Magazine Review: Back Issue Part 2

#41 Captain America

This was actually a giveaway sample issue that I tossed in.  The lead article is on American Flagg.  I’ve never read this comic, but was interested in it.  (I couldn’t afford to buy everything I was interested in at the time.)  The commentary was fascinating, if somewhat bizarre. 

 

The series is set in the year 2031. In the years since 1996 (the Year of the Domino), the world has fallen into chaos—economic collapse, nuclear war, and social upheaval have resulted in a dramatic shift in world power. The American government has relocated to Mars (“Temporarily, of course”), leaving what remains of the United States to be governed by the Plex, a corporate entity that, like the Roman Empire, appeases the populace with a steady diet of drugs, sex, and entertainment.

 

That’s quite a premise and just gets weirder as the series goes on.  Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some back issues of this someday.

 

Contest of Champions was a comic I’d heard about, but never saw.  Interesting to find out that it was supposed to be Marvel superheroes at the 1980 Olympics, which the US boycotted, thus necessitating the rewrite.  There are two articles on Wonder Woman, along with two articles on Captain America and another on the Red Skull.  They’re kind of interesting and kind of disturbing.  Let’s just say Captain America’s writers mostly saw him as a political tool for their own beliefs.   

 

 

Unofficial crossover between the Invaders and the Freedom Fighers

The Quality turned DC superheroes, Uncle Sam and Freedom Fighters, have a tragic tale that is told in a retrospective article.  It’s torturous.  That happened to the characters in the comic.   

 

For Team America, the motorcycle-riding heroes of the 80’s, it was the behind-the-scenes problems that did them in.  It was an interesting article for an odd concept.  However, I remember a guest appearance by Team America in the New Mutants, where it was postulated that the group were mutants.  This appearance wasn’t mentioned in the article, so I’m disappointed.

 

#43 Shanna

What a cover by Frank Cho!  Shanna’s origin is explored in a lengthy article.  It’s a harsh one, too.  From there, it’s a retrospective on Ka-Zar, Shanna’s love interest.  The article focused on the 80’s series, which was way more intellectual and psychological than you’d expect from characters running around a jungle in loincloths.  I’ve read a few of those and reviewed them (7-27-20).

 

There’s a thankfully short article asking the question, “Was Conan a racist?”  The correct answer is, “Who cares?  He’s a fictional character.”  There’s a long article on Rima the Jungle Girl.  She has a surprising literary background for a character that I only knew from the Superfriends cartoon.  

 

Next, we are confronted with another dumb question: “Is Red Sonja a Feminist Icon or Warrior Woman?”  Apparently, her iconic chain mail bikini upsets some sensitive people.  I’ll let Elfquest creator, Wendy Pini, answer that question in a practical manner.  Rounding out the issue are articles on some little known (for a reason) fantasy characters: Korg, Claw, and Beowulf.

 

Magazine Review: Back Issue Part 1

 After buying an issue of the magazine Back Issue off the rack (11-10-24),  I went to the TwoMorrows website and found a bunch of issues with topics I was interested in.  I picked up several pdf issues and went back for a second tranche the next month.  I probably should have waited until I’d actually read the first batch before getting the second.  I wasn’t actually that happy with what I’d originally gotten and held up on getting any more.  Reading all of these became something of a chore honestly.

 

Oddly, when I went to their website, I already had an account.  In 2020, TwoMorrows had offered a free issue for the lockdown.  I guess I had trouble figuring out their ordering and didn’t get anything.  The magazine I picked was still in my “shopping cart,” which I discovered when I put in the new order four years later.

 

Even more oddly, I discovered I actually had a few preview pdf’s from the company on my hard drive.  This included a preview of their tabloid comics retrospective, a history of comics in the 80’s, and a history of the Filmation animation studio.  The later two are actually books.  The previews were very interesting.  I’ve used that Filmation one to research the 70’s Archie cartoons.  Ironically, I didn’t get the full pdf’s of the books, because the previews were pretty comprehensive. 

 

I’m likely done getting Back Issues.  The physical issues never showed up back on the newsstand.  These pdf’s aren’t the greatest to read.  I found myself blowing up blurry images and panning and scanning across pages.  My main regret is that some older issues advertised Silver and Bronze Age companion books for Superman and Batman.  Unfortunately, they’re apparently not even available as pdf’s now.  That’s a real shame.     

