Aw, Crap: Star Wars Comics Packs

Welcome to another new feature that may or may not continue infrequently--"Aw, Crap," which will be the blanket title for posts concerning toys, books, cake, pie, and other things ancillary to comics.

Am I to drop my self-imposed toy-buying ban (beyond what tiny busts and so forth may be required for the desk at work to maintain some level of credibility)? Hasbro appears to think so. How do I know? Because they've begun releasing something called "Comics Packs." It would appear that these will eventually include material from the Dark Horse line (according to ads I saw, improbably, in Dark Horse Comics themselves.) But the ones on the Hasbro website appear to be starting with Marvels Star Wars #1 and going an issue at a time from there.

Hasbro has no mercy. For now, they're just featuring the somewhat peculiar coloring and art from the Marvel adaptation of the first film (check out Chewie up there) back when an "expanded universe" was something you (and perhaps Mr. Lucas) experimented with in college between keggers and iced cream socials. But soon they'll leave the adaptation behind and get to characters like Crimson Jack, Valance the Hunter, and--choke--Shira Ellan Colla Brie. And I cannot wait for "Hoth Stuff" and beardy Wedge.

Now in Comics Form: Marvel's Godzilla

So I got this free scanner. It ain't the finest scanner in the world, nor is it the fastest, but it's my scanner, and also the free. So I've been able to finally begin the first Major Epic Ongoing Thing here at Seattle Under Siege!, and that's an issue-by-issue look at Marvel's oft-lamented (here, anyway) series from the late '70s, Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Scroll down and you'll see this was the first topic on the blog, and will remain an ongoing feature whenever I have time to do it right. Like, with research, which of course means Wikipedia block quotes.

But it's not the Marvel Godzilla Project, a name suggested and rejected by the Committee for Using "Project" in a Blog Article. And besides, I've got plenty of licensed comics to fall back on using the theme that was blasted into my eyes on the cover of Godzilla #1. The truth is, I've got a frightening number of comics based on other "media properties," so to speak. A lot of "official movie adaptations" and the like, including one that I really wish I hadn't read before going to see Return of the Jedi, but also entire series based on such things back before companies like Dynamite, bless 'em, were licensing everything that's ever aired on my TV. By happenstance, most of them are Marvel, but there's some of DC's 80s Star Trek in there, I think at least one Babylon 5 issue, and things that should never have been comics (though I swear all the Star Comics were my sister's. I don't swear on anything really important, but sure, I'll swear. Okay, maybe Alf.)

But I'm digressing more than a little. That's all just to say that Now in Comics Form! is the general theme, which will no doubt serve to display my often deplorable taste, which didn't really improve much with what the gray streaks in my beard tell me must be "maturity."

So back to Godzilla. In this case, and most cases, this won't exactly be a history of the book except what I can look up on the Interwebs with minimal effort. I should know that history, but I don't know it as well as I could. See, I read this series beginning at age 5. As I mentioned earlier, this series was the first I collected in any sense of the term. It's the series that taught me how to use a calender, if only to coax a trip to H&I Grocery or perhaps Fred Meyer for a browse of the racks to see if the new Godzilla (and not long after, the new Star Wars) had arrived. But I knew next to nothing about the origins of the series as a Marvel property, it just seemed the most natural damned thing in the world for there to be a comic book version of the monster whose movies and Saturday morning cartoons had enthralled me literally since before I can remember. So let's call on the millions upon billions of people stacked miles high and also circling the Earth (or such is my understanding) at Wikipedia, as promised.

In the 1970s, Godzilla starred in a 24 issue run of comics written by Doug Moench and published by Marvel Comics entitled "Godzilla" which thrust Godzilla completely into the Marvel Universe ... Godzilla encountered not only agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but also many heroes from Marvel Comic books. Among them, the now defunct group called The Champions (sans the Ghost Rider, then a member at the time), The Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, and The Avengers, along with a brief, belated cameo by Spider-Man in the last issue of the series. Godzilla also fought other gigantic monsters, including Yetrigar, who was likely patterned after King Kong, and The Mega Monsters, and in defeating these, three alien beasts, saved Earth and an alien world which had been at war with the masters of the Mega Monsters

Hmm...okay, that doesn't really tell us much about the history. Why the series came and went so quickly. Was it not selling? Was Toho unhappy with the Big G's portrayal? Did Evil Smoking Jacket Devil Dinosaur pull a few strings to eliminate the better-known competition? All I know is when issue 24 hit the stands and ended with Godzilla wandering into the sea, never again to walk the Marvel Universe under the same name, it was as if someone had socked me in the gut. I don't think I ever truly recovered, to be honest.

Perhaps we should turn to the always handy Appendix to the Handbook to the Marvel Universe?

GODZILLA

Real Name: Godzilla, or possibly Gojira (see comments)

Identity/Class: Terrestrial dinosaur mutate (could also be a Deviant mutate)

Occupation: Rampager

Group membership: None

There you go. Rampager. Mutate. Could also be a Deviant mutate.

The next installment of "Now in Comics Form" will be all about Godzilla #1, which opens on the west coast of Alaska. And though it's tempting to just re-read the excellent Essential edition of the series (still available at finer and more discerning comic shops than you deserve near you) for this little . . . don't say "project" . . . experiment, I'm going to break open the color originals.

In the meantime, here's a peek of Herb Trimpe's (unfortunately faded in many cases) art inked in issue 1 by Jim Mooney and featuring the inimitable words of Doug Moench, who had the task of writing a book for a hero who had nothing resembling a real vocabulary except for that short time he spent handing with Jet Jaguar. Especially in this first issue, when Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, and Jimmy Woo (of Agents of Atlas fame) are just getting up to speed and the rest of the supporting cast is busy with exposition -- especially Nick Fury, making his one and only appearance in the series. Moench appears to have decided to make up for Godzilla's lack of vocabulary with some of the most turgid and gloriously hyperbolic narration I've ever read in a bronze age Marvel comic, and that's saying something. I love every single word. Behold! And click! To enlarge! These! Images!

Godzilla bursts from an iceberg and into the world of Iron, Wonder-, Spider- and X-Men. Also, gods from different pantheons who pal around. Seriously, Herc, Thor--Godzilla and Gamera would fight more.
Without using clonebotwhatevers.










Our hero opts for the classic "over the mountain road with the optional smoldering jaws" follow-up for the traditional explosive entrance originally seen in King Kong. Fear not for Lighthouse-Man, his power over lighthouses saves him. He improbably survives the complete and total destruction of his home on the opposite page, and still manages to summon a bit more shock and alarm when he realizes the 30-story dinosaur that just crushinated his house...killed the phone line.

Next up in issue 1, "The Coming!"
-Godzilla kills an Alaskan pipeline. See the symmetry there?
-Nick Fury and the Old Japanese Professor fill in Dum Dum Dugan on the situation while zipping to and fro across America wasting billions in jet fuel at the height of the 70s gas crisis (the cute and cuddly ancestor to today's...ask your parents about it).
-Herb Trimpe makes up monsters when Marvel can't or won't secure the rights to any other Toho monsters.
-Jimmy Woo does things! Not as much as Dum Dum, but still! Jimmy Woo!
-Godzilla departs for parts south. In this case, Seattle, a path which will lead an overwriting blowhard of a hack to pontificate upon the topic of this comic book nearly twenty years later.

Free is a Very Good Price: The Astounding Wolf-Man #1

Nuts. Got there too late (did hit that deadline, though) and missed the Spider-Man book. Wanted to see that. I did score some Astounding Wolf-Man and some other stuff I wasn't as interested in, but by the Blasted Blue Blazes of Dum-Dum Dugan, I was determined to hit that 6-book limit (which the fine folks at the Duneon only resorted to in order to ensure everyone who came in got comics, and I don't blame them for that at all). If you missed the free version, the "real" #1 goes on sale in July (I think, I couldn't find confirmation and I'm lazy) and you can check out some preview pages at CBR (scroll down).

I liked Kirkman's werewolf book a lot--and despite what I have written and will write about the guy, I don't automatically love every little letter he places personally on the page and sprinkles with Kirkman-dust of every book he writes.

Depending on how it develops, this could be an Walking Dead (freakin' rules) or it might be a Marvel Tam-Up (some great issues, overall it hasn't really stuck with me). The book had a lot more Wolf-Man action than I expected in a first issue. It feels a bit lighter in the characterization department than TWD but it was a lighter book in terms of horror.

Artist Jason Howard (check it out -- I looked him up on the cover, there) reinforces the tone with just enough blood not to overwhelm the fun and a style that really establishes the tone--sort of Cory Walker by way of Phil Hester. I dig it. Mind you I honestly didn't object to all the intestine-wrangling that went on over at DC in the last year or two. Didn't object, don't object, the more the intestinier, I say. But it's still the cheap and easy shock, going that route. Howard doesn't go for that here when he easily could, and it was refreshing. This werewolf seems to be more of the Larry Talbot school than the David Kessler. I could be wrong, maybe Howard was toning it down for an issue that was going to be sitting beside Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #1 and things will gore up later. And if so, that's cool too.

Also [swipe for spoilers] I totally didn't get that was a vampire for sure until I read the blurb on the inside back cover. Whether that was the art's fault or Kirkman's or mine (probably that last) I can't say. I think I just wasn't expecting that sort of supernatural crossover quite so soon, so I thought the vamp was just a werewolf showing a little teet to make his...wait for it...point.

Still, despite all the stuff packed into this issue--and I'm really, really grateful we saw our titular -Man become titular Wolf before the last page, you know that's how some writers might have done it--I want to read more. I also wanted to read more in this issue. Hard to explain, I may reread it and try to elaborate but probably won't. (Cripes, it's free, read it yourself and you tell me.)

At this point, I can't say if this book is going to be a superhero wolf (as the title and the Wolf-Man's costume on the cover seem to imply) or a more tortured hunt-for-Chuck-Connors/get-nagged-by-Griffin-Dunne kind of deal. Hopefully Kirkman can keep juggling all these books without letting quality slip, but I'd never tell a writer to turn down work. Do that and the next thing you know you're living in a sewer tunnel with Roy Dotrice and Ron Perlman waiting for that nice lawyer lady to get back from a date with her nice, not-half-lion boyfriend. I tell you, if I had a nickel...

Free Comic Book Day Again?!

Holy crap! Almost missed that. And me with a deadline. Dagblastit.

Still--it's free comics, so I'd better make a stop off at the Dungeon, then right back to the book. Read 'em later. Yeah, that's exactly what will happen.

May 5th. Cinco de Mayo. Saturday. I look forward to Sunday's gruesome headlines, as hundreds, nay, thousands of Seattle comic book types descend upon their chosen Best Shop in Town amid an orgy of drunken driving and salsa consumption. The nacho shortages alone that will result from this confluence of traditions will be glorious.

The Stack in Review Update

Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #3

John Layman. Have to Wiki that guy some time. He's taking one of my guiltiest pulls, if you will, and making this marketing-devised thing actually work.

Mostly. He's nailing the characters, the pacing, and the tone bizarre hybrid requires.

I'm going to completely spoil this now, so look! Sea-Monkeys!


The way out of last issue's finale, where Howard the Duck bit Ash's head off, is covered in a way I didn't see coming--by showing us the Marvel Zombie-verse had its own Ashley J. Williams who coincidentally decided to become a chainsaw and shotgun-wielding hero--dressed exactly like the Ash from the movie Army of Darkness--when the superheroes went all cannibalivoracious. It was that Ash who was chomped by Howard the Ever-Lovin' Duck, for cripe's sake, and the real King ended up sandwiched between the still un-zombified (or utterly crazy) Dazzler and Scarlet Witch on a quinjet bound for Latveria, and I then realized that Ash was pretty much going to play a larger part in the creation of the Zombie-verse and that this was the story Layman was really getting to tell. Which gets me wondering whether this is "Marvel Zombie-verse canon," which, by gum, I kinda like.

Bear in mind I have a history of not seeing things coming. Bruce Willis was dead the whole time? News to me. Wait, you're whose father, Lord Vader? Charlton Heston is on Earth, it's a cookbook, I'm in a zoo, and it's people? All of 'em got me. So I hadn't even considered the avenue Layman took. Nice trick.

It's ridiculous. It's also ridiculous I didn't think of this sort of thing coming, but I've lacked time to keep up on any kind of comic news, and I generally avoid spoilers. It's also ridiculous overall. But it's handled damn near perfectly.

As was the scene in the Sanctum Sanctorum was priceless. Both scenes, actually, the one with Dr. Druid (I'm sure I've heard of him, but can't place him) and the fact that nearly every one of Strange's books appears to look like first cousin to the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. I get the feeling that the writer (and the artist, who I'm sure is amazing but it's all I can do to remember Layman's name, and that's just through repition) is being given a lot of leeway to do whatever the hell he (they) wants (want) with this, and they (he) are (is) taking full advantage of that. I can't wait to see what state Dr. Strange is in. Even if it's Indiana.

Here's the thing that cost this book . It's the fact there's as yet no connection felt between the Deadites of the Raimi-verse and the Marvel Zombies. The Marvel plague was never treated as mystical in any of the comics I remember reading, even though I suppose Dr. Doom is a potential avenue into that. But it just feels false every time Ash calls these guys Deadites, and it's worse when the Marvel characters mimic him. It's a natural mistake for him to make, but the fact that the reader (this reader at least) figures ultimately this one isn't the Necronomicon's fault makes the story seem a little too doomed to failure.

Now don't blow it going to Latveria, Mr. Layman and the artist whose name I need to figure out. I don't think you will.

The Stack in Review - 05/02/07

Here I am with some of the comics that appeared in box 246 over the last two weeks, and I don't even have a manifesto yet. I had this whole plan to map out boundaries and talk about what I planned to cover, but what's the point? I'll write about the comics I get, I'll write about the comics I have, that's about it. Besides, I have a deadline, and even if I had a manifesto it's not like I could stick to it anyway.

That said, I suppose this'll be a regular thing, the traditional weekly (or in this case, whenever I clear out the box) round-up, 'cause I loves me some round-ups. I won't post on or spoil a book until I've read it, of course, and I'll endeavour to keep any spoilage minor. Nor will I be doing much summing up, let's assume we've all read the same thing, and there isn't a chance in hell I'll possibly be able to write up all the books I've read. But by gum I'll try.

I'm not going to do a little fact box, I've written enough of those in day jobs to last a lifetime. Just the title and issue number, but I'll provide an image that links official source of that information if you simply must have it. Odds are, I'll mention at least the writer's name in the blurb. One other thing. I love artists. Clearly comics can't be made without them. But I tend to follow writers, so I'll probably only call out art if it's especially outstanding, at least at first.

The Stack So Far
Books are rated on a scale of 1-5 s. Note that I don't love everything, I just tend to buy books I'm pretty sure I'm going to like, which skews the pool a bit.

_______
52 #51-52

All right, I admit I totally lost most of those Booster Gold threads, and I knew next to nothing about Rip Hunter going into 52. I knew who Black Adam was, mostly from 90s JSA I must admit, and World War III--within the pages of 52, at least--was pretty strong. I get the Question, and Steel, and Ralph, even most of the lost in space types I have more than a passing familiarity with. Okay, not Jason Todd, much. Could have sworn that guy was dead, and in my defense I only started picking up Batman and Detective again when the new writers came aboard. But Booster, the Giffen JLA, I'm a bit behind.

But, but, I still thought these last two issues were a nice little finish...for all the 52 storylines I really cared about. The Skeets reveal was great (if not entirely unexpected--Bert was right, damn it) even if that villain's end got a little muddled in the time-and-space whiz bangery. That thing with that one zone they did? That's how you do a One Year Later explanation thingy (I can't have been the only one wondering how that one caped hero who's fond of blue and red could be stuck in that one zone if it had been eaten by a robot from the future, am I right?).

I admit I didn't really think we'd get a Lobo wrap-up. Yeah, I feared for Buddy. Strange got eyes, Montoya asks the Question, Black Adam gets his...escape at the last minute but with a nice twist someone should tell Gail Simone about...and Booster and Skeets got a happily ever after (plus a reunion of sorts with an old pal). And hey, look--it's Topper and Wife! And why the hell not.

DC appeared to let the overall 52 story get away from its original avowed purpose--to, at least in part, give readers the answers to their questions about the OYL reboot, which was addresses in the World War III issues still lining the shelves of my comic shop three weeks later. And even if the relative transparency of their motives hadn't overwhelmed it the minseries-born-of-maxiseries came pretty late in the game to not overwhelm the "real" end of the story here with its multitudinous and (to the "main" 52 storylines, somewhat superfluous) OYL tie-ins.

I count myself lucky for not making it into the shop last week. It helped make these two issues stand out and let me give these stories the focus they deserved.
_______
Runaways #26

Sweet Christmas, that is an awesome cover. And the brilliance of it--the sheer joy of that cover--is that once you've read the issue, you actually know what Molly is thinking. And what she's thinking is also awesome.

Seriously, I have been waiting months, months that felt like centuries, for someone to do that to that phony running around in the not-written-by-Garth-Ennis-iverse, and Mr. Whedon, you have my sincere thanks. But before I leave that topic (the issue was about a lot more than whether "a soldier stands," as it were) I have to say that entire bit seemed to have been ever-so-slightly edited so that the li'lest Runaway's fist struck a bit north of where the writer had clearly intended. What I'm saying is, Marvel, you want the young readers, right, and you want the young readers on this book? Nothing makes a teenager laugh like a dude getting a boot to the junk. Nothing.

Right, the comic. So the kids are in New York, and you can tell because the War Journal Punisher is there, threatening to shoot kids because they work for the Kingpin, because that's the kind of guy he is--black and white, not a single facet or layer to him, except jesus christ he is not, at least not the one I read about every month in his real book.

But enough about the War Journal Punisher. The Faux-nisher. No, that sucks. The Punisham. Yes! The Punisham.

So there was a theft, and the Kingpin employs ninjas, and the Leapfrog is the most amazing thing ever built. And it's all awesome. When I'm talking about the Punisham...no....no, that's "B-Sharping" already...the Pawnisher? Fake Castle? The...WJP. There. The War Journal Punisher. So when I'm talking about the WJP being badly written, that doesn't happen here. Whedon treats the Punisher as he should be treated in a flashy, costumed hero universe, and he does it brilliantly and without making the Punisher look like an idiot, a tool, or a loser. Okay, a bit of an idiot, and something of a tool, but he's used well.

My, look at the time. The thing is, this is only the first of, like, three Whedon books I get to read this week.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #3

Ha! I fell for Willow's first line about Kennedy just like Miss Summers the elder did. I suppose that would have required an entire season of its own, though.

Everything about this book is clicking (with the caveat that I'm sitting squarely in seventh row center of this book's target audience), so much I'm afraid to talk too much about specifics lest I ruin any of it. I'll see how far I can get with vague...

