Comic Book Coffee Break #40

 For 37 weeks I co-hosted Comic Book Coffee Break with Eric Mikols for the Radio Meanwhile Network.

You can find the early video episodes here and the 37th and final episode here.  While that version of the show came to a restful end, I'm still reading comic books.  So welcome to Comic Book Coffee Break: The Text Adventure. 

Still not a fan of Tim Horton's coffee so whenever I find myself at one,  I go for tea. XL, 4 sugars.

Let's talk comic books. 

DC Comics

I've finally reached the first stage of  my New 52 Superman re-read where I can say I enjoyed it. I read the major crossover event, H'El on Earth.  This includes issues from the mainline Superman title, plus Superboy and Supergirl.  (If you are reading this in grade avoid the collections of the individual titles and go for the bulkly H'El on Earth collection.)  The art here is great and that goes a long way.  Plus, I like Scott Lobdell's take on Superman as well. (By coincidence, last week I was discussion Lobdell's Generation X novel.)  This story isn't particularly groundbreaking (rogue Kryptonian shows up and havoc ensues), but it is a lot of fun. A It's a good showcase for the tenuous relationship among Super Man/Boy/Girl.  It's exciting and splashy and does manage to feel like an event.  There are downsides though. For starters it seems to come out of nowhere and resolve almost as quickly. (It does end on a cliffhanger in the epilogue, and if that's resolved it has been completely wiped from my memory.) Also, Supergirl's role in this is to fall for H'El and go along with his scheme. While, that does make some sense considering the fragile place she's at in the Supergirl title, it does feel dated and sexist. Especially considering Superboy's role as a sort of faux Kryptonian would play right into H'El's whole thing as a faux member of the El clan. I would have much preferred that Superboy be the pawn, giving Clark and Kara an opportunity to team up. That's a missed opportunity. Still, this has been the brightest spot of New 52 Superman so far. Onward to vols 4 of both the mainline title and Action Comics.

Next, I read the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary special. I'm a sucker for these, though I have to admit this was not nearly as good as the one they put out for Robin last year.  For starters, Alan Scott, who is actually the character celebrating 80 years, gets very little to do.  He has the lead story, but we only see him in costume for one panel. The rest of the stories are relatively forgettable, though I did love the Denny O'Neill/Mike Grell Green Lantern/Green Arrow story.  It felt and looked just right. I also really enjoyed the various splash pages and covers from artists across Lantern history.  I have the Catwoman 80th to read for next time.

Marvel Comics

Over in the world of Marvel I picked Marvel Masterworks: Captain America & Falcon vol. 9. Reading this story in rapid succession was not beneficial. In these pages we see Cap drop the mantle to start a new superhero career as Nomad.  I actually kinda liked that, but it felt like it went by in a flash.  Then Sam Wilson is giving a pretty awful retcon thanks in part of the Red Skull.  I don't really understand the point of giving him a criminal past and I wasn't a fan. As the Steve Engelhart run ends there's a bit of a vacuum where other creative teams spin some wheels. Overall, there was a lot I enjoyed, but the collection as a whole feels a little disjointed.  I'm soon running out of track with the Masterworks series and will have to switch to single issues.

In the world of prose fiction I read Alex Irvine's adaptation of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Last week, I'd read the comic for the first time and found it a little lacking.  This extended novel format gave a lot of insight and was particularly good at fleshing out both version of Kitty Pride.  That gave the story a little more bite.  I recommend it.

IDW Comics

This week I read a recent Star Trek comic, Picard: Countdown by Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer.  Back when they were announcing these book and comics leading up to the series, we debated on The All the Books Show whether or not I should read them in advance. I opted not to, but in hindsight, wish I had.  This is good setup for the series, focusing on Picard's Romulan staff from the series. You could read it as a standalone, but it does lead right into the series and probably works best that way. 

For Next Week

I didn't get to Alex Irvine's Iron Man: Rapture as I'd hoped so I plan for that as well as his graphic novel adaptation of James Patterson's The Murder of King Tut.  I'm interviewing the author for Howe's Things this coming week.  I also intend to get in to that Catwoman 80th as well as some more New 52 Superman and maybe some Black Lightning.  I'm open to suggest, so let me know if I'm not reading something I should be.

______________________

You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.

The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 

You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 

I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.

