The 58th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: Great Dollar Bin Comics

Now if you're a comic book collector like me then you'd probably know what that means, The Dollar Bin.  I actually didn't know what a Dollar Bin was when I started reading and collecting comics, I had read the term, heard it being used here and there but I had no idea what it was.  I was a shy kid with a chip on my shoulder (strange combination, I know) so I refused to ask.  Did I try and find out?  Not really, I was of the mind that if I found out, I'd find out, if not, no loss, no gain.  Now in hind sight I think that was a bad idea to be so ill informed about what a Dollar Bin was.  Well, is. I guess there are still some stores that have Dollar Bins.

Welcome to the 58th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast.  I know I have not been updating the broadcast lately, I was busy with a project and the client was a little...no actually the client was extremely difficult to deal with.  Dealing with this client took up a lot of time and I had to forgo updating the broadcast.  Well, the project is DONE. I finally have some time to myself and I decided to get back in front of my laptop.  Coincidentally I had taken pics of a few comics I found many months ago and I realized that I haven't posted those pics in the broadcast, so I guess it's time I shared those comics.  Now bear in mind, these comics were the ones I bought in stores which couldn't sell them.  These were the comics that no one wanted and they were left in a corner somewhere in the store to practically rot away.  Talk about out of sight, out of mind.  Some were in really terrible condition and some were actually okay.  I've seen some store owners actually tear off the covers to indicate these were like discarded comics.  I didn't get those, I usually tried to look for comics that still had their front covers, ones that were still okay.

This is DC Silver Age Classics Showcase # 4 reprinting the first appearance of Barry Allen, The Flash.  The Flash made his first appearance in  that comic right there called Showcase issue # 4 which was released in 1956.  Now when I saw this in the pile of unwanted comics, I thought I hot a gold mine.  I thought I had a real classic comic, I was on Cloud 9.  After a while I realized it was a reprint.  This issue was written by Bob Kanigher, penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Joe Kubert.  This 36 paged comic featured two stories featuring the Origin and first appearance of The Flash [Barry Allen].  The first one was titled: Mystery of The Human Thunderbolt.  The second was titled: The Man Who Broke The Time Barrier written by John Broome, art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert.  I was puzzled how the store had this in their unwanted comics pile.  I asked and the store owner said that sometimes his customers would ask if they could sell their comics in his bookstore.  this usually happens when they wanted to get rid of their comics.  Apparently when I found them, this was all that was left. If only I had found out sooner.

Through this issue, I was introduced to the artwork of Carmine Infantino.  I had never seen his work before and at the time I wasn't appreciative of older comics, these days I try and collect as many as I can.  I found out a little but about Carmine Infantino and it seems that he had a lot to do with the character of the Flash and others as well.  During the time referred to as the Golden Age, Carmine Infantino introduced Black Canary in "Johnny Thunder" before Denny O'Neil stole her thunder. In the Silver Age, he modernized The Flash under Julius Schwartz (also with writer Robert Kanigher). He was promoted to art director (later editorial director); he brought O'Neil in among other new blood  After giving his publisher role to Jenette Kahn, Carmine went back to drawing, first at Marvel, then at DC. 

Here's another comic I found while going through a pile of comics a few years back.  This is Sgt. Rock Special # 7.  When I saw it, I wondered to myself, do I even want this?  I was a big fan of G.I. Joe back in the day, so I thought yeah why not.  It's a comic that I could just buy and read and not really have to take care of.  Well, to my surprise this issue of Sgt. Rock is still pretty good.  It's not mint or even close to near mint but it's pretty good, I think it's in the fine category.  This again is another issue that reprints some old war stories from various titles.

This issue had three war stories, the first is titled: Ice Cream Soldier featuring Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.  Written by Bob Kanigher, pencils and inks by Joe Kubert.  The second story was titled: Devastator Vs. Big Max featuring the team The Losers, now this one was a shocker for me.  It was written and penciled by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.  up until this comic, I had never seen Jack Kirby doing War comics before.  I was a little surprised.  The Third story was titled: Aim Your Cannons At Me featuring Tomahawk, written by Howard Liss, Art by Frank Thorne.  This was probably my first ever Sgt. Rock comic. I remember reading a few after this one.  War Is Hell was one of the catch phrases I remember from the issue I read.

 Now whether you're a fan of this genre of comics or not, you'd have to admit that Joe Kubert did some really great work on this character. I loved how Joe Kubert's art was so fluid and laid back and detailed as well.  You could actually feel the grittiness of the soldiers and the harsh environment the soldiers were in.  I still have that issue to this day, just wish that store owner didn't stick that price tag on it, then again it was in a pile of comics nobody wanted, sold to me for next to nothing, guess I shouldn't complain.

