wktf's and Sam Wilson's Reviews (with Kdawg!) 10/12/06

[wktf]

Sam Wilson’s Reviews

Nothing huge coming out this week, from DC/Wildstorm we get the Gail Simone helmed relaunch of Gen 13. I always thought that book was fun, it had a few good runs with some good creators (Gary Frank/John Arcudi, and the Campbell stuff was aiight too), Ultimate Power #1 which has lots of people up in arms with the whole cross universe thing, the debut of “Cable” in Ultimate X-men, and fulfilling my blood lust for the week is Wolverine: Origins. My pick of the week is Supreme Power, and with that being said on to the reviews…

Gen 13 #1
DC/Wildstorm
Written by: Gail Simone
Drawn by: Talent Caldwell
Variant Cover by: J. Scott Campbell

Way back in 1994 Gen 13 was one of Image Comics lynchpin books, and J. Scott Campbell was at the brink of superstardom (he went on to do the three year, six issue series “Danger Girl” which no one truly gives a crap about, and now he does covers for Marvel (and sometimes DC) and will be penciling a new Spider-Man series). Gen 13 was Image’s “Spider-Man”, it was about five young people on the run from the Gov’t (Roxy, Rainmaker, Burnout, Grunge and Fairchild), they had super powers, were scantily clad a lot of the time and had a badass mentor with a shadowy past (John Lynch). All of their fathers worked for an elite military unit (Team 7) and there was lots of cloak and dagger type stuff. Even with conspiracies abound, the stories were light hearted and fun. Towards the end the series went a little bit off the beaten path, and was relaunched a few years ago with Catlin Fairchild mentoring a new group of teens. The series bombed horribly and Gen 13 pretty much died a quiet death along with the rest of the old Wildstorm Universe, until now. The Wildstorm U is back, reimagined if you will with new WildCAT’s, Stormwatch, and yes, Gen 13 books featuring top level talent and an all new take on a universe that, well, meant something to this reviewer anyway. So how is the new Gen 13? Well…

Issue one starts out with a shadowy government organization running secret experiments on the unsuspecting populace. Right away you know this organization is hinky because one of the evil scientists is in hot pants (the female one). Anyway, five familiar teens, Roxy, Catlin, Grunge Burnout and Sarah are all taken from their families; their parents killed by government agents, well, at least the people they thought were their parents. The kids were normal enough, Catlin was a nerd but now she’s a supermodel, Sarah was a native American trying to find her place in life, Burnout and Roxy are both troubled youth to say the least and Eddie is a loudmouth skater. Now they are all orphans in jumpsuits being held captive by a secret organization, only having each other to rely on and figure out how to get out of their perilous situation.

Truth be told, I like this relaunch. The art isn’t as crisp as I’d like it to be, but Gail Simone’s storytelling is head and shoulders above the original “Gen 13” series writing. If you are a fan of the old series, check this book out, or if your looking for something different and are a Gail Simone fan, you won’t be disappointed either. If you don’t fit either of those categories I would still give “Gen 13” a strong recommendation.

Ultimate Power #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Drawn by: Greg Land

There are comic fans out there whom shudder at the idea of Universe Crossovers, this reviewer being one of them. Fine, JLA/Avengers was okay, but that’s about it. Someone at Marvel thought it would be a good idea to crossover its “Ultimate” Universe with JMS’s “Supreme Power” Universe, fine, not an epic crossover but a cross-universe crossover nonetheless. Things seem to have started out on the right foot, Brian Michael Bendis writing and Greg Land penciling, both top notch creators. The set-up sounds okay, Reed Richards makes a doorway to an adjacent universe looking for a cure for his best bud Ben Grimm and ends up creating a path to the “Supreme Power” universe. How will it go though? The Supreme Universe is a way, way nastier place than the Ultimate U. In the Supreme Power U the government rules with an iron fist, and the US seems more like the Cold War Soviet Union, it’s heroes being “exploited” for the good of the state. Yes, most likely universes will not only collide, but will get in each others sh$# for damn sure…

