My Collection - DARK HORSE PRESENTS [1986 Series]

One of the series of posts I was doing here that kind of fell by the wayside the past few months was a look at each series that makes up my over-large comic collection, in roughly the order of how many issues I had (an order that's been changed somewhat by recent purchases). Previous entries in the series are here. Anyway, a few months ago I'd gotten as far as this...

Dark Horse Presents [1986 series]
30 issues [1988 - 1999]
25, 29 - 30, 32, 39 - 40, 44, 46 - 47, 66 - 67, 70, 77, 82, 86, 96 - 98, 100 [1], 100 [2], 100 [3], 100 [4], 100 [5], 101, 114, 118 - 120, 138, 148

This anthology was Dark Horse's first comic book, running until #157 in 2000, and always a good sampling of whatever kind of stuff Dark Horse was publishing at the time, with a mix of single issue stories and continuing pieces. I was, obviously, never a regular reader of the book, usually only picking up an issue or two in a row if something caught my eye.

Those multiple #100 issues, by the way, was how they celebrated reaching that milestone, with five issues worth of material, all self-contained, so it made a good sampler of what was going on at the company at the time.

I can't judge a lot of the contents since there are so many single chapters of longer stories, but the there's a nice variety of art in them, and a few of the longer pieces look good enough that I should really find out if there was ever a collection of them published. The most interesting stuff in most of the issues I have is the Eddie Campbell stuff (more easily available in his self-published books now) and the Concrete stuff by Paul Chadwick (all reprinted in various books, I suppose).

Some other random noteworthy stuff:

It's far from brilliant, but the "Bob the Alien" comics by Rich Rice that appears in several issues still cracks me up.

Not sure what else he's done, but someone named Gary Davis has a few stories that I have loose chapters of ("Delia and Celia" and "Paleolove"), and the artwork in them is gorgeous.

Rick Geary's random short stuff is always interesting, if sometimes creepy.

#118 - #120 feature a three-part "Hectic Planet" story by Evan Dorkin, continuing from his old "Pirate Corps" series. Don't think we've seen the characters again in the decade since, or even a reprint of this story.

#120 also has one of the last times I've seen Al Williamson doing full art on a comic book story, instead of just inks, on the great "One Last Job", written by Mark Schultz.

My Collection - SUICIDE SQUAD [1987 Series]

Suicide Squad [1987 series]
29 issues [1987 - 1992]
1 - 14, 17 - 20, 22 - 27, 30 - 31, 59, 62 - 63

This title borrowed the name of an old short-lived Kanigher/Andru/Esposito concept, and a few characters (Rick Flag), but added various things. The basic concept was that the government was running covert operations that included a work-release program for super-villains, letting them earn their freedom by going on deadly missions. It was written by John Ostrander throughout (with Kim Yale in the second half) and various artists.

I know it's a pretty well regarded series in some on-line circles, so I'm probably not going to win too many friends by saying, despite having about half the run (it went to #66) I'm not a big fan of SUICIDE SQUAD. Didn't hate it, obviously, but didn't love it either. I sampled it when I got back into comics, starting with #20 because it had a nice cover with some old-school Flash villains (or "rogues", as we cognoscenti call them). It was okay, nothing great, and I picked up a few more issues later, but then it began a crossover with such winning titles as CHECKMATE, so I didn't want to bother.

Later on I saw a run of most of the first 19 issues in a quarter bin, and since I'd heard a few good things about the book by then, and part of it crossed over with some JUSTICE LEAGUE stuff I did read, I picked them up. Parts of the first year were pretty good, but I don't think I even finished the issues in the teens. Or at least they don't look too familiar. Picked up a few more on the cheap later, although none of them made much of an impact.

Recommended issues, I'd say that up to #8 is some good reading, solidly setting up the premise of the series and the characters in a variety of situations.

My Collection - DOCTOR FATE [1988 Series]

Doctor Fate [1988 series]
30 issues [1988 - 1992]
1 - 10, 15 - 16, 18 - 24, 29 - 31, 33 - 37, 39 - 41 

This is the longest series Doctor Fate ever had, following up on the take of the Gardner Fox / Howard Sherman created character (Lord of Order battling Lords of Chaos) introduced in an earlier mini-series by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. DeMatteis returned for the series, joined in art by Shawn McManus, with the two and some fill-in artists doing the first 24 issues. Following that, William Messner-Loebs wrote the series with various artists until it was cancelled with #41. 

