For Your Consideration: Marvel’s Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus


Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1

Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1


Marvel’s Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol 1 collects this first part of this classic series by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, and others, and Robert Greenberger tells you why it should be on your shelf.

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For Your Consideration: Marvel’s Weirdworld


Weirdworld

Weirdworld



Robert Greenberger recommends Marvel’s upcoming Weirdworld collection by Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, John Buscema, and others.

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KC Column: The Never-Ending Story Part 1


KC flanked by former Legionnaire artists, Cory Carani & Jeff Moy

by KC Carlson

Though we may be inundated by it in current superhero comic books, long-form serialized storytelling is nothing new.

The idea of telling a long-form storyline as a series of chapters originally dates back to somewhere between the mid-8th and the mid-13th century. The work in question? One Thousand and One Nights, more colloquially known in English as the Arabian Nights. They are actually a series of independent stories gathered together with a framing device, but as originally told, each story was shared over a period of nights, including some kind of “cliffhanger” ending, which would be resolved the following night. Some of the more famous of the stories include “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp”, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor”, all of which are probably much better known to several generations of American children as the basis for three very memorable (and historically important) Popeye the Sailor cartoons.

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For Your Consideration: Dark Horse’s Conan The Newspaper Strips Vol. 1


Conan the Newspaper Strips

by Robert Greenberger

It should surprise no one that pulp writer Robert E. Howard read the funny pages. After all, growing up in Texas back in the 1920s, there really weren’t a lot of entertainment options. Historians have discovered a 1923 letter from Howard to Clyde Tevis Smith, a fantasy writer and close friend, dating back to their attending high school together. The letter included what was described as a crudely-drawn, but funny strip involving a caveman’s attempts to woo his girl, who is playing hard to get.

No doubt he would have been surprised and a bit delighted to see that one of his literary creations grew popular enough to merit his own comic strip. While adventure comic strips were already waning as television’s reach grew during the 1970s, there remained blips of activity, especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s as strips based on popular movies and comics were tried out.

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Roger’s Comic Ramblings: Collections I’d Like to See – Demon and Fantastic Four


Demon #1

by Roger Ash

You’d think these days that if at some point their career a comic creator became a big name in the industry, it’d mean that all their work would be collected so fans could have easy access to their work. But that is certainly not the case. Todd McFarlane’s early work on DC’s Infinity Inc. has never been collected, nor has Mike Mignola’s work on Marvel’s Incredible Hulk. Early work by Nocturnal’s Dan Brereton (Black Terror) and Adam & Andy Kubert (Jezebel Jade) remain notable by their absence. And don’t even get me started on Miracleman (AKA Marvelman) which includes work by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. The legalities necessary to get that back in print make my brain hurt. But I’d like to focus on two titles this time: DC’s Demon by Matt Wagner and Marvel’s Fantastic Four by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz.

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Roger’s Comics Ramblings: Collections I’d Like to See – Shogun Warriors & Micronauts


Shogun Warriors #1
by Roger Ash

A few columns back, I listed a couple series I thought deserved to be collected and promised to return with more. Well, that time is now! This time my suggestions are toy-based comics from the late-70s/early-80s – Marvel’s Shogun Warriors and Micronauts.

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