“Ultimate Power” #one opens with the Fantastic Four going toe to toe with the Serpent Squad, a bunch of foxy, foxy chicas who are raiding Project Pegasus (or the Ultimate Project Pegasus) in search of their stolen Serpent Crown. Of course the ladies get their butts kicked, but during the course of the fight Ben Grimm gets a piece chipped off of him and once again comes face to face with the fact that he is the one whose life has been altered most by the Teleportation “accident” that gave them all of their powers. This predictably sends Reed on another balls out quest to find a cure for Ben, which is starting to get really, really expensive. This time out Reed wants to build a series of probes to explore other dimensions to gather as much data as possible to try and help “cure” Ben. Nick Fury shuts down the project (and a foxily drawn Ultimate Carol Danvers make a little cameo) and Reed finds a way to gather his data on his own. Things seem to be going fine until there is a big explosion and the Squadron Supreme (JMS’s Squad, from the “Supreme Power” book) show up. Yeah…

I’m digging this book. Greg Lands art is drop dead foxy, there is no other adjective for it. Damn. Love the Ultimate FF, Bendis is back with his trademark style (he seems to bring in a human element absent in most other superhero fare). Pick this book up, definitely worth being my pick of the week.

Wolverine: Origins #7
Marvel Comics
Written by: Daniel Way
Drawn by: Steve Dillon

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with “Wolverine: Origins” I’ll give a quick recap. At the end of the “House of M” fiasco Wolverine, who is the best at what he does and what he does ain’t pretty, was granted access to his memories. All of them. Yup. Most of them are nasty and are the types of things no one wants to come to light. SHIELD is alerted and so it begins. Wolverine decides he is going to use his newfound knowledge to exact bloody revenge on all those who have ever wronged him, so he whups Silver Samurai’s ass and takes his Muramasa Blade (a katanna that has a bloodlust and is said to be able to contain evil spirits) and embarks on a quest. First up, he has some words with the Secretary of State, then he visits a guy named Nuke (who we last saw in the now classic Daredevil storyline “Born Again”). It turns out Wolverine more or less helped create Nuke, and after setting that little flub straight he mixes it up with Captain America and a few of the X-men. Wolverine almost goes berserk on all of them, but Emma Frost stops him and drops a huge bombshell on ol’ Logan. He has a son. In a moment of clarity Logan hands over his Muramasa Blade to Cyclops, requesting that if he goes to far in his current revenge bender that Cyclops end it with the sword, the only thing that can permanently put Wolverine down. This leads us to the current issue and a new storyline, issue #7…

Wolverine has hopped a freighter in search of his son, but the cut he received from the Muramasa blade isn’t healing as it should. He remembers there is a mineral that has helped him before his healing factor was on the fritz, but it isn’t synthesized naturally. Wolverine needs to pay a visit to one of his old buddies from Team X (see Wolverine, the first ongoing series, issue #50), Maverick to get his hands on this mineral so he can resume his quest. He tracks Maverick to Queens, and runs into an old friend along the way, an old friend and an old enemy (Omega Red). Issue seven opens up with Wolvie and Omega Red going at it, and a depowered Jubilee and Maverick sitting on the sidelines trying to stay alive. We also get a nifty “flashback” to Wolvies past as a mercenary who got his brain wiped after each mission. Wicked…

Wolverine: Origins is an excellent series, unlike that Paul Jenkins “Origin” garbage this series has nuts. Steve Dillon delivers 100% on the art, and damn if ass isn’t kicked and kicked well in this book. You won’t be disappointed if you give this book a try.

Kdawg59’s Review

Ultimate X-Men #75 "Cable"(1 of 5)
Marvel Comics
Written by: Robert Kirkman
Drawn by: Ben Oliver

Previously in Ultimate X-Men... (this is important to me because I haven't read this title in about 2 years)

Their ranks have recently taken a hit. Nightcrawler has snapped -- forcing Xavier to keep him in a trance, inactive. As a result Dazzler has quit the team.