I was just getting seriously back into comics in late 1988 when this series started, so I was trying a lot of new things, and one book I was enjoying was the DeMatteis scripted JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL. I also really liked McManus's artwork and always liked Fate's design. The first few issues were fun, so I kept reading for a while, dropped it, picked it up again a year later for the end of the DeMatteis/McManus run, dropped it again, picked it up late in the Messner-Loebs run, just in time for the cancellation. I picked up some back-issues from both runs later. I think I'll eventually pick up at least the DeMatteis/McManus issues I'm missing. I like a lot of stuff in those issues, even if other parts are irritating. DeMatteis played parts of it as pretty broad comedy, including a demon with a yiddish accent, a wacky neighbour and a wisecracking Lord of Order among the supporting character. A lot of that worked, although not quite all. He also mixes in a light version of the mysticism that he explores in some of this other work (MOONSHADOW, SEEKERS). The first half-dozen issues do the best job of mixing those, the later stuff works less well, but McManus's art does get better. Messner-Loebs run is hard to define from the bits I've read, but it had a pretty gentle touch and is worth taking a look at.

My Collection - BEAUTIFUL STORIES FOR UGLY CHILDREN [1989 Series]

Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children [1989 series]
30 issues [1989 - 1992]
1 - 30

Perhaps not technically a comic book, this series by Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman was usually more profusely illustrated prose fiction, but with the artwork being more integral to the storytelling than most illustrated prose. It was published by DC's Piranha Press line, their only on-going series (they mostly did one-shots, a few mini-series). Each story pretty much stands alone (except #13, which is a sequel to the story in #1 about clowns on the run. The two were later reprinted with a new third chapter as A COTTON CANDY AUTOPSY), though there are a few recurring settings and references to other stories.

Louapre's writing is hard to describe, it's an art sort of quasi-fantasy/horror filled with odd bits of sarcasm and cynicism, and yet with flashes of hope popping up at the oddest points. But not that sissy kind of hope, the kind of hope which only serves to mock you. Sweetman's art is also unusual, very dark, with a lot of tight hatching and heavy ink wash effects, all reinforcing the cynicism of the writing.

I didn't pick up the book when it started, not having heard much about it. A few months later, having read a few other Piranha Press books and being intrigued by some of the ads I'd seen for it I tried an issue, I think it was #3 ("Diary Of A Depressed Tap Dancer"), and liked it well enough to pick up some more. Among those was #6 ("Happy Birthday To Hell"), a real break-through issue and maybe still my favourite. I can read it whenever I'm feeling down and it picks me right back up. And I can read it whenever I'm up and it brings me crashing right down to Earth. It's that kind of thing. I kept reading for the rest of the run, missing a few issues (especially around the hiatus, between #18 and #19, when they toyed with changing the format, releasing a single one-shot with three stories of various lengths before returning to their normal format with a more open cover design that emphasized the story titles rather than the series name or issue number). I did pick them all up eventually.

This is a book I want to write some more about when I get a chance, but for now I'll just list a few favourites:

#6 - Happy Birthday To Hell
#8 - Die Rainbow Die: A Story Of Hope
#12 - Beneath The Useless Universe
#25 - Legion Of Ogs

There's a website for the series with quite a bit of material, including a few animated shorts by Louapre and Sweetman (one of which is BROKEBACK CIRCUS, so updated fairly recently), and which mentions that they had a reprint book lined up but the publisher went out of business so they're shopping it around again. So keep hope alive, ugly children everywhere, but be prepared to be crushed by it. Cause it's like that.

My Collection - WORLD'S FINEST COMICS [1941 Series]

World's Finest Comics [1941 series]
30 issues [1969 - 1986]
187, 207 - 209, 212, 227, 231, 250 - 255, 262, 265 - 274, 276 - 280, 323

Long running DC anthology book, starting with #2 after the first issue came out as WORLD'S BEST COMICS. Always featuring Superman and Batman, first together on the cover but with separate stories inside, then later, when page counts shrunk, starting to team them up every month in 1950s for most of the rest of the run (with a brief period as a Superman / other heroes team-up book). I read it in the early 1980s for a while, when it was a double-sized "Dollar Comics" with four or five stories each issue. Nothing spectacular, but the lead stories were decent, the Captain Marvel stories by Bridwell/Newton were an interesting take on the character and there were some Green Arrow stories by Trevor von Eeden that looked interesting. Just after I dropped it the book went to just a regular 36-page comic with only the Superman/Batman story.

Picked up a handful of back issues through the years. #250 - #255 primarily because they have Creeper stories by Steve Ditko. Some of the earlier stuff features some interesting old reprints, plus some nice Dick Dillin art on the lead stories.

Not too interested in many back-issues at the prices they seem to be these days. I still need one more with a Ditko story, and wouldn't mind a few of the old 100-page issues full of reprints if I ever see some cheap.

No particular highlights among what I have, since each issue is such a mixed bag. The Creeper stories by Ditko are a little odd but fine, good minor Ditko. The Von Eeden Green Arrow stories are good looking, a few of them are decent reads, the Bridwell/Newton Captain Marvel stories are worth a look, including their "New Monster Society" serial.

My Collection - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN [1963 Series]

The Amazing Spider-Man [1963 series]
30 issues [1966 - 1997]
35, 195, 213 - 222, 224 - 232, 365, 389 - 395, 419

The long-running series created by Steve Ditko that went to #441 a few years back before someone decided it would be cool to do a new #1. I was never much of a Spidey fan as a kid, and didn't keep most of the issues I had, but I did like that run in 1981-82 where Dennis O'Neil and then Roger Stern wrote the book, with some solid art by John Romita Jr. and Jim Mooney. Tried it a few times after that, but it never really stuck, though I did like some of the writing in that run I kept by J. Marc DeMatteis in #389-#395, but the combination of the art and the crossovers kept me out of that, and I'll probably get rid of those someday. #419 I think I got free somewhere, and #365 has some stupid hologram cover, but I picked it up for a quarter since it has some John Romita art.

Most of my back-issue buying for the series has been satisfied by reprints, although I did decide to pick up one heavily beaten up copy of #35 a few years back, I think it was about $2 and looks like you'd imagine a $2 copy of Spider-Man from 1966 would look like, just to have one copy where I could compare the printing to the reprints.

Prices on them are out of my interest range, but I wouldn't mind reading more of the O'Neil and Stern written stories, maybe when ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN gets up to there in a few more volumes.

Noteworthy issues,

#35, of course, with Ditko at the top of his game.
#217 - #218 have one of my favourite O'Neil stories, with the Sandman and Hydro-Man getting all muddy (though O'Neil did better in his annuals with Frank Miller)
#229 - #230

My Collection - BLUE DEVIL [1984 Series]

Blue Devil [1984 series]
31 issues [1984 - 1986]
1 - 31

A light-hearted super-hero book about a stuntman and special effects expert, Dan Cassidy, who designs a giant Blue Devil prop suit for a movie, only to find himself trapped in the suit following a chance encounter with a real demon. Created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Paris Cullins, with Cullins drawing the first half dozen issues and all the covers, Mishkin and Cohn writing all but a few issues of the full run.

This was one of those books I heard about through house ads in DC books when it started, part of the "New DC" which there was, apparently, no stopping then, but don't think I ever saw on the stands. So years later when I saw a run of the first dozen or so issues I decided they were worth checking out. Some really good stuff in there, a lot of adventures playing around the edges of the DC universe, using some old characters like old Flash villains well, plus introducing new stuff, so I eventually picked up the rest of the issues. The second half isn't quite as good as the first, though it has amusing bits, but it especially starts to meander in the 20s, and then gets cancelled just as they'd announced a new direction.

But those first issues, up to about #16, still hold up pretty well. The first five issues, presenting the origin of the character and his first few adventures (including meetings with Zatanna and Superman) are really tight, with a lot of action, imaginative plot twists, introductions of the supporting cast and some really good art by Cullins and Gary Martin. The art gets less consistent after that, with various twists leading to seven different pencillers in seven issues (although when you have Gil Kane, Ernie Colon and Keith Giffen among your fill-in artists, you're not doing too bad), finally settling with Alan Kupperberg who drew most of the remaining issues.

Recommended key issues, #1 - #5 definitely. #12 - #13 are also a good short bit tying up some origin loose ends, plus with some good character bits our hero, an entertaining use of the Hollywood setting, and including Zatanna and Etrigan in supporting roles.

