This is the poster that I did for the South Attleboro Comic Convention. It is a great little show, and I had a lot of fun doing the poster. I never would sit there and say to myself, ‘I think I will draw a mummy…’ but that is what Harry wanted, and I had a blast. I did the pencil drawing, then I inked it with a brush and India ink (speedball), then I used prismacolor grays on a photocopy, and finally I scanned it and colored it in Photoshop. I used to go straight to coloring, but when I found this method I liked the more organic looking color results.

Recently I have found that there are things that I appreciate and enjoy much more than I did when I was a younger comic reader.  When I was an upstart reader Colossus versus the Juggernaut was enough, or good art was enough, but a common thread through all of these things is the cool factor. 

Fun is something I appreciate more now that it seems more finite than ever. Eisner had the ability to embody fun but it was usually juxtaposed with serious undertones or heavy subject matter.  I think that Byrne could do fun, but there was a line that he only crossed in strictly gimmick books like “What The?”.  I am enjoying more and more writers and artists that create comics that are self-aware and use the medium to its strengths.  I chose some recent dollar bin books to help illustrate these ideas.

Thor #437 (Marvel Comics 1991)

Tom Defalco was at one time the Editor-in-Chief at the Marvel offices.  He freelanced outside of comics, but has consistently worked in the industry since the early 1970’s.  His writing is full of tales from the human experience that are laced with optimism, a sense of destiny, and comedy.  I don’t assume that these are the things that the man has lived by, but in the few conversations I have had with the man at comic conventions there hasn’t been a single one without a laugh.

When DeFalco took over for Walt Simonson he was following up what is regarded as the best run on the book since the Lee and Kirby days in the 1960’s.  Defalco shortly thereafter banishes Thor for killing Loki, and essentially taking the two main characters from the last thirty years and throwing them out the window.  He then replaces the Donald Blake/Thor combination for Eric Masterson. Masterson is a much more human and empathetic character, and as he is learning the ropes of Asgard and the other realms, new readers are learning along with him.

Living up to the legacy of those that came before us is one of my favorite tales.  It dives into out ideas of the basis of heroism and in a young man’s case living up to the ideals of the father.  It is essentially the next step in the coming-of-age tale. Whether it is Eric Masterson, Kyle Rayner, Dick Grayson, or any other hero with the destiny of assent; I always enjoy reading those stories.

In this specific issue we are reintroduced to the ridiculousness of Marvel’s Hercules, Quasar, and the Enchantress.  Hercules turns the new Thor on Quasar; Hercules tries to turn Quasar on Thor, and the Enchantress makes the whole thing a mess. It is a simple self-contained tale with a few quips, some jokes, and a human quality that I always felt was lacking in other runs of Thor.

People have told me that Thor is more like Superman learning his humanity in early adulthood rather than childhood, but after 30-plus years of seeing Midgard through the eyes of a god it was time to see Asgard through the eyes of a man.  Although I am sure that people would argue, “well, now he’s just Spiderman, right??” but I would say it is different… because.

Ron Frenz does a great job penciling in the quintessential Marvel style that only could be bettered by John Romita or Buscema.  In my few meetings with him I would talk his ear off, and he was always polite and gracious. Al Milgrom (a good artist in his own right) does a superb inking job.

GRADE: (A) This is a comic book in every sense of the word.  The art is good, the writing is great, and the human elements allow the reader to take more out of it if they wish.

(PS) If the Jim Lee X-Men #1 and the Image Comics boom hadn’t happened (and changed the fundamental way in which comics were made) it would be interesting to think where the industry would have gone creatively if it was more about making good comics (like this one) rather than superficial images.

Super-Friends #1 (DC Comics 1976)

The show left a lot to be desired, but if you were between the ages of 3 and eleven when it was on, just seeing the characters moving was enough to make it a must-watch.  This book came out a couple years after the original show had ended. When it comes to comics that are based on television shows o properties I will not but them unless they are original stories.  For years Marvel did series after series of books that were just comic book versions of the t.v. series, and as a young reader with little money I was always disappointed to find this out upon reading the comic (post-purchase).

