Looking back at 2016

Here are the comic books that I read in 2016. Some links provided although they might link to more than just the stories listed below. Use the search box on the righthand side of the screen to search this blog.

• Alias (2001) 1-9
• All-Star Squadron 5-6
• Amiculus: A Sacred History
• An Entity Observes All Things
• Avengers (1963) 89-97 (The Kree-Skrull War)
• Avengers (1998) 1-3
• Cinnamon: El Ciclo 4, 5
• Dragonfly
• Eternals (1976) 1-12
• The Fade Out (2014) 1-9
• Fantastic Four (1961) 21
• G.I. Combat 274, 279
• Ghost World
• Ghostopolis
• Hellblazer (1988) 175-180
• Iron Man (1968) 7, 8, 17, 18, 19
• Kurt Busiek's Astro City (1995) 1-6
• Legion of Super-Heroes 291-296
• Love and Capes (2006) 1
• Marvel Double Shot 3: Ant-Man
• Marvel Fanfare 19: Cloak and Dagger
• Tales of the Teen Titans 42-44, Annual 3
• The Private Eye 1-3
• Punisher (2000) 1-4
• Punk Rock and Trailer Parks
• Robotman from Star Spangled Comics 48
• Scalped (2007) 43-55
• Sgt. Fury (1963) 3, 13
• Space Captain 1-3
• The Shadow (1986) 1-4: Blood and Judgement
• Superman Adventures 21
• Titan 1, 2
• Twas the Night Before Krampus: A Tale of St. Nicholas
• Wolverine (2003) 20-30

Spider-Man

• Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 86
• Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 176-180
• Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) 64. 69, 70, 81, 82, 94-96: Cloak and Dagger
• Marvel Team-Up Annual 6: Cloak and Dagger

Batman

• Shadow of the Batman 3, 4, 5
• which reprints Batman stories from Detective Comics 473-478
• also reprints 
• Calamity from the Clyde from Weird War Tales 52
• Viewpoints from Mystery in Space 111
• The Devil's Plague from House of Mystery 254

Captain America

• Tales of Suspense (1959) 79-81

Green Lantern

• Green Lantern (1960) 40
• Tales of the Green Lantern Corps 1-2

Wolverine (2003) 30

Agent of SHIELD - Part 5
By Mark Miller, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Sep 2005

Wolverine wonders about whether the SHIELD scientists will be able to deprogram Northstar and poses for a gratuitous shower scene

Wolverine and Electra lead an army of SHIELD agents and other volunteers into battle against one of AIM's secret facilities. It looks like they are doing well until they encounter Gorgon. He reads Elektra's mind and finds out where Nick Fury is being held. Gorgon teleports himself and Elektra to the hospital where Fury is recovering from his wounds

Once again this reads as very artist friendly. The story continues to move at a glacial pace. At least this time around seems like JRJR has put more effort into the work he has delivered.

12/27

Eternals (1976) 12

Uni-Mind!
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
Jun 1977

Thena arrives in Olympia with the Reject and Karkas. She encourages them to learn the ways of Olympia while she joins in the ceremony of Uni-Mind.

Dr. Damian has become disconsolate with life inside the dome. He wonders what's going on outside and what has become of his daughter, Margo. Ajak tries to console the human doctor by temporarily bringing to life a carving inside the Pyramid.

Margo and Samuel, one the guest of Ikaris and the other the guest of Sersi, join in the Uni-Mind ceremony. They fly around with the Eternals and like them cross over and into the blue flame.

As the Uni-Mind rises out of the blue flames and rises high above Earth and into orbit it's aura is seen by many humans as well as by Arishem of the Fourth Host.

The scenes of the Eternals flying into the blue flames were reminiscent of a splash page from the Great Darkness Saga when the Daxamites arrive en masse to aid in the battle against Darkseid.

Eternal Utterings - more praise for the book, more reasons why the book can't or shouldn't take place in the regular Marvel Universe

Stan's Soapbox - Celebrity , Tarzan, John Carter of Mars announcements

Marvel Bullpen Bulletins - Godzilla, holiday announcements, births

12/23

The Fade Out 9

Living in a Memory
By Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips, Elizabeth Breitweiser
Sep 2015

This chapter is all Charlie and Gil. More of Charlie's past is revealed. He goes to visit his ex-wife. I think this is the first time there has been a mention of the fact he was once married. He's there not to see her but to get something out of his military issue footlocker, a gun.

It isn't clear but I think this all takes place later the same night that helped Maya locate her husband, after the party at the studio.

Charlie heads back to the office after retrieving the gun. He finds evidence of what Gil has been up to, or maybe it was last chapter he found that. He waits for Gil to show up and confronts him. It turns out they both want the same thing but Gil is going about it in a more haphazard or careless way. They both want who ever killed Val to pay.

Mixed in with the present are flashbacks to Charlie's past, his relationship with Gil, how they wound up at Victory Street Pictures, what happened between Charlie and Melba and what Gil knows about it, Gil's performance in front of a congressional committee and all the reasons for the downturn his life has been in for a number of years.

Eventually they get around to discussing in detail what Gil has been up to with his little blackmail scheme, what he saw and heard, and what he has learned. The chapter ends ends with Charlie opting to work with Gil on this.

I'm not sure now. Maybe the gun was just for protection. Maybe Charlie, unlike Gil, didn't have a plan.

An Entity Observes All Things (9)

Lizard
By Box Brown

. A woman remakes herself after dreaming of a lizard; there's more to the story than that but for the most part it is just details, details of why she hated her life before she changed, details of how she changed, how she improved herself, details

. I'm not sure I will ever read another book by Box Brown after this one; it really didn't connect on a deep or entertaining level with me; I don't hate it, I just don't love it and can't think of any reasons to recommend it to others

The Private Eye 3

By Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin
Jun 2013

I'm still not sure if De Guerre hired the gunmen who shot Patrick and Raveena at the end of chapter 2 but I'm starting to wonder if my previous guess that it wasn't De Guerre was incorrect.

The chapter opens with a brief interlude, a flashback which provides a little bit of information about Patrick's past. He wakes up, the flashback was a dream, and then he remembers what happened after the gunmen opened fire: how his finger was shot off, how he and Raveena fought back, fled, caught a bus, then he passed out.

He wakes up at his grandfather's place. Gramps used to be a doctor and tended to his wound. He doesn't reveal his true relationship to his Gramps to Raveena and instead refers to him as his "doctor friend".

Raveena shows him on tv what has happened since they were attacked: his building got torched as did hers. Before he wasn't interested in helping Raveena figure out who killed Taj but now, since they destroyed his record collection he's all in. Raveena insists on coming with him.

Nebular is still alive. De Guerre has a use for him which seems to be driving him around. They go to a lab and visit two guys, the same ones who tried to kill Patrick and Raveena. They have Patrick's finger but it doesn't help them to identify him. The fingertips have no print. They were burned with acid sometime ago. They were unable to pick up anything else from his place that would give them a lead on who he is or where to find him.

The chapter ends with the reveal that De Guerre has a giant missile but he is vague about his plans for it.

This was a much more focused chapter, or at least that's how it felt to me. It was more or less as described above. The bulk of it followed Patrick and Raveena with a lit bit at the end focused on De Guerre and Nebular.

Love the feel of this story, classic noir set in a future where concealing one's identity is a game that most people play. I still don't completely understand the implications and reasons for the identity thing but I like the twist it adds to the classic noir.

12/20

Wolverine (2003) 29

Agent of SHIELD - Part 4
By Mark Miller, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Aug 2005

. Wolverine travels to the Hand's headquarters ("a secret city in a forgotten forest that's only visible to the outside world for thirteen minutes after dawn") on the shoulder of a Sentinel
. They take down the Sentinel but Wolverine is a little tougher than the mechanical man
. He has to battle their champion, Elektra, who lets him know, using telepathy, I think, that she is still on the side of the good guys and has learned all the things he was looking for, specifically the secret hideout of Gorgon; as the fight ends her eyes go glom glowing red back to normal

. I didn't find the art in this issue to be quite as inspired as that in prior ones
. The story continues to be ridiculous in the extreme and plodding forward very slowly or at the very least there just isn't a lot to it; the story almost seems like an excuse for JRJR to draw as much or as many fight scenes for Wolverine as possible

12/19

The Private Eye 2

By Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin
May 2013

Patrick meets with his assistant Mel who is also his chauffeur. He tells her about the case. She takes him to Taj's apartment building. Taj is of course already dead but it isn't until he investigates a little that he discovers this fact.

Inside Taj's apartment, Fourth Estate Deputy Correspondent Mike Strunk is trying to piece together what happened to Taj. He interrogates Taj's sister, Raveena, but doesn't get much from her. He finds bondage masks in one of the closets. He tells her about what was written on Taj's hand, Patrick's name, Raveena claims it means nothing to her but that proves to not be the case.

Patrick has a chat with Mel about what he has learned. They are in public. She is talking a little too loudly and he lets her know. She gets angry and stomps off.

De Guerre meets with Nebular, one of Taj's old friends who once was also part of his group. He is wearing Taj's tiger mask so Nebular thinks he is meeting with Taj. De Guerre is prepared to let Nebular live until he gets a call letting him know about Patrick Immelman. Someone on the inside, maybe Strunk, maybe someone else, must be feeding De Guerre information.

Patrick gets home and discovers that someone has broken in. That someone is still there and attacks him with a baseball bat. That someone is Raveena. She is wearing a mask when she first strikes but after Patrick talks her down and convinces her that he didn't kill Taj, her sister, she removes it. It becomes clear that Raveena and Taj have met before. She hires him but before the conversation can progress very far two people wearing metal masks crash through the windows and open fire with handguns on Patrick and Raveena.

My guess is that these people are unconnected to De Guerre but that is only because it almost seems too obvious to guess that they do have something to do with him.

12/16

Eternals (1976) 11

The Russians Are Coming!
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
May 1977

. Eternals continue to gather in response to Zuras call; in addition to Makarri and Ikaris, Sersi shows up with the professor from #6 and Kingo, a Japanese Eternal, is introduced
. The rest of the issue focuses on Valkin, Druig, Aginar, and Zaria, some of the Polar Mountain Eternals, kin to Ikaris, who have disguised themselves as officers of the Russian military
. The Russians are deciding what to do about the giant Celestials who have been found in the Soviet Union. Valkin counsels against attacking them but the general in charge doesn't listen to him and after the Polar Mountain Eternals have left he has a nuclear missile launched at Nezzar of the Fourth Host.
. The Polar Mountain Eternals brawl with some other Eternals once they arrive at Olympia. Ikaris joins his relatives side of the fight but Balkin breaks it up
. It isn't hard to see that Kirby wanted this story to be epic in proportions but it is really developing slowly, no wonder people lost interest and it got canceled.

. Eternal Utterings includes a letter from Mike W. Barr comparing and contrasting New Gods and Eternals

Marvel Bullpen Bulletins includes Stan's Soapbox (Captain Britain plus Stan's trip to the U.K. To promote the new character); softball; staff changes; KISS; Hulk TV show; Deathlok

12/12

The Private Eye 1

By Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin
Mar 2013

Patrick Immelmann, a paparazzi, is hired by Taj McGill, a woman wearing a sophisticated tiger mask, to delve into her background

Taj is murdered by De Guerre, a man she knows, after she returns home. He does so to prevent her from sharing what she knows about his group with anyone.

De Guerre finds Patrick's name written on Taj's hand. He takes her tiger mask and leaves, presumably to look for Patrick.

This story is set in the future, in a time after the "cloud" burst. Patrick explains this as storm clouds roll past behind him.

12/6

Wolverine (2003) 28

Agent of SHIELD - Part 3
By Mark Miller, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Jul 2005

. Wolverine is captured by Northstar and his crew but it is all part as of Wolverine's plan to find Gorgon; SHIELD sends 3 Sentinels after Wolverine but he has a device planted on him that masks the fact that he is a mutant
. the Sentinels arrive and brawl with Northstar and his crew; Wolverine escapes; Northstar is badly damaged by the Sentinels and most his crew are taken down
. Wolverine orders one of the Sentinels to kill the surviving baddies while he departs riding on another Sentinel's shoulder
. Fun but oh so ridiculous

12/6

Alias (2001) 9

B Level - Part 4
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jul 2002

. Jessica calls Avengers Hotline and leaves a message about Rick; she goes home and crashes at her desk while working on a separate case, the philandering husband
. the phone wakes Jessica up; the creepy guy has broken into her apartment again and he picks up; she takes the phone from him; it is Jarvis on the line; he explains that the guy she thought was Rick Jones really isn't and the Avengers are aware of this imposter

. The next part confused me a bit because I didn't realize that it was more than I took it to be; I thought it was just some random encounter in a diner; it wasn't until I got to the end that I realized who it was she was talking to, the philandering husband

. I must have missed something or it is inside baseball because I'm not sure what the title of the arc, B-level, refers to; or maybe I do, maybe it's a reference to the way Jessica sees herself, as not being a top tier hero/person like Captain America or Ms. Marvel

. This story wasn't quite as satisfying as I would like it to have been; it did feel a bit like a character building or defining arc whose purpose was to better illustrate who Jessica is

12/1

Scalped 55

Knuckle Up - Part 5
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Feb 2012

. Intense but confusing and it ends on one hell of a note
. Mostly just a brawl between Dashiell and Shunka; which is confusing and hard to follow in places; confusing as to whom is punching whom, largely because of the way it is illustrated
. Red Crow shows up in the end and kills Shunka when he won't back off and is starting to torture Dash; then Dash breaks his cover and tells Red Crow he's FBI and is arresting him
. Interlude 1: Catcher gets killed by his horse who falls on him after he goes wild and attacks Catcher and Catcher shoots him
. Interlude 2: Nitz shows up with a posse of FBI agents at the casino looking for Red Crow

11/30

Eternals (1976) 10

Mother!!
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
Apr 1977

. Eson investigates Lemuria causing panic and destruction as the city begins to flood but once his curiosity is dated he moves on
. Other members of the Fourth Host investigate other parts of the world: Oneg (Australian Outlands), Hargen (Tyrolean Alps), Nezarr (Siberian Wilderness); all are massive in size and tower mightily over all who lay on on them
. In Olympia, Zuras attempts to make mental contact with the Celestials spacecraft but what he sees causes him to have Domo activate the Unifier, which sends out the call to all Eternals around the Earth; even Thena in Lemuria hears it
. Before she hears the call and leaves Lemuria, Thena confronts the Reject and is in turn confronted by Karkas who asks for sanctuary for the two of them; after arguing with Kro, Thena leaves him behind in the flooding city and takes Karkas and the Reject with her as she goes to answer the call of Zuras

. The choice of title for this chapter isn't exactly clear; I wondered if it might be revealed that the Reject (and possibly Karkas) is (or are) the child (or children) of Kro and Thena in this chapter but that is not the case; it could refer to the way that Thena takes the two deviants under her wing at the end of the chapter but once again there is no clear explanation or reference

. Eternal Utterings: more votes for and against having the Eternals be set in the Marvel Universe; a letter complaining about the lack of action in #6, insisting that comics "are an action oriented medium and always have been." I don't agree with that assertion although I will concede that action has been very well represented in comics, especially American comics over the years

Stan's Soapbox: Stan and Jack are going to collaborate on a new Silver Surfer story; I'm not sure that ever happened

Marvel Bullpen Bulletins: Lucca; Man-God in Marvel Preview magazine; Rampaging Hulk; Human Fly; King-Size Annuals

11/29

Alias (2001) 8

B Level - Part 3
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jun 2002

. Jessica has caught up to Rick Jones; she questions him about what is going on and why he's acting so weird; he seems paranoid and keeps talking about the Kree, the Skrulls, the war between them, and the role he played in it; he seems to think he's a wanted man because of that
. Jessica tries to encourage him to go back to his wife but he thinks his problems will only antagonize their relationship
. Rick is very reluctant to reach out to the Avengers for help, Captain America in particular, but Jessica convinces him to try asking the Fantastic Four for help; they go to the Baxter Building but can't get any further than the robot receptionist
. After they leave the Baxter Building Rick runs off after spotting something in the sky

. It is still unclear what the hell is going on; are Rick's fears based on delusions or is he seeing things, in the world for what they actually are
. I'm curious to see how this one turns out, with just one more chapter to go in this arc, and hope that it won't be a let down

11/28

An Entity Observes All Things (8)

Communion of the Star Warriors
By Box Brown

. yet another story that seems to be about a human's dependence on technology
. In this case the main character is a solo traveler on a long voyage who forgets his handheld device
. He gets bored very quickly and doesn't know what to do
. After rejecting books he finally comes around and tries reading them but that doesn't seem to satiate his need for excitement
. Eventually he gets so bored he more or less sabotages the mission which causes a world to get destroyed somewhere else in the universe

11/23

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps 2

Defeat!
By Len Wein, Mike W. Barr, Joe Staton, Frank McLaughlin, John Costanza, Anthony Tollin
Jun 1981

Featuring concepts created by Marv Wolfman

. The Guardians do battle with a force from another universe
. Back on Oa the Green Lantern Corps prepares their dead for burial; Hal rallies the troops and they take off on search of Krona
. The Green Lanterns encounter Krona's army and fight them; from their leader they learn of Nekkron and that this army is made up of the undead
. Krona shows up and kills many of the Green Lanterns and leaves them broken and bruised and tells them of how he is going to destroy the universe

. Echoes of Thanos
. Nekkron has yet to prove himself as a villain and is nothing special to look at
. Definite let down from chapter 1

. Corps Conflicts - a one-pager mostly about the Green Lantern Honor Guard member known as Tomar-Re; how he came to be a Green Lantern; his failed mission to Krypton to save its inhabitants before it exploded; his encounters with Hal Jordan; his selection to the Green Lantern Honor Guard

11/21

Scalped 54

Knuckle Up - Part 4
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Dec 2011

. A prisoner breaks loose in the jail where Catcher and Wade Bad Horse are being held; the police officers and the prisoner are all killed in the shootout that ensues after the prisoner gets his hand on a pistol
. Catcher is able to reach the keys and frees himself and Wade; Catcher wasn't hit in the shootout but Wade caught one in his chest; Catcher reveals that he killed Gina, as Wade is dying; Wade tries strangling him and is almost successful but Catcher breaks free and Wade died in the jail
. Nitz' conscience seems to nag at him and he goes after Karnow; by the time Nitz reaches him, Karnow is surrounded and been hit at least a few times; Nitz yells to the assailants that he has backup but his feint doesn't seem to dissuade them; one of the gang shoots Karnow in the back of the head, presumably killing him, it is Dino Poor Bear
. Red Crow comes to collect Shunka from the White Haven jail; Rath, who has taken over the jail, tries putting up some resistance but gives in the end
. Dashiell confronts Red Crow about Shunka, calls him no good and tries to convince him that Shunka is a danger to him; Red Crow brushes off Dashiell's concerns; Shunka was next door listening in on the conversation; after Dash leaves he comes out, says his goodbyes to Red Crow and kisses him on the lips, which shocks the hell out of Red Crow
. Shunka then heads back to White Haven and kills Rath and his men; this part of the story is moving too fast for me; it doesn't all make sense to me; I hope that in the end it will
.  Getting a definite Jacob and Esau vibe off of Dashiell and Shunka in this chapter; I'm not sure why I never noticed it before

11/17

An Entity Observes All Things (7)

The System Corpus
By Box Brown

. Chubb is a warrior from the past, he is on a quest; Ash is his guide; he seeks the System Corpus
. The world is coming apart as the end of the quest approaches; Chubb tries to convince Ash to return with him but Ash feels as if there is nothing for him in Chubb's time