My Collection - STATIC [1993 Series]

Static [1993 series]
33 issues [1993 - 1997]
1 - 32, 44

The last of the four books that launched the Milestone line in 1993, this one featuring Virgil Hawkins, high school kid, who got electrical powers in the same "Big Bang" event that gave most of the Blood Syndicate their powers. It ran until #45. A few of the earliest issues were reprinted a few years later, along with a new mini-series, when the character got his own TV cartoon, which lasted for four years, though oddly not spawning much in the way of spin-off books beyond those initial offerings.

The series had the best first year of the line, with some great artwork from John Paul Leon and some really energetic (ha) writing from Robert Washington and Dwayne McDuffie for the first four issues, then Washington solo for the next while. It was probably the closest I've ever seen a series capture the best parts of the original Ditko Spider-Man of the 1960s, but in a thoroughly modern setting. Unlike a lot of super-hero books, where the secret identity stuff is either just filler or used for plot complications, the best parts of the book were frequently the scenes of Virgil interacting with his classmates and family.

Of course nothing lasts forever, and Leon was gone in under a year. There was some more-than-capable artwork after that, but it lacked that unique look of the early issues. Washington kept writing until #18 (with a few fill-ins), when Ivan Velez took over in mid-story, which was a rough transition. Velez got better when doing his own stories, but he was on under a year, and the following stuff made less sense to me. I did later pick up #44, because I liked the cover, and it was written by Mark Bright and seemed like a promising start, but I never did find the following issue, which would be the last in any case. I suppose I need to pick that up sometimes. Don't know about any of the other books from that 11-issue gap, looks like there were a few fill-in writers and artists.

Noteworthy bits of the run:

#1 - #4 provide the origin and first adventures of our intrepid hero, collected as "Trial By Fire". Lots of nice set-up, with some quick bits of characterization, a few hints that would pay off later, a nice mix of drama lightened by the sheer joy of super-powers.

#5 - #7 I'd say are the best storyline, "Louder than a Bomb" (and now that I'm much hipper, I get the PE reference). Static facing off against bomb threats and racial tensions, great stuff.

#21 is where Velez finds his feet, bringing in his Blood Syndicate characters for some crossover fun.

My Collection - COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE [1983 Series]

Comics Buyer's Guide [1983 series]
33 issues [1992 - 1995]
963 - 964, 971 - 981, 988, 990, 996, 999 - 1000, 1003, 1007 - 1008, 1011, 1033, 1041, 1044, 1059 - 1061, 1068, 1097, 1103, 1107, 1122

I'm not sure exactly when THE BUYER'S GUIDE FOR COMIC FANDOM was renamed to COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. Long before I first bought it. I guess when that online index they're working at (linked to above) gets that far I'll know.

Anyway, under whatever name, it's been published in some format by various publishers since 1971, as a weekly tabloid sized newspaper/magazine (on newsprint but stapled) for the era of issues I have. It continues to this day, only as a monthly magazine (sample issue in pdf format available online). #963 was the first issue with that format, I used to have some earlier issues that were in a more traditional newspaper format, but I seem to have lost or thrown them out at some point. Which is a shame, since I remember some funny Mark Martin "20 Nude Dancers 20" strips among other things in them. I mostly bought it at a time just after my comic news magazine of choice, AMAZING HEROES, was cancelled, and when a comic shop I went to used to sell any copy still sitting around after about two weeks for $1, and since the time-sensitive material like ads didn't matter to me, it was worth that much for the occasional article by Tony Isabella, Peter David, Mark Evanier, Bob Ingersoll and others (a lot of which has been supplanted by the interweb, of course), plus a few other features. A few others I specifically bought new for the cover feature. For the last few years that it was in the newspaper format I rarely saw a copy to leaf through and see if it was worth picking up. I'd probably have considered subscribing if I was in the US, but the price to Canada was crazy.

Kept 'em this long, guess I'll keep 'em longer. Though they take up an awful lot of room for their interest.

Most noteworthy issues among those I have are #1059 - #1060, which have a lot of reaction to Jack Kirby's passing, including a long article by Mark Evanier in those first two issues and lots of columns and letters about him.

