Month: October 2024

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Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1

This is a review of Marvel Zombies: Complete Collection, Vol. 1. Do you recall the good ole’ days when zombies ruled the Horror Universe? It wasn’t that long ago. The zombie strain was everywhere, even infecting mainstream comics! Marvel Zombies started out as a tongue-in-cheek storyline about super-powered zombies in an alternate universe, but gained enough traction to produce seven-plus miniseries. In a way, the heroes of the Marvel Universe are already zombies – they’re old, and most of them have died (some multiple times), but they are still walking around. Sure sounds like a zombie to me!

Okay, enough philosophical horseshit. This graphic novel isn’t for everyone. It’s strong stuff, especially the first miniseries, produced by the Zombie Lord himself, Robert Kirkman (creator of the Walking Dead). Will you like it? Depends. Do you think Giant Man biting off his wife’s head is funny? Do you want to see Peter Parker devour Mary Jane and Aunt May? As in many things in life: some will be disgusted, others will say sign me up.

What do I think? Well, I read the first miniseries years ago. There is a plot, but it honestly doesn’t matter, because you’re here to see the zombies eat people. The miniseries is funny in the same way car accidents are funny, if that car accident involved imaginary people. Wolverine’s adamantium claws and bones pop out of his rotting body. Bruce Banner awakens with a foot sticking out of his gut. Spider-Man is a zombie, but still as depressed as ever. To me, the funniest line is Galactus proclaiming that he’s going to eat the earth, after the Marvel Zombies have just eaten his herald.

I view this graphic novel as mindless entertainment. The violence is so stupid and over-the-top it didn’t bother me, and none of the heroes are actually dying (it’s an alternate dimension!). I didn’t find some of the jokes funny, but YMMV. I am sure many people will think this is awful, and in poor taste. I can’t argue the second point, but poor taste went out the window with the release of Pink Flamingos. Bottom line: if you don’t like gore, or seeing your childhood heroes turn into drooling cannibalistic monsters, then I’d skip this. But if you are a zombie lover, you will gobble it up.

Happy Halloween!

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Tales of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, Volume One

This is a review of Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, Volume One. Mr. Breyfogle filled the art duties on Batman very capably in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. He mostly worked with English writers Alan Grant and John Wagner, who is best known for his work on Judge Dredd. If you haven’t read Judge Dredd, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Who cares about Dredd, how’s those Batman comics? Well, pretty good! We don’t see much of Bruce Wayne or his life at all here. Batman is depicted as an obsessive man who despises criminals. The art is great at showing him breaking and fracturing bones, which he seems to relish. This is a very violent comic – people are murdered in the most callous and stupid ways in almost every issue.

A few of the stories are ridiculous – the anti-drug story is an eye-roller – and a few would be controversial today. When a terrorist kills a group of Vietnam veterans and flees to London, Batman follows. It turns out the terrorist is a diplomat, and he tells Batman – jeez, it’s wonderful how your country has never overthrown governments or killed any innocent people lulz. Considering the events of 1993 and 2001, this comic seems almost prescient. The other high point of this issue is watching Batman drive around London, asking people how to get to Parliament.

The creators give us a number of new Batman villains. We have the Ratcatcher, who has trained sewer rats to attack human beings and who imprisons the men who put him in jail, years ago. There’s also Cornelius Stirk, who has weird psychic abilities – he can look like Jesus, or Honest Abe Lincoln. Stirk feeds off fear, and will use his psychic powers to scare you to death.

But my favorite Bat Villain of this volume is the Corrosive Man, who was double-crossed and seeks vengeance. An explosion in a toxic waste factory means that he’s a walking chemical factory, as happens sometimes, and his touch is deadly! The writers opt to find the humor in the situation, with the Corrosive One falling out of chairs, through floors, and down flights of stairs.

The highlight of this volume is the Mud Pack saga, when the four people who have taken on the mantle of Clayface team up. Well, it’s three people and a hunk of clay, because the second Clayface is dead. I kept waiting for him to spring back to life, but it didn’t happen. The original Clayface was a ham actor who murdered a bunch of people. He’s joined by Clayface #3, who has just broken up with his mannequin girlfriend, and Clayface #4, a woman who can mimic anyone and gain their abilities. They team up, because reasons, and end up giving Batman a psychic lobotomy. Luckily, guest star Looker – of Batman & The Outsiders fame – is there to help!

This is a solid volume, but it’s pricey, so wait until it goes on sale.

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B.P.R.D.: The Soul of Venice & Other Stories

This is a review of B.P.R.D.: The Soul of Venice and Other Stories. The adventures of the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense continue. Read my review of the first volume here.

This graphic novel consists of five one-shot stories, ranging in subject from goddesses of domestic bliss to evil sentient toys. The best tale of the bunch is “Dark Waters,” drawn by artist Guy Davis, who brings a distinct visual flair to the B.P.R.D. Mr. Davis also helped design the creatures for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim.

When a pond in the town of Shiloh, Massachusetts is drained, three women bound in chains are discovered in the ooze beneath. They were drowned as witches, hundreds of years ago, but are still preserved – and they smell like roses. It’s a miracle! Or is it? Shiloh’s crazy pastor – who looks like Charlie Manson – disagrees. The other standout tale is “Night Train,” wherein Liz Sherman and Roger the golem investigate a ghostly choo-choo train. The ghost of Lobster Johnson makes a cameo!

Short, but fun.

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The Spectre: Wrath of God

This is a review of Spectre: The Wrath of God, written by John Ostrander and drawn (mostly) by Tom Mandrake. What does it mean to be the Wrath of God? By definition, you’d see things in terms of black & white. If your host is an ex-cop who was murdered fifty years ago, you might be a tad out of touch. This is a problem, especially if you are beacoup powerful.

The Spectre, enraged at the death of his lover Amy Beitermann at the hands of a serial killer, decides to judge humanity. Translation: the Spectre is going to destroy the Earth as soon as he works himself up to do it. He’s opposed by the Phantom Stranger, who puts together a SWAT team (Doctor Fate, Zatanna, The Demon Etrigan) to stop him. He doesn’t include Madame Xanadu, which turns out to be a mistake.

If you want a snapshot of the hotspots of the planet Earth in the early 90’s, you will find them in this comic – the Spectre visits Northern Ireland, Israel, Brooklyn, and the imaginary country of Vlatava, where he shanghaies the opposing generals – just like that famous Superman comic, decades ago! Instead of urging the generals to settle the country’s civil war by fighting each other, he makes them watch while he kills every man, woman, and child in Vlatava.

This is serious Old Testament shit, and it has repercussions. The U.S. government retrieves the Spear of Destiny, a powerful magical artifact capable of killing the Spectre, and gives it to Superman. Unfortunately, the Man of Steel is vulnerable to magic…and the spear is imprinted with the psyche of Hitler.

John Ostrander is one of my favorite writers, and the trippy art by Tom Mandrake is great, so of course I recommend this graphic novel. Too bad the rest of this run isn’t available in trade or hardcover, because I’d snap it up in a minute.