Madman Volume 1

Madman Volume 1 by Mike Allred
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Madman volume one collects Madman 1-3 and Madman Adventures 1-3.

In a lot of ways, the 1990s sucked for comics. Style over substance and gimmicks were the norm. Because of speculators, the market swelled and almost died. It will never be what it once was. However, comics in the 1990s did have some bright spots.

I first encountered Madman on the school bus sometime around 1993. A friend of mine had Madman Adventures #1 and was gushing about it. After I got tired of making fun of him for not being into X-Force like the rest of us, I gave it a chance and was instantly a fan.

The last time I read these was before the turn of the century so it was almost like rediscovering Madman for the first time. Madman helps bring his creator back to life, meets a lovely girl, goes back in time, runs from dinosaurs, and encounters an alien. It's all more complex than that, of course. Basically, it's Michael Allred's love letter to the comics of his youth.

Madman isn't a gun-toting bad ass like most of his 1990s contemporaries. He's sensitive and has low self esteem. He wears his costume mostly to hide from himself, a more thought-out throwback to the Lee and Kirby days.

The art is as gorgeous now as it was the bygone day I first saw it. It's no wonder most of the comics I read this year had Michael Allred art. Love for the medium is apparent in every panel.

Coincidentally, Madman is featured in one of my favorite panels of all time:


Madman is one of the few comics from the 1990s that has stood the test of time and will continue to do so. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Silver Surfer, Vol. 5: A Power Greater Than Cosmic

Silver Surfer, Vol. 5: A Power Greater Than Cosmic by Dan Slott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Silver Surfer's adventure with Dawn Greenwood reaches its end...

All good things must come to an end and Dan Slott and Michael Allred's run on the Silver Surfer is no exception. Fortunately, it goes out with a bang.

This volume sees the Surfer and Dawn do some gambling, tell the tale of Tiny Harold, save the universe, meet Galactus, save the universe a time or two, and land on a planet of holograms, with Eternity and the Never Queen looming over them the entire time.

This very volume very much reminded me of The End of Time, David Tennant's swan song on Doctor Who. Lots of old moments were revisited and there were very nearly some tears shed. It had to end sometime but like the Tenth Doctor himself said, "I don't want to go!"

That's about all I want to reveal. Slott and Allred stuck the landing. The story of the entire volume was a love letter to Lee & Kirby and Doctor Who and Michael Allred's art was perfect for it. You can feel the love that went into this book on every page.

While I'm sad the adventure of The Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood is done, I think it ended the way it had too. No regrets from me whatsoever. In the coming years, Allred and Slott's run on Silver Surfer will be looked upon in the same light as Matt Fraction's Hawkeye and Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's run on Daredevil as some of the greatest comics produced in this decade. Five out of five stars.

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Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes

Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes (2017-) #1 by Lee Allred
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Super-powered teenagers from 2966 come back to find the most powerful teenage superhero 1966 has to offer: Robin? Will they be disappointed? And what happens when someone steals their time bubble? Holy Grandfather Paradox, Batman!

Here we are, the comic I've been waiting months upon months to read. I've had a soft spot for the Batman TV show since watching the Batman movie one rainy Saturday afternoon as a kid, and I have fond memories of reading reprints of the Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics. Was I disappointed! Hell no!

This book, much like Bug!, feels like the Allreds had been waiting their whole lives to create it. You can feel the love for both properties on every page. It's full of Bat-puns and inside jokes about the Legion's history. When Ferro Lad, Braniac 5, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, and Chameleon Boy show up in 1966, they don't get quite what they expect. Robin doesn't even have super powers!

Universo and Egghead didn't do a whole lot besides provide a reason to get Batman into the future with half of the team and Robin leading the Legion in modern day Gotham. I'd say my favorite part of the book was Batman repeatedly rubbing Braniac 5 the wrong way. "Logic is science and computers. Lots and lots of computers."

It was nice to see a cameo appearance by Matter Eater Lad in the background, as promised by Michael Allred on Twitter. I didn't notice the Legion's upside down rocket-shaped clubhouse but I haven't combed through the background yet. There are a lot of other Easter Eggs (ha!) that I noticed by I don't want to spoil them.

At the end of the day, this crossover was as great as I thought it would be. Too bad it's just a one-shot. Five out of five Bat-tastic stars.


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Bug! The Adventures of Forager #3

Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017-) #3 by Lee Allred
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Forager, Kuzoko, and her teddy bear wind up inside a reality shard and find Chagra. Too bad Chagra is aligned with Atlas, an unstoppable hero...

The whacked-out Kirby lovefest continues as Bug and company go up against Atlas, a Jack Kirby creation that appeared in an issue of First Issue Special in the 1970s, then languished in limbo until James Robinson revived him for a Superman story around 2010-ish.

