fiction and it showed in so many of the stories he wrote for DC. Sometimes the concept was better than the final product and the cover is a great way of conveying the concept. This one is fantastic as we get all sorts of texture - from the leaves to the colours above and below the water level. Murphy Anderson was the right inker for this jump as Kane's inking was a bit too fine for a job like this and Sid Greene might have made it look a bit flat. All in all, it's a good as it got for Kane on this title. Shear genius!

Happy Birthday Curt Swan!

Today would have been Curt Swan's 95th Birthday. Like anyone of my generation or the generation before me, Curt Swan was THE Superman artist. Long before I looked at creator credits, I knew that this was precisely how Superman was supposed to look. He was square jawed and impossibly handsome and yet still somewhat human and approachable. Coincidentally, Swan was shared all of those attributes with his Man of Steel. His artwork was never flashy as his strengths were as a storyteller, helping to sell some unbelievable yarns through the decades. Swan made Superman likable and, as a result, most people liked Swan. His ability to convey emotion, through both facial expression and posture, was without peer. There is a reason so many people see Swan as THE Superman artist. He took what Shuster and Boring had done, refined it and created a brand new template. He is missed.

You've Been Warned: Rocket Raccoon Mini-Series (1985)

I can already imagine the boos and hisses as I type. I know that this is likely a much beloved project, but hear me out. Like everyone else on the planet, I dig Rocket Raccoon. I also happen to love the work of Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola. As such, it seemed as though this would be a good fit for me. What went wrong? It is difficult for me to put a finger on it, but I think that there was simply too much going on. Too many visual gags, too many characters, too convoluted a plot and too many literary and cinematic references. As such, it comes across as more of an experiment than a comic book story. I get what Mantlo was trying to do here and I picked up on most, if not all, of what he was referencing but the strange brew of Lewis Carroll, Walt Kelly and Steve Gerber playing in a sandbox filled with toys from Dune, Star Wars and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest left me with a bitter aftertaste. Abstract satirical humour can work great but, for me, it is better in smaller doses. I love most of Steve Gerber's work, but I feel as though he helped create a shift in funnybook writing that could really go off the rails. Full accolades to Mr. Mignola, though - this stuff looks great. Overall, not for me.