The Punisher #5

 

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: The Punisher
Issue: 5
Date: May, 1986
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steven Grant, Jo Duffy
Artist: Mike Vosburg, John Beatty
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Carl Potts

This is the final issue of the five-issue limited series that was the Punisher's first series after he was introduced in the pages of Spider-Man and had occasional appearances in other titles.

Frank Castle has been trapped by a mysterious organization aiming to produce a brainwashed army of "Punishers" for an all-out war on crime with no regard for protecting innocent lives. The opening sequence has Castle in one of those ridiculously-slow-deathtraps, although the purpose is brainwashing rather than death. The result is pretty standard. Punisher escapes and takes on his old enemy Jigsaw, now dressed in Punisher cosplay along with a crew of jobbers. The rest of this is mop-up.

While the action never gets all that interesting, the character work here is pretty solid. Faced with his own crusade taken to its logical extreme, Frank Castle suddenly has doubts. The result is a bit at odds with where the story picks up in the two ongoing titles that follow this, but it does make a good conclusion to this arc, and really in some sense, it felt like a conclusion to the Punisher character itself. This was a good walk off into the sunset for Frank Castle, that still left a lot of moral ambiguity, but also gave Frank the chance to walk away from his obsessive crusade. It's almost disappointing that this isn't how things turned out.

Rating 6.5/10

Robin Red and the Lutins #1

A second review for today as I try to make some progress on the stack before we head to the US for the summer. Like most of the random stack of unread comics, I have no recollection of where I got this one.

Title: Robin Red and the Lutins
Issue: #1
Date: November, 1986
Publisher: Animated Comics Enterprises (ACE)
Writer: Pat Boyette, Jack Kent, DeFuccio, Clarke
Artist:Pat Boyette, Jack Kent, DeFuccio, Clarke

I love it when I find something that is completely unexpectedly good. This was published probably about a year before I started my first serious run of collecting comics, and right around the beginning of the b/w comics boom of the 80s, and I completely missed out on it then, in spite of me actively seeking out all the small press fantasy titles I could get my hands on back then.

The main story if by Pat Boyette. There are two one-page gag strips as backups, one by Jack Kent, and the other credited to "DeFuccio & Clarke".

But it's the main story that really shone here. Set in a fairy tale world where the various types of magical creatures are known collectively as Lutins, the story centers on a young prince who is on the run because his uncle has decided to kill him to nullify the boy's claim to the throne.

He takes shelter with a witch, but is soon finds himself in new danger at the hands of a trio of magical ogres. The title character, the son of the local woodcutter, arrives toward the end of the issue to take up the quest to save the young prince.

The greatest thing about this is that everyone in the story, heroes and villains alike, are marvelously incompetent. The humor turns slapstick occasionally, but it never quite manages to detract from the story, and the personalities of the characters shine through brilliantly. It's also nice that the artwork avoids "comic book" body types and goes for a much more realistic range of looks.

The pacing and dialogue are reminiscent of Carl Barks' Disney work, and the magical elements of the world are creative and fun.

I'm not sure how long a run this ended up getting in the 80s, but I would love to check out any more of it that got published.

Rating: 8.5/10

Airboy #1

This first issue of Airboy is from around the time of my first introduction to serious comic collecting, when I used to head into Boston to the original Newbury Comics location to pick up my weekly subscription, mostly of 80s b/w books from independent publishers. Airboy was not a title I followed then, although I was aware of it, and I acquired this copy much more recently, although I don't recall the circumstances.

Title: Airboy
Issue: 1
Publisher: Eclipse Comics
Date: July, 1986
Writer: Charles Dixon, Timothy Truman
Penciller: Timothy Truman
Inker: Tom Yeates
Colorist: Ron Courtney
Letterer: Tim Harkins
Editor: Timothy Truman, Cat Yronwode

This series brings back the Golden Age war comics hero Airboy, the teenaged flying ace who appeared in Air Fighters Comics and his own title in the 1940s.

