Or – “Blame Mela.” One of the great joys of reading comics is finding a book that you’ve never considered that someone recommends highly. That, after all, is the reason why these Retro Reviews exist in the first place, but I especially enjoy it when the Faithful Spoilerites flip the script and tell ME about a book from their past, doubly so when the book in question was one I had never heard of. I might not have every delved into late 90s X-Men continuity without the heads-up, so your guess is as good as mine what happens next, but…
Browsing: Retro Review
Or – “A Blueprint For What Once Was…” With my recent review of the new Valiant’s take on Shadowman, I started remembering the fun that was the old Valiant universe, a time when future and past tied together, when Solar was (slightly) less of a jerk, back when the speculators were around but hadn’t quite destroyed the entire comics industry yet. It was a time of world-building, and from that instinct came this issue… Your Major Spoilers retro review awaits!
Or – “IT’S AMBUSH BUG II, Y’ALL!” There are many characters out there whose appeal is obvious. The popularity of a Batman or a Spider-Man cannot be denied, but occasionally a character hits the public consciousness in ways that even the creators can’t quite figure out. Thus it was in the early 80s with Ambush Bug. One of the first characters to repeatedly break the fourth wall, the Bug’s madness was contagious, and his early appearances are still sought after by collectors today. (Not much else makes back issues of DC Comics Presents actually pop in price, to be honest.) …
Or – “ZZSSSSSWAAARRRRRMMMMM!!” ZZSSSSSWAAARRRRRMMMMM!! ZZSSSSSWAAARRRRRMMMMM!! ZZSSSSSWAAARRRRRMMMMM!!
Fawcett Comics had a number of super-hero first-stringers who weren’t Captain Marvel, but none had the star power of the Big Red Cheese, to the point where the creators clearly wondered if it was possible to once again catch lightning in a bottle. This time, however, the bottle was blue… Your Major Spoilers (retro) review awaits!
Or – “The Story That Launched A Thousand Costumes!” Sure, you know your first appearances and your Silver Age keys. You know where Bizarro showed up and where Luthor lost his hair, and you even know the story of the Gorilla Boss of Gotham City… But do you know the history of the FIRST Super-Girl? Your Major Spoilers (retro) review awaits!
Or – “‘Cause One-Shot Is All He Needs!” Once again, we set our Retro Review sights on the decade known as the Nineteen-Nineties, a time of internet bubbles, stained blue dresses and irony Oh, the frickin’ irony! Even the Big Two publishers weren’t immune to the snark, which fueled the post-modern engine of Vertigo and turned the Marvel Universe into a Bad-Girl machine. With the Image Comics indy rebellion in full swing, circa ’93, Marvel even dropped some cash to hire Even Dorkin (of ‘Milk & Cheese’ notoriety) to write a super-hero title. Does anybody else smell savage lampoonery? Your…
Or – “A Retro Review First!” I’ve done a lot of reviews in the past 7 years with Major Spoilers, many of them have been notable for reasons big and small. Some were awful, some sublime, and others were simply inexplicable, but this is the first time, to my memory, that we have reviewed THE ENTIRE OUTPUT of a publishing house in one swell foop. Add in the earliest work by one of the most respected creators of the day AND a first appearance of some characters near and dear to the hearts of many collectors, and we’ve got ourselves…
Or – “Back When Marvel Used To Number Their Heroes For Clarity…” If you read the Marvel Universe handbooks (something that I always recommend, by the way), you may have noticed that Marvel has an an ongoing series of endless retcons and stories that tell the real truth about the truth about the stories we’ve already seen. Because of that, not only is Steve Rogers not the first Captain America (that would be his revolutionary war ancestor, also named Steve Rogers) but he wasn’t even the first Captain America of the second World War. Still, no matter how many people…
Or – “Ironically, Those Suits Clearly Have No Zipper…” There’s a strange time period between about 1948 and 1959 where comic books entered a strange dormant period, entering what would prove to be a larval state before their chrysalis broke wide open with the dawn of the Silver Age. During that time, a lot of weird comic books made it to print (Captain America’s Weird Tales, anyone?) and a lot of creators struggled to find the formula that would work in the new decade. Of course, there were also those who literally put out precisely the same books that worked…
Or – “No, It’s Not Spelled Mar-Vell At This Point, Thank You Very Much.” Before 1982, Captain Marvel existed mostly as a way for Marvel Comics to thumb their nose at the Distinguished Competition. What, you ask, would be the story to finally change that situation? I’ll warn you, it ain’t like your average episode of ‘Happy Days.’ Your Major Spoilers (retro) review awaits!
Or – “Comics From Another Time… When I was young, comic books were a bit different than what you read today. Sure, DC had just rebooted their entire universe, and Marvel was in the spasms of major change because of new ownership and… Actually, now that you mention it, you’re probably up to speed with that part. One thing was different, though: They could still mention Christmas by name on the cover of the big holiday celebration issues (and perhaps a surprise or two waited inside the books as well.) Your Major Spoilers Super Holiday Spectacular Retro Review awaits!
Or – “What To Do When The Apocalypse Has Come And Gone…” Well, apparently, Friday was the end of the world as we know it, and now we have to pick up the pieces in a post-apocalyptic world that somehow still has Starbucks drive-throughs and basic cable (although there are no more Twinkies.) Of course, we’ve got it easy compared to the lad called Kamandi, dragged from a bunker into a world of anthropomorphic animals, misshapen mutants and shattered masonry. But it would seem that even in the future world that’s coming, there are still legends of heroes long past. Your…
Or – “They Doesn’t Calls Him ‘The King’ Fer Nuttin!” Throughout his decades-long career, Jack “King” Kirby worked in nearly every genre of story-telling, and his stories and characters serve as major building blocks for the comics industry (especially the Big Two) even yet today. But have you ever wondered Kirby himself considered to be his best work? Your Major Spoilers (retro) review awaits!