The 47th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Variants and Special Editions.

I remember when I decided to start this blog about comics, I was told by a friend that there would come a time that you will get stuck, you will run out of ideas and you just don't know what to include in your blog.  Others have told me that there might come a time when you think of this as work, as something you have to do or else!  I told myself to be ready for when that happens but Thank God I have not come to that point.  I'm hoping I won't ever hit that wall.

When I decided to finally get this blog started after many many many years of I'll do it when this happens and that happens, I decided it would be a blog for me to share my hobby with you and also what I have spent years collecting.  True I started out quite late.  I don't have the first editions and first issues like some of my friends.  I remember I once laid eyes on a mint condition Sub Mariner issue # 1.

I can still remember the day I saw this issue.  Mint condition, bagged and boarded.  That is a beauty isn't it.  By the way, this is a picture I found of Sub Mariner # 1.  I don't have a copy of this comic.  After I saw it many years ago, I still don't have this issue in my collection.  Okay back to that faithful day.  I was in a house attending a Mathematics Tuition Class (I sucked at Maths and I still do to this day) and in came this new kid to the class.  What I remembered was he wanted to be friends and showed us the comics he had in his collection.  I guess I must have been drooling when I saw this, yes, it was THAT obvious.  At the time I had been collecting for a while.  Collecting, that's one way to describe what I was doing.  I was reading a lot of comics, not taking care of them and using tape to fix all the comics in my "collection".

After I saw this kid's collection, I knew I wanted to continue collecting and collect comics like this one.  Oh he had so many other comic books with him that day but this one was the one that caught my eye.  I also knew I wanted to, I had to take care of my comics.  I tried over the years to keep my collection in good condition, I tried but I wasn't always successful.  So after I could afford to get more comics, I decided to take care of them.  Again.  Again I wasn't always successful.  Looking back I have my regrets, who doesn't.  I regretted mishandling my comics and using tape on them in my foolish endeavor to save my comics.  One of the things I wrote about when I started this blog is how badly I handled my comics, my biggest regrets and so on and so forth.

Through this blog, this broadcast, I was going to share my regrets, what I did wrong and also to share with you what I managed to collect over the years.  I wasn't going to try and sell you anything, nope.  I was going to share.  So what do I have for you this time around.  I mentioned that a few months ago, I went on a rescue mission to save my comics, well, months have passed and there's been a lot of moving comics back and forth and bagging and boarding.  I have saved what I could, some are now just beyond repair.  In that time, I have come across forgotten comics, comics I didn't even knew I had.  I've even come across some really nice variants and special editions.  Incredible finds.  So that's what I have for you this time around, let's start with this:

Does anyone remember when it was announced that Wildcats and The Uncanny X Men would have an intercompany crossover?  I sure did and I went nuts and when I found out that Jim Lee would be one of the artists involved, yeah I went nuts.  This was part of a huge crossover, Wildcats X Men: The Silver Age was part 2 in a four part special.  I loved this issue in particular.  I've always been a big Jim Lee fan and I loved his artwork here.

This story takes place in the early days of the original X-Men and before the formation of the WildC.A.T.s.  The story was written by Scott Lobdell.  Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Sal Regla supplied the artwork.

What makes this one special?  Look at the lower left hand corner, it says the Chicago Comic Con Edition.  This was the first time ever for me to own some thing that was a special edition, in this case a Chicago Comic Con Edition.  It took a while to realize that it was a different edition of Wildcats/X Men: The Silver Age.  I never actually found out what makes this edition special.  I think it's worth keeping, what do you think?

What we have here is Fantastic Four # 527.  What you see here is the Variant Edition of this issue.  Also available at the time was a Wizard World Philadelphia Edition and a Director's Cut Edition.  And of course there's the regular news stand edition and the Direct Edition.  When this comic arrived I was so shocked and happy to see that I got this version.  Back in the day, it was almost impossible to get the variant editions to anything.  Being that I had to have them mailed to me meant that i couldn't ask the specialty comic store owner to save a copy for me.  First come, first served was always the reason but I finally had a real life variant edition.

This issue was written by J. Michael Straczynski with cover and interior art by Mike McKone and Andy Lanning.  In this issue, with the FF broke and facing an audit, Ben discovers that he is actually very wealthy; Nick Fury sends Reed to a secret government project where they are trying to duplicate the cosmic ray bombardment that created the Fantastic Four so that super powered agents can be created at will.  This was if memory serves, the first issue from J. Michael Straczynski.  I felt really lucky to get this issue.  Still have it today and it's now bagged and boarded.  

When I read that there was going to be another Darkness comic by Paul Jenkins and Dale Keown, I immediately contacted my Specialty Comic Book Store and placed an order.  I saw the article in Wizard magazine and just loved the 3 or 4  page preview they had.  I was always a big fan of Dale Keown and this was a return of sorts for Keown to regular comics.  I followed the Darkness when it was first released and I was happy to see this comic again.  When I got this issue, it hit me, this has got to be a variant, I checked and checked but I never found out the significance of this variant issue.  I just know that I love it.  It is definitely a keeper.  I mean just look at it. 