. This feels like yet another snippet of a bigger and longer story
. I didn't detect any commentary in this one but I didn't dig too deep

11/15

Alias (2001) 7

B Level - Part 2
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
May 2002

. Jessica is skeptical but listens to the woman who claims to be Rick Jones wife; later she checks her story and it seems to check out
. Jessica goes to a book store and buys a copy of Rick's book, Sidekick, she reads it while sitting in a park; there are a couple excerpts included as double page spreads
. Jessica is approached by a young woman who claims she can tell if people have powers; she learns from the young woman and her friend that Rick Jones hangs out and plays guitar is a bar nearby
. She goes to see Rick's show; she tries approaching him after the show but he takes off running after mumbling something paranoid about the Kree-Skrull War

. This did not go in the direction I thought it might; I'm curious; I want more

11/15

An Entity Observes All Things (6)

New Physics
By Box Brown

. the cult of new physics seems to be the subject of this story
. It isn't called a cult within the story but based on what happens and how it works that seems like the best word to describe it

11/15

Eternals (1976) 9

The Killing Machine!!
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
Mar 1977

. Ikaris, Makarri, and Margo travel to Olympia, home of the Eternals; they are attacked by a flying serpent which turns out to be an illusion projected by another Eternal, Sprite; he meant it as a joke but Ikaris doesn't see it that way and chases the trickster
. Thena and Kro are still in Lemuria where they witness a fight between the Reject and Karkas; the latter is smaller and prettier but he's on a killing spree that begins with Karkas and is only stopped by an energy field that prevents him from entering the viewing area from where Kro, Thena, and the Deviant nobility were watching the fight
. Space gods around the world are making their presence known; Eson, one of the space gods, has traveled to New Lemuria where it gets a fairly violent greeting from the Deviants who hit it with all they've got but fail to slow it down; Eson drains the energy leaving the city defenseless and eliminating the energy barrier between the Deviant nobility and the Reject

. Loved the energy in the fight scenes

. Eternal Utterings has more arguments for and against having the series take place in the Marvel Universe proper
. Bullpen Bulletins includes announcements for a few comic strips (Spider-Man, Says Who, Virtue of Vera Valiant); a new comic magazine (Rampaging Hulk); Gene Colan's 50th birthday party; hints of the returns of Deathlok and Warlock in Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One, and Marvel Spotlight

11/10

Scalped 53

Knuckle Up - Part 3
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Nov 2011

. Bad Horse appears in this chapter but the narrative focus is elsewhere
. My guess was correct; Shunka did not take down Red Crow, instead he shot and killed the two other men that Rath sent after Red Crow
. Things get a little foggy after that, Shunka shows up in White Haven; Karnow plans to arrest him; Shunka has his back to Karnow but still manages to disarm him; he allows Karnow to arrest him after he hears that he plans to throw him in a jail cell with Rath
. Nitz is pissed at Karnow and wants him to release Shunka but Karnow stands his ground; he winds up cutting a deal with Nitz who tells him he knows where Red Crow is hiding but also double crosses him; it looks like Nitz is in league with Rath, at least momentarily, I'm guessing because they both want to take down Red Crow; the enemy of my enemy is my friend; it's very likely that Nitz sent Karnow into a trap and doesn't know Red Crow's whereabouts
. One scene from the last chapter is a little more clear; the two prisoners who met in the back of the squad car are Catcher and Wade Bad Horse, Dash's dad; they have another scene is this one in adjoining jail cells

. It feels like things are coming together, winding down; Red Crow will probably be dead before it is all over; Dashiell should survive but there will be a price to be paid; not sure about the other characters but it wouldn't surprise me if Karnow, Nitz, and Shunka are also KIA before the story ends
. I almost wish it could go on and not have a big dramatic ending like it probably will

11/9

Dragonfly

Dragonfly
By Jim Lawson

. A turtle man (Jim), a woman (Dragonfly), and a talking dog awake to find themselves trapped in a desert like environment; none of them can remember who they are or where they came from
. They meet a couple aliens who know a little bit but won't tell them very much
. They are attacked by dinosaurs
. They meet a vampire who is less human in origin than he appears at first

. I read part of this story once before; I'm not sure why I didn't stick with it last time but I wasn't crazy about this story this time around; it felt like the author tried to move through it all too quickly; there were too many leaps for me to be able to accept them all
. The story seemed a little preachy in ways; Jim was overly protective of Dragonfly and treated her like a child while at the same time seeming to pine for her; he got jealous when Edgar appeared on the scene; he should have known that Dragonfly could take care of herself after seeing her regenerate a damaged arm
. I got this book through a Kickstarter campaign a few years ago; I pulled it out again because I saw that the author has another Kickstarter going right now and I was thinking about contributing; after reading Dragonfly I'm having second thoughts about that

. I like some of the art but the visual storytelling could use some work

11/8

Wolverine (2003) 27

Agent of SHIELD - Part 2
By Mark Miller, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Jun 2005

. The zombified heroes and villains attack the SHIELD helicarrier; with nothing but SHIELD agents to defend it things turn from bad to worse very quickly; Nick Fury tries to fight back but is quickly taken down
. Wolverine is still sedated and hooked up to scientific machinery; the scientists who have been working to undo the brainwashing Hydra and the Hand put him through decide to take a chance on releasing him
. Just as the resurrected heroes and villains break into the lab Wolverine awakes; he kills all the intruders and kills many more but the helicarrier is coming apart; many go down with the ship but Elektra and Northstar aren't among them
. Wolverine calls Ichiro and Fukuko to apologize for what happened in the previous arc, for not getting their son back; Wolverine swears to avenge what happened to their son but Ichiro doesn't care; Fukuko does and encourages him to carry forward with his plan for vengeance for her child

. Very fast read; the violence is cartoonish and silly; many fight scenes, many zombies die anew with just claws popping up through through their chest or back with only a hint or suggestion of Wolverine beyond his claws drawn in the panel
. One of the zombies looked like Loki

11/7

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps 1

Challenge!
By Len Wein, Mike W. Barr, Joe Staton, Frank McLaughlin, John Costanza, Anthony Tollin
May 1981

. All 3600 Green Lanterns assemble on Oa after receiving a summons from the Guardians of the Universe who reveal that an ancient enemy, Krona, has returned
. Krona strikes at the Guardians and the Green Lanterns, kills many of the Corps, and destroys the giant Green Lantern power battery of Oa
. Still reeling from Krona's long range attack, the Lanterns are tasked by the Guardians with capturing Krona; with the big power battery destroyed they have just 24 hours to accomplish their goal before their rings stop functioning

. Lots of exposition here as Hal tells Arisia the story of how he became a Green Lantern; later the story of Krona's past is revealed with a brief mention of his prior appearance in Green Lantern 40
. The final page of the book (Corps Conflicts) is a text piece that tells a couple more stories one from Green Lantern 55-56 (1967) and another from Green Lantern 125-127 (1980); both stories involve the Green Lantern Corps; the first tells the story of how Charlie Vickers (who also shows up in this story) became a Green Lantern while helping Hal Jordan and the Corps defeat evil aliens; the second involved a fight with Sinestro (a former Green Lantern) and the Weaponers of Qward (who come from the anti-matter universe)

. Overall much better than I feared it might be although it still wasn't great or anything that I would describe as a must read to anyone other than one who is a big fan of Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns

11/4

Alias (2001) 6

B Level - Part 1
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

. Jessica goes out for lunch with Carol, who tries to set her up with Scott Lang (Ant Man) but Jessica is not interested; Carol accuses her of only liking bad boys and warns her that Luke Cage gets around and has a thing for "capes"
. Jessica spends some time online baiting the husband of one of her clients; the wife wants proof he has been doing more than just having online relationships with other men
. A stalker shows up and walks in to her office when she is in the bathroom; he answers her phone when it rings; he is just 17; it is played fairly low key but it seems serious to me
. After the stalker leaves a woman shows up who is looking for Jessica's help finding her husband, Rick Jones; I wasn't aware that he was married and wonder if this isn't another stalker

. Love some of the panels in the part of the issue where Jessica is having lunch with Carol, especially the inset 9 panel grid
. Not blowing me away but has me wondering which way it is going

11/3

Scalped 52

Knuckle Up - Part 2
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra

. Bad Horse sets off on his quest to find Catcher; Falls Down is with him but seems like more of a sounding board considering how little he does other than make observations; their first stop is Catcher's trailer, which Falls Down believes is where Dash's mother was murdered; after taking a look around Bad Horse burns it to the ground
. Next stop is Nitz' FBI HQ; Bad Horse gets Shunka's FBI file from Nitz who is angry (because he brought Falls Down with him) but unfazed (as if there is some agreement between them that has yet to be revealed) by Dash; their final stop is a pawn shop where Dash picks up a set of nunchucks and then uses them in a fight with some thugs who walk in just after he has finished paying
. Red Crow has a meeting with some of the elder statesmen of the reservation who don't approve of his recent activity, shutting down his own drug operations; they threaten him and he returns the favor; Red Crow also meets with Karnow, who vows he's going to get Red Crow; Red Crow seems unimpressed and unconcerned by Karnow's attitude and says as much
. Once he is back at the casino he gets a visit from Shunka and a few others who come at him with guns blazing; the chapter ends with it unclear as to what the outcome is
. The other interesting development is earlier in the chapter when Shunka can't get it up or keep it up while getting head

. Now that I think about it Shunka may not have been with the others; that may have been misdirection on the part of Aaron and Guéra; it might be that Shunka was shooting at the other gunmen and that he wasn't with them and all; either way Red Crow's fate is unclear
. Not the most compelling chapter but it has some interesting twists and turns and I'm not about to give up on this series just yet

11/2

An Entity Observes All Things (5)

Travel
By Box Brown

. This story is black and white
. The focus seems to be on a guy's reaction to getting disconnected from the internet; he panicked and started crying
. He tells his friend about this while they are traveling in her submersible craft

. I think that have given up trying to find the common thread here, among these stories but I'm still reading them