 The next comic was found in a store that had some comics for sale, more than the usual newspaper stands.  This shop I think was new and they stocked up on some comics and when a store is new, you get people asking them to sell their old magazines and comics.  Back in the day, these collectors just didn't care about their old comics, they didn't see anything of value in them and just wanted to get rid of them asap.  Sad.  Again I wish I had been there when they wanted to get rid of their "old unwanted" comics.  So, as I was looking through the unwanted pile, I came across this rather odd looking comic.

Anyone recognize this comic? Anyone?  Yep, this is Marvel Comics' adaptation of the Movie Buckaroo Banzai.  The year was 1984  when Marvel adapted  the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.  The movie's original screenplay was written by Earl Mac Rauch.  This is Issue # 2, when I saw this I looked for Issue # 1 but it was nowhere to be seen.  I bought is because the art was actually quite good.

The artist of this 2 part limited series, Mark Texeira delivers solid actor likenesses in these panels of Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy, Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Sydney “New Jersey” Zweibel and John Lithgow as Dr. Emilio Lizardo, in Marvel Comics’ 1984 official adaptation of the movie.  I liked the art, I was hooked, I bought it.  The limited series was written by Bill Mantlo, Mark Texeira and Armando Gill delivered the art.  In this issue, Buckaroo gets unexpected help from the eighth dimension to overcome Lizardo's evil alien gang.  Now reading this comic was like walking into a cineplex halfway through a movie but what could I do, the first part was missing.  I sometimes would read it just for the art and to this day that artwork still looks good.  Did I ever try to look for Issue # 1, nah, never did find it.  To this day I only have Issue # 2. Oh, the artist Mark Texeira would go on to be the regular artist for Ghost Rider and The Punisher.  Bill Mantlo wrote The Incredible Hulk and later Alpha Flight.

Do you remember the time Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen and a whole bunch of recording artists got together for the recording of We Are The World to fight famine in Africa?  Well, this is sorta like that, only with comics.  This is Marvel Comics' Heroes For Hope Starring The X Men.  The beautiful cover is by Art Adams.  This is a 'Jam' issue where a writer, artist, inker, letterer and color artist did from 1 to 3 pages, and each group of pages which is too many to list here.We had of course Chris Claremont, we Alan Moore, Mike Grell, John Byrne, John Romita Jr, Gray Morrow and so many others.  I was surprised to see this in a dollar bin/ unwanted pile.  It's such a unique book with so many famous names in one comic.  Yeah, the comic is not in great shape to say the least but I still have it and I think I'm gonna keep it.  If you have not read this comic, try and find maybe a digital copy, it's really interesting to read a story as told by so many creators.

Okay, when I saw this issue, I knew it was not the original, this is a reprint.  Marvel Tales # 173 reprinted The Amazing Spider Man # 34 written by Stan Lee, penciled and plotted by Steve Ditko and inked by Steve Ditko.  Marvel Tales was a comic you read if you couldn't get the original issues.  It even reprinted all the original letters the editors received in 1966.  So that was unique.  if you're wondering, this was the issue where Kraven dresses up as Spider-Man and harasses J. Jonah Jameson to get Spider-Man to come out for a re-match of their last fight.  

Anyone recognize this comic? This is Hardware Issue # 1 published under a DC Comics Imprint called Milestone Comics.  Hardware # 1 featured a cover by Denys Cowan and Jimmy Palmiotti.  Hardware was written by Dwayne McDuffie, Art by Denys Cowan and Jimmy Palmiotti.  When Milestone Comics started up, they also had a premium version of this title, one where the cover had silver ink on it.  It was the time of gimmicks I guess.  This was one of those surprise finds, one I never expected to see because this was not a newstand edition, this was the Direct Edition.  Looks like someone decided to throw out their collection by either selling them cheap to a bookstore some where, just to get rid of them.  In issue # 1 of Hardware, we meet Curtis Metclaf aka Hardware and we get to find out how he became Hardware.  Interesting issue.  Wish I had more of it, as I only found this one and issue # 2.  

Wow, taking a look at these issues reminds me of the time when I bought a lot of discarded, unsold and unwanted comics.  Some of these comics were really great comics, some were great finds which I keep to this day.  These days being able to find some old comic, some gems in those dollar bins is not something that happens too often.  But I guess that's where the fun lies sometime, to stumble across a gem of a comic in a dollar bin or in my case the unwanted, discarded comics pile.

