So, I’d bought a couple of comics at Zia Comics a couple of weeks ago while waiting for a repair to my truck. Those were for other people. Before I went there, I’d gone to Coas Books and raided their bargain bin and gotten plenty for myself. You never know what you’re going to find there. Once, for example, I found a bunch of comics from the 50’s.
(Archie and Uncle Scrooge, Huckleberry Hound, Classics Illustrated, Dennis the Menace Christmas Part 1, Part 2. There are a few others listed in late 2013. You can look for those yourself. I should have put a separate tag on these.)
These 12 issues are a bit eclectic. There’s no way to logically group these. I do notice that there’s no Marvel Comics here. There were Marvels there, but I wasn’t
interested in any of them, which is the usual for me. I blame the closing of Hastings for this anti-Marvel bias.
I bought a huge number of comics at the time (which led to a terrible
time at the cash register). I kept a few
of the DC comics, but divested
myself of all of the Marvels. They were mostly
from the 2000’s, and they were all bad.
I’m still not over it.
Betty
& Veronica #1
This is a Free
Comic Book Day edition. I assume
it’s about the same as the original, but has a section at the back promoting
the CW Riverdale show. Adam Hughes only did three issues of
this series, but I’ve had a terrible time collecting them. I have all of them, but they’re in three
different formats. Two of them are in
digest form, so I’d like the full-size versions. Now, I’ve got two of them in comic book
format; I just need #3 now.
Adam Hughes is one of favorite artists and best known for
his cheesecake. Here he is doing two of
my favorite comic book girls, Betty
and Veronica. That said, his script is way too precious in
dialogue. It’s hard to read when your
eyes are rolling. Also, the colors in
this are really washed out and muted.
It’s not bright and colorful, even when totally appropriate for a story
taking place in the fall. What’s really
disappointing are the character designs for the girls. Maybe Hughes sort of toned down his
interpretation because of his reputation and the context of a teen book. They’re just not as glamorous as the two most
famous high school girls in comics should be.
All that said, I’m keeping this and looking for that other
issue. It’s still really cool-looking
and not bad to read. If only Archie Comics had more actively pursued
top-notch talent to do some special issues.
There’s no way they could hire someone like that for an extended stay,
but I’m sure there’s lots of talent who would love to do their take on a comic
they probably read as children.
Unfortunately, I think Hughes had some production delays. In spite of his fairly conservative take on
the characters, he was also getting protested because of his previous
work. (Some people don’t want women in
comics drawn attractively.) So much for
this experiment at Archie Comics.
Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers #6, #7, #9, #11
I’d heard good things about this comic, but passed up
getting any individual issues or a trade.
Finding these four issues loose at a discount was a good opportunity to
try it out. First, the production is top
notch. The comic is physically made out
of quality materials. The story takes up
all but four pages of the issue. Two of
those pages are even a little Bulk &
Skull continuing comic strip. The
artwork is excellent. The story is
unfortunately basically decompressed in presentation, but is solid. This was obviously written by someone (Kyle Higgins), who knew and loved the
source material. If a new comic could
come close to being worth $4, this comes the closest.
These are not an “adult” versions of Power Rangers stories. They are also not just like the
original series. They’re not a kid’s
show based on recycled footage of a Japanese Sentai show. These are
basically superhero-like comics in the Power Rangers setting. The stories are more developed than the show
and the characters are given some space to grow, but they are action-oriented
adventures.
But just to be honest, while I watched Power Rangers, I
was a bit out of their age-range when they first came out. I was mostly watching for the girls (RIP Thuy
Trang). I’ve watched some
of the follow up series, even on Mexican stations in Spanish, because they’re
kind of fun, but I don’t really think highly of the franchise. (I should mention that this series is based
on the original team and villains.) So,
these are great if you’re a Power Rangers fan, but if you’re not a big fan, they’re
okay.
I couldn’t help but notice this ad. If I find one of these, being the wrestling
fan, I’ll have to try one.
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