comic reviews 2/3/12

Here In Bongo Congo

     Good King Leonardo has decreed that its time once again for a Women In Comic Books week here in Bongo Congo, so let's get right to it and see how the four following comics featuring lead female characters stack-up against each other:

 

Danger Girl #1

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Andy Harnell: Writer

Chris Madden: Art

Jeromy Cox: Colors

     IDW Publishing has added to its lengthy Danger Girl title inventory by just releasing issue #1 of a new 5-issue Danger Girl mini-series entitled "Danger Girl: Revolver."  For the uninitiated, this series is a combination of James Bond/Charlie's Angels-type spy thriller storytelling, as the drop-dead gorgeous Danger Girl team of Abbey Chase, Sydney Savage and Silicon Valerie, led by elder male mentor Deuce, have mostly comical Bond-style spy thriller adventures.  The team is often assisted by Johnny Barracuda, a well-meaning but hugely egotistical CIA agent.  The new mini-series is scripted by Andy Harnell with art by Chris Madden and colors by Jeromy Cox.

     Just like the opening scene of your typical Bond movie, Revolver throws the reader right into extremely fast action from the start, as Abbey Chase and Johnny Barracuda infiltrate a criminal's wedding in Venice, Italy to retrieve a stolen antigue ring.  The operation leads to a lengthy chase through the canals of Venice, a complicated and intense escape adventure that takes-up the first half of the issue.  When the entire team meets after the mission, Deuce reveals the next team assignment, which is to travel to Peru and investigate a mystery surrounding some tribal skeletal remains.  The issue ends in a dramatic soap opera-like bridge to issue #2, as a shady con man recruited to assist the team is revealed to be Abbey's ex-fiance, shocking the rest of the team with this surprise information.

     Similar to the Danger Girl comic book that I reviewed awhile ago in this column, this latest Danger Girl comic is harmless and decently-entertaining fun, short on story depth and detail but long on lots of gorgeous spygirl artwork, strong story characters and most importantly, well-written and well-drawn comical action-adventure.  In the hands of a less-capable creative team, the half-an-issue-long action chase scene through the Venice canals would have been overdone and tiresome.  But the creative folks here are on their A-game in giving us a fun and funny extended scene that works well for that length, throwing-in all sorts of fun and sharp details, including a horse that plays a major part throughout the adventure.  Issue #1 also nicely balances the task of introducing and explaining for new readers the story universe of Danger Girl and the role of each regular character, while progressing the plot nicely for veteran Danger Girl readers who don't need to get bogged-down in reintroductions to the team.

     So overall, a positive and well-deserved thumbs-up review recommendation to kick-back and have some light, semi-mindless hot chick spy adventure fun within the covers of this latest title edition of the comic book world that is Danger Girl.

Lady Mechanika #3

Publisher: Aspen Comics

Joe Benitez: Creator, Writer & Artist

Peter Steigerwald: Colors

     A new Steampunk genre comic from Aspen Comics entitled Lady Mechanika is up to issue #3 this month.  Lady Mechanika is a mostly human, partly machine woman in steampunk fantasy 19th century Victorian-style Mechanika City, who has many detective adventures.  Our heroine also has amnesia and is challenged by the mystery of discovering her hybrid origins.  Think Sherlock Holmes meets steampunk science fiction/fantasy and you get an accurate picture of this comic's premise.  This new title has gotten off on a very popular footing, receiving the prestigious Airship Award for visual presentation at the 2011 Steamcon III this past October.  The series is produced by creator/writer/artist Joe Benitez with colors by Peter Steigerwald.

     Issue #3 is the latest chapter in an ongoing mystery, presented in this issue in two story segments.  In part one, Lady M investigates the murder of an unknown teenage girl who is partly mechanical like herself.  A trail of clues leads her to the Cirque du Romani, a traveling circus of Romanian gypsies.  While at first Lady Mechanika believes that the circus performers may have committed the murder, she quickly discovers that the girl in fact was a cherished member of the circus.  The mystery deepens as its proven that before the girl recently disappeared, she was wholly human.  Part two of this issue follows Lady M as she brainstorms Sherlock Holmes-style potential murder suspects.  By issue's end, there's strong evidence to believe that Mechanika City's leading inventor/industrialist Lord Blackpool and his female enforcer Commander Winter are behind the mystery.

     This is one gem of a comic book series that stands well-above several other noteworthy comics published these days in the steampunk comics genre.  The art is exceptionally exquisite in the style of the late Michael Turner and well-deserving of its recent Airship Award.  Creator Joe Benitez doesn't rest for one moment on his artistic laurels, weaving a sci-fi/fantasy tale rich in murder-mystery story elements and inumerable colorful touches that just mesmerize the reader on every page.  I most loved the various small mysteries that weave into one big Holmes-style Victorian whodunit.  My favorite mystery thread was the interaction between Lady M and Alexandra Marie Littleton, a wise-and-cocky-beyond-her-years young girl who furthers the mystery of our heroine's origins by claiming that she knows who the real Lady Mechanika is while claiming that our Lady M is an imposter.

     I could go on-and-on for a very long time about the many wonders of this new comic book title.  But enough already; the resulting blend of artwork, script and comic book universe concept is simply a beautiful thing to behold in this fantastic new entertainment.  So hats-off to creator Joe Benitez, his creative team and Aspen Comics, and get yourself down to That's Entertainment to experience for yourself the enjoyment of all things Lady Mechanika!

 Wonder Woman #5

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Brian Azzarello: Writer

Tony Akins: Art

Matthew Wilson: Colors

     The re-booting of Wonder Woman within DC's "New 52" concept" is up to issue #5 this month.  I did a review of the kick-off issue #1 and gave it positive marks for revitalizing the esteemed Wonder Woman franchise with a strong storyline, fresh art and an entertaining new story universe for our favorite DC heroine.  So let's see how the title is holding up as the kick-off story arc progresses.  The title is scripted by veteran comic book writer Brian Azzarello with art by Tony Akins and colors by Matthew Wilson.

     The issue #5 story segment is entitled "Lourdes" and is set in London.  As established in issue #1, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and the Greek God Hermes are still in the process of protecting Zola, a young mortal woman who was impregnated by a human manifestation of Zeus, as such incurring the wrath of Zeus's jealous wife Hera.  Things are getting very complicated here in issue #5, with three interweaving storythreads.  The first continues the efforts of our threesome to protect young Zola from an enraged Hera.  Our second plotthread introduces the Englishman Lennox, who mysteriously knows everything about our heroes and also claims to be a half-human son of Zeus.  And a third storyline introduces conflict among the gods as they vie for power and control of Earth in the wake of the referred to supposed death of Zeus.  This storythread is presented in an 8-page conclusion to the issue, as Diana has a dramatic confrontation in London's River Thames with a very dangerous version of the sea god Poseidon.

     This is one very entertaining and solid comic book that continues to be one of the flagship sucessful efforts coming out of DC's New 52 restructuring of the company's comic book inventory.  You can't ask for a more skilled writer than A-lister Brian Azzarello, who does a wonderful job here of balancing the Greek mythology elements of Wonder Woman with the human and everyday world that she functions in.  There's a nice, gentle style here of the creative team inserting Greek mythology elements into everyday moments of life in London that I found very entertaining, such as normal horse-sized seahorses galloping through the River Thames like everyday dolphins, or Hera's Centaur guards nonchallantly strolling across a river bridge in the heart of London.  I also can't say enough good things about the epic Wonder Woman/Poseidon confrontation, in which the sea god is presented as a blue whale-sized sea monster with an ego that matches his gargantuan size.