Here's another keeper, Avengers (1998) # 2, this is the Heroes Return Avengers.  Boy was i happy when finally the Avengers came back from the Heroes Reborn story line.  What you see here is the variant edition of issue # 2, here's what the regular cover looks like.

Both covers are equally as impressive.  Wish I had both.  The painted cover is the variant to the one featuring the George Perez/ Al Vey cover.  I have looked all over to find out who did the cover for the variant edition but to no avail.  All the same, the painted cover is beautiful as is the one drawn by George Perez.  If you know who that painter is, let me know.

Here's a comic I have been wanting to get for a while now.  I finally saw one up for sale on ebay and decided to get it.  Batman # 500, the Special edition which  has a die-cut cover  and two Batman postcards. Bane and Robin appear on the inner part of the die-cut cover.  I remember when it was originally released, I was a little late in placing the order and by the time I did, all the special editions were sold out.  I missed that train but I always kept this on my holy grail list, hoping one day I'll be able to find it and I did. This was the issue when Jean-Paul first uses the new Batman costume.  The cover is beautifully drawn by Joe Quesada and Kevin Nowlan.

Now this is one of my all time favorite Fantastic Four Issues.  Fantastic Four # 500.  This is the Double-Sized issue with different cover art and extra pages plus a special cardboard metallic-foil enhanced cover.The cover by Mike Weiringo , Karl Kesel and Richard Isanove was way better than the edition with art by Paolo Rivera.  Now dont get me wrong, he's a great artist too but I love this special edition.  

When this edition was announced, it was one of those" take my wallet, I want it!!" situations.  Definitely a keeper for me.  Still on the subject of Fantastic Four, here's another variant, take a look at these covers.  First the direct edition.

This is Heroes Return: Fantastic Four # 2, cover by Alan Davies and Mark Farmer.  Now have a look at the Variant cover.

Yep, this is the variant cover of Fantastic Four # 2, this cover is by Carlos Pacheco and Scott Hanna.  In this issue, since Four Freedoms Plaza has been destroyed, the FF move in to their warehouse on Pier Four; Johnny searches for Lyja in vain; as the FF get settled in their new home, they are attacked by Iconoclast, a villain only Sue can see. This issue also features the first appearance of the Fantastic Four's new headquarters on Manhattan's Pier Four.  I love finding variant covers.

Especially Variant covers like this one.  You remember Marvel's House of M right?  Remember when the Scarlet Witch has killed a number of her fellow Avengers and continues to become more and more unstable despite the best efforts of Professor X and her father, Magneto; The X-Men meet with the old and new Avengers to discuss what is to be done about the problem she presents; Arriving in Genosha, our heroes cannot find Wanda and before they can track her down, the Scarlet Witch recreates the world according to her own design.  Issue # 1 of House Of M had 4 different variants.  This one by Joe Madureira and Art Thibert was available exclusively at the Wizard World Chicago Con in 2005.  I thanked my lucky stars when I got this Variant.

And if you notice on the upper left hand corner, there's a signature on this cover.  Joe Madureira was one of the artists invited to an event called The Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention.  When I was told Joe Mad would be there, I dug this comic out and I asked Joe Mad to sign it (that story will be told in a future edition of the broadcast).  This comic is now part of my small collection of variants, one that I'll treasure.

I hope you liked this edition of the broadcast, I hope you liked what I shared with you.  Hey, if you have comics in your collection you want to share, then leave me a comment or follow me, get in touch.  I would love to hear from collectors out there.

So that's it for now, see you again next time.  Drop by anytime, you're always welcomed here.  See ya.

The 46th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Gems, The Awakening!!

Does that sound cheesy?  I think it's cheesy.  I couldn't get the title right, sometimes you know what you want to say, what you want to call something but it just doesn't quite come out the way you want it.  So this broadcast is now called Gems, The Awakening.

I figured it's been a while since I shared some of comics that I consider Gems.  Sometimes when you look through your comic book collection, you'll find that one, maybe two or more titles that means a lot to you.  To other collectors, it's not what they would call a valuable comic but to you, it's a Gem and a Gem that's worth keeping.  I came across a few recently. 

When you find them, it's time a time capsule, sometimes you remember when you bought this issue and where.  Sometimes you just can't remember which just adds to the value of the comic.  I love coming across these gems and I love that I'll still come across them.  Now for the 46th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, it's Gems: The Awakening.

Now anyone who's read my broadcasts would know that I'm a Marvel Guy.  But there are occasions that I would read a few DC Comics and this was one of those instances.  For this issue I can't recall how I got a hold of this issue.  I wasn't a huge Legion of Super Heroes fan.  I wasn't familiar with this part of the DC Comics Universe but there it it, Legion Of Super Heroes # 7 from February of 1985.  I think that maybe a friend of mine gave me this issue, I can't recall.  I kept this issue because of one reason, the artist.  Issue # 7 was written by Paul Levitz, the cover and interior art were done by Steve Lightle and Larry Mahlsted.  I love Steve Lightle's artwork.  I remember first seeing his work on Classic X Men or was that X Men Classics.  He did the reimagined covers and also sometimes the back up stories.  He also did the artwork for an issue of X Factor.  If you ever have a chance to read Legion of Super Heroes, then you'll know what I'm talking about, his art is just beautiful.  That reason and that reason alone makes this comic a Gem.  It's sad to note that after some many Legion Comics published over the years that DC Comics cancelled their NEW 52Legion Of Super Heroes title.

