THE UNBOXING - JANUARY 2019

We'll kick things off this month with the Christmas Unboxing -- a few gifts from my family on December 25th. First and foremost among these is STAR WARS ART: RALPH McQUARRIE, a massive two-volume slipcased set collecting all the artwork McQuarrie did as a concept artist on the original STAR WARS movies. I'm positively in love with these books, and I may have to do a post about them at some point, if I ever get around to it.

Also, from my wife, we have Fantagraphics' CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY: THE LOST PEG LEG MINE and CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY: THE BLACK PEARLS OF TABU YAMA. I think I mentioned last year that my wife has been giving me these books every year for Christmas for a few years now (Fantagraphics releases two volumes per year). I believe there are only around ten books left before the full series is collected, but I could be mistaken. In any case, I read Barks' stories through Gladstone Comics when I was in elementary school, but I've never touched them since. Still, somehow they're indelibly burned into my brain to the point that every time I get a new volume, memories rush back as if I just read them yesterday.

I also made a number of digital purchases through Comixology via their year-end sales. From Dark Horse, several books which are no longer available to buy, since the company has now lost its license to Marvel: THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN vols. 1 - 9 (the series ran much longer, but I believe this is the full Roy Thomas run, which is all I really wanted), and CONAN: THE DAUGHTERS OF MIDORA AND OTHER STORIES.

From DC, I grabbed WONDER WOMAN/CONAN and BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS vol. 2. From Fantagraphics, I picked up THE CARL BARKS LIBRARY: THE BLACK PEARLS OF TABU YAMA (yes, I'm double-dipping on these. I like having "digital copies" of a lot of my books) and THE DON ROSA LIBRARY: THE THREE CABALLEROS (I want to own Barks in physical format, but I'm okay going digital-only for Rosa).

And from Marvel, I got THOR BY WALTER SIMONSON vol. 3 and vol. 4, TOMB OF DRACULA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 2, X-MEN CLASSIC: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 1, X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN vol. 2, and X-MEN: THE MAGNETO WAR.

And that about covers my merry holiday haul. We'll check in next month for more of the same!

THE COMIC-CON UPDATE

As promised not too long ago, it's time for a second skip-week in the ongoing James Bond newspaper strip project. Due to a number of factors, I've fallen behind on that reading -- and one reason for the problem is that I'm here in sunny San Diego this week for Comic-Con. The convention just started yesterday, but since I like to have something to go up on Fridays even if it's not my normally scheduled post, here's your (drum roll) Comic-Con Update (one day in)!

And... it’s not much. I went to one panel yesterday; the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Tenth Anniversary retrospective. It was fun; series producer/co-creator Dave Filoni told some stories along with the other guests. They all lamented the series’ premature cancellation and showed some concept art to tease what would have come if the show hadn’t been yanked.

Then, to close things out, Filoni said that he had something to show the fans who had supported the show over the years. The lights went down and a trailer rolled. New footage appeared, along with the tagline “A war left unfinished... until now.” They has tricked us! This was no post-mort for a series cancelled before its time! It was an announcement that the show would be coming back next year!

The crowd went nuts. It was a really cool moment, and though it was, like I said, the only panel I went to yesterday, it was more than sufficient to allow me to call the day a win.

Next week: more James Bond, though I’m still way behind on my reading. This project may yet have further hiccups, but I guess we’ll find out together...

CUCKOO FOR COMIC STRIPS

For some reason, lately I've been almost infatuated with newspaper action/adventure strips of yore. If you'll pardon several paragraphs of self-indulgence, I'm going to try to figure out exactly how I got to this point.

I think I can pinpoint the kernel of when it started, at least. At some point about five or six years ago, I was, "researching" sword-wielding barbarian gals in the mold of Red Sonja (as you do), and I came across a character named Axa, the heroine of a post-apocalyptic wasteland who starred in a strip for Britain's Sun newspaper back in the early eighties. The strip, created and illustrated by Enric Romero with scripts from Donne Avenell, had been released in the United States many years earlier, but those collections were long out of print. However I found some scans online and read nearly the entire Axa canon in short order. I really liked Romero's mostly realistic artwork in the black-and-white format, and I found the daily newspaper strip format pretty interesting. It didn't hurt that the strip was "mature" (i.e. juvenile) in nature, with the title character constantly losing her top in battle.

Somewhere around that same time, circa 2009/2010, Marvel released two volumes collecting the original Spider-Man newspaper strip run by Stan Lee and John Romita. However these books were panned by critics for their presentation of the material, so I skipped them -- but they stuck in my mind as something I might be interested in checking out someday. (And, as noted a while back, I have in fact gotten into these strips by way of IDW's more recent Library of American Comics reprints of the same material.)

