Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for November 23, 2022

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

AUG221068 06 PROTOCOL #2 $4.99

JUN222175 100 GIRLFRIENDS WHO REALLY LOVE YOU GN VOL 04 (MR) $13.99

AUG221681 ACTION JOURNALISM #3 CVR A FELVIDEKI (MR) $3.99

AUG221682 ACTION JOURNALISM #3 CVR B HENDERSON $3.99

AUG221679 AGGRETSUKO OUT TO LUNCH #3 CVR A STARLING $3.99

AUG221680 AGGRETSUKO OUT TO LUNCH #3 CVR B WILLIAMS $3.99

SEP222095 ALPHA BETAS #2 (OF 4) CVR A CALERO (MR) $3.99

SEP222096 ALPHA BETAS #2 (OF 4) CVR B ZUCKER (MR) $3.99

SEP222097 ALPHA BETAS #2 (OF 4) CVR C VIDEO GAME VAR (MR) $3.99

AUG229016 ALPHA BETAS #2 (OF 4) CVR D SUPER MARIO 2 HOMAGE VAR (MR) $3.99

SEP221281 ANCIENT ENEMIES #1 (OF 6) $7.99

SEP221373 ANIMAL RESCUE FRIENDS GN VOL 02 FRIENDS FUR EVER $12.99

JUN222192 AS A REINCARNATED ARISTOCRAT USE APPRAISAL SKILL GN VOL 02 ( $10.99

SEP222216 BEAST CODE GN $19.95

JUN222340 BEAUTY AND FEAST GN VOL 05 $14.99

MAR228907 BEST OF ATTACK ON TITAN COLOR HC ED VOL 02 (MR) $24.99

SEP221383 BETTY & VERONICA JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #309 $8.99

SEP221374 BIG NATE TV SERIES GN PRANK YOU VERY MUCH $12.99

JUL229113 BLACKGUARD GN VOL 05 $12.95

JUL222000 BLOODBORNE LADY OF LANTERNS #3 CVR A TOLIBAO (MR) $3.99

JUL222001 BLOODBORNE LADY OF LANTERNS #3 CVR B STOKELY (MR) $3.99

JUL222002 BLOODBORNE LADY OF LANTERNS #3 CVR C WORM (MR) $3.99

SEP222056 BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #3 CVR A DAVIS-HUNT (MR) $3.99

SEP222057 BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #3 CVR B RIFKIN (MR) $3.99

SEP222058 BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #3 CVR C RYP (MR) $3.99

SEP222059 BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #3 CVR D ACTION FIGURE (MR) $3.99