    While I was a fan of the previous several years worth of Wonder Woman comics before the New 52, I'm really happy to see this fresh take on her adventures in the modern world, which gives us a nice blend of pleasing, cartoony-style art, excellent choice of color tones and a Brian Azzarello multi-issue script that's second-to-none in delivering worthwhile reading entertainment.  So if you're not already on-board with the new Wonder Woman, by all means get on down to That's Entertainment and check-out issue #5, as well as the previous four issues, copies of which are still available on the new issues shelves.

Catwoman #5

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Judd Winick: Writer

Guillem March: Art

Tomeu Morey: Colors

      Rounding-out our selected Women In Comics Week comics for review is issue #5 of DC's re-booted Catwoman comic book title.  The series is scripted by veteran writer Judd Winick with art by Guillem March and colors by Tomeu Morey.

     The issue #5 story is entitled "This Has Got To Be Dirty" and is the latest segment of an ongoing multi-issue story arc.  The story kicks-off by literally throwing the reader into the action, as Catwoman struggles to find a way to safely survive having been tossed half a mile into the air over Gotham by a meta-human who calls herself The Reach.  Without spoiling any details, our favorite kitty-hero survives and overcomes her attacker.  The story then shifts to Gotham noir drama.  After pulling off a major cash heist, Catwoman determines that the money is criminally dirty and someone will be coming after it soon.  After making a few uncharacteristic poor decisions, Selina/Catwoman stumbles into a trap, discovering at issue's end that the money belonged to some very dangerous corrupt Gotham cops, setting the scene for some major threats to Catwoman's personal safety in next month's issue #6.

While Judd Winick's script is both solid and entertaining, the gem in this issue is the unusual artwork.  There's a lot of mobility in this storyline of the type expected of a hero who is as acrobatic as Catwoman.  Taking advantage of that abiltiy, artist Guillem March presents panel-after-page of breathtaking action, sending Catwoman soaring through scenes in a cinematic style.  The opening pages in which Selina drops from high over Gotham are second-to-none, actually giving me a sinking feeling in my stomach as the panels played-out her freefall and amazing survival.  Artist March and colorist Tomeu Morey keep this level of quality consistent throughout the issue, painting Selina with the perfect range of facial expressions and culminating in a final motorcycle chase scene that's visually as cringe-worthy as the opening parachuteless drop over Gotham.

     So bundle it all together and what we have here is one high-action comic book adventure that provides an entertaining adreneline rush on par with the best of television and movie screen action/adventure.  This level of action impact doesn't come along too often in comic book tales, so by all means don't miss-out on the fun experience of what's happening in this current multi-issue story arc of Catwoman.

Contest Winner Announcement!!!

     Our latest contest was the first of three contests in which we challenge you to correctly answer a trivia question regarding one of the 50 states in the USA.  Our first contest question asked is which is the only state in America in which coffee is grown as a commercial crop.  And our winner selected via a roll of the dice form among several correct entries is (drumroll, please)...Ray Loughlin III, who correctly identified the fine state of Hawaii as the only location of the U.S. for the commercial coffee-growing industry.  Congratulations to Ray on winning the $10.00 first prize gift certificate to That's Entertainment!

New Contest Announcement!!!

     And now for our second of three state-related trivia contests.  Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com no later than Wednesday, February 15 with the correct answer to the following question: what is the only state in the U.S. that does not have either a National Park or a National Monument within its boundaries?  Yes, 49 states have National Parks and/or National Monuments but one does not!  As always, in the event of multiple correct entries our winner of the first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment will be selected via a roll of the dice.   Please note that the gift certificate is redeemable for regular retail merchandise or in-store ongoing specials, only.

     That's all for now, so have a great Super Bowl watching (Go Pats!) and comic book reading week and see you again on Friday, February 17 Here In Bongo Congo!

comic reviews 1/20/12

Here In Bongo Congo

     Good King Leonardo offers-up for your reading enjoyment this week the following four reviews featuring a wide variety of new-issue comic book titles:
 

Blue Beetle #1

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Tony Bedard: Writer

Ig Guara: Pencils

Ruy Jose: Inks

Pete Pantazis: Colors

     DC Comics has recently revived and re-booted its popular Blue Beetle title as part of "The New 52" restructuring of the DC comic book universe.  For the uninitiated, the latest fictional version of this superhero is Hispanic teenager Jaime Reyes, who lives in El Paso, Texas and lives a life similar to Marvel's original Spider-Man, trying to juggle the personal life of a high-schooler with his superhero duties.  Although the new Blue Beetle title is up to monthly issue #4, its early enough in the series that I decided to jump back to issue #1in order to get a clearer reviewer's feel for this effort to re-structure the previous series.  The new title is scripted by Tony Bedard with pencils by Ig Guara, inks by Ruy Jose and colors by Pete Pantazis.

      Issue #1 is a revised origin tale of how Jaime became the Blue Beetle.  The origin plot is essentially a three-act storyline.  Act One is a science fiction flashback, as we learn that the high tech scarab that will eventually give Jaime his superpowers originated ages ago as an alien weapon wielded by a very nasty alien race called The Reach, whose goal is to conquer and destroy all intergalactic races.  Act Two unfolds Jaime's pre-scarab high school life, reintroducing Blue Beetle readers to his best friends/sidekicks Brenda and Paco along with Jaime's parents, his little sister and Brenda's mysterious Aunt Dona Cardenas, who in previous editions of the Blue Beetle title is revealed to be a very evil player in the supervillainess world.  Act Three is a fast-action story segment, in which Jaime and Paco stumble-into an ongoing theft of the Blue Beetle scarab orchestrated by Dona Cardenas, which concludes with the scarab burrowing into Jaime's spine and transforming him into the new teenaged version of the Blue Beetle.

     I was a huge fan of the previous edition of this title, in which veteran writers John Rogers and Keith Giffen produced about three dozen issues between 2006 and 2009.  Last week, I re-read the very high quality "Road Trip" story arc from issues #7 through #12 to compare to this title re-boot.  While in my reviewer's opinion the previous Rogers-Giffen edition is a better-crafted all-around story series, there are many positive points to make about issue #1 of this new edition.  The creative team sticks with presenting the basic structure and character personalities of Jaime's civilian life, which is a wise move given the entertaining story possibilities that can be explored with Jaime, his family and friends.  What we really have here is just a new creative team picking-up a new story arc within an existing title that's been revived with re-numbering of the monthly issues, which overall is not such a bad thing.  In a published interview, writer Tony Bedard states that he wants to emphasize more action and adventure in the new series.  As such, the main revision to the new series is the addition of a more intense element of action and fighting not seen in the previous series edition.

     The end result in the premier new Blue Beetle issue is a balanced blend of old-Jaime story universe with new-Jaime action and adventure.  So a definite positive thumbs-up recommendation to check-out issue #1 of this new title, which succeeds by preserving a lot of the good stuff from the previous edition while introducing a new, higher level of superhero action and adventure.  And when you're finished reading issue #1, there are still copies of issues #2 through #4 available on the new issues shelves at That's Entertainment.

Shinku #4

Publisher: Image Comics

Ron Marz: Writer

Lee Moder: Art

Matthew Waite: Inks

Michael Atiyeh: Colors

     Image Comics recently published issue #4 of its Shinku title.  An inside-the-front-cover narrative helpfully updates the onging story arc entitled "Throne Of Blood" from the first three issues, informing us that Shinku is a young female modern-day samurai who as the last survivor of the Tadaka samurai clan fights the Yagyu clan of vampires.  Previously, Shinku recruited American immunologist Davis Quinn to her cause in the hope of developing a vampire-killing virus.  By the end of issue #3, Shinku was attacked and badly wounded by the vampire ronin Sakura.  The series is written by Ron Marz with art by Lee Moder, inks by Matthew Waite and colors by Michael Atiyeh.

