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TMNT Revisited
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Mini-Series) #1
Filed under: TMNT Adventures Revisited | Tagged: archie, Ninja Turtles, TMNT, TMNT Adventures | Leave a comment »
TMNT Revisited: TMNT Adventures (Mini-Series) #1
Posted on October 6, 2014 by Walt
The ’90s Revisited: Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey
Posted on August 22, 2014 by Walt
Story & Layouts: Dan Jurgens
Finished Art: Brett Breeding
Lettering: Bill Oakley
Color Guides: Greg Wright
Color Separations by: Android Images
Published by: DC Comics
Cover Price: $14.95
It’s been a bit over 20 years since this story first debuted, back in the spring of 1994. I remember the excitement I had for its premiere, and the orangey front cover of the first issue is rather “iconic” to me–extremely distinctive and always grabs my attention.
While this took Superman–and Doomsday–from actual continuity at the time, it’s a primarily stand-alone series that gave fans a rematch between Superman and Doomsday, as well as an origin to the monster. Its events drew directly from continuity and impacted ongoing continuity in such a way that it could just as easily have been part of the ongoing “regular” comics story-wise, though its epic nature was well-suited to a separate series.
While I read an old collected edition this time through, the series was originally published as three prestige-format volumes priced at $4.95 apiece (and this was in 1994!). The format, of course, put each at the size of a small graphic novel, and the collected work is as thick as any contemporary 6-issue volume.
While the rest of the Superman creative teams were also involved in the whole Death/Return of Superman saga, this volume being a Jurgens/Breeding work and feeling so very familiar in this read-through suggests to me that this is where I primarily came to associate Jurgens with Doomsday, and this has pretty much the best-looking renditions of the character (in my mind) to this day. (I certainly prefer this version by far to anything in the contemporary New 52 with the character).
Though the story works as a whole–Superman hunts Doomsday and the two fight once more–the story is fairly nuanced, and nicely balanced across the three parts.
The first volume is a hunt–as Superman recognizes the impact of lingering fear from having died at the beast’s previous attack and the need to face his fear. While he seeks a way to find Doomsday, we see the creature’s arrival and impact on Apokalips…taking down Darkseid, the Cyborg’s return, and Superman catching up. As a first chapter it’d be rather short to have the two actually meet, and we see Doomsday sent off before Superman can confront him.
The second volume sees Superman (and Waverider) dealing with things on Apocalypse–taking down the Cyborg, as well as Superman learning the origin of the creature. The origin takes up a goodly part of the chapter, and provides a (fictionally) plausible background for the creature from inception to its emergence in the Death of Superman story.
The third and final volume sees Superman actually face the creature in battle, with an entire planet at stake, with a new costume for the occasion. (Said costume is rather cool in itself to me for the nostalgia factor, but reeks of ’90s belts and pouches. I look at it as a chance for the costume to be done but not have to be kept in-continuity.) The creature is defeated, and status quo restored, making this not exactly timeless, but free of absolutely fitting between specific issues of the ongoing Superman titles of the time.
Another nostalgic factor to me for this volume is the fact that it contains an “introduction” (something long lost in the contemporary age of collected volumes) by Jurgens, discussing the story’s genesis and including some early design sketches of Doomsday.
I believe this series was reprinted in the Superman/Doomsday Omnibus that came out awhile back (and which is presently out of print last I’d checked) but have seen the singles for this in bargain bins. I would certainly enjoy a nice “deluxe hardcover” treatment for this, or even combine it with the later The Doomsday Wars which was done in the same length and format detailing a later confrontation with Doomsday, Superman, and (I believe) the Morrison-era JLA.
All in all, definitely one of the “greats” from my childhood, a favorite volume, and it certainly holds up to this day. Re-reading this was far more enjoyable than any of the Superman: Doomed chapters the last several months, and felt like a far better spending of time.
Though best read in context/knowledge of the general Death/Return of Superman stuff, this can be read by itself pretty well. In and of itself it’s a complete story, that does not REQUIRE previous reading, nor does it drive one into future reading.
Filed under: The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1990s, Android Images, Bill Oakley, Brett Breeding, Comic Reviews, Dan Jurgens, DC, DC Comics, Doomsday, Greg Wright, Hunter, Prey, Superman | Leave a comment »
The ’90s Revisited: Ninjak Yearbook #1
Posted on August 1, 2014 by Walt
Writer: Mike Baron
Penciller: Bryan Hitch
Colorist: Steve Whitaker
Letterer: Adam Niedzwiecki
Editor: Maurice Fontenot
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Layton
Cover: Stu Suchit
Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.95
After having recently read the Trapped by Webnet arc in the current Unity series,when I was flipping through a quarter-bin the other day, I bought this issue and actually read it same-day, even though I already had it. It was the immediacy, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, except a Ninjak story and the cover had a headshot of someone that I couldn’t imagine being anyone other than Dr. Silk.