A new addition to the X-Men, Magician, revealed himself to be evil--trying to kill the X-Men before he was stopped.

Rogues powers have returned after Gambit's abilities, which she absorbed (and retained) upon his death, faded away unexpectedly. Once again, she cannot make physical contact with anyone.

Now is not a happy time for the students of Xavier's School for Gifted Children...

... We open this 75th issue will Jean Grey, (YOU GOTTA LOVE JEAN) sitting on her bed announcing introspectively "Today is my birthday...”

She is talking with Scott about all that has happened to the X-Men lately and in essence Kirkman sums things up for the new reader as well as anyone else needing a recap of recent events in the corner of the Ultimate X-Universe.

In fact the majority of this issue is spent in "talking head" mode as we are setting up this new arc.

Scott talks to Jean, Xavier talks to Quicksilver (good to see the Ultimate Universe bleeding into each other so much lately), Xavier talks to Nick Fury about Jean...

Bobby annoys Rogue and Peter talks to Kitty.

Are you seeing a pattern here? This is not to say that this is bad. In fact it works quite well. The X-men have been through a lot and this is representing the quiet times in-between their adventures in which they are dealing with hurt, loss, success, failure, and self doubt. I kind of like this element in this comic.

If you are wondering if there is any action in this book, I can honestly say that by the time we get around to seeing Wolverine and Storm, we are in a full on training session in the Danger Room.

This was my favorite part of the book as recent events and combatants of the Ultimate Universe Flagship title "The Ultimates" spill over here. Wolverine and Storm are running different scenarios in combatting foes that are being confronted right now in this other title including Ultimate Loki.

This is either a blatant nod to that title or perhaps they are practicing for their part in that recent battle. Either way I can appreciate what is being done and as a bonus there is a moment of attraction between Storm and Wolvie for good measure.

The issue's tempo has considerably quickened after this scene as our next sees Xavier trying to give Nightcrawler telepathic therapy only to be interrupted by the Ultimate Universe' introduction to Cable.

The battle ensues and Cable single-handedly rips through the entire team faster than a fast can of Mamma WKTF's whup ass!!!

Wolvie and Storm joinn the battle just in time to have the shocking cliffhanger. I gotta say I didn't see that coming and this is clearly not the main Marvel Universe' version of Cable bub...

All I can say is WKTF??? err.... I mean WTF????

Damn you Sammy ... now I am in at least for a couple more issues on this title as Kirkman and Oliver have set up a clean, even if intriguing and somewhat shocking tale. I have long been a fan of the Ultimate Universe and for those of you in the trenches with me, I think you'll agree that this title is obviously doing something right. 75 issues strong and still going...

[wktf]

Wktf’s Reviews

This was practically a nothing week for me, with the exception of Tales of the Unexpected and Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange. I’m reaching back to last week and even the week before that to fill out these reviews. Here we go.

Tales of the Unexpected #1 (of 8)
DC Comics
Written by: David Lapham & Brian Azzarello
Drawn by: Eric Battle, Prentis Rollins and Cliff Chiang
Smokin’ cover art: Mike Mignola

This new title is my pick of the week and features two separate tales of the unexpected. The first is of The Spectre, hot of his powerful three issue post-Infinite Crisis mini series. In that series, Crispus Allen, the murdered Gotham City detective from Rucka and Brubaker’s lamentably cancelled Gotham Central, reconciled with The Spectre and agreed to his role as God’s Angel of Vengeance’s human anchor. Sadly, this acceptance came at a price. Many of us who read Gotham Central were glad to see Jim Carrigan, Allen’s murderer, finally killed, but we were shocked to see that it was Crispus’ son who pulled the trigger and whom Crispus, now as The Spectre, had to punish. In this new series, Crispus seems less at each with his infinitely powerful co-host and dreads the actions The Spectre may take, for The Spectre’s killings have a nasty irony to them. A well known slum lord has been brutally murdered and there’s an apartment building full of suspects. Everyone in the building hated this man. As Allen’s ghost sticks with the cops who are investigating he’s decided who he thinks the murderer is. But the dynamics of the building tenant put a young woman and her daughter in terrible danger even as Allen and The Spectre are led away from their plight once the landlord’s murderer is uncovered. Allen is furious but goes where he must, rather than where he feels he’s truly needed. This is another strong start to another Spectre mini-series.