JUN221577 BOAT LIFE GN $24.95

JUL221707 BONYEER AROMATIC #3 CVR A PIYOTYCHO $4.99

JUL221708 BONYEER AROMATIC #3 CVR B ERIK KLAUS $4.99

JUL221709 BONYEER AROMATIC #3 CVR C DONGARRA $4.99

MAY222019 CALL GIRL IN ANOTHER WORLD GN VOL 05 (MR) $13.99

APR221633 CAPTAIN CANUCK #15 2ND PTG $9.99

AUG221747 CARDBOARDIA GN VOL 02 $12.99

SEP221646 CAT KID COMIC CLUB HC GN VOL 04 COLLABORATIONS $12.99

MAY221083 CEREBUS TP VOL 14 FORM & VOID REMASTERED ED $70.00

SEP221996 COVER OF DARKNESS ONESHOT (MR) $3.99

FEB221718 COWBOY BEBOP TP VOL 01 $17.99

OCT221467 CROSSED BADLANDS C-DAY WORLDWIDE BAG SET D (5CT) (MR) $19.99

JUN222273 CROSSPLAY LOVE OTAKU X PUNK GN VOL 02 $13.99

SEP221937 DEPARTMENT K INTERDIMENSIONAL INVESTIGATORS TP VOL 01 $19.99

MAR221602 DF GUNSLINGER SPAWN #7 HAESER SGN COLOR SPAWN SKETCH $92.00

DEC211534 DF SHE HULK #1 ARTGERM CGC GRADED $89.99

MAR228938 DUNGEON OF BLACK COMPANY GN VOL 08 (MR) $13.99

JUL228059 EVE OF EXTINCTION COLLECTORS BOX SET $29.99

MAY222100 EVEN THOUGH WERE ADULTS GN VOL 05 (MR) $12.99

APR221641 FANTOMESQUE #1 $9.99

SEP221165 FEAR OF A RED PLANET #1 CVR A AZACETA $4.99

JUL228061 FEARSOME DOCTOR FANG COLLECTORS BOX SET $29.99

SEP221968 FOREVER FORWARD #3 (OF 5) CVR A KANGAS $4.99

SEP221969 FOREVER FORWARD #3 (OF 5) CVR B ARMENTARO $4.99

SEP221279 FRANK MILLERS RONIN BOOK TWO #1 (OF 6) (MR) $7.99

AUG221511 FRIGHTS FROM FERAL GN WELCOME TO FERAL $21.99

AUG222115 GOBLIN SLAYER SIDE STORY YEAR ONE GN VOL 08 (MR) $13.00

SEP222290 GREAT JAHY WILL NOT BE DEFEATED GN VOL 04 $14.99

SEP221997 HEAVENS REJECT #3 (OF 4) (MR) $3.99

JUN222343 I THINK OUR SON IS GAY GN VOL 04 $14.99

JUN222288 IDEAL SPONGER LIFE GN VOL 12 (MR) $12.99

AUG221853 ILLUSION WITCH #5 (OF 6) CVR A LIMA $3.99

AUG221854 ILLUSION WITCH #5 (OF 6) CVR B SHAH $3.99

AUG221855 ILLUSION WITCH #5 (OF 6) CVR C ZALDIVAR $3.99

SEP222164 JOJOS BIZARRE ADV PT 5 GOLDEN WIND HC VOL 06 (MR) $19.99

OCT221522 JUNGLE FANTASY IVORY WRAP CVR B BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

SEP221474 JUNGLE FANTASY SURVIVORS JUNGLE LOVE BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

SEP221298 JUSTICE WARRIORS #6 (OF 6) CVR A CLARKSON (MR) $4.99

MAY221782 KAMEN RIDER KUUGA GN VOL 01 $12.99

SEP221192 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR A LEE $3.99

SEP221193 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR B CHEW $3.99

SEP221194 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR C PHOTO $3.99

SEP221195 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR D GREGO $3.99

SEP221197 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR F BLANK SKETCH YELLOW $4.99

AUG228483 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR H FOC INHYUK LEE COPIC $3.99

AUG228484 KAMEN RIDER ZERO ONE #1 CVR I FOC RAGNAROK EXC PRASETYA $3.99

JUN222292 KEMONO JIHEN GN VOL 01 $13.99

MAY221615 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #298 $6.99

AUG221615 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 72 $15.99

OCT221514 LADY DEATH POSE BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

SEP221466 LADY DEATH RISQUE BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

