Here's the Link:
https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/maxpocalypse
I was on Goodreads, but ever since my wife started reading on her Kindle with our shared Amazon account, that got all messed up :)
So, if you wanna follow we somewhere that isn't Google-based, and is about reading, drop me a line over there, eh?
Two comics I read today:
Charlton Bullseye #5 (1982)
This was kind of a "spotlight" or "try-out" series published during the dying days of Charlton, and here we have what is certainly the one and only appearance of "Warhund!"
I'm not familiar with the work of Bradd Mielke, who wrote this story, but I was definitely aware of the artist, one "Chaz" Truog.
I did find an interview with Chaz in which he mentions that he and Bradd worked on a science fiction comic strip for their college newspaper, but other than this issue of Bullseye and one "X-Men" parody, both of which he partnered with Chaz on, I could find no other trace of mister Mielke in the comics industry.
Bradd's work here doesn't necessarily justify that disappearance; it's not bad at all for a random one-shot produced at his surely young age back in the dawn of the 1980s. He likely just wandered off to better-paying horizons.
Bradd's writing is perhaps a bit rougher than Chaz's art here, but not massively so. It's a reasonably tight little tale of a barbarian prince who receives news of his father's imminent demise. Seeking to avenge what turns out to have been an assassination, Warhund discovers that his entire world is vastly different than he ever expected, and the story takes on a science-fictional flavor in what is a cool if somewhat clumsily delivered twist.
As I mentioned, young Truog's art is a little rough here, with much of the background detail being left to a sea of swirling colors or mists, but his style is still quite recognizable to those of us who discovered him less than a decade later in the pages of "Animal Man" alongside some guy called "Grant Morrison."
This was nothing I'd demand someone else take the time to read, but it was a fun little comic book with a couple of surprises between its funky-smelling covers.
 |
The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor #4 (1973)
From my beloved Charlton to my also-beloved Gold Key; no surprises here, eh?
Beneath the kick-ass cover painthing (likely by George Wildman), the also-kick-ass duo of writer Don Glut (whom I've met) and artist Jesse Santos (whom I've not) deliver two tales from the good Doc's files.
First up is the 16-Page "Seance at Spektor Manor," which involves Spektor and his "secretary" Lakota Rainflower directly, as young woman comes to the Doc's own home to have an emergency seance.
Seems all the firstborn in her family seem to die grisly deaths on their 21st birthday, and she happens to be have just turned 21...today!
She has somehow enlisted the aid and accompaniment of Elliot Kane, a psychic medium of some renown, and hopes that between Kane and the Doc that the her fatal family curse can finally be ended.
So, yes, they do that. I mean, imagine if they didn't. No, what I want to comment on here is that this story features some fine examples of Glut's early 70s well-intentioned attempts at being a bit progressive.
Lakota Rainflower has already been mentioned, and yes, she is the Doc's "secretary," but she also accompanies him on most every adventure and is never portrayed as a shrinking violet or helpless damsel. She's also, as her rather-on-the-nose name might tip you off to, a young woman of Native American descent. This is all quite ahead of its time, especially since Lakota does not speak broken English, nor does she utter any stereotypical catch-phrases or wear out-of-place "traditional" clothing. The narration here does let down the side a bit with lines like: "Lakota, with the perception of an Indian Scout..." and "Her blood, a mix of Sioux and Apache, raced!" But hey, it's the early 70s, and those words are all meant to be complimentary in context.
Also, Elliott Kane is an African-American gentleman, and his skills as a Medium are key to Spektor's success in this story. He also does not speak "jive turkey" or anything like that.
It's a great main story, and Jesse Santos' art is lush and amazing as always.
The 9-page backup, "Death Between Floors" follows the format of some "Dr. Graves" stories, where Spektor is merely relating a tale from his files that he was not directly involved in.
It's a fun little yarn that would fit nicely in Gold Key's "Boris Karloff" series, and can obliquely be summed up as "A thief, a hitman, and a werewolf walk into an elevator."
I haven't read an issue of this series that I've disliked yet!
And there you have it: I read some comics! Weird, eh?
Stuff I finished lately:
"Confess" by Rob Halford. Listened to the audio version, read by the Metal God himself. A very genuine, vulnerable, and eye-opening story taking Rob from his childhood in the English factory town of Walsall to the COVID lockdowns, and a small update added afterward. This did not disappoint.
"The Unwritten," by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. This, however, did disappoint in the long run. I launched (back) into this DC/Vertigo series on the app recently, and finished it on a weekend trip to Cape Cod. I used to wonder why this series wasn't spoken more highly of, and now I know why. Not only is the ending dragged out far too long, but the final handful of issues are completely wasted in a needless crossover with Bill Willingham's "Fables." Then the series took a break, and expected readers to come back for a 12-issue mini-series in order to read the actual ending. I'm not sure I've ever seen a creator-owned series so badly fumbled that wasn't simply cancelled before its time.
Today, my YouTube algorithm suggested this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_auvwzHqRk
It's a 4.5 minute animated trailer for a quirky, humorous "real world superhero" concept that has a lot going for it:
