Marvel Illustrated: The Jungle Book #1

April 9, 2007

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Jungle Book
Rating: T+

To launch the new Marvel Illustrated line, Marvel re-presents the legendary Gil Kane’s adaptation of The Jungle Book!

Based on the work of: Rudyard Kipling
Writers: Gil Kane & Mary Jo Duffy
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: P. Craig Russell
Colors: Christie Scheele & Petra Goldberg
Letters: Jim Novak
Original Editor: Al Milgrom
Collection Editor: Mark D. Beazley
Cover Art: P. Craig Russell & Lovern Kindzierski
Publisher: Marvel Comics

In a move that I applaud, Marvel Comics is making an effort to resurrect the old Classics Illustrated concept, taking classic literature and presenting it in a comic book format. To kick off the line, they’re giving us this one-shot reprinting four stories from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book as adapted by the immortal Gil Kane.

The work is pretty solid. Kane (along with scripter Mary Jo Duffy for two of the stories) produced these four tales for Marvel Fanfare, and they read just fine as a straightforward adaptation of Kipling’s stories. What’s more, Kane and inker P. Craig Russell produce some truly beautiful adventure strip artwork, and fans of Kane really can’t do without having this book.

Roy Thomas, who helped develop the Jungle Book tales and will spearhead the new Marvel Illustrated line, provides us with an intriguing text piece about both projects. If you’re at all interested or curious about the new line, this book gives you a nice taste of what to expect, including a preview of the first book, The Last of the Mohicans (which features wonderful artwork by Steve Kurth). With so many contemporary novels being adapted (between the Dabel Brothers and The Dark Tower, perhaps the time is ripe to try this again.

Rating: 7/10

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 TPB

February 20, 2011

Writers: Jack C. Harris, Todd Klein, Joey Cavalieri, Len Wein, Paul Kupperberg, Kurt Busiek, Mike Baron & Alan Moore
Art: Jerome K. Moore, Sal Trapani, Dave Gibbons, Gil Kane, Don Newton, Kevin O’Neill, Don Heck, Marshall Rodgers
Cover: Brian Bolland
Editor: Bob Joy
Publisher: DC Comics

Back in the 80s, following an excellent Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries, DC began running stories about the Lanterns of different worlds as back-up stories in the main Green Lantern title. This second trade paperback of stories from that run includes some truly excellent, memorable stories, including early work by Kurt Busiek, a few stories by legendary letterer Todd Klein, and an epic tale by Alan Moore, among others.

The wonderful thing about these stories is that most of them are utterly timeless. Lysandra, the Green Lantern who could not leave her world, or the sword-and-sorcery world of Deeter, could be Green Lanterns that exist today or thousands of years ago with virtually no changes. Only a few stories are locked to a specific time – the sad story of Yron, for example, includes the funeral for a Lantern that died in that first Tales miniseries, and the final story features a group of the most popular Lanterns of the 80s with references to very time-specific things. Those references, though, aren’t necessarily vital to understanding the stories, and people who may not be familiar with the background of those tales will still understand what they read with no trouble at all.

Perhaps the centerpiece of this book would be the classic “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize,” the Alan Moore story that introduced one of the most interesting members of the Corps. Ironically, it’s one of the few stories that doesn’t hold up quite that well, although that’s not really the fault of Moore. The story is build on a twist ending that was probably fantastic when it first was published, but as the true nature of Mogo is now basic knowledge, the story loses some of its punch.

Doesn’t make the book less worthwhile, though. If you’re a fan of the Green Lantern Corps, you’ve got to get this book.

Rating: 7/10

DC Comics Presents: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1

February 6, 2011

Writers: Larry Ivie, Len Brown & Dan Adkins
Art: Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, George Tuska, Mike Esposito, Mike Sekowsky, Frank Giacoia, Dan Adkins, Richard Bassford, Tony Coleman & Steve Ditko
Cover: Wally Wood
Publisher: DC Comics

I’ve started reading the new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic by Nick Spencer despite never having read any previous incarnations of the team. It’s been good, but I’ve been hoping for a chance to take in some of those old school adventures. Thanks to the uber-cool DC Comics Presents 100-Page Spectaculars, I’ve gotten that chance. This volume reprints stories from the original T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, 2 and 7.