Now this is a Gem. Does anyone remember this Gem?  The Adventures of Captain America?  This is a beauty of a comic book.  This was a prestige format comics with an embossed cover.  What makes this comics special to me is the way the origins of Captain America was told.  The Adventures of Captain America was released in September of 1991.  A little over a year ago, the first Captain America movie was released.  Remember that one, starring Matt Salinger and Ronny Cox and featuring Scott Paulin as The Red Skull who by the way was Italian (??)  That movie didn't do very well at the box office.  As a matter of fact the film did not get a US theatrical release when first made in 1990, but was released internationally. It finally received a limited theatrical release in the United States in July 2011 (to promote the reboot Captain America The First Avenger)

I saw the movie and it was....bad. I always thought that The Adventures of Captain America did a much better job telling the origins of Cap.  It was a better story and the art was excellent.  here's the team behind this masterpiece:  Script:Fabian Nicieza Pencils: Kevin Maguire Inks: Joe Rubinstein Colors: Paul Mounts and Letters: Richard Starkings.  the story was more believable and the art complemented the story making The Adventures Of Captain America a real gem. The Adventures of Captain America was released as a four part Limited Series with part four released in January of 1992.  The only unfortunate thing about this limited series is the uneven quality of the art work.  The first issue was the best, if you ever have a chance to get a copy, have a look at issue # 1, absolutely stunning artwork from Maguire.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the other three issues.  Maguire was joined by two other artists and you could see just how uneven the quality of the artwork was.  That was sad to see.

Oh I love this issue, Superman, Man Of Steel # 5.  This comic came from a time when I bought a few issue of this title.  I just bought them in bulk from a mail order company in New Jersey.  I liked this Superman title mainly because of Jon Bogdanove's artwork.  This issue was called The Curse of The Atomic Skull.  Written by Louise Simonson, Art and cover by Bogdanove and Dennis Janke.  Additional artwork was supplied by Superman veteran artist Curt Swan.  In this issue the Atomic Skull fights Superman, mimicking the action of the Atomic Skull fighting on the movie screen.There are two stories running concurrently, the regular story and an old serial movie of the Atomic Skull. Story continued from ACTION COMICS (DC, 1938 series) #670.  This issue is a gem for me because of one other reason.

Well, as you can see, you're supposed to follow the arrow on the cover, that's how you're supposed to read this issue. You have to read it errr on it's side????  I think that's it.

This isn't something new as John Byrne already did an issue of Fantastic Four many years ago where you had to read the entire issue in pretty much the same way.  Still it was fun to read and I remember I loved the Superman issues I bought.  Unfortunately over the years the pages have started to really yellow and the book seems to have a lot of damage on it.  i think it's due to the many times I read this issue.  Still it is a gem.

This is Captain America # 50 from February of 2002.  The cover was penciled, inked and colored by Gene Ha.  This issue sports a nice glossy cover and features a number of stories.  The first one was called Silent Night, Silent Morning written and penciled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Bob Layton.  This story is part of the 'Nuff Said month, where the stories were told without words.  Next was an eight page story written by Kathryn Kuder, featuring pencils, inks and colors by Stuart Immonen.  Next was a story called: To The Core where Cap uses S.H.I.E.L.D. truth serum to show Sharon Carter the truth about himself.   This story featured Script: Dan Jurgens.  Pencils: Dan Jurgens; John Romita; Ron Frenz; Rick Veitch; Sal Buscema; Mike Zeck and Inks: Bob Layton; Bruce Timm; Tom Palmer; Sal Buscema; Al Gordon. This issue featured two to three more stories as well which makes Issue # 50 of Captain America a real Gem.

Excalibur # 42  Featuring The Riotous Return of...You Know Who! Ha!!  I love this issue.  I was so happy to see this issue again.  In this issue, The Technet devise a foolproof plan for defeating Excalibur and send them a breakfast surprise that blows off the top of the lighthouse; During the ensuing battle between Excalibur and the Technet, a member of the Time Variance Authority shows up and reconfigures Widget so he will stop messing with the time stream; Opal calls the Technet off of Rachel and exiles them to earth so they ask if they can move into the lighthouse to repair the damage that they caused; Captain Britain reluctantly agrees.  But the main thing for me was the return of Alan Davis as writer and penciler and Mark Farmer as Inker.   I loved how funny this title was under Chris Claremont, I was sad when both he and Alan Davis left but when I read that with # 42 Alan Davis would return, I didn't hesitate for a second to buy this issue, it's a fun read.  hey with a title like A Hatch Is Plotted, you know you're in for some funny stories.  Another Gem I'm keeping.