JUL222189 LAID BACK CAMP GN VOL 12 $13.00

AUG228500 LCSD 2022 ILLUSTRATED AL SONG OF WEIRD AL YANKOVIC HC (MR) $29.99

AUG228501 LCSD 2022 TORI AMOS LITTLE EARTHQUAKES HC (MR) $39.99

AUG229093 LETS BUY LAND & CULTIVATE IT GN VOL 01 $13.99

MAY221797 LONE SLOANE BOX SET $74.99

OCT221519 LOOKERS BIKINI BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

AUG221410 LOVE & ROCKETS FIRST FIFTY CLASSIC 40TH ANV BOX SET HC (STL2 $400.00

SEP221250 LOVECRAFT UNKNOWN KADATH #3 CVR A SALOMON (MR) $3.99

SEP221251 LOVECRAFT UNKNOWN KADATH #3 CVR B MCKEE (MR) $3.99

SEP221252 LOVECRAFT UNKNOWN KADATH #3 CVR C MOY R (MR) $3.99

SEP221974 MEGA CENTURIONS #5 (OF 5) $5.99

SEP221658 MEGALEX DLX HC (MR) $59.99

SEP221590 MEN I TRUST HC $34.99

APR221849 MICHAEL MOORCOCK ELRIC HC BOX SET $79.99

AUG221965 MINDSET #5 CVR A PEARSON $4.99

AUG221966 MINDSET #5 CVR B BOYLE $4.99

SEP221995 MYSTERIUM #1 (OF 3) $3.99

SEP222011 NOBODYS GIRLS #1 (OF 3) CVR A CONNELLY (MR) $3.99

SEP222012 NOBODYS GIRLS #1 (OF 3) CVR B SAN JUAN (MR) $3.99

SEP222013 NOBODYS GIRLS #1 (OF 3) CVR C SAN JUAN (MR) $3.99

SEP222014 NOBODYS GIRLS #1 (OF 3) CVR D SAN JUAN (MR) $3.99

AUG222123 OVERLORD GN VOL 16 $13.00

SEP221288 PARKER GIRLS #3 $3.99

SEP221832 PINK LEMONADE #3 $3.99

SEP222001 POSTMASTERS LIVE BY THE LETTER #2 (OF 2) (MR) $5.99

JUL228070 POUND FOR POUND COLLECTORS BOX SET $29.99

JUL228072 PULL COLLECTORS BOX SET $29.99

JUN222344 RAGNA CRIMSON GN VOL 07 $14.99

MAR221849 RISE AND FALL OF THE TRIGAN EMPIRE TP VOL 04 (MR) $29.99

SEP222112 ROBYN HOOD LAST STOP ONESHOT CVR A VITORINO $5.99

SEP222113 ROBYN HOOD LAST STOP ONESHOT CVR B TOLIBAO $5.99

SEP222114 ROBYN HOOD LAST STOP ONESHOT CVR C LOMOV $5.99

SEP222115 ROBYN HOOD LAST STOP ONESHOT CVR D GARVEY $5.99

AUG221247 ROGUE STATE #1 CVR B GRANDA FOIL (MR) $6.99

JUN221889 SABRETOOTH DAN VS THE MOON $5.99

SEP221419 SACRAMENT #4 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99

JUN221724 SANTIAGO RAMON Y CAJAL ARTIST SCIENTIST TROUBLE $22.99

SEP222035 SARA DLX HC ED $49.99

JUL228076 SENTIENT COLLECTORS BOX SET $29.99

SEP222037 SENTIENT DLX HC ED $49.99

SEP222036 SENTIENT GN $19.99

JUL221729 SILVER STREAK SEASON 1 #1 CVR A TOSHEFF $5.99

JUL222399 SIRIUS TP GN $12.99

SEP221397 STAR RUNNER RISING STAR #3 (OF 4) $5.95

MAR228862 STEAM REVERIE IN AMBER HC VOL 01 $29.99

JUN222346 STRONGEST SAGE WITH THE WEAKEST CREST GN VOL 09 $12.99

SEP221798 SUPER TURBO GN VOL 08 GETS CAUGHT $9.99

SEP221992 TATTER TALES GN GREATEST IN WORLD $12.99

SEP221805 TIGERS TONGUE #5 CVR A IGBOKWE $3.99

SEP221806 TIGERS TONGUE #5 CVR B IGBOKWE $3.99

MAR228261 TINY FOX & GREAT BOAR HC BOOK 02 FURTHEST $14.99

AUG228567 TITANS BRIDE GN VOL 01 (MR) $14.99

JUL229110 TOKYO REVENGERS OMNIBUS GN VOL 03 VOL 5-6 $22.99

OCT221521 UNHOLY RISQUE BAG SET (5CT) (MR) $19.99

