Justice Machine was one of the more successful indies of the ’80s. I never got into it personally. The best thing about the series as far as I'm concerned is that it featured the debut of The Elementals in Justice Machine Annual #1. (It also has an appearance by the THUNDER Agents.) I think that's the only issue of Justice Machine I own. I don’t believe I ever picked up the four-issue crossover mini-series.
Justice Machine was one of the more successful indies of the ’80s. I never got into it personally. The best thing about the series as far as I'm concerned is that it featured the debut of The Elementals in Justice Machine Annual #1. (It also has an appearance by the THUNDER Agents.) I think that's the only issue of Justice Machine I own. I don’t believe I ever picked up the four-issue crossover mini-series.
I got that issue randomly for 25 cents the other day. Never read Justice Machine but remember the name.
Another of my recent 25 cent finds.Flipped thru it the other night and the art is decent.
The Path was one of my favorites of the CrossGen material, along with Ruse and Way of the Rat. But then, I’m a fan of the samurai genre.
And, I agree, the art was quite good, probably the best work of Sears’ comics career. Sears was pretty popular for a time, thanks to his runs on Justice League Europe and X-O Manowar, but also in large part because of his “How to Draw” column that ran in Wizard magazine. Sears was not only an artist for CrossGen, but their art director for most of CrossGen’s brief existence.
I completely missed out on the whole CrossGen thing due to being on tight finances and an even tighter budget during that period. The only thing I recall seeing was the big trade-paper series that went for something like ten bucks a pop. I thumbed through an issue and thought it was interesting, but there was no way I could even consider picking it up on my then-pittance of a paycheck, so I passed it by. I later acquired a few issues of Ruse which I quite liked.
I've read the more recent attempts by Marvel to revive a few of the CrossGen titles and I enjoyed those, but I gather from comments I've seen and heard that, except for Ruse, they bear little resemblance to the original series.
The Path was very good at the start, but it fell apart a bit about a year into it.
Ruse was by far my favorite of the CrossGen titles. I know I'm not alone in that. Definitely worth hunting down.
Way of the Rat was a lot of fun too, though it's often overlooked. It felt very much like a Jackie Chan movie; the lead character even resembled Chan. And it had nice art by Jeff Johnson, who, being a martial artist himself, was very good with the action scenes. It was a pretty consistent series too, so I recommend it if it sounds like your kind of thing.
Today’s comic from The Stack is the earliest of several issues of Marge’s Little Lulu, which ran from Jan.–Feb. 1948 through July–Sept. 1962 (after which it was picked up by Western/Gold Key, which kept the original numbering and ran it until March 1984 for a total of 268 issues). This one is issue #59 from May 1953, with cover art by John Stanley.
Read this back when I was 14 or 15 and lots of it went straight over my head. But I loved the artwork enough to hold onto it for years.
Don't feel bad about it not getting some of the story. This was an art-driven book that just wasn't very well written. My feeling is that the story was just a poorly constructed framework built only for the purpose of allowing Sienkiewicz to explore some cool visual ideas. Either that, or he was high when he wrote it. It is pretty though.
Don't feel bad about it not getting some of the story. This was an art-driven book that just wasn't very well written. My feeling is that the story was just a poorly constructed framework built only for the purpose of allowing Sienkiewicz to explore some cool visuals ideas. Either that, or he was high when he wrote it. It is pretty though.
I get a strong feeling that Bill was high while creating Stray Toasters. I got it cause of the artwork and everyone at the comic shop was talking about it.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
That’s a shame, though I can’t say I'm surprised. All too many comic shop owners get into the business without treating it like a real business. And it would have been a funny joke too if he had let his customers in on it.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
That’s a shame, though I can’t say I'm surprised. All too many comic shop owners get into the business without treating it like a real business. And it would have been a funny joke too if he had let his customers in on it.
Funny thing is his last name is Sincere. And I know that he had 2 shops at one time. He would make fun of kids if they bought stuff he thought was bad. It was just a horribly managed store.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
That’s a shame, though I can’t say I'm surprised. All too many comic shop owners get into the business without treating it like a real business. And it would have been a funny joke too if he had let his customers in on it.
