Top 10: Daredevil Stories

This time around, the Man Without Fear: Daredevil. DD has always been one of my favourite characters, and his stories have always been among my favourite reads. Having said that, I never got into the Ann Nocenti / John Romita Jr. run or that wacky Daredevil in armour period, where he tried to pretend that Matt Murdock was dead and he was someone else. I just didn’t care for Nocenti’s take on the character and dropped it quickly. I DID pick up quite a bit of the “armour” run but STILL found it unreadable. Those two eras spanned roughly #250 to #380– almost thirteen solid years where one of my favourite books was ransacked.

A note on the Frank Miller run. No doubt this was the best era for the character, and while it is represented here with a few issues, the strength of the Miller run is in the totality and not the individual parts. While to me, not a lot of individual issues were good enough to make the list, you put all those issues together and it comprises one of the greatest runs by a creator on a character ever.

And now, this Blind Man Shall Lead…

1. Fantastic Four #39-40 & Daredevil #37-38
This is what I call the “Doctor Doom Saga”. The story began in Fantastic Four #39-40, where Daredevil assists the Fantastic Four in defeating Doom, who had taken over the Baxter Building and turned Reed’s inventions against them.

For his part in the latest defeat, Daredevil was marked by Doom for special attention, and when the right moment came, Daredevil would be used as a weapon to destroy the Fantastic Four. The right moment came in Daredevil #37-38 when, following a taxing battle with the Trapster, DD is handily beaten by Doom and gets to trade bodies with him as a boobie prize. DD turns the tables, gets his body back and has the Fantastic Four on his tail as a reward. With the help of Spider-Man and Thor, the Fantastic Four is held to a standstill. One of my favourite story sequences of all-time.

Great work by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Gene Colan.

Strange Tales #1

Strange Tales #1

Marvel Comics
(w) Various
(a) Various
FC 48 pgs w/ ads $4.99 US / Higher in Canada

After Marvel had declared bankruptcy back in the late ’90s – they started to restructure the company and they also started experimenting with more than just the usual superhero comic. Peter Milligan and Michael Allred had an amazing run on X-Force / X-Statix which skewered the celebrity aspects of superheroing and stardom in general. And in 2002 Peter Bagge had a comic come out called The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man. His follow up The Incorrigible Hulk was shelved after a change in Marvel’s management and has been sitting on shelf for the last few years until now. Marvel has assembled a team of indy comic book stars to do various takes on Marvel’s superheroes. Along with this Marvel has finally printed Bagge’s story – splitting it into three parts over the course of the mini-series.

Marvel Zombies Return #1

Marvel Zombies Return #1 of 5

(w) Fred Van Lente
(a) Nick Dragotta
FC 32 pgs w/ ads $3.99 US / Higher in Canada

Wow. That was one nasty ass comic. Writer Fred Van Lente took over the Marvel Zombie title from Robert Kirkman with Volume 3. I was little let down with Kirkman’s Volume 2 and Van Lente’s Volume 3 had picked up the pace. It made the comic series a little less silly and set up what potentially could have been an awesome Volume 4. While Volume 4 wasn’t bad, it seemed to lose some momentum by the last couple of issues. But Van Lente has more than made up for it with this new issue.

Disney to Purchase Marvel for $4B

Disney to Purchase Marvel for $4B

Press Release

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK– (BUSINESS WIRE) — Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Devil Dinosaur Omnibus

Devil Dinosaur Omnibus 

Marvel Comics
Writer: Jack Kirby
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Mike Royer

FC, 176 pgs
$29.99 US / Higher in Canada

With Jack Kirby’s return to Marvel Comics in 1975 (after a short tenure at DC Comics), he created a whole slew of new properties for the company including Devil Dinosaur, which was hoped to make the transition from comic book to animated television series. But Kirby’s tale of Moon-Boy, an early human, who befriends a mutated Tyrannosaurus Rex, didn’t last long; it was cancelled after only nine issues. Together, this unlikely couple defends their home valley from all threats-aliens, witches, and opposing tribes.

Devil Dinosaur isn’t just a tale about a boy and his Jurassic pet; it’s a vehicle for Jack Kirby to explore certain ideas about human history and evolution. Kirby figured he had a blank canvas to paint upon, and he believed man and monster could have lived together, sharing the same environment. As Kirby explains in his letter page “Dinosaur Dispatches”: “After all, just where the Dinosaur met his end, and when Man first stood reasonably erect, is still shrouded in mystery.”

No Notice Comic Event -Marvel’s 70th B-day!

Our Medicine Hat location will be celebrating Marvel’s 70th anniversary at 9 pm tonight (Tuesday August 11, 2009). Come on down for some cake and special sales. I’ll be there!

Top 10: Galactus Tales

This time around, the big G, the Devourer, the Alpha/The Omega, GALACTUS! While doing some previous articles, I encountered Galactus quite a bit, and I got that “tingle”. If I can find 10 great stories for a character I don’t like (Darkseid), it shouldn’t be too hard to knock one off on a character I DO like quite a bit.

I’m not sure what it is I like about the character; he’s visually interesting thanks to a great Jack Kirby design, and despite being a planet eating monster, has a sense of nobility. Unlike Darkseid, the Big G does most of his own heavy lifting. I like spectacle and Galactus by his very nature is a spectacular character.

The top two slots are a tie.