My Collection - NEXUS [1985 Series]

Nexus [1985 series]
74 issues [1985 - 1991]
7 - 80

This is the long-running series created by Mike Baron and Steve Rude, a sci-fi adventure book featuring Horatio Hellpop, possessor of the cosmic powers of Nexus but cursed by dreams of mass murder which make him seek out and execute various inter-galactic despots. Along the way he picks up a large supporting cast, including various floating heads, aliens and some weirder things. A fascinating books, with a lot of action, humour and general zaniness, but also a lot of musings on morality, responsibility, the nature of power and other themes.

Published by First, which took over the numbering from the Capital series starting with #7 and running to #80 in 1991 (though Rude didn't draw it after #60), then published by Dark Horse as various mini-series and one-shots (mostly with Rude back on the art) until a few years ago, then was self-published for a few issues by Rude. Early issues are currently being reprinted in hardcover by Dark Horse, and Baron and Rude do occasional short stories.

Like most late 1980s book, I started reading this after it was cancelled, I think after I saw some of Rude's other work. I picked up a few random old issues, but initially the Baron writing didn't excite me. He has a kind of weird style that takes a few consecutive issues to pick up the rhythm and language, with weird gaps in the story and seeming non-sequiturs. Eventually I did, and picked up a whole bunch of issues, first mostly the Steve Rude stuff, but most of the early non-Rude artists are pretty good themselves. When you've got Eric Shanower, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Paul Smith and Adam Hughes among your fill-in artists, can't really complain. Kept buying issues and eventually had a full run.

Because of that weird rhythm of Baron's writing, the random order I read them and the consistently good art, it's hard to pick out highlights. My favourite run is probably #10 - #20, which has some great action as well as choice bits on the major "serious" themes of the series. Also of note, among the non-Rude issues, #30 is one of the few times you'll see Garcia-Lopez artwork outside of DC comics.

My Collection - HARDWARE [1993 Series]

Hardware [1993 series]
34 issues [1993 - 1995]
1 - 34

Another of the four series that launched the Milestone line back in 1993, this is the one I was most interested in initially, since my curiosity about the line was mostly due to Denys Cowan's earlier work on THE QUESTION, and this is the book he drew for most of the first year (and returned to for a few key later issues, #25 and #32). Dwayne McDuffie wrote most of the issues up to #32. It continued a while after I dropped it, up to #50.

My initial reaction to the book was a bit mixed. Cowan's art was good, the best I'd seen it since THE QUESTION, and the writing was mostly good, but it was pretty violent, and the main character was more than a bit of a jerk. Intentionally so, as it turned out, and both the violence and jerkness fit in a lot better when you have the context of the whole series to judge.

I still got sick of that damn parakeet, though...

Anyway, the series as a whole is a lot about change, with the status quo shifting a few times throughout as we see the events that effect the life of Curtis Metcalf, genius inventor who feels unappreciated by his boss, Edwin Alva, and reacts as we all would if we were capable, by building a suit of high-tech armour.

I generally think of this as the weakest of the core Milestone books, but that's mostly because of the relatively high volume of fill-ins and treading water issues in the second half. If you pare it down to the important issues (#1-#8, #15-#16, a few scenes in #17-#18, #25, parts of #29-#31 and #32) it's a really solid, cohesive work, with some interesting things going on in both theme and structure, a lot of which I missed the first time around with all the surrounding issues.

My Collection - THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN [1987 Series]

The Adventures of Superman [1987 series]
34 issues [1987 - 1996]
424, 427 - 430, 432 - 433, 445 - 451, 453 - 457, 471 - 472, 479 - 481, 491, 495, 500 - 501, 504, 506, 508, 520 - 521, 533

The series that took over the numbering from the original SUPERMAN book so they could get a shiny new #1. It's just been renamed back to SUPERMAN with #650. When I was reading the Superman books in the early 1990s this was usually my favourite, thanks to a long run of Jerry Ordway drawing and/or writing, and then Karl Kesel writing. I used to have a few dozen more of these, but the structure of the Superman books for most of the era keeping them would have meant having a lot of single chapters of longer stories, and usually not the beginnings or endings, which I guess defaulted to the "flagship" Superman title that this should have been. I've also occasionally sampled most major creative shifts in the past decade, but none kept me interested in reading another issue or keeping the one I did read.

I did still keep more of this than the other Superman book of the era. Most of the Ordway stuff from the early days, especially when he was drawing the book, reads pretty well without the surrounding books, before they went with the tighter continuity and overlapping storylines. I also kept a handful of the Kesel issues that were good single issue tales. If I had an easy way to find out which other Ordway/Kesel stories that I never read from their runs on the book are good single issue stories, especially with art by Tom Grummett or Stuart Immonen, I'd probably pick them up someday.

