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

The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

December 21, 2010

Featuring Stories By: Mel Millar, Walt Kelly, Jack Bradbury, H.R. Karp, Klaus Nordling, John Stanley, Mike Sekowsky, Charles Dickens, Richard Scarry, Elsa Jane Werner, Irving Tripp, Dan Gormley, Frank Johnson, Clement Clark Moore, Al Fago, Dan Noonan, Alberto Giolitti, Mo Gollub
Editor/Designer: Craig Yoe
Producer: Clizia Gussoni
Publisher: IDW Publishing/Yoe Books

Back in the 1940s and 50s, more so than today, comic publishers would often pump out huge volumes of Christmas comics every year. Some of these were one-offs, some were annual affairs, but in an era where almost every comic book was an anthology title, there were hundreds and hundreds of short stories produced. Craig Yoe has sifted through the pack and put together this charming collection of tales, including works by such luminaries as Pogo creator Walt Kelly, Little Lulu artist John Stanley, and noted children’s book author Richard Scarry, not to mention many others.

As an anthology, there are of course ups and downs, but most of these stories are pretty good. Kelly,  not surprisingly, does most of my favorites, including the first book in the collection, “How Santa Got His Red Suit.” It’s a funny little fantasy about a time when Santa wore a suit of many colors, and how that changed on the course of an adventure in the forest. This is an interesting story, it serves as a reminder that our standard image of Santa, living at the north pole with his eight tiny reindeer and so forth, is a fairly recent invention. Even as recently as the 1940s, there were still some writers imagining Santa in the woods, using gnomes as his helpers instead of elves, and so forth. It’s a good story in its own right, and even more interesting as a curiosity. Another Kelly creation, “The Great Three-Flavored Blizzard,” gives us an interesting view of how Santa deals with Christmas when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

Stanley also throws in several good tales, such as “The Helpful Snowman” and “Santa’s Problem,” both of which focus on characters attempting to spread a little Christmas cheer in a manner totally unsuited for them. Scarry’s contribution, “The Shoemaker and the Elves,” is a nice adaptation of that classic fairy tale.

Aside from the original stories, of which there are many, there’s also a “classics illustrated”-style take on A Christmas Carol, two different versions of The Night Before Christmas (including the only superhero story in the entire book, an Atomic Mouse adventure by Al Fago), and a telling of the Biblical Christmas story by Alberto Giolitti to close out the book.

If you’re a fan of old-school comics and Christmas comics in general, this handsome hardcover would look great on your coffee table this season. Pick it up.

Rating: 8/10