boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (12/20/85)
Reviewed this time around: AMBUSH BUG STOCKING STUFFER #1 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1 HAWKMAN SPECIAL #1 UNDERGROUND CLASSICS #1 LASER ERASER AND PRESSBUTTON #1 WONDER MAN #1 Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of the Napoleon of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!! "For a critic, it's better to have wrong standards than none at all." -- Elmer Allyn Craft ******************************************************************************** |=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT | |==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #38: "Who Is Donna Troy?" | |==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS | |==>C< A well done, entertaining issue. Satisfying. Example: JON SABLE | |==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM | |==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish. Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS | |==>Z< Actually offensive. Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12 | ******************************************************************************** AMBUSH BUG STOCKING STUFFER #1 [DC, one-shot, $1.25] B Overall, this isn't up to the level of the better issues of the mini-series that appeared earlier this year, but there are some truly hilarious items in here. Where else can you find 1,001 uses for a dead Hukka; Brother Power, the Geek; the First Annual Fanboy-Press "Why not the Best?" Popularity Poll ("Favorite Comic Book Company:" "Favorite *Other* Comic Book Company:"); and Dark Cheeks? HAWKMAN SPECIAL #1 [DC, one-shot, $1.25] D+ While I liked the Hawkman mini-series from earlier this year, I'm afraid that I found the story in this Special to be very humdrum. It's an epilogue of sorts to the mini-series, and it paves the way for a new regular Hawkman title that'll appear in the indefinite future. But the story just seems to sit there, and except for one item, it doesn't really advance the overall story any. I confess that I've never been overwhelmingly fond of Tony Isabella's writing, and this doesn't help change my mind. Rich Howell's art does recall Murphy Anderson's Hawkman art in spots, and it's far better than the his art for VISION AND THE SCARLET WITCH, but I'm afraid that it doesn't strike my fancy, either. LASER ERASER AND PRESSBUTTON #1 [Eclipse, $.75] C- The earlier, Baxter-paper series, AXEL PRESSBUTTON, reprinted the Pressbutton stories from the British comic WARRIOR. Now, Eclipse has started with a new series at the $.75 price, publishing new stories by the original Pressbutton team of Pedro Henry (in reality Steve "no-relation-to-Alan" Moore) and Steve Dillon. The Pressbutton stories are violent and not to everyone's taste, but I enjoy them, and this issue's stories are in the same fine tradition of the earlier stories, even if they aren't among the best of the series. Especially interesting is that in the first story, we are "re"-introduced to Three-Eyes McGurk, the star of the first published (though chronologically last) strip to feature Pressbutton [that strip, drawn by Alan Moore incidentally, under the pen name "Curt Vile", can be found in the underground RIP OFF COMICS #8, for those who are interested]. The backup strip is another reprint from WARRIOR, "Twilight World", by Steve Moore and Jim Baikie. To be honest, I didn't find it all that good the first time, and it's gotten no better on rereading. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1 [Mirage, reprint, $1.50] No review, just an announcement that Mirage has reprinted TMNT #1 once again, only this time it's with a new wraparound, four-color cover, and it's done in standard comic book size. For those of you who missed the earlier printings of #1, and like the subsequent issues, here's your chance. The Turtles is not an outstanding book by any means, but it is quite amusing. This story is a parody of Miller's DAREDEVIL and RONIN work, but later issues pretty much pushed the parody aspect aside. One of the book's charms is that while it isn't a humorous book, it also doesn't take itself too seriously. UNDERGROUND CLASSICS #1 [Rip Off, black&white, $1.50] D+ This is the first issue of Rip Off Press's new series that reprints "classic" out-of-print underground material. The bulk of this issue is Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous furry Freak Brothers. Now, I really like the Freak Brothers, but I'm afraid that these are lesser FFFB stories. The only one that brought lots of chuckles is one Fat Freddy's Cat story. The others are early material, and Shelton didn't have quite the pizzazz that he was to develop later. Unless you're an FFFB completist, you can safely pass this by. And if you haven't yet experienced the Brothers, this is unlikely to get you interested in them. I would advise getting the regular FFFB series instead (the last two issues, the first two parts of a three-part story, is a good place to start). WONDER MAN #1 [Marvel, one-shot, $1.25] D Unfortunately, this is rather standard superhero stuff from Michelinie and Gammill. You might find it interesting, but I just found it superficial. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...} !decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM