Here
In Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo injured his wrist this past week, making it very difficult
to type much. So we're providing our loyal readers with just one
new comic book review for this week, along with our current contest
winner announcement and a new contest challenge announcement. And we
assure you that we'll definitely be back in two weeks with four
new comic book reviews!
Infinity Man
& The Forever People #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Keith Giffen and Dan Didio: Story
& Art
Scott Koblish: Inks
DC Comics recently published issue #1 of Infinity
Man & The Forever People. For the uninitiated, The Forever People were the
1971 creation of comics pioneer Jack Kirby, published as one of several titles
within Kirby's "Fourth World" storyverse, which established the New
Genesis (good) versus Apokolips (evil) fictional concept. The
Forever People were a band of 1960's-style, New Genesis hippie-like teens sent
Earth to help mankind. They were able to summon Infinity Man to assist in
their adventures. This revival series is co-written and drawn by the
A-list veteran team of Keith Giffen and Dan Didio, with inks by Scott Koblish.
Issue #1 kicks-off a multi-issue storyline entitled
"Planet Of The Humans." The entire story segment is a revised telling
of The Forever People's origin. We meet four of the five team members
(Serafina, Mark Moonrider, Dreamer Beautiful and Vykin) as they gather on New
Genesis under The High Father's orders to head to Earth. After a few pages of
arguing, all of which serves to help readers understand the various team
member's personalities and quirks, the group Boom Tubes to Earth, where they
link-up in Santa Monica, California with the fifth team member, Big Bear, and
begin to settle-in for their mission of assistance. The issue ends with a
dramatic bridge to next month's issue #2 story segment, as the plot shifts to
an African agricultural research facility, where baddies from Apokolips are
beginning to raise havoc.
Jack Kirby's Fourth World storyverse was a 1970's
tour de force in the comic book publishing industry, breathing fresh artistic
life and scripting creativity into a comics industry gone stale with
traditional superhero story stylings. As such, a revival of any of its
iconic titles deserves only the best of creative efforts. And thankfully,
this creative team provides that mandatory highest production quality.
Veterans Keith Giffen and Dan Didio hit the bullseye with the perfect homage to
Kirby's original series, in three respects. First, the artwork is a jaw-dropping
replication of Kirby's unique visual stylings of his Fourth World storyverse.
Secondly, the script for the revised original tale succeeds well in introducing
new and old faithful readers alike to the personalities and specifics of this
unique band of otherworldly adventuring flower children.
Third and perhaps most importantly, Giffen and
Didio pace the kick-off tale very properly. There's no need to rush right in
and toss the reader hip-deep from the start into this brave new Fourth World.
Instead, issue #1 serves as a primer, reaquainting us with the various players
as well as the entire unique concept of the hippieverse of these unusual
super-folk. The concept of Infinity Man himself, summoned at times by the
group, isn't even introduced yet in this premier issue. And it all works
well to orient us back into this unique and very entertaining segment of the DC
Comics storytelling world.
I also enjoyed the light humor infused
throughout the narrative. The co-writers are well-known for their humorous
story scripts and they bring that skill to bear very lightly but
effectively in this story segment. My one pet peeve is the
decision to rename Kirby's original character "Beautiful Dreamer" as
"Dreamer Beautiful." It feels very wrong, sounds like a verbal
mistake and was the reading equivalent of hearing a scratch across a
chalkboard. I pray that a future issue will resolve the issue by having
the character decide to reverse her name back to the proper poetic
version. But irregardless, a very enthusiastic thumbs-up positive review
recommendation is well-deserved for this revival of an esteemed 1970's DC
Comics franchise.
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you to
correctly identify which two 1970's-era Red Sox rookies had spectacular rookie
season debuts, leading them to be nicknamed "The Gold Dust
Twins." We received several correct entries, so via a roll of the
dice, our contest winner is (drumroll, please...) Erin O'Connor, who correctly
identified Fred Lynn and eventual Hall-Of-Famer Jim Rice as the rookie
outfielder Gold Dust Twins. Congratulations to Erin, who wins our first
prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Challenge Announcement!!!
The Bongo Congo Panel of Contest Judges have
decreed that its time to offer-up another contest question on the subject of
the popular late night talk show "The Late, Late Show With Craig
Ferguson," which airs weeknights on CBS at 12:37 a.m. Your challenge
is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com no
later than Wednesday, July 9 with the correct answer to the following
question: in a running gag on the show, what is the ficticious name of
"The Late, Late Show..." when its rebroadcast in Japan? As always, in
the event of multiple correct entries, our contest winner will be chosen via a
roll-of-the-dice. Please note that our $10.00 first prize gift
certificate to That's Entertainment is redeemable for regular retail
merchandise or in-store, ongoing specials, only.
That's all for now, so have two great injured left
wrist-healing and comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday,
July 11 Here In Bongo Congo!
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