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Update on My WordPress Blog

Hello, everybody. I’m posting this to let everyone know I will be going back to the format of reviewing one graphic novel per week. If you want to know why, keep reading. Otherwise, see you Monday morning.

Last month, my viewership numbers plummeted because of a Google algorithm update. A number of my reviews went from being on the first page – sometimes the first result – to the equivalent of Google Siberia. SEO is important to my blog, because I am not a social media person. My work is my voice.

I do not have a huge readership, but my blog’s numbers were growing. The update wiped out almost three years of work in an instant. I decided to quit WordPress and started a Substack. And then a crawler went through my blog, and some of my reviews were hiked back up. My numbers are starting to improve.

I do not know why Google treats their content providers like this. I am providing free reviews on their platform, which people seem to enjoy. If you go on Bing – unfortunately, not many people do – many of my reviews are the first result. Thankfully, I do not depend on this blog as an income stream.

I will try to post reviews on both platforms, with my Substack containing the horror content and this blog providing comic content. And I guess we’ll see.

Here is the link to my Substack.

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Daredevil Ultimate Collection Volume Two

This is a review of Daredevil Ultimate Collection Volume Two. Read my rambling review of the first volume, here and here. After being outed by an FBI agent in search of a payday, Matt Murdock’s (aka Daredevil) life lurches on. He beats up the Kingpin, declares himself the new kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen, and one year later finds him married (?!?!) and under surveillance by the FBI.

This volume contains four storylines. 1. The Owl sells MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone) using his own DNA. This is strange, since the Owl is not a mutant. 2. The Kingpin tries to reclaim his old territory, sending Typhoid Mary and Bullseye to distract Daredevil while he makes his move. 3. The Yazuka make a play for control of Hell’s Kitchen. 4. Black Widow’s ex – who is now a big muckety muck in Bulgaria – tries to get even. Maybe he doesn’t like paying alimony.

Give praise where praise is due. This graphic novel is extremely decompressed (twenty issues for four storylines), but it works because what we are reading is crime/noir, which Brian Bendis (the writer) cut his teeth writing. He’s great at it. Also: Alex Maleev’s gritty art is wonderful and fits the material to a tee. Artist and writer synchronize well together.

This graphic novel isn’t perfect. Certain plot elements are left unanswered (when did the Owl become a mutant?), glossed over (why didn’t the Kingpin have surgery to cure his blindness sooner?), or are just plain ridiculous (would you let a mentally ill mass murderer with pyrotechnic abilities out onto the streets, because she’s been cured through hypnosis?).

Yes, you say, but what about Daredevil getting married? Well, when Matt saves a blind woman (Milla Donovan) from an oncoming truck, she comes to his office the next day to thank him. Little Matt takes over, and it’s off to the races. Unfortunately, Milla is a penultimate damsel in distress who needs constant rescuing. At one point Matt finds her hiding in the closet. This is a tired old trope, which I am not defending, but here’s Mr. Bendis’ point (stated in the first volume): Whoever is around Matt Murdock is in danger, because his secret identity has been compromised. He knows this, but starts up a relationship with Milla anyway.

That doesn’t reflect well on Matt, especially since his track record with women is horrendous. A short summary: one of Murdock’s girlfriends commits suicide, perhaps partly because of his verbal abuse; two of his exes are stone cold killers (Black Widow & Elektra); and Bullseye kills two of his lovers (Karen Page & Elektra. Elektra got better, because reasons). Matt should know better, but he can’t help himself, especially when he’s the object of someone’s adoration.

Recommended!

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World’s Finest Silver Age Volume Two

This is a review of World’s Finest Silver Age Volume Two. You can read my review of the first volume, here. These aren’t the worst comics I’ve read by any means, which isn’t the same thing as saying they’re good. I plowed through them because I bought both volumes on sale at the same price.

