Cyberspace Comics market report, reviews and more

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Amalgam Comics
Cover Date: April 1996
Cover Price: $1.95
Writer: Karl Kesel
Artist: Mike Wieringo

When the DC and Marvel Universes merged in Marvel vs DC, a new one was created: the Amalgam Universe. This one-shot combined Superboy with Spider-Man.

The not-quite-fully developed clone of Super-Soldier developed gravity powers that allowed him to stick to walls – clearly, Spiderboy was an appropriate name for this young hero. Now he’s out to save the city from villains like Bizarnage (a combination of Bizarro & Carnage) and King Lizard (the Lizard & Killer Croc). But, none of that can prepare him for the scariest thing a teenager can face – a date with Mary Jane Watson the Insect Queen!

Kesel manages to cram in an origin story, two separate battles, plenty of cameos from other characters (including amalgamations created from the FF, Dock Ock and more) and a last page shocker. Wieringo‘s art is dynamic, bright, Crisp and fun – always a treat to behold. But, somehow with all of that great stuff mixed in, it just feels like too much. And, perhaps that’s really the root of the problem. All the story elements shoved into this one-shot could really have been expanded into a year’s worth of story-telling and the book definitely suffers from this attempt at over-achievement.

On Ebay: Amalgam | Karl Kesel | Mike Wieringo
On AtomicAvenue: Amalgam Comics

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: December 2008
Cover Price: $3.99
Writer: Alan Davis
Artist: Alan Davis

Four thousand years ago, Volstagg the Voluminous inadvertently fell through a mystic gateway controlled by Nedra, Queen of Jotunheim. The gateway transported him to Egypt, where he was captured by the natives in order to be sacrificed to a giant griffin. To save their friend, Thor, Fandral and Hogun have to battle against Pharaoh Neb-Maat‘s forces of soldiers, mutates as well as the afore-mentioned griffin. The battle results in a storm that bring life to this drought-ridden country and reveals the mystery of the Sphinx itself.

Alan Davis delivers a double-sized tale in the spirit of classic silver-age and bronze-age Thor stories. His drawings continue to display his excellent and unique style and his inclusion of the Warriors Three alongside Thor in this adventure was much appreciated. There’s plenty of action to be had as well as a fun theory behind the mystery of the Sphinx. To top it all off, he included cameos by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as modern-day Egyptologists.

On Ebay: Thor | Alan Davis

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Oni Press
Cover Date: August 2000
Cover Price: $2.95
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Judd Winick

After the death of his older brother in a tragic car accident, Jason needed to travel across the country to identify the body. Unfortunately, airline prices were extremely costly on such short notice so he decided to drive … and his sister came with. On their cross country road trip, the siblings experience a strange-looking waitress, a kind police officer and a lot of bonding time. But it’s the kind of bonding time you’re used to with close family. Plenty of poking fun at each other. Sharing great memories. And, as you’d expect in a situation like this, plenty of tears.

This is one of Judd Winick’s earliest stories but it’s written with such strong emotions that you’d swear he’d been doing this for years! The dialogue is certainly for mature audiences but it’s very realistic and sucks you right into these two characters’ lives, emotions, thoughts and personalities. They conjure up great, fun memories – and true heartbreak – all with strong emotions that you’ll certainly be able to relate to. Sure, the names, faces and situations will be different in your own life but, the feelings behind them will be the same. This is the kind of story that’ll make you want to call up that distant relative or friend and play catch up.

On Ebay: Judd Winick

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: July 2000
Cover Price: $2.25
Writer: Karl Kesel
Artist: Paul Smith

In 2000, Marvel published a series of one-shots that revealed what Marvel Comics would be like in the Marvel Universe.

During a picnic in the park, the ground opens up underneath the Fantastic Four, revealing a machine that will continue to create earthquakes intended to drop Manhattan into the ocean. The machine belongs to the Mole Man, who’s always waging war against the surface world. But, this time he’s got help – it’s a regular, old-fashioned super-villain team-up! That’s right, Mole Man and Namor the Sub-Mariner have joined forces to strike a blow against the surface dwellers. Naturally, it’s up to our heroes to defeat them … cue up Ben Grimm’s “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” battlecry.

