It’s an uncomfortably beautiful day here on the banks of the Seine, as I sit writing this edition of the feature with a bag full of comics and a tattered map leading me hopefully to a long buried Templar treasure. I’ve been making my way around the Continent all week “running errands”, but made sure to stop and write up a fast edition of the weekly haul, so let’s see what’s in the stash this week, shall we?
As you can see above, Gorfang the Thunderhound is posing with the last three issues of Old Man Logan by Jeff Lemiere. The covers caught my eye from a train station newsstand in Cornwall, hitting the nostalgia button for me by highlighting Wolverine’s costumes and covers of days gone by. It’s a neat time travel story that is a bit of an excuse to do a greatest hits/ give us your money story that brings us back to Weapon X, the first meeting with Hulk and Wendigo, Japan, and the Dark Pheonix saga, but it was a lot of fun and made for good train reading.
In a rented garret room in Brussels I intercepted a care package from my dear stateside friend Mr. Kittycat Jackson including Batman#22 and Flash #22, parts 3 and 4 respectively of The Button story arc. Mr. Jackson knew how badly I was missing this excellent crossover story with the wonderfully 90’s style lenticular covers you see above. I miss that cat, and I’m indebted to him for thinking of me while I am abroad on this mission.
I enjoyed those issues so much that I was compelled to catch up on the current Batman title, which save for this crossover, I stopped reading last summer. Luckily for me the very next evening in a nearby basement tavern, I made friends with the nerdiest bartender. Arabella was very friendly, sporting a bright pink mow hawk and spike-studded jacket, she was the only person in the bar to not ask me why I appeared to be some kind of ancient, green-skinned American swamp ghoul. She then pointed me in the direction of a shop in Antwerp which sells some English -language comics. The next morning I was on a train to Rotterdam to meet my contact, American Tv travel guide and noted authority on Satanic ritual and Pagan history, Rick Steves, and I made a stop over to Mekanik Strip in Antwerp where I got my four-color fix. Aliens: Dead Orbit #1 by James Stokoe was fun, and had some really great artwork, but ultimately wasn’t anything to write home about. I got Batman #23, following the Button arc, I was keen to see what I’d been missing out on. It turned out to be an excellent stand -alone story featuring Swampthing (big fan), a Tim Sale cover with Batman and Swampthing, and it was titled “The Brave and the Mold“, and on top of all of that, it was absolutely great. Finally I picked up (Rebirth era) Batman Vol. 2: I Am Suicide by Tom King and Mikel Janin. This has a crazy title, really interesting art with beautiful colors, and featured Catwoman and Bane. I’m only one issue in, but it’s great so far.
Now here I am in the smelly city of lights, and I better get back to tomb-raiding. After all, if I don’t collect the and re-assemble the pieces of the Spear first, Baron Vogelscheuche and his crew will, and that’d be bad for all of us. God damn, I can’t stand those goose-stepping goons. Anyway thanks for dropping in on our terrible travelogue. God willing I’ll be back home to the swamp soon, and this feature will return to it’s sinister status-quo. Until next time, dear reader, happy snails to you.
-Grim Doin’s
The Cyclops Lanterns 