Well that's it for this edition of The Co(s)mic comic Book Broadcast.  Thanks for dropping by, I'll be back with another broadcast soon, so drop by anytime.  Thank you very much for all your support towards this blog of mine, I really appreciate it.  Thank you, see you again next time.

The 45th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Daredevil, Man Without Fear.

I could have just as easily continued talking about the Fantastic Four movie again but nah, I thought I'd give it a rest.  We all know the movie sucks, the studio, the producers and especially the Director had no idea what they were doing, so I'll leave it at that.

Okay, welcome to the 45th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Daredevil the Man Without Fear.  I remember I talked about Daredevil in a short broadcast.  I recall I wrote a little bit about Frank Miller and how he wrote a story that radically changed the world of Ol" Horn Head.  Remember the "Born Again" story line.  That was my introduction to the story telling skills of Frank Miller.  He and   David Mazzucchelli radically changed the life of Matt Murdock and Daredevil.  The story was gripping and suspenseful.  I still remember the premise of Born Again. Karen Page sells Daredevil's secret identity for a drug fix. Kingpin buys the name and proceeds to wreck Matt Murdock's life.

I missed getting this issue of Daredevil and the other issues that made up the Born Again story line.  Thanks to Trade Paper Backs I was able to read about Born Again. After that I followed the adventures of Daredevil when Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr and Al Williamson took over as he regular creative team for the title.  I loved the artwork first and foremost, I'm a huge fan of John Romita Jr. from his Amazing Spider Man, Iron Man and Uncanny X Men days.  I was devastated when he left the X Men, followed his work on Star Brand and then when I found out he was the artist on Daredevil, it seemed like the logical choice to start reading Daredevil.  I loved his run on the title but I always wanted to get some earlier Daredevil comics in particular the ones by Frank Miller.

When I started collecting, it was already difficult to get older issues of anything.  My home town wasn't exactly a place that was well stocked with comics books.  I tried and tried but to no avail.  It wasn't until a few years ago that I tried buying comics on ebay.  I had fun tracking down some old comics I wanted but I never made a bid.  I just watched and I felt like a voyeur watching people bid on a comic.  And then it happened, a seller in California (I think) was selling a set of Frank Miller's Daredevil comics.  It was not a complete collection but it had the essential issues.  Well, this was my chance to try and make my first bid.  I couldn't sleep that night, I had my Laptop on and even my smart phone on to make sure I got these issues.  

I guess I was really lucky that night, I bought my first comics on ebay and I was so happy.  I don't remember whether I was happy I had won or happy because I finally made a bid, anyway it was exciting.  I had fun.  I made all the necessary payments and finally the comics arrived.  

Here are the issues I bought:

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 182 featuring a cover by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson.  Miller also did wrote and penciled this issue, Janson provided the inks. In this issue severely distraught with grief, Matt begins to believe that Elektra is really alive and proceeds to dig her up. The Punisher escapes from prison.  Yeah this is the issue after the death of Elektra.  I was so happy that this issue was part of the collection I bid on.  A really great looking issue and it looks better inside an E Gerber Mylites bag.  I love how it looks when I took this shot.  Next in the collection is this issue:

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 183, Frank Miller and Klaus Janson did the cover for this issue. 
Although this cover's blurb says "Again...The Punisher," this issue is the first meeting of DD and Castle.  This issue featured the first part of Angel Dust story originally rejected by the Comics Code Authority (Slated for Daredevil #167 but pushed back here). A young girl on drugs takes a dive out of her school window and dies, and her brother, DD, and the Punisher are all trying to track down the dealer responsible. Matt proposes to Heather Glenn.  I remember that I saw a trade paper back for the "Angel Dust" Story Line, I can't recall if I bought that TPB but I was happy this was in the collection.  That brings me to this next issue:

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 184, a simple cover that says so much thanks to Miller and Janson: No More Mister Nice Guy.  This is the second part of Angel Dust story originally rejected by the Comics Code Authority.  DD and the Punisher hunt down Hogman for selling drugs to kids, but the two heroes clash over their methods. DD ends up shooting the Punisher with his own gun.  in this issue there were two pages of letters reacting to the death of Elektra in Daredevil #181. No editorial responses, just a note at the start that letters are still pouring in four weeks after #181 was released.  This issue also featured two writers Frank Miller and Roger McKenzie.

Before I go to the next issue, when I was reading this comic, I saw something really interesting on the first page of this issue.  I didn't notice it at first but when I did, I was just over the moon, I'll tell you what I found at the end of the broadcast.  Stay around okay?

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 185 with another Frank Miller/Klaus Janson cover.  The story in this issue is narrated by Foggy Nelson. This issue also marks Frank Miller doing rough breakdowns with Klaus Janson doing the major penciling work. (Miller is listed as "scripter + storyteller," Janson as "penciler + inker + colorist.") Foggy begins to investigate why Heather's company is making bombs and this causes him to run up against both Eric Slaughter and the Kingpin. No problem for "Guts" Nelson and his partner Turk. DD is caught in an explosion that messes up his radar sense.