11/1

Eternals (1976) 8

The City of Toads
By Jack Kirby and Mike Royer

. Ikaris, Margo, Makarri, and Sersi make brief appearances but the spotlight in this issue is on Kro and Thena who leave Manhattan and travel to New Lemuria, the great underwater city of the Deviants
. In an earlier age Kro and Thena had a romantic relationship; Thena openly rejects the notion of rekindling that fire but still goes with Kro to New Lemuria
. Once they have arrived Kro tries to hide certain things from his would-be lover but is very unsuccessful in that venture; Thena asks him about Purity Time when she hears other Deviants speak of it; Kro refuses to tell her but then she sees one of the death wagons with her own eyes, sees the poor, misbegotten Deviants who are being rounded up for execution; this scene is truly chilling; some of the Deviants in the death wagon look pathetic beyond belief as they are being driven to their death
. The underwater voyage scenes are as wonderful as the death wagon scene is detestable
. Kro takes Thena to meet Tode, his ruler; there they see the reject, the Deviant who looks like an Eternal, as he prepares to battle Karkas

. There's lots to chew on here; I'm curious to learn more of Kro and Thena's past and more about New Lemuria

. House ad for What If…? plus an announcement for What If…? in Marvel Bullpen Bulletins

10/31

An Entity Observes All Things (4)

An Entity Observes All Things
By Box Brown

. This story is purple and is about an alien named Bebeshit who spends her days watching stuff on monitors until she grows bored and devises a way to leave the planet on which she lives
. Her plan doesn't work out, instead she is killed but the flowers on the planet give birth to a new Bebeshit
. This story seems like it could be a commentary on social media and the impact it has on people, how people spend all their time watching instead of doing

10/31

Wolverine (2003) 26

Agent of SHIELD - Part 1
By Mark Miller, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Mar 2005

. The book opens by focusing on Gorgon, his past, his prowess, and what he is up to since the Hand captured Elektra and SHIELD recovered Wolverine
. Wolverine is sedated aboard the helicarrier as SHIELD scientists do their best to deprogram him; they are making progress but it is taking a lot of time
. Elektra is working for the Hand now; she wears black instead of red; and she is running missions for them recovering bodies of dead superheroes and super villains, like Northstar, whose body Iceman, Polaris, and Danny Moonstar are sent to protect but are unsuccessful at doing so when Elektra and a squad of ninjas strike

. JRJR and Klaus Janson's artwork is the real jewel here; like the previous arc this one seems a bit silly and would work better with considerably less text
. Love the scene which seems real at first but actually is just a simulation in which Wolverine goes berserk once again and kills a bunch of people, including Nick Fury

7/28

An Entity Observes All Things (3)

Voyage of the Golden Retriever
By Box Brown

. The captain of the Golden Retriever, a sea ship, and Mr. Pee-Wee, one of the crew, are looking for debris near Thistlegorn Island
. The captain has a pizza tattoo
. One of the exploration vessels is called the Calzone
. On the whole I'm not sure what to make of this story or the book as a whole; so far I'm about 1/3 of the way in to this book and I can't see the connection among these stories

10/27

Alias (2001) 5

Alias Investigations - Part 5
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Mar 2002

. After beating up her would be murderer Jessica tortures him until he reveals who he is working for; Jessica tracks that guy down to a golf course; he does most of the talking; he doesn't seem to care that she found him although he is a little disappointed at how things turned out
. As the man and his entourage are leaving Jessica gets a call from SHIELD Agent Clay Quartermain; he tells her to walk away and not do anything; then she sees helicopters swoop in and take the man and his entourage into custody; Quartermain then reveals that they had a bug planted on her all along; in other words they were using her to get at this guy she caught up to on the golf course; apparently he was trying to buy political influence and when he didn't think he got his money's worth he tried to make the current presidential administration look bad and throw his weight behind another candidate, Keaton
. Jessica goes home, finds, and destroys the bug SHIELD had planted on her; on the television Keaton is holding a press conference to announce that he is abandoning his campaign for the presidency
. Steve Rogers shows up at her apartment; he wants the tape she shot; they talk for a while; the conversation goes from serious to friendly; it ends with him suggesting she give Carol a call, which she does after he leaves

. Not mind blowing great but I enjoyed, possibly in large part because it is my kind of story; it does move slowly; each chapter was easy to summarize because there wasn't a hell of a lot going on; there's a heavy focus on dialogue which I would be much more okay with if this was a prose novel instead of a graphic novel; that said, the dialogue wasn't as exposition heavy as it is in many comic books; it was used as much of not more to set the tone and mood as it was to explain
. There is one more story arc in this collection; I will probably jump right into that but then take a break for a month or two before picking up the second volume of Alias

10/27

Iron Man (1968) 19

What Price Life?!
By Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Johnny Craig
Nov 1969

. Tony dreams of fighting a slew of his rogues gallery all at the same time: Mandarin, Mole Man, Unicorn, Whiplash, Attuma, Titanium Man, and more; in the real world he is in the hospital recovering from an operation to heal his heart and save his life while outside people he knows (Janice Cord, Alex Niven, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan) and many more he does not wonder about his fate
. Tony wakes up from his nightmare much healthier and is soon discharged from the hospital; after a two page demonstration of his armor to the reader; he changes out of his armor only to be gassed once again by Madame Masque; she takes him back to Midas' Aegean island
. Midas still thinks Tony is a doppelgänger but Tony quickly disabuses him of that notion and soon thereafter is locked up without his briefcase full of armor; Madame Masque pays him a visit; she has decided to help him although her reasons are a bit muddled considering that she claims to longer be susceptible to his charms; when she removes her mask Tony recognizes that she is Whitney Frost, although her face is not shown; after she releases him he gets back to wooing her as he takes her in his arms for a kiss
. After a little smooching Masque and Stark attempt to escape the island; they seek out Tony's briefcase only to be caught in a trap; but now that they have the briefcase Tony changes into the armor; neither Masque nor Midas seems to grok that Tony is really Iron Man
. Once he has the armor on Tony breaks them out of the laser beams that are closing in on them; Tony battles Midas while Masque goes looking for a way off the island; Midas almost beats Tony; he is still recovering from heart surgery and is trying to avoid pushing himself too hard; in the end he finds the wherewithal to beat Midas and irreparably damage his throne; without the throne Midas is unable to move very far; the weapons systems in the throne explode and Midas seems to have been killed
. Tony and Masque escape in a hydrofoil; Masque kisses Tony who has passed out from exhaustion after the fight; she dives off the side of the boat not wanting to burden Tony with her criminal past

. In the midst of the fight with Midas Tony pulls out the Image Reproducer, last seen in TOS 98 when he was fighting Whiplash; it doesn't prove to be very effective in this fight because Midas has a heat seeking antenna which tells him exactly which Iron Man is not an illusion

Scalped 51

Knuckle Up Part 1
By Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra
Sep 2011

. Red Crow starts purging his operations by having the drug operations on the reservation shut down and the men, who run them and who work for him, arrested; Shunka does not approve or understand
. In White Haven Sheriff Karnow starts a similar purge; he catches Dino Poor Bear and looks as though he is going to arrest him but has a change of heart; this has to relate back to that incident with the US Marshall a couple arcs back
. Dashiell Bad Horse is in the hospital and can't speak from all the damage to his jaw and face; his mouth is wired shut; Nitz wants to interrogate him but then Red Crow shows up and after a confrontation he shows Nitz the door; for a moment there it looked like Red Crow was going to find out about Dash's ties to Nitz
. The chapter has three endings: (1) Dash gets a visit from Officer Falls Down who is also a patient in the hospital, they leave the hospital to look for Catcher, (2) a couple of strangers meet in the back of a police car, one claims to have been Gina Bad Horse's husband, (3) Shunka gets a call from one of the men who was arrested for cooking meth early in the chapter

. I don't have trouble buying the changes of heart experienced by Red Crow and Karnow, they seem like honest believable reactions to what they have been through and experienced

10/24

Eternals (1976) 7

The Fourth Host
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
Jan 1977

. Doctor Damian and Ajak watch the celestials known as Gammeron the Gatherer and Jemiah the Analyzer at work; Gammeron gives them a life-seed which has the "stored atoms of living organisms"; the life-seed bestowed on Ajak and Dr Damian has the atoms of three SHIELD agents (Tyler, Parks, Stevenson)
. The SHIELD agents immediately want out despite what Dr Damian and Ajak tell them about the impossibility of departure; they threaten the human and eternal with pistols so Ajak gives a demonstration of his powers; when that doesn't work Ajak gives them a little lecture about the mission of the Fourth Host which doesn't sway them either
. After momentarily overpowering Ajak, Stevenson reveals and then hurls a small nuclear weapon at one of the Celestials, Tefral; it has little to no effect on the purple giant; the Celestials aren't moved by the humans' violent outburst; they gather to receive a message from outer space delivered by lasers known as the Ladder of Fire; it is all too much for the men of SHIELD and they make a run for it only to be cut down by Arishem of the Fourth Host who returns them to the life-seed from which they were recently released; engraved on Arishem's thumb "is the formula for world destruction!! If Earth fails -- Earth Dies!!"