The new story sees the original character's son taking over the role, and operating as a vigilante, seeking revenge against his father's enemies. The plot of this issue is straightforward, jumping right into the action as assassins storm the monastery where sixteen-year-old Davey Nelson practices martial arts while his father watches from the seclusion of his office.

It's non-stop action from there, and by the time it's done the Airboy legacy has been passed to the new generation.

While not all that original in terms of plot, this was effective in introducing the characters while delivering plenty of mayhem.

The comic story is bookended by an excellent editorial by Cat Yronwode on the relationship between art and politics, and a prose history of the Airboy character and his comics in the 1940s.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 275

One of the older books in the random to-read stack. No idea where I got this one.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue: 275
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: April, 1986
Writer: Tom DeFalco, Stan Lee
Artist: Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, Steve Ditko
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Jim Owsley

From right in the midst of the original black-costume era, this story pits Spider-Man against the Hobgoblin, but more importantly, it pits Peter Parker against his own self-doubt.

It also includes a complete reprint of the original Spider-Man origin story by Lee and Ditko from Amazing Fantast #15 in 1962. In this case, the retelling of the origin is framed as a flashback related to Mary Jane Watson by Peter Parker, who is seriously questioning his second life as Spider-Man.

There is also a major soap-opera going in with Flash Thompson (presented here, disturbingly, as a domestic abuser), Sha Shan, Betty Leeds, and Ned Leeds. It is complicated, and melodramatic, and before the issue is over, the lives of these characters will collide with the lives of Spider-Man and Hobgoblin (well, it's hinted that there may already be a connection there).

Peter Parker's concerns about collateral damage, and his own failings, felt very real, and the discussion with Mary Jane about whether he should continue on as Spider-Man had no real straightforward answers, and writer Tom DeFalco did an especially good job of acknowledging Mary Jane's very mixed feelings.

Hobgoblin, meanwhile was in classic villain mode, operating as an enforcer for the Rose, who is preparing to challenge the Kingpin for control of New York's underworld, while really obsessing over his next encounter with Spider-Man.

It takes a while to get to the action, but once it gets going, the fight between Spider-Man and Hobgoblin is excellent.

This issue has a lot going on, most of it very good, a little bit of it cringe-inducing (Flast Thompson's scenes). The reprint is shoehorned in somewhat awkwardly, but it's hard to complain about getting one of the  greatest comic stories of all time as a backup feature, no matter how many times I've read it.

Rating: 7/10

Jerry Iger's Golden Features #1

Another yard sale find.

Title: Jerry Iger's Golden Features
Issue: #1
Date: 1986
Publisher: Blackthorne Publishing
Writer: Ruth Roche
Artist: Matt baker

First issue of a series reprinting classic Matt Baker work from the 1940s. Although the cover proudly proclaims this as an "All-Flamingo Issue", the book actually consists of two Flamingo stories and one Ace of the Newsreels story.

Flamingo is a gypsy, traveling with her father and the rest of their gypsy band through France. The portrayal includes some stereotypes, but it avoids some of the nasty racism that is often directed at Roma. Flamingo and her band are not thieves or criminals, and there are no hints of curses or witchcraft. Flamingo herself is a very likable character, kind and compassionate but unwilling to back down in the face of danger.

The first Flamingo story is the better of the two. It's a crime story involving Flamingo and her father uncovering a conspiracy to impersonate a dead man in order to gain access to his family fortune as well as a secret formula that is sought by foreign (Communist, presumably) agents. Flamingo's father is a mask-crafter, and he knows that the man is an impostor because he personally crafted death-mask of the dead man who is being impersonated.

There's also a romantic subplot that comes into play before the bad guys get what is coming to them.

The second story involved Flamingo helping a man who has been falsely accused of theft. It was good except for the ending, which was way too abrupt.

The final feature was a very choppy mystery story involving reporter Ace Williams. It had a bunch of plot twists, but they were so sudden that the story was difficult to follow.

Matt Baker did a tremendous job with the artwork. Unfortunately, the reproduction quality of this reprint leaves much to be desired. This book is better for getting a sense of the type of stories Baker was working on than for really gaining an appreciation for his artwork.

Rating: 6.5/10