     The issue #4 story segment advances the Shinku-versus-vampires bloodfest from the previous issue.  The first third of this story segment is action-oriented, as both Shinku's ally Oshima and Davis Quinn come to our hero's rescue, killing a bunch of vampires and retreating to safety so Oshima can treat the badly-wounded warrior.  The mid-section of this story segment is more introspective, as Davis Quinn conducts an extended philosophical monologue over the unconscious samurai, examining their predicament and hoping that all will work out o.k.  Our final story section refocuses on the vampire world.  When the vampire ronin Sakura reports failure back to his clan head vampire Lord Asano, the big guy decides to take matters into his own extremely-clawed hands.  The issue ends in a dramatic cliffhanger as Lord Asano attacks our trio of good guys, continuing the warfare into next month's issue #5.

     I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this comic book as much as I did, moreso than I initially expected to.  Given the "Mature Audience" warning inside the front cover, I expected a completed gore-fest that would no doubt be short on decent plot and heavy on blood 'n guts.  While the bloodiness is front and center, its not presented at a gross-out level.  A-list writer Ron Marz is also at the top of his writing game in delivering a script that nicely mixes quality dialogue, interesting plot and fast action.  I particularly enjoyed the varied personalities of the story characters, particularly the threesome of sharp-tongued Shinku, her stoic friend Oshima and the American Davis Quinn, who ironically works all day with blood as an immunologist but is squeamish when the blood flies as the samurai swords and vampire fangs are wielded.

     My only constructive criticism is that given the amount of sexual story content mixed-in with the buckets of blood, the "Mature Audience" warning should be posted on the front cover rather than too discretely tucked-inside the jacket.  But that one item aside, the three elements of interesting samurai/vampire genres mix, strong writing and quality artwork all combine to earn this comic book a well-deserved thumbs-up positive review recommendation.  And as one last review comment, there's an interesting back-of-the-book mix of post-story stuff to read here, including two nice sketchbook pin-ups, an impressive one-page gallery presenting this month's covers of all 36 Image Comics titles and an interesting brief interview with comics writer Ed Brubaker.

War Goddess #0

Publisher: Boundless Comics/Avatar Press

Writer: Mike Wolfer

Pow Rodrix: Art

     The Boundless Comics imprint of Avatar Press is currently publishing a new sword and sorcery-themed comic book entitled War Goddess.  At first glance, the comic looks like a knock-off of DC's Wonder Woman, particularly due to the premier issue's front cover, but the comic actually focuses on the modern-day adventures of the Greek mythological figure Pandora, of "opening Pandora's box" fable fame. Apparently, Pandora has been the main comic book character published by Avatar Press since the mid-1990's and as such this is just the latest of many series starring this heroine.  The kick-off issue #0 is written by Mike Wolfer with art by Pow Rodrix.

     The premier issue plot interweaves two storythreads.  The first sub-plot lays-out the basic premise of Pandora functioning in today's world.  Here, she's a billionaire adventuress who is so wealthy that she isn't even aware of the extent of her world-wide corporate holdings.  We're also introduced to a few of Pandora's human sidekicks who are unaware of her true background, along with Emma Harrow, who's also an immortal mythological figure whose identity I won't reveal in this interview as a spoiler.  The second sub-plot introduces the action-adventure; while excavating an archeological dig in Bolivia, Pandora is contacted by Emma regarding a disaster unfolding as a physics lab experiment within Pandora's company goes awry in Bermuda.  The result is an opening into "dark matter" and other dimensions, thereby reopening in a scientific manner the "Pandora's Box" dimensional rift which our heroine supposedly spent centuries fixing.  By issue's end, both Pandora and Emma are poised to address the disaster, as one of their human female sidekicks has already been converted by the box re-opening into a super-powered villain.

     This new title gives us a fresh and entertaining remix of the often-presented comic book theme of ancient Greek story figures functioning in today's world.  The art is high quality and the story is very detailed and engrossing in explaining to the reader both the back concept of Pandora's history and establishing her current reality of world-wide adventure.  I got a particular kick out of the strong blending of modern-day science with concepts of Greek mythology.  Writer Mike Wolfer is very creative in establishing the mainstream scientific activities of particle accelerator research having the Greek mythological consequence of re-opening Pandora's box.  The result is a successful melding of hard science and fantasy similar in style to some scripts in the Atomic Robo comic book, a strategy that works very well for both titles.

     My only review criticisms are two-fold.  First, its kind of ridiculous that all of the women in this comic book are supermodel gorgeous and end-up running around with hardly a stitch of clothing on; while its visually pleasing for fanboy reading and apparently a tradition in the long history of Pandora comics, the over-the-top dumbness of it takes something away from the quality of the storytelling.  Secondly, the "War Goddess" title is ill-fitting for this comic book, which could lead to a dismissal by potential readers unfamiliar with the publishing history of Pandora who might mistake the title as a Wonder Woman comic knock-off. A much better and accurate title would be to stick with "Pandora."  But both of those comments aside, the good story stuff here makes it all the worthwhile not to miss-out getting on the bandwagon of this new title and seeing how the new modern-day adventures of Pandora unfold in each monthly issue.

Lobster Johnson #1

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Mike Mignola & John Arcudi: Writers

Tonci Zonjic: Art

Dave Stewart: Colors

    

     Dark Horse Comics has just premiered issue #1 in a five-issue mini-series starring Lobster Johnson.  For the uninitiated, Lobster Johnson is a 1930's crimefighting detective-noir character from Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic book universe, who operates outside the law as a vigilante, killing criminals and burning his trademark lobster claw insignia as a calling card on his victim's foreheads.  This latest Lobster Johnson mini-series is co-scripted by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and John Arcudi with art by Tonci Zonjic and colors by Dave Stewart.

     The multi-issue story in this series is entitled "The Burning Hand."  The issue #1 story segment centers on Herald Tribune reporter Cindy Tynan, who's investigating a murder mystery on the Lower East Side of 1930's-era New York.  While at first it seems as if there's a ghostly paranormal element to the murder, Cindy quickly discovers that the entire episode is an organized crime scheme to lower real estate values and scam property owners in the neighborhood.  As Cindy follows a step-by-step trail of mystery, readers are introduced to several supporting story characters, including black businessman Harry McTell, crime boss Arnie Wald and a mysterious Nazi figure who will most likely become more active in upcoming installments of this mini-series.  By issue's end, Cindy's sleuthing lands her in mortal danger from the crime syndicate, just as Lobster Johnson arrives on scene for a rescue.

     This is one of those infrequent comics (at least in my opinion) in which the script is significantly elevated to a higher level of storytelling quality by the unique quality of the artwork.  Croatian artist Tonci Zonjic has produced wonderful work on such varied titles as Divas, Planet Of The Apes and Who Is Jake Ellis?; here, he brings the perfect visual style for portraying the 1930's Art Deco/Detective Noir world of New York crimefighting and murder mystery.  His mix of visuals and facial expressions in combination with colorist Dave Stewart's perfect choice of color tones combines with the co-writer's script for a well-paced kick-off to a multi-issue old-school crimefighting adventure.  While Lobster Johnson himself only makes two very brief appearances in this issue, that story structure actually succeeds in establishing the detailed cast of characters on a solid storytelling footing for our vigilante hero to come center stage for the next four issues of the series.

     As a final review heads-up, just a note that its also worth checking-out in the back of this issue a four-page exclusive preview of a new Conan The Barbarian series adapting Conan creator Robert E. Howard's "Queen Of The Black Coast" story series.  This interesting-looking new title is scripted by well-known writer Brian Wood with art by Becky Cloonan and colors by Dave Stewart, and is scheduled for an issue #1 release on February 8.  So definitely add Dark Horse's latest Lobster Johnson title to your ever-growing new comics reading pile and also keep an eye out in February for this new Conan series!