. So happy to see the return to the Andes, to the Celestials and Ajak and Dr Damian; love the lore and mythology and culture clash
. It doesn't all make sense but that's okay because I enjoy seeing the various concepts, stories, and characters introduced as I try to piece it all together
. The names of the Celestials at least some of them like Arishem's and Tefral sound Jewish to me; others like Gammeron sound and look like Kaiju from Japanese monster movies

. Eternal Utterings is filled with letters responding to Ralph Macchio's letter in Eternals 3 in which he suggested that the Eternals should be set in a separate universe where there are no superheroes; some people agree, some disagree but it looks like the powers that be have already made up their minds based on this issue; note the Thing reference in the story
. Bullpen Bulletins includes announcements of the upcoming (1) Logan's Run by Gerry Coneay, George Perez, and Klaus Janson; (2) Black Panther's return by Jack Kirby; (3) Ms. Marvel by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, and Joe Sinnott; and Spider-Woman in Marvel Spotlight

An Entity Observes All Things (2)

Mundo Jelly
By Box Brown

. A man, explorer and former college professor, walks through a devastated wasteland; he descends into the Earth to find a pool of jelly that was created when a robot warlord killed an ancient god
. He has come to test a theory about the jelly, to try and improve on it's amazing flavor; after doing so he pours it over waffles and eats them; after he returns to the surface and plans to mass market produce his new invention
. He feels a bit numb and empty at the end and wonders if there is anything else worth living for
. Kind of silly, love the look of it but is doesn't feel very deep
. Was amused by the fact that the man is recording a podcast about his journey into the earth
. Still not sure if this is just an anthology or if the book has a theme or single thread connecting all the stories

10/20

Alias (2001) 4

Alias Investigations - Part 4
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Feb 2002

. Jessica goes to Washington, DC to try and find the people who set her up; she goes to the office of the election campaign for Keaton for President; there she finds the woman who hired her in the first issue, which leads to a lawyers office, which leads to a parking lot; she waits there for the lawyer to leave so she can tail him
. Matt Murdock calls while she is waiting to let her know that the police have dropped the charges against her because the evidence shows that the murderer was a person with very large hands
. Just before she gets off the phone with Matt a person with very large hands walks up to her car, pulls her out, and starts choking her

. Slow; this story is slow moving, not bad, I kind of like it, just slow

10/20

Iron Man (1968) 18

Even Heroes Die!
By Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Johnny Craig
Oct 1969

. Tony Stark LMD teams up with Captain America and Nick Fury; it continues to impersonate Tony and Shellhead and has everyone, except the original, fooled
. The real Tony is now the captive of Midas, who thinks he is an imposter; Tony agrees to work with Madame Masque and Midas; after training with Madame Masque and making a pass at her, the two go on a mission to infiltrate Stark Industries HQ; Madame Masque tells Tony that her face was disfigured in a plane crash and that she was a criminal before that
. Brief one-page interlude featuring Janet Cord and Alex; he's definitely making moves on her but what is he after?
. Stark and Masque's mission is interrupted by LMD Iron Man; Masque's orders are to kill Stark if the mission has to be aborted but as she thinks about how he has been talking to her and the thought that he cares for her, she cannot bring herself to shoot him
. Tony gets into his Golden Armor and dukes it out with fake Shellhead; the Golden armor is less technologically advanced but Tony knows the armored suits better than his LMD; although his heart is about to give out Tony manages to defeat the LMD and knock him into a cauldron of molten steel
. The security guards called the Avengers (Vision, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Goliath) who show up just as the fight is ending and Tony Stark removes his helmet and collapses; apparently the Avengers, at least these Avengers, don't know Iron Man's secret identity; it looks as if he may have died but the Avengers take him back to Avengers Mansion hoping that the Ultra-Rejuvenator can be save him
. Madame Masque returns to Midas who is disappointed that the mission failed; the final panel, as Midas speeds away, a tear rolls down Madame Masque's face as she thinks of Tony believing him to be dead

. Not as much Madame Masque as I was hoping there would be
. Love the various arrangements of panels

Scalped 50

The Art of Scalping
By Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra
Aug 2011

. A one-off which for the most part is drawn by Guéra but includes a number splash pages each drawn by a different artist (Tim Truman, Jill Thompson, Jordi Bernet, Denys Cowan, Dean Haspiel, Brendan McCarthy, Steve Dillon)
. Opens in 1876 on a raiding party of white men, so-called Indian fighters; a man teaching his son how to scalp a man and then gives himself history lesson in all the places he and his ancestors have fought Indians over the past hundred plus years
. this segment ends when a raiding party of Indians strikes; an Indian shows his son how to scalp a man, using the exact same technique as was demonstrated a few pages earlier on the same man who did the demonstrating earlier in the chapter
. 13 years later the son is now a man and is being dragged by US Army soldiers to the newly established Prairie Rose Reservation; he fights back and gets a bayonet in his stomach; before he dies he sees visions of what will become of his people; these visions are the splash pages mentioned above; his name is Bad Horse, presumably Dashiell's ancestor

. The contrast and similarities are the major takeaways from this chapter; the way both sides use violence and yet come from solid fervent places, both seem to take pride in their actions, both are aware of their histories
. It is also a historic piece that goes back much further than any other chapter has

10/17

An Entity Observes All Things (1)

Memorexia
By Box Brown

. Finally getting around to reading this book which I bought during a Comixology sale around the time of the 2015 Small Press Expo
. Not really sure what this book is all about but it looked to me and clearly seems to have a sci-fi angle
. Not sure what the thread is that connects the stories in the book; is it an anthology of unconnected stories or does it have a theme?

. The first story is about a man reliving, with the help of VR tech, the death of his father; the son seems to be carrying some guilt about the incident which involved his father falling from a roof, except that he can't bring himself to watch his father die again so he does what he can to save his father in the VR experience

10/16

b-one comics magazine vol. 2 #10

King Bone Press
June 2016

. I bought this book, which is only available digitally, when it first came out in June and just got around to reading it now

Stonebrook Tales

. This looks like an ongoing story; it looks like it is mostly a relationships type story or collection of stories; it isn't an anthology but there are a few different story threads that are running at the same time; the different threads crisscross as characters move from one thread to another
. Chivo, Manuel, and Demi hang out together; Chivo and Manuel goof off; Chivo and Demi are dating but things aren't going real well between them; Chivo can't seem to do much right in Demi's eyes and by the end of this issue she dumps him, it probably doesn't help that he burps after going down on her; Manuel doesn't seem to do much in this issue other than hang around and good off
. Stacey hangs with Melii; Melii has a crush on Manuel, she is just 13; Stacey can't seem to get much right in her life in terms of relationships with guys; she threatens one guy who she suspects has been stalking Melii; she offers to blow him if he will leave Melii alone, so he does and she does
. It seems like there's some past history between Manuel and Stacey but it's unclear from reading just this issue exactly what that history might entail
. Stacey makes a new friend, Simone, who has a crush on Stacey, who lets her down easy and doesn't make a scene
. There's another couple in this comic, Jean and Carlos, but they don't do much talking; especially Carlos
. I think I'm a little too new to this story to assess it properly; it probably doesn't help that this is the first installment that I have read but I'm curious and want to read more

Tales of Vroom-Vroom Cat

. A kid friendly interlude in a book that otherwise seems to be for teens and older readers
. Robot threatens cat; cat cringes; robot looks menacing; cat transforms; no dialogue, just pictures

Date Night

. An alien abduction story that ends with an unexpected and humorous twist; not sure if this is a one off story or part of a series

10/14

Eternals (1976) 6

Gods and Men at City College!
By Jack Kirby and Mike Royer
Dec 1976

. After a bit more fighting in Manhattan, Kro suggests a truce on whatever terms Thena and Makkari desire; the truce goes into place and the captured Eternals (Ikaris, Sersi) and humans (Margo) are released
. the Eternals and Deviants seem to form an alliance to deal with the Celestisls; the Eternals seem much more interested in the alliance than Kro, the lone representative of the Deviants, does; Kro is quite open in his derision of humans

. Love Thena's anti-gravity spear, the effect it has on the Deviants, and how quickly it gets explained
. This chapter is a weird left turn for this series; the last few issues have been all about the Deviants fighting the Eternals and now they seem to be on much more peaceful terms; they even go together to City College so that the students there can learn about them; I hope this doesn't last

. Letters page includes (1) the second weakly [sic] update on the Howard the Duck 1976 campaign for the presidency of the United States of America and (2) a fairly serious letter from Greg Potter about how Kirby isn't dealing with the material in Eternals seriously enough
. Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page includes (1) announcements about two new series, Spectacular Spider-Man series and 2001: A Space Odyssey and (2) a mention of a tv ad for Personna Razors in which Stan Lee appeared

10/13

Alias (2001) 3

Alias Investigations - Part 3
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jan 2002

. Two-thirds of this chapter is Jessica being interrogated by a police officer in an interrogation room at the police station; for the most part it doesn't go well for her; the cop isn't very understanding even though it is clear that he knows she was an Avenger
. The interrogation finally ends when Matt Murdock shows up; Luke Cage sent him
. After she has been released Jessica heads to Carol Danvers' apartment; she and Carol were close when they were on the Avengers; Carol has the flu and isn't in a good mood; at first she balks at Jessica's request for help tracking down whoever set her up but helps her in the end
. The information Carol gets leads to a presidential candidate's campaign office

. Not a whole lot happens but I like the way it unfolds and the way the dialogue between Jessica and the cop is illustrated and the placement of the word balloons

10/11

Iron Man (1968) 17

The Beginning of the End!
By Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, and Johnny Craig
Sep 1969

. Iron Man is caught in a vicious lightning storm which at least in part manmade; he tries to stay aloft but is struck by too many bolts of lightning, crashes to the earth, and is knocked senseless
. The same aircraft that was partly responsible for the lighting storm lands near Stark Industries old HQ; a masked woman emerges from the flying craft; she runs into one of the buildings but quickly exits; the building explodes in her wake
. After returning to Midas HQ she confronts Howard Stark, Tony's ne'er do well cousin; he seems to have developed a case of cold feet or a nervous stomach because he no longer seems to be as eager to take down his rich cousin; after accusing him of holding back information Madame Masque takes him to see Midas
. Midas is more offended than Madame Masque; he explains his plan to become the richest man in the world to Stark; he backs him up to the edge of a cliff, pushes him off the edge and then catches him at the last second because as he explains Stark is part of his plan to get Tony's wealth
. This part of the story is wonderfully illustrated; the angles and facial expressions really add a lot to the visual presentation of the confrontation between Midas and Stark; at first glance Midas seems like a goofy sort of villain but the way this scene is depicted makes him so much more than that
. Eventually Iron Man awakes and returns to Stark Industries as Tony Stark only to discover that a Life Model Decoy of his has taken his place in his absence; he fights with the LMD which has donned a suit of armor and defeats the Tony; the LMD then has him ejected from the premises; with his clothes in tatters Tony discovers that the LMD has cancelled his credit cards and changed his bank account and even made inroads at Avengers Mansion as Jarvis turns him away without a second thought
. Desperate and with nowhere left to turn Tony is easy prey for Madame Masque who knocks him out with sleeping gas and then whisks him away in her helicopter