Couple of good bits:

#446 - #448 are a good example of the Ordway written/drawn era, with some great art and pretty good scripting and characterization for someone who hadn't written much solo before.

#495 has a good Kirby-redux story, with the Forever People, written by Ordway and with art by Tom Grummett.

#508 is more Kirby-redux, this time Superman meeting the time-traveling Challengers of the Unknown in between the panels of one of their original adventures.

#520 is a good single-issue story from the Kesel/Immonen era, a Christmas story with lots of goofy villains.

My Collection - AZRAEL [1995 Series]

Azrael [1995 series]
38 issues [1995 - 1998]
1 - 33, 42 - 46 

Following the events of Knightfall, BatTemp Jean Paul Valley returns to his Azrael identity and gets his own series. This one lasted until #46, after which it was retitled AZRAEL - AGENT OF THE BAT for the rest of its 100 issue run. Dennis O'Neil wrote throughout. Barry Kitson drew the first few years, followed by Roger Robinson for a long stretch, James Pascoe inking both.

I didn't really follow the Knightfall stuff, but I was a big fan of O'Neil's writing and the original SWORD OF AZRAEL mini-series, so I picked this one up from the start. I thought most of the first year was really good stuff. The second year was just okay, and I missed a few issues when it got involved in Batman crossovers (literally missed, as in I didn't see them, although I didn't make any huge effort to find them). Third year was also okay, but getting to be more of the same, not moving forward, so when it got into another crossover I decided to call it a day. 

Still picked up the book occasionally after that, liked it sometimes, but it was usually too involved in other Batman crossovers, which was too big a hurdle for me. I did eventually find those year two issues I had missed. They're not bad, but parts don't make much sense without a dozen other books from that era. I occasionally consider getting the dozen issues I'm missing, but a few of them feature Bane, not a character I ever enjoyed. 

Highlight of the series is probably the extended quest storyline in the first nine issues, where Azrael picks up a few supporting cast members and goes out to explore the mysteries of his origin, meeting Rā's al Ghūl along the way. Some good serial adventure, cliffhanger endings and the like, with a light thematic undercurrent about identity and destiny. Not nearly as deep as O'Neil's QUESTION series, but a nice companion piece to it. I also liked a few things in the story with the Joker in #27 - #28.

My Collection - BLOOD SYNDICATE [1993 Series]

Blood Syndicate [1993 series]
35 issues [1993 - 1996]
1 - 35

BLOOD SYNDICATE was one of the four books that launched the Milestone line in 1993, the one team-book among their line, featuring members of various street gangs who band together (but still fight among themselves) after they get super-powers in the Big Bang which also gave Static and others powers. It had a rougher start than the other books, I think I remember hearing that the intended artist fell through at the last minute, so the first four issues had four different pencillers, which isn't the ideal way to start a book, even if they all were pretty good artists. Fortunately, one of those four, ChrisCross, stuck around and was the regular artist for most of the rest of the series, starting off a bit rough but quickly getting his footing.

The writing for most of the series is by Ivan Velez, co-writing the first storyline with Dwayne McDuffie and then solo for all but three fill-in issues. Velez was a new name to me, not having heard of his TALES OF THE CLOSET series until later, but he was really good, especially with the characterization, and also the use of a lot of the super-powers. A lot of well-developed characters who were fun to read about month-to-month, like Fade, Brickhouse, Third Rail and of course Dogg.

The first half of the run is the best, though it's hard to pick any particular issue, since it's one of those team books that flows from issue to issue, with subplots building each issue, cliffhanger endings and all that. The second half had some good stories as well, but a few pacing problems, partly because of a line-wide crossover that got in the way, and some fill-in issues that really missed the mark, and generally because the book seemed to be treading water. I think there was some talk of a few spin-off mini-series for some of the characters that never came out, so maybe there were developments planned for those that the series was waiting for, or stories it was setting up never came to pass. It ends pretty well, although a bit abruptly.

