Leviathan Dawn Sets the Stage and Howard the Duck Takes Wing!

Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 232, where we look at various comic books I own (and in some cases ones that I let get away), both new and old, often with a nostalgic leaning for those feelings of yesteryear. I hope you have as much fun reading about them as I had writing about these cool comics!

For each of the comic books I include here, I list the current secondary market pricing (except for of digital issues, which don’t have collectible value). This is according to the websites ComicBookRealm.com (CBR) and Zap-Kapow Comics (ZKC), using the comic book grading scale of 9.4 (if both sites have the same price, you’ll find just one price for that issue). Not all my comics meet that grade. Some are probably better, and some are certainly worse. But to simplify it, that’s the scale I use here. And remember, a comic book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And for those who enjoy the additional fun of knowing some of the more important issues in your collection, I recognize each Cool Comic that is listed in Key Collector Comics

Did you know that you can be a guest host for Cool Comics? It’s your chance to show off some of your favorite comics in your personal collection! Just pick any of your comics for inclusion (this blog is for all ages, so please keep that in mind), with a maximum of seven issues. Repeat guest hosts are permitted and encouraged. To submit your completed blog (or if you have any questions), write to edgosney62@gmail.com.

The Cool Comics In My Collection Facebook Group is a place where you can discuss the comics you love, your favorite titles, and the characters that keep you coming back for more. Also, creators are welcome to share news about what you are working on, including Kickstarter campaigns. And don’t forget the prizes. Yes, Cool Comics gives away cool prizes. Be sure and join today!

If you have any comments, please scroll to the bottom of the page to where it says, “Leave a Reply.” And now, Episode 232…

Cool Comics News!

Have you read a comic recently that you’re just itching to talk about? Now you can give us your take on this cool comic right here for all the Internet to see in our new feature, Cool Comics Reader Reviews! You don’t have to be a wordsmith (don’t worry, I’ll take care of the edits), but just enthusiastic enough to send me 500 words or less of the comic book you want to talk about, along with an image of the cover. Please keep in mind that we reserve the right to decide what will and won’t go in the blog, so keep the language clean, pick out a comic that won’t cause controversy (we try to have fun here!), and start tapping away on your keyboard. One more thing: though I try to find something cool in each comic I discuss, this is a reader review, so if you are disappointed with the direction or results of a comic, you can put it in your review (you’re also welcome to establish your own rating system, such as “6 out of 10 stars”). There’s no limit to how many reviews you can send (email them to edgosney62@gmail.com), but we’ll just publish them one at a time.

Your reviews can be informal like you’re addressing some friends, or fancy, as if you’re giving a report for work or school. The choice is yours. In this episode you’ll find our first Cool Comics Reader Review below, written by the excellent creator of LONGBOX JUNK!, Steve Baum. And now that we’ve gotten started, I hope to see your reviews in my email box soon!

Cool Comics Battle of the Week!

Your Cool Comics Battle of the Week is Howard the Duck versus Marvin Martian! What do you think would happen if they faced each other in a titanic tussle, and how do you see the winner achieving victory? Let us know in the comments section below.

Cool Comics Creations!

This episode we welcome back the fun art of Ed Griffie, a lifelong comic book fan who started drawing Kawaii and Chibi style versions of pop culture icons and superheroes about five years ago. Ed’s creation is Superhost (Marty Sullivan), a former on-air personality in Cleveland, Ohio, who made an appearance at Akron Comicon in November. This is a great tribute to Marty, who passed away February 21, 2020, at age 87.

You can check out Ed’s full catalog of work at toonist27.deviantart.com, or contact him at edgriffiejr@gmail.com to commission an original piece of your very own.

You can have a piece of your art featured right here in Cool Comics Creations! Just send an electronic file in an email featuring one of your drawings, whether you’re a professional or amateur, (it can be just pencils, or inks too…or full color if you prefer) or a picture of a craft or sculpture that you’ve done, and as long as it’s family friendly (and not controversial…let’s try to keep this fun), you’ll be a part of an upcoming Cool Comics episode. We also want your name and any other background information you want to provide, such as a website or a way you can be contacted about your art (who knows, maybe someone will make you an offer for the original!). And then email it to edgosney62@gmail.com.

Cool Comics In My Collection

Contemporary Cool Comics

#1178 — Leviathan Dawn #1, DC, April 2020.

Last summer DC Comics brought us Event Leviathan, which saw Leviathan take out A.R.G.U.S, the D.E.O., S.H.A.D.E., Task-Force X, the League of Assassins, Kobra Kult…well, you get the picture. It’s a nasty organization that believes it’s doing the right thing (don’t they always?). But who or what is Leviathan? It seems it’s both an organization (that was originally started by Talia al Ghul) and the name of their new leader. Did you read it last summer? Are you going to, but haven’t gotten around to it yet? If you would rather be surprised, stop reading…I mean it, because I’m about to reveal that Leviathan is none other than former Manhunter, Mark Shaw! And as Leviathan Dawn shows us, things are far from over. This is the lead-in to a new mini-series called Event Leviathan: Checkmate, which starts next month. And while I really enjoyed this issue and the assorted people involved (The Hunter, The Colonel, The Arrow, The Truth…Lois Lane, The Wild Card…Talia, The King, The Question, and The Bones), I won’t be reading this next series (unless someone else wants to pay for it!). The cover price of Leviathan Dawn #1 is $4.99, while the current value is $5.

#1179 — Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1, Marvel, April 2020.

When it comes to comic books (what else would we be talking about here?), which do you like best, the art or the words? Maybe it’s a little of both, the perfect blend of words and art telling a story. Many people tend to have their favorites when it comes to creative teams, and some people can’t stand certain writers or artists. We like what we like. I read a lot of stuff, and I see words in comics as serving an important purpose. But sometimes part of a tale is told just through the pictures. I’m sure you’ve seen movies or TV shows in which there are scenes with no dialogue. And we see it in comics too, over a few panels. But Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost, which is a 40-page comic, has just 4 pages with words (except for those little intro pages all the X-books use). Yep, lots and lots of silent storytelling in this one. It’s something I’m not used to or very comfortable with. In one sense it was cool, but in another, you finish and think to yourself that you paid too much for a comic that took 3 minutes to read. Maybe for some people it took 5 minutes as they contemplated the images longer than I did. So, it’s a cool comic, but still, did I pay too much for this? If you read it, what are your thoughts? The cover price of Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1 is $4.99, while the current value is $5.

Cool Comics from the Quarter Bin

#1180 — Howard the Duck #4, Marvel, July 1976.

When we read a Howard the Duck comic book, are we intentionally thinking about it being a social satire and keeping a watchful eye out for moments of parody, or are we simply reading it to have fun and remember that…well, it was the Seventies? Obviously we all read with different perspectives because we are unique individuals, but I think most of us can agree that Howard is just plain fun, regardless of whether we’re learning about how random life can be sometimes and that, just like the duck, each of us are “trapped in a world” we never made. Okay, enough philosophy, for Peter Parker’s sake (yes, this works here, because Spider-Man makes an appearance in Howard the Duck #1), we’re talking about a comic book that features a duck interacting with humans. The movie may have bombed, but the comic was around for several years, and Howard still pops up every now and then, even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This issue has some fun, silly moments with a sleep walker fighting crime and referring to himself as “Winky-Man.” I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear the name Wee Willie Winkie I think about Bullwinkle. The cover price of Howard the Duck #4 is 25¢, while the current value is $14.

FCBD the Cool Comics Way (Week 44)

#1181 — Zagor: The Alien Saga, Epicenter Comics, May 2019.

Have you ever read any of the adventures of Zagor? I certainly hadn’t until this Free Comic Book Day issue. Thanks to Epicenter Comics, these original Italian adventures are being translated, and I for one really had fun with this exciting tale of aliens attempting to take over the planet! It reminded me a bit of Flash Gordon stories, so if you’re in that camp, hopefully you were able to find a copy of this on FCBD. And as it turns out, the company has been publishing collections for a few years now, so fans can continue to enjoy these comics that are finally being translated into English. Interestingly enough, the Wikipedia entry reveals that Zagor has a big fan base in other countries such as Coatia, Serbia, Turkey, Greece, and a few other nations. If you are the kind of reader who likes to try comics you’ve never read before, you may want to keep Zagor in mind. The cover price of Zagor: The Alien Saga is free, while the current value is $1.

Cool Comics Kids

#1182 — Looney Tunes #1, DC, April 1994.

Back in 1994, DC launched Looney Tunes #1, and it’s still being published today, which is a testament to the lasting power of these iconic characters. Many of you probably remember—with great fondness—watching the cartoons throughout your childhood, and some of you, I’m sure, remember your favorite episodes. This comic is done anthology style, featuring several stories and different characters, along with some activity pages for kids. Many of the comics we talk about here in Cool Comics Kids are part of the Looney Tunes crowd, and now that I’ve read a number of them, I’m really glad that I’ve found so many in quarter boxes. For those of you who are looking for comics that are appropriate for younger readers, Looney Tunes probably fits the bill. As in the cartoons, there is often some violence, but nothing so bad that a modern day Fredric Wertham might come after you! The cover price of Looney Tunes #1 is $1.50, while the current values are $4 on CBR and $3 on ZKC.

Cool Comics Classics

#1183 — Hands of the Dragon #1, Atlas/Seaboard, June 1975.