For as many of the original Valiant books as I’ve amassed the last couple years, I’ve read surprisingly few so far (telling myself I’m waiting til I can read the entire Valiant universe start to finish with no gaps). So I didn’t quite know what to expect here. The issue is labeled as a Yearbook…I’ve come to realize that would be original Valiant‘s way of saying “Annual.” So this is the 1994 Annual for the Ninjak ongoing, and while I half expected a big To Be Continued, I was pleasantly “surprised” to find that this issue is self-contained.
I didn’t think about the art all that much as I read the issue, but I really didn’t have any problem with it. Nothing jumped out in any negative way, and I didn’t feel “distracted” by it, either. It just got the visuals across and told that side of the whole of the story. In typing this post I see Bryan Hitch was the penciler, so in retrospect I kind of “see” it, though it definitely (obviously) predates his work on The Ultimates by a number of years. Combined with the coloring, I’d have to say I prefer Ultimates to this, but there’s also the fact of reading this 20-year-old single issue, and that Hitch and comics/printing in general had a good 8-some years of development between when this issue was published and when The Ultimates came along.
The story is relatively simple: Ninjak’s out and about in his civilian guise, and gets recruited for a mission. Dr. Silk’s making trouble, and of course needs to be stopped. Ninjak encounters a rather personal foe en route to stopping Dr. Silk, and by issue’s end we’ve reached the adventure’s end.
Perhaps over-simplifying, I’d say this issue is basically a single-issue Ninja-Spy story: part ninja-guy in Ninjak, but he’s also a spy. And it sure as heck beats being just some kick-off to a longer story, or a concluding chapter of a longer story, or being a middle chapter of a story…etc.
I quite enjoyed reading the issue, and it was CERTAINLY worth the 25 cents, if solely for the amount of time it took to read. I’ve maybe read one or two other Ninjak issues through the years, though I’m honestly not even sure if I’ve read the first issue…I think I know more of the contemporary version of the character from the last couple years in current Valiant‘s X-O Manowar, Unity, and Armor Hunters titles.
That being said…I never felt lost or taken out of the story by my lack of knowledge; though I’m consciously aware of “continuity” and such, this worked just fine for me as a single-issue “episode” of stuff. Perhaps it’s a bit formulaic…but for me, that worked in the issue’s favor.
While this is a sort of Annual as opposed to an arbitrarily-chosen issue of the ongoing series, it’s very satisfying to be able to just pick up one issue and have an enjoyable story, good art, and no burning desire to go grab another issue immediately to continue or finish the story.
Now recognizing the Yearbook issues as basically being annuals, I may actually target them for reading prior to getting down to any solid “reading projects” for classic Valiant.
If you come across this in a bargain bin, it’s certainly worth 25 cents to $1. While it’s good, it’s not any issue of particular or singular significance, and as a “generic ’90s book” I wouldn’t suggest paying more than $1 for a copy, and personally consider it truly 25-cent-bin fare.
Filed under: 1990s, Ninjak, The '90s Revisited, Valiant | Tagged: Adam Niedzwiecki, Bob Layton, Bryan Hitch, Dr. Silk, Maurice Fontenot, Mike Baron, Ninjak, Steve Whitaker, Stu Suchit, Valiant, Valiant Comics, Webnet, Yearbook | Leave a comment »
X-Men Series 1 Revisited, Part 4
Posted on February 25, 2014 by Walt
Jubilee was the first of the X-Men I was really introduced to–as the focal character for the audience in the 1990s cartoon. I was also introduced to Rogue in that same first episode, and Rogue at least has remained one of my favorite characters since.
I’ve more recently gotten to know more about several of these other characters–Captain Britain and Forge in particular. I’ve enjoyed Multiple Man and Quicksilver thanks to PAD‘s X-Factor.
In recent years, I’ve found that when I think about the age-old question of “what super-power would you want if you could have any power?” I have tended toward the idea of Multiple Man’s. That perhaps comes from the most recent (pre-All-New Marvel Now) X-Factor run…and moreso, the Madrox mini that immediately preceded it.
Boom Boom was used quite well in Nextwave several years back, and I can’t say I’ve ever cared much for Shatterstar…though the earliest memory I have of Shatterstar is the X-Force/Spider-Man crossover–one of my first-ever collected volumes..