As our story begins, a special U.N. task force uncovers the body of a brilliant scientists slain by a villain called the Warlord. The U.N. decides to use some of the advanced weaponry the scientist had developed to equip a new team of special agents. This volume introduces us to the most colorful agents – Dynamo, Noman and Menthor, as well as the surprising sacrifice of one of the heroes. The flavor of this book is definitely ahead of its time. The heroes have a Silver Age feel to them, but there are layers of complexity not really common in other superhero comics of the time. We also meet the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad here, a group of non-powered special agents that seem to serve as a sort of back-up to the other agents. This group has a definite Silver Age flavor, with traces of the Challengers of the Unknown and Doc Savage’s group of agents among them.

The art side is a who’s who of famous artists at the time, with a lot of truly spectacular artists contributing to the many stories collected here. There’s a sort of unity to the art, however. If you look closely, you can tell which pages belong to Steve Ditko or Gil Kane, but at a casual read, the art moves from one artist to the next fairly easily.

This book was great to give me a little more background on these characters. I hope that the Agents get a few more of these DC Comics Presents specials, because I want to read more now.

Rating: 8/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: DC Comics Presents #68

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: Destiny’s Children

CREDITS:
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Murphy Anderson
Letterer: Ben Oda
Colorist: Gene D’Angelo
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Cover Artist: Gil Kane
Publisher: DC Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Come on, it’s Superman. Don’t know who this Vixen dame is, though, or why she’s teaming up with him.

IMPRESSIONS: Superman is zipping around Metropolis when Catwo—Um, Vixen leaps off the Daily Planet building and hitches a ride on his super-back. She’s got a problem, as it turns out, her kinda-nephew has gone missing after playing a video game, along with a bunch of other teenagers. Turns out the whole thing is the plot of some bad guy called Admiral Cerebrus, who is using a video game to find highly skilled kids and, subsequently, kidnapping them.

I actually had to get on IMDB when I read this issue, as the whole plot seems like a mishmash of the movies Tron and The Last Starfighter. Hell, even the game is called Galaxy Starfighter. As it turns out, though, Tron was released the year before this comic, and The Last Starfighter was the year after. So either writer Gerry Conway had some fingers in Hollywood in the early 80s or this was one massive coincidence.

Anyway, it seems clear from the issue that Cerebrus is a brand-new bad guy and Vixen is a relatively new superhero. The writer doesn’t just come right out and explain her powers, but the way she uses them makes it fairly clear that she’s got animal-related abilities, as we see her using the “strength of a lion” and “sea-born skill of a dolphin” during the course of the story. Superman, of course, is Superman, and behaves exactly as one would expect Superman to behave. It’s a tight story, complete in one volume. Not a great one, but no real barriers to understanding that I can see.

GRADE: B+

Plastic Man Lost Annual #1

December 13, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Various

A collection of Plastic Man comics to whet your appetite for the new series!

Writers: Jack Cole, Dave Wood, Arnold Drake & Steve Skeates
Artists: Jack Cole, Jim Mooney, Gil Kane, Ramona Fradon & Teny Henson
Editor: Dale Crain
Cover Art: Jack Cole, Jim Mooney, Gil Kane, Ramona Fradon & Teny Henson
Publisher: DC Comics

One of the best specialty products DC Comics puts out these days are the occasional “lost” 80-page giants with classic stories to go with their current hits. This book, timed to coincide with this month’s new Plastic Man #1, serves up six old Plastic Man comics and one prose short story.

The first two stories in this books, “The Origin of Plastic Man” from Police Comics #1 and “The Man Who Can’t Be Harmed” from Police Comics #13, both by Plastic Man creator Jack Cole, are the real treasure here. Cole had a beautiful art style and a wicked sense of humor. Parts of “The Origin of Plastic Man” were “borrowed” by Kyle Baker for the first issue of the new series. People who enjoyed that book will want to read this to see how the creator drafted those same scenes. “The Man Who Can’t Be Harmed” is significant in that it introduces Plastic Man’s sidekick, Woozy Winks. Folks who wonder who Plas wound up with this dumpy partner – here’s your answer.

“The Wizard of Light” from House of Mystery #160 is an odd addition, but delightful for fans of silver age camp. In this book Robby Reed, the first star of DC’s Dial “H” For Hero series (recently resurrected as the very good H-E-R-O) spins his magic dial and transforms into… the lost Plastic Man! Why? Well… most likely, because DC had acquired the rights to the character and needed to use him somewhere for copyright purposes, but it still made for a clever read.

“The Dirty Devices of Dr. Dome,” from 1966’s Plastic Man Vol. 2 #1, is a fairly unremarkable comedy/superhero story where Plas faces off, of course, against a goofy villain named Dr. Dome. This story is remarkable only for two reasons – it has artwork by the immortal Gil Kane, and because Kane, as magnificent an artist as he was, frankly didn’t draw a very good Plastic Man. It’s like looking at Jay Leno in the costume.