I suppose the concept of imagining what Marvel Comics would be like in the Marvel Universe is kind of unnecessary, when it comes to the FF. After all, they’re extremely public figures. I’ve found that the most fun comes from this concept when it’s about a character that the public doesn’t know too much about (Spider-Man or the X-Men, for example). So, how did Marvel make up for the fact that this story could easily be set within the mainstream Marvel Universe? Well, they took the pitchline of “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” and put an accent on the magazine part. Interrupting the story are some neat, one-page “articles” focusing on things like a guide to Unstable Molecules, Ben Grimm’s exercise routine, Sue’s photo album, fan art, and more. These fun little shorts add much more appeal to this one-shot than the actual story but not enough to make me excited enough to give it a strong recommendation.

On Ebay: Marvels Comics | Fantastic Four | Tony Isabella | Karl Kesel

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Amalgam Comics
Cover Date: April 1996
Cover Price: $1.95
Writer: Howard Mackie with James Felder
Artist: Salvador Larroca

When the DC and Marvel Universes merged in Marvel vs DC, a new one was created: the Amalgam Universe. This one-shot combined Ghost Rider with Etrigan the Demon.

Night Spectre‘s nefarious goal of collecting the Souls of Power is nearing its fruition. His plan to gather humans of great purity or corruption have stolen Blaze Allen’s girl, Iris, from him in the past. This led Blaze to bond with the demon, Etrigan, to become the Speed Demon. Now, he’s out to stop Night Spectre from collecting the last Soul of Power from Harvey Osborne, the Green Goblin! To make matters a bit more interesting, to help Blaze, Merlin has created a new Speed Demon in Blaze’s nephew, Wally. But, who’s the demon bonded with Wally?

This is a pretty fun supernatural super-hero storyline although it’s a bit heavy on the exposition at times. The artwork is superb but Speed Demon’s rhyming dialogue gets annoying quickly. The addition of a second Speed Demon was a nice tribute to the “legacy hero” nature of both Ghost Rider and the Flash (who’s mythos is also heavily involved in this amalgamation). Two things have me intrigued here: (1) Etrigan’s past is hinted at having some neat importance (2) The question of which demon is bonded with Wally is also interesting. Especially since it’s suggested that it might even be the Night Spectre, himself.

On Ebay: Amalgam | Howard Mackie | Salvador Larroca
On AtomicAvenue: Amalgam Comics

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Date: November 1996
Cover Price: $3.95
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Chris Marrinan

There’s trouble brewing in Chicago! Dr. Brainard is assembling his group of Anomalous-Americans – no doubt for some evil plot. Specimen Q is one of Brainard’s past experiments and he’s come to Chicago to find the person responsible for trapping him within a full-body suit of armor. However, a rampaging creature in armor doesn’t go unnoticed in a big city and he’s soon attacked by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, later, by the Savage Dragon. Fortunately, the Savage Dragon is powerful enough to knock loose some of the armor revealing Specimen Q is … Destroyer Duck!

The Savage Dragon eventually learns that Destroyer Duck means the city no harm and he takes him along for a trade-off (an electronic sitar for the Ringmaster’s hypnotic disc) that’s going down in a shady warehouse. Once there, the duo gets embroiled in a mix-up with the Elf (from Gerber’s run on the Defenders), Spider-Man, some members of the Circus of Crime and Howard the Duck, himself (along with Beverly). In order to create confusion, the Elf summons thousands of ducks – utter chaos! However, the Dragon manages to make the trade and Destroyer Duck grabs Howard and Beverly – escaping the manic warehouse.

They discover that the electronic sitar is one of Brainard’s devices – instrumental in his bid for power, which is being challenged by the Vicious Circle (another group of super-villains). So, the Dragon and Destroyer Duck throw themselves in the middle of this battle between super-villain teams but no one is able to stop Brainard’s escape. After the turmoil, Dragon & DD enter Howard & Bev into the Witness Protection Program with their new looks and identities (Leonard & Rhonda Martini) and send them off to Buffalo, New York.