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 186.  Frank Miller/ Klaus Janson on the cover, story, interior artwork and colors as well.  Wow, Miller and Janson wore alotta hats those days.  In this issue Matt begins gathering criminal evidence to sink Glenn industries. Turk steals the Stilt Man armor and tries to prove himself to the Kingpin (and fails miserably). DD's hyper-senses start going wild. Matt pressures Heather into accepting his proposal of marriage.

Daredevil The Man Without Fear # 188.  As you can see I am missing issue 187 which is disappointing but overall I am happy with this purchase.  It would have been better if it was a complete set but what're you gonna do?  In this issue the Widow is dying of poison she got in a fight with the Hand and is desperately trying to find Daredevil to help. Matt is recovering his hyper-senses in an isolation chamber under the watchful eye of Stick and his ninja.  Miller also provides a splash page for this issue demonstrating the difference between Frank Miller's rough breakdown sketch and Klaus Janson's pencilled art. It replaces letters page.

So there you have it, my Frank Miller Daredevil comics collection, six issues, not a huge collection but I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to expand this collection.  Okay before I go here's that little surprise I found in Issue 184.  As I was looking over the six issues, I noticed after a second maybe third glance that there was something on the first page of # 184.  At first I was a little angry, I thought maybe the seller's kids had taken a pen and scribbled on the first page.  Then I took another look, a closer look.

I was like, is that?? No wait, is that?  It is! Isn't it?  I kept staring at it for I don't know how long.  I had to have a closer look.

I still wasn't sure, I think it looks like a signature, well at least I hope it is.  I took a shot of it and sent it over to a friend, who's also a collector by the way.  He says, it is Frank Miller's signature.  I was elated.  I was so happy.  I sent the pic to the seller to get some sort of confirmation.  The seller was surprised to see the signature, he said he had no idea this book had a signature on it, he made a comparison with a Frank Miller signed book and said: "It looks like the same signature"

I did some checking on my own and it seems that Miller has this weird way of never signing anything the same way.  Have a look at these pics:

And this one:

While this one looks similar, I just couldn't say for sure.  I've read that there's no way to authenticate it as there's no note or certificate attached to the comic.  Well, I still have this issue and I'm keeping it.  Maybe I have Frank Miller's signature, maybe I don't.  We'll never know but it was exciting to find something like this.  It's always a collector's dream to come across something like this, I hope to have more surprises like this in the future, I hope you do too.

Thanks for dropping by for the 45th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, take care, see you next time!

The 44th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Utter Disaster that is The Fantastic Four Movie.

It's been about ten days maybe two weeks since my last update.  I apologize for not posting anything on the broadcast.  I was away, working at a festival, a festival that being together bands and performers from around the world to my neck of the woods.  It was fun, it was challenging and worth all the effort and time I invested in this event.  While all of that was happening, I was thinking about my broadcast, what would I say when I had a chance to sit down in front my laptop again.  Would I talk about my comics that's still all over my living room.  Yeah when you're away for ten days to two weeks, I had to leave the comics where they were...or are.  Anyway, I decided to talk about a group that I love. 

My introduction to comics started with this group, a team, a family of heroes.  The Fantastic Four.  I was hooked on this comics when I first laid eyes on them.

I've mentioned this may times before, my first ever issue of Fantastic Four.  This is FF issue 224 from November of 1980.  Prisoners of the Space Gods, this cover is by Bill Sienkiewicz and Joe Sinnott.  What a comic it was for me.  This was my introduction of the world of Marvel Comics and specifically the Fantastic Four.  I still remember to this day the contents of this issue, a strange red mist descends on New York and messes with the FF's powers.  It looked like the FF were losing their slowly but surely.  When they head to the Arctic to investigate, they are captured are a huge knock down drag out fight by a race of scientific vikings who need help with their dying god.  I never found issue 225.  Comics were considered a luxury those days.  Even so I tried to keep track of my favorite quartet, some years later they would release a cartoon series.  I was excited to say the least.  I planted myself in front of the TV anticipating my favorite team in a cartoon which to me was as real as it could get.  Except...

...for a tiny detail.  Where's the Human Torch?  I was devastated.  Where's Johnny Storm?  The "Flame" Guy?  This was the first time I was dissapointed by people outside of the comics world.  I know that they had to do it because they didn't want any young impressionable kids out there to try and Flame On like the Human Torch.  I can accept that but HERBIE?????  Anyway I watched the cartoon series almost religiously, despite their best efforts to erode my interest in the FF, I was still a fan.  In fact I am still a fan to this very day.

My second ever issue of Fantastic Tour was this one, Issue 238.  Look at the cover!  I had never come across anything like this before.  The cover was "talking to you" Dr. Doom was telling you that he is not in this Marvel Comic.  I was in awe.  Back in the day I had no idea that in a comic book, there would be a Writer, artist and so on.  I don't know maybe I thought that these are the chronicles of the cosmically powered quartet.  I was just immersed in that world and I loved it.  What makes this issue important and also memorable to me is the guy holding the sign on the lower right hand corner.  Yep that's John Byrne.  He drew this cover, inked by Terry Austin.  He also did the story, interior artwork and he even lettered this issue.  This issue had two stories, one which saw Johnny discovering that his girlfriend Frankie has developed superpowers similar to his own. As her repressed memories return, she recalls how she gained her powers in an accident where her stepfather, Professor Phineas T. Horton, tried to revive the original Human Torch, the robot fighter from WWII.