This bunch of cards is fairly mediocre to me…nothing all that special and I didn’t learn anything new, really…
Click below to see the cards themselves.
Filed under: 2014, The '90s Revisited, X-Men Series I Revisited | Tagged: 1992, Boom Boom, Captain Britain, Forge, Impel, jim lee, Jubilee, MARVEL, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Rogue, Shatterstar, Strong Guy, trading cards, x-men, X-Men Series 1, X-Men Series I | Leave a comment »
X-Men Series 1 Revisited, Part 3
Posted on February 18, 2014 by Walt
It’s amazing the changes these characters have been through in the past 20 years. Outside of Kylun who at first glance I didn’t even recognize, I’m familiar with the others…and they’ve all been through plenty. Cable’s evolved from some mercenary to a full-realized character tied deeply into the history of the X-men universe and has been through a number of significant events–from X-Cutioner’s Song to Messiah Complex/Messiah War/Second Coming to the more recent Marvel Now Cable & X-Force stuff to the upcoming All-New Marvel Now X-Force series..
Archangel’s since gone back to Angel, to Dark Angel to whatever he is at present. Banshee co-led the school in Generation X and has since died and–for all I know–come back. Shadowcat has grown up big-time. Jean Grey’s died and actually stayed dead. Colossus has joined the Acolytes, then Excalibur, back to the X-Men, died, come back, been the host of Cyttorak, a part of the Phoenix Five, etc. Warpath’s been part of Wolverine’s X-Force, Polaris was “lost in space” with Havok and others after Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire and since come back…
While I don’t care for the aesthetics of the multi-colored X symbols on the cards, I think I’ve recognized that rather than being simply an amateurish inconsistency, these are actually color-coded by “team” or “group” with a gold X for the Gold Team X-men, etc.
Click below for the cards themselves..
Filed under: 2014, The '90s Revisited, X-Men Series I Revisited | Tagged: 1992, Archangel, Banshee, cable, colossus, Impel, Jean Grey, jim lee, Kylun, MARVEL, Polaris, Shadowcat, trading cards, Warpath, x-men, X-Men Series 1, X-Men Series I | Leave a comment »
X-Men Series 1 Revisited, Part 2
Posted on February 11, 2014 by Walt
This is an interesting grouping of cards. I consciously learned the origin of Lockheed’s name, which is a bit tangential in a way that I can appreciate for such names.
Most of the information on these cards I was already aware of present-day, though it’s cool to learn that Storm’s greenhouse is actually a long-established thing–I just learned of it several weeks ago with a scene in Amazing X-Men #3 where Nightcrawler flashes back to a moment with Storm.
Cyclops’ costume shown on his card here is his most “iconic” to me–this was his current costume in the comics AND the cartoon when I first discovered the X-Men, and as it was maintained throughout most of the ’90s, it had plenty of time to grow on me, and was part of many key stories that stick out for me and were important parts of my growing up.
Gambit was still quite new at this point–and knowing what I know now his card is rather bland and boring here…but that’s with the character having existed less than 2 years, and it’s been over 20 years now SINCE the card was published.
As noted last week, this grouping of cards shows the lack of “awareness” of 9-pocket storage pages, as Lockheed’s car is “landscape” while all the others are “portrait” in layout.
Domino I was not all familiar with back in ’92/’93…but became a lot more aware of her in Cable’s own series in ’95/’96 after the Age of Apocalypse.
Click below to see the individual cards…
Filed under: 2014, The '90s Revisited, X-Men Series I Revisited | Tagged: 1992, Cyclops, Domino, Feral, Gambit, Impel, jim lee, Lockheed, MARVEL, Meggan, Professor X, Psylocke, Storm, trading cards, x-men, X-Men Series 1, X-Men Series I | 2 Comments »
X-Men Series 1 Revisited, Part 1
Posted on February 4, 2014 by Walt
This is definitely a strange set to look back to, having come out in 1992…22 years ago! At the same time, it’s rather cool to look back this far, as this is the X-Men just shy of my discovering them originally, and it’s cool to revisit what these characters’ status quo was then, given everything that’s come about SINCE.
It’s also a bit odd to consider the publisher of these cards–Impel–as I am almost certain they aren’t even around anymore, and that they passed the torch (so to speak) for the next series of X-Men cards that was published in 1993.
Especially compared to the Marvel Universe Series IV set, this seems rather amateurish in a way…with some of the cards being landscape oriented, others portrait, and seemingly not organized within the set with an awareness of the standard 9-pocket card pages these would often be stored in.