As Bug and friends make their way across a lava flat, the weird ass teddy bear reveals more about Bug's past and how he wound up in that basement in the first issue in the first place. Things are unfolding nicely and I have no idea where the book will end up, always a plus in my book.

The humor and quirkiness continue in this one. There's a musical yak and I chucked when Bug said Atlas had a First Issue. I love how the book feels simultaneously silver age and modern.

While I didn't think this was as explosive as the first two, it was still a lot of fun. My old man brain keeps forgetting things between issues. I think before #4 comes out, I'll have to reread the first three issues again.

At the halfway mark, Bug is still the only reason I go to the comic shop every month. There will be a vermin-shaped hole in my life when the series ends. Four out of five Kirby dots.

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Bug! The Adventures of Forager #2

Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017-) #2 by Lee Allred
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After being hurled into the past, Bug lands in World War II Nanda Parbat and meets The Losers, the original Blue Beetle, the original Sandman, and Sandy. Can Bug and his new friends stop General Electric's much younger self? And what happens to the future if they do?

The Allred brothers' love letter to Jack Kirby's DC (and Fox publications) work continues. Bug gets mistaken for The Red Bee and teams with some wartime heroes. Some loose ends left behind from last issue are explained and tons more ends are left hanging at the end.

One of the highlights of the issue is this Bug quote "It's called strategy! When life hands you a lemon, follow the produce truck back to the warehouse and exchange it for the fruit you want!"

The Bug character continues to grow on me. He combines the quirkiness of Madman with elements of Spider-Man. He also carries a nifty shield but it's too unwieldy to throw, a nice nod/jab at another Kirby creation. His red and white garb is pretty iconic for a character who only appeared a few times before this miniseries.

The love the Allred boys feel for Bug, and the rest of Kirby's creations, comes through on every page. Bug looks and feels like a particularly good comic from yesteryear with some modern sensibilities. Nothing bad to say about Bug #2 except that, like most modern comics, I wish I had the whole thing to read at once. Four out of five stars.



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Bug! The Adventures of Forager

Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017-) #1 by Lee Allred
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some time after his apparent death, Forager wakes up in the basement of a house on Earth with a talking teddy bear and a creepy little girl for company. Then things get weird...

Michael Allred has been one of my favorite comic book artists for aeons. When I saw he was teaming with his brother to do Bug! The Adventures of Forager, my curiosity was piqued. I only knew Forager from the New Gods entry in the 1980s version of Who's Who in the DC Universe and the awful "Olsen-bug" version from Countdown.

According to an interview I read before picking this up, Lee and Michael Allred became obsessed with Forager because of a battered copy of New Gods #9 at their guitar teacher's place when they were kids. Since Forager only made three appearances, including his death in Cosmic Odyssey, they pretty much had a clean slate.

The book reads like a love letter to Jack Kirby's DC creations from the first panel. Bug tears out of a cocoon and gets plunged neck deep in strangeness. Without spoiling too much, Bug teams up with another Jack Kirby creation from the 1970s to take on a super villain named General Electric.

The first issue is mostly setup but does a great job of setting the tone. Michael Allred's retro-style art is marvelous, as always, and his brother's writing works toward his strengths, making for one hell of a fun comic. Not only does it make me anxious for the rest of the series, it makes me want to try the rest of the Young Animals line and read all the 1970s Jack Kirby DC comics I can find. Five out of five stars.

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Silver Surfer: Citizen of Earth

Silver Surfer, Vol. 4: Citizen of Earth by Dan Slott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Silver Surfer faces an earth threatening menace when Dawn Greenwood meets two of his former girlfriends. Oh, and there's a machine that's threatening to turn earth into a Utopia like Zenn-La, the Surfer's home world.

Dan Slott and Michael Allred's take on the Silver Surfer through a Doctor Who lens continues. The Surfer, Dawn, and Toomie adjust to life in Anchor Bay and save the earth a couple times. The Silver Surfer even becomes a celebrity.

I love the way Allred and Slott make the Silver Surfer feel like a comic from years ago while still having it feel modern and fresh at the same time. The charm of the series is the relationship between Surfer and Dawn and the Surfer's innocence and naivety.

Michael Allred's art is stellar, as always, and Dan Slott manages to make a character that has been pretty inaccessible at times to the Marvel Universe's equivalent to Doctor Who. The only thing I don't like about this run of the Silver Surfer is that it has to end at some point. Four out of five stars.

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Fantastic Four: The New Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four: The New Fantastic Four by Dwayne McDuffie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As the mess created by Civil War dies down, Reed and Sue Richards leave the Fantastic Four for a while to work on their marriage. Taking their places are Storm of the X-Men and her husband, The Black Panther, king of Wakanda! Can this Fantastic Four stand against the foes of the previous version?

