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: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: July 2010
Cover Price: $3.99
Writer: Adam Warren
Artist: Hector Sevilla Lujan

Consumed with the same insatiable hunger as her father, Galacta lives on Earth and has chosen not to eat it or any of its natural inhabitants. To satisfy her diet, she uses her cosmic awareness and high-tech gadgets to seek out non-native organisms. Things on the menu include Kree Thermophile Lithometallovores, Skrull Bacteria, alien wardrones from the Cambrian-Era and Kronan Stone-Men. However, the problem is exacerbated when Galacta discovers a hungry organism inside of her that she identifies as a cosmic tapeworm!

On her continual quest for sustenance (for herself and now the tapeworm, as well), she encounters heroes like Wolverine and the Fantastic Four. Each new adventure inspires possible ideas on how to sate her hunger. Could she continually feast on Wolverine as he continued to regenerate? Perhaps Thor might lead her to enormous hunger-sating meals made up of the World Serpent or Mjolnir itself? Finally, she travels to the Baxter Building to learn the whereabouts of the Ultimate Nullifier. In a desperate plea, she risks oblivion itself – hoping that the Nullifer can remove the parasite without killing her – knowing the chances of her surival are slim to none. Is there anyone powerful enough to stop such a powerful cosmic entity from killing herself? And, what is this cosmic parasite anyway?

Galacta debuted in 2009’s Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular alongside a number of other features. Readers were allowed to vote on which feature would go on to get it’s own stand-alone one-shot and that honor was given to Galacta, the Daughter of Galacta. This is certainly an ambitious, double-sized comic. The art is great, energetic and shiny but the story utilizes very little dialogue. It’s moved along via a combination of excerpts from Galacta’s Twitter account and the lengthy, unanswered messages sent to her absentee father. The character herself is high-concept, as well – a curious mix of an all-powerful, highly intelligent being with the ramblings of a tech-oriented teenager. A teenager with established morals and a drive to stick by them! As a Marvel continuity buff and a huge Galactus fan, I can’t imagine that this tale can be considered a part of Marvel mainstream canon but with that firmly in mind, it was an enjoyable and well-conceived story.

On Ebay: Galactus | Adam Warren

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: Peter David
Artist: Ron Frenz (first half); Mark Bagley (second half)
Cover Artist: John Romita, Sr.

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

In an attempt to thwart Doctor Doom’s plan to travel back in time to eliminate all of the super-heroes, Rick Jones is stranded back in WWII. He’s saved from a squad of Nazi soldiers by Captain America and Bucky. Unfortunately, none of them can prevent Baron Zemo’s ambush that leads to Bucky’s death! With Bucky Barnes’ blessing, Rick Jones assumes the mantle of Cap’s sidekick and the pair travel to Rathskeller Castle to avenge the young hero.

At the castle, the duo is defeated by numerous robots. Our heroes are then strapped to a missile aimed at London and operated by Baron Zemo and the Red Skull. Once freed of their bonds, the new Bucky desperately tries to set the missile off course (just as it happened in the Marvel Universe we know) as Cap plummets into the ocean. However, this time around, Rick Jones’ granddaughter manages to get the time travel mechanism working again … transporting him to the White House in the year 2030 to find the President of the United States is … ?!

The concept is certainly an interesting one but because Captain America is such a public hero in the Marvel Universe, not much of his history is left up to guesswork. Sure, they’ve concoted the secret identity of Roger Stephenson and dark hair … but the true essence of the character is still intact. It was cool to see Rick Jones inserted into the famous Bucky death scene only to be snatched away at the last moment to a future world where Cap needs his help yet again to battle the Red Skull.

Peter David easily channels classic Cap comics with this story and Ron Frenz’s art captures the silver age style (utilizing an interesting mix of Kirby and Romita styles). Stepping up the intensity, Bagley’s Cap is superbly rendered and to top it off, we’ve got a Cap cover drawn by a comic legend: John Romita, Sr. But, as cool as the art is, the cliffhanger at the end isn’t really all that unbelievable and once again, our hero’s rushing off to stop the Red Skull (which we’ve only seen about a hundred times).

On Ebay: Marvels Comics | Captain America | Peter David | Ron Frenz | Mark Bagley

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: Larry Hama
Artist: Jim Balent

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

The Huntress (Huntress/Ms. Marvel) stumbles across Dark Claw‘s true identity while snooping around his Gotham penthouse. But, before she can do anything with the information, she’s thust into a team-up with the hero and his sidekick Sparrow (Robin/Jubilee) to stop the Hyena (Joker/Sabretooth) from killing Bill Clinton, the President of the United States of America, by filling Air Force One with poisonous gas. It ends with the President saved and the Hyena on the run.

This is a pretty straight-forward hero vs villain storyline. No real twist or hook to go on, except for the fact that the main character is a combination of two of the most popular characters in pop-culture. We get a taste of Dark Claw & Hyena’s shared origin but not much else to keep this book all that interesting. Although, Jim Balent’s artwork is great to look at, as always.

