American Tall Tales

From the staff book exchange shelf at my school.

Title: American Tall Tales
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 1991
Writer: Mary Pope Osborne
Artist: Michael McCurdy

Not a comic, but another interesting example of mixing story and illustration.

Collection of retellings of American folktales by Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne.

These are very definitely the author's own take on the legends of 19th Century America, but she includes extensive notes on the origins of each of the iconic characters, many of which were actually the inventions of specific 19th Century authors, that only later made their way into the realm of folklore.

The stories are presented in a flamboyant style that captures the flavor of tales told around a campfire, and the personalities of the heroes and heroines shine bright as their larger-than-life deeds are recounted.

There is plenty of humor, but the Author's best work is bringing out the more serious side of the stories, particularly in the tales of steel-driver John Henry and New York City firefighter Mose.

The incorporation of song lyrics (as performed by Pete Seeger, and later Bruce Springsteen) into the John Henry story felt a bit like the author was trying too hard, but I do have to admit that I was singing the song in my head as I read the story.

Michael McCurdy's wood-engraving illustrations are simply spectacular and a huge part of the charm of this book.

Rating: 7/10

Hawkeye: Rio Bravo

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Hawkeye: Rio Bravo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja, Francesco Francavilla
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire, Francesco Francavilla, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja
Editor:Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, Jennifer Grunwald

Collecting the end of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, originally published in 2013-2015. There are a few gaps in the collection, due to the focus on Clint's storyline in this collection, so some issues focusing on Kate were skipped. The story as presented here is pretty coherent, although it does leave some loose ends.

Clint Barton deals with a bunch of personal problems, the biggest of which is the return of his brother Barney into his life, and the attempt by some mafia-types to force him out of the Brooklyn apartment building he owns.

Clint takes a beating as he rallies his neighbors against an onslaught of tracksuit-wearing goons reminiscent of WWE's Imperium faction. There are plenty of Marvel cameos in what is essentially a street-level story with a gritty look reminiscent of early Frank Miller Daredevil.

The story itself plays around with out-of-sequence plotting, and the opening dream/parody sequence involving a kids' holiday special lend a bit of surreal feel to the collection, but it picks up direction and momentum as it gets going. The relationship between the Barton brothers is at the heart of the story and it is well told with plenty of emotional impact, and something of a surprise ending.

While the villains' nefarious plot is a pretty generic one, the action and character interplay carried the story.

Rating: 7/10

Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man Volume One

I bought this one at my school's book fair back in 2018.

Title: Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man
Issue: Volume One
Date: 2016
Publisher: Super Genius
Writer: Neil Gaiman, James Vance
Penciler: Ted Slampyak, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Inker: Bob McLeod, Mike Witherby, Art Nichols, John Coulthart, Dave Hunt, Terry Beatty, Angus McKie, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Colorist: Kell-O-Graphics, Zachary Lynch, Angus McKie, Tony Kelly, Marc Sasso, Alan Craddock
Letterer: John Workman

Reprinting the first 9 issues of the 1995 series from Tekno Comix, which was a venture by Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy; because things are cooler when spelled with y's, I guess) that brought in authors and media stars as creators and worldbuilders and then handed those projects over to the Tekno Comix writing and art teams for the production of the actual comics stories.

In this case, the "name" writer was Gaiman, who actually created five interconnected titles for Tekno Comix.

Mr. Hero tells the story of a Victorian-era steam-powered automaton, an intelligent robot used in magic shows in the 19th century, but whose real origin is a much more sinister one, linked to the demonic Teknophage, who has been manipulating events on Earth and other planets for centuries.

The Mr. Hero robot is discovered by aspiring magician and mime Jenny Hale in the basement of a museum of stage magic. The Teknophage at first wants the robot back, but later embarks on a more elaborate scheme of corrupting Jenny with wealth while using experimental brainwashing on her best friend.

Mr. Hero the robotic pugilist with a noble heart and 19th Century mannerisms does his best to protect Jenny, along with his alternate head, the Ratiocinator, who considers himself the brains of the operation.

There is a whole cast of oddball henchpersons and mysterious figures, and a fair amount of scheming, plotting, and infighting, while the friendship between Jenny and Mr. Hero shines through all of the mayhem.

The villains are the weakness of this story. They are SO incompetent. And a lot of that is intentional, part of the humor that makes the story entertaining. But it gets to be a bit eyeroll-inducing as they  just make dumb move after dumb move.

That being said, Jenny is a great character, and her chemistry with her robot friend is charming. Both versions of Mr. Hero are fun, and they are distinctive enough to add some variety to the dialogue.

The plot is more convoluted than it needed to be, but I really enjoyed this for the main characters.

Rating: 7.5/10