JUN222240 UQ HOLDER GN VOL 27 (MR) $10.99

SEP222167 URUSEI YATSURA GN VOL 16 (MR) $19.99

JUL222226 VAMPEERZ GN VOL 02 $12.95

JUL221218 VAMPIRES BLOOD SHOT ONE SHOT CVR A CHECK (MR) $3.99

JUL221219 VAMPIRES BLOOD SHOT ONE SHOT CVR B KOZJAN (MR) $3.99

JUL221220 VAMPIRES BLOOD SHOT ONE SHOT CVR C BLANK (MR) $3.99

JUL221221 VAMPIRES BLOOD SHOT ONE SHOT CVR D RISQUE KOZJAN (MR) $9.99

SEP222128 VAN HELSING TP EVE OF OBLIVION $29.99

JUN222244 WHEN WILL AYUMU MAKE HIS MOVE GN VOL 08 $12.99

MAR228262 WILD TP VOL 01 OR SO I WAS BORN TO BE $29.99

MAY222131 YOU LIKE ME NOT MY DAUGHTER GN VOL 01 $13.99

JUN222328 YOUNG LADIES DONT PLAY FIGHTING GAMES GN VOL 04 $12.99

MAGAZINES

SEP221519 COMIC SHOP NEWS (100CT BUNDLE) #1840 $PI

SEP221522 COMIC SHOP NEWS 2022 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL $PI

SEP221822 NON SPORT UPDATE VOL 33 #6 DEC 22/ JAN 23 $5.99

AUG221810 SARTORIAL GEEK #3 $4.99

BOOKS

MAY221632 50 YEARS LUPIN THE 3RD HC $39.99

AUG222142 86 EIGHTY SIX LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 11 (MR) $15.00

AUG222143 AFTER REJECTED & HIGH SCHOOL RUNAWAY NOVEL SC VOL 02 $15.00

AUG222146 ASTERISK WAR LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 16 $15.00

SEP221868 BIG MAN AND THE LITTLE MEN GN $25.99

SEP221815 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER THE COURAGE TO DREAM $17.99

JUN222330 CLASSROOM OF ELITE YEAR 2 L NOVEL VOL 03 $14.99

AUG222129 FOX TALES LIGHT NOVEL HC $20.00

AUG222128 GODS GAMES WE PLAY LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 01 $15.00

AUG222132 HOLY GRAIL OF ERIS LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 03 $15.00

AUG222145 KEPT PRESSING 100-MILLION YEAR BUTTON LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 04 $15.00

MAR228924 KUMA KUMA KUMA BEAR NOVEL SC VOL 11 11.5 $13.99

SEP221290 MARVEL SCHOOL OF X NOVEL SC SOUND OF LIGHT $16.95

AUG222134 MY HAPPY MARRIAGE NOVEL SC VOL 03 $15.00

SEP222148 NARUTO SASUKE STORY UCHIHA HEAVENLY STARDUST SC $10.99

AUG222150 RE ZERO SLIAW LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 20 $15.00

AUG222148 SILENT WITCH LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 02 $15.00

AUG222137 SO IM SPIDER SO WHAT LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 15 $15.00

SEP221924 STAR WARS HIGH REPUBLIC HC NOVEL CONVERGENCE (RES) $28.99

AUG222154 STRIKE THE BLOOD LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 22 $15.00

AUG222157 THAT TIME I REINCARNATED SLIME LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 15 $15.00

SEP221909 WHAT IS THE STORY OF TRANSFORMERS SC $6.99

AUG221258 WORLD OF WARCRAFT EXPLORING AZEROTH NORTHREND $25.00

AUG222151 WORLDS FINEST ASSASSIN REINCARNATED WORLD NOVEL SC VOL 06 (M $15.00

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#IReadsYou Review: VOID INDIGO #1

