The Munsters (1997) # 1-4, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) # 1, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1993) # 1-8

(I originally read these comics in mid/late December 2016)

1997 seems late in the day to attempt a revival of the 1960s spooky sitcom family, but that's what TV Comics! attempted with this four-issue series. And against the odds, it works. All stories are by C.J. Henderson with a total roster of four different pencilers. George Broderick's broad yet accomplished cartooning in issue 1, which somewhat resembles that of Neil Vokes, is my favourite. However, the art style takes a downturn for the "more realistic" in issue 3, seemingly prompted by the reaction of one nobody on the letters page. 

   

The stories are much what you'd expect, but with more action. A would-be vampire slayer arrives from "the Old Country" in issue 1 to complete his long-held objective. (In this story, it's clearly implied Grandpa is the Dracula. Was this the case in the show?) In issue # 2, the Munsters take a trip to New York and their 'ugly' niece Marilyn (the joke being, of course, that she is actually gorgeous by normal, human standards, ho ho) gets a goth makeover. Issue 3 features a multi-chapter tale with Herman and Eddie attending the latter's school father/son day and Lily going to unusual lengths to prepare dinner for Herman's boss. The fourth and final issue has the Munsters bumbling into an FBI sting at a funfair where they're mistaken for the members of a criminal gang. All issues are padded out with cast photos and interviews and a prose story in issue 1, though I skipped that.

An oddity, worth seeking out for fans.

Still in the mood for spooky silliiness, I read this adaptation of 'Elvira, Mistress of the Dark', a comedy for which I've had a soft spot since renting it on VHS back in about 1989 (though, discovering Elvira's gown-busting norks at the age of thirteen, it was less a "soft spot," more a...). 

I guess the film was considered pretty risque at the time as Sid Jacobson removes the naughtier jokes and the remaining few, such as my fave, "Here's to my big opening!", seem entirely innocuous without Elvira/Cassandra Peterson's nod and wink. Ernie Colon and Romeo Tanghal provide the art but Tanghal seems to me to have overpowered Colon's pencils, which is a shame.

For those not familiar with the movie, TV horror host and frustrated Las Vegas showgirl Elvira, a beehived valley girl with attitude and a goth fashion sense, inherits a house, recipe book and pet poodle from her deceased Aunt Morgana. However, the 'recipe book' is actually her aunt's spell book and Elvira's uncle, an evil warlock, will stop at nothing to gain its power. Horrified at first by Elvira's looks and perceived 'loose ways', the puritanical citizens of sleepy Falwell, Massachusetts are eventually won over when Elvira saves the day, but only after trying to burn her at the stake. The film takes its cues from the then-ongoing battle between the US religious Right and heavy metal culture and provides much more sexy and irreverent fun than the comic.

   

   

Elvira's ongoing comic, starting in 1993, is a mixed bag eight issues in. Editor Richard Howell enlists the talents of Paul Dini, Kurt Busiek, Jo Duffy and others to write, with James Fry, Neil Vokes, Jim Mooney and Dave Cockrum among the contributing artists. However, it's Dan Spiegle illustrating Duffy's back-up story in issues 1-6 which is the real eye candy, both in terms of his lush black and white art and his rendition of our heroine, which is definitely the sexiest thus far. A recurring theme is the clashes between Elvira and her station manager at K-WHA, Rosalind Wyck, but there's room for other matters as Elvira helps a teenage werewolf with relationship troubles and attends a class reunion (an idea supposedly contributed by Cassandra Peterson, herself). Paul Dini's stories in issues 1 and 8 were the most amusing to me, but really nothing seems to reach the comedic standard the creators are striving for. Howell's own back-up tale in issue 8 provides a nice, obscure Easter egg for comics fans, though, in that it's an unofficial sequel to Stan Lee's and Steve Ditko's 'Goodbye to Linda Brown', from the pages of Strange Tales # 97, which foreshadows both Spider-Man and the X-Men.

I'll return to this title as I find humour comics are best read in small doses.

As extras, here are Joe Jusko's unadorned front cover art and back cover for Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) # 1

 

Stories from Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1993) # 1-8 are collected in:

Softcover:

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (US)

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (UK)

Code of Honor (1997) # 1-4, Conspiracy (1998) # 1/2, Marvels: Eye of the Camera (2009) # 1-6

(I originally read these comics in mid/late April 2016)

'Code of Honor' was a sequel of sorts to Kurt Busiek's and Alex Ross' 'Marvels' with our man on the street a New York beat cop bearing witness to events in Marvel history over a period from the early '70s to the early '90s. Not that you would glean that from the artwork, as period detail is non-existent and the slew of so-called "artists" responsible, mostly producing hideously garish and dated work in Photoshop, clearly didn't communicate at all, resulting in characters looking completely different from page to page. (There's even a speech balloon referring to a character not being black, even though they were drawn that way earlier in the story!) There's also an issue with one artist ('perpetrator' would be closer the mark) using obviously black models for white characters. Chuck Dixon's script is as serviceable as you'd expect but taken as a whole 'Code of Honor' is a miserable failure.

   

'Conspiracy' is a short but involving 'X-Files'-type tale by Dan Abnett that posits the theory the "accidents" that gave birth to the Marvels were actually orchestrated as part of a shadowy government conspiracy. Igor Kordey contributes great, actual painted art as with his and Abnett's previous collaboration, 'Wonder Years.' 