 

In general, these issues feature a lot of interviews with the creators.  These interviews generally turn into an airing grievances concerning the editors, the company, and fellow creators.  To say this is tedious reading is an understatement.  If you’re looking for insight on your favorite characters, you’re basically just going to get a lesson in the economics comic book production and petty office feuds.  There are also retrospectives of various titles and interesting runs.  These pretty much just make you want to read the comics.  You don’t need the magazine for that. 

 

However, to be fair, there is plenty of interesting material in these issues.  On some level, I may have been too harshly judgmental and expected too much, since the subject matter was directly in my wheelhouse.  Back Issue is just a magazine.  Like any other, you’ll find a few interesting articles and some better written than others.  I’m going to tackle these in numerical order, rather than purchase order.  I’ll also name these based on the main article I was interested in and just hittin the high points. 

 

#9 Nexus

This 2005 issue was 100 pages, but in black and white.  When it comes to good articles, this one has an impressive overview of the original run of Marvel Star Wars comics.  It explains a lot of the decisions made in the storytelling.  It even explains Jaxxon, the giant green rabbit.  (Sort of.)  I collected this title for several years in the 80’s.  I also had the first six comics and gave them away in elementary school.  (They were reprint versions, not the original printings, but they’re still probably worth money today.)

 

As a big Nexus fan, I was mostly interested in the Barron and Rude interview.  It’s a very long interview, but there wasn’t not a whole lot about Nexus really.  I’d been curious about Grimjack, though I’d only ever read one issue.  The retrospective was comprehensive without being really insightful.  An article about the Cosmic Odyssey miniseries and a history of Thanos were other highlights.

 

 

GrimJack

 

Jaxxon

 

Sundra from Nexus

 

Thanos

 

Nexus Twinkies gag ad

(This highlights the problem with the pdf.  Poor scan quality) 

 

#31 Steve Gerber

You might question a whole issue dedicated to the guy who was best known for creating Howard the Duck, but Gerber had a widely varied career.  The Howard articles were pretty in depth and even included coverage of the newspaper strip.  Gerber worked on a bunch of Marvel horror titles, including the KISS Super Special.  He was on a spectrum of superhero titles, especially the Defenders.  He had a short run at DC and created Sludge for Malibu Comics.  I had no idea Gerber wrote for Thundaar the Barbarian and worked with Jack Kirby and Alex Toth on it, no less.  With that array of talent, no wonder that Saturday morning TV show was so good.  I had a new appreciation for Gerber after reading this.  

 

 

Gerber's Monsters

 

Howard the Duck newspaper strip

 

Jack Kirby Thundarr drawing 

 

Howard ran a brilliant campaign, but Trump was just too strong. 

 

Comics Review: Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch: 60 Magical Stories Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1.

The previous Holly G version of Sabrina transitions to the manga version with an intro no less.

 

I wrote a review of a small trade (four issues) of the manga Sabrina in 2009 that I posted on MySpace. 

 

 Review of Sabrina-The Magic Revisited

Why did I buy this?

Given that I'm a big fan of the "Classic" and "Updated" Sabrina looks, as well

as the humor of the Young Sabrina (animated version), how long could I resist trying

this version?

I blame Johanna at Comics Worth Reading for getting me to try it

due to her exuberant reviews.

Interview with Tania

Review of trade paperback

How was it?

I will sum this volume up in three words: labor of love. 

 

Tania del Rio clearly has love and respect for the Sabrina character and has

married it with her enthusiasm for the manga style of art and storytelling.

There are plenty of teen girl witches in Japanese comics, so it's really a

natural fit. 

 

In places, the art reminds me of Adam Warren, one of my favorites.  If you don't

appreciate the style, it's at least well done in its own style.  I would

actually add that it's probably technically better and more detailed than most

modern Archie artwork. My only critique would be that Sabrina's lips are

sometimes overdone.  Jim Amash's inks handled the myriad details and emotions

well.  Jason Jenson's bright, vivid colors certainly enhanced the art.

 

Tania's used the TV show as a starting point to tell her own story and added

quite a bit to Sabrina's mythology. The issues in this volume are self-

contained, but there is a continuity to them.  There's also clearly some stuff

going on in the background that will apparently payoff later, kind of a "Harry

Potter" vibe.  Bravo to Archie Comics for not just trying something different,

but following through with it and letting Tania tell her whole story. 