The second story was equally as interesting and for me shocking.  The back up story was written and drawn by Byrne, inked by Austin where Reed makes a robot to keep an eye on Franklin. Reed tries once again to cure Ben of his rocky form but ends up devolving him to a rougher rocky state, his new appearance was a shocker to me, I never thought something like this would happen.  I was already a fan and thanks to John Byrne I was an even bigger fan.

Issue's like # 245 where Franklin Richard's powers go out of control as he transforms into an adult and tries to make things the way he thinks they should be. The Thing is returned to his rocky form is just one of the many many examples of the stories Byrne was creating during his run on Fantastic Four.  The way Byrne showed the strength of Susan Storm in this issue was just groundbreaking and memorable.  if you have not read it, I suggest you try and find this issue, it's a keeper.

Another favorite of mine, Issue 236 which is another issue by John Byrne.  Story, Pencils and Inks by John Byrne.  He had some help with the cover as Terry Austin did the inks for the cover.  In this 20th Anniversary Issue, The Fantastic Four find themselves living in a strange world with lives almost similar to their own, little knowing that Doctor Doom has hooked them up to machines and transported them there.  Being the reader, you knew something was fishy and you knew the reveal was coming but the way the story was told remains a favorite of mine.  A classic in my humble opinion.

Anyone read this issue where there were two separate but equally interesting stories?  First one was am 11 page story The House That Reed Built, the story of how the Trapster attempts to infiltrate the Baxter Building.  All that stands between the Trapster was HUBERT and Roberta.  Read it, it's another Byrne Classic.  The second story, Home Are The Heroes where Reed, Johnny and Ben disappear for the Secret War and Sue is left with some of the Avengers trying to figure out where everyone went. When they return, Sue learns that Ben has stayed behind and She-Hulk is the newest member of the FF. Sue has complications with the baby.  Both stories were told without any battles, without and big fights and so on, just great story telling.

One of these days I'll talk about my collection of Fantastic Four Comics particularly the Byrne Issues but the issue I mentioned in the broadcast is just a small taste and sample for any new FF reader.  Stories that are engaging and shows what the FF is really about, Family.  That is something that's been missing from the UTTERLY DISASTROUS Fantastic Four Movies.  

And I talking about all the Fantastic Four Movies.  Ten years ago when they released the movie directed by Tim Story, I was already apprehensive, I was worried they would miss the mark and I was right, well half right.  There was one good thing about this movie, we met the future Captain America in Chris Evans.  The rest was well okay I guess.  The movie had so much potential, so much potential and they blew it.  They put Michael Chiklis in a rubber suit which to their credit looked exactly like a rubber suit.  I don't know if they were trying to get that rubbery feel for the suit but they did it.  It looked like a guy in an orange rubber suit.  The rest of the movie wasn't great like Dr. Doom for example was again a little off the mark.  But.  That's not bad because they decided to make a sequel.

You know a movie is in trouble when the poster suspiciously reads: The Fantastic Rise Of The Silver Surfer Four.  I'm not kidding. Some posters out there actually looked like " The Fantastic Rise of The Silver Surfer Four".  Maybe it was my imagination but I swear that's what some posters read.  usually a sequel would be a little better than the original, not always but sometimes.  Well this sequel blew it's predecessor away with it's cheesy lines, lousy story and effects and poor acting from Alba and Gruffudd.  It was bad but again to their credit Tim Story made the story, the movie dumber.  The effects people did their best work here, the chicken.....sorry rubber suit worn by Michael Chiklis looked worse than before, extra latex I guess was added to really give it that real rubber look.  The only good thing was Chris Evans, Lawrence Fishburne and Doug Jones.  They did what they could with the crap they were given, these three deserve an Oscar each for delivering some of the worst lines ever written.

They even screwed with the Silver Surfer's powers and the ultimate insult to comic book fans was Galactus.

For this movie, Galactus was turned into a dust cloud, a really BIG dust cloud but a dust cloud nonetheless.  A dust cloud??? Really?  They screwed around with everything that has become part of The Fantastic Four.  They put in stupid humour in the story and the script was so horrible.  To make things worse, the choice of some actors were just terrible, like Andre Braugher as General Hager.  Was that character written into the script just so he could spew some tough guy Generalissimo lines??  Really?  The writers were so desperate to hand in a script they decided to put in characters from other movies?  I'm surprised General Hager didn't smoke a cigar while twirling a 357 Magnum as he spewed his lines.  Let's not forget Dr. Doom.  I don't know what they were trying to do with this great character but again they missed the mark with him. Again.