Quarter Bin: Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #45 "The Superman-Lois Hit Record"

I've been collecting comics for as long as I can remember. I would always focus on the Quarter Bins down below the regular racks. More bang for my buck. When we were doing video episodes of Comic Book Coffee Break, I used to do a segment where I pulled a book from my old long boxes and revisited it with no context. I called it the Quarter Bin.

I was always drawn to the weirder books in my comic book searches, and some that regularly caught my attention were the vintage Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane titles. As a kid I always enjoyed watching Clark have to be creative to do super things with Lois and Jimmy around. It felt like a secret that Superman and I were in on together. Lois and Jimmy didn't realize that Superman was under their noses, but we knew it. And I liked that. So, I've chosen one of those today in honor of Superman & Lois on the CW.

Let's talk comic books.

Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #45 from November 1963

"The Superman-Lois Hit Record!"

No author or artist credited

• Lois and Clark are at a hillbilly-themed party.  Delightful.
• As the music stops, a new radio show comes on.  It's an I Love Lucy-esque spoof of Superman and Lois.
• Radio-Lois is hapless and desperate to marry Superman.  
• Real Lois is not thrilled though pretends to be because she doesn't want to make a scene.
• She learns that it's produced by "comedian" Don Weeder and heads off to give him a piece of her mind.
• At the radio station, Weeder assumes Lois is there to praise the show.
  
• He's already gotten high compliments from many, including some world leaders.
• "Much appreciated your good-natured spoof" -JFK 
• (This is particularly noteworthy because this issue would have hit the stands just before the tragic assassination of President Kennedy in November of 1963.)
• Lois relents and figures if it's making so many people happy maybe she's overreacting. 
• Hello sexism!
• Lois tries to ignore it and move on, but she's heckled everywhere she goes.
• This is even affecting her professionally.
• She is given 100 copies of the album as her prize for winning "Newsgal of the Year."
• She declines (and that award name is cringy).
• She decides to pop in ear plugs so she can go about her day without heckling but then doesn't hear a motorcycle zooming up on her.
• Luckily Superman spots her and saves the day.
• He repeats a line from the show: "You're more trouble for me than Luthor and Braniac rolled into one."
• Lois is furious and calls him out for it.
• He feels bad and apologizes, but she's not interested.
• 
  Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet, Perry White assigns Lois and Clark to cover the recording of the sequel album.
• It's all about how terrible life would be if Superman married Lois. Great.
  
• Lois is pissed and leaves the recording studio.
• Clark does a quick change and follows as Superman.
• They have a blowup where Lois really lets him have it for going along with this.
• Next, Perry sends Lois to cover a taping of the Steve Allen Show.
• She's delighted to do something other than talk about this dumb record.
• When she arrives, though, she learns that Clark Kent is guest-hosting, because that is definitely a thing that would happen and does in fact make sense.
• 
  During the show, Clark is a buffoon and takes the brunt of all the jokes, then decides to play the new record.
• Lois is furious, but when the record starts, their real-life fight from the street is edited into the episode.
• It plays out with Lois getting the upper hand and Superman sounding sheepish.
• In the wrap-up, we learn that Clark secretly recorded their conversation then maneuvered it so that he could guest-host the show.
• Lois feels vindicated and forgives Superman.
• Also, the actors playing Superman & Lois on the record announce that they are getting married.  
• The End.

This was the lead story and the one featured on the cover. There are two more "adventures" included, "The Girl with the Golden Arm" and "Dear Dr. Cupid." There's also a backup comic strip, a 5-panel entry of "Peg." 

Needles to say, this story does not hold up. I don't think any of the Lois stories from the 50s or early 60s would. She gets a little more agency later in the run, and I remember those stories being much better. 

I do really love the Superman art from this era, so the book still looks good. I also appreciate how Lois eventually stands up for herself and doesn't have to back down in order for the story to resolve. This issues strikes me as very meta because this series is almost exclusively about Lois scheming to marry Superman and ending up just getting in his way. Is the issue making fun of itself? I don't think so. I don't think they were that aware, and that's just weird. 

Then I wondered for a moment if it was a commentary on 1960s sexism. I mean it's all pretty blatant. Lois has to hide her feelings in order to avoid a scene, even though they are justified and she is in fact being horribly mistreated. Then she has to wear ear plugs to drown out the unjust criticisms of literally everyone both personally and professionally. But no. It wasn't a take on sexism; it just was sexism. 

Back to the Quarter Bin for you, old chum.

______________________

You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.

The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 

You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 

I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.