 

'Marvels: Eye of the Camera' is the much belated, true sequel to Marvels, picking up where the original left off. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is diagnosed with terminal cancer and must come to terms with his own mortality while pondering upon his legacy and what the Marvels have meant to him. Another good story, though it pales in comparison to the original (and Jay Anacleto is no Alex Ross). What disappointed me here is that the story references events in Marvel history over a ten to fifteen-year period, from the mid-'70s to the late '80s, but Phil's daughters, pre-teens in the mid-'60s, are still only in their late teens come the conclusion of the story. While the original moved in 'real time' from 1939 to 1973, the decision seems to have been made to make this one unfold in 'Marvel time'. despite the changing fashions of bystanders suggesting otherwise. Confusing!

  

  

Code of Honor (1997) # 1-4 and Conspiracy (1998) # 1/2 are collected in:

Softcover:

Marvels Companion (US)

Marvels Companion (UK)

Marvels: Eye of the Camera (2009) # 1-6 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Marvels: Eye of the Camera (US)

Marvels: Eye of the Camera (UK)

Softcover:

Marvels: Eye of the Camera (US)

Marvels: Eye of the Camera (UK)

Marvels (1994) # 0-4, Ruins (1995) # 1/2

(I originally read these comics in mid/late April 2016)

Re-read 'Marvels', last week. In what is often derided as Marvel's worst decade both creatively and economically, there's no doubt it was a '90s highpoint - even the highpoint - and Alex Ross' photorealistic painted artwork made a huge splash the likes of which it's hard to appreciate in the wake of legions of imitators swamping the market with inferior product. I don't know if Kurt Busiek's written anything this good since.

The story follows Daily Bugle photojournalist Phil Sheldon as he documents the brave new world of the "Marvels": larger than life figures exhibiting incredible powers, or what we take for granted as super-heroes, and how the world, specifically New York, reacts to them. It alights on the touchstones of the first wave of Golden Age heroes, sixties' anti-mutant hysteria, the coming of Galactus and finally the death of Gwen Stacy. 'Marvels' makes these characters and events seem fresh and wondrous again and though I'm by no means a proponent of painted comics (the speech balloons float on top of, rather than integrate with, Ross' art), I can't deny its magic. It's a tale of fantastic events from a human perspective and it still has the power to move.

  

 

...And then there's 'Ruins'. 

Whereas 'Marvels' inspires hope and condemns a society that wishes to drag its heroes down, 'Ruins' is a two-part twist on the concept where everything that came about to birth a world of super-heroes in Marvel's 616 universe went wrong to create a dystopian hell full of diseased mutant freaks and concentration camps.

 

Writer Warren Ellis' appeal is lost on me. 'Ruins' is repulsive. It's the meanest-spirited, most cynical, most depressing piece of garbage from Marvel that I've ever had the displeasure of reading. It's also boring as hell, despite its brevity. If you must see a cannibal Nick Fury being propositioned by an underage prostitute Jean Grey only to blow her brains out two panels later, this is the comic for you. 

Sample dialogue: 

Rick Jones (to wife, Marlo): "You cheap slut! I warned you! I'm gonna break every bone in your smackhead face!"

Utter trash. I'd have thrown it in the bin except I might be able to recoup a few quid from some unsuspecting sap on eBay.

As an extra (or even a palate cleanser), here's Alex Ross' cover art for the first edition of the 'Marvels' trade paperback.

Marvels (1994) # 0-4 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Marvels: The Platinum Edition (US)

Marvels: The Platinum Edition (UK)

Marvels 10th Anniversary Edition (US)

Marvels 10th Anniversary Edition (UK)

Marvels (US)

Marvels (UK)

Softcover:

Marvels (US)

Marvels (UK)

Ruins (1995) # 1/2 are collected in:

Softcover:

Marvels Companion (US)

Marvels Companion (UK)

Hawkeye (2003) # 1-8, New Invaders (2004) # 1-9, Avengers/Thunderbolts (2004) # 1-6

(I originally read these comics in early/mid February 2016)

After reading Chuck Austen's run on Avengers, I took a brief diversion into Hawkeye's first ongoing series. It's a strange, low-key title by Fabian Nicieza that doesn't really fit into the concurrent Avengers continuity, nor that of the Thunderbolts, the team Clint Barton had been affiliated with immediately preceding it. Despite the covers, Clint doesn't even get into costume until issue # 4 and you get the impression it would have been later had they not seen the sales figures. The first arc is a complex tale of Clint coming to a stripper's aid and getting involved in a conspiracy that dates back to Vietnam. Interesting but flawed. The change of direction with issue # 7 (costumes, more traditional storytelling) proves forgettable and obviously came too late to save the title.

   

   

The slightly less short-lived 'New Invaders' title spun out of Austen's 'Once an Invader' crossover. John Walker (previously USAgent) as a second, slightly more hard-edged Captain America, leads a team comprised of Namor, the original Human Torch, the Blazing Skull, Union Jack, Spitfire and others in uninvolving adventures that might have benefited from my having greater knowledge of the bit players. They aren't aided by an unappealing art style that gives the impression of photographic models having been traced. I'm surprised it lasted ten issues. Obviously, the gratuitous Wolverine appearance in # 6 did nothing to help.

  

  

  

After that came a wordy and somewhat laborious Avengers/Thunderbolts mini from Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza that is really more a Thunderbolts story and bridges the two volumes of their ongoing series. Again, I'd have benefited from greater knowledge of the Thunderbolts' then-status quo.

  

  

New Invaders (2004) # 1-9 are collected in:

Softcover:

New Invaders: To End All Wars (US)

New Invaders: To End All Wars (UK)

Avengers/Thunderbolts (2004) # 1-6 are collected in:

Softcover:

Avengers/Thunderbolts: Best Intentions (US)

Avengers/Thunderbolts: Best Intentions (UK)