If you want to see Batman, Robin & Superman team up in sci-fic inspired scenarios from the Silver Age, then this volume is for you. A few examples: Superman loses his memory and becomes the chief of a lost Indian tribe. A man with a salad colander on his head (i.e., a crackpot inventor) gains super-powers/uses an invention to torment the Dynamic Trio (there are many variations of this story). After making a million dollars, Batman becomes a big spender, buying looney inventions that don’t work. Superman makes a new friend, a bizarre little alien that goes berserk when it’s not around him. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk duke it out! Red kryptonite makes Superman behave strangely! Aliens of all kinds: invading earth, kidnapping Batman & Robin, asking the Dynamic Trio for help!!!

If this all sounds good, then by all means buy this volume. If it doesn’t, you’ve been warned.

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Immortal Hulk Omnibus, Part One

This is the first part of a review of the Immortal Hulk Omnibus. I believe this is the first Hulk volume I’ve reviewed. Of course, I have a history with the character. My favorite Hulks are the gentle green giant who wears purple pants and says things like ‘Hulk Smash!,’ as well as the Hulk blasted into space who lands on the planet Sakaar (Hulk the Barbarian). Of course, there’s also Scientist Hulk and Gangster Hulk (aka Joe Fixit).

This volume introduces the Devil Hulk, who only appears at night and seemingly cannot die. Bruce Banner can certainly die; he’s shot in the head at a gas station in the inaugural issue and is dead as a doornail. When night comes, he rises as the Hulk – and this Hulk is very difficult (I won’t say impossible) to kill.

Witness: the aftermath of the Hulk’s battle with The Avengers. He’s been chopped into little pieces, which are placed into jars of formaldehyde. It doesn’t matter. The Hulk breaks out of the jars and regenerates himself. It’s a great scene.

The plot involves a Green Door that leads to another place. That other place seems like it might be Hell, but OTOH it might be somewhere else. Whatever lurks behind the Green Door uses Bruce Banner’s dead father as its catspaw. Or is it Bruce’s father? Banner suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder – forty years ago they’d call it a split personality – so maybe it’s Bruce himself.

Anyway, this omnibus features some of the best Hulk comics I’ve ever read. Writer Al Ewing is writing a great body horror comic. The Hulk has a large cast, almost all of them killed by other writers, but most of them are returning. Banner’s wife Betty is a red gargoyle thing, Rick Jones is sort of the Abomination, and Doc Samson is still Hulk’s favorite (read: only) psychotherapist. Can The Leader and General “Thunderbolt” Ross (Red Hulk) be far behind?

Highly recommended!

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Hitman: A Rage in Arkham

This is a review of Hitman: A Rage in Arkham. Garth Ennis, the writer of Hitman, is notorious. In this volume, you get PG-13 Garth because this is a superhuman comic. Superhuman, not superhero. Tommy Monaghan has X-ray vision and he can read minds. He is also a hitman who does hits on superhumans. Deep down, Tommy is portrayed as a decent guy with a sense of honor, even though he’s not. You can take this as sly meta-commentary, or just treat it like good stupid fun. Since many 90’s comics can be described as just stupid, this was and continues to be a standout title.

Tommy is hired to kill the Joker in Arkham Asylum. This leads to an encounter with Batman and a ten-armed hellfiend called The Mawzer. The best part of this volume is when Monaghan does a bunch of side-jobs in Arkham for beer and pizza money. Tommy also goes on a date, and reads her mind to discover what kind of food she likes. Hey, it beats cyber-stalking. Oh, and he throws up on Batman’s shoes.

This title works best when it is the equivalent of an action movie. From my recollection, the earlier part of this series is a lot of fun but goes downhill in later volumes, but we will see. Monaghan’s sense of honor amounts to only killing what he considers to be the bad guys. He’s written as a decent guy with a tough, blue-collar job. Like most of us, he worries about money, but he wouldn’t dream of using his newly found mind-reading powers to sell Batman’s secret identity to the highest bidder.