THE UNBOXING - OCTOBER 2015

It's another Marvelous month hereabouts, with two books from the House of Ideas joining my collection. Leading off is Marvel's first entry into their Epic Collection line for the Hulk, INCREDIBLE HULK EPIC COLLECTION: GHOST OF THE PAST. This book collects HULK issues 397 - 406 plus associated annuals and other materials. Not coincidentally, and in a nice touch from Marvel's collected editions folks, this book picks up exactly where the abandoned HULK VISIONARIES: PETER DAVID line left off more than four years ago.

The other item this month is the STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS Volume 3, which concludes Marvel's effort to reprint their original STAR WARS comic book series in a trio of big hardcovers. But besides the remaining issues of the ongoing series, mostly by Mary Jo Duffy and Cynthia Martin, the real draw for me here is additional material from Marvel U.K. and a few other sources, produced around the same time as the earlier issues of the ongoing, and written by Archie Goodwin.

Marvel really fast-tracked this STAR WARS series, releasing all three volumes in one year, just in time for the upcoming THE FORCE AWAKENS motion picture. The funny thing is, normally I'm all in favor of quick releases like this, but I think I could've easily waited longer between STAR WARS volumes because I'm reading the series one issue a week to keep up with Teebore's review series at Gentlemen of Leisure (though at the moment I'm a couple weeks behind). But I will never actually complain about a fast-track pattern, since in general it's something I'd like to see more of from Marvel.

And that covers October!

THE UNBOXING - JUNE 2015

This was supposed to go up last Sunday, but the post office lost my package! It eventually arrived, though, containing one book: the second volume of the STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS series. I went in-depth on volume 1 a while back, and pretty much everything I said there applies here as well: Great looking book, nice art, etc., etc. Fewer bonus pages this time, but overall it's a nicely presented package.

Since I've got nothing else to talk about this month, I'll blab a bit more about this book: sadly, it appears Archie Goodwin's run concluded around the time of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, with David Michelinie taking over for a lengthy scripting run, followed by Mary Jo Duffy, who would guide the book to its end. And the beautifully cartoony Carmine Infantino artwork comes to an end partway through these pages as well, which is unfortunate. Infantino's work in the first volume is a huge high point for me. But at least here he's followed by a good-sized run from Walter Simonson (!) and then Ron Frenz, all with Tom Palmer providing inks and finishes. The artwork here may not have the character of Infantino's earlier material, but it still looks nice.

For those who missed it previously, volume 1 can be found on Amazon right now, and volume 3 is available for pre-order with a September release date. All issues of the series can be found on Marvel Unlimited as well, and -- for those who somehow come here without visiting the delightful Gentlemen of Leisure blog, be aware that over there, Austin "Teebore" Gorton is covering the original Marvel series on a weekly basis.

And that's it for June. Looks like I'm expecting a larger delivery next month, so watch for that soon.

STAR WARS: THE MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1

No "Unboxing" for March. For the first month in a long while (like, years), I received nothing new in the mail! So instead, let's take an in-depth look at a book I received last month: Marvel's STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1.

I've never read Marvel's STAR WARS series, but I've wanted to check it out for years. I missed Dark Horse's original trade paperbacks, as they came out long before I became a collected editions fiend. Dark Horse later did their own "Omnibus" versions of the series in a group of five volumes, and I considered picking them up many times, but I could never bring myself to do it since they were printed in a little tiny trim size smaller than the original comic book dimensions. I never understand this. I know many comic book readers have fond memories of digests from their younger days, but I've never been on board with that format. Even as a kid I thought it was silly to shrink a comic book down to a smaller size. The art becomes tiny and cramped-looking and the letters are harder to read. I'll go a little bit smaller than the original dimensions, say for reading a comic on my iPad -- which I love -- but anything beyond that is a non-starter for me.

STAR WARS: REBELS - FIRST SEASON WRAP

A couple weeks ago, STAR WARS: REBELS aired its season finale on Disney XD, and I can officially declare that I'm hooked. It's been a while since a new series -- especially a new animated series -- has caught and held my attention so dramatically. Last October, when the show premiered, I gave my initial impressions. In short, I felt it had promise but I was uncertain about some of the creative choices and I didn't think the animation lived up to that of its predecessor, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

Well, most of those concerns have been addressed as of the season finale. I'll state up front that the animation still looks too simplistic to me. CLONE WARS set an extremely high bar which REBELS hasn't even come close to yet -- and I've since learned that part of the reason is REBELS having a much smaller budget than did CLONE WARS. Say what you will about George Lucas, but by most accounts he treated every arc of CLONE WARS like a small-scale feature film, and budgeted accordingly. I assume Disney simply looks at REBELS as just another weekly cartoon series. So if the producers are doing the best they can with what they've got, I must reluctantly give them a pass on the animation.