. A lot of fun; much better, much more complex than I expected it to be; loved all the twists and turns
. At first I was confused by the appearance of the LMD early in the chapter because I didn't realize it wasn't Tony, but by the end all was made clear

10/7

Space Captain 3

Exile of Fate
By Michael Park and Chris Baldie
Super Special First Edition Aug 2016

. Space Captain and Prospector need fuel for Molly, Prospector's ship; they land in a jungle on another planet; after evading a lizard-man they come up with a plan to steal some fuel from the lizard-men, most of the work is on Space Captain's shoulders
. The Kaztani bounty hunter has failed her superiors one too many times; they take her off the mission but she continues with the mission anyway
. The bounty hunter finds them just in time to interfere with their mission to get more fuel; in the end she captures Space Captain and leaves Prospector behind
. Some secrets are revealed but all is not clear just yet; it seems that the Kaztani need the human, Space Captain, to start a machine for them; the purpose and use of the machine is unclear

. No flashbacks for Space Captain in this chapter; he is a little busier than in prior chapters
. Love the nine-panels grids and other panel configurations
. Great use of perspective and facial expressions to convey information

10/6

The Fade Out 8

A Dead Giveaway
By Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser
Aug 2015

. It is Halloween. Thursby is taking the blackmail note seriously and has Brodsky keeping an eye on the bag of money the blackmailer requested.
. Gil, the man behind the blackmail note is out with his wife and kids trick or treating; Charlie has tagged along with them; he is still puzzling over the note from Tina; he chats with Melba while Gil and the kids have fun; he lets drop that he is seeing someone but won't tell Melba who it is
. Eventually Charlie heads over to the Halloween party at the studio; he dresses as the bandaged man; he talks to Dottie who is dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West and who cautions him about getting serious about Maya; he asks Earl Rath about the night Val was murdered but Rath doesn't remember much and is much more interested in the trio of women who are keeping him company
. Charlie is hoping to encounter Drake Miller at the party; no luck there; then Tina approaches him dressed as Annie Oakley; she explains that Brodsky has been asking questions about the night Val was killed; Tina lied to Brodsky and said Charlie wasn't there; she's getting ready to leave town; she also saw Charlie at Formosa and tells him that's when she slipped him the note
. This is where things get a little weird; what happened to Miller's business card; was he even there or was that Charlie's imagination
. Charlie has taken off his costume by this point and gets ready to leave the studio and the party when he is approached by Maya who needs his help; she needs to locate her ex-husband; they find him in a run down house, a shooting gallery; Charlie is stunned to learn that her ex is Mexican-American; she tells him about what Brodsky did to Armando and why
. Charlie heads back to his office/apt; he is starting to suspect that Rath knows more than he claims to about the night Val was murdered; back at his place he finds Gil's first attempt at a blackmail note

. For the second chapter in a row the last panel is of a note that Charlie is reading
. I love the colors in this chapter, especially when Maya and Charlie are driving together in her car
. This marks the end of act 2; Charlie is just starting to suspect people; Rath is his point of focus right now but that could be a red herring; who ever did kill Val I'm pretty sure that the resolution of the story will revolve around more than just the murder; considering the location it will probably revolve around studio politics which doesn't necessarily point the finger at any one person or rule anyone out at this point

10/5

Eternals (1976) 5

Olympia!
By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer
Nov 1976

. Sersi and Margo are captured by Kro and his Deviant hordes; they try reaching out to another Eternal, Makarri but he doesn't arrive in time to help them
. Makarri consults with the leader of the Eternals, Zuras, before rushing to NYC; he is joined in his rescue mission by Zuras' daughter, Thena; together they travel from Olympia to NYC at light speed and arrive in time to crack some Deviant skulls but don't find Sersi or Margo

. This chapter seems to be much more about introducing new characters than advancing the story; in addition to Makarri, Zuras, and Thena, a number of unnamed Eternals are shown plus Domo who seems to be Zara's right-hand man
. No double page splashes this time around and I wasn't as impressed with the splash pages in this issue as much as I was with the ones in prior issues, although I have to say that they do look better in the original than they do in the digital version
. Zuras and Thena playing with life-size rockem sockem robots

10/4

Amazing Spider-Man 86

Beware... the Black Widow!
By Stan Lee, John Romita, and Jim Mooney
Jul 1970

. In the aftermath of a fight with Kingpin, Spider-Man can't seem to focus on anything
. Black Widow designs a new costume for herself and tests it out by taking on Spider-Man hoping to learn Spidey's secrets
. In the end Peter isn't feeling any better and he suspects that his Spider powers may be fading away
. Black Widow is unsuccessful in her attempt to learn Spidey's secrets and accepts that she will just have to fight crime in her own way

. This is a back door pilot for the upcoming Black Widow series in Amazing Tales and the first appearance of Black Widow's modern costume

Black Widow's appeared fairly consistently in comic books in the 1970s following this story
. Amazing Tales 1-8 (Aug 1970 - Sep 1971)
. Daredevil 81 - 124 (Nov 1971 - Aug 1975)
. Champions 1-17 (Oct 1975 - Jan 1978)
. Spectacular Spider-Man 17-18 (Apr - May 1978)

Alias (2001) 2

Alias Investigations - Part 2
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Dec 2001

. A woman hired Jessica to find her sister; which she did; Jessica videotaped the sister with Captain America out of costume
. Then Jessica began to get suspicious; her client disappears; the "sister" is murdered
. Jessica goes to Avengers Mansion but no one is home; she tries turning to Luke for help but he is otherwise occupied
. Jessica returns home to find the police waiting for her; she was photographed near the scene of the crime by a police photographer; before she knows about the photograph she denies knowing about the murder to the police who know about her "powers"; she quickly becomes a suspect

. Good read but not exactly a stand alone story
. In some ways this felt more like chapter one of this arc and the previous chapter was more like chapter zero, an introduction to the series
. This setup feels very familiar although I cannot recall where I've seen it before; probably in a movie or tv show
. Love the use of thought balloons/boxes to give an insight into what Jessica is thinking and feeling

10/3

Space Captain 2

Son of the Suns

By Michael Park and Chris Baldie

Slightly Less Special Second Edition, Aug 2016

. Space Captain dreams of or remembers getting attacked; abandoning ship; jumping in the capsule in which he was found by Prospector

. In the present Prospector and Space Captain crash land on a desert planet; while Prospector talks to Molly (the ship's computer) and tries to repair it, Space Captain goes into town to look for Marsta

. After getting a lead on where to find Marsta and a horse-like transport, Space Captain heads back to the ship to let Prospector know where he's headed and check on the progress of repairs

. While searching for Marsta he thinks he sees his wife, she is still pregnant; she stays for a time but eventually vanishes

. The bounty hunter has followed them to the dusty planet; she chases Space Captain into a cave; he is captured by the Garkarra, indigenous cave dwellers who are led by one not of their race, Marsta; while the Gakarra hold on to the bounty hunter Space Captain and Marsta escape

. Space Captain and Marsta chat; Marsta agrees to help him get back to Earth although he warns him that there isn't anything left there for him; Space Captain acknoledges that but says he still needs to go to Earth

. By the time Space Captain gets back to the ship Prospector has fixed it using parts from the bounty hunter's ship
. More Kaztani show up on the dusty planet, after Space Captain and Prospector depart, and find something called Helix which seems to be just what they were looking for

. still njoying the way this book is laid out, the choice of panel size and arrangement and the sorts of things put in the panels, love the establishing shots, and the silent panels that speak for themselves

9/30

The Fade Out 7

The Sound of Waves

By Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips, Elizabeth Breitweiser

Jun 2015

. Dottie comforts Tyler in the hospital after his car wreck; Tyler admits he was desperate and is scared of Brodsky; Dottie assures Tyler that she will take care of him and that she has eyes everywhere 

. Charlie and Maya hang out at the beach and in bed over a weekend; Charlie can't seem to let go of something or maybe can't get a grip on it; either way something nags at him; he imagines a conversation with Val; he muses about Maya's personality

. Visually, a heavy portion (12 pp) of this chapter focuses on Charlie and Maya; it slows the story down and adds atmosphere

. After they leave the beach, Maya drops Charlie at Formosa, a bar, to kill some time while she is busy at a press event; he winds up getting into a fistfight with another writer and gets beat up pretty badly; Lincoln Kessler, the other writer, is a friend of Gil's who apparently doesn't know about whatever deal Charlie and Gil have going, and sees Charlie as the guy who gave up Gil's name to the Feds

. Charlie wakes up in the restroom after the fight to the smiling face of Drake Miller, the guy Charlie remembers from the night Val was killed; Miller hints that he's been keeping an eye on Charlie and that he suspects that Charlie's writing has changed, possibly a hint that he suspects Charlie is working with Gil; just before Charlie passes out again Miller suggests they have lunch and hands him his business card; later in the car with Maya he pulls out the card which isn't a card but is a slip of paper on which is written "Call me. We need to talk - Tina"

9/28

Eternals (1976) 4

The Night of the Demons!