Oh, there is this one comic I found in a dollar bin many years ago.  It was just in terrible shape but it has become a comic I still cherish to this day and that's want I'll share with you on the next edition of the Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, until next time, you take care and enjoy your comics.

 

The 57th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Drawing Board, The Art of Travis Charest

Welcome to The Drawing Board on the Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast.  Now I don't think I've said anything about my favorite artists in comics on the broadcast before.  Now you can't have your favorite comics without the artist, whether he's the guy doing the pencils or the guy doing the inking.  Without these guys, there'd only be words and well, that's just not comics to me.  So for this edition of the broadcast, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite artists in comic books.

So for this edition of The Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, we're going to take a look at one of my favorite artists in Comics, his name is Travis Charest.  The first time I saw the name Travis Charest, I thought that's how you pronounced it.  Pronounce it as it is spelled, so I kept saying Travis Cha-rest.  Little did I know at the time that the correct way to pronounce it was Travis Cha-ray.  I found out after reading about it in Wizard Magazine.  Say what you will about Wizard Magazine, it was sure packed with some useful information about comics and artists. Anyway back to Travis Charest.  I believe the first time I saw his artwork was on a tiny little house ad in a DC Comics issue of Superman I think it was about a new title coming out soon called Darkstars.

The  Darkstars were a group of fictional intergalactic policemen that appeared in DC Comics series Darkstars # 1 released in October of 1992.  The Darkstars were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Collins.  The series lasted a total of 39 issues, ending with issue #38.  Wait 39 issues but the series ended with issue # 38, is my maths that bad?  Well, not really cause Darkstars also had an Issue # 0which was published between issues #24 and 25 during the whole Zero Hour major cross over storyline.  Remember Zero Hour?  It was the time when DC Comics decided to clean up their universe, kinda sorta like a reboot.  Is it me or does DC Comic love reboots?  Story wise the Darkstars were created by an offshoot of the Guardians of the Galaxy called The Controllers.  Though their goal was to establish order in the universe, the ancient Maltusian race known asThe Controllers were isolationists by nature, guess they don't like company much.  Anyway that's all I know about the Darkstars, other than the fact that the Darkstar agents wore a suit of armor called an "exo-mantle" which granted the wearer incredible power. Strength, speed, and agility could be increased to superhuman levels while a personal forcefield protected against impact and energy weapons. The forcefield could be expanded somewhat to allow the Darkstar to take others into his/her/its protection as well. With the exo-mantle, one could achieve high speeds during flight, all the while protected from wind friction by the forcefield.

The first time I saw the art of Travis Charest was on the cover to the first issue of Darkstars.

Now at first I thought that he did the entire cover but I was mistaken, on this cover there were three names credited, Larry Stroman who did the flashback portion and Travis Charest who drew The Darkstar on the cover, Scott Hanna did the inks.  It was a little puzzling to have Charest do the house ad and cover but have Larry Stroman do the interior art.  Puzzling.

So month after month, Travis Charest would just be the cover artist while Larry Stroman would do the interior art, now don't get me wrong, Stroman is a good artist in his own right but I was curious to see the panel to panel work of Charest.

I think at the time I had just about given up hope but as luck would have it, Issue # 4 came out and man I was in for a treat.

This was the first issue of Darkstars featuring the art of Travis Charest inked by Scott Hanna.  I was impressed by his artwork, I liked it, alot. I liked his eye for detail and was a little disappointed that he was only doing the artwork until issue # 7.

Issue # 7 of Darkstars featured a cover penciled and inked by Charest.  I was again disappointed to find out that he only did about 20 pages of this issue and Jim Balent did the remaining pages.  Charest would remain as cover artist for this title but the penciling duties went to Patrick Zircher.  It was during this period that we got to see the evolution of Charest as the artist we know today.  His art was a little different when he started out, I guess he was looking for his own style and was experimenting with his artwork.  When he drew the covers to Darkstars, he did his own inks and you could be a more refined style starting to emerge.  Now I could be wrong but I believe his last Darkstars cover was with issue # 11.

After that, I didn't really follow the title anymore, in fact I dropped it.  If I like a particular artist, I will follow that title almost religiously and if or when the artist leaves, usually I don't stick around, unless the new artist impresses me as well.  After Darkstars, Charest also produced cover work for other DC titles such as Detective Comics, Batman and The Outsiders.