THE UNBOXING - FEBRUARY 2015

Three items arrived this month; two of which I've awaited for quite a while, for varying reasons.

But first is AME-COMI GIRLS, volume three from DC. Some may recall that I reviewed volume one last year, and I received volume two a few months ago. I was originally going to cover the second volume soon after I got it, but ultimately decided to do both it and three in two consecutive weeks once both were available. So watch for that very soon.

THE STAR WARS

Script: J.W. Rinzler | Art: Mike Mayhew
Colors: Rain Beredo | Lettering: Michael Heisler | Cover Art: Nick Runge

Nearly a year ago, when I began to cover the CLASSIC STAR WARS newspaper strip collections, I noted that I often enjoy, as a curiosity, licensed fiction based on well-known properties before their mythologies were set in stone. They give you an interesting look at what could have been, if creative decisions had gone in different directions. In a way, THE STAR WARS is almost a retroactive version of these sorts of situations.

The premise of THE STAR WARS is simply: what if George Lucas's original draft screenplay had been produced as a movie? There's a lot different in Lucas's earliest conception of his saga: Luke Skywalker is a veteran Jedi general. Han Solo is an alien. Darth Vader is just an Imperial agent -- not even a Sith, though the dark Jedi cult does play a role in the story.

Providing this adaptation of the draft script are writer J.W. Rinzler and artist Mike Mayhew. Rinzler is known for his extensively researched MAKING OF STAR WARS books -- the first of which covers the evolution of Lucas's original idea into the film it would ultimately become -- so he seems a reasonable and even obvious choice to write the story. I'm not certain how much actual creative work Rinzler did though, since this is ostensibly adapted from an already-existing script. I'm sure some polish must've been involved in the process, but there's no real way of telling how much has been changed.

STAR WARS: REBELS - QUICK IMPRESSIONS

STAR WARS: REBELS, the new animated series from LucasFilm, premiered this past Friday on the Disney Channel with an hourlong event, after being first available through Disney's Disney XD app. The ongoing series will move to the Disney XD channel on October 13th.

I checked out the inaugural episode via the app last weekend and typed this up to coincide with the series premiere. But first let me note that I was an avowed fan of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, the series which, over its six seasons, showed us more of the STAR WARS universe than we had ever seen on screen in the preceding 35-plus years. CLONE WARS was visually gorgeous and evolved over time to feature some surprisingly mature writing; so REBELS has some big shoes to fill in my estimation.

That said, here are my first impressions of the series:

THE UNBOXING - AUGUST 2014

So, what do we have this month? A little of this, a little of that, it seems. Two items from Marvel, two from DC, and, in a rare occurrence, something from Dark Horse!

Age always goes before beauty, so we'll glance at the DC offerings first. We have AME-COMI GIRLS VOLUME 2: RISE OF BRAINIAC. Readers may recall that I covered the first volume of this Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray alternate universe story back in March. It was enjoyable enough that I grabbed the second volume, and I plan to get to it at some point before year's end.

Also from DC is DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN ADVENTURES, a small collection reprinting a sparse few issues from the nineties BATMAN ADVENTURES series, which was based upon BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. This isn't quite a trade paperback, but it's not quite a comic book, either. It's squarebound with a light cardstock cover, not unlike the comics we used to call "Prestige Editions" when I was a youngster.

CLASSIC STAR WARS PART FOUR - ESCAPE TO HOTH

The final volume of Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson STAR WARS newspaper strips begins with Luke Skywalker and Vrad Dodonna, son of rebel General Jan Dodonna, about to attack Darth Vader's flagship Executor with the power gem procured previously by Han Solo and Chewbacca. However, Luke has learned that Vrad is a coward who deserted his unit during the previous battle he was involved in.

Vrad ditches Luke after the attack begins, but ultimately has a change of heart and makes a suicide run against the Executor, weakening its shields and allowing the Milennium Falcon to score a hit against its engines. The damage is minor, but keeps the super star destroyer occupied with repairs long enough for the rebel evactuaton to take place.

The following sequence drips with tension and excitement as the Mon Calamari create a diversion, attacking the Imperial blockade while the rebels exit the Yavin system via a route that takes them past an unstable star. The Executor is repaired and Vader moves to intercept, but the overly anxious Admiral Griff -- originally introduced as Vader's subordinate during the arc where Luke infiltrated the Imperial construction yard some time back -- brings his own fleet out of hypserspace too close to Vader's, resulting in the destruction of Griff's ships and the ultimate escape of the rebels.