I was hoping that after 2 disastrous movies, the rights for the Fantastic Four would go back to Marvel, well No such Luck.  It was announced that a reboot of Fantastic Four would be made under the direction of Josh Trank.  Well that announcement generated some interest but soon slowly but surely more news was released and slowly but surely a lot of the news they released was poorly received by fans like me.  Hey even Marvel wasn't fond of the direction the film was going, and made mention of it in a Marvel Comic: "The Punisher" #14 has the Four (in the likeness of the cast members of this film) get taken down in an explosion.

I was a little surprised at their casting choices for their reboot.  I thought Kate Mara was a good choice but I wasn't really sure about everyone else.  I was also surprised when they decided to make Johnny Storm an African American.  That was surprising.  This movie looked like it was doomed (sorry couldn't resist) from the start with every little bit of news about it getting some really bad reactions.  And I guess right fully so.

In a quickly deleted tweet from 6th August, 2015, the director Josh Trank "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it That's reality though." After seeing this version, the studio mandated heavy re-shoots. The newer scenes are easy to spot as actress Kate Mara had cut her hair and wore a blonde wig.When they were filming this movie, a lot of bad reviews were written, a lot of bad press was all over it and still the cast did what they could to defend the movie.  But the writing was already on the wall.  This was going to be another disaster but no one knew how bad it would be.

It was bad.  The movie was just released and the reviews were horrible, just horrible.  If you checked www.imdb.com, the rating for this movie was a 3.9.  That is really really bad. 

Here's some of the reasons why this movie sucked:

Kate Mara who plays Susan Storm had initially wanted to read Fantastic Four comic books to prepare for her role, but the filmmakers explained to cast that it was unnecessary as the film was an original story not based directly on the comics.

After director Trank finalized his version of the film in 2014, the studio, seemingly dissatisfied with the director's work, demanded re-shoots, which were done in early 2015. 

The first time in a live action Fantastic Four movie in which The Thing is not wearing pants or boots. (I threw that one in, it's just funny......no it's creepy)

There is no end-credit-scene in this movie or a cameo of Stan Lee.That's just a few of the many many many reasons why this film sucked.

The movie had only been released for a day when director Josh Trank apologized for the film and claimed he had a better version of it a year ago but we would never see it.

After the disappointing reviews director Josh Trank went on to tweet that "He'll never be working on a comic book movie again". Thank god!

Here's something Fox Studios should read, it's helpful I believe in planing their next step.
http://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-movie-rights-marvel/

I went to the movies yesterday, I had the choice of watching a movie about four individuals fighting an enemy who hates them starring an actor many had given up on, saying that his star power had faded.  This movie was well written and the actors were good.  Talented people. The director wrote and produced a movie called The Usual Suspects. www.imdb.com gave this movie a 7.9 rating.

The other movie was Fantastic Four, a movie produced by a bunch of idiots who had NO respect for the source material, had no idea what they were doing, had no brains to speak of.  The movie was directed by a punk who directed 3 (?????) movies in total?????  www.imdb.com gave this one a 3.9 rating.

Guess which one I watched. Please Fox, give up the rights to Fantastic Four, don't do anymore damage, you've done enough.

   

The 43rd Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: A Valiant Image, a look at different comic universes!!

For anyone who's been reading this broadcast, you would know that I am a Marvel Comics guy.  My very first comic book was a Fantastic Four comic.  I have been collecting Marvel Comics for years now but on occasion I do wander out to other areas of the comics world, to a place where you don't tug on the Man Of Steel's cape.  To a city that is under the protection of a Dark Knight Crusader as he fights his nemesis The Clown Prince Of Crime.  A universe where Star City, Gotham City, Metropolis and St Roach are real cities where heroes lived.  Yeah I indulged in DC Comics as well.

Both Marvel and DC Comics gave me a look at a very very rich world filled with heroes and that also gave birth to dreams of having Spider Man meeting Superman, Batman meeting Daredevil and so on and so forth.  Being comic book fans, we have seen our dreams come true or as they always say a fan boy's dream come true, one day I'll talk about the long awaited JLA Avengers cross over.  Yeah I was one of those who bought all four issues of that cross over but that's a story for another day.

So what am I going to talk about this time around?  As the title suggests A Valiant Image, it's about a few independent comics I found in my collection.  Being a collector who collects Marvel and DC Comics, I was really amazed to see that there were other publishers out there, call them Independents if you want to, these comics also had great stories, great art and great heroes.  I could recall the time when Todd McFarlane was the hotshot artist in Marvel Comics, names like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri were mentioned in hushed tones, much like rock stars and movie stars.  When they launched their own comic company after leaving Marvel, it was huge news.  Any comic fan will tell you that they bought Image Comics titles the very second they were released.  I was no different.  In fact I remember I asked my Dad to buy a copy of Spawn No.1 for me.  This was months after it was released and I was hoping he would be able to find it. Well.......

