Your 101st Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast

Hey there Comic Fans, welcome to your 101st Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast.
As usual, thanks for dropping by. Hope you're doing alright.
Now, for this edition of the B'Cast, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite Marvel Comics characters.
He is none other than The Punisher!

The first time I read about Frank Castle was in this issue.  The Punisher Limited Series # 1 featuring a cover by Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman. Mike Zeck also did the interior art with inker John Beatty.  I became a Punisher fan almost instantly. This comic blew me away and introduced to me a character I knew but never really followed.  Then came Issue # 2 of the Punisher.

After this issue, I was hooked instantly. I became a fan. Another great cover by Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman.
Now I won't be giving you any new insight into this character or ananything like that.  There are other sites and blogs who do that sort of thing better than me. I am going to say that I don't like what Marvel did to the Punisher.
From the Frankencastle storyline to the cosmic Ghost Rider thing, I lost track of what the Punisher has become. Marvel no longer knows how to depict Frank Castle, in my opinion, they just throw whatever they have at him and hope and pray something works. Oh well.  I can grumble and moan about how crappy Marvel treats their characters but the powers that be won't listen to a lowly comicbook fan.
Anyway, what I intend to do here is to share the artwork featuring The Punisher by certain artists.
These are my favorites, like the covers by Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman.
So, I hope you'll like the art I'm going to share for this edition of the B'Cast. Enjoy.

The Punisher Limited Series # 3 by Zeck and Zimelman.

The Punisher Limited Series # 4 by Zeck and Zimelman.

The Punisher Limited Series # 5 by Zeck and Zimelman.
And right here, we have a beautiful piece by Mike Zeck and John Beatty who both did the art for the Punisher Limited Series.  Issue # 5 featured pencils by Mike Vossburg.

Here's another artist who had drew The Punisher. Another favorite of mine. Bill Reinhold. 

Another artist who put his unique stamp on Frank Castle was Timothy Bradstreet.

John Romita Jr and Klaus Janson gave us their rendition of the Punisher in The Punisher War Zone. I remember reading that John Romita Jr drew Frank a little differently than other artists. He made me look grittier and patterned Frank's overall look after one of his uncles.

 John Romita Jr and Klaus Janson's Punisher.

I'm also a big fan of Joe Jusko's rendition of The Punisher as seem here in the covers to the Punisher Magazine issue # 6 and # 8.

But my all time favorite has got to be this cover to The Punisher Magazine # 10.

Here's another artist that drew Marvel's antihero.  His name is Michael Golden.

 The cover to The Punisher # 50 by Michael Golden.

The cover to The Punisher Armory # 10 also by Michael Golden. Awesome! 

 Take a look at this cover by Michael Golden from The Punisher # 100.

 The Punisher War Zone # 23 by Michael Golden.

The Punisher # 86 by Michael Golden. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the covers and artwork featuring The Punisher. 

I wonder who else worked on The Punisher as well?  Yeah, well that's a question for another day and another edition of the B'Cast.

Again I hope you enjoyed seeing the amazing artwork by these amazing artists. 

Drop by again soon for another edition of the B'Cast..I'll see you again soon. 

Take care Comic Fan! 

Your 98th Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast

Hey Comic Fans.
I'm back. I forgot to mention, the B'Cast about Ten Nights of the Beast is a two parter. You've seen Part One. Here's Part Two.
Let's continue with Ten Nights of the Beast.
One other thing I really enjoyed about all four issues (apart from the story by Starlin, the interior artwork by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo) are the incredible covers for Batman issue 417 to 420.
All four covers for Ten Nights of the Beast were INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL.
All four covers were drawn by Mike Zeck.  The man who drew the covers for various titles over the years,  G.I. Joe, Secret Wars, Deathstroke The Terminator, Captain America and just so many other titles.
Well for Ten Nights of the Beast, the covers were beautifully rendered by Zeck.
Here's the cover to Batman issue 417. Part One of Ten Nights of the Beast.

Batman issue 418. Part Two.

Batman issue 419. Part three

Batman issue 420. The conclusion to the 4 part storyline.

I've always been a big fan of Mike Zeck's artwork and I was really happy when I found out that Zeck was the artist of all four covers and also the cover for the collected edition of the storyline.
Well, that's part two in this look at Ten Nights of the Beast.  Hope you'll have a chance to read this four part story. 
Thanks for dropping by Comic Fans. See you next time around.