The backup story presents us with Dr. 13, investigator of the paranormal. But he’s a ghost buster who doesn’t believe in ghosts. In fact, he’s skeptical of the whole paranormal phenomenon to the point where he thinks it’s a crock cooked up by people too small minded to understand reality. Azzarello, as he usually does, creates a tale that winds confusingly around in all kinds of directions that almost forced me to quit the piece altogether until we get inside Dr. 13’s head as he’s having a dream about his daughter Tracie that…um, let’s just say it got my attention and sure as hell kick started him awake. Wrong, but interesting to say the least. Seriously, I needed a hit of my bottled water before reading any further. Shortly thereafter father and daughter are sent to the snow covered mountains of northern France to investigate a plane crash with a gruesome, seemingly cannibalistic twist. But as they suddenly face a more traditional snow monster that’s seemingly out of place in France rather than the Himalayas, rousing Dr. 13’s suspicions over this actually being a monster, we discover a far more classically traditional monster not seen, by me anyway, since 1983 in DC’s House of Mystery. I was plenty surprised and very happy to see this character, an old favorite of mine, after such a long time (despite his brief cameo in Day of Vengeance. And I’m anxious to see what Azzerello’s next step is for a story that DC’s website says “threatens to tear asunder the very fabric of the DCU’s past, present and future!” Not to mention how Dr. 13’s going to get his head straight about Tracie. I’d say, overall, with both stories, this title’s off to a great start.

CRIMINAL #1
Marvel Comics/Icon
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Drawn by: Sean Phillips

This book came out last week and, I’m embarrassed to say, I missed it. I’d read Brubaker’s plugs for it in his other Marvel titles but it wasn’t ‘til I was informed afterwards that it had come out that I went back to the lcs to get it. Boy, I’m glad I did. What a great beginning to a new series.

Of course, Brubaker has wracked up lots of capital with his work on Daredevil, Captain America, Catwoman and Batman. But let’s also not forget about Gotham Central, a series about the GCPD operating in a world of capes and freaks. The capes and freaks with there in spades but this was mostly a street level cop series. Well, CRIMINAL, goes one better and removes the capes and freaks completely. Leon is a career criminal, a thief, and one of the best of his kind out there. But Leon has had his share of problems. A father who taught him everything he knows was shanked in prison. Many of his friends have been gunned down in jobs gone wrong. And, as a result, Leon lives by a set of rules that govern his actions and, most importantly, serve to insure his ability to get away from any situation and preserve his life. In short, among the best thieves in the world, Leo is a coward which just happens to be the title of this five part story arc.

In this issue, Leo’s past catches up with him somewhat while he’s also dealing with his sordid present, most notably an elderly alzheimer’s-ridden junky named Ivan who’s in Leo’s care. Two dirty cops are after Leo to lead a diamond heist. They pull in the widow of one of Leo’s partners who died working a job with him to guilt Leo into accepting this job that he so desperately doesn’t want to do. As usual, Bru’s plotting, pacing and scripting is incredible and Sean Phillips’ art seems perfectly suited for this gritty, violent story. The Icon imprint seems to be like Marvel’s MAX label in that it allows for explicit foul language but gives its books more of an indy publishing feel than the MAX labels ever had which also seems to work for this title. I’m now officially hooked on my third Marvel Brubaker title (I can’t bring myself to buy his X-Men title, I’m so sick of the X-Men, as much as I liked Deadly Genesis) and recommend those of you, like me, who didn’t pick this bad boy up last Wednesday to be sure you do during your next lcs stop.

Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Fred Hembeck
Drawn by: Olivier Coipel, Michael Gaydos, John Romita, Sr.

Though this book came out two weeks ago I wanted to review it along with this week’s Dr. Strange installment to the “Stan Lee Meets” series. People who started reading comic books, say, in the 1980s probably have a harder time appreciating Stan the way those of us who grew up in the 1960s (like me) or 70s do. No question, Stan’s a huckster and hype-man. But, in addition to leading the creation of the Marvel Universe, he also created a community with a wink and a smile in which many of us felt we had exclusive membership. We were part of the Marvel movement. And in those crazy opening credits to those unbelievable, convention breaking stories, in Stan Lee’s Soapbox, and in the Bullpen Bulletins we were, by Irving Forbush, True Believers from the Hallowed Halls of Merry Marvel who, yes, we Faced Front! (whatever the hell that actually meant). So, now that Stan’s been with Marvel for 65 years, Marvel’s issuing these one-shot titles where the characters of his creation and his choosing actually encounter The Man himself, beginning two weeks ago with The Amazing Spider-Man and a cover reminiscent of Amazing Fantasy #15 where Spidey’s carrying Stan who, in turn, is sprinkling Marvel pixie dust from a bag like The Green Goblin’s on New York City, below him.

The first story, penned by Stan and penciled by Olivier Coipel, is a pure Stan hoot. It begins a little clichéd with the web slinger coming to Stan for advice. He battles super villains day and night and what does he have to show for it? Nothing but a bucket of problems coupled with no respect, that’s what! Why should he bother? Why not give up? Well, this certainly is the core of the Spidey persona and problems that Stan created more than more than four decades ago. But his advice to Marvel’s flagship character and the motivating influence behind that advice was slightly surprising, pure Stan hyperbolic hucksterism and gave me a genuine chuckle. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of Coipel’s art (can’t wait to see his Thor work!) and I love what he’s done here. Note the spider emblem on our hero’s chest is the 60s emblem rather than today’s. The second story, by Whedon and Gaydos, is a cool and comical concept piece where different dimensional versions of the same person meet at an inter-dimensional comic book convention. Everyone’s dimension’s take on their Marvel comics is different and, horrors, no dimensional representative, outside our own, has heard of Stan The Man! OMG! How is this possible? The last original piece is a two-pager by Hembeck who puts himself in a line with Princess Python, the ambiguously gay Percival Pinkerton from Sgt. Fury’s Howling Commandos, and the Beetle all of whom are waiting to meet Stan Lee. Hembeck relates his experience as a kid reading those early Marvel Comics, much as I did in my opening paragraph, and gives us some fun interplay among the folks in line. Finally, we have a Stan Lee hand-picked reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #87 wherein Spidey…gets the flu! Seriously, and it’s a great choice for this offbeat offering.

I, for one, think this is a great concept and welcome these off center alternatives to all the Civil War seriousness out there. Anyone trying to figure out what all the fuss is with Stan should pick this up. Anyone already on board should also pick this up and enjoy the continuous ride this issue offers.

Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Stan Lee, Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Giarrusso
Drawn by: Alan Davis, Mark Bagley, Chris Giarrusso, Barry Windsor-Smith

Hmmm…well, Marvel’s second offering in this “Stan Lee Meets” series is a bit more tepid, frankly, than its first. Not that it doesn’t have its good moments, mind you. The issue opens as Smilin’ Stan walks down the dark, foggy streets of Manhattan and develops a hankerin’ to visit his old buddy, Dr. Strange. But life has thrown the good Doctor a number of curve balls and the Greenwich Village sanctum sanctorum has seen some changes since The Man last visited, possibly since the 1960s. In fact, due to the various expenses incurred by being Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doc Strange is forced to turn his digs into a tourist trap, complete with plush dolls, T-shirts, autographed books and mansion tours. How’s Strange going to afford cleaning the coffee stains off his exotic rug, the steep increases in his rent (does Strange RENT that place?) and memory lessons for all those whacky chants Stan dreamed up for him? Hmmm…while this is played as tongue-in-cheek and is clever in parts it’s kind of a throw away story, sadly, but one with a common commercial theme first introduced in Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man. The best part is Alan Davis’ art which, typically, is phenomenal. There are some sly jokes in here, too, such as a store called Dit Co. (get it?). All ‘n all, cute and a fun diversion but no great shakes.