This particular book is actually quite a bit of fun.  It pits the bad guys, who are training sidekicks to battle the Superfriends’ sidekicks, against our heroes in a fundamental clash of good versus evil.  There is not a lot of mystery, and not a lot in the way of surprises, but the gags are fun and the campy comedy that is reminiscent of the Adam West Batman were enough story-wise to keep me in it. 

The art is by a guy who was totally underrated in his time Joe Orlando. Joe Orlando was buddies with Wally Wood during the E.C. Days and went on to work at DC for many years after that.  He did a lot of editorial work, but they guy could draw. His faces were better then Wood’s because he had a larger repertoire.  Woody drew great faces, but a lot of the time the women all looked the same and the men looked like generic comic men.  Joe could make more individual characters.  His composition was not quite as strong, and his design sense was a step down. 

The book is fun and quick.  There is one point worth noting and that is Poison Ivy’s sidekick “Honeysuckle.” I know that it is supposed to be innocent but the under-aged girl with leaf pasties on her nipples and a garter made me cringe… juuust a little bit.  

GRADE: (B-) No buyer’s remorse.  I would be happy to give this to a younger reader to try to get them into the hobby or an older reader who likes comics that are more back-to-basics.

I wish that I had something to rip on , but the dollar bin has been good to me lately! The whole purpose of this post is to tell you about fun books, and even though I like to rip into stuff now and then, I try to just enjoy comics. Stay tuned though, if you like a good ripping I will be doing the second issue of Stand! this week, and since I haven’t done one in a while it is a double feature!

Well, that is how it goes sometimes… I have returned from a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, I have worked far too much on things I don’t care about, and I have had numerous other, “have-to’s (as my mother would say)” take up too much of my time lately.

I finally made it back to the Quincy dollar bin that I love so well to find a slew of new dusty old comics ready to be read and enjoyed.  Although I grabbed my limit for the week I have yet to take in everything that they all have to offer.  I know that you kind folks are waiting with bated breath for my review of the coveted Welcome Back Kotter #1, but that will have to wait for another day.

I have the South Coast Toy and Comic Show this weekend, so I am sure to grab  a few dollar bin goodies while out on the cape.  I will try harder to get more stuff on here, but with just a home PC and the Stanley Cup Finals still underway it is hard to promise anything.  I suppose this is what smart-phones and tablets are really for.  

Amazing Adventures #18 (Marvel Comics 1973)

I have, in more than one occasion, admitted to liking less than top-quality science fiction. Marvel attempted to re-explain the ending of the H.G. Wells classic War of the Worlds.  Is it a sequal? Is it a retelling of the finale? In either case I am shocked this book got started.

Neal Adams did the art for the first half of the first issue, and back then that was enough.  An upstart named Howard Chaykin did the final half of the first issue and the second.  Let’s not lose focus here, issue one had Neal Adams and Gerry Conway (the modern equivalent of Jim Lee and Geoff Johns), so it should be good right? Ehhh… I read something that Adams left because he was too busy doing designs for a broadway show, and Chaykin was grabbed at the eleventh hour and did the second half in a few days.

It was something new and Marvel did put front-end guys on it to begin with.  Then they threw Herb Trimpe on the book, and thought they were leaving it for dead when Don McGregor and some guy named P. Craig Russell took it over. The fact is that the book became something noteworthy, but inconsistent creative direction and staff caused turmoil for the book in sales and quality. 

I have seen this book in the dollar-bins for years.  It is usually wedged between a few issues of Bloodshot and Dreadstar. Killraven’s design is terrible, so I envision the Neal Adams broadway play getting the “better work” of that time.  It’s not good, but it’s not awful.    

GRADE: (C- If you are a dollar-bin junky it is cool to see the early Adams and Chaykin stuff, but it comes off as Escape From New York if it were made for the Sci-Fi channel in the 1970’s)

(P.S.) How many artists did John Romita Sr. paste a face that he drew over theirs on the cover? Starlin, Russell, Chaykin, Kirby… I want a complete list!

