The Weekly Haul

Yes,  it’s past time for another Weekly Haul. It’s been a long busy, but fantastically great week, and I haven’t had time to crank out this post. In fact, I still don’t have time, There’s a hundred things I should be doing now, and as you can see in the above image, Mr. Jackson isn’t helping at all. But unlike him I don’t have time to laze about in pools of sunlight over vintage 70’s comics, so let’s see what’s in the stash this last week…

I’m not gonna lie to you folks, I never made it to the stands this week. Like I said, I’ve been incredibly busy, I’m an ancient Swamp Ghoul and it’s the week(s) before Halloween, I got a million cauldrons on the stove, you know what I mean? But I did swing by an old trading post in the eastern marshlands where I used to shamble around in my younger days. I try and make it back to that creaky mouldering shack when I can, because I always find great stuff there.  Behind a jar of pickled teeth on a high, dusty shelf, I found Tales of Suspense #72, The Sleeper Shall Wake!  which sports my all-time favorite Captain America cover, and one of my favorite comic book covers period. Jack Kirby does the honors in this dramatically composed and lit iconic cover where Captain America clings onto the cleated foot of the giant Nazi Robot known as a sleeper, as it fires death rays and stomps a building.

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Next we have Captain America and the Falcon #194, which I’ve never read before, but is another Jack Kirby issue (written, draw, and edited!) with a Purple Frankenstein on the cover, and that is good enough for me. Rounding out the Jack Kirby triple bill, I found Kamandi #24 featuring an appropriately Halloweenish cover, and an agreeable price tag. And last, but not least, for single issues, I found Kull the Conqueror #8, with a Werewolf-centric cover by John and Marie Severin, who also draw the interior story scripted by our old pal Len Wein! Now November starts my annual Barbarian/ sword and Sorcery reading season, but it’s a giant Werewolf! I found it the night of the full moon! You can’t pass on stuff like that.

Naturally Mr. Jackson asked me to pick out something nice for him on the grounds that he behave in my absence and not eat anyone. He was very good, so I got him this cat-sized 100 Page Batman Family digest-sized reprint collection. He likes it a lot.

Unfortunately, he also likes Frankenstein Underground, which I bought for myself. It’s rare that I buy collections of things I have in single issues, but Mike Mignola and Ben Steinbeck’s excellent miniseries is a rare gem of a comic, and features some sketchbook material exclusive to the collection. Frankenstein’s monster, after losing a Wrestling Match with Hellboy in a castle in Mexico (spinning off of the also excellent Hellboy: House of the Living Dead by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben), finds himself miles and miles beneath the Earth’s surface, where he encounters the remains of a race that was old when the Neanderthals roamed the world, as well as a Civil War-era  Hollow Earth cult, and some other crazy stuff. Go buy this book, it’s almost Halloween, and you want this Frankenstein/ Journey to the Center of the Earth adventure story on your shelf.

  Leaving the musty old, overgrown-and-abandoned-railroad-tracks-adjacent Trading post, the proprieter gifted me with Joe Quesada’s Daredevil: Father Hardcover collection. Quesada is an underrated artist, and Daredevil is still an underrated character, and it was a real nice gesture on the the old fur-trapper’s part to give me the book for my birthday. That’s right, of course it’s in October, but I stopped counting shortly after that calendar was introduced. Then we have two gifts I got for myself, because I’m a greedy Swamp Ghoul. Creepy Presents: Alex Toth, an over-sized hardcover collection of Alex Toth’s complete works for Creepy and Eerie. Toth was a master of minimalism, and to this day, even as a dedicated fan of Mike-angular-shapes-on-a-black-page-Mignola, I am amazed at Alex Toth’s ability to tell a story with the most sparing economy of graphic detail. And besides, it’s vintage Creepy stories. Finally, I got myself The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume II. This collects an odd handful of Jack’s DC work, including some old stories from his Black Magic days (fantastic stories), Atlas, The Sandman, and both Super Powers miniseries. The Super Powers books are interesting, and why I got the book. The story as I know it goes, DC comics wanted to churn out a fast miniseries starring the Justice League and their rogues gallery to push their line of action figures. It didn’t matter what it was about, or if it was bad or good, it just had to have the characters and vehicles from the toy line. Nobody wanted the job. Then Jack, Enchanted genius, blue-collar workhorse that he was, said “What the hell, gimme that one”. Jack only plotted the first series, and drew the amazing covers, but someone else was brought in to draw the interiors, I’m not even bothering to look up who, it doesn’t matter, they’re not Jack. He also brought in his Fourth World Characters, pitting the league against Darksied. Then, on the second series, Jack drew some issues himself. That’s the whole reason I wanted this book, Jack Kirby draws Batman. The end. Jack Kirby Batman.

Well that’s all for tonight, boils and ghouls, I hope the over-sized edition of the haul and the full color photos of Mr. Jackson’s fuzzy face made up for the lateness. Now like I said, I have a million things to do, I gotta run. If I miss the next post, Happy Halloween…

 

-Grim Doin’s