The second story is an inside joke in the vein of what Roy Thomas did when he and George Perez had the Impossible Man rampage through the Marvel offices in the 1976 Fantastic Four #176 (which, by the way, is a great and very funny issue that everyone should read). The Ultimate Spider-Man team of Bendis and Bagley return Impy, The Impossible Man, to Earth and he’s just giddy with the thought of wreaking havoc with his favorite fantastic foursome. That said, he arrives in current Marvel Civil War continuity, also post-Avengers Disassembled and post-House of M. What happened to the FF? Where’s Ben and Sue? Why is Johnny in bandages? No more mutants? Wolverine and Spider-Man are Avengers? The Scarlet Witch went nuts? Impy goes straight to Marvel’s offices in search of Stan (who was there, by the way, in Fantastic Four #176) to instead find…well, you know who’s there now. Imply does, finally, track down his buddy Stan who counsels him through the changes in the Marvel U but, ugh, the yuks feel too much like Bendis’ congratulating himself, with Joe Q and Stan’s blessings, on all his great work. This story is followed by a neat two page spread called “Principal Stanley” by Marvel Minis writer/artist Chris Giarrusso where Stan serves as school principal/guidance counselor to the young Spidey. There actually are some poignant and awkward (for Stan) moments in this piece and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.

Finally, Stan has picked a Dr. Strange reprint story, illustrated by BWS, from Marvel Premier #3 to complete this book. Doc must face and fight an unseen, unknown, world-threatening foe. There are lots of flowery incantations, drama and mystical hyperbole. But out of all the great Stan-written Dr. Strange stories this one may be one of the most empty and inconsequential of them all. Unlike the Spider-Man reprint in the prior Stan Lee Meets book, this one doesn’t seem to tie into the other stories and, frankly, doesn’t represent Stan’s writing all that well.

So, so far, Marvel’s batting 500 with this series. I have high hopes for The Thing, Doom and Surfer stories. Obviously, we’ll see…

[wktf]

Continuing our October Halloween horror trade fest begun last week, here are two more trades for your consideration.

Sam Wilson’s Reviews

Gen 13: London, New York, Hell
Written by: Warren Ellis
Drawn by: Steve Dillon
Cover by: John Cassaday

Yes, you read the creative team correctly, a bunch of guys who sound like the creative team for the newest Vertigo title actually did a couple of Gen 13 stories. Yes, Gen 13, the light, breezy mostly pin-up Wildstorm book that featured a group of young heroes known to the world as Freefall, Burnout, Grunge (oy vey, so dated), Rainmaker and Fairchild. Led by former Special Ops guy and all around bad ass John Lynch, these progeny of super-soldiers, AKA Gen 13 are perpetually on the run and in training. Our story starts out fairly typically; for a bit of respite from the norm John Lynch decides to take the crew to London for some international fair (you would expect nothing less from Ellis/Dillon). The team’s adventure begins at the Wolfshead Pub, which is the local hangout for the superhuman community (seen often in Warren Ellis’s run on Stormwatch). Needless to say the team engages in the opposite of a Southern California night of clubbing. The girls end up being manipulated by British Special Ops for intelligence gathering purposes, and the boys, well, the boys learn how to drink. For those fans of Caitlin Fairchild, she finally cuts loose a little. Word. That and Ellis takes the girls through a trippy “Alice in Wonderland” series of tests. Yeah. Anyway…

In the “New York” story of our tpb, Lynch once again takes the team on a sojourn to New York. Lots of shopping, coffee shops and artsy type city stuff was expected. What they got was a dude straight out of “The Sixth Sense” and a cop from Hell. Seriously. The guy was from Hell. I tell you, this trade is awesome, long out of print, but worth the trackdown. It’s cool as hell to see Warren Ellis and Steve Dillon handle characters who aren’t as “dark” as the usual suspects, and damn if Steve Dillon Doesn’t prove he can handle himself in the foxy chica department. “New York, London, Hell” is a great read, I highly recommend it (if you can track down a copy).

Wktf’s Review

Dr. Strange vs. Dracula: The Montesi Formula
Marvel Comics
Written by: Marv Wolfman, Steve Englehart, Roger Stern
Drawn by: Gene Colan, Dan Green, Steve Leialoha

Marvel released this trade last week, collecting Tomb of Dracula #44 and Dr. Strange #14 and 58-62, and I was very glad to see it. Tomb of Dracula is one of my single most favorite comic book series of the 1970s. It lasted 70 issues, plus Giant-Size specials and black and white Marvel magazine spin offs and, while not Marvel’s first foray into classic horror characters (Werewolf by Night came first), it was Marvel’s most successful. TOD also boasted one of comics’ longest running creative teams of Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan and Tom Palmer who stayed together on the title for 64 issues once Marv picked up the writing chores for the book with issue #7. Not the legendary Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four or Bendis/Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man runs but, still, pretty damn impressive.

To start, some quick Marvel Dracula background. It relates to this trade, I promise and you’ll see. Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula’s, ushered the vampire into the Marvel Universe in Tomb of Dracula #1 when he went to Transylvania with his business partner and girlfriend Jeannie to turn his inherited Castle Dracula into a tourist attraction. Naturally, once the stake was removed from Dracula’s corpse all kinds of hell breaks lose from that point onward. Grief stricken over Jeannie’s death, Drake joined the aged and wheelchair bound Quincy Harker (son of Jonathan Harker from Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula) and the young, beautiful, cross bow wielding Rachel Van Helsing (granddaughter of the famous vampire hunter, also from Stoker’s book) all of whom joined forces to combat Dracula. They, in turn, were occasionally joined by Blade and Hannibal King, a private detective turned into a vampire by Deacon Frost, the same vampire who killed Blade’s mother. Later, Harker died in the series’ final battle with Dracula that ended with a silver stake through the vampire’s heart and an explosion that destroyed Castle Dracula and killed the old man. Frank and Rachel, awkward lovers, split up afterwards. Blade went his own way. And that seemed the end of it. During this series’ run and afterwards, Dracula met up witih various Marvel heroes beginning in 1974 with a non-encounter with Spider-Man in Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, but he battled the Silver Surfer in TOD #50 as well as Thor, The Defenders and The X-Men in their comics as well. In fact, it was in X-Men Annual #6 that Dracula murdered Rachel Van Helsing and turned her into his vampiric slave from which she ultimately was freed by Wolverine. But the lord of vampires’ most persistent Marvel adversary was Dr. Strange.

This trade begins with Strange and Dracula’s first encounter in Tomb of Dracula #44 and continuing in Dr. Strange #14. Wong is attacked by a vampire and is dying. Strange enters Wong’s unconscious mind, follows his memories back to the grisly encounter, and discovers Dracula, a being Strange thought a legendary figure only, was the perpetrator. An enraged Strange goes after the vampire lord in hopes of a cure for Wong. The battle between the sorcerer and the vampire is pitched and desperate but, shockingly, Strange falls to the vampire’s bite. With only three days until Strange’s corpse rises as Dracula’s vampire slave, Strange’s astral form frantically battles the vampire, but to no avail. In the end, having risen from the dead, Strange as a vampire must defeat Dracula, his master now, and cure himself and Wong even as his will begins to bend to Dracula’s commands. Though these two issues are crafted by two different writers, Wolfman and Englehart, they both are drawn an inked by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer thus providing perfect visual consistency (not to mention dynamic and powerful art) throughout this harrowingly wonderful tale.