We wrapped things up at the Attleboro Comic Con early in the evening on Sunday.  I was abe to trade some books, and made a few bucks, so I hit not only the dollar bins, but the 25-cent bins too! Small shows are great because you can interact more with the dealers, and I am not fighting for space as well as time.  

I picked up some great stuff.  I am still reading whatever Charlton horror books from the Silver Age as I can get my hands on, and I am appreciating some of their later stuff. Tom Sutton in particular is becoming one of my favorite contemporary horror artists.

My major purchase was only $3, and it was a copy of the Scorpio Connection by Archie Goodwin and Howard Chaykin.  It was fantastic.  The other major purchase was a $2 copy of Atlas’s Grim Ghost #1 (Sadly disqualified from the dollar-bin reviews). I am looking for the Series ‘The Scorpion’ by Atlas Comics, anybody have a lead? 

Captain Atom #83 (Modern Comics 1977)

Topps/Modern is better known fo printing baseball cards, but in the late 1970’s they took a crack at republishing some Charlton Comics that hadn’t seen print in ten years or so.  Their printing was much more consistent and the colors more vivid than that of the old Derby Press of Charlton.

The Captain Atom story is one that should sound familiar to the average comic fan.  An all-powerful being whose powers lose their containment and are found to be harmful and radioactive to ordinary people.  This issue was obviously the key to Alan Moore’s Dr. Manhatten. Ditko created a thought provoking adventure with enough action for even the youngest reader to still enjoy.

The second story in this issue is the first appearance of the Blue Beetle. I learned that it was actually scripted by Gary Fiedrich. I had always been under the impression that Ditko had done everything except ink it because for Charlton he was doing so much work that he could only ink a few projects at any one time.  

The Blue Beetle story has a few holes in it, but it was fun to see where the origin came from.  The first story is the more innocent and traditional superhero-type story.  The later issues of the Blue Beetle became bogged down by Randian philosophies.

GRADE: (B - The Captain Atom Story is much better than the Blue Beetle one.  The art is great and the story was solid.  I wish that DC would return the Captain to being a man trying to cope with abilities that are poisonous to the people he defends rather than the all-powerful government soldier.)

(P.S.) I picked this book up from Jim of Bedrock Comics - he ALWAYS has great old books at his table if that is your preferred dollar-bin drug of choice.

Strange Tales #123 (Marvel Comics 1964)

Beat, but complete… that is what we readers-first, collectors-second say.  My new copy of this is nowhere near as nice as the one in the picture, but it is complete, and still covered and stapled.  I find tons of these, and while I could read a re-colored, re-printed trade, I would rather experience it the way it was initially intended.

The first story is the generic origin of ‘The Beetle’ a Spider-Man villain of the 1980’s that was revamped and redone to be more like the Hobgoblin.  Darlin’ Dick Ayers gives a steady performance as the illustrator and the power-obsessed inventor becomes the clunky villain before you.  The Human Torch stories never really did much for me, but it is the second story that carried the book for me.

Strange Tales is still worth reading because of Steve Ditko’s Dr. Strange.  This is the only one I know of that he teams up with another of Marvel’s heavy-hitters.  The Thor/Dr. Strange story is fantastic.  Ditko was at the height of his superhero-style art prowess, and Loki was the perfect villain. 

GRADE: (C+ The Dr. Strange/Thor Story carried it. I like Dick Ayers’s art and inking, but ol’ Torchy couldn’t carry a book for me.  I think he is a perfect piece to a cast, but not a leading man.)

Cover to Healed #3 Subject of Stand!: Independent Comic Review #1

By Shawn Griffin and George O’Connor

homelesscomics.com

Stand!: Independent Comics Reviews #1

Why ‘Stand!’? The easy answer is that if we stand together and help each other we are strong, but for me it also means standing amongst my professional peers. We are all in the same boat together: working all day or all night for someone else, and using what little free time we have to create, nay forcibly birth something, into this world. So, it’s a call to action, and a nod with great respect and understanding to my independent Argonauts of the comic world.