1a. Fantastic Four #48-50: “Galactus Begins”
It’s all here, the funky character design, the Silver Surfer (a classic character dreamed up by Jack Kirby out of whole cloth), and, of course, SPECTACLE! The only misstep was the grotesque green coloring and big “G” on his chest on the last page of issue #48.

The Fantastic Four fight a battle against a foe they have no hope of beating. Only the assistance of the Watcher saves the day. Most long time fans and comics professionals consider this the best Marvel story of all-time. I don’t have an unbiased opinion on the Fantastic Four anymore, as I read and re-read the first 100 issues of this genre-changing series waaaaaay too many times as a kid. As much as I enjoy them, I still can’t re-read them, as I know them too well. Same reason I can no longer watch Star Wars or Wrath of Khan.

1b. Annihilation volume 1 #1-6
For the longest time, this was my undisputed #1 story, but I knew I had to include Fantastic Four #48-50 on top of the list. Anyway, on to Annihilation, which was probably one of the most spectacular (there’s that word again) stories in comics’ history. A galaxy spanning battle where the fate of the Universe hangs by a single thread, as Annihilus invades our dimension with a huge army from the Negative Zone. It’s also one of the biggest suspense stories in recent Marvel history. Galactus and the Surfer are taken down in the first issue and are captured by Thanos and Annihilus. Thanos puts Galactus and his planet eating machinery to a unique use.

I fully planned to ignore the series but seeing Galactus chained up in issue two was a classic “WTF!” moment. Any story that accomplishes that is worth a look. Next to Sinestro Corps, Annihilation was my favourite storyline of the past few years.

Nova put it best: “They’ve turned Galactus into a weapon. Think about that for a minute.” You knew that Galactus was going to get loose and when he did it was going to be good. And it was: a pissed off Galactus takes out all of Annihilus’ forces and a whole bunch of star systems with one tantrum. Great stuff.

Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange volume 1

Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange volume 1

Marvel Comics
Writer: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
Art: Steve Ditko

FC, 270 pgs
$80.00 CAN / $49.99 US

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee are notorious for creating the Marvel Universe, controversy aside. Together, this writer and artist team brought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes under one umbrella. They reinvented Thunder Gods, envisioned science adventurers, and put some of the weirdest and most recognizable superheroes (and villains!) on newsprint paper. Though each comic was a triumph, and every story they told a lasting memory, there was a third mind that solidified Marvel’s dominance over the superhero genre. His name was Steve Ditko. Best known for illustrating and co-creating Spider-Man, the most dynamic and greatest good guy to spawn from the Silver Age of comic books, Ditko also created the eminent Doctor Strange.

This shiny Marvel Masterworks hardcover collects partial issues of Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-141, covering the humble beginnings, overall conception, and complete development of Marvel’s in-house sorcerer, Dr. Strange.

Top 10: My Favourite Thor Stories

This time around: the God of Thunder himself, Thor. The character isn’t in my top five but over the years he’s found himself in terrific stories that are great reads. And I have read many of them numerous times.

Thor stories are usually spectacular and vast in scope– these are among the most spectacular comics stories ever done and among my all-time favourites. They all stand up to several re-readings. Without further ado, here we go…

1. The Man-Gog trilogy from Thor #154-157
While it’s four issues, I call it a trilogy as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had this strange habit of ending Thor stories in the middle of an issue and then starting a new storyline. This is one of Thor’s greatest battles as he takes on a being with the power of a “billion, billion beings.”

The Man-Gog is released from imprisonment by Ulik the Troll and because Odin destroyed his race proceeds to invade and wreck Asgard en-route to drawing the Odinsword and destroying the universe.

This storyline is a tour de force of carnage and heroism, as the seriously overmatched Asgardians battle valiantly against an infinitely more powerful foe. Only the timely intervention of Odin saved the Universe.

2. Thor vs. Thanos and Man-Gog from Thor volume 2 #21-25
While I don’t care a lot for either villain, teaming them up was a stroke of genius. Either one is almost more than Thor can handle on his best days, but the two of them together is the team-up from Hades.

Great battles culminating in one of the cleverest scenes in Thor history when he finds the Man-Gog’s one weakness– the one place he isn’t armored– and lets loose with the full power of his hammer.

Ultimate Spider-Man #133

Ultimate Spider-Man #133
Marvel Comics
(w) Brian Michael Bendis
(a) Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger
FC, 48 pgs w/ ads $3.99 US

And so an era comes to an end. Sure, the Ultimate line will be relaunched in a couple of months, but it still seems kind of sad to see Ultimate Spider-Man come to an end. I remember when the series first started – it was around the same time J. Michael Straczynski took over Amazing Spider-Man. There was hype for both series and I could only afford one of them. I chose Ultimate Spider-Man and am I ever glad I did.

Bendis has done an amazing job on this title and Stuart Immonen has more than filled Mark Bagley’s shoes as artist on the title. He will be missed when the title relaunches in August. This issue is pretty much tied directly to Jeph (I wrote Commando and Teen Wolf) Loeb’s Ultimatum mini-series. And it’s a fast read – there’s no words anywhere. It’s been seven years since Bendis has written an issue without his trademark dialogue – the editor mandated ‘Nuff Said month. Still Immonen captures the story perfectly, there’s no need for words. I have enjoyed Ultimate Spider-Man consistently for 133 issues. I hope that the relaunch in August doesn’t take away Bendis’ momentum. (Shane Hnetka)