By Jack Kirby, John Verpoorten, and Irv Watanabe

Oct 1976

. Kro and a horde of Deviants attack NYC; Ikaris tries taking them on by himself but he is knocked out, captured, and placed in a capsule that is dumped to the bottom of the ocean

. Sersi tells Margo about her past, about encounters with Ulysses and Merlin, just before they are attacked by a trio of Deviants; Sersi defeats the trio by turning them into lizards but decides it is time to call for reinforcements

. From a great distance, in the Andes Mountains, Ajak sees what happens to Ikaris but chooses not to interfere just yet

. Announcements from the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page: 1) Archie Goodwin is the new Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, 2) the Treasury size adaptation of 2001: A Space Ofyssey written and drawn by Jack Kirby will soon be released

9/27

Alias (2001) 1

Alias Investigations - Part 1

By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

Nov 2001

. Jessica Jones, private investigator, former superhero and Avenger

. She makes a living now snooping on cheating wives and looking for missing persons, for a fee

. She has a one-night stand with Luke Cage and accidentally spies on Captain America while working on a case

. This is a good opening chapter, a real mixed bag which isn't very focused but instead provides a sample of what Jessica's average day is like, or so I'm guessing

. Michael Gaydos does not draw people pretty in this book, I'm okay with that; I really like the visual storytelling and the placement of word balloons; I wonder if that was all Gaydos or Bendis or both

. Of course I'm reading this after watching the first season of the TV series based on this comic and am seeing some of the same stuff but I know enough to know that it isn't identical, I really enjoyed the first season of the tv show, more than either of the first two seasons of Daredevil 

9/26

Eternals (1976) 3

The Devil in New York!
By Jack Kirby, J. Verpoorten, and John Costanza
Sep 1976

. As Arishem's followers begin to disembark Ajak reveals that the area is about to be sealed off for 50 years; Ikaris flees taking Margo with him, against her will; Dr Damian opts to stay behind with Ajak and his crew
. Ikaris and Margo are attacked by deviants led by Kro who has changed his form slightly and now looks very much like traditional depictions of the Devil; Kro's change is completely intentional and part of his plan to defeat the Celestials
. After eluding Kro and his crew, Ikaris and Margo head to NYC; they visit Sersy, another eternal and Ikaris asks her to keep an eye on Margo while he goes to battle Kro and the deviants

. the story continues to slowly build; I love the way Kro and Ikaris are each evolving; I am wondering if that is the last we will see of Ajak and Dr Damian
. what is Sersy's deal? who is she? what can she do? how will Margo interact with her?
. still love the splash pages

. Eternal Utterings features the three letters, two of which ask that the Eternals be kept in their own universe separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe, one of which is from future Marvel editor and writer Ralph Macchio whose earliest writing credits are from the summer of 76
. Marvel Bullpen Bulletins features the following announcements (1) Marv Wolfman has stepped down as editor and returned to writing and that his replacement will soon be announced, (2) Roy Thomas has come up with a new title called What If...?, (3) Steve Englehart is moonlighting as an astrologer, (4) Steve Gerber is selling Howard the Duck for President buttons

Bury the Past

A Tale from an Altered Frontier
By E. Baird

. Lukas, a stranger in town, winds up in jail after a run in with Davies, a local tough guy; Catalina de Léon, the marshal who arrested him, gives Lukas a second chance and he starts working at the saloon where he got into trouble
. A few weeks go by; Lukas seems to be fitting in quite well; Milan, a bounty hunter, comes to town looking for Lukas;

. Whether it was intentional or not I don't know but some of the male characters, maybe just Lukas, looked more feminine than masculine to my eyes
. When I spoke to the creator at SPX she said the stories were inspired by the Gunsmoke radio program, I think there's a note in the book saying that, too; on the whole the story feels like it could be adaptation of an episode of Gunsmoke; the characters lacked depth of nuance; it felt more like an exercise in visual storytelling than it did a fully fleshed out story
. The story was originally posted one page at a time on the Internet and once I knew that I could see it in the way each page flows and the way the story flows from page to page
. The placement and way in which word balloons were connected was a bit strange and felt experimental
. Glad that I just bought the one issue and didn't buy the set; it's possible that this is a poor sample of the author's work but I wasn't inspired to seek out more even though there is more available on the web for free

9/22

Space Captain 1

Captain of Space
By Michael Park and Chris Baldie
Less Special Second Edition Nov 2015

. An alien explorer discovers a body buried in a capsule on a snowy planet (Foran 4); the man in the capsule is still alive; he is the last human; he has been asleep for 1,000 years
. The Trogmador explorer takes the human to a Gondari doctor who revives the human; the human has dreams of encountering skeleton like beings and also of happier times with his wife, Kathy; other than that he can't remember much
. A Kaztani bounty hunter gets word of the human and comes looking for him; she finds him thanks to the explorer who is out celebrating his discovery and blabs about it in public; what makes it such a big deal is the fact that he is the last human
. The bounty hunter tries tricking the human into going with her but the human figures out what is going on, fights back, and escapes capture; he departs Foran 4 with the explorer

. like the way the book is drawn, in particular I like the way the panels are sizes, arranged, and organized

9/20

Amiculus (Ch 9)

IX: Flagellum Dei

. Orestes deals with a thorn in his side, Eugenius, who leads a group that opposes Orestes; Eugenius arrests Orestes but Orestes is one step ahead of Eugenius; in the end Eugenius' allies are slain before him and he commits suicide rather than submit
. A good chunk of this chapter is devoted to filling in some of Orestes background; he tells Eugenius of his time serving Attila the Hun and one of the lessons he learned

. I like the use of a different color palette for scenes that take place in the the "past"; even so it got a little confusing for me at times differentiating between the past and the present

. The notes at the back helped to flesh things out and to clarify them a bit, as did the short conversation I had yesterday with writer Travis Horseman at SPX

9/19

Chelo's Burden

Reprinted in Heartbreak Soup
by Gilbert Hernandez

. Captioned panels which introduce two threads
. The first is titular Chelo, her story of her early years, why she can't have children, and how she same to be a midwife
. The other is the story of two "brothers" (Soledad and Manuel); they are brothers in the sense that they were both born on the same night and grew up together; there is no biological basis to their bond
. End of the story hints that there is more to the story of Soledad and Manuel

Amiculus (Ch 8)

VIII: Dulcedo Memoriae, Part 2

. Orestes alliance with the barbarians ends when he refuses to give them what they want, 1/3 of Italy
. Orestes is seemingly killed in a battle with the barbarians but later emerges
. The good times end for Romulus
. Amiculus who only seems to have been a rumor until now takes human form (or does he?)
. This chapter is a little confusing in its purpose and what it is putting forth
.

9/16

Amiculus (Ch 7)

VII: Interlude

. Procopius takes a break from reading because he thinks someone is watching him; he startles a young monk who was bringing him food and then interrogates him
. Meanwhile a mysterious figure lingers in the shadows watching Procopius and the young monk

9/15

Ghost World (Ch 8)

Chapter 8 - October

- I'm thinking now, even though it wasn't explicitly clear to me, that based on the title of this chapter that it took place over the summer after that Enid and Rachel graduated from high school
- Enid is the main character, Rachel is the sidekick; Enid is constantly changing her look throughout the story whereas Rachel stays more or less the same
- Lots happens in this, the longest and final chapter of the book
- Enid and Rachel hang out at the diner where they run into someone they haven't seen in a long time
- Enid and Rachel go over to Josh's place to hang out with Josh and WA ch TV
- Enid gets her driver's license and a car (a hearse), Enid and Rachel go on a trip to Cavetown, but it is a mockery of Enid's memory of the place, of which she had great memories
- The trip was supposed to be a test run for Enid's trip to college but she doesn't get into Swarthmore, later the car has a for sale sign on it
- Rachel and Josh start dating
- Enid talks about running away and then does just that

- There is the suggestion of in requited love between Enid and Rachel; the last words from Enid are a comment on Rachel's beauty; earlier in the chapter when they were on the Cavetown trip they talked about staying together forever

9/15

Amiculus (Ch 6)

VI: Trans Tiberim

. Ioannes shows up to relieve Valerius of command of the legion guarding the city only to discover that things aren't exactly as they seem; it turns out Valerius had made a deal with the barbarians, a deal which the barbarians decide not to uphold

9/14

Ghost World (Ch 7)

Chapter 7 - A Smile and a Ribbon

- Enid and Rachel look at old pictures and Enid gets nostalgic for a record she had as a child
- They leave a crank note for Josh
- They get into a fight over the future, their future
- Enid goes home and cries and then goes to see Josh; they kiss; it looks like they might do more but then she leaves
- When she gets home she finds that her father has put her old records and record player on her bed
- She falls asleep listening to the record she was obsessing about earlier; in the morning she calls Rachel

9/13

Amiculus (Ch 5)

V: Ioannes

- The government is on the run, in hiding from the barbarians who have attacked Rome
- Orestes seems to be taking control of the small group of senators; he tries to get Ioannes to take control of an advance military force that hasn't been heard from but Ioannes doesn't seem to have the mental toughness to get the job done
- Orestes flips out when one of the senators suggests turning over the young emperor to the barbarians; he beats the senator to death, which seems to invigorate Ioannes
- In the moment when Orestes is delivering the beating he looks for a moment like Amiculus; foreshadowing?
- This book really could use a cast of characters page; I sometimes get mixed up with all the archaic names

9/12

Amiculus (Ch 4)

Vol. 2: Flagellum Dei
By Travis Horseman and Giancarlo Caracuzzo

IV: Dulcedo Memoriae, Part 1

. A look back at happier time from the young emperor's past, when his parents were still alive
. Apparently his father was not the emperor before him, that was Julius Nepos; so how did the succession work in the mid to late 5th century?

9/12

Ghost World (Ch 6)

Chapter 6 - The Norman Square

- Enid and Rachel spend more time at the diner
- They run into Melorra at the diner, she has really gotten into acting, she's taking classes and now has actor friends
- Melorra's happiness really seems to agitate Rachel and Enid
- They try propositioning Josh but he isn't down with the idea of having a baby with either of them
- They fall asleep on a bench at a decommissioned bus stop holding hands only to wake up and realize the stop has been reactivated; is this a metaphor for something?

9/12

Fury Max 1

While All the Planet's Litle Wars Start Joining Hands
by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov
July 2012

- Indochina, 1954; Fury is being punished for his actions in a battle during the Korean War with his current assignment; he has a young
- the most appealing thing about this issue is the art; the story doesn't do as much for me as I hoped it would
- it feels like a generic cold war era story into which Nick Fury has been injected
- I'm not crazy about the horizontal panels that stretch the width of the page; there are very few panels in this issue that don't stretch the width of the page; maybe it is just the fact that this is the dominant look that bothers me
- this series only ran for thirteen issues; this story only ran for three issues but I'm not running out to pick up any more issues from this series in the near future

Ghost World (Ch 5)

Chapter 5 - Hubba Hubba

- Enid and Rachel hang out in a diner; their waiter's name is Al but they call him Weird Al; he looks a little bit like the real Weird Al, mostly it's the hair
- they respond to an ad in the personals after they get home; an ad which is directed at someone particular but not them; they suggest a meetup at the diner
- they are at the diner when the guy shows up; he figures it out eventually and curses at them under his breath before leaving
- seems cruel and funny at the same time

9/9

The Fade Out 6

To Set the World on Fire
By Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser
May 2015

- Charlie escorts Maya to a movie premiere after Tyler Graves got injured in a car accident; having Charlie escort Maya was Dottie's idea after Charlie sent her flowers to make up for the way he behaved in TFO4
- Charlie can't stop thinking about Val; at the after party he approaches Flapjack and tries talking to him about Val and the Krazy Kids at the ranch
- Maya gets into an argument with Desi Arnaz at the after party; it's his band that is playing the party and with whom Flapjack is playing; Charlie says the right thing to make her feel better and they wind up in bed together
- Gil goes to a party thrown by Dashiell Hammett; he asks Hammett for advice which in the end it looks like he takes but maybe that's just a red herring
- possibly the most interesting bit is the difference Charlie and Gil have about alcohol; Charlie drinks it to forget, Gil because he thinks it brings out the best on him; at the end of the night both men lie about how it went; Gil doesn't tell Charlie about going to the party and Charlie doesn't tell Gil about what happened after the after party

- not a whole lot of plot development here or at least that's the way it felt; it's hard to say sometimes until after you've seen the whole picture
- in addition to Arnaz and Hammett, Humphrey Bogart also makes a cameo appearance, possibly there were other celebrity cameos that I didn't recognize

9/8

Ghost World (Ch 4)

Chapter 4 - The First Time

- Enid and Rebecca talk on the phone; Enid does most of the talking and all if the storytelling
- first she tells Rebecca about a trip to a sex shop with a boy and then she tells Rebecca about her first time

9/7

Eternals (1976) 2

The Celestials!
By Jack Kirby, John Verpoorten (inks), and John Costanza (letters)
Aug 1976

- the Gods have returned
- Kro is vocally defiant and lighting shoots forth from the spaceship of the Gods in reaction to his outburst
- all are sent running; Kro and his Deviant cohort take off in their submersible craft
-Ikaris, Dr. Damian, and Margo are left behind ; Ikaris tells them about the history of the Debiants and some of his own personal exploits including when during the great flood he guided the arc of humans to dry land; the flood was the Gods' reaction to the Deviants defiance; it sank their cities thus driving them beneath the sea
- Ikaris locates and activates a resurrection chamber which brings back to life the Inca God Tecumotzin and several of his warriors; Tecumotzin turns out to be Ikaris' old friend Ajak who had been living among the Inca for years as their God
- the issue ends with a Celestial, Arishem leader of the Fourth Cohort, touching down on Earth

- not a whole lot of action but I love the way Kirby weaves various mythologies together; it fires my imagination to greater heights and gives me a bit of a head rush
- lots of splash pages including a double (pp. 2-3)

- Eternal Utterings: Gods, Myths, and UFOs
- Kirby writes about the fascination with the origins of life on Earth and what those UFOs might actually be
- he also speculates about how characters from today's comic books might influence myths and rituals in the mid 26th century

9/6

The Punisher (2000) 4

Wild Kingdom
By Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, and Jimmy Palmiotti

- after getting spotted by Ma Gnucci and her gang Punisher gets chased into the zoo; lacking firepower he uses animals as weapons
- Punisher makes out ok, and Ma Gnucci survives, just barely, but her thugs aren't as fortunate
- Detective Soap is still a bit distraught over the suicide of Budd Plugg when he meets Detective Molly Von Richthofen who claims to be the biggest embarrassment to the NYPD
- the murderous priest seems to have found a purpose in life when he finds a newspaper article about the Punisher

- still not sold on this series even though I'm still reading it *sigh*
- it reads very fast, not a whole lot of meat on the bone; Steve Dillon's art is the only thing that really interests me about the series; otherwise it seems fairly pedestrian

9/1

Ghost World (Ch 3)

by Daniel Clowes

Chapter 3 - Punk Day

- Enid and Rebecca
- punk look
- sexual preference, all guys are gross
- Bob Skeetes; crank call
- masturbation; Mr. Pierce fantasy

The Fade Out 5

The Broken Ones
By Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser
Apr 2015

- Gil Mason can't stick to a plan; when the shoot moves upstate he is supposed to stay in the mottl and wait for Charlie to call him; instead he goes down the road for a drink; there he sees Al Kamp and is approached by Phil Brodsky; Brodsky is there to keep an eye on Kamp but quickly gravitates to Gil; the two men go for a ride; Phil tells Gil a story about teaching an actor a lesson; the story is supposed to get Gil to behave but by the end of the issue it seems like Gil has other things on his mind
- Charlie spends time with Maya, wants to make amends with Dottie, and daydreams about Val; he is smitten by Maya who really turns on the charm; he is under a lot of pressure  from Schmidt to fix the script but when he calls Gil is nowhere to be found
- Al Kamp is the co-founder of Victory Street Pictures and built it during the days of silent cinema; he feels very entitled when it comes to how he handles women both in the present at the bar where Gil winds up and in the past in a memory that Charlie has that involves Val

- another solid issue which just makes me want to read more, which is a good thing since I have already bought all 12 issues
- I love the feel of this story and the way it is told jumping back and forth between past and present
- I'm never sure what to say about Sean Phillips art; it gets the job done without being too flashy but it does more than just get the job done because I can't recall ever being disappointed in it or thinking that the writing was good but the art was substandard; the art never seems to get in the way of telling the story

8/30

Ghost World (Ch 1,2)

by Daniel Clowes

Chapter 1 - Ghost World
Chapter 2 - Garage Sale

- two friends hanging out during the summer, talking, arguing, making up stories about people they see in the neighborhood
- I'm not sure what their names are at this point
- aside from one home or the other they also hang out in a diner, a grocery store, at a yard sale
- there's a couple who they refer to as the Satanists, but they don't really know if they are Satanists or not

Eternals (1976) 1

The Day of the Gods
By Jack Kirby and John Verpoorten (inks)
Jul 1976

- in some ruins in the Andes three explorers Dr. Damian, Margo Damian (his daughter), and Ike Harris find the Chamber of the Gods; beautiful splash pages
- Ike reveals that he knows more than his two companions as tells them stories and searches for something that will allow him to call the Gods
- in Lemuria, beneath the Pacific Ocean, Tode and Kro plan to destroy the Cosmic Beacon which will summon the Gods
- Ike reveals his true identity (Ikaris) and tells Dr. Damian and Margo about the Gods and the 3 related races they created through the experiments they conducted on apes in the distant past: Deviants, Humans, and Eternals
- Ikaris removes his disguise and reveals his true appearance; Kro and a squad of Deviants arrives to destroy the beacon
-Ikaris demonstrates his superpowers as single-handed he holds off the Deviants
- As the issue ends the gods arrive but their appearance will not be revealed until next issue
- I love the architecture of the ruins where most of the story; especially the arrival of the Deviants

Green Lantern (1960) 40

The Secret Origin of the Guardians!
By John Broome, Gil Kane, Sid Greene
Oct 1965

- 1st appearance of Krona
- origin of the universe, birth of evil
- 1st GL team-up

- starts on E2 where a meteor hits Gotham, except it isn't a meteor, passes through a beam of Greem light from AS's ring, and suddenly the ring can affect wood
- AS goes to E1 and finds Hal to tell him the news only to discover that the ring no longer works against wood; so Alan commands to tell him what happened what follows is a 4-page origin of Krona and Oa
- Realizing that Krona was behind it all the GLs seek out the Guardians who warn them that L is wrecking all kinds of damage to E2
- mountains are collapsing, tidal waves are about to engulf Coast City but the GLs manage to save the day
- after saving E2 the GLs are contacted by the Guardians who have set up a temporary HQ in an abandoned courtroom on E1; when the GLs arrive they tell Hal to turn in his ring and his uniform because Alan is taking over for him
- Hal gets angry and challenges Alan to a GL duel; they fight and Alan wins; turns out Krona used his mental powers to take over Alan; after he beats Hal he departs Alan's body but makes a copy of his ring
Wtf?!
- they defeat Krona only after Alan's spirit leaves his body and enters Hal's body; but Hal is still aware; together in one body they are able to team-up and defeat the renegade Oan

- what exactly are Krona's powers?
- how did Alan contact Hal telepathically? Using his ring?
- too any convenient excuses and explanations, way too convoluted
- very forced, not great, not impressive
- can't recommend it to anyone but the most diehard fan or comic book historian (amateur or professional)
- if not for the fact that so much was built on this story it would be nothing, meaningless
- in all fairness I'm not a big fan of DC superhero comics if this era and prefer their Sci-Fi books like Doom Patrol and Challengers of the Unknown and books that don't seem to take themselves too seriously

Green Lantern of Earth-2
- in the silver age prior to this Alan had appeared in two issues of Flash, two JLA/JSA team-ups and one issue of Showcase; the appearances in Flash and Showcase are also in this collection
- the two Flash appearances are little more cameos, single page appearances
- Final GA appearance was in All-Star Comics 57 (Feb/Mar 1951), just before it was renamed All-Star Western