VOID INDIGO #1
MARVEL COMICS

STORY: Steve Gerber
ART: Val Mayerik
COLORS: Val Mayerik
LETTERS: Carrie McCarthy
EDITOR: Archie Goodwin
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jim Shooter
32pp, Color, $1.50 U.S., $1.95 CAN (November 1984)

Void Indigo created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik

Book Two: “Spikes and Demons;” Part One: “Killing to Be Clever”

Void Indigo was a short-lived and controversial comic book series written by the late Steve Gerber (1947-2008) and drawn by Val Mayerik. It was published by Epic Comics from 1983 to 1984.  The series began life as Marvel Graphic Novel No. 11: Void Indigo (1983), also from Gerber and Mayerik.

Void Indigo the graphic novel is set 11,000 years in Earth's past.  The story takes place in a kingdom called “Kur,” which is ruled by a quartet of sorcerers known as the “Dark Lords,” whose place of origin is apparently Atlantis.  Their names are Koth, Hemuth, Eeoyd, and Zepharr, and they recently conquered the nine “Citadels” kingdoms that had been at war with one another.

In order to gain even more power, the Dark Lords engage in blood sacrifice in service of their demon lord, “Kaok.”  The sorcerers slaughter great masses of people, but they don't gain the power they expected.  Their focus turns to Ath'Agaar, the fiercest of the barbarian chieftains, and his woman, Ren.  Although they kill Ath'Agaar and Ren, their ritual goes awry, and the Dark Lords, Ath'Agaar, Ren, and the entire kingdom is destroyed.

Over the next 11,000 years, the Dark Lords are reincarnated on Earth at different times.  Ath'Agaar is also reincarnated, but his reemergence occurs 50,000 light years away as the space warrior, “Jhagur,” from the planet, “Gebura.”  “Void Indigo” is the spiritual plane toward which all dead souls gravitate for reincarnation.  The Dark Lords magical activities have upset a delicate balance that must be rectified.  Jhagur returns to Earth in a spacecraft as the agent who will ensure that this balance is restored.  He is a spirit of vengeance from the Void, against the four wizards who had tortured and killed him in his previous life.

Once on Earth, Jhagur rescues a woman named Linette Cumpston, and they travel together to Los Angeles.  There, Jhagur finds the first of the Dark Lords and kills him, now a man who had been reincarnated as the Olympic medalist, David Trepper.

Void Indigo #1 (“Killing to Be Clever”) opens as the Void Indigo continues to call for revenge, and Jhagur commits another murder, this time as a warning to the remaining three Dark Lords.  Jhagur has also disguised himself as a human named “Michael 'Mick' Jagger,” and he works construction.

Meanwhile, other players have entered this game.  One of Mick's coworkers, Pete Mulgrew, found the jeweled spike that had been involved in Ath-Agaar's murder 11,000 years ago.  Now, Pete's daughter, Colleen, discovers that she is sensitive to the spike's mysticism.  Detective Wallerstein of the LAPD is investigating the second homicide that Jhagur committed.  Linette connects with a wild female psychic named “Raka.”  Taro is the leader of the Death Guild, a cult that awaits the reawakening of the Dark Lords, and he has begun to make the movies that will permanently remove any obstacles to his plans.  And the machinations of the Beyond-World emerge.

THE LOWDOWN:  Apparently, Marvel Graphic Novel No. 11: Void Indigo was “Book One” of the Void Indigo saga.  The first issue of the Void Indigo comic book series was the start of the second book.  I originally only read the graphic novel, and although I had planned to, I never got around to reading the comic book series.  Once I heard that it was canceled, I didn't bother to read the two issues that had been published.  Still, I often thought about Void Indigo as the years went by.  Eventually, I heard that Steve Gerber had planned to make the Void Indigo comic book only six-issues in length – only two of which were published.  I think that intrigued me all the more.

Reading Void Indigo #1 and #2, I find it hard to believe that the series was originally only meant to run six issues.  Gerber fills the first two issues with numerous subplots and and introduces a large cast of supporting characters.  Gerber's synopsis for the remaining four issues is available on the Internet, so, yeah, Gerber, did plan a six issue run for the second book.  Would there have been a third book?