Story-wise, this team-up is lacking. There seems to be too much thrown in to it, making it a bit unfocused. Yeah – there are some super-teams battling … but the warehouse trade-off seems like a random event thrown into the plot. And, well, it kind of is. But, it’s really the most important part. Again, with Destroyer Duck books, it’s all about the story-behind-the-story. This warehouse scene interacts with Spider-Man Team-Up #5 (featuring Spidey & Howard the Duck), which shows the same scene from another angle. But, this “kidnapping” of Howard from the Marvel Universe was Gerber’s way of saying that he got Howard out of Marvel and left them with a soulless shell. His way of sticking it to the man, if you will. The backmatter of this book contains writings from Erik Larsen & Steve Gerber that explain this “unofficial crossover” and the motivations behind it much better than I ever could. But, I’d only recommend this to any fan of Gerber, Howard or creator’s rights.

On Ebay: Destroyer Duck | Steve Gerber | Savage Dragon

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: November 2010
Cover Price: $3.99
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: Mark Brooks, Ray Height
Cover Artist: Skottie Young

The Service Organization of Philanthropic Individuals, or S.O.O.Ph.I., has brainwashed the Mayor of New York City (J. Jonah Jameson), Beverly and Howard the Duck into joining their cause. They intend to spread their influence over the millions of NYC residents but Spider-Man‘s not too keen on that notion. So, he manages to snap Howard back to reality and it’s up to our duo to rescue the City from S.O.O.Ph.I.’s evil plans.

There’s nothing deep going on here. There isn’t any big twist or even all that much biting social commentary that Howard books were originally laced with by the late, great Steve Gerber. But, there is an air of fun and adventure here. A spotlight on Howard is always welcome in my book – even if it needs to be shared by Spider-Man in order to get more people to buy it. And, when that spotlight is so obviously filtered through a warm regard for Steve Gerber and his importance to Howard (and other creations), I appreciate it even more. Adding to the Gerber tribute is a Man-Thing back-up feature.

On Ebay: Marvels Comics | Howard the Duck | Stuart Moore

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: July 2000
Cover Price: $2.25
Writer: Tony Isabella
Artist: Eddy Newell

In 2000, Marvel published a series of one-shots that revealed what Marvel Comics would be like in the Marvel Universe.

A supernatural vigilante stalks the night, searching for the crime boss know as the Warlord. Armed with ‘the Sight’ – the psychic power that allows the demon Cleombrontos to expose the true essence of any man – Daredevil questions shady characters looking for the crimelord. But, this is no ordinary demon that inhabits our hero. Certainly not! Cleombrontos caught a glimpse of heaven and at that moment, vowed to do whatever he could to earn a place there. So, using stuntman James Fyre as a host, the two have waged a war on crime in New York City.

In a bold move, the Warlord kidnaps one of Fyre’s friends – luring the hero right to his door. However, he and his forces weren’t expecting a two-pronged attack from Fyre and the demon. And, with ‘the Sight’ turned on him, the Warlord goes mad with the knowledge of where he will be spending eternity.

At the time this comic was released, Daredevil’s identity had yet to be leaked to the public. So, comic creators in the Marvel Universe had little knowledge of the urban vigilante, Daredevil and how he operated. So, embellishing on his acrobatic skills they assigned him a secret identity as a stuntman. They also expounded upon his unknown-to-them Catholic faith by incorporating a reformed demon into his war on crime.

The true fun of this concept is when it’s about a hero that the public in the Marvel Universe wouldn’t be able to know about – so the writers would then have to make up most of the story to fill in the missing blanks. This issue is a shining example of it. At its heart, you’ve got basically the same concept as the real Daredevil – an urban vigilante. But it’s neat to see the character approached from a whole new supernatural angle. I think I would have appreciated a more developed villain than a regular crime boss but, I suppose there’s only so much ground you can cover in one issue. This concept certainly has a lot more that could be done with it in the future but unfortunately, a re-visitation is quite unlikely – so don’t hold your breath.

