Tag Archives: 90’s Comics

August 20, 2015

Mystery Comic 9: Day of Vengeance

By Jasomania

Comic (9)

We have now reach Comic number 9 of my 25 part Mystery Comic series with 2005’s Day of Vengeance 1.

I’ve never heard of Day of Vengeance before.  So I had to look them up on Wikipedia, which made me feel better that it wasn’t some long on going series I had never head of.  Day of Vengeance is a limited series that came out as a prelude to DC’s Infinite Crisis event.  Reading up on Wikipedia revealed there ate some complicated steps that happen before we get to Day of Vengeance 1.  It centers around some stuff left over from Identity Crisis that is so comiplicated that I don’t really understand it, and don’t want to get in to it.

The long and short of it is that Day of Vengeance centers around The Spectre and the magical characters and elements of the DC universe.

Comic 9 - Image 5

The comic opens up with a vague scene of a woman locked up in a weird mansion.  She is possibly getting tortured?  It’s unclear what is going on and it ends with her putting a crystal to her chest and transforming into some sort of magical wizard or something.  I’m assuming the series was purposefully vague about all this and it will come into play later on.

Comic 9 - Image 1

The comic then cuts to an introduction to Ragman which I appreciated, because I had never heard of him before.  It was a pretty cool introduction, it shows him in action and gives the reader enough context to figure out what his deal is.  The art is really fantastic and managed to make a character with a lame name like Ragman a interesting character.  After our introduction Ragman is sent to help out The Enchantress who has been buried in a forest as collateral damage during a battle between The Spectre and Blackbriar Thorn.

Comic 9 - Image 2

Enchantress is like we have got to GTFO and Ragman transports the both of them to the Oblivion Bar (a hangout of magical folks).

Comic 9 - Image 3

Enchantress tries to gather a group of people together to fight The Spectre who she fears will lead to the death of every magical person.  No one at the bar seems eager to take on one of the most powerful members of the magic community except Detective Chimp (yes a talking Chimp) who is ready to go.

Comic 9 - Image 4

The comic then ends with an allusive scene involving some mystic sending out SHAZAM to take out our new team.

Overall I enjoyed the comic.  The story telling was engaging and had a good mix of exposition along with vague foreshadowing.  The art was fantastic and did a good job of helping tell the story itself which helped cut down or pure expositional text.  I think the mystical / magical side of DC is intriguing and would like to be more familiar with these characters.  If I see Day of Vengeance collected in trade at a Half Priced books I will definitely pick it up.

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June 27, 2015

Mystery Comic 6 and 7

By Jasomania

Mystery Comic 6: Hammer of God: Sword of Justice Issue 2 of 2

Comic (6)

This book is terrible. It is the second issue of a two issue arc and I’m not going to pretend I bothered trying to read the back up that explained what happened to this point.  This book is chock full of the things I hate about Science Fiction writing the most.  It goes out of its way at times to try to create a its own futurist system of slang only to abandon it just as quickly and use slang of the time that is all ready dated.

The story is based around a monkey / human hybrid called the Hammer.  I don’t really know why he’s important or care enough to find out.  The first half is spent talking about how Hammer (the monkey guy) is coming and they need to prepare, and the second half is him attacking this Brain ship.  He eventually defeats the brain ship which has a whole city inside it and they re-purpose it for themselves.  Is it the end? I don’t really care.

I don’t really have much to say about this book.  It’s by far the worst book I’ve read so far out of these mystery comics.  There weren’t really even any funny ads.  I went back and forth if I should scan more pictures of the inside but nothing was crazy enough or good enough it seemed it deserved it.

Mystery Comic 7: Squalor Issue 4 of 4

Comic (7)

Wow.  I thought Hammer was a terrible book but Squalor is unreadable.  I would sum things up but I honestly have no idea what was going on.  This is part 4 of a 4 part story but still, I couldn’t even get a glimpse of what the plot was suppose to be.  Here is a sample of what the comic is like.

Squalor

Every page is like this.  It mostly takes place in this dream world which the characters just speak in non-sense.  When it does cut to the real world it makes even less sense.  I have nothing else to say, so far Squalor is the clear front runner for the worst comic in this entire batch.

