AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS

So, Marvel's AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS arrived at my door the other day and it's been a blast going through this thing. Is it good? Urm, yeah. The stories are okay. Are they good good? Heaven's, no! But you know, I'm reading this through the eyes of a fan who grew up with late-70s/early-80s superhero comics so really, it's kinda unfair to call the AF stories crap. They were written in 1961, fer goodness' sakes. It's a nice book if you like to read early works of Stan Lee, Kirby, Ditko et al.

The stuff in here are mostly 'alien space monster lands on Earth, plans to colonise Earth, gets fooled by puny humans and leaves Earth'. Towards the end of its run (it only ran for 15 issues and if you know your comics history, you should know what happened in the 15th issue), Stan Lee tried to copy the style of E.C.'s Weird Science-type stories. Not bad in themselves but 'meh' when compared to the true E.C. stuff (which are being collected into hardcover editions. Go to Amazon and collect them all).

This collection is chock full of panels that are just totally funny when taken out of context or even within context. Especially since I'm reading it with 21st century untinted glasses. Perfect for blog material. Here are a couple:



Because clearly you can't fight sinister and corrupt occult powers if you continue to look Caucasian.


See? That's how you handle women!

"All my action figures are cherry!"

It appears that DC will bring out action figures based on Batman: The Killing Joke one-shot special. No pictures yet and I don't know if only Batsy and the Joker will be offered. What about naked Barbara Gordon with gunshot wound? Naked Jim Gordon in chains?

Shave your legs and make sure you get a Brazilian wax because...

You are all invited to Black Canary's bachelorette party! Superman's gonna jump out of the cake. Admission is USD$3.99

Seriously, what kind of whacked out party is this? Most of the guests are wearing less fabric on their bodies than the guy jumping out of the cake. He's not gonna strip is he? And I swear the all-green superheroine at the back is totally naked.

So what happens in this comic? Other than the cheesecake factor, will there be fistfights? Catfights? Will Superman say to himself, "Aww, the heck with it!" and use his x-ray vision on all the guests? Go ahead and tell me. From the cover it looks nothing more than wanking material. Bring out the Kleenex!

Although, as a hetero male I have to admit Wonder Woman has a nice arse. Can't argue with that. Even Huntress is checking it out, the sly minx!

You think Osama Laden collects old Wonder Woman comics?

Wonder Woman flew her plane into the Twin Towers long before those guys did it in 2001.

Yeah. Creepy.

Amelia Rules! : The Whole World's Crazy

Oh, look! Dem's Good Readin' actually has a comic review! Yeah, sorry about the hiatus from talking about comics that I deem good enough to be read. Had bills to pay, kids to feed, wife to sleep with. You know, grown up stuff.

Anywho, this time I want to talk about the first volume of Amelia Rules! which collects the first few issues of the Amelia Rules! comic book. Amelia McBride is a nine-year-old girl whose parents have divorced and Amelia now has to move out from their Manhattan home and has to follow her mom to live with her mom's sister. New place, new friends, new school. And only nine. Bummer.

Her friends are Reggie, Pajamaman (a kid who doesn't say anything at all and only wears pajamas at all times) and a girl named Rhonda. The four of them hang out together pretty much all the time and help each other out. Although Rhonda doesn't like Amelia much because she sees Amelia as an obstacle between her crush for Reggie. Reggie is oblivious to all this of course.

Creator Jimmy Gownley balances the humour between kid-type jokes and some that may go over the heads of the target audience, like this one about Santa working for the 'Feds'.


While there is humour, Gownley also slips in some episodes of sentimentality between the pages. The premise of Amelia Rules! is that Amelia comes from a broken home. Her parents are divorced and the book is about how a nine year old copes with that. We see her disappointment and anger when she receives a call from her dad that his promised weekend visit is cancelled. Personally, I don't really like it when comics, especially one that is supposed to be heavy on the humour, goes all glurgy and heart string-pulling like this but fortunately Jim Gownley doesn't go all "A very special episode" on us. Yes, there is sentimentality and yes, there is pathos but the servings are small and interspersed with good old fashioned laughs.