CLASSIC STAR WARS PART THREE - THE REBEL STORM

The Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson run proceeds onward as Luke, Leia and Han continue their quest to return R2-D2 to Yavin 4. Their mission is temporarily thwarted, however, as the moon comes under bombardment by Imperial forces. Why the Empire waited so long to attack Yavin following the Death Star's destruction is not explained here. Han simply notes that the place was blockaded -- though even that didn't stop the Milennium Falcon and other vessels from coming and going at will. Perhaps there was some political reason for the Empire holding off until now. But for whatever reason, our heroes now find themselves unable to return home. They seek sanctuary with a rebel sympathizer, a sexy pirate captain named Silver Fyre -- an old acquaintance of Han's.

After baiting Silver's gang with the information Artoo is carrying, Han ferrets out a traitor in their midst. Silver then agrees to aid the rebels in bypassing the Imperial blockade and returning to Yavin. Back on the planet, in another filler adventure, our heroes encounter a creature called the night beast beneath their headquarters in the Massassi temple. The beast is eventually lured aboard a ship and sent away from the moon. Even though this reads as a throw-away tale, the story allows Williamson to draw several interiors for the temple, a location barely glimpsed in A NEW HOPE. Williamson uses the opportunity to instill the haunted rebel base with some personality.

CLASSIC STAR WARS PART TWO - IN DEADLY PURSUIT

The Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson run on the STAR WARS strip began officially on February 9th, 1981 -- about six months after the end of Russ Manning's final story arc. In the interim, the strip had featured a storyline by Russ Helm and Alfredo Alcala, followed by HAN SOLO AT STAR'S END by Archie Goodwin and Alcala -- an adaptation of the pre-A NEW HOPE novel of the same name by Brian Daley. Neither of those storylines is reprinted in the CLASSIC STAR WARS trade paperbacks.

Even though they've picked up the strip several months after the release of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in theaters, Goodwin and Williamson choose to tell more stories set between the first and second films -- a wise move, in my opinion. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ends on a cliffhanger which would rob the creators of Han Solo -- and while great STAR WARS stories have certainly been told without Han, if including him is an option, it should be exercised -- even at the cost of including the likes of Lando Calrissian and Yoda. Thus, the first Goodwin/Williamson story features Luke and Leia, soon after the Battle of Yavin, scouting potential locations for a new Rebel base, now that the Empire knows they hang their hats on Yavin's fourth moon. But their mission is interrupted by the Empire, leading to a rescue by Han and Chewbacca, and a side trip to Ord Mantell, where the group encounters a bounty hunter named Skorr, out to collect the contract on Han's head.

CLASSIC STAR WARS PART ONE - THE EARLY ADVENTURES

Art by Al Williamson

I have this peculiar interest in early fiction based on licensed properties, before all the mythos have been properly defined and sorted out. The original MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE mini-comics, for example, produced by DC Comics for Mattel, were a far cry from what that property would eventually become. And the early years of the STAR WARS newspaper strip definitely fall into that category as well.

Working with little more than the original 1977 film and probably some production notes as his only reference, Russ Manning was tasked with creating some of the very first "Expanded Universe" material for STAR WARS, and he did a mostly admirable job of it. Manning's starships and interiors are derived from those seen in the movie, helping to make his version of the STAR WARS universe resemble its on-screen counterpart. His characters may not be photo-realistic likenesses of the actors they represent, but the wardrobes and certain details like hairstyles work well enough to convey a sense of who is who.

CLASSIC STAR WARS

Several years ago -- I'm guessing ten, but it could have been eight or nine -- on the last day of the San Diego Comic Con, I came across a dealer unloading random Dark Horse STAR WARS trade paperbacks for five dollars a pop. I was (and of course still am) a huge STAR WARS fan and had read several of the novels, but I had never explored the comics. The Marvel series predated my interest in the franchise, and the contemporary Dark Horse stuff was too much to deal with on top of the many Marvels I bought every month.

So, for such a steep discount, I figured -- why not? I grabbed three trades titled CLASSIC STAR WARS, and left the convention with them. I assumed, without taking a close glance at the contents, that they were collections of the Marvel series. However, they turned out to be collections of the STAR WARS newspaper strip, which ran from 1978 to 1984. I wound up with volumes 1 and 3, plus a separate book titled THE EARLY ADVENTURES, which, while published last by Dark Horse, actually collected the first couple years of the strip.