Contest Winners Announcement!!!

     Our latest contest challenge was our annual call for submissions for "The Year's Best" comics for the 2011 calendar year.  Since we didn't have a winner of our previous column's trivia contest, the Bongo Congo panel of contest judges was able to roll-over that contest prize and thus award two prizes for this contest (yay!).  So our co-winners for their entries for year's best comic or comics of 2011 are (drumroll, please)...Mike Dooley and Gregory Goding.

     Mike submitted three comics for his year's best, telling us in his own words "Marvel's mini-series Mystery Men capitalizing on the resurgence of pulp heroes is very well done.  The ongoing Star Trek book by IDW is a great idea and a "fascinating" (to steal a phrase from Mr. Spock) series.  But the #1 book remains The Stand, Marvel's masterful retelling of the Stephen King novel."  Gregory tells us that "my favorite comic of the past year is (Marvel's) Red Skull Incarnate series...I particularly like the way they treated the fall of Johann Schmidt into the evil Nazi Red Skull as it is believable and really brings out what makes the Red Skull ultimately tick...the covers are amazingly done...overall, it's a very well done series even if it is quite short."

     Congratulations to both of our winners, who each receive $10.00 first prize gift certificates to That's Entertainment, for each nominating worthwhile comics and making worthy explanations for why these comics are at the top of their reading piles for 2011!

New Contest Announcement!!!

     Let's cleanse our comic book reading palates with a simple trivia contest this week.  Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com no later than noontime on Wednesday, February 1 with the correct answer to the following trivia question: Which is the only state among the 50 states in America where coffee is grown as a commercial crop?  As always, in the event of multiple correct entries, the winner of our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment will be selected via a roll of the dice from among the correct entries.  Please note that the gift certificate is redeemable for regular retail merchandise or in-store ongoing specials, only.

     That's all for now, so have two great mid-winter comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday, February 3 Here In Bongo Congo!!!

Comic Reviews 1/6/2012

Here In Bongo Congo

     Good King Leonardo wishes everyone a very Happy New Year and has decreed that we kick-off 2012 with reviews of the following eclectic variety of comic book titles, fresh off of That's Entertainment's new issues shelves:



My Greatest Adventure #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Various Writers & Artists

     DC Comics is up to issue #3 of a six-issue mini-series entitled "My Greatest Adventure."  This series is an homage to the original Silver Age "My Greatest Adventure" title, which began in 1955 as an adventure anthology series and morphed into a science fiction adventure title.  After introducing The Doom Patrol in the early 60's, the title was quickly revamped into The Doom Patrol's own titled comic book.  The current mini-series presents three short tales in each issue with continuing, multi-issue story arcs, respectively starring Doom Patrol team member Robotman, followed by new characters Garbage Man and Tanga.  Each storyline is assigned a different creative team of writer/artists.  I decided to backtrack to issue #1 for this review, in order to get an accurate feel for the series from the premier of the three parallel tales.

     The initial Robotman story segment is entitled "Uncanny Valley" and has two plotthreads.  One storyline establishes the basic world of Robotman these days, as he's established himself as a solo superhero-for-hire based in Las Vegas, complete with a human staff assistant.  Our second plot thread kicks-off our hero's first adventure, as a missing person case leads him to Cuba and smack into the middle of zombie-based adventure.  "Garbage Man Returns" is an origin story of this new character, in which a corporate drone living and working in Gotham City named Richard Morse seemingly stumbles his way into an eventual Swamp Thing-like transformation.  Our third tale is entitled "Restrained" and features an alien female superbeing named Tanga, who is struggling on an alien planet to help a local populace in their issues with a benevolant but extremely arrogant superbeing ruler.  Without spoiling plot details, there's an interesting mix of sharp humor and action/conflict in this storyline.

     This is a pretty entertaining new comic book title, for a few reasons.  First, I really enjoyed the all-too-rare-these-days structure of featuring three ongoing stories in one standard-sized comic book.  In this case, it really is like getting three comic books for the price of one.  Secondly, while the Robotman story succeeded as a well-drawn adventure story segment, it also had an intriguing sub-theme, in which Robotman struggles internally to deal with the fact that he was once human and is now a brain trapped inside a machine.  And third, writer-artist Kevin Maguire's Tanga story is a real treat.  A new character whom Maguire introduced earlier this year in the Weird Worlds mini-series, Tanga is a female alien super-powered hero in the style of the well-known Legion Of Super-Heroes members.  Maguire mixes her Spider-Man style of sharp-edged humor with a cast of unique alien story characters, resulting in a very fresh and entertaining science fiction-based comic book story.

     My only negative review comment concerns the Garbage Man tale, which is aptly named given the garbage-level quality of a muddled script from writer and Garbage Man creator Aaron Lopresti.  This throwaway tale is vague and sketchy, with the result that by the end of this premier story segment we still don't know how Richard Morse evolved into the trash-dude.  But overall, two strong stories out of the three deserves a well-earned thumbs-up positive review recommendation for this new anthology series from DC Comics.


The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West
Publisher: Big Dog Ink
Tom Hutchinson: Writer
Alisson Borges: Art
Kate Finnegan: Colors

     Big Dog Ink has published issue #1 in a new, six-issue limited series of a Wizard Of Oz-based comic book entitled "The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West."  The new title is scripted by Tom Hutchinson with art by Alisson Borges and colors by Kate Finnegan.

     The concept of this series is a re-telling of the familiar Wizard Of Oz story from more of a Wild West adventure approach.  In the premier issue, we learn that Dorothy Gale and her horse Toto have been wandering around Oz for three years now, trying to find their way home to Kansas.  This is a harsher, Wild West version of the fabled Land of Oz, full of 19th century-style Southwest towns populated by gunslingers both bad and good, along with mythical Oz universe creatures.  The issue #1 plotline begins with Dorothy picking her way down the shattered and sparse remnants of the former Yellow Brick Road in search of the Emerald City.  After wandering into one of the atypical small towns, she has a Wild West confrontation with all sorts of characters populating the local saloon.  Without being a plot spoiler, by issue's end Dorothy has interacted with very different versions of the well-known Cowardly Lion and Tin Man, and is poised for further unique adventure as both the story and her efforts to reach The Emerald City continue in the upcoming issue #2.

     I was blown away by the high quality and entertainment of this new Oz title.  There's nothing more fun than coming across a fresh reinterpretation of a well-known classic tale, and we're fortunate to have such a rare gem in this new mini-series.  Writer Tom Hutchinson does a brilliant job in crafting a tale chock-full of new spins on the classic Dorothy of Oz fable.  Again, I don't want to spoil the fun for potential readers, so I'll only mention a few examples.  My personal favorite realignments of the tale are two-fold: First, the recasting of Dorothy Gale as a tough Western gunslinger chick who isn't afraid of a confrontation, whether its a verbal or literal shoot-out.  And secondly, the transformation of Dorothy's well-known little doggie sidekick Toto into a faithful horse, with a streak of smarts and independence worthy of the Lone Ranger's Silver.

     In addition to the fun story detail transformations referenced above, I was struck by the unique revision to the general atmosphere of the Oz tale.  The creative team has blended together the script and visual presentation to present a Western-style Oz adventure comparable to two other classic science fiction/fantasy tales that utilize Western themes: Stephen King's well-known Dark Tower/Gunslinger novel series and science fiction novelist Mike Resnick's western-themed novel entitled Santiago (along with its sequel, The Return Of Santiago).  The King, Resnick and Big Dog efforts all utilize the Wild West story universe structure to the utmost to produce meaningful fictional additions to their respective story genres.