The art and the quick delivery from set-up to punchline makes Amelia Rules! look like a newspaper comic strip sometimes. I'm not sure if that was intentional but it doesn't really hurt the book. Besides, Gownley realises he's not writing a newspaper strip and his stories are patiently laid out page by page even though the jokes usually come in every third panel. It's a comic book with newspaper strip style delivery. Score!

I have no hesitation in giving top marks to this first volume of Amelia Rules! collection. It's family friendly. It's a good introduction to comics for the little 'uns and an overall good read for the grown up as well.

American Football season has begun

I'm probably the only Malaysian who cares about American Football. It's lonely sometimes.

And I follow the New York Giants! W00t!

Yeah, I know, Lucy. I follow the Giants. Trust me, I know.

Friday Night Fights: I Don't Even Know Who You Are Anymore!

It's Friday, it's night, let's fight! Bahlactus awaits.

It's Batman vs. some dude in a golden mask who calls himself 'The Enforcer'. While the Enforcer talks smack to Batman, the pointy-eared one says to himself, "Screw this shit. I'm kicking his head!", and that's what he does.



Damn! Batman's flying bat-kick is so deadly, the Enforcer's head explodes! It turns out that the man under the helmet is Batman's buddy gone bad. They fight for a couple of panels but in the end:



Batman wins the fight but loses a friend. I'm pretty sure in his heart and soul, Bruce Wayne is crying all sorts of tears for his pal who has turned to the Dark Side but Batman only thinks of the fight. And Batman always wins.

Scans from Manhunter: The Special Edition collection (1999).

So did anyone enjoy AMAZONS ATTACK? Anyone?

Will Pfeifer wants to know what everyone thought about his work on Amazons Attack over at his blog, X-Ray Spex. Suffice it to say, they're beating the crap outta his ego. That's gotta hurt.

Well? Answer Her!

She's wet, she's in her nightie and she's all tied up. Go ahead and answer her question. Comments are unmoderated.



From Birds of Prey #83.

What Do You Call A 6' 6" Fighting-Mad Frog With The Power Of A Norse Thunder God?

SIR!

Walt Simonson turned Thor into a frog for three whole issues. And it wasn't one of those cop-out "it was all a dream" stories either. Thor did turn into a frog. Get THOR Visionaries: Walter Simonson vol. 3 for the "Throg" issues. Heck, get all of Walt Simonson's run on Thor. So far, his run has been collected in four volumes of the Thor Visionaries trade paperbacks. One more volume to go. Collect 'em all. They're all good.

Friday Night Fights: Round 11

Dude, you're wearing yellow pajamas and a mauve cape! Flashy and cute aren't the words I would use. And look out behind you!



Oh, never mind. Carry on.

Spend time with Bahlactus. He'll show you stuff.


Scans from Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus volume one

MERDEKA!

Happy 50th Independence Day, Malaysia!

Agatha Christie Mystery Novels In Comic Book Format

LINK.

Well, I for one am happy at this news. Don't know how good the comic adaptations will be though but I'm game for anything. Can't wait for these books to reach the local MPH, so it's off to Amazon UK I go. For the record, these comic books will be 48 pages long and other than The Secret of Chimneys, the other five books in the initial release will all feature Poirot stories. For a sample of the artwork, look here.

Also, "For those who prefer to use their imagination, 12 Christie novels are being given a facelift with new jackets, just six years after the last revamp." Well, looks like I'm gonna have to make room on the bookshelves for these babies. These upgrades of my book collection will be biting large chunks into my savings....again. Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit robbing banks.

And here you guys thought I only read books that have pictures in them.

Look, Ma! No Nipples!

To all you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanboys out there, here's the upcoming cover to issue 9 of the comic featuring Faith.

Is she on fire? Or is she just burning her clothes? That's one way to draw a naked lady sans nipples, I suppose. Nice way of pleasing the over-sexed fanboy and the censors, for they are many. Don't forget to order ten copies.

I'm sorry but what the hell are you talking about?

Darius Drumm from Jack Kirby's Silver Star collection, available from Image.

You never see Dr. Doom or Darkseid just chillin' out with an ice cream and malt, do you? Jack Kirby, left to his own devices, was one crazy cat that's for sure.