2018.016 Batman Arkham: Clayface

I forget sometimes exactly how many people have used the name Clayface.  But DC hasn't.  And this collection covers them all.  I love books like this.  It really does give a nice overview of the entire Clayface family with stories from the 40s all the way through the New 52.  One of the nice things about the various and sundry Clayfaces is that the stories tend not to contradict each other.  Reading other books, the elements and plot points of the stories change like the wind depending on the weather.  But having so many different Clayfaces means there isn't too much history on any one character to change.

I love this whole Batman Arkham series.  Different villains getting the spotlight.  I look forward to more.

Batman Arkham: Clayface

Written by: Bill Finger, Len Wein, Mike W Barr, Dough Moench, Ed Brubaker, Steve Purcell, A.J. Lieberman, John Layman, Dan Raspler

Illustrated by: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris, Marshall Rogers, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Keith Giffen, Bernie Mireault, Tom Grummett, Al Gordon, Denis Rodier, Gary Martin, J.H. Williams III, John Beatty, Mick Gray, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Al Barrionueva, Bit, Cliff Richards

DC Comics

158 The Silver Age Teen Titans Omnibus

This book is pure, unadulterated joy.  Plain and simple.  The original Teen Titans stories.  Nick Cardy artwork.  Everything good in the world all wrapped up in a beautiful package.

The book collects about 900 pages of Teen Titans comics.  The Brave & The Bold appearances, the Showcase books, the first 24 issues, a Brave & Bold Batman team up and the whole run of the first Hawk & Dove book.

It so much fun revisiting these cheesy as hell stories.  The first half (or more) are just so god awful, they're good.  The book was clearly a victim of it's era, but it was also written to appeal to 8 year olds, who I'm sure looked down on these scripts as being too juvenile.  LOL.  About half way through the book, the stories start taking a more serious vibe, written less for 8 year old and more for a general comics audience.  These are the stories I loved the best.  The Bronze Age Omnibus will have more of this type of story in it, which I'm so looking forward to revisiting.  

Teen Titans has been my favorite series ever since the first issue I bought.  It was #44, the revival issue.  I was living in Bethel, CT at the time and that is my strongest memory of the entire time I lived there.  Discovering this book.  I was probably 8 or 9 at the time (wait, I just googled it.  I was 10.)  It left a lasting impression in my head, 41 years later.

The Silver Age Teen Titans Omnibus

Writer: Bob Haney, Steve Skeates, Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman

Artist: Nick Cardy, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Bruno Premiani, Bill Molno, Lee Elias, Bill Draut, Sal Trapani, Jack Abel, John Celardo, Wally Wood

DC Comics

133 Justice League Of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

I'm dying.  Or at least it feels like I am.  I woke up Sunday feeling under the weather.  Monday was bad enough that I told work I wasn't coming in Tuesday.  It's now Friday and I still haven't gone back to work.  I think I'm on the verge of kicking this finally.  But as I've sat home sick, I've been reading.  Because there hasn't been anything else I've felt up to doing.  The first thing I grabbed was this beauty.  850 pages (give or take) of Bronze Age JLA goodness.

This volume picks up roughly where the Archive books ended, so I'm happy for the continuity of the reprints.  Black Canary has just left Earth 2 and joined the JLA.  It's been fun watching her in these comics most of all.  She developed a superpower but is having no luck controlling it.  In a couple issues she practices her canary cry, but with no luck.  Later on, her canary cry gives her psychic powers (which were quickly forgotten about).  Most of the use of her actual canary cry takes place in the Green Lantern book.  In this run of JLA, with the exception of her botched attempts at it, she uses it only once in a blink-and-you-miss it scene.

Otherwise, this was a joy to read.  The book has two running themes, I've noticed.  The front half of the book has a ton of stories about the ecology, the environment, civil rights, that sort of stuff.  The second half, however, is all about pure super-heroic action.  I guess I never realized how much I loved Len Wein's contribution to the series until I reread these stories.

I have nothing bad to say about this book.  Nothing.  It's a pure joy, plain and simple.  So much Dick Dillin beauty, too.

Justice League Of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

Writer: Denny O'Neil, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Robert Kanigher, Gardner Fox

Artist: Dick Dillin, Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson, Ross Andru, Nick Cardy, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano, Bernard Sachs

DC Comics

001 Metal Men: Full Metal Jacket

This blog has been sitting here and collecting dust for a while now.  I've decided that I want to track what I'm reading this year, and this is as good a place as any to track.  So I'm going to do very short blog posts about the books I'm reading during the course of 2017.

The first book I finished was Metal Men: Full Metal Jacket.  It collects the stories that originally ran in the Legends Of Tomorrow mini-series.  I already read the Firestorm trade and was pleasantly surprised by it, so I thought I would try this.  Len Wein has never been my favorite writer, but he was always reliable to turn out entertaining stories.  It's been years and years since I've read anything he's written, so I was wary.  I shouldn't have been.  I really enjoyed this book.  Len immediately found the heart of this team, something that's been missing for years.  I find the New 52 character designs to be rather distracting.  I think the original designs work best.  Very simple designs.  There's a way to use those, even with an update, and still seem modern.  These designs are very 90s looking and kind of awful.  By the end of the story, the team does get a redesign, but they go from bad to worse.  That's the only thing about this book I hated.  

Metal Men: Full Metal Jacket
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Yildiray Cinar, Trevor Scott
DC Comics