     This is one of the few comics that made such an impression on me regarding literary quality and entertainment that I immediately re-read it in order to double-check and make sure I didn't miss anything meaningful, entertaining or just plain fun regarding the wonderous adventure being re-served to the reader in a brand new manner.  I've said it about the comic titles "Locke & Key," "Jersey Gods" and "I, Zombie" and I'll say it once again, here: there's a smash Showtime, HBO or SYFY Channel series just waiting to bust-out of this comic book onto the television screen.  So obviously, my review advice is to get down to That's Entertainment and pick-up your own issue #1 copy of The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West and re-read it a few times, yourself!


Shame Itself #1 (One-Shot)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Various Writers & Artists

     Marvel Comics recently released a one-shot spoof of its Fear Itself event series entitled "Shame Itself."  The issue features ten tales ranging from several one-page quick comedy riffs to a few multi-page stories, along with a three-page illustrated short story.  While there are many writers and artists involved in this comedy compilation, its worth noting that the team of six writers includes Wyatt Cenac and Elliott Kalan, both accomplished comedy writters for The Daily Show With John Stewart.

     The issue kicks-off with a direct spoof of the Fear Itself series in a story entitled "The Last Attack."  While it provides a funhouse mirror comedy version of Fear Itself, it also goes off on its own nutty tangent as various famous Marvel Universe supervillains become preoccupied negotiating a schedule for taking turns in trying to destroy mankind.  The story resurfaces for a conclusion at the end of the issue, while in-between the creative team fills the comic book with all types of Mad Magazine-style comedy riffs on the culture of the Marvel Comics universe.  Rather than list-out the many offerings, I'll feature my two favorites in this review.  "Unholy Reunion" is a very entertaining four-page tale from writer Elliot Kalan and Artist Dean Haspiel, in which Reed Richards and The Thing attend their college reunion.  The comedy is sharp and the story cleverly reverses their roles, as the pair revert to their respective nerd and jock stations on the college social ladder.  "M Marvelous" consists of three e-mailed dating advice questions to the publisher, each of which are answered by various Marvel superheroes.  The answers are completely nutty and provide very funny comments on the worlds of these Marvel characters.

     Much credit is due to Marvel for bringing in an A-plus team of professional comedians to script the material for this one-shot issue.  It clearly pays-off, as the quality of the funny material transcends the standard comic book funny business fare, resulting in a wide range of comedy more comparable to the sophisticated humor of, say, The Daily Show With John Stewart that writers Cenac and Kalan include in their resumes.  I know its a lot of work to put together a multi-sketch issue such as this title, but I'd love to see more of this type of ensemble comedy material from Marvel, as well as any other comic book publisher.  While a monthly schedule might be too much to expect, perhaps Marvel could consider a quarterly or bi-monthly schedule of Shame Itself or a similar series with an appropriate wacky title.

     In the meantime, my obvious thumbs-up positive advice is to savor and cherish this very creative, and more importantly hilarious, variety show of a comic riffing on all things nutty in the wide world of Marvel Comics.

Archie Meets Kiss #627
Publisher: Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
Alex Segura: Writer
Dan Parent: Pencils
Rich Koslowski: Inks

      The venerable and long-lasting flagship Archie Comics title is up to issue #627 with a special "Archie Meets Kiss" storyline.  This is part one of a two-issue multiple story arc scripted by Alex Segura with pencils by Dan Parent and inks by Rich Koslowski.

     This kick-off story segment is entitled "Riverdale Rock City."  Our plot can be divided into two scenes.  Scene one begins with the Archie gang getting together with Sabrina The Teenaged Witch to help cast a complicated spell that will protect the Town of Riverdale from a potential Halloween Eve monster invasion.  Naturally, Veronica and Reggie mess things up, resulting in the invasion of monsters which are actually humorous caricatures of various Twilight movie series characters.  In scene two, the band Kiss magically appears as part of the miscast spell.  It turns-out that the band are expert monster chasers and plan to try and make everything right again in Riverdale.  As Kiss goes off to try and do their monster thing, the Archie gang mysteriously disappears one-by-one, until Archie dramatically discovers that the monster visitors are somehow turning everyone in Riverdale into "Mindless Zombies!!!".

     Over the past few years I've reviewed a few editions of the monthly Archie comic book and I'm continually impressed with the combination of high quality writing that incorporates very relevant and recent pop culture references.  Given how long old Archie has been on the comic book publishing scene, I always expect a dated or stale storyline.  While in last year's reviewed issues we were treated to very relevant national political satire and modern perspectives on dating and marriage, here we're treated to a lighter but just as funny take on the current pop culture horror genre.  The take-off on the Twlight movies works well here, updating 1950's monster mash-type story material into the style of the current 21st century horror movie trend.  In the hands of the creative team, the idea of mixing old school pop culture icons Kiss with this theme also works well, proving to me, at least, that Kiss transcends the turnover of pop culture generations very nicely.

     On a final review note, its also fun to read this issue for the many interesting ads promoting additional Archie comics titles.  It amazes me how many varied titles that feature alternate interpretations of Archie and his gang are thriving within the Archie Comics Publications empire, including spin-off titles of every single Archie universe character, as well as a series in which the gang is drawn in a more "real world" visual style.  Issue #627 also heavily promotes the February 14, 2012 premier issue of a new series starring new character Kevin Keller, who has received national media coverage as the first openly gay character added to the 70-plus year-old Archie Comics universe.

     So in review summary, by all means don't shy away from revisiting the old Riverdale Gang in your wide-ranging monthly comic book reading; there's plenty of modern-day relevant and entertaining humor packed-into issue #627 of Archie.  And stick around to see how Kiss saves the day as the storyline concludes in issue #628!

Contest  Winner Announcement!!!

     Our current contest challenged you to correctly identify the one winner of the Best Male Actor Oscar who was denied receiving the award, which then went to the second-place runner-up.  This is a tough answer to find, so unfortunately we didn't receive any entries.  But for you trivia buffs, the answer is (drumroll, please)...that famous movie dog Rin Tin Tin!  According to Susan Orleans's current best selling Rin Tin Tin biography, the immensely-popular movie pup won the first Oscar in 1929 for his movies roles from mid-1927 to mid-1928.  But the Academy Board of Directors was upset and felt that the award would be cheapened if in its very first year it went to a dog, so they awarded the statue to runner-up human actor Emil Jannings.  Read the Orleans-penned bio for more interesting facts about Rin Tin Tin and other movie dog actors.

New Contest Announcement!!!

     Its time to usher-out 2011 and welcome-in 2012 with our annual Year's Best Comic Books contest.  Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com by noontime on Wednesday, January 18 and pitch to us your favorite comic book or books published in 2011 and tell us why you liked it/them so much.  Regarding my own personal favorites, stand-outs from amongst the 2011 crowd included three DC "New 52" titles (Deadman, Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark), the "Spider Island" event series from Marvel Comics, the Boom Studios Star Wars satire "Space Warped," the 2011 run of "Atomic Robo" published by Red 5 Comics and the new "The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West" comic book published by Big Dog Ink and reviewed in this column above.  As always, our contest winner will receive the first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment, which you can use to buy next year's "best of 2012" comic book nominees!


     That's all for now, so have a great two weeks of mid-winter comic book reading and see you again on Friday, January 20 Here In Bongo Congo!