He did!!! My Dad was going away on a business trip and none of the tiny book stores in town were carrying Image Comics, hell they had drastically cut the number of comics they were selling by the time Spawn # 1 was released.  I knew it was a long shot but my Dad found a copy and I was over the moon.  Growing up my parents were not fans of my comic collecting but they never stopped me from collecting and I am grateful for that.  Spawn # 1 was my first ever Image Comics.  I had never read anything other than Marvel or DC Comics at that point, so this was a first for me.  Image Comics brought with them wide spread changes to the comics industry, one that is still felt today as Image Comics is still going strong, Spawn is still around and while some creators have moved on to other endeavors elsewhere, the original Image founding fathers are still together.

The year was 1992 when Spawn # 1 was released or rather unleashed and wow, the cover really stood out with pencils and inks by McFarlane, colors by Ken Steacy.  This issue came with a  centerfold poster printed on glossy paper.  And with that I decided to broaden my collection to include other comics as well.  Marvel definitely! DC Comics yes! Image oh yeah! and then I found out about Valiant Comics.

By the time I found out about Valiant Comics, It was a little late.  I missed out on some really good quality stuff like XO Manowar, Magnus Robot Fighter, Solar Man Of The Atom, the original Rai, Harbinger and so on.   I read the reviews and they were glowing reviews of what Valiant was putting out there and the talent involved with Valiant was equally as impressive, Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Barry Windsor Smith, Joe Quesada, Rags Morales and many more.  There was no way I could even find back issues of Valiant titles, the only reason why I was able to read Unity # 0 was because someone had sold it to a bookstore who didn't know what they had and practically gave them away.  I loved reading XO Manowar and when I managed to but a Solar TPB, I was blown away with the quality of the story and Barry Windsor Smith's art, whoa!!! Absolutely beautiful.

With that, I had to put more cash aside to fuel my hobby.  So for a while there, I just bought whatever I could find.  Valiant and Image and Marvel and DC!!

I decided that I didn't want to miss any other # 1's from Valiant so when this title was released, I jumped at the chance to reserve my copy, Armorines # 1, cover and interior art by Jim Calafiore, story by Jorge Gonzalez.  I told myself to get as many Valiant comics as I could which was why I jumped at the chance to get this next comic when it was announced.

When it was announced that Valiant and Image would collaborate on a major inter company event, the comic world was thrilled, so was I, I didn't even blink, I just said take my wallet.  Now I'm not sure if I have all the issues of the Image /Valiant Deathmate titles which were not numbered, they used colors.  I bought this mainly because I found out that Marc Silvestri and Joe Quesada would be drawing two separate stories in Deathmate Epilogue.  In fact the cover shown here was penciled by Joe Quesada and inked by Marc Silverstri.  The story was written by Bob Layton.

The other Deathmate book I bought was this one, Deathmate: Black.

Deathmate Black featured a cover by Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee.  Now this book featured a lot of artists, story wise, there were 2 writers Brandon Choi (Plot); Eric Silvestri (Script).  But in terms of the art, well, you had on pencils: Brandon Peterson; Brett Booth; Marc Silvestri; Jeffery Scott; Scott Clark; Greg Capullo; Jim Lee; Wilce Portacio and on Inks: Scott Williams; Sal Regla; Alex Garner; Trevor Scott; John Dickenson (assists); John Tighe(assists); Rich Johnson (assists).

The Deathmate books were all released on Cardstock Glossy Covers were which the norm those days, the more gimmicks they cover had, the more desirable they were. Now the reviews for this huge inter company event wasn't all that great.  Major delays hurt this crossover. A lot. The uneven quality in the artwork didn't help either.  The fact that I only found these two issues made me wonder just how bad the other issues were. I had read that a major sticking point for fans was the uneven art, the lateness and the bad story.  The one significant thing about Deathmate Black is that Gen 13 made their first appearance ever.

Do you remember when Gen 13 # 1 was launched?  I read that # 1 would have variant covers.  A lot of variant covers.  I wanted them all but in the end, I could only get these two.  I took what I could get.  I can't recall how many variants there were, 11 or 13 or something like?  No, I think it was 8, I could be wrong but at the time Gen 13 was a hot Image comic.

One of the gimmicks that I personally liked back in those days was covers like this one on Turok # 1.
Turok # 1 featured an embossed cardstock cover with chromium strip and red foil logo. Possibly Jorge Gonzalez did the chromium strip coloring while Kevin VanHook did the background coloring.  the art is by Bart Sears which is just spectacular.  Here's a closer look at it.

Nice huh?  This issue was written by David Michelinie, Art by Bart Sears and Randy Elliott.  I was so happy to see this issue again and I'm thankful it's still in such great condition.  Those were just a small sample of the diverse universe of comics I read back in the day.  Today the choice for the comic book fan is almost limitless as there are now more titles to choose from as more companies big and small are producing more and more comics.  Image comics still stands strong today, there are now more independent comics out there for us to enjoy.

Looking back now, it was a time for good comics, great comics and some not so great but man what a time it was to be a reader, collector or even a casual fan and I look forward to reading and collecting even more comics today, how about you?

Thanks for dropping by for the 43rd Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, I truly hope you enjoyed it, see you again next time, remember drop by anytime, you're always welcome here.