All of these first 9 are oriented the same way, but as we’ll see next week, the next 9 switch to virtually all portrait orientation, where much of the set remains before a switch back. The coloring on some of the cards–as we’ll see in later posts–also does not all go together for single pages. And yet the final 9-card grouping does make a single larger image.
This first grouping introduces us to a mix of characters from several of the then-current teams: the X-Men themselves, as well as X-Factor, X-Force, and Excalibur.
I don’t much care for the power grid on the backs of the cards–I’ve never cared for this sort of stat with characters, as stories are constantly changing things and these never seem–to me–to remain accurate. All the more for comparing the characters.
The short snippets are nice as a bit of introduction to the characters, and I like the note of their first appearance…a rather handy piece of information to have, even these 20-odd years later. The “X-tra Fact” is also a neat piece of info to have…particularly to help set these cards within the time they came out, as I’m looking back on them now.
I actually hadn’t realized until going through these for this post that Siryn first appeared in Spider-Woman and not a “regular” X-book somewhere.
Nothing too spectacular about these, though I do rather like the Jim Lee art, as well as the use of DIFFERENT art on the backs of the cards rather than a re-use of the front…showing that there was a bit of thought put into these.
[Click below to see the individual cards…]
Filed under: 2014, The '90s Revisited, X-Men Series I Revisited | Tagged: 1992, Beast, Cannonball, Havok, Iceman, Impel, jim lee, MARVEL, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Siryn, trading cards, Wolfsbane, Wolverine, x-men, X-Men Series 1, X-Men Series I | Leave a comment »
Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 20
Posted on November 4, 2013 by Walt
This page of cards is a bit more interesting looking back, as being a bit more relevant to comics I was reading at the time, or within a couple years of this set.
Ghost Rider vs. Blaze, Hulk vs. Hulk, Spider-Man and Cardiac, Punisher and Ghost Rider, Wolverine and Omega Red, Cable and Deadpool all grab my attention just by concept. Hulk vs. X-Factor grabs my attention now due to knowing both were being written by Peter David at the time…though that was something I had not yet come to notice in 1993. At the time, other than perhaps the Superman books’ writers and Alex Ross on Marvels, I really didn’t have much concept of specific writers and artists.
In 2013 with the internet and such, it seems rather silly to have a checklist card, when one could likely very easily look up a “checklist” online for what cards exist. Back in ’93, though, this was an extremely valuable resource for knowing how many cards there were and what they were, in the holes in my collection. The checklist card was–outside of seeing cards for sale at the comic shop–the only real means of seeing the set as a whole.
Nowadays I would certainly feel a certain bit of disconcertment over having a “wasted slot” in a card pack taken up by a checklist.
Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, Blaze, cable, Cardiac, checklist, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, hulk, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Omega Red, Punisher, Secret Defenders, Skybox, Spider-Man, trading cards, Wolverine, X-Factor | Leave a comment »
Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 19
Posted on November 1, 2013 by Walt
While informative, I don’t have all that much to say about this page of cards, except that I probably referred to the Warlock vs. Man Beast card when I got into the Warlock character a couple years later; and though I’m aware of some of these conflicts, they don’t particularly interest me on the whole.
Still, I definitely like that these cards had a bit of informative substance on the backs rather than simply listing an issue # of battle and leaving it at that.
Some of these are a bit of “history” that’s held to this day, I think…while others have mostly faded to just being objects of their time.
Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, Bloodaxe, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Daredevil, Darkhawk, Evilhawk, Jigsaw, Juggernaut, Kingpin, Man-Beast, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Punisher, Skybox, Spider-Man, thor, trading cards, Typhod Mary, Venom, Warlock, Wolverine, x-force | Leave a comment »
Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 18
Posted on October 30, 2013 by Walt
I’m pretty sure that for the longest time, the X-Cutioner’s Song card was the primary information that I had on the story; same for the Infinity War. I have yet to actually read the Spirits of Venom story, nor the Hulk vs. Leader (though I’ve snagged a couple copies of the issue referenced from bargain bins, for the shiny cover!)
These ‘Famous Battles’ cards continue to be some of the more substantive cards of the set, as well as being interesting reference points looking back…to me, most notably the Wolverine vs. Cyber card, and realizing how relatively “young” that conflict was at the time and even leading up to what happened with Cyber in the run-up to Wolverine #100 shortly after the Age of Apocalypse stuff.
Not a whole lot of worthwhile thoughts to say about these beyond that…
Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, Blackout, Captain America, Crossbones, Cyber, Dormammu, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, hulk, Infinity War, Leader, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Sinister Six, Skybox, Spider-Man, Spirits of Venom, trading cards, Wolverine, X-Cutioner's Song | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 