The trick to writing Hitman – and any other title featuring The Punisher, The Vigilante, or any other character whose main occupation is murder – is to portray the character as street smart rather than a homicidal maniac/serial killer, and have the villains be so scummy they always deserve what they get. This is also the formula for the billion or so buddy cop movies I watched in the 80’s.

Recommended!

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Golden Age Superman Volume Two

This is a review of Golden Age Superman Volume Two. You can read my review of the first book, here. Spoiler alert: I didn’t like this volume quite as much. Reading twenty-plus one issue stories that are identical can be mind-numbing.

A few characters return from the last volume. We have Ultra, a mad scientist who transfers his brain into the body of a beautiful young starlet. Ultra might be gorgeous, but he’s still a megolamaniac asshole who wants to conquer the earth. Strangely, Ultra is replaced by Lex Luthor, who in this volume has hair. Luthor is a mad scientist just like Ultra, so I’m unsure what happened. Why did they ditch Ultra? Maybe the public didn’t like a body swapper?

We also get Lois Lane. Lots of Lois Lane. Like Clark Kent, Lois is a reporter with no fear. Unlike Clark, she doesn’t have super powers. This means she acts in ways that can be interpreted as stupid, such as telling the gangster that she’s going to publish an exclusive exposing his evil plans. I lost track of the number of times Lois is captured and used as a hostage object in this volume. In one issue, she’s kidnapped twice!

The stories range from gangster potboilers to science fiction. Superman still can’t fly. He can be mind-controlled and knocked out by radium bombs or men with strength-sapping ray guns. There’s no suspense, which is why we have the Lois Being Kidnapped Again trope.

As I said, most of the issues blend. The exception is a story about a children’s orphanage. The owners run an operation worthy of a torture-porn movie. Watching them throw the works – buzzsaws, safes, boiling water, acid, etc. – at Superman is an eye opener. They’re nasty customers, but different from the normal gangster or megalomaniac scientist. You don’t get many pure sadists in superhero comics.

Two other things struck me about this volume. Unlike today’s Man of Tomorrow, the Superman of Yesterday didn’t have many qualms about killing. In fact, he does kill people – usually when he feels threatened (he kills the guy who hypnotizes him). He also doesn’t care about rules. There are several stories where Superman tries to gain evidence on the mobster/crooked politician/saboteur/etc., and then resorts to the tried-and-true method of threatening to crush the evildoer’s skull to a pulp if he doesn’t confess. Since this gambit always works, I’m surprised why he doesn’t just cut to the chase. It would save him time.

If you like Superman, you’ll enjoy this volume!

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Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage

This is a review of Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage, written by Grant Morrison in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The Doom Patrol have been around since the 1960’s and are the ugly stepsisters of superhero teams. They aren’t powerful, or good looking, or important; they’re an obscure bunch of weirdos in tights. Luckily, the late 80’s were sort of the heyday for obscure weirdos – in comics, anyway.

A confession: I adored this version of the Doom Patrol. By the time this series came out, I’d read thousands of comics. This one was just different. It felt like someone took a Philosophy/Modern Art class (focused on surrealism & Dada) and jammed it all into a comic book.

Cliff Steele, aka Robotman, is the normal member of the group. He’s just a Regular Joe, stuck in a robot body. It’s not even an interesting robot body, but that will change. There’s also Rebis, an amalgamation of man, woman, and negative being, who has covered their body in bandages. Finally, Crazy Jane (the writer’s name, not mine), who has a superpower to go along with every one of her 64 personalities.

The Doom Patrol’s first encounter is with the Scissor Men, emissaries of the imaginary city Orqwith. Orqwith is staging a hostile takeover of earth, overwriting it into its own image. And then there’s Red Jack, aka Jack the Ripper, aka God, who likes collecting butterflies and looks like an escapee from a deck of playing cards. The writing is great, the art a little less so. Still, a strong start to one of my favorite series.

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Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Volume One

I have been reading comics since 1978, and I’m here to tell you that there’s a lot of bad comics out there. By bad, I mean racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, full of clichés, nonsensical, and violent. Don’t get me wrong. There are also good comics, but Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Volume One does not number among them.