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May 27, 2015

Mystery Comic 5: Catwoman 1 (1993)

By Jasomania

Comic (5)

This is actually the first issue of the first on going Catwoman solo series that they ever created. It also happened to take place during the middle of the Batman Knightfall major event. If you don’t know that would be the event that lead to Batman’s back being broken by Bane and a guy named Jean-Paul Valley briefly taking over the cowl. This is important to note because there are a lot of references to Bane and him being in control of Gotham throughout this comic. I don’t think following along the Knightfall titles is necessary but it does put this book into context.

Comic 5 Pic 1

The overall story is pretty straightforward. Catwoman is up to her jewel stealing ways and is giving all that she steals directly to Bane. She isn’t pleased with this agreement but it seems like it’s what she’ll have to do for now. Other crime lords in the city want to attack Bane so they do so by attacking Catwoman who they describe as his love. I don’t remember there being a love story between Bane and Catwoman so its probably a misunderstanding they deal with later. Either way the book ends with them finding Catwoman’s apartment and shooting it with a rocket launcher. The last panel is an explosion with a to be continued.

Overall it was a pretty good book for a first issue. There was a cool part at the beginning where Catwoman tricks a guy into thinking she’s his wife and steals all her jewels. Catwoman is a badass in this book and while it ties into Batman she is her own strong black woman. There was one part that was especially amazing and that was Catwoman’s fence (person who sells her stolen goods) who wears crazy cat lady tee shirts. At least I think she was Catwoman’s fence, she doesn’t seem to have a real purpose other than she lives with or possibly just hangs out with Catwoman.

Comic 5 Pic 2

Comic 5 Pic 3

And lastly here are our two comic ads, first we have a grand opening of a Mile High Comics with Rob Liefeld! And then we have the greatest of fighting games on the Genesis.

Comic 5 Pic 4

Comic 5 Pic 5

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May 22, 2015

Mystery Comic 4: Wonder Woman 178

By Jasomania

Comic (4)

Wonder Woman 178 is a good example of how confusing a comic can be if you try to just pick up a random issue. It’s hard to say what exactly is happening in this issue because I have no context for what is going on.

It starts off with a teenage girl and her friend reading through fan mail. We are told this is Cassie Sandsmark and she is the new Wonder Girl. We don’t really get much other information about her other than that. When going through her fan mail she finds a letter from her father which she is upset/surprised about? It looks like she hasn’t talked to her father in a long time but we really get no information about it. That’s pretty much the entire story involving Cassie.

New Skitch 3

So sandwiched between this story is a Wonder Woman story. And it revolves around Wonder Woman going on a date with a guy named Trevor Barnes, who is not Steve Trevor. So their date is them going to dinner and they have a snowball fight afterward. Trevor comes back to Wonder Woman’s place where some sort of dimensional warp or something has opened and some guy named Garth appears. He tells Wonder Woman that he needs her help to recover Aquaman’s trident which has been stolen. She agrees and tells Trevor they will finish their date when she gets back and the comic ends with a hydra coming through the dimensional portal and attacking Trevor.

There is also a backup story in this comic too called “Troia in Post Cards from the Edge”. It stars Donna Troy who is Wonder Woman’s sister and Wonder Girl (or generally is, who knows with this Cassie situation). The backup is only a couple pages and its Donna visiting Themyscira and taking pictures. She going to the training area where they convince her to suit up and spare with them, and when she does suddenly Fury is there and beating the shit out of her friend Rhea.

So the Cassie story is pretty confusing, I guess something recently happened that made her Wonder Girl and they have some plans for that but they don’t give you a lot to go off of. We also don’t know why she’s Wonder Girl and not Donna Troy.

The Wonder Woman story isn’t really very interesting either. I don’t know who that guy is she’s dating or really care that she’s going on a date. The only interesting thing to happen is this new quest she gets to find Aquaman’s trident but that is at the end and left as a cliff hanger.

New Skitch 2

The backup was all right but again really just raises a lot of question and not much happens.

I think this is one of those strange in between arc issues where they are sort of wrapping up a previous arc and sort of going into a new arc. It’s like those episodes of Dragon Ball Z where they just flex a lot and get ready for a fight and absolutely nothing is moved forward story wise. When done well this can be an opportunity for a comic series to have a good one off story in between major story arcs. However in this case it’s just an issue where nothing really happens. The art is also very so-so. The cover is done by Adam Hughes and is gorgeous, but the interiors are done by Roy Allan Martinez and very bland. It’s not the worst art and at times looks good but has this weird style that when it’s of close ups of peoples face makes them look like aliens.