 

Sabrina is, however, still a typical teenager.  Even if her situations have a

supernatural bent to them, the issues are easily relatable for kids and parents. 

I definitely liked that the issues were full comic book length stories.  I wish

there was more of this in the entire Archie Comics line.  As to my favorites in

the volume, I liked the first and last stories the best as they featured the

most Salem.  The cat is always reliable comedy.  

 

I wonder where the Shinji character, Sabrina's other love interest, came from. 

He was introduced like he wasn't a new character.  I had some trouble getting

past his name.  I kept thinking of the protagonist from "Evangelion." 

Thankfully, the two just have the name in common and nothing else. 

 

I can see how manga Sabrina sort of fell through the cracks.  The look likely

turned off most Sabrina fans.  That it was in color, not Japanese, first

published in floppy form, and featured an Archie character probably kept manga

fans away from it.  This trade might also have seemed a bit thin, and even with

the coloring, overpriced, compared to a typical manga volume.    

 

Hopefully, Archie will go ahead and publish more of manga Sabrina trades.  There

has been a suggestion of a format change for further reprints.  Please just

don't continue the series in such a way that would force me to essentially buy

Volume 1 again. (Even better, publish a Sabrina Through the Years trade.  Even

more better, a complete anthology DVD like the Bronze Age Series.)

 

This is the kind of material that Archie fans should support.  It’s okay, if you

don't like the manga style.  What I'm talking about isn't so much about

experimenting with the look of the characters.  But rather, allowing writers and

artists more of a free reign in producing stories and art and putting their own

unique stamp on the characters.  Don't worry about the characters ever changing

for good.  In this volume, manga Sabrina was still very much in the tradition of

every other version of Sabrina, and it was good fun for readers of all ages.      

 

 

Overall?

 

In spite of my love for the character, I was as skeptical as anyone else here

about a manga version of any Archie character, especially one of my favs. I

wasn't sure what to expect from this, even with the good reviews, and was fully

prepared to rip the people who recommended it if it was bad.  Well, I not only

recommend it, I express regret that I hadn't tried this before Tania's run

ended.  Luckily, you can still get this volume to try it out.  If you do, post

your opinions on it.  And I suspect they will be positive.    

 

I wish they’d reprint the omnibus volumes of this material.  (They’re out-of-print.)  I’d probably buy it.  This version was definitely more about the drama and had continuing storylines and mysteries.  I did get my request for a “Sabrina Through the Years compilation” fulfilled.  Thanks to this volume, I did learn when Shinji was introduced to the series.

 

Not to say there wasn’t some humor.  In this story, Salem gets turned back into a guy, but finds out he’d prefer to be a cat.

 

I love Gisele’s artwork.  I wish Archie would have retained her as a regular artist for the series.  This story definitely has Aunt Hilda’s best makeover.  (Still has a terrible personality.)

 

Then we have this strange interlude with Jughead and Sabrina dating.  They have had interactions before and he was the only one in the Archie gang that knew she was a witch.  (I think.)  Their best crossover was the epic Jughead #200.  (I wrote a review of a reprint of that story and it's not posted anywhere on my blog.  I don't know how this keeps happening.)  It’s not so much the concept of this story; it’s the all too self-aware execution that makes this kind of insufferable.  I admit it is kind of funny.  Sabrina tries to use magic to get back at Jughead for a lousy date and it completely backfires.

 

There is a reprinting of the first issue of the last Sabrina series, which was another reboot.  I’ve covered that (12-30-19) and bought the trade with it, though I didn’t pick up the sequel or the Holiday Special last year.  This was sort of a horror-themed version, but still safe for kids (and squeamish adults).  None of the horror Sabrina stuff is in this book, which was the inspiration for the Netflix show.  I am totally okay with that.    

 

Of course Archie has dated Sabrina.  The first issue of that miniseries was reprinted here.  I have read a later issue in the series.  All I have to say about it is that it is very slow paced.

 

Finally, a couple of fairly recent classic Sabrina stories are reprinted.  Dan Parent’s version is pretty cute.

 

Yeah, if you’re a fan of the teen-aged witch, buy this immediately.  (Since it’s on discount, it may be gone soon.)  Once again, I’m staggered by the number of permutations Sabrina has gone through over the years, yet still maintained her lasting charm.