On Ebay: Amalgam | Larry Hama | Jim Balent | Batman | Wolverine
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: May 2002
Cover Price: $2.99
Writer: Todd Dezago
Artist: Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary; second half by Ivan Reis & Randy Emberlin

In a bid to take over New York City, Bonham and his insectoid-vampire clan blow up a bomb underneath the city. The explosion derails two subway cars; each of them happen to have a super-hero on board: the Thing in one, and She-Hulk in the other. It also reaches an underground lab owned by Roxxon and led by Dr. Jonas Harrow in an attempt to create an army of synthezoids. The captured synthezoid that he’s studying? That’d be Dragon Man! And, did I say captured? Well, that explosion sets him free.

So, once the Thing and She-Hulk meet up in the subway tunnels they’re caught in a big battle with Dragon Man and Roxxon. On top of that, both parties find themselves under siege by a swarm of insectoid-vampires! And, if they can’t stop them, they’re headed topside to feast on NYC.

For a double-sized issue like this, not much really seems to happen. It features some art by Bryan Hitch (who’s pretty well-regarded these days) but it looks kind of sloppy to me (although his cover is great!). And, as much as I really enjoy the Thing and Dragon Man … this story kind of fell flat for me. There’s plenty of action here but no characterization to give the book any kind of backbone. The book’s ingredients have plenty of potential but unfortunately it just didn’t reach it this time around.

On Ebay: the Thing | She-Hulk | Dragon Man | Todd Dezago | Bryan Hitch

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: Big Bad World Productions
Cover Date: 1999
Cover Price: $3.00
Writer: Jim Krueger
Artist: Phil Hester

In 1933 London, a young boy plants an idea in Ian Fleming‘s mind. Nine years later, that idea has come to its fruition in the form of the Fly Boys – a squad of British soldiers armed with flying suits. The story follows the group on a recon mission over Castle Ausblick. However, everything doesn’t go as planned and the Fly Boys find themselves attacked by the Germans, who are hoping to capture the Fly Boy technology for themselves.

Well, this is certainly a unique comic book. It’s laid out in the “wide-screen” style and only has 12 story pages. There are no ads but it includes four pages of sketches accompanied by writings from Krueger about the idea behind Fly Boys. Plot-wise, it’s a neat bit of retro-fitting WWII history with some nifty flying technology but the book fails to establish much else. Although, to be fair, we’re only working with 12 pages, here. As always, Phil Hester‘s art is seemingly basic at first but the more you study it, the more you unravel. Krueger could have something cool on his hands here but, 12 pages of story is just not enough to hook me.

On Ebay: Fly Boys | Jim Krueger | Phil Hester

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, AAA Pop Comics
Cover Date: April 2003
Cover Price: $2.99
Writer: Mike Allred
Artist: J. Bone

Frank Einstein (Madman) discovers his beatnik pal Jack Pomade (Mr. Gum of the Atomics) homeless and ridden with amnesia on the streets of Snap City. He brings Mr. Gum to Dr. Gillespie Flem, who restores his memories via a drinkable concoction. Now, Mr. Gum remembers that he was drugged by William Shriner (VP of his father’s candy business), along with all of the other employees at the company in the hopes of winning the beautiful Daisy. So, Mr. Gum sets out to take down the dastardly villain with the help of his teammates, the Atomics. With Shriner subdued, the company’s employees are released from their stupor and Mr. Gum is given a wonderful opportunity to reunite with his estranged father.

Here’s a heart-warming tale in the style of the Silver Age of comics-storytelling. There’s colorful super-heroes, a brewing romance, family tenderness and a not-so-extremely-evil-to-the-core villain with a “whacky” weapon designed to help him get his way. There’s nothing new here in the way of super-heroics but if you enjoy classic super-hero stories, this one’s for you.

On Ebay: Atomics | Mike Allred | J. Bone

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 and Mark Waid
Artist: Howard Porter

When the DC and Marvel Universes merged in Marvel vs DC, a new one was created: the Amalgam Universe. This one-shot combined the Justice League with the X-Men.

The mutant members of the Judgment League Avengers left to join a new team led by Mr. X. The current team includes:

• Apollo (Cyclops & the Ray)
• Nightcreeper (Nightcrawler & the Creeper)
• Runaway (Rogue & Gypsy)
• Firebird (Jean Grey & Fire)
• Mercury (Quicksilver & Impulse)
• Wraith (Gambit & Obsidian)

 
The JLX embroils themselves in a deadly battle to free Mariner (the first mutant, an Atlantean/human hybrid; a combo of Sub-Mariner & Aquaman) from imprisonment by the JLA. Once freed, they hope that Mariner will lead them to Atlantis (the birthplace of mutant-kind). But, once they finally get there, they find it all but abandoned. Although they discover someone beat them there. Someone who wants them and all mutants dead: William Magnus. Armed with his Sentinels, Magnus intends to wipe out mutant-kind, starting with the JLX. Naturally, our heroes aren’t going to let that happen but, before they send Magnus and his mutant-killing robots packing, Mr. X‘s true identity is revealed! Finally, with the threat removed, the JLX are now free to discover the secret of why the Atlanteans deserted their city and where they’ve gone.