A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to pull out another Atlas/Seaboard comic, the company from the mid-Seventies with big dreams that, unfortunately, didn’t survive long. I’ve seen some comic fans online talk about low distribution being a factor in their failure, but I remember seeing them on the magazine racks way back when in my hometown of Martins Ferry, Ohio. But alas, Martin Goodman, who tried to find comic book glory once more after exiting Marvel, quickly crashed and burned. Interestingly enough, this comic line seems to have a nostalgic pull on many of us. Though I never laid a quarter on the counter for any of them, today I have over half of all the issues they published and hope to someday have the complete collection. And by now you’re wondering if I actually liked Hands of the Dragon, and the answer is a resounding YES! Twin babies saved by their grandfather, one gets scarred and ends up heading down the wrong path, later to face his twin in combat, while the brother that is our hero, Dragon, has an enchanted medallion that could make all the difference. Unfortunately, there is no second issue. The cover price of Hands of the Dragon #1 is 25¢, while the current value is $20. The Key Collector Comics value is $18.

Cool Collected Editions with Dr. Omnibus

Silver Surfer: Black, Treasury Edition

Dr. Omnibus score: 9.25 out of 10

Silver Surfer: Black was kind of a big deal when it was hitting shelves. I had read God Country by Donny Cates and thought it was good, not amazing. With that knowledge and from the few images I saw here and there, I wasn’t remarkably interested. Then one day, Amazon had a sale in which I could get the treasury edition of Silver Surfer: Black for $11 ($29.99 is the cover price). At that price—and that size—I just couldn’t pass it up.

The Book Itself

The physical dimensions of the treasury edition are 8.6-by-13.2 inches. To put that in perspective, a normal comic is 6.6-by-10.1 inches. That’s approximately 30% larger. With tons of full-page panels and double page spreads, this is the perfect book for this format. It has a coated soft cover which is very smooth to the touch, and it smells fantastic.

The Story

By Donny Cates

It will be very hard to talk about the story without major spoilers, but I will do my best. In this story, Surfer finds himself inside a black hole; I haven’t read the rest of Cates cosmic stuff, but I assume how he came to be there is explained in another book. While in this black hole, Surfer visits a couple of familiar characters of major significance in the Marvel Universe and undergoes some existential time travel stuff. Just ridiculously awesome and well put together. I wish I could say more, but feel anything more could potentially spoil it completely, so I will leave it at that.

The Art

As I mentioned, the covers and few panels I saw before I bought this book didn’t blow me away. But holy cow, this is a great example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The art is over the top trippy and many times reminded me of Salvador Dali type crazy stuff. The massive trim size lends itself to several full page and 2-page spreads, which result in some truly magnificent detail. The colors are initially what turned me off, but in the end, they are one of the best parts of Silver Surfer: Black. When you combine the nature of the story with this off the beaten path coloring, it just works.

The Gist

So far, this is my favorite comic I have read this year. A small part of that may be the result of the strong negative feelings I had towards it when I read it (something I will frequently talk about is how strongly I believe that a story that invokes strong emotions, good or bad, is better than one which does not). I co-wrote a story that shares a major element of this story. While I can prove that I wrote it before reading Silver Surfer: Black, publishing it as-is has become an undesirable venture. On the other hand, maybe seeing that a big name like Donny Cates having the same idea feels a bit like a pat on the back or validation.

The stunning art in its dramatic size, coupled with a deep story that redefines an old character, is a must read for everyone. Seriously, go read this book, not digitally, not in singles. Go buy the treasury edition.

Damian Starr is a long-time collector of comics who, in recent years, has converted his focus to reading—almost exclusively—trade paperbacks, hardcovers, and Omnibus editions. Additionally, he is a frequent contributor to the MCBCFA Play Network YouTube channel (check out his Dr. Omnibus playlists). To add one more layer to his geekery, he is an amateur comic author and co-founder of Illuminatus Comics.

Cool Comics Reader Reviews!

First, a bit of introduction. I’m Steve “Atom” Baum and I write comic reviews that nobody ever asked for. I don’t usually write reviews of new comics or comics that would be of interest to collectors for how much they are “worth.” To me, the “value” of a comic is in the enjoyment of it.

Most of the comics I review come straight from the bargain bins. The reviews I do are usually the first, last, and only reviews that have been, or will be, written about the comics at hand.

If you like what you see here, then join me on a journey through the forgotten depths of those dusty longboxes of dollar back issues in the rear of your local comic shop and visit my blog LONGBOX JUNK where you’ll discover HUNDREDS of reviews you never asked for!

And now an exclusive “Short, But Sweet” Longbox Junk Retro Review for the Cool Comics Crowd!

KORAK, SON OF TARZAN #39, GOLD KEY (1970)

“KORAK: THE JEWELS OF KARKAN” and “MABU, JUNGLE BOY: FASTER THAN CAMELS” 

WRITTEN BY: Gaylord Dubois
ART BY: Dan Spiegle
COVER BY: George Wilson

THE COVER:

Arachnophobes steer clear! In my opinion, Gold Key had some of the best comic covers to ever hit the stands, and this one is no exception. Another eye-catching cover by the prolific George Wilson.

THE STORY:

Two stories in this issue. . .

In the first, Korak finds himself