boyajian@akov68.DEC (04/19/84)
Time is short, and I'm going on vacation for a while, so: MYTH ADVENTURES #1: I've never read the Bob Asprin books that this is based on, but this comic inspires me to try them. The characters and situation are wonderfully funny, and Phil Foglio's art matches the story perfectly. I highly recommend this one! POWER PACK #1: I have no idea what the reaction to this comic wil be from comics fans in general, but I found it delightful. June Brigman is another real find, not quite as good an artist (new) as, say EVANGELINE's Judith Hunt but it's nevertheless quite satisfactory. This is the first comic I can recall reading by Louise Simonson, and it won't be the last. The charac- ters (all? pre-teens) are engaging and act just like real kids. They combine that rare combination of excitement at finding an alien space- ship and its pilot, and later receiving super-powers from him, and the special brand of solemnity that kids adopt when faced with a truly seri- ous situation. The plot feels like something right out of Madeleine (a favorite of mine) L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME, and though it starts out slowly, is quick to pick up the pace as things start happening. If you are fond of serious "young adult" stories, you should definitely pick this one up. I hope that such books as POWER PACK and ZOT! are the beginning of a wave of "kid" books that can be enjoyed by adults. ALL-STAR SQUADRON #whatever: An All-Star dies! Big deal. After being hit with Guardian and Terra's deaths in the course of a month (actually it was only a week between their releases, and another week until this), it's getting to be an old, tired trick. To further rub it in, Thomas cheats: is it really fair to kill off a hero only a couple of pages after he is revealed as being still alive from a previous battle in which everyone thought he was killed? (can you make sense out of that convoluted sen- tence?) --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard) UUCP: (decvax!decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian) ARPA: (decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian@Shasta)
ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (04/19/84)
"This is the first comic I recall reading from Louise Simonson...." For those who haven't heard, Louise Simonson is the former Louise Jones, using her married name. She and Walter Simonson got married two or three years ago. Naturally, I can't remember her other writng credits now that I need to for this message, but she was well known as a Marvel Editor. Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester
atc@ut-sally.UUCP (Alvin T. Campbell III) (04/22/84)
Even though we know that Louise Simonson is Louise Jones, former Marvel
editor, I still think that POWER PACK # 1 is the first time her writing has
been published in a regular color comic book. I seem to recall seeing a story
or two written by her in an old black and white Warren magazine, back when
Loise Jones was an editor for Warren. However, the only pre-POWER PACK
non-editorial work that I can recall seeing from her in a color Marvel comic
was as a colorist on Walt Simonson's recent STAR SLAMMERS graphic novel.
By the way, Louise Jones is the former wife of sometimes comic book artist
Jeff Jones. Back when Jeff Jones and Berni Wrightson were sharing an art
studio, Berni would frequently draw Louise in his work. Her most notable
appearance was on the cover of the House of Secrets comic (#92, I think)
which featured the first appearance of the Swamp Thing.
---A. T. Campbell---
(atc@ut-sally)