Your 97th Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast

Hey Comic Fans, welcome to Your 97th Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast. For this edition, I'm going to take a look at a 4 part storyline written by Jim Starlin (yes, that Jim Starlin) with art from the legendary Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo.
The four part storyline took place in Batman issue 417 to 420.
The year was 1988 and I'm talking about Ten Nights of the Beast. This 4 issue storyline was published one year after Batman: Year One.
I was told about Ten Nights of the Beast by a friend who absolutely raved about it.

In Ten Nights of the Beast, the KGBeast comes to Gotham City to kill nine people crucial to America's Star Wars initiative.

A KGB agent together a team comprised of agents from the CIA, FBI, the GCPD and an unofficial addition to the team, Gotham City's very own Dark Knight to stop the KGBeast.
Despite their very best efforts, the beast manages to kill all nine on his kill list. The beast used numerous methods to kill his 9 targets.  I don't want to spoil it for you, so please try and look for this storyline, you won't regret it.
Okay, with 9 confirmed kills, does that mean the beast is done? Nope. He has an additional target on his kill list. He goes after President Ronald Reagan.
Here's one spoiler for you, Batman managed to save Ronald Reagan.

Throughout the four issue of Ten Nights of the Beast, you're treated to a nail bitting storyline and solid artwork from Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo. Really solid work here.

There's also a memorable moment involving Batman and the KGBeast where Batman managed to detain him.
The beast however managed to free himself from Batman's grasp by doing something really drastic. I won't spoil it for you, you've gotta get a copy or grab the collected version to see what happened.

I'm just going to say the KGBeast had the whole situation well in hand. Yeah.
So how did Batman finally deal with the beast?  Well, despite the fact that the beast had killed so many people, it was a foregone conclusion that he will never be brought to justice for his crimes. Even if they sent him back to Russia, the beast would kill more people in Russia, he wasn't a people person, the KGBeast.
So, what happened in the end?

Well, again, I'm going to leave you with the page above. If you have the chance, find Batman issue 417 to 420 or you could just get the tradepaperback. Like this one.

A really beautiful cover by Mike Zeck and Phil Zimelman.
I really enjoyed Ten Nights of the Beast. I thought Batman had come up against a foe that was nearly impossible for him to defeat. Storys like this one really captures your attention and you just can't wait for the next issue to see what happens. In my opinion, it's a great four part story.
Oh one other thing, the other thing that attracted me to Ten Nights of the Beast are the covers to Batman issue 417 to 420.
And that's what I'm going to share in the next B'Cast, so stay around comic fans.
Take care.

Your 84th Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast: Kraven's Last Hunt.

The year was 1987 when Marvel Comics released a storyline that ran across the Spider-Man titles from Amazing Spider-Man to Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man to Web of Spider-Man.
The storyline was called Kraven's Last Hunt sometimes called Fearful Symmetry. It was originally supposed to be featured in Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man but it was later decided that it would run for six issues in total across the the three Spidey titles.
In 1987, comicbook fans got their news about the favorite titles and characters through magazines and newsletters. I don't believe we had the internet at the time. I had heard about this storyline and without checking,  I assumed that this six issue storyline will be in the Amazing Spider-Man. Boy was I wrong. I sure could have used the internet back then.
Well I asked a store to set aside the issue of the Amazing Spider-Man for me, thinking that I would be able to to read the whole 6 issues of the storyline.
Boy was I ever wrong.
I found that I had two out of the six issues and only found out later and the other four parts were published in the other Spidey titles.
It would be a long while before I read the whole story and I did so when I got the trade paperback. I never did buy all the six issues of this storyline.
But I was thankful that at least I got to read the whole story.
Kraven's Last Hunt was written by J. M. DeMatteis and featuring some stunning artwork by Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod.
Apart from from Spidey, Mary Jane, Kraven of course, this storyline also featured a character that DeMatteis and Mike Zeck had created called Vermin.
Now I'm not reviewing Kraven's Last Hunt and I am not going to critique it either.
As usual I am going to share the beautiful artwork by the artists involved, Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod. So here we go, the covers from all the Spider-Man titles.

Part One: The Coffin.Web of Spider-Man #31

Part Two: Crawling. The Amazing Spider-Man # 293

Part 3: Descent.  Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man # 131

Part 4: Resurrection.  Web of Spider-Man #32.

Part 5: Thunder The Amazing Spider-Man # 294

Part 6: Ascending. Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man # 132. The Conclusion.
There you have it, the six issues that made up the story called Kraven's Last Hunt.  Beautifully drawn by Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down Memory Lane and if you have not read this storyline, do yourself a favour and go find it. Trust me, you'll enjoy it.
Comics like these are few and far in between these days. The perfect combination of a great story arc, artwork and colors all working together to tell you a memorable story called Kraven's Last Hunt.
Thanks for stopping by. See you next time comic fan.
Take care.