Silver Surfer #2

A re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 2
Date: August, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

I remember being hugely disappointed in this issue when I read it in 1987. With some more years to look back on it, I've gotten a better understanding of what was going on here, but it still feels like it could have been handled better.

For all of his history up to this point, Norrin Radd's love for his lost Shalla-Bal was the heart of his story. Surfer was all about the tragic romance, and this issue was all about sweeping that completely under the rug so that Norrin (or rather, Surfer) could be freed up adventures in space. Unfortunately, if you go with the HEA, then you really don't have any reason to have an ongoing series.

But even if it was necessary, this felt rushed and did a disservice to the character of Shalla-Bal, who had good reasons to break things off, but failed to do a good job of expressing them and so came off as not even trying.

There was some intrigue involving the Skrulls, because Skrulls are gonna Skrull, and that aspect of the story was well handled with a good buildup of future subplots. But the dismissal of one of comics' best romances (Seriously? We get one kiss and that's it?) remains a disappointment.

Rating: 4/10

Silver Surfer #1

Another re-read from my collection.

Title: Silver Surfer
Issue: 1
Date: March, 1987
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Marshall Rogers
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Marshall Rogers
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Higgins

Silver Surfer escapes from the barrier that kept him trapped on Earth and mends fences with Galactus by rescuing Nova (the Frankie Raye version of Nova), who is a hostage of the Skrulls. Along the way, he gets some much-needed help from the Fantastic Four and teaches the Champion a lesson in not bringing one's fists to a cosmic-power-blast fight.

The artwork here is gorgeous, particularly on the space scenes, which are given plenty of, well, space. Surfer and Nova look great. The interaction with the FF is a bit on the wordy side, with a lot of recap that seems mostly aimed at catching readers up on developments in the FF book (wait... Alicia married WHO?).

The portrayal of Galactus is a bit too humanized for a being that really needs to be an unfeeling cosmic force, but it does serve the plot, and accomplishes the important main objective of this first issue. Surfer is now free to seek out new adventures across Marvel's cosmic settings. This was a solid reboot for the character.

Rating: 7/10

The Question #8

 From the Random Box of Unread Comics.

Title: The Question
Issue: 8
Date: September, 1987
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dennis O'Neil
Artist: Denys Cowan, Rick Magyar
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: Gaspar
Editor: Mike Gold

A deranged Gilbert & Sullivan fan named Mister Mikado is going around mutilating people in revenge for abusive acts they committed toward others, reciting a verse about making the punishment fit the crime before carrying out the nasty bit of revenge.

And they are nasty. The deaths/maimings reminded me a bit of the film Se7en (actually released 8 years after this book).

Vic Sage does a bit of detective/vigilante work to track down Mister Mikado, which is fairly standard fare. The confrontation between them is a lot more interesting, resulting in a verbal showdown about the nature of good and evil, and whether those who have done wrong can be redeemed.

This was a self-contained story (although it did advance some ongoing subplots in the background), and it serves as a pretty good introduction to what makes the Question's seeking of truth different from, for example, the Batman's quest for justice.

Ending was clever and very open-to-interpretation. As always, the Question has one of the best letter columns of its time, and I always enjoy getting Dennis O'Neil's recommended reading suggestion at the end (in this case, a fitting tie-in with the theme of the story: Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment).

Rating: 8/10

Vintage Chinese Tintin Comics

Old Chinese comic books come in a 9 cm x 12.5 cm squartebound format that looks like it is adapted from printing newspaper comic strips. Antique shops in tourist areas sell plenty of Chinese titles (I have photos of a couple in this entry), but there I have also found a fair amount of Tintin reprints. Here are a couple that I bought yesterday at a shop new Shanghai's Yu Bazaar.

These are dated 1987.

As usual, I don't review comics I can't read, and my Chinese has a ways to go before I know enough characters to get through these, but I still thought they were a fun find.

Superman #10

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Superman
Issue: #10
Date: October, 1987
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Karl Kesel
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Michael Carlin

From John Byrne's run on the rebooted Superman in the 1980s. This issue is actually from right around the time I started seriously collecting comics, although Superman wasn't one of the books I followed regularly back then.