I can also see how some people would have been put off by Void Indigo in the mid-1980s.  Murder and death are depicted as sudden, brutal, and savage.  The depictions of sex are frank, explicit, and lack romantic sentiment.  The world of Void Indigo is a hard world, but I think that does one important thing for the narrative.  It tempers Jhagur's power over the narrative.  By making him somewhat vulnerable to the violence that other characters in the narrative experience and by making him not all-powerful, Gerber leaves space in the narrative for the other characters.  The result is a comic book in which the other characters are as interesting and, in some cases, more interesting than the lead.

Val Mayerik, an extremely underrated artist and storyteller, gives Void Indigo a unique graphical look and style.  Mayerik's compositions are gritty and edgy, so the story really seems to take place in the natural world, which makes the emergence of the supernatural that much more jarring.  Mayerik's storytelling corals Gerber's narrative eccentricities, and his coloring makes the magical elements pop and crackle like wild electricity.  Mayerik's covers for this series offer some of the most visually striking cover images published by Epic Comics in the 1980s.

Void Indigo, as Gerber and Mayerik had planned it back in the 1980s, went into the Void long ago.  Still, I believe that there is a new life for that concept, a reincarnation or re-imagining that will both celebrate and re-imagine what once was and could have been, but never was.  Besides, I think those readers curious about a bygone time in Marvel Comics and in the Direct Market of comic books sales would do well to peek into the Void Indigo.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of 1980s creator-owned comic books will want to try Void Indigo.

A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/Marvel
https://www.marvel.com/
https://www.marvel.com/comics
https://www.comixology.com/Marvel_Comics
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix9/kaok-voidindigo.html


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: BLAZING COMBAT

BLAZING COMBAT
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

WRITERS: Archie Goodwin, Michael Catron
ARTISTS: Various
LETTERS: Ben Oda, Various
COVER: John Severin
ISBN: 978-1-60699-366-8; paperback (February 2010)
212pp, B&W with some color, $19.99 U.S.

Comic book history tells us that Warren Publishing was an independent magazine publisher owned by maverick, James Warren.  By 1965, Warren was best known for publishing Famous Monsters of Filmland, its flagship title, and Creepy, a horror comics anthology that would go on to become a legend.  James Warren had even published Harvey Kurtzman’s black-and-white comic book series, Help!

Inspired by Harvey Kurtzman’s Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, two famous war titles from EC Comics, Warren launched his on war comic book, entitled Blazing Combat.  The stories were largely written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by an absolute murderers’ row of comic book and illustration luminaries, including Wallace “Wally” Wood, Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta (cover artist), Joe Orlando, John Severin, Alex Toth, and Al Williamson, among others.

Blazing Combat looked like it would be a hit, but in 1965, the United States was escalating its involvement in Vietnam.  Apparently, Blazing Combat’s realistic depiction of soldiers in combat, of the death, violence, and destruction of war, and even of the affects of war on civilians angered some.  Blazing Combat was banned from sale on military bases, and the American Legion’s objections to the title led some magazine wholesalers to stop carrying it.  In 1966, after only four issues, James Warren cancelled Blazing Combat.

The reader can learn all this in Michael Catron’s excellent introduction to a book entitled Blazing Combat.  Published last year by Fantagraphics Books, the hardcover Blazing Combat collected all four issues of the original Blazing Combat and also included two interviews Catron conducted with James Warren and Archie Goodwin.  Fantagraphics recently released a less expensive softcover edition of this 2010 Eisner Award nominated book (Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books).

So what you might ask?  Who cares about a reprint of an old comic book published by James Warren over 40 years ago?

Well, Blazing Combat is probably the best war comic book ever published in the United States.  Speaking in terms of anthology books, the art in Blazing Combat is every bit as good as the art found in EC Comics’ titles – the gold standard in anthology comics and arguably the best line of comic books ever published in the U.S.

As for the stories, Blazing Combat was probably the best writing of Archie Goodwin’s long and distinguished career as a writer and beloved editor.  Screenwriters and directors have received Oscar nominations and wins for directing and writing some excellent war movies, such as The Hurt Locker recently.  Goodwin’s work in Blazing Combat is every bit as powerful and high-quality.

In such stories as “Holding Action,” about a scared boy in Korea, “The Trench,” set in the trenches of World War I (both drawn by the incomparable John Severin), and “Face to Face” (drawn by Joe Orlando) set during the Spanish American war, Goodwin delivers poignant and powerful work about the damage of war on the mind and the spirit.  The physical degradation of war on the land and on a people is revealed in the sublime “Landscape” (drawn by Joe Orlando), about a Vietnamese farmer.

For all the controversy his stories apparently generated, Goodwin gives love to the veteran combatant in the lovely “The Edge.”  Drawn by Alex Toth, the story is more proof of why Toth is the master when it comes to drawing aerial combat in comic books.  However, Wally Wood does show his own chops in two stories of aerial combat, “The Battle for Britain!” which he wrote and “ME-262!”

Blazing Combat, in spite of its short run, could be called special because of the list of luminaries that drew the comic book art – the visual storytelling.  At a time, however, when comic book publishers were turning themselves solely into superhero comic book publishers, James Warren, Archie Goodwin, and their collaborators were tackling bigger ideas and substantive subject matter by taking on war and the military culture.  And they did great work, to boot.  Now, thanks to this collection, Blazing Combat leaves the memory hole and at long last takes its place of prominence in American comic book history.

A+
10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#28DaysofBlack Review: BLACK PANTHER BY JACK KIRBY Volume 1

[The late comic book maestro, Jack Kirby, is, of course, not an African-American comics creator.  However, Kirby was instrumental in creating the greatest Black comic book character of all time, the Black Panther. The character has become an icon in American culture, and, I suspect, will eventually become an iconic figure in world popular culture.  So, as far as I'm concerned, Jack Kirby deserves a little spot of his own in Black History Month.]

BLACK PANTHER BY JACK KIRBY, VOL. 1
MARVEL COMICS

STORY: Jack Kirby
PENCILS: Jack Kirby
INKS: Mike Royer
COLORS: Dave Hunt; Petra Goldberg; Irene Vartanoff; Sam Kato
COLOR RECONSTRUCTION: Jerron Quality Color.
LETTERS: Mike Royer
EDITOR: Jack Kirby; Archie Goodwin (consulting); Jeff Youngquist (collection)
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Joe Quesada
COVER: Jack Kirby with Matt Milla
ISBN: 978-1-7851-1687-7; paperback (August 11, 2005)
136pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $32.00 CAN

Black Panther created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

Black Panther is a Marvel Comics superhero.  He was created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee and first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (cover dated: July 1966).  Black Panther is T'Challa, the king and protector of the (fictional) African nation of Wakanda.  Black Panther was also the first Black superhero in mainstream American comic books.

After his debut, Black Panther made guest appearances in other comic books and with The Avengers #52 (cover dated: May 1968) became a member of the Avengers.  Black Panther received his own feature in the title, Jungle Action, beginning in 1973.

Jack Kirby returned to Marvel Comics after working at rival DC Comics for several years.  One of his assignments upon his return was a new ongoing Black Panther comic book series.  Beginning with Black Panther #1 (January 1977), Jack Kirby began chronicling new adventures for the King of Wakanda, and which he continued doing until Black Panther #12.

Published in 2005 by Marvel Comics, Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 reprints Black Panther #1 to #7.  These seven issues combine to form a story arc that sees Black Panther pitted against “the Collectors,” a group of powerful eccentrics that hunt the greatest treasures of history, fable, and myth.  Black Panther finds himself coerced into taking the lead in finding two treasures – one incredibly dangerous and the other capable of granting immortality.

Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 opens with Black Panther #1, which is entitled “King Solomon's Frog.”  Black Panther and his companion, Mister Abner Little, have found a brass frog … and a dead man … and a strangely garbed warrior wielding a strange sword.  The brass frog turns out to be “King Solomon's frog,” and while the Black Panther manages to chase of the warrior, he isn't the only one after the frog.

Black Panther and Mister Little are captured by one of the latter's fellow Collectors, Princess Zanda.  It is Zanda who discovers the brass frog's true nature.  It is a time machine, and she proves that by bring forth a super-powered creature from six million years in Earth's future, the “Six Million Year Man.”  This “man” is nearly impossible to defeat.  Black Panther, Mister Little, and Zanda must travel to King Solomon's burial chamber.  There, they believe this will find King Solomon's Frog's twin, which will give them the power to return the Six Million Year Man to his own time.

Next, Zanda is joined by fellow Collectors:  Count Zorba, Colonel Pigman, and Silas Mourner in blackmailing Black Panther and Mister Little into traveling to the mysterious and hidden “Samurai City.”  There, they will find the “Sacred Water-Skin,” which holds the “water of immortality.”  And the Collectors want them some immortality.

Meanwhile, back in Wakanda or, as it is called in this series, “the Wakandas,” there is trouble.  Black Panther's half-brother, General Jakarra, has staged a coup.

THE LOWDOWN:  Supposedly, Jack Kirby was not happy writing and drawing the Black Panther comic book.  Apparently, he wanted to work on new characters, believing that he had already worked extensively on Black Panther material.

Kirby's alleged unhappiness did not show in the material reprinted in Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1.  This was not Kirby's best work, neither as a writer nor an artist, but his imagination remained powerful.  Odd characters, lavish and outlandish costumes, lunatic technology, and weird, wild, and wondrous lost civilizations:  Kirby was an idea machine, and he certainly was one in this strange Black Panther series.

Once again, as he had done with Wakanda, Kirby imagined a mystically powerful and highly technological African civilization, this time in the form of Princess Zanda and her denizens.  Also, Zanda herself is special.  Her facial features are powerful and strong like those of actress-singer Grace Jones, but also softer.  Her costumes look as if they were created for a Fashion Week runway, but are dotted with odd patters and shapes.  Zanda is one of the most beautiful Black female comic book characters that I have ever seen.

Kirby, however, was not hugely imaginative in his characterization of Black Panther/T'Challa in this series.  Kirby played T'Challa as a stalwart hero, but he gave him a sense of right-and-wrong that was similar what writer-artist Steve Ditko did with some of his characters, such as the Question.

As the cover copy says on two issues of Black Panther, Black Panther #1-7 offers “action in a mystic  realm...”  This is more weird fiction than typical superhero comics, but, as unpopular as Kirby's Black Panther apparently was, these stories did seem to influence future Black Panther comic book writers.  The sense of the mystic and weird remain, even a little, in modern Black Panther tales.

A year or so after Jack Kirby embarked on this Black Panther ongoing comic book, he left the title.  Less than a year after his last issue, Black Panther #12, Kirby left Marvel Comics for good.  Personally, I look at Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 as a chance to enjoy the wonderful work that Kirby did for Marvel Comics, an entity that exists mainly because of Kirby's imagination and hard work.

Before we go, dear readers, I want to note two things.  First, there was a Vol. 2 collection of Kirby's Black Panther comic books.  Secondly, Jerron Quality Color's “color reconstruction” and restoration of the art reprinted in this book is simply gorgeous.  Jerron restores the original rich, flat colors and makes them pop off the page of this collection.  So I will give Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1 a grade that reflects what I feel about the story and about the quality of this trade paperback.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Jack Kirby will want to read Black Panther by Jack Kirby Vol. 1.

[This book includes a seven-page gallery of cover art, sketches, and unused art committed by Jack Kirby in the creation of the Black Panther.]

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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