-The first in media res spread of the fight promised by #2's final page.
-"You're so butch."
-The visitor in Buffy's dreamscapeopolis, or whatever it's called.
-The brief appearance by a couple of characters who I could have sworn were being published by another company. Funny and oogy.
-"I need mystics, NOW!" (or something like that.)
-The cover. I'm enough of an avowed nerd that the cover, yeah, that works.
-The last page reveal that's about as unrevealing as you can get. That's so meta I think it's actually meta-meta. Meta. Stop typing meta.
-And last but certainly not in any way least, Dawn's shoe.
_______
The Walking Dead #38

I couldn't find a shot of this cover to save my life, and I don't have a working scanner yet, so here's a shot of the next trade and a link to Image Comics. The cover featured Rick and...uh...Mrs. Rick being all pregnant and amputated and concerned.

This is a housekeeping issue between what was a seriously intense arc in Mayberry (or whatever that town with the zombie pit fights was called) and what promises to be tribal apocalyptic warfare next issue. That means this issue is super-talky and super-duper-soapy. The only zombie I remember seeing was in the back-cover pinup, this was all preparations, contingencies, and unfinished business.

What can I say, I dug it. Maybe not as much as those issues that end with someone missing a hand or is tossed into a cage match or, y'know, runs away from/fights zombies, but in a story this long-term you need some downtime. I can't help but think this sense of security and being settled there in the prison is all mere buildup for tearing it away from our protagonists all over again, and I think it's a safe bet there will be a lot fewer of them wherever they hole up next.

I could be wrong. Kirkman could be moving into the apocalyptic part of the zombie apocalypse here, as small groups of survivors build their several and varied fortresses, becoming much more of a danger to each other than the rotting, slow-moving and utterly witless undead are. Then again, I think that's all part of the mind game Kirkman's playing. By taking this story so far beyond what's usually covered in your average zombie movie--even though it's beginnings are couched securely in that niche--he's sailing into areas that rarely get explored in that specific genre (and if they are, they're Matrix-ified like in Land of the Dead). I'm more than willing to keep going along for the ride, even when there are issues like this that require a bit more attention and patience.

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That's all I've gotten read so far, and I've got my own word counts to worry about. More later.

Godzilla #16: The Great Godzilla Round-Up!

See? Told you Godzilla fought cowboys.

He won, by the way.

Godzilla #14: My First Comic Book

This Doug Moench-Herb Trimpe collaboration is the first comic I remember pointing at and saying, "I'll take that!" I was about 5. It's also the first comic I "collected," in the sense that I figured out comics came out every month and I could "purchase" these comics from "stores," provided I saved and begged enough loose change. This probably explains a lot about what is to follow on this blog, to say nothing of the logo (which I cleverly cribbed from the cover of Godzilla #2).

This fourteenth issue of the short-lived Godzilla, King of the Monsters is the third part of an epic tale that puts a Marvel spin on the old Godzilla standby plot--aliens taking over Earth's monsters while simultaneously sending their own monsters to Earth and sending them all to attack us. And of course the ultimate goal is for all of these monsters to go to war with other monsters created by still more aliens, who are their enemies. This was after Marvel's Big G fought the Champions, Dr. Demonicus, and a giant mutant sasquatch named Yetrigar (separately, natch) but before he fought cowboys, the Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur, or the Avengers.

But I barely knew all that. All I knew was, Godzilla was smashing up Salt Lake City and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were trying to stop him. As you can see by the cover, this issue even included a decapitation. As you might not be able to see, it also includes Agent Jimmy Woo of Agents of Atlas fame (he's the little dude in the blue suit right in front of the giant robot head). Some freaky-looking dudes named the Betans had a base on the moon and wanted Godzilla to survived and some freakier-looking dudes called Omegans (where did Doug Moench come up with these names?) wanted Godzilla to lose. And some guy named Herb Trimpe was drawing it all, and he made everyone's mouths look really wide and square. I would later recognize this as A) Trimpe's own take on Kirby style and B) something I could get used to so long as Trimpe kept drawing kick-ass monsters and completely awesome helicarriers.

Marvel has collected the entire Godzilla series into an Essential book that's well worth your hard-earned comics dollar. Eventually I'll review the entire run in something approximation chronological order. Stay tuned, true believers.