This book’s got colorful, dynamic art, action, politics, more action and mystery going for it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer much room to develop the eight main characters and I was certainly interested to learn more about Nightcreeper. The book unveils a secret identity and motivation behind Mr. X and leaves a new mystery to be unveiled but it doesn’t really leave me with much desire to actually care about the fate of the Atlanteans. And, truth-be-told, the JLA look like a very cool team and I think I’d actually rather have read a story about them instead.

On Ebay: Amalgam | Gerard Jones | Mark Waid | Howard Porter | JLA | X-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: Epic Comics
Cover Date: 1992
Cover Price: $2.50
Writer: Katsuhiro Otomo
Artist: Katsuhiro Otomo

Three pilots uncover a signal in deep space and are lured in by its mysterious call. Nearing the beacon’s source, they find a rose-shaped conglomeration consisting of abandoned ships. Inside, the astronauts are greeted by familiar objects and met by AI servants. Continuing their journey, they discover the ship’s secret as a magnetic storm unleashes the AI servants against them! Can they escape before becoming part of this rose-shaped “ghost ship”?

This story holds an incredible sense of wonder and mystery. Told from the perspective of the investigators, we discover everything as they do. Without any previous knowledge, speculation runs wild as to the true origin of the rose-shaped hulk. The art is a great combination of manga with “western sensibilities” and the ending is wonderfully open-ended allowing the reader to make his own determination. My only complaint is that the one-shot format is not nearly enough to deepen the investigation, missing a chance at increasing the sense of mystery.

On Ebay: Katsuhiro Otomo

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: October 1994
Cover Price: $2.95
Writer: Andy Mangels
Artist: Gabe Alberola

In a curious blend of flashback and dream sequence, Mr. Gone transports Julie and the Maxx back to Victorian England where he’s been killing woman and been dubbed Jack the Ripper. Bouncing in and out of England and the Outback, the Maxx is teamed with the Victorian-Age Troll (who’s existed for centuries) as they try to stop Gone from murdering his next victim: Julie Winters. The villain beats a hasty retreat … but his killing spree has come to end.

Andy Mangels has woven a fun little time-travel/dream story that leaves you guessing whether Gone really was Jack the Ripper OR if this was all some elaborate lifelike fantasy he concocted. Unfortunately, the interior art by Gabe Alberola doesn’t quite live up to Chap Yaep‘s exquisitely detailed cover art but, it’s certainly not terrible. From the cover, I only expected a minor appearance by the Maxx but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Maxx (as well as his mythos and supporting characters) was an extremely important part of this storyline. In fact, the title should have been named Troll/Maxx … and, had it included an indication of them fighting Jack the Ripper, I’m sure it would have sold even more on its release date.

On Ebay: Maxx | Troll | Andy Mangels

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 2009
Cover Price: $3.99
Writer: David Liss
Artist: Jason Armstrong
Cover Artist: Clint Langley

In 2009, Marvel Comics published 70th anniversary specials for ongoing titles they had released way back in 1939 when they were known as Timely Comics.

In an interview in the present time, the Phantom Reporter recalled his origin from 1939. Dick Jones had the best of luck! His wealthy parents encouraged him to follow his dream of being a reporter. His colleagues and boss allowed him to quickly work his way up the ranks and an important story quickly changed his life. He began to uncover a murder investigation that led to some very corrupt dealings by a wealthy and powerful businessman named Oswald Chancellor. Chancellor owned a pharmaceutical company and when a scientist discovered the secret to eternal life, he had the man killed and the formula stolen. He used the formula on himself, giving him five times the strength and density of a normal man. Jones, delving deeper and deeper into the investigation, donned a mask to protect his identity. Although, as powerful as Chancellor was, it was easy for him to uncover the Phantom Reporter’s true identity. Ultimately, the formula led to Chancellor’s death (in a roundabout way) but the event taught Jones about the important balance between his job as an ace reporter and his life as a vigilante.

David Liss‘ first comic story is a wonderful pulpish crime thriller. He adds plenty of depth to a one-dimensional golden-age character who hasn’t seen much limelight in the past 70 years. Liss also delves into the character’s origin and creates a story that makes it seem plausible how this man would go from a reporter to a masked vigilante. In contrast to the well-crafted story is Armstrong’s sketchy, unfinished style. I suppose some may feel that it goes well with the pulp story but, when I compare it to the excellent cover provided by Clint Langley, the interior artwork comes up short.

To round out this great comic book experience, they’ve included a pin-up, artist sketches and an afterward by Liss. There’s also a full-color reprint of the Phantom Reporter’s first appearance from Daring Mystery Comics #3, which was originally published in April 1940.

On Ebay: Phantom Reporter | David Liss | Jason Armstrong | 70th Anniversary Special