I'm a sucker for The Fantastic Four, especially when they're using a lineup other than the usual one. This is one of the unusual lineups.

544 - Gravity's grave is empty and the FF go to the Watcher for information!

I like the setup here of Black Panther and Storm joining the Fantastic Four because Reed's Thor clone wrecked the Wakandan embassy and they're crashing at the Baxter Building. The now human Deathlok, Michael Collins, guest stars. When the team finds Epoch, they unwittingly lead a certain herald of a certain planet devouring force of nature right to her.

This issue was mostly setup but it was still enjoyable and surprisingly funny.

545 - The Fantastic Four battle The Silver Surfer and Stardust to save Epoch!

There are some cool things happening in this one. Gravity is resurrected as the protector of the universe, but more importantly, The Black Panther puts the Silver Surfer in a cross face chicken wing. Oh, and Galactus shows up.

546 - The Fantastic Four and Gravity go up against the Silver Surfer, Stardust, and Galactus!

I've always been a Fantastic Four fan but I'm really digging the Black Panther this time around. Once again, I have to mention the humor in this volume. Also, Michael Collins' mustache is pretty spectacular.

547 - Reed can't stop working on his second honeymoon with Sue after he finds a strange asteroid. Meanwhile, the new Fantastic Four can't stop bickering.

It looks like the Frightful Four is waiting in the wings and there is an intergalactic menace on the way. Good times. I'm really digging this version of the Fantastic Four. It reads like a couple kids getting a new set of parents.

548 - The Frightful Four has Sue and Reed and the new Fantastic Four are on their way to Titan save her.

For a super-genius, The Wizard is kind of a dumb ass. It's cool that Reed tagged along but I have a feeling The Black Panther could have handled things without him. Hydro-Man, Titania, and The Trapster are okay but could use a little more firepower.

549 - And now, Reed and the Fantastic Four take on the Frightful Five!

This issue showcases how the Invisible Woman is the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four under the right circumstances. Klaw wound up not amounting to much. It was really cool when the Black Panther sent the Frightful Four back to earth on a trip that would take over six years.

550 - Reed, Sue, and the new Fantastic Four take on the menace of the Contrasepsis. What do hundreds of Watchers have to do with things?

Holy shit! Eternity is dying because of a weapon someone tried to use against the Contrasepsis years earlier. The Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Storm, The Silver Surfer, Gravity, and Doctor Strange have to work together to save the universe.

Closing Thoughts: The short lived lineup of Black Panther, Storm, The Thing, and the Human Torch was a nice change of pace. I have new respect for the Black Panther. It would have been cool to give this version of the Fantastic Four a full year, though. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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FF, Vol. 2: Family Freakout

FF, Vol. 2: Family Freakout by Matt Fraction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The FF plan to bring the Fanastic Four back to earth in time to stop Doctor Doom, Kang, and Annihilus from becoming Doom the Annhilating Conqueror. Things don't go as planned...

Matt Fraction and Michael Allred's run on FF ends with a bang. The FF take in Impossible Man's son Adolph, try to bring back the Fantastic Four, and go to war with Doctor Doom. Fraction does a lot to elevate Scott Lang in this volume and goes a long way toward dragging him out of Hank Pym's size-changing shadow.

The battle with Doom was very well done and Doom was true to his scene-chewing self. Fraction's portrayal of The Watcher was also pretty great and I loved the stuff on the blue area of the moon. Ahura stepping up for the war was also a nice touch.

Much like the last volume, this book reads like a modern day love letter to the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby days of the Fantastic Four. It's a damn shame this is the last of Matt Fraction and Mike Allred on FF. It's been a lot of fun. Four out of five stars.

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FF, Vol. 1: Fantastic Faux

FF, Vol. 1: Fantastic Faux by Matt Fraction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The new FF are struggling to hold down the fort. Bentley gets up to some mischief. The future Human Torch awakens and the future he's predicted draws nearer.

Ant-Man and company continue trying to fill the shoes of the Fantastic Four and go up against a leviathan, The Wizard, Blastaar, and The Inhumans but their biggest enemies seem to be themselves.

That might be stretching it a little but Matt Fraction and Mike Allred have created a throwback to the Fantastic Four of the 1960's, a bickering team that still feels like a family.

I dig Matt Fraction's writing. Maybe not as much as Dan Slott's on the Silver Surfer but he does a good job of writing something that works to Mike Allred's strengths and fits his art style. He also gets some mileage out of The Wizard and the Inhumans, something I don't think many writers do a good job of. I also like how he's planting seeds for the next volume while doing some good character development within the FF cast.

I really like what Matt Fraction is doing here and I'm keen to start the next volume. Four out of five stars.

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