My Collection - THE BEST OF DC [1979 Series]

The Best of DC [1979 series]
35 issues [1980 - 1986]
4 - 6, 9 - 16, 18, 21, 23 - 30, 32 - 34, 37, 41, 43, 47 - 49, 55, 58, 60, 65, 68

Ah, the main DC digest title, lasting for 71 issues total. I was a big fan of the format in the early 1980s, although distribution on them was always a bit spotty on the newsstands, so I missed quite a few, and later on the supply of them dried up completely, so half of the ones I have I picked up later. Unfortunately somewhere in the last decade the price on the few you can find has gone up, and the print quality wasn't really meant to last 25 years, and a lot of the stuff has been reprinted in better formats, so it's hardly worth picking up the rest. Objectively these are pretty cruddy reprints, with the bad paper, bad printing and the pages often being chopped up to work in the smaller size (frequently they'd stat on slightly larger lettering, covering some of the art), but they make up for it in variety, with a great sampling of some of the best of DC's past, the first place I ever saw most of the 1950s and 1960s DC classics.

Most important from this title was that it's the first place I saw Sheldon Mayer's classic work, with the issues containing new and/or reprint Sugar & Spike stories, plus the various Funny Stuff issues with a few Mayer stories in each. That stuff is gold, and I'm glad they managed to do as many of them as they did. I recently got the last few of those I was missing, the only digests I was still actively searching for.

Also of note, the first places I saw favourites like Infantino's FLASH, Kubert's HAWKMAN, Kane's GREEN LANTERN, all sorts of stuff like that. I just loved the fact that you never knew what would come next in these, with an issue sampling the pre-hero adventure features in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD followed by a sampling of Lex Luthor stories through the ages.

I previously posted about one especially odd issue, featuring the Super Jrs.

Noteworthy issues, well obviously any with Sheldon Mayer work, in particular #41 which is all Sugar&Spike work done for foreign markets after the original book was cancelled. #9 has the great Len Wein "Bat-Murderer" 5-part story from the mid-1970s, Jim Aparo art on the first few chapters, which I don't think has been reprinted elsewhere. #34 has the first four Metal Men stories from SHOWCASE, which are nicely strange.

My Collection - LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [1984 Series]

Legion of Super-Heroes [1984 series]
35 issues [1984 - 1989]
1 - 9, 11 - 14, 31, 37 - 39, 43 - 45, 49 - 63

This was the series that DC launched as one of their first direct market only books with the popular Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen team carrying over from the original series. Since it was direct only, I didn't buy it originally, but the LSH was one of the first books I checked out when I got back into comics, just as Keith Giffen was making his return with #50. I actually have pretty mixed feelings about that last year of the book, and was pretty close to dropping it if it wasn't going to be cancelled anyway by the end.

Along the way I did pick up some of the back issues when I could find them fairly cheap (I also have some more of them in the newsstand market reprints). Some of them are a lot of fun, and the art was generally nice, but I really do think that Levitz peaked on the book on the first half of his long run and very little of the second half compares well. Some of that has to do with the contortions the LSH history went through thanks to other changes in the DC Universe, but ultimately Levitz isn't blameless in that either. Still good enough to keep, and readable enough that I'd buy the stuff I'm missing someday.

My favourite bits of the run:

#1 - #5, the big series opening battle against the Legion of Super-Villains, a really good example of the best of Levitz's writing, both in plot structure, building tension and characterization. Also some really good artwork by Giffen, although it's kind of a shame his involvement decreased so rapidly during the story. One of the reasons I think DC's big direct market only launch for both TITANS and LSH at the time was so misguided is that the artistic side of the creative teams that launched the books took off so quickly.

#13 is a nice example of the single issue spotlight on a team member that Levitz would do every now and then, this one with Timber Wolf going on a mission to fulfill a wish for a dead team-mate.

#37 - #38 is one of those stories that tried to make sense of the changes in DC history and the effects on the Legion, but probably made the whole thing worse, but was pretty fun to read, even (maybe especially) without the Superman issues it crossed over with.

My Collection - THE INCREDIBLE HULK [1968 Series]

The Incredible Hulk [1968 series]
36 issues [1976 - 1997]
196, 214, 235, 247, 249, 347, 368, 377, 393, 397, 400 - 401, 403, 405 - 425, 450 - 451

This HULK series took over the numbering from TALES TO ASTONISH, of course, and continued until 1999 when someone thought a new #1 was a good idea. I remember reading it a few times as a kid, but don't have those anymore. Most of the run I own is from Peter David's long run as writer. I tried it a few times early on, as the Hulk kept changing colours and personalities, and liked aspects of it, but it didn't really click for me until Gary Frank came aboard as the artist, with the Hulk green and intelligent, and it lost me again almost right away after Frank left (I used to have several other issues from before and after Frank's run, but they were pretty easy to get rid of).