Comics Reviews 12/22/11

Here In Bongo Congo

     Good King Leonardo has decreed that we review for this holiday week a wide-ranging variety of comic book titles, so let's see how these different genre tales stack-up against each other:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #3

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Andrew Chambliss: Writer

Georges Jeanty: Pencils

Dexter Vines: Inks

Michelle Madsen: Colors

     Dark Horse Comics is up to issue #3 of its comic book title based upon the very popular former Buffy The Vampire Slayer television series, which starred Sarah Michelle Geller as "The Slayer," that once-in-a-generation teenaged expert in killing all things vampire.  The comic is listed as "Season 9," which I assume means that there have been eight previous published series of this title.  The current series is scripted by Andrew Chambliss with pencils by George Jeanty, inks by Dexter Vines and colors by Michelle Madsen.

     The current issue features part three of a multi-issue story arc entitled "Freefall."  An inside-the-front-cover narrative summarizes the story to-date: Buffy and friends are living post-high school in San Francisco.  Apparently, while the destruction of something called "the seed" has ceased the introduction of new magic on Earth, there are still plenty of vampires and other weirdies already in existence to battle and slay.  The main plot of issue #3 centers on Buffy trying to help a young man who exhibits mysterious electrical powers that slay vampires.  Via flashback, we learn how his powers came to be as an accidental offshoot of being involved with some local vampires.  Without being a detail spoiler, the plot builds to a very dramatic twist at issue's end, as Buffy's newfound friend turns-out to be a very dangerous enemy rather than a supposed ally.

     Fortunately, this latest Buffy series avoids the double pitfalls of clunky script and wooden, television charicature artwork that I always worry about whenever a t.v. series-based comic book hits the new issues shelves.  The art team makes the wise choice here of developing their own unique visual style that balances some basic facial resemblance from the television characters with a stand-alone, alternate comic book art style.  Writer Andrew Chambliss takes advantage of this clean approach with a fresh story that doesn't just re-hash the t.v. show in comic book format.  The plot is new, interesting and all-around entertaining, with a nice blend of action and talking head strategizing about the supernatural situation that Buffy and friends are dealing with.  The result is a fun new production of this young adult vampire series that is updated enough to successfully entertain fans of the modern-day Twilight series vampire craze, while still hanging on to its own worthwhile identity.

So whether you're a fan of All-That-Is-Buffy or a more Twilight-oriented supernatural fan reader, there's plenty of worthwhile comic book entertainment for you in this fresh and enjoyable iconic supernatural series!

Justice League Dark #1

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Peter Milligan: Writer

Mikel Janin: Art

Ulises Arreola: Colors

     In addition to a re-booting of the main Justice League title, DC has added a "Justice League Dark" title under the umbrella of its "The New 52" remodeling-of-the-company event.  The concept here is to create an additional Justice League team consisting of some of the more dark magic and occult-oriented DC superheros, including Deadman, Madame Xanadu, Zatanna, John Constantine and Shade, The Changing Man.  The new series is scripted by writer Peter Milligan with art by Mikel Janin and colors by Ulises Arreola.  Although the first three issues are currently on the That's Entertainment new issues shelves, I decided to read and review issue #1 to get a good idea of this new series from the start.

     Issue#1 kicks-off a multi-issue story arc entitled "In The Dark" with a Part One installment titled "Imaginary Women."  Two sub-plots interweave within our premier tale.  A very brief storythread introduces June Moone, a dazed and confused wanderer who quickly discovers that dozens of replicas of herself are being killed as they wander around on a nearby city highway.  The story quickly turns to the main plothread of the new Justice League Dark members slowly assembling as each reacts in-kind to a growing threat from the evil Enchantress.  By issue's end, the story has progressed to the point where the mysterious June Moone has connected with Deadman, while the Enchantress's magical powers have overwhelmed the mainstream DC universe superheroes to the point where Madame Xanadu realizes its up to her dark magic/occult DC universe colleagues to save the world in a war against the seemingly invincible Enchantress.

     I enjoyed this new comic book title for a few reasons.  First and foremost, I loved the idea of a new Justice League team that doesn't just rotate-in some new faces, but instead builds the team based upon the fresh idea (for DC, at least) of an occult-oriented team of heroes.  It makes for an interesting premise of only magic being able to save the world from evil, versus the traditional superhero talent of brawn (Superman, etc.) combined with brains (our old friend Batman).  Secondly, this concept allows Madame Xanadu to quickly return to the forefront of a monthly DC title after the wrap-up last year of the very popular and high quality Matt Wagner-created Madame Xanadu stand-alone series.  And finally, the creative team gives us both high quality artwork and a strong story concept; I'm looking forward to learning more about the mysterious young woman whose multiple copies are all getting killed on that nearby highway.  No doubt, that storythread will somehow prove crucial to the upcoming Justice League Dark versus Enchantress battle that's shaping-up with the fate of the human race at stake.

     So a definite thumbs-up positive review recommendation to check-out this fresh take on all good things Justice League, featuring a very original and entertaining line-up of alternative dark magic and occult DC superheros!

S.H.I.E.L.D. #3

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Jonathan Hickman: Writer

Dustin Weaver: Art

Sonia Oback: Colors

 

     Marvel Comics is up to issue #3 of a new SHIELD comic book title.  The comic book is written by A-lister Jonathan Hickman, renowned for his stellar run that's been ongoing for a few years now on Marvel's Fantastic Four title, with art by Dustin Weaver and colors by Sonia Oback.

Issue #3 is the latest installment of a multi-issue story arc entitled "The Fall."  A page one narrative sums-up the tale to-date, detaling a power struggle that's ongoing for the leadership of SHIELD, which is described as an ancient secret organization that's been protecting humankind since ancient days.  The power struggle seems to be occuring amongst famous figures from various historical eras who were involved in SHIELD and are somehow co-existing in the present day, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and Michelangelo. Somehow these folk are interacting with familiar Marvel characters such as Shield agents Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards.  Beyond that page one story summary, we're exposed to 18 full pages of a wordless, silent battle within a city setting among all types of exotic characters, followed by two pages in which a few of the folk finally (and very briefly) speak, deciding to follow a few of the combatants who have fled into the future.

     I know that it sounds like a dramatic exaggeration, but its the honest review truth: this is the most confusing issue of a comic book that I have ever read in my entire life.  The creative team's well-meaning decision to roll the creative dice and give us a silent movie of a comic book comes-up snake eyes, here, in two respects.  First, there's just no way to incorporate any plot progression into 18 pages of buildings blowing-up around a bunch of unnamed characters.  And secondly, its an insult to all faithful comic book readers to give us absolutely no story plot to read, either with or without dialogue; the full-length "buildings are silently blowing up" panel-after-panel lay-out is purely meaningless and empty filler, for which Marvel should be ashamed of taking hard-earned money from its loyal fanbase. 

     So a disappointing thumbs-down review recommendation for this empty-between-the-covers monthly comic book issue.  But if you're a blindly loyal SHIELD fan or Marvel fan and insist on giving this comic a read, my advice is to read only the last page as a set-up to next month's presumably normal dialogue-driven story segment.  Riffling through the 18 silent pages will only result in you expending 45 seconds of your life which could be put to more worthwhile reading use.

Speed Racer #1

Publisher: Allegory Media

Tommy Yune: Writer

Robby Musso: Art

Lee Kohse: Inks

James Rochelle: Colors

     Allegory Media has recently released issue #1 of a 4-issue limited series title that pays homage to the 1960's television cartoon series Speed Racer.  The Japanese manga-style series starred (naturally) young racecar driver Speed Racer, who had many adventures on and off the racetrack along with his many support characters who included Speed's mechanic father Pops, girlfriend Trixie, younger brother Spritle, Sparky the mechanic and of course, Chim-Chim the monkey!  The new comic book is scripted by Tommy Yune with art by Robby Musso, inks by Lee Kohse and colors by James Rochelle.

