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I'm never sure if these threads are supposed to be for new releases only or not. Seeing as I almost never buy new comics I'll just pretend it isn't.
From the quarter bin, I picked up Giantkiller, a comic about a man that fights giant monsters, Superman Adventures written by Millar, which was actually very exciting, and a Shadow of the Bat comic set during No Man's Land and drawn by Guy Davis that was surprisingly excellent. Most prized of all was a Marvel Team-up with Spider-man and the Daughters of the Dragon, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. 70's exploitation madness. Right on!
I had a brief stopover in Toronto, and only had enough time to make one stop. I chose Dragon Lady over the Beguiling because I hadn't been there in so long. If you're ever in Toronto, go to the Beguiling first, but if you have time and a love for comic history, Dragon Lady has many delights. They had their own press for a while, and reprinted numerous great adventure strips from the 30s and 40s, as well as newer stuff like Bravo for Adventure by Alex Toth. The best part is, all their reprints are late 80s cover price.
The Little Orphan Annie colection I picked up seemed a little odd at first. This was a run from a good decade after all the other stuff I have of Gray's, and you can see his characters are a little looser and he has been freed from the four equal panels he had to work with previously. It plays Hell on the pacing that this restriction used to create.
I was looking for the Steve Canyon reprint that had Scorchy Smith work in it, and decided to take a chance on Canyon even though I figured I was setting myself u for a disappointment. It turns out that I misjudged Cainiff's later efforts. Canyon is excellent, or at least the years directly after Terry are. I can't believe he was pulling his old trick of divergent, extended storylines on such a newborn strip. I'll be picking up all the rest they had available when I swing back through the city.
Buz Sawyer has almost none of the grim melodrama that can be found in the two previous strips. Very light, bouncy adventure stuff, this is what most people would think of when talking about the adventure strips of yesteryear. Like Toth, Roy Crane's main appeal comes from his composition and his use of a kind of cartoony reductionism along with his use of tones and solid blacks. One to learn from.
The thing I find most interesting about almost all the above comics is that even though they're all "adventure" strips, most of what happens is non-action oriented, with long stretches of conversation and interpersonal conflict. It's amazing how the artists can keep the suspense notched up so high between such sparodic action sequences.
The last thing I picked up was the latest Comics Journal, which had a Noel Sickles interview to round off my classic comics purchases. The Sickles interview was a bit short, and there wasn't nearly enough Scorchy panels reprinted, but it was informative. This was probably the first time I ever bought a current Comics Journal, so it was also nice to see what's happening to the industry.
If you've read this far, sorry for taking up your time. My host is out and I'm feeling bored. I'm sure nobody actually cares about comics from over 50 years ago.
Zoom! I've been meaning to ask you! Do you have the Astro Boy trade in? If so, I'll be picking it up when I hit your store. And even though I promised myself I was not going to take advantage and pick up any free comics (they're not really meant for a regular comic reader like myself, are they?), if you are getting any of the free Archie comics, I have a friend who would like one. |
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