Only picked up a few back issues over the years, a few because they had Steve Ditko artwork and a few other random ones which were okay, but not enough to make me search out more.

A few noteworthy issues among those I have:

#368 is a really good one-shot with Sam Kieth on guest-art and a good sample of Peter David's take on the character at the time.

#413 - #416 is a good sampler of the Gary Frank era, with an entertaining story of the Hulk in space, using the supporting cast of the time and various other Marvel Universe concepts.

My Collection - SUPERBOY [1994 Series]

Superboy [1994 series]
36 issues [1994 - 2000]
1 - 30, 50 - 51, 56, 69 - 70, 0

This version of Superboy was probably the best thing to come out of that whole "Death of Superman" thingee back then. The series lasted up to #100 a few years back, and I think the same character, with a different costume, is the Superboy still hanging around at DC right now, although who knows what's going on there in the next few months.

I didn't really expect to like the series that much when it launched, but I had liked some of Karl Kesel's writing before, and Tom Grummett's artwork looked nice. It wound up being a pretty good monthly read, nothing groundbreaking but a nice mix of short adventures, cliffhangers and a large supporting cast, including Dubbilex, the DNAlien from Kirby's 1970s run on JIMMY OLSEN. The use of the Hawaii setting was also good, at least different from the New York and New York stand-ins so common in comics.

I read it until Kesel and Grummett left with #30 (with a few fill-ins along the way), and didn't like the few after that I took a look at. The two returned a few years later with #50, but either something was off or I just wasn't in the mood for that type of thing at the time (I wasn't steadily reading any other monthly super-hero book at the time), because I didn't stick with it any of the times I sampled it. Those issues don't look too bad to me now, though, so maybe someday I'll pick up a few more of them when I'm in the mood for some light super-hero fun.

Noteworthy issues:
#4 has some nice artwork by Mike Parobeck doing a version of the book in the style of the Superman/Batman animated shows of the era.

#8 has a nice old Superboy vs. new Superboy, with some nice tributes to the original version, and one of the better things to come out of DC's "Zero Hour" crossover.

My Collection - THE QUESTION [1987 Series]

The Question [1987 series]
36 issues [1987 - 1990]
1 - 36

Well, this is an easy one. Everything I could possibly want to say about this series, and my own history reading it, is in these posts.

My Collection - USAGI YOJIMBO [1987 Series]

Usagi Yojimbo [1987 series]
37 issues [1987 - 1993]
1 - 11, 13 - 38

The first version of Stan Sakai's still on-going series, later published by Mirage and now by Dark Horse. Usagi had of course appeared in several issues of the anthology books ALBEDO and CRITTERS before the first issue, as well as a one-shot special reprinting his earliest stories the previous year.

I started reading the book sometime in 1990, I think after reading about it in one of the AMAZING HEROES preview issues. After a few months of getting the new issues I was also looking for all the back issues, although quite a few of them proved hard to find. I did eventually pick up the tradepaperbacks for those issues, so I was less interested in buying them, but still kept an eye out for them. I found most of what I still needed in the last year, except that elusive #12.

Pretty extraordinary series, as Sakai quickly got into the pattern of alternating long epic stories with a patch of shorter bits, mixing lots of drama with humour and a wide selection of Japanese mythology and history. And while he still does great art to this day, I think the peak of his work is probably around the middle of this series, from "Dragon Bellow" through "Circles".

In addition to the Usagi stories, the series also ran back-up stories of the same style as CRITTERS in most issues. The best are probably Sergio Aragones doing Catnippon in #11 (I still hope we get the UY/Catnippon crossover some day), the Evanier/Shaw! Digger Duckbill in #13 and Sakai himself drawing Tom Stazer's Lionheart in #23.

Some noteworthy issues:

#13-#18 - "The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy", the first really epic UY story, and maybe still the best, especially the ending.

#20 - "A Kite Story", a good funny single issue story using some Japanese culture and history.

#38 - "The Last Ino Story", a touching story that also has a lot of Usagi/Gen interaction, which is always a highlight.