Considering how "rebooted" this version of Superman was supposed to be, this issue had a surprisingly Silver Age vibe to it.

Clark Kent's powers go out of control one by one, while Lex Luthor watches on from afar, and Clark fears he's become a danger to Metropolis. And of course that's just the moment when a big robotic monster names Klaash attacks.

The story starts out looking like it is going to be the beginning of serious long-term problems for Clark, but then the whole thing gets resolved and wrapped up in a few pages, bringing everything back to status quo.

This makes this a fairly good self-contained issue, one that isn't going to lose new readers in a maze of continuity. But it also feels a bit anticlimactic when all is said and done.

Luthor has some good moments here, and Maggie Sawyer is excellent. Maggie is also the only character who really gets any plot action that extends beyond this story.

And there are a couple bits of fun comic relief early on when it's Clark's x-ray vision that's out of control.

Not a lot of depth, but a fun Superman story with an "old school" feel.

Rating: 6/10

Detective Comics #575

Kiddo picked this one out for me to read today. This is probably the most valuable (not that that is saying much) and most historically important book in the stack of random unread comics. I think it's the oldest as well.

Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 575
Date: June, 1987
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Mike W. Barr
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Paul Neary
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Editor: Denny O'Neil

This is the first installment of the Batman Year 2 storyline, which followed up on the historical reimagining of the Batman's origin in Batman Year 1.

With James Gordon now Commissioner of Police in Gotham, the Batman has the official sanction of the police department, and the newly-installed Bat Signal shines from the roof of police headquarters.

But the Batman was not the first vigilante to stalk Gotham's streets, and it appears that after a twenty-year hiatus, the Reaper has returned to Gotham, handing out death to any criminals who have the misfortune to encounter him.

And when the still-inexperienced Batman confronts the Reaper, he barely survives the encounter.

Now, the Batman is forced to consider how far he is willing to go in escalating the violence of his own campaign against crime.

The Reaper is a great villain, older and more skilled than the young Bruce Wayne of this series, and completely ruthless in his crusade against crime.

Wayne's thoughts of using a gun do seem a bit silly, as it seems unlikely that a pistol is going to make that much of a difference against the Reaper, but the gun, of course, is really just symbolic. And it does make for an awesome image on the cover.

Jim Gordon and Doctor Leslie Tompkins are solid in their supporting roles here, and the newly-introduced Rachel Caspian is an intriguing addition to the story.

This doesn't have the initial kind of impact that Batman Year 1 did, but it's still a very good Batman story.

Rating: 7/10

Robotech: The Macross Saga #23

Nostalgia time! While I was a Marvel fan as a kid, this was the first comic series I seriously collected when I got into comics again after high school.

Title: Robotech: The Macross Saga
Issue: 23
Date: November 1987
Publisher: Comico
Writer: Markalan Joplin
Penciler: Mike Leeke
Inker: Mike Chen
Letterer: Bob Pinaha
Editor: Maggie Brenner
Cover: Mike Leeke, Mike Chen

Comic adaptation of the English-language TV adaptation of the Macross anime.

We open in the midst of a full-scale Zentraedi attack on Macross City, but it's quickly revealed that there is more going on here than meets the eye. In the midst of the chaos, Zentraedi are attempting to defect to the Micronian (human) side.

Meanwhile Rick Hunter walks in on Minmei and Kyle in an awkward moment. Melodrama ensues.

The second half of the book is almost all dialogue (there is one brief battle toward the end), and this is where the strengths of this series really come through. There is some pretty intense political intrigue and maneuvering going on both on the Zentraedi side and the human side. There is also a great scene between Lisa Hayes and Rick Hunter as they discuss past and present loves (all the while dancing around the topic of their own feeling for each other) over tea. What really makes this scene work is that it is given plenty of time, so the conversation flows naturally. The small talk develops the characters and deepens the backgrounds of the supporting cast, while it builds up the romantic tension between Rick and Lisa. This was as good a "quiet" scene as I've seen done in comics.

Nice mix of space-opera and soap-opera.

Rating: 7.5/10

I'm selling my copy of this comic here.