I took another trip to the used bookstore and the comic
bookstore downtown during work hours.
This time, as opposed to last time, I was clocked out for lunch,
so it was all legal. Nothing like a good
brisk walk in the heat at noon. I was pleasantly
gassed and in a lather when I got to the bookstore.
At Coas Bookstore, I was hoping to find another art book
like I did last time. No luck
there. I also turned my nose up at the
large selection of trade paperbacks. I
did pick up a book on Japanese mannerisms for a friend. You can find all sorts of stuff there, the
place is huge. For myself, I found two
issues of Ka-Zar and three of The Warlord.
The Ka-Zar’s
were #7 and #8. I was excited to find
them, as I’d read a couple of Ka-Zar’s
from the 80’s and enjoyed them. They
were rather thoughtful and philosophical, especially for a comic featuring a
guy in a loincloth with a pet sabertooth tiger.
Unfortunately, these two issues were way too intellectual. #7 featured Shanna analyzing one of Kevin’s
dreams. That was the whole story and it
didn’t really make a conclusion.
#8 had a bit more action and the origin of the lost land
of Pangea, but mostly read like a martial dispute between Kevin and
Shanna. That was a bit unsatisfying and
uncomfortable.
The
Warlord issues were #’s 56, 60, and 97. The earlier two featured Travis Morgan
involved in some palace intrigue. I was
bit more interested in the backup feature of Arion. The artwork was
gorgeous and I kind of tripped out on the flowery poetic language. The setting had a Michael Moorcock Elric vibe to it and also perhaps
Lovecraft’s Polaris. Eight pages an issue was far too brief a
glimpse into it.
The other issue ran full length and followed up on the
issues I’d bought last time. Morgan led
a disastrous assault on his occupied city.
Him and his forces were chased back to their hidden stronghold.
Where else are you going to see cavalry charges on
dinosaurs? This is what we read comic
books for.
Next, I went over to Zia Comics. It was on the back and it was Free Comic Book Day. The people running the promotion were doing
it on Wednesdays for the summer.
Unfortunately, the people at Zia Comics decided not to participate this
year. That was disappointing. It also brings up the question of where I saw
the FCBD promotion, because I thought it was on their website and I don’t go to
any other comics websites. I went ahead
a bought a few comics anyway and an ice cream cone. (Which lasted 30 seconds outside in the heat,
as I furiously licked at it.)
Judge
Dredd Mega-City Zero was on their Dollar Spinner rack. I enjoyed Karl Urban’s Dredd movie a lot. That’s
most of my experience with the character.
This comic was not that. In the
back, an editorial message referred to this as a “bold new direction.” The story featured Dredd in jumping forward
into the far future when the Mega-Cities have collapsed and returned to nature. Unfortunately, along with the poor premise,
it also featured very poor artwork and writing.
The supporting characters were disgusting. So much for that direction.
This comic, Wayward
Legends, is based on a web comic, Wayward Sons Legends. I’ve never heard
of the Absolute Comics Group, but this #1 full-sized issue was priced at $1.99,
so I gave it a shot.
It’s basically sort of an Ancient Aliens set up for a superhero comic: super powered
spacefaring people crashland in classical Greece. Unfortunately, that’s literally the whole
issue. The story isn’t formatted in a
Marvel decompressed format, but that’s how it reads. This issue gets an incomplete.
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