New Skitch 1

It reminds me a little of Tim Sale’s art which I have the same on the fence feeling for where I can’t decide if I don’t like it because of how stylized it is. The story is pretty lame. I’m sure it makes more sense in context with a few issues around it but as a stand-alone comic it doesn’t really work. The rule is that any comic is some one’s first issue and it should give the reader enough to follow along with no context. This book could have done that with a little more explanation and with how little actually occurs in the issue its confusing why it didn’t.

Lastly, here are the two best ads from the comic, one for Rollerball and one for Disney channel.

Wonder Woman 178 Image 3

Wonder Woman 178 Image 5

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May 5, 2015

Mystery Comic 2: Fantastic Four 383

By Jasomania

Comic (2)

This week’s comic is a classic example of the early 90’s. There is a ton of shit going on and every one is saying out thinking out loud everything that is happening around them. So this comic starts off with a sub note that Reed Richards is dead. Now in the comic world a death is held with a grain of salt. Jean Grey has been known to die at least 20 different times, so we won’t take his death too seriously. Even this comic doesn’t seem to bother with taking his death seriously, this is the first page.

Comic 2 - 1 - Crop

“The apparent death of their leader, Reed Richards”. I mean come on at least pretend to commit to this!

Any ways this is my first Fantastic Four comic that I have ever read. I am some what familiar with the characters in that I have watched both of the shitty movies they released in the 2000’s. I don’t know why the thing is wearing a helmet the entire time though and I can’t explain Sue Storms weird boob window in her costume.

Boob Window Crop - Skitch

“The apparent death of their leader, Reed Richards”. I mean come on at least pretend to commit to this!

Any ways this is my first Fantastic Four comic that I have ever read. I am some what familiar with the characters in that I have watched both of the shitty movies they released in the 2000’s. I don’t know why the thing is wearing a helmet the entire time though and I can’t explain Sue Storms weird boob window in her costume.

Comic 2 - 2 Skitch

At first I was going to let this slide, since I don’t know what is going on and what the Skrull are and what they have done. But then I thought about it and this guy’s name is Devastator and he flies around in the Death Cruiser, not exactly a name you use if your mission is peace. He says in another panel that his “scared duty is to eliminate any life form capable of waging war”. Wait what? CAPABLE of waging war? So basically any civilization capable of hurting one another. Any ways this side story goes on the entire comic. This all occurs on the same planet that the Fantastic Four are on so you are probably assuming that they will get involved in this in some way but they don’t. This story ends with Paibok, who is the king of the skrulls beating out Devastator and saving the planet (yay!). While this sounds well and good who really gives a shit, this has nothing to do with the Fantastic Four who are spending the entire book trying to leave the planet.

So I guess the main story is that of the Fantastic Four trying to escape imprisonment. It’s not really clear why they are imprison but for whatever reason it seems that it occurred around the same time Reed Richards “apparent” death. So it’s the Thing, Sue Storm, and The Human Torch along with female Skrull who probably fucked the Torch (I’m not making that up they infer that they boned). So that’s straightforward enough right? Wrong. The skrull woman is also preggers and apparently skrulls are only able to have a baby with the assistance of some device. So after they break out of prison they have to break into a hospital to get said device.

Comic 2 - 8 - Skitch Edit

So after helping the skrull woman get the birthing device they grab a space ship and GTFO. That’s pretty much the end of the Fantastic Four side of the story. I did very much enjoy the hilarious references to pop culture that the Thing makes. I made up a montage of them.

Collage

That brings us to the last part of our story which is probably the strangest. Which is the fight between Franklin Richards and Huntra. They don’t tell you who either of them are or where/when any of this is taking place. So checking on comicvine Franklin is Richard and Sue Storm’s child and is a omega level mutant. I think it’s still taking place in the future since he appears to be grown and the Fantastic Four don’t seem to be that old, I have no idea though, this is just a guess. Any ways they are fighting off and on throughout the entire book for no explained reason. It ends with a cliffhanger that apparently Franklin Richards has to kill his own mother for some unexplained reason.

Comic 2 - 10 - Edit

And that’s pretty much the comic!