Funny thing is his last name is Sincere. And I know that he had 2 shops at one time. He would make fun of kids if they bought stuff he thought was bad. It was just a horribly managed store.
One of the local shop owners where I am has the last name of Pleasant. Thankfully, he lives up to the name.
I remember all of those covers except for the Best Of The Brave & The Bold... and I don't even remember that series! How'd I miss that? What a great bat-rendition of the House Of Mystery! I know I have that story reprinted in a trade, but I want that issue now just for the cover!
I remember all of those covers except for the Best Of The Brave & The Bold... and I don't even remember that series! How'd I miss that? What a great bat-rendition of the House Of Mystery! I know I have that story reprinted in a trade, but I want that issue now just for the cover!
Best of the Brave and the Bold was a great little mini-series. It was one of the Baxter paper reprint projects DC did throughout the ’80s. I think Green Lantern/Green Arrow was first, reprinting the O’Neil/Adams run, then Manhunter, New Gods, etc. I love those books. The reproduction is better than a lot of the trade paperback collections that came later.
Best of Brave and the Bold was the last one they did. Each issue led with a Batman story, then three 8-page back-ups of a mix of Viking Prince, Golden Gladiator, Silent Knight, and Robin Hood. José did all the covers, though Ed Hannigan provided layouts for some, including the House of Mystery cover.
It's funny that I don't recall that mini-series; the covers alone would have jumped right out at me. On the other hand, at the time, I had the original comics that these had been reprinted from, so maybe that was why I didn't take notice. My loss. I do have all of these stories now in trade form, in black & white, part of a series of British trade collections from Titan Books, which, back in the 90's, collected all of the Neal Adams' Batman stories.
And, yeah, now that you mention it, I do see that House Of Mystery cover as having a strong Hannigan design influence.
Comments
Dell Barras
Michael 'Mike' Gustovich
Michael Atiyeh
Bart Sears
Andy Smith
Another of my recent 25 cent finds.Flipped thru it the other night and the art is decent.
And, I agree, the art was quite good, probably the best work of Sears’ comics career. Sears was pretty popular for a time, thanks to his runs on Justice League Europe and X-O Manowar, but also in large part because of his “How to Draw” column that ran in Wizard magazine. Sears was not only an artist for CrossGen, but their art director for most of CrossGen’s brief existence.
I've read the more recent attempts by Marvel to revive a few of the CrossGen titles and I enjoyed those, but I gather from comments I've seen and heard that, except for Ruse, they bear little resemblance to the original series.
Ruse was by far my favorite of the CrossGen titles. I know I'm not alone in that. Definitely worth hunting down.
Way of the Rat was a lot of fun too, though it's often overlooked. It felt very much like a Jackie Chan movie; the lead character even resembled Chan. And it had nice art by Jeff Johnson, who, being a martial artist himself, was very good with the action scenes. It was a pretty consistent series too, so I recommend it if it sounds like your kind of thing.
"Buy my Occupy single or the kitten living in my hair gets it"
Scot Eaton
Andrew Hennessy - 'Drew'
Wilfredo 'Wil' Quintana
This is the Crossgen series I have read the most of. Fun space opera storyline with good art.
Bill Sienkiewicz
Read this back when I was 14 or 15 and lots of it went straight over my head. But I loved the artwork enough to hold onto it for years.
Ted McKeever
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
Steve Ditko
I love getting those 70s Charlton horror comics. Mainly cause you never know when you will get some great Ditko artwork.
Best of Brave and the Bold was the last one they did. Each issue led with a Batman story, then three 8-page back-ups of a mix of Viking Prince, Golden Gladiator, Silent Knight, and Robin Hood. José did all the covers, though Ed Hannigan provided layouts for some, including the House of Mystery cover.
And, yeah, now that you mention it, I do see that House Of Mystery cover as having a strong Hannigan design influence.