     The multi-issue story arc is entitled "Circle Of Vengeance" and throws our hero Speed smack in the midst of the professional racing world's cutthroat competition and intrigue.  Prior to a major upcoming race in St. Moritz, Switerland, Speed is challenged to a personal dual race by Snake Oiler, star of a world-famous acrobatic car team.  After wrecking his famous Mach 5 racer in the challenge and nearly getting himself killed, its up to Speed and his friends and family to race the clock to repair the Mach 5, upgrade it to have a fighting chance of beating his high tech challengers and finally making it on-time to the starting line of the big race.  Issue #1 ends in a dramatic bridge to next month's installment as a supervillain-style bad guy racer prepares to cause havoc at the start of the race.

     The fun of the baby boom-era Speed Racer cartoon television series was its well-balanced mix of high quality adventure tales offset with an entertaining dose of campiness and humor.  I'm pleased to report that the same successful blend of story elements is front and center in this new comic book title, combined with a few new storytelling elements.  The first is a sense of intrigue added to the tale beyond the racetrack action, in the form of a mystery regarding Speed's girlfriend Trixie.  In this new comic, she apparently has access to mysterious wealth, infusing an interesting air of mystery into her storyline.  Secondly, writer Tommy Yune adds some comic book narrative depth to the world of Speed Racer, via an extended flashback in mid-issue that fills-in for Speed Racer fans Pop Racer's personal life a generation earlier, well before his marriage and Speed's birth.  It all adds extra layers of storytelling to the fictional world of Speed Racer, well-beyond the limited structure of the old television series.

     So whether you're a fan of the old cartoon show like me or a newcomer to the world of Speed Racer's action-adventures, I think you'll have a very entertaining time reading this excellent new comic book series.   So a positive thumbs-up recommendation for this comic book and in the words of the television show's well-known theme song, Go Speed Racer, Go!

Contest Winner Announcement!!!

     Our current contest has a holiday season theme, challenging you to tell us your favorite way of celebrating that holiday-of-holidays from the Seinfeld show, not Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa, but Frank Costanza's wacky self-invented holiday of Festivus, or as Frank called it "Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us!"  And our contest winner is (drumroll, please)...Erin O'Connor, who informs us that her favorite Festivus tradition is the well-known Festivus "airing of personal grievances."  In Erin's own words, she describes her own Festivus celebration as she throws on some Cee Lo Green background music and everyone has "a jolly time telling the family how they disappointed us over the year.  Just like Frank Costanza, everyone has to start with: I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it!" A memorable (yeesh!) Festivus gathering indeed, that would warm Frank Costanza's wacky heart!  Congratulations to Erin who wins the first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!

New Contest Announcement!!!

     Our new contest challenges you to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com with the correct answer to the following movie trivia question:  Who is the only top votegetter/winner of the Oscar for Best Actor who was denied the award, which was subsequently awarded to the second place votegetter?  Here's a hint:  there's a best-selling biography out right now about this winner who was unjustly denied his Best Actor Oscar.  As always, in the event of multiple correct entries, our winner of the contest first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment will be selected via a roll of the dice from among the correct entries.

     That's all for now, so have two great comic book reading weeks along with a Very Happy New Year and see you again on Friday, January 6, 2012 Here In Bongo Congo!

Comic Reviews 12/9/11

Here In Bongo Congo

     Good King Leonardo has decreed that we once again review an eclectic group of new comic book issues, so let's get right to this varied bunch and see how they fare:

Fantastic Four #600

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Jonathan Hickman: Writer

Various Artists

     Marvel Comics has finally reached the milestone issue #600 of one of its original Silver Age titles, the Fantastic Four.  This is also the 50th anniversary issue of the title.  The oversized, 100-page commemorative comic book is scripted by Jonathan Hickman with art by a wide-ranging team of artists, who take turns illustrating Hickman's overall script in five separate story parts or chapters.  For the uninitiated, Hickman has been unfolding a grand, epic-scale Fantastic Four storyline for a few years now, involving a large group of old and new Marvel Universe characters within this science fiction adventure that takes place on Earth but also spans outer space, other planets, dimensions and various alien races.  The approach here is to bring many of these storythreads together in issue #600 for some significant Fantastic Four universe developments.

     Part One of this issue serves as an orientation to the reader of all that Hickman has previously laid-out.  Everyone initially comes together in a New York City-based battle, including the FF, other Marvel heroes, lots of bad guys and aliens both good and bad.  The new reader will learn that Johnny Storm/The Human Torch is supposedly dead and has been replaced on the FF by your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.  The plot narrows-down in Part Two to focus on bad alien Annihulus trying to invade our world with his army of monsters from the otherwordly Negative Zone.  Through alternating past and present scenes, we learn that The Human Torch is alive and a captive of Annihulus.  The bulk of the plotline unfolds with Johnny Storm and his fellow alien captives planning and undertaking a revolt against their captors, leading to a dramatic, epic conclusion, the details of which I won't reveal in this review.

     Praise is definitely due to writer Jonathan Hickman for managing to bring his lengthy and detailed sci-fi FF tale to a head in an entertaining and credible manner in this special issue.  I've read several of his previous story installments and reviewed a few to boot, and while I've enjoyed it a lot, I questioned how this large-scale story spanning so many key characters, races and locations would eventually come together in a satisfying manner for us readers.  Suffice to say that Hickman and team pull it off with a high-grade story segment that deserves the attention of a 100-page spread that its afforded in this jumbo issue.  While major stuff happens here, the story is by no means concluded; instead, issue #600 serves as a satisfying intersection, a point where many story elements progress nicely and take a different turn to continue down the road of future monthly issues.

     As a final review note, there's a very interesting one-page column in the back of the issue in which Marvel colorist Stan Goldberg reflects on his 50 years of working at Marvel.  That alone is worth the price of admission to this special anniversary event! So by all means, enjoy the grandeur, plot quality and overall just-plain-fun of this Fantastic Four special tribute issue!

The Flash #3

Publisher: D.C. Comics

Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato: Writers

Francis Manapul: Art

Brian Buccellato: Colors

     DC Comics is up to issue #3 of the new Flash title currently published under "The New 52" event umbrella.  This re-booted Flash comic book is co-scripted by the team of Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato, with art by Francis Manapul and colors by Brian Buccellato.

     This issue is the latest installment in a multi-issue story arc entitled "Lights Out," in which the Flash and support characters deal with a range of action/adventure situations and issues resulting from a mysterious electromagnetic pulse which has knocked-out all power throughout the Central City-Keystone City metropolitan area.  Interweaving sub-plots include our hero saving a powerless jetliner, local scientist Darwin Elias sleuthing to solve the mystery of the strange pulse and the local police improvising old-school, power-free solutions to address emergencies.  A fourth and final sub-plot features The Flash/Barry Allen in his police staffer guise, along with his policewoman partner, stumbling into a mystery involving a former military black ops team-turned-criminals, which concludes in a very dramatic bridge to next month's issue #4 of this title.

     A positive thumbs-up recommendation is due for this New 52 re-boot of The Flash.  While its not a cutting-edge or great comic, the quality is very solid in terms of an interesting and entertaining plot, and is a major improvement on the stale (to me, at least) Flash universe structure that DC ran with for a few years prior to the New 52 re-boot.  I like very much the support structure around Barry Allen/The Flash within this New 52 universe, which includes several well-crafted local police department characters, as well as local scientist Darwin Elias.  The science sleuthing of Elias was very interesting, with some dramatic thriller twists that intrigued me enough to want to go back and read issues #1 and #2 in order to fully understand and appreciate the plot twists that Elias experiences in this issue #3.

