Grendel: Devil's Legacy #1

Another random comic from the unread comics stack.

Title: Grendel: Devil's Legacy
Issue: 1
Date: March, 2000
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Matt Wagner
Penciller: Arnold Pander, Jacob Pander
Inker: Jay Geldhof
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Steve Haynie
Editor: Diana Schutz, Tim Ervin-Gore
Cover: Matt Wagner

This reprints Comico's Grendel #1 with new coloring by Jeromy Cox. The original publication was one of those early books I bought in my first run of seriously collecting comics in the 1980s. The story focuses on Christine Spar, granddaughter of the original Grendel, Hunter Rose. Comfortable in her life as a newspaper editor and the author of a book on her infamous ancestor, Christine is drawn into the legacy of Grendel when her son vanishes under mysterious and horrifying circumstances.

This story features one of the most disturbing villains in comics, a strong cast of supporting characters, and the looming presence of the Grendel mythology that Matt Wagner does such a great job of weaving into his multigenerational saga.

As good a read now as when I first read it. The first meeting between Christine Spar and Tujiro XIV is still as creepy as I'd remembered.

Rating: 8.5/10

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

Spider-Man Collectible Series #24

Title: Spider-Man Collectible Series
Issue: #24
Date: 2006
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Steve Ditko
Inker: Steve Ditko
Letterer: Sam Rosen

This is one of a series of newspaper freebies that reprinted early Spider-Man stories. In this case, this issue reprints the second half of Amazing Spider-Man #11 from 1964. This is a fun story involving Betty Brant and her brother, who has gotten involved in organized crime. Peter Parker's relationship with Betty had been deepening, and he was considering revealing his second life as Spider-Man to her, but she was suddenly caught up in her brother's criminal dealings.

To make matters worse, Doctor Octopus has just been released from prison, and he's got revenge on his mind. Everything comes to a head aboard a tramp freighter ship, and Spider-Man must fight on one leg after he sprains his ankle tripping on a rope while boarding the ship. No, really! How often does THAT happen in comics these days? It actually makes for a really fun, um, twist, as a fight against random thugs becomes at least challenging for Spidey, and the fight against Doc Ock gets downright desperate. The action is fast and furious, and it's all pretty logically thought out once you accept the fact that Peter's spider-sense failed to warn him that he was about to trip on that rope.

There's an extremely melodramatic conclusion to Betty Brant's subplot, but a final epilogue scene makes it at least somewhat reasonable, and it serves to add plenty of tension to the story.

Doc Ock is a great villain here, and he really comes off as someone who could beat Spider-Man and would have fun doing it.

A lot of comic fans are familiar with the first two or three Spider-Man stories. This reprint series was a great chance to go a little bit deeper into that initial Lee/Ditko run, and it's definitely worth a look.

Because these books each contained half an issue's worth of story, they alternated between the original cover art and new covers commissioned for the reprint series. This issue has one of the new covers which is, unfortunately, uncredited.

(I'll offer a free comic to the first person who can find me the correct cover art credit for this book!)

Rating: 7.5/10