Healed: No Diseases. No Illness. Now What?

By Shawn Griffin and George O’Connor

The concept is obvious from the title, and the short stories contained therein are greatly personalized by the individual characters.  Each issue is three short stories that follow different characters, and how their lives are effected by this event.  The first issue had some extreme examples that involve faith’s clash with desperation and fear. Some stories are heavier than others, but each issue thus far I have enjoyed.

For an independent book it does everything that I want it to do.  I want it to be a riskier concept than something that Marvel or DC would attempt, and  I also want there to be risks taken with the language and artwork.  What I mean by that is that I want dialog to sound more like how people talk in their homes and on the street rather than in a t.v. drama. As for the art I don’t necessarily want 8-Panel Pages with a beginning and ending Splash Page in every book. The last thing that is great about jumping on to a good independent comic is that each issue gets better, and each issue becomes your favorite because of it. It makes the reader feel like they are a part of something that is growing, and it is a mutually-rewarding experience for the readers and the creators.

A couple years back I met Griffin when he responded to one of my numerous posts on craigslist looking for artists.  I commissioned him to do a story in the Small Town Type King-Sized Special.  It was his first published comics work, and it had the flaws of a first-crack.  I think he even scrapped the whole thing at one point and did it over again.

Each issue of Healed has shown consistent growth in layout, anatomy, and perspective. Creating an original lexicon of visual symbols, textures, and camera angles is the hardest way to create a comic.  It is much easier and more well-received by general comic fans when heavy mainstream influences are not just obvious to the reader, but meant to be seen as, ‘Kirby dots’. Griffin is creating a new look and feel with digital and traditional mediums, and doing so in a new book with a fresh concept. This is why I feel that some people don’t react well to the art at times - it’s something that the average Marvel/DC reader has never seen, and differences are confused with mistakes.

It is solid and growing.  His anatomy and perspective still need to grow and undoubtedly they will. At points I think that there are too many painterly gradients in the backgrounds (but I have reservations regarding all digital rendering outside of Healed).

George’s writing thus far is solid.  The concept, stories, and subject matter are mostly serious, but he executes them without becoming too heavy-handed.  Issue 3 specifically he better uses the literary tool of understatement which is entirely absent from mainstream comics, and is a powerful weapon in his arsenal.

I have not read a raw script from George, so I can not comment as to the extent of the collaboration.  From the conversations I have had with him and Griffin; he writes a complete script, Griffin illustrates, and George gets the final edit and cut. I am confident in giving George full writing credit and there is no ‘Marvel Method’ controversy within the Homeless Comics bullpen.

The first two issues have some typical first book flaws.  The lettering clashes with some of the layouts on the pages, the printing is by an online printer so I think that it could be better (as with issue 3 as well), and Griffin’s panel-to-panel work is still growing. None of these things are major flaws.

Healed - B

If you are one of those stuck-up schoolkids that complained that a B was a bad grade, then never read my reviews again! I am that ass of a science teacher that doesn’t give A’s or extra credit. A ‘B’ is a damn good grade.

Each issue gets better and better, and the most recent issue pushed me to a B. With a little success hopefully higher sales will result in investing in better printing (THIS WILL PROBABLY APPEAR IN ALMOST ALL HOME-MADE COMIC REVIEWS), and by the time the trade paperback comes out we will be looking at a solid piece of Independent Boston Comic Art.

Check out homelesscomics.com or email the guys at homelesscomics@gmail.com 

I try to be honest. I am going to try my best to use my extensive knowledge of the history and art of comics to create compelling and interesting reviews of these treasures of the “indy rack”.