     My only constructive criticism of this issue is colorist Brian Buccellato's color tone choices, which for about two-third's of the panels and pages are very bleak and dark.  It makes for an uncomfortable visual experience and just seems out of place for the style of this comic, adding a Dark Knight atmosphere to this more mainstream-style superhero story, which doesn't blend with that type of coloring.  But that one comment aside, this is a very entertaining and enjoyable new Flash tale that definitely deserves a place in the positive column of worthwhile New 52 DC universe comics for all good DC readers to check-out.  And if you're like me and want to backtrack to the recent beginning of this new title, there are still copies of all three monthly issues available on the That's Entertainment new issues shelves.

X-Men Giant-Size #1

 Publisher: Marvel Comics

Christopher Yost: Writer

Various Artists

     Marvel has recently added to its very wide-ranging inventory of X-Men titles a new X-Men Giant-Size title.  The comic book is scripted by Christopher Yost with various story sections prepared by alternating teams of artists.  The concept here is to present a multi-issue story arc entitled "First To Last," by balancing a present-day, modern X-men team sub-plot with a second storythread starring the original team of X-Men at the beginning of the Marvel Silver Age.

     In the present-day storythread, the San Francisco-based X-Men, led by Scott/Cyclops and Emma Frost, are attacked by an offshoot group of mutants named The Neo.  Similar to the X-Men in powers, The Neo are seemingly invincible.  In an extended battle scene, The Neo are unstoppable until a mysterious alien race called The Evolutionaries intercede in the struggle on the side of our heroes.  In the alternating throwback storythread, the original, old-school team of X-Men experience a similar battle with the Magneto-led bad mutants, with the same result of The Evolutionaries interceding at a crucial moment to help the X-Men.  The issue #1 story segment ends in a dramatic bridge to next month's issue as The Evolutionaries are revealed to wield devastating power, instantaneously slaughtering all worldwide members of The Neo as their choice of how to protect the favored X-Men.

     Lifelong X-Men fans such as myself are always on the lookout for a new title or issue that provides a fresh approach to the huge inventory of X-Men comics out there.  I'm happy to say that this new comic book falls into that hoped-for reading category for four strong reasons. The first positive element is the story structure, which is well-balanced between the original team and modern-day team story segments, seamlessly alternating throughout the issue between the tales.  Secondly, writer Christopher Yost skillfully connects the two sub-plots together, with a storyline in which Scott/Cyclops has somehow caused a problem with The Evolutionaries in the past tale, resulting in their devastating return to Earth in the modern day.  Third, The Evolutionaries themselves are an entertaining threat in this comic, serving as omnipotent, Earth-busting visitors wielding a judgmental, robotic and narrow sense of right-and-wrong.  You just know that one wrong comment from the X-Men and these powerful visitors could blow the world away.  And fourth but hardly least, the wide-ranging art team provides an excellent mix of alternating visual styles between the modern and past eras of X-Men.

     So my thumbs-up, positive review recommendation is for all readers to experience this rare two-for-one opportunity to enjoy in one giant-sized mix both the old-school Silver Age and modern-day teams of X-Men in interconnected story action and entertainment.  This one's an X-Men keeper, for sure!

Decision 2012: Ron Paul #1

Publisher: BOOM! Studios

Dean Kotz: Art

Lisa Moore: Colors

     Earlier this Fall as the 2012 Presidential primary season got underway, BOOM! Studios released a series of eight "Decision 2012" comic book biographies of potential presidential candidates.  The series includes bio comics of President Barack Obama and seven Republican contenders (or potential contenders): Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.  The comics are currently on display in front of the That's Entertainment cash register, so on a review whim last week I randomly selected the Ron Paul comic book bio for a review look.  The title is drawn by Dean Kotz with colors by Lisa Moore.  Strangely, a writer credit is not listed in the comic book.

     The comic book plotline and visual lay-out follows a traditional chronological biographical presentation.  The first half of the comic presents details about Ron Paul's childhood and teen years growing-up in Pennsylvania from the mid-1930's to the 1950's, followed by his career as an Air Force flight surgeon and accomplished civilian surgeon in Texas.  By mid-comic book, the bio tale switches to Paul's political career as a Congressman from a Texas district.  We learn that his congressional career followed a pattern of winning many two-year terms in Congress, with a few losses in between campaign comebacks.  Mixed-into the bio story is information on the development of Paul's national economic philosophy, as he became a proponent of a well-known Austrian economist.  By issue's end, the Ron Paul bio takes us up to the present day in which he's thrown his hat into the current Republican presidential primary race.

     The purpose (and responsibility) of any personal biography published in comic book format is the same as any conventional bio journal article or book: to help the reader learn facts and details about the biographical subject while presenting it all in an interesting and entertaining manner.  As such, this BOOM! Studios bio succeeds in presenting Ron Paul's personal storyline in comic book format.  Its hard in today's high tech media circus environment to strip away political spin and campaign rhetoric and just learn something as simple as the basic facts of who any particular candidate is and what his or her life's journey has been about.  Readers of this comic, and I suspect the rest of the Decision 2012 comic series, will definitely be able to learn those interesting personal details regarding Ron Paul and the other candidates.

     Three quick technical comments regarding the comic.  On the negative side, the artwork in many panels is oddly sketchy and unfinished.  On the weird side, it just seems odd to me that a writer is not listed in the comic's credits; even a bio story obviously has a writer who applies his or her skills toward organizing the true tale, an effort that our mystery writer does very well here and deserves a well-earned credit shout-out.  And on a final positive note, in a fun and creative twist, one or more trivia facts are listed at the bottom of every page of this comic book, related to the information presented in the story panels of that particular page.  It adds kind of a VH1/MTV "pop-up video" trivia element to the story that's actually pretty interesting.

     So a positive recommendation for all good fanboys and fangirls to expand your reading horizons beyond superhero drama; throw yourselves into the current presidential political season by doing your duty as adult voters (and young reader future voters) and read as many of the Decision 2012 comic book series as are available at That's Entertainment!  Then make-up your minds and cast a vote for somebody in next year's election-and don't even think of voting for Superman, Wonder Woman or Spider-Man instead of a real human being!

Contest Winner Announcement!!!

    Our latest contest challenged you to tell us who your favorite Marvel Comics Avenger team member is and why.  And our contest winner is (drumroll, please)...Giovanni Petrella, who nominates Captain America for his favorite Avenger.  Our winner tells us that "my favorite Avenger by far is Captain America because he fights for the American Way, he uses a shield for offense and defense and he is a classic super hero."  An excellent nomination for a superhero who's had a great year with a smash new movie along with many excellent comic book adventures.  Congratulations to Giovanni as the winner of our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!

New Contest Challenge Announcement!!!

     As the holiday season is upon us, the Bongo Congo panel of contest judges has decreed that we offer to you this week a seasonal holiday contest challenge.  As such, our contest subject this week isn't about the holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwaanza, but instead honors the lesser-known seasonal holiday of...Festivus!  That's right, the holiday invented back in the 1990's on the Seinfeld show by George Costanza's father, crazy Frank himself...Festivus, or as Frank called it "the holiday for the rest of us!"  Who can forget such very special Festivus holiday family traditions as "the airing of greivances" or "the feats of strength."  So your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com and tell us what your favorite Festivus family tradition is.  It could be a tradition from one of the Festivus episodes of Seinfeld, or one from writer Allen Salkin's popular Festivus book, or one that you made-up yourself for your own Festivus celebration (or just for the purposes of this contest!).  So come-one, come-all and share your Festivus holiday cheer with "the rest of us"!  Our contest winner will receive our first place prize of a $10.00 gift certificate to that special place of seasonal Festivus cheer, That's Entertainment!

     That's all for now, so have two great holiday season and comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday, December 23 Here In Bongo Congo!