Here’s the good: Jack Kirby drew some of these issues. That sums up the good. I rate Thor above the first volume of Iron Man, but that’s not a high fence to hurdle. Thor’s creators were still figuring him out as a character, which means his powers fluctuate according to the needs of the plot. In one issue Thor destroys half the earth, and in the next he’s laid low by a mobster. Thor’s personality is also in flux, in that he doesn’t have one. Sixty years later and he still doesn’t!                                                                                         

These stories reminded me of the first volume of Iron Man, a never-ending series of twelve page one-shots. The most memorable villain in this volume is Thor’s evil step-brother Loki, who gets chained up as much as Wonder Woman. Other villains include The Cobra, Mr. Hyde, a lone Lava Man, and The Radioactive Man. Most of the plots revolve around 1. Thor losing his mighty hammer and transforming back into Donald Blake, usually in the middle of a fight; 2. Thor mooning over Jane Foster.

Thor’s alter ego, Dr. Don Blake, can’t express his love to his nurse Jane Foster because he’s lame and there’s no way she could love a cripple. That’s what he tells himself, anyway. When Blake musters up the courage to tell her he’s secretly Thor, his father the mighty Odin cock-blocks him.

Two things stand out in this graphic novel. The first is an extended fantasy sequence wherein Jane Foster imagines domestic bliss as Mrs. Thor, wherein she polishes his hammer, irons his cloak, and gives him a nice, short haircut so he doesn’t look like one of those beatniks. I hope the creators were laughing their asses off when they created that sequence, because I sure was.

I can sum up the second standout in two words: chromosomatic gland. Loki hits Thor’s chromosomatic gland, which reverses Thor’s brain and leads to him raising his hand against the mighty Odin and then destroying the earth with his crazed half-brother. The issue ends with Odin hitting Thor’s chromosomatic gland and re-reversing his brain, which leads to our beloved hero regaining his nobility. Of course, the earth is still destroyed, but Odin undoes all the damage and erases everyone’s memories of the event. I’m unsure if he raises all the people his sons killed from the dead, but am assuming the creators would say nobody died.

This issue might be the worst comic I’ve ever read, and (as mentioned) I’ve read a lot of comics. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where they got the idea of retconning Spider-Man’s marriage.

For Thor junkies only.

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VIY

VIY

VIY is the first- and as far as I know the only – Soviet Union horror movie in existence. It’s an obscure film that’s available streaming on Shudder. When I say ‘obscure,’ I mean obscure to me. Before watching this, I’d never heard of it, and I’ve seen a lot of horror movies.

The plot: Khoma is a Russian monk granted time off for the holidays. He and his two traveling companions get lost and end up at a farm. The old woman of the house lets them stay the night, but they all have to sleep in different places. The fact that she tells them that her house is full of people and she’s alone except for the farm animals is a tip-off that she might not be on the up-and-up.

Sure enough, the old woman turns out to be a witch. She hag-rides Khoma, flying him all over the countryside. When dawn breaks, the spell wears off. Khoma beats her half to death and is shocked when she transforms into a beautiful young woman.

Khoma races back to the monastery, but when he arrives there’s more bad news. The daughter of a rich landowner has been found beaten half to death, and wants him to say prayers for her soul. ‘Want’ is a misleading word, because Khoma is going whether he wants to or not. The landowner’s men make sure of that.

The landowner’s daughter dies before Khoma arrives, which means he’s forced to spend three nights locked in a church with a dead body, saying prayers for her soul. Except this young woman isn’t as dead as she seems…

I liked VIY a lot. Khoma isn’t a particularly likable guy, so I didn’t feel sorry for him. The animation is very late 60’s, reminding me of Disney movies I saw as a kid, but still looks fine. The makeup is great. Overall, a fine horror movie that’s as much fantasy as horror. And I still can’t figure out why I’ve never heard of it.