Comic Book Coffee Break #39

No coffee today. We swung into Tim Horton's and I don't love their coffee so I got tea, which I do like. XL, 4 sugars.

Let's talk comic books. 

DC Comics

So in the last issue I said I was planning to re-read the Superman Truth arc from the New 52. As I was looking for the right place to start I decided to just do a whole reread of New 52 Superman.  This era of Superman has a pretty notorious rep and I hadn't read it since it dropped the first time and I really couldn't remember. I started with Grant Morrison's Action Comics Omnibus. This comprises the first 18 issues plus an annual and a #0.  The art is primarily by Rags Morales. Right away were are off to a weird start.  As I recall the lead up to the New 52 was a streamlined, back to basics kind of take on DC Comics. If that's really the goal, who in the world thought Grant Morrison was the one? I do have to admit the first 5 or so issues where we have t-shirt Superman doing some street level stuff, I was a pretty in. But then that vanishes and we go on the typical trippy, Quaalude-fueled ride that is a Grant Morrison story.  And there's no transition.  It's just suddenly aliens and demons and time travel and Mxyzptlk. I don't get it. 

Then there's the art. I guess that's a place where I would have gone with a classic, shiny, spit-curled kind of vibe.  Instead it feels very loose and inconsistent. Superman is unrecognizable from panel to panel.  It's weird and I found it to be very unpleasant. What's more, nothing from this run made any lasting impact on the character.

Over on the mainline title we have two volumes, Superman: What Price Tomorrow? and Secrets and Lies. While the art feels better and the clear shake up in status quo with Lois, Clark and Jimmy is there, nothing feels fresh about it. Again, if you are going for a shiny, modern take why dust off old guard writers like George Perez and Dan Jurgens. I don't say that to throw shade, it's just an odd choice, one that doesn't pay off.  Neither lasts long and I think that's for the best. My estimation of these volumes hasn't changed with this reread.  They are utterly skippable and ultimately inconsequential, but the art in Secrets and Lies is pretty great.

Next comes the big H'El on Earth storyline which features crossover issues from the Superboy (just awful) and Supergirl (my favorite of the New 52) series.

Marvel Comics

Over in Marvel, I finally sat down and read the two issues that make up X-Men: Days of Future Past.  I feel like this is one of those rare situations where the later adaptations really make the story. I found these two issues to be relatively brief and not particularly exciting. I am, of course, familiar with the animated adaption from the 90s and the later Fox film (Rogue Cut, all the way), but for whatever reason I had never read this. I'm a sucker for time travel and those adaptations were some of my favorites from their respective series. 

Next, I read Daredevil: Noir by Alex Irvine in preparation for my upcoming interview. My first experience with the Noir line came a few years ago when I was prepping to interview author Fred van Lente. He had written X-Men: Noir and while I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Fred, I can't say the same for X-Men Noir.  More recently I read Luke Cage: Noir and that was a real standout. I think Cage just works in that setting and the same is true for Daredevil. 

It makes sense that this would be a good spotlight for the character. Saying Daredevil: Noir is practically redundant. I haven't read a ton of Daredevil comics, but I recognized the changes from the source and found it worked really well in this standalone story.

This is cheating because it isn't a comic, but I read the prose novel Generation X. What a weird one this was. I loved the old X-Men prose novels and typically enjoy the writing of Elliot S! Maggin and Scott Lobdell.  This was a little wacky though. They did a good job of establishing this team as connected, but separate from the X-Men proper. It didn't have that feel of X-Men without the X-Men as these types of things so often do. It also made me want to read the Generation X comics, so that's a win all around. 

 (Fun fact: I interviewed author Elliot S! Maggin over on the All the Books Show.)

Everything Else

Finally, I read The Comic Book Story of Baseball, also by Alex Irvine. I likely wouldn't have picked this up had it not been for my upcoming interview with the author, but I'm glad I did. It was an incredibly thorough history, but still managed to be fun and engaging. I learned a lot and it made me want to pick up some more Baseball books.  We'll see.

For next time, I'm planning to pick up Alex Irvine's Iron Man run, continue my New 52 Superman re-read and maybe pick up an X-Men book. I'm in the mood.

P.S. Another feature of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break was the Quarter Bin segment.  Each week I would drag a random issue out of my childhood longbox and revisit. Look for that dropping on Wednesday. 

______________________

You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.

The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 

You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 

I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.