On Ebay: Marvels Comics | Daredevil | Tony Isabella | Eddy Newell

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Amalgam Comics
Cover Date: April 1996
Cover Price: $1.95
Writer: Gerard Jones
Artist: Jeff Matsuda

When the DC and Marvel Universes merged in Marvel vs DC, a new one was created: the Amalgam Universe. This one-shot combined Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants with the Metal Men.

Erik Magnus and his brother Will Magnus have differing idealogies when it comes to mixing mutants with humans. Armed with magnetic mutants powers and operating under the name Magneto, Eric began to gather a team of mutants together. His brother, Will, took a different approach, creating Sentinels that would hunt down and exterminate all of mutantkind.

Will’s first batch of Sentinels slaughtered Magneto’s original Brotherhood of Mutants. Later, Magneto took some of his brother’s robots and enhanced them with his mutant powers to create the Magnetic Men! Now the war continues between the Magnetic Men (Antimony, Bismuth, Cobalt, Iron and Nickel) and Will’s most powerful Sentinel, Sinistron! And, the fate of thousands of mutants on the island nation of Genosha hangs in the balance.

X-Men fans have seen this battle hundreds of times before. Someone thinks mutants should mix with humans. Someone else thinks they shouldn’t. BAM! Instead battle! But, it’s always fun to see Magneto on the side of good (this was one of the appeals of the Age of Apocalypse). That story slant mixed with the fun of the Metal Men and Jeff Matsuda’s great, dynamic artwork made this an enjoyable read. I wouldn’t mind some more adventures of these magnetic men and their creator.

On Ebay: Amalgam | Gerard Jones | Jeff Matsuda | Magneto | Metal Men
On AtomicAvenue: Amalgam Comics

Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!

Publisher: Marvel Comics & Wildstorm
Cover Date: 2001
Cover Price: $5.95
Writer: Kevin Maguire
Artist: Kevin Maguire

On their visit to New York City, the Gen 13 team makes the mistake of leaving their transdimensional pet, Qeelocke, locked in their hotel room while they go off to explore the city. Meanwhile, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four detects the sudden appearance of an alien presence in the Atlantic Ocean – he and his wife leave the Baxter Building to investigate. Back at the hotel, the existence of this alien being sends Qeelocke into a frenzy as he escapes the hotel room. With the aid of Spider-Man, the Human Torch is able to capture Qeelocke and bring him back to the Baxter Building. Imprisoned at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, the Torch and Thing notice that Qeelocke’s green hair body has begun to grow – and will soon outgrow his cage!

When the Gen 13 team catches wind that a little green monster was captured by the FF, they rush to the Baxter Building to rescue their pal. This leads to the inevitable team vs team battle that’s to be expected from crossovers like this. Of course, this ultimately leads to both teams coming together to stop the larger problem. The larger problem? Well it’s really large. The previously unkown alien presence that Reed and Sue went to find has surfaced in New York City – and it’s Godzilla-sized. But, so is Qeelocke, by now – and the two huge monsters charge towards each other to GET IT ON! Literally …. :-p

These inter-company crossovers are often plagued with the same issues. First of all, neither can truly be set within continuity. In this case, Fairchild recalls that some of Reed Richards’ research/work had been used to create the Gen Active Program. But, if this were the case, it opens up a whole ton of continuity issues between the Marvel and Wildstorm universes. So, we’ll say this one’s not canon. The next problem is that they always have the two teams fight each other until they discover they’re all “on the same side”. So, the story’s usually formulaic and the creator has to find some kind of hook to distinguish it. The hook this time around was the involvement of two skyscraper-sized monsters building towards a confrontation. However the real fun was in the twist at the end and Kevin Maguire’s art (his wonderful ability to create great facial expressions). But, even with those factors in mind, this prestige format book wouldn’t warrant a re-read in the near-future.

On Ebay: Fantastic Four | Gen 13 | Kevin Maguire