There was one strange thing I noticed in the letters section in the back and that is that on the letters they had the full address of every one who sent in a letter. Which is a pretty terrible decision on Marvel’s part seeing as they are pretty much all from kids.

And to end our report we have my favorite ads from the 90’s which include LCD video games, Huffy bike, and some Sega video games.

Comic 2 - 9

Comic 2 - 12

Comic 2 - 3

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April 23, 2015

Mystery Comics Project: The Arrival!

By Jasomania

I know that I only posted about this a couple of days ago but in reality it’s been close to two weeks for the comics to get here.  Now I know this is just me being spoiled from using amazon prime but seriously two weeks to ship something is ridiculous.  I love me some woot and have gotten some great deals from it in the past but don’t ever order anything from them you might need quickly.  So up top are scans of all the covers that I took last night.  I was actually pretty surprised by the quality of the comics that I got.  They were pretty diverse selection some going back to 1990 and some from as recent as 2012.  Also there was a lot more number 1 issues that I could have hoped for.  This will certainly make reading these a little easier and prevent me from being completely lost.

One minor gripe was that included in these comics was the following issue of Batman.  It is was a free preview version of the graphic novel Batman: Earth One that was released last year to coincide with the release of The Dark Knight Rises.  It’s not really a comic book and it was a free give away so it’s a bit of a cop out from original description of the order I made.  I was pretty annoyed initially but the quality of the other comics is better than I expected so I’m going to let it slide.  However as far as this project goes I am going to switch it out with another book.  I had picked up a bunch of random comics while I was at the local comic book convention and am going to a random issue of Detective Comics from 1999 (Detective Comics 734) instead.  Since I was promised a Batman comic if feels like a solid replacement.

Batman Earth One: Special Preview Edition

 

So here is the complete list of the comics that I got.

  • Detective Comics: Batman – 734
    July 1999 – DC Comics
    $1.99
  • Fantastic Four – 383
    December 1993 – Marvel
    $1.25
  • War Heroes – 1 of 6
    July 2008 – Image
    $2.99
  • Wonder Woman – 178
    March 2002 – DC Comics
    $2.25
  • Catwoman – 1
    August 1993 – DC Comics
    $1.95
  • Hammer of God – 2 of 2
    1991 – First Publishing
    $4.95
  • Squalor – 4 of 4
    August 1990 – First Publishing
    $2.75
  • Blackest Night R.E.B.E.L.S. – 10
    January 2010 – DC Comics
    $3.99
  • Day of Vengeance – 1
    June 2005 – DC Comics
    $2.50
  • Wolverine – 27
    June 2005 – Marvel Comics
    $2.25
  • Secret Avengers – 1
    July 2010 – Marvel
    $3.99
  • House of M – 1 of 8
    August 2005 – Marvel
    $2.99
  • Exiles – 48
    August 2004 – Marvel
    $2.99
  • X-Men – 27
    June 2012 – Marvel
    $3.99
  • Ultimate Spider-man – 78
    August 2005 – Marvel
    $2.50
  • X-Patrol – 1
    April 1996 – Amalgam
    $1.95
  • Zorro – 6
    October 2005 – Papercut
    $2.95
  • Hercules: The Knives of Kush – 3 of 5
    October 2009 – Radical Comics
    $2.99
  • Bullets and Bracelets – 1
    April 1996 – Amalgam
    $1.95
  • Adventure Comics – 504
    October 2009 – DC Comics
    $3.99
  • Wrath – 1
    January 1994 – Malibu Comics
    $1.95
  • Wrath – 6
    June 1994 – Malibu Comics
    $1.95
  • Deadman – 6
    July 2002 – DC Comics
    $2.50
  • Negation – 9
    September 2002 – Crossgen Comics
    $2.95
  • Transformers: Generations – 1
    March 2006 – IDW
    $1.99

Along with these comics I also got 10 packs of random non-sports cards.  Five unopened packs of Pukeymon Cards and 5 unopened packs of Johnny Quest Cards.  I also got random assortment of opened Desert Storm cards as well.

They are pretty fantastic as well and don’t worry I’ll make a special blog post just about them.

The total retail cost of the comics would have been $68.50 and the retail cost of the cards would have been $19.90 bringing the total value of the package at $88.40 retail.  I paid 14.99 which is 17% of retail value.  The most valuable comic of the bunch is Catwoman 1 which goes for $5.00 today which is 2.56 times its original cost.

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