As luck would have it, Charest was contacted by Jim Lee who had left Marvel and formed Image Comics, everyone remembers the story of Jim Lee together with Todd McFarlane and the other hot shot artists of that time.  Jim Lee offered him work on Wildcats and that as they say is history.

 I have to admit at the time when Jim Lee launched Wildcats, I was a huge fan of his Jim Lee's work on X Men,.  So it was natural that I followed his work on Wildcats.  Now when I saw the name Travis Charest on Wildcats, I was overjoyed to see him working on this title.  I thought it was a perfect fit for Charest and great title for him to further hone his skills and boy did he ever.

It was almost as if with each issue, each poster and trading card Charest drew, he got better and better.  Remember I said his eye for details?  You could see the amount of time and effort he puts into each line, each detail in the comics page, poster and trading card.

His work was astounding, unbelievably stunning.  It's hard to believe that this artist grew up on a farm, Charest was isolated from the comics industry, and he says the main reason he eventually turned to comics as a profession was because he could draw, having been through a number of dead-end jobs because deciding that comics was his calling. I for one am glad that he became a comic book artist.

It's amazing to note that Charest actually started out just doing back up stories featuring Voodoo and Warblade in issues 8 and 9 of the regular series (February and March, 1994). He became the regular artist of the series with issue #15, illustrating the title during the runs of writers James Robinson and Alan Moore.  But in comics nothing lasts forever, sooner or later, a talent would move on, Charest would leave Wildcats, his last regular issue was #31 (September 1996), though he later returned to illustrate the title's 50th issue (June 1998).

However in 1999, Charest would return to WildC.A.T.s to illustrate five of the first six issues of that title's second ongoing series, written by Scott Lobdell.

The art for Wildcats Vol 2 was out of this world, showing once again that his art had...well evolved for a lack of a better word, it was still that detailed beautiful work of Charest but it was some how different.  Have a look at some of the pages.

When I ordered Issue # 1 of this new title, I actually expected to see the familiar style that Charest has, it is definitely his unmistakable style but now it was different, more detailed, more expressive, it was just stunning.  Charest would later leave Wildcats and subsequently moved to Paris to illustrate a Metabarons Graphic Novel.

That's just beautiful.  One day I hope to get a copy of this graphic novel if it's still in print and have a look at his work.  One of the projects that Charest was involved with was a crossover special called Wildcats/X Men: The Golden Age.

When I heard of this crossover, I made sure that I bought this first issue of the crossover, The Golden Age featured Charest magnificent artwork.  This issue remains a favorite of mine to this very day.

Charest's stunning artwork just seemed to be getting better and better, his eye and attention to detail is almost completely flawless.   According to what I read, Wildcats/X Men: The Golden Age took Charest close to a year to complete.  WOW. To this day, I am still a fan of his artwork and I hope to see more of this very talented artist/illustrator in the future.

I hope you're enjoyed the 57th Edition of the Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast as I share with you the art of Travis Charest, who is my favorite artist, who are your favorite artists?  Let me know, let me know through the comments or send me an email: comicbookbroadcaster@gmail.com

This is the first edition of more (I hope) of the Drawing Board where I can share with you my favorite comic book artists.  It's been fun for me and I hope it's the same for you.  Join me again next time for another Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, until then as always take care.

The 56th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: What I love about Comics.

I've often asked myself that question a few times, well more than just a few times.  What is it that I love about Comics??  Is it the art?

Yeah, that's definitely One of the reason why I love comics and still do, to this very day.  The artwork by these talented artists whether they are pencilers or inkers or color artists, they produce work every month and I am in awe of their work.  Often times I would just look at their work and wonder how do they do that?? Yeah so art is definitely One of the Reasons.

Is it the story?  Is it the imagination of the writer who creates a story month after month pulling the reader closer and closer to the world of Super Heroes as we read about their adventures each month?

Definitely, the story along with the art is essential to any comic book and comic book fan.  A great team, a creative team of story tellers can be your...guide to their Universe where all this happens.  Where the Heroes take on their arch nemesis and we are given the chance to read about their adventures.  When I look back at this hobby of mine, I feel really lucky that I was introduced to this world of comics.

Look at these pages, two classic pages from two different generations of artists.  The first one details the birth of Captain America.  Drawn by John Byrne, the second is by Jack The King Kirby.  Two absolutely beautiful pages drawn by two great artists.  It still amazes me how these two great artists were able to tell a story so well through their artwork.  I remember when I first started reading comics, I just like the pictures.  I didn't know at the time that there was a team of people behind this comic book.  I guess that's why I love Comics so much, they help you to discover the Super Heroes, their story, their world and also slowly you also discover the talents behind these wonderful books called Comic Books.