Comic Book Coffee Break #38

 For 37 weeks I co-hosted Comic Book Coffee Break with Eric Mikols for the Radio Meanwhile Network.

You can find the early video episodes here and the 37th and final episode here.  While that version of the show came to a restful end, I'm still reading comic books.  So welcome to Comic Book Coffee Break: The Text Adventure. 

Let's talk comic books. 

First off, my coffee today was Blue Mountain Blend Medium roast. I had it with some creamer and a little Torani Irish Cream syrup. It was a good start.

First, Archie Comics.  

Over on my podcast, Howe's Things, I recently did an interview with Jamie Lee Rotante about her Betty & Veronica books, my favorite of which was Betty & Veronica: Senior Year. It works because it updates the characters while staying true to the classic roots. Talking Archie got me in the mood to revisit some of my old favorites so got a month of Archie Unlimited.

I started with Little Archie v.1 by Bob Bolling. This was not the Little Archie I was expecting. Typically when these stories pop up in a digest they tend to stick to the Archie pattern only from a different angle since the gang is younger.  This collection was more about outlandish Archie adventures with pirates, aliens and Mad Doctor Doom. While it was interesting to see them take Archie in a completely different direction, it rarely felt like I was reading the Archie Andrews I know. This could have been any little red-head and for that it didn't really work for me.  There is a volume 2 and I will likely read it because I'm a completist, but this was not my jam.

Marvel Comics

Over in the World of Marvel, I read volumes 2 & 3 of New Mutants Classics as research for my guest-hosting gig on the New Mutants episode of Previously on X-Men.  I had read the first volume years ago and tapped out because I just found it dull. It felt liked the Saved by the Bell: The New Class of the X-Men franchise and I was not all about it. I was glad that I continued on because things heat up when Chris Claremont teams up with artist Bill Sienkiewicz.  The art takes on a scratchy, abstract vibe and the story gets weird. This section includes the Demon Bear Saga which is a major basis for the 20th Century movie. While it didn't make me a New Mutants convert, I did appreciate it taking on it's own identity. It's worth reading once.

Elsewhere in Marvel, I read the final volume of Red-She Hulk, Route 616.  This collection concludes the Red Hulk run that began with the Ed McGuiness/Jeph Loeb stories.  For whatever reason I got really in to these back in 2012 and finishing this story was my reason for signing up with Marvel Unlimited. While I don't think these last two volumes where Betty takes over as protagonist really work, this run will always have a special place in my heart. It was colorful and big, and at times downright nonsensical, but that's how I like my Hulk. 

DC Comics

On the DC horizon I finished the mostly uncollected Firestorm series featuring Jason Rusch as the lead. While this story started with a pretty interesting hook, it devolved into a mess of crossovers and an overcrowded narrative. I feel the character deserves better, though he'll likely never see it.  I still don't get why they created an original character to take the Firestorm mantle for Legends of Tomorrow. Jason was right here waiting!

I've also been reading a lot of Rebirth Flash lately, so I picked up the out-of-continuity collection Flash: United They Fall by Gail Simone and Clayton Henry.  While the art feels modern and jazzy, the stories felt mostly like a waste of time.  They were fine, but nothing I would pull out and recommend to someone. Oh well.

Speaking of things that were fine, I read Batman V.6 Bride or Burglar by Tom King. This was the ultimate in wheel spinning.  Sometimes that's okay, but I just found these dull. Just get on with the wedding (that will definitely happen for sure) already.

Everything Else

Finally, I read an interesting little graphic novel called Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11's Third Man by Alex Irvine and Ben Bishop.  I'm in research mode because I'm set to interview Alex Irvine for Howe's Things in a couple of weeks. This was a cool story about Michael Collins, the astronaut who gets the least amount of credit for Apollo 11. It was fascinating because I know nothing about this man and have never heard his name before this. The book is well done and informative. It made me want to pick up Collins' biography. I'm looking forward to the interview with Alex.

That's it for this week.  Next, I'm planning to reread the Truth arc from New 52 Superman and probably dig further into Alex Irvine's back catalogue.  See you then.

______________________

You can find back issues of the video version of Comic Book Coffee Break here.

The audio version of Comic Book Coffee Break is over there. 

You can find me as the co-host of 9021 Here We G0: A 90210 Rewatch Podcast for the Radio Meanwhile Network. 

I also host Howe's Things, the podcast and radio show of the David A. Howe Public Library.