The final story is “The Hamsters of Doom” from Plastic Man Vol. 2 #11 – from 1976, according to the table of contents (11 issues in 10 years – it’s like reading The Ultimates). Another unremarkable story, but not a bad one.

The first three stories in this book are well worth the price of admission, however, especially the Jack Cole stories. It may not be required reading for the new Plastic Man series, but it’s certainly recommended reading.

Rating: 8/10

Showcase Presents Jonah Hex Vol. 1

January 15, 2006

Quick Rating: Great
Collects: Jonah Hex stories from All-Star Western #10-12 & Weird Western Tales #13, 14, 16-33 and assorted western stories from All-Star Western #2-8.

Witness the birth of DC’s most famous gunslinger!

Writers: John Albano, Arnold Drake, Michael Fleisher & Robert Kanigher
Art: Tony Dezuniga, Noly Panaligan, Doug Wildey, George Moliterni, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Gil Kane & Jim Aparo
Cover Art: Luis Dominguez
Publisher: DC Comics

One project of Marvel’s that I’ve long appreciated are their “Essential” trade paperbacks – inexpensive volumes collecting big chunks of a comic book or a character’s appearances. I was very happy when DC recently began a similar program with the “Showcase Presents” series, and particularly happy that they chose to give one of the launch titles in the program to their western warrior Jonah Hex.

Now it’s obvious that Hex got a nod because he’s got a new ongoing series, but I don’t care, I’m just glad that he did. I’ve often enjoyed the character when he’s shown up in other comics (everything from DC Challenge to Superman and Batman: Generations 3), but I’ve never gotten to read very many of his solo adventures. Thanks to this series, it’s now simple to follow his legend from the very beginning. Jonah Hex first appears on the scene in All-Star Western #10 (1972) as a scarred, world-weary warrior, a gun for hire that comes into town to collect the bounty on a pair of dead raiders, then stays to gun down a few more. He’s a cold man, one who has no qualms about taking his enemy’s life and then taking the money for doing it. The character is a cipher, but one that immediately intrigues you.

Over the course of the next 400-plus pages of this volume, you learn more and more about Hex – his origins as a Confederate officer who pulls himself out of the Civil War after his conscience tells him he’s on the wrong side, but refuses to fight against his old friends – then gets branded a traitor anyway. We watch him face up to his past, forge an alliance with an Indian, take up arms against an old friend and gun down many, many evildoers.

It would not be unreasonable to refer to these stories as a western in its purest form. Although restrained in terms of language and violence by the Comics Code of the 1970s, these stories don’t shy away from the harsh life of a western bounty hunter or from touching on issues like racism and slavery. It’s as hard-boiled as a comic book could get at the time, and the result is some of the finest western comics you’ve ever read. Plus, throwing in art by the likes of Tony Dezuniga and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, you’ve got a book that looks as good as it reads. There are some stories where the artwork seems to suffer a little from lack of color, where the black-and-white ink work comes across a little sketchy or muddy, but you still get an enormous bang for your buck.

Instead of filling all 526 pages with Jonah Hex stories, though, DC chose to cap off this book with a few other assorted western tales. First is the four-part Outlaw story by Robert Kanigher, with art by Dezuniga, Gil Kane and Jim Aparo. This is a passable story about a young man whose own father begins to hunt him down, believing him to be a criminal. The story has a lot of plotholes, unfortunately, and ends quite abruptly, making it appear as though DC realized the story wasn’t working and wrapped it up. There’s also two tales of a female Billy the Kid (another concept that wore thin quickly) and a one-shot story, “The Night of the Snake,” that’s about as harsh as any of Hex’s adventures. I must confess, I’m not sure why they filled out this volume with these other stories – there’s plenty of Jonah Hex left and none of these stories, with the possible exception of “Night of the Snake,” are particularly memorable.

But the main feature, the dozens of Jonah Hex stories, more than make this volume worth the cash. By the 1970s the western comic was on its way out, but Jonah Hex proved popular enough to eventually graduate from a spot in this title to his own ongoing series, which lasted 92 issues and one special (followed by 18 issues of a science fiction follow-up, where Hex was transported to a post-Apocalyptic future). If you’ve tried and enjoyed the new Jonah Hex series (as I have), this book is a must-read – and I for one certainly hope that a second volume comes out soon, because there’s plenty of Jonah Hex left to tell.

Rating: 9/10

(2010 Note: To my knowledge, DC has not yet scheduled a Showcase Presents Jonah Hex Vol. 2. What’s up with that?)