The art and the story, yeah two good reasons why I love comics.  Are there any other reasons?  Well, here's a strange one.  One thing I remember when I first started buying comics from a mail order joint in New Jersey is the smell of a new comic.  What I mean is, a newly purchased comic.  When I would get my comics, I'd open up the boxes and the comics I ordered would be packaged in plastic bags.  This company would pack them together in these big bags.  I would order say...well a lot and they'd pack them all together.  When I opened the plastic bags and take out a comic, any comic, any issue from any year, one of the things I would immediately notice as I flipped the pages anxious to see the artwork, read the story was the smell of a new comic book.  They had this distinctive smell.  One which I can still faintly recall.  And for me that's one of the reasons why I still collect comics to this day, the smell of a newly purchased comic book, there's nothing quite like it.

Okay, what else, well that is pretty much it, the story, the art, the color all in one nice neat package, a number of pages held together by two staples for my enjoyment.  The new comic smell, yep, that's about i....t...no wait, there is one other reason why I love comics so much.  Why to this day whenever I buy a comic, new or old, there's this sense of wonder for me.  The reason why I love Comics is....the Marvel Corner Box.

What?  The what?  The Marvel Corner Box.  You know the box on the top left hand corner of a Marvel Comic that shows the character of that title.  You remember them, right?  There were always my absolute favorite, when I buy my comics, one of the first things you see is the Marvel Comics Corner Box.  I think DC Comics tried to do the same thing once, have say Superman under the DC Bullet Logo but that didn't last long.  Marvel 's Corner Box lasted a long while but I haven't seen those Corner Boxes for a while now.  I love those Corner Boxes, before you flipped the page, you look at the cover, checking out the cover and don't forget the corner box.

These Corner Boxes have been around for a long time. I tried to find out who started them and when and so on but no luck.  I did however find this.

It looks like Marvel had these Corner Boxes as far back as Amazing Spider Man # 2.  Wow.  The Corner Box would usually feature the title character and the name of the publisher, the company, the price and so on.

There you go, a closer look at the Corner Box for Amazing Spider Man.  Curiously though not all the early Marvel titles had the corner box.  The Fantastic Four for instance didn't have theirs.

But I have to say that the cover to this issue Fantastic Four # 1 is a beauty, with or without a Corner Box.  Strangely enough while Spider Man got his corner box by issue # 2, The Fantastic Four didn't have a corner box until Issue # 14.

That's the Corner Box for Fantastic Four.  Drawn by Jack The King Kirby.  Over the years there would be different variations featured in the Corner Box, like these:

These are just some of the classic Corner Boxes for Fantastic Four.  Over the years these Corner Boxes would change with the change of the creative teams.  One of the artists whose art I really loved On Fantastic Four is John Byrne.  He took over the reins as writer and artist for Fantastic Four with issue # 232.

The Corner Box art was done by George Perez if I'm not mistaken.  A few issues later Byrne would re do the art for the Corner Box, here's just a few of them.

When The Fantastic Four got new costumes after their journey in The Negative Zone, Byrne would also redo the artwork for the FF's Corner Box featuring their new duds. Years later during the Secret Wars Limited Series, Ben Grimm would decide to stay back on Battleworld, prompting this change.

Well after a while it was revealed that this famous character would take over from Ben Grimm, until he returns of course.

Yep, it would be the She Hulk.  I'm trying to collect as many of these Corner Box pictures as I can.  I really like them on a Marvel Comics Cover, they always made any Marvel Comic distinct, these Corner Boxes made a Marvel Comic stand out.

Take this artwork by John Romita Jr and Bob Layton, this was the original art for Iron Man's Corner Box.  One that would be used for quite a few years and quite a few issues.

Issues of Iron Man like these.

Needless to say the Corner Box art adds a little something to these great covers.  Nothing stays the same forever, creative teams come and go and sometimes certain artists return to the title they made famous, like John Romita Jr.

That's the Corner Box art they used in 1991 by John Romita Jr.  Beautiful don't you think?  I hope you enjoyed this edition of the broadcast.  If you'd like to see more of these Corner Boxes, let me know, you can leave me a message or comment or email me, my email address is comicbookbroadcaster@gmail.com I'd love to hear what you think about these Corner Boxes and also what you love about comics.  I'll share more of these Corner Boxes in a future edition of the broadcast.

Thanks again for spending some time with the Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast.  See you again next time and as usual, always take care.

See ya!!!