It’s another mostly disappointing trip to Zia Comics to recap.
Fantastic Four #30
Okay, Disney characters as the Fantastic Four? I’m in. This was going to be cool; a legit crossover with “funny animals” as actual Marvel superheroes. I showed this to a co-worker for the opening of the bag and she got to watch my reaction in real time.
It’s just a regular issue of the Fantastic Four. This is just an alternate cover. I was cheated. Look at the cover! There’s no indication on the cover that this is just a regular issue. It says, “What If . . . Mickey & Friends Became the Fantastic Four?” This is outright deceit!
Dr. Doom becomes Sorcerer Supreme. This is nearly the only action panel in the comic.
“But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” Pretty lousy. As a minor part of a much larger storyline, Dr. Doom turns The Thing back into Ben Grimm. This is apparently coming way too late for Ben, who had long ago come to terms with being covered in orange rocks. He has trouble dealing with being a normal human. Being super strong and nearly invulnerable has its advantages. Now, Ben just feels weak. He ends up going to the Puppetmaster for help in accepting his new condition.
This doesn’t sound like a bad story in summary. This should tell you how bad it was in actual execution. It’s very choppy. The characterization is kind of poor. There’s references to all sorts of important action going on off-panel. This story isn’t exactly unnecessary, but should be a running subplot in the main storyline. Other than lousy marketing, I don’t know why Marvel breaks up their big stories like this. They’re unfollowable. The great artwork in this comic is basically wasted. (And why does Johnny Storm have a handlebar mustache?)
Mickey and friends as the Fantastic Four would have been better. What do you think? Black Pete as Dr. Doom?
Nexus: Scourge #1
This was an easy buy off the rack for me, as I am a big Nexus fan. A new Nexus comic will get my attention. The comic is printed on heavy paper and the entire contents is story, no ads. I’m not saying that’s worth $5, but it’s better than the other two $5 comics I bought.
I haven’t kept up with any recent developments in Nexus. Him and Sundra have a young boy now. Raul the Head president now appears to have a human body. There’s a villain (or celestial entity), Gourmando, that Nexus fought, whom I don’t know. Otherwise, there are captions describing Nexus and the setting for new readers.
Basically, some entity called, “The Krug,” is attacking and depopulating worlds. Two of the besieged worlds were called Stelara and Breztri. It took me a moment to remember where I’d heard those names. They’re prescription drugs that are publically advertised. I don’t know if there’s a deeper significance to this, but it’s funny. Nexus goes to investigate.
Of course, it’s more complicated in execution. Nexus faces a moral dilemma about trying rescue people from a doomed world while trying to gather information. He’s got some political considerations. He takes some time off for golf (twice).
I liked the Kelsey Shannon’s artwork. It’s not Steve Rude, but has the appealing character work and whimsical design of Rude. There’s also some really good cosmic sci-fi design.
I don’t think Rude ever had Nexus in costume wearing a 19-century British military helmet or a tuxedo.
This is Part 1 of 2, so it’s not a big epic. This first issue is all set up and presumably the next part will have the conflict. The story isn’t decompressed, but it is leisurely in presentation. Still, events move at a very quick clip and there’s no time for subplots. This all just makes me wish that Nexus was still an ongoing monthly series. (Actually, I think it came out every six weeks in its prime.)
I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the second issue at Zia Comics or if they’ll carry it. This was published in December 2024 by Alien Books, who I’ve never heard of, so I don’t know if there even was another issue. I may look for this on an “archive” site. I definitely want to see how this resolves.
The Herculoids #1
I vaguely remember the cartoon from Saturday mornings back in the 70’s. It wasn’t my favorite. (That would be Jonny Quest and Space Ghost.) For whatever reason, The Herculoids didn’t resonate with me. Somehow, people fighting with primitive weapons alongside creatures whipping up on invading high-tech entities didn’t entirely seem plausible. (Like logic applies to cartoons.) However that didn’t stop me from succumbing to nostalgia-bait.
There were several cover variants available. The Rob Liefield one was the most appealing, though I didn’t like it that much. The inside artwork was blocky with thick lines evoking a 70’s cartoon, though without the grace and style of one.
The entire story was exactly what I mentioned above: invading aliens seeking to plunder the planet and getting efficiently wiped out by brute force. That’s it. There’s no origin or subplot. It’s not far off from the original cartoon in that regard.
In sum, the artwork doesn’t sell this. The story doesn’t sell this. The setting and characters don’t sell this . . . except to suckers like me. A better version of the Herculoids appeared in FutureQuest several years ago, which was a mashup of several Hanna-Barbera properties.
Two of the house ads were interesting for different reasons. Captain Planet here has never looked more . . . swishy. Maybe he can have a retro team up with Slim Goodbody and really make everyone uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Penelope Pitstop has never looked better. I’m kind of interested in this Wacky Races comic, though I’m sure they’ll ruin the concept.
I really did like the Nexus comic, but the Herculoids was terrible and the FF comic wasn’t just a disappointment, but a fraud. I also got a few used Archie digests at Coas Bookstore. I may cover these later.
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