Somehow, though, following his subsequent death at Quincy Harker’s hands (see above), Dracula resurrected himself yet again and now we learn, beginning in Dr. Strange #58, he is seeking The Darkhold, an evil manual crafted by the demon Chthon, the very book that possessed the Scarlet Witch back in the John Byrne art run on the Avengers. With The Darkhold in his possession Dracula could become the ultimate evil on Earth. Through an encounter with Hannibal King (see above), Dr. Strange learns of Dracula’s plans and, with good reason, moves swiftly into action. Strange and Dracula both learn that The Darkhold resides in a vault in Avengers Mansion and, though Dracula is terrified of encountering Thor again (see above), he and his minions breach the mansion. Strange, with the aid of The Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), repels the vampire and spirits The Darkhold to the Transylvanian Castle of Baron Mordo, but not before he leans of the Montesi Formula within this tome, the formula to undo and completely destroy vampires across the globe. Now, with the vampire lord’s acquiring more power from the estranged Darkhold all the time, King gathers up Blade and Frank Drake (see above) who is angry and saddened by Rachel Van Helsing’s death by Dracula in X-Men Annual #6 (see above…see, I told you the Marvel Dracula background paragraph was relevant to this trade!), and Strange and his crew race to beat Dracula to Mordo’s castle. Of course, what follows is another pitched and desperate battle to save all of humanity and stop one of the single greatest evils ever to walk the planet.

This trade is action packed, tense and filled with a genuine sense of desperation and fear. Despite the variety of writers and artists in this trade, the whole thing holds together extremely well and the respect for continuity and consistency keeps the story flowing nearly perfectly, despite the jump in years between the first story and the second. Gene Colan’s art cannot be beat, but Dan Green’s art is a bit reminiscent of Ditko and Leialoha’s art is conceptually eerie. Given who the writers are in this trade, we should expect nothing more than exceptional stories and that’s exactly what we’re given, not to mention a beautifully colored Gene Colan drawing of Dracula standing triumphantly over the fallen Dr. Strange for this trade’s cover. Great trade and highly recommended.

[bat_collector]

Joe, I actually read criminal finally and thought it was boring. The characters just didn't grab me, and the storyline, while somewhat interesting, didn't grab me all that much.

With me trying to figure out which 10 books to stay on board on, this one isn't making the list. I'd recommend Fell over this one.

[wktf]

That's cool, Mike. Thanks for you counterpoint opinion!

[wktf]

Mike, knowing you're a Spectre fan, did you pick up Tales of the Unexpected?

[bat_collector]

Originally Posted by wktf

Mike, knowing you're a Spectre fan, did you pick up Tales of the Unexpected?

Joe, I'm so torn right now. I'm determined to keep my comics to a minimum, and there is so much I'm not picking up.

I can't live without these comics:

1) Walking Dead
2) Batman
3) Daredevil
4) Astonishing
5) Cap - though the civil war tie in makes it difficult
6) Jonah Hex

Batman, Uncanny, and X-men also seem like must-haves. So that leaves one open title. I made a huge mistkae by buying first issus of zombie (marvel max), dr. strange, and nightmare on elm street.

And what about Seven, Civil War, Ion, Winter men, and Sea of Red, comics that are soon to end that I'm already in the middle of?

[wktf]

Dr. Strange: Oath was a huge mistake? Sorry you felt that way, I thought it was great.

[bat_collector]

Originally Posted by wktf

Dr. Strange: Oath was a huge mistake? Sorry you felt that way, I thought it was great.

No!!!!

Huge mistake to buy issue 1 of a series I REALLY want to read when I know now I can't do it.

[wktf]

Originally Posted by bat_collector

No!!!!

Huge mistake to buy issue 1 of a series I REALLY want to read when I know now I can't do it.

Ah, I see.