Marvel Premiere #27 one of the covers for my Dime-Box reviews

Marvel Feature 6 by Frank Thorne

Image for Baron Weirwulf’s Haunted Library #1 Cover by Don Newton

Update:
It’s been a while.  I finished the latest book, did the Boston comic con, and a few other appearances.  It has been a rough few months.  My day job is still arduous, and I spent basically every waking moment outside of it finishing “Small Town Type” issue four.  I am going to be starting a new review for independent comics on here, and the first I will put up today.

I am going to try like hell to catch up with more of my favorite dollar bin reviews, “The Buck Stops Here - Dime Bin Essentials.” I read way more cheap old comics than new ones, and I have some knee-high stacks filled with hidden gems and shit tacos that I can’t wait to tell you about.  From flying sharks, to the jaw-dropping vintage P. Craig Russell art I will bring it your way without any strings attached.

The Boston Comic Con was fantastic.  We sold lots of books, met lots of folks, and saw some amazing new art.  I have a lot of the stories over on the Fat Cat Funnies facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=217584214921057&set=a.206029152743230.61709.112588142087332&type=1&ref=nf#!/pages/Fat-Cat-Funnies/112588142087332).

I did Free Comic Book day at the New England Comics in Quincy, and I did a lot of fun sketches for a lot of kids.  I think my favorite was a rendition of “Inspector Gadget.”  I had never drawn him prior, but I was happy with the results. I did a plethora of the usual requests, Deadpool, Spiderman, and Dora the Explorer, but I had a great time. 

We also finished our official website: www.fatcatfunnies.com. We have all kinds of stuff on there, and our official submission guidelines for publications.

I know that I can’t promise any kind of regularity, but I will try to at least maintain quality, so thanks for checking back, and let me know what you think.

Best Wishes,

Ian

The Buck Stops Here - Dime Bin Essentials Vol. V

Baron Weirwulf’s Hanted Library #1 (Charlton Comics 1975)

Charlton is mostly remembered for its contributiont to the current DC universe and The Watchmen, but it did have some very good anthologies. “Haunted” was a Charlton mainstay, but when Dick Giordano took over as Editor-In-Chief he really shook things up, and one of the ways he did it was put younger artists with something to prove on main-line books.  He took off some of the older artists from “Hauted” and replaced them with the likees of Tom Sutton, Joe Staton, and Pat Boyette.

It contains numerous shorts that are complete, and the first story by Tom Sutton is fantastic.  It begins as a regular run-of-the-mill ghost story, but takes a sudden turn and becomes a very effective tale of Lovecraftian terror.  It plays on several primal fears, and takes hold of the reader in only a few pages.  Tom Sutton is an artist I have grown to appreciate more as I have gotten older, and his horror stuff is just fantastic.

Pat Boyette’s art creeps me out the more I see of it.  He was Mike Mignola before there was a Mike Mignola.  His architectural design, heavy foreground shadowing, and fantastic monsters draw a pretty clear line to me between the two artists.

Joe Staton did his usual of sneaking n a couple of overly busty ladies within the story.  Although his art and chosen subjects matured greatly throughout his career; his time at Charlton was very much a product of his youth.

Don Newton does a few one-and-done single page stories, and paints a beautiful cover to create a perfectly complete single issue.  This book was in fantastic shape and generally sells for more than a buck, so I was extatic to find it.  If you are a dollar-bin junky learn your non-Marvel and non-DC inventories.  Most of the time dealers don’t take a lot of time to go through a box of independents, but if you know what you are looking for it is easy pickings for higher value books.

GRADE: (A - No buyer’s remorse. I always enjoy looking at artist’s early works, and I love a ood anthology of finished horror shorts. 

Marvel Premiere #27 (Marvel 1975)

GRADE: (D-) - Satan with boobs, not as cool as it sounds, even when she declares “I am a Succubus!” to a lynch mob… still not cool.

Marvel Feature Presents… Red Sonja#6 (Marvel 1976)

Grade: (B+) The art is beautiful, the story is interesting, but as Thorne eventually came the conclusion I have to agree with him: neither Marvel nor DC could do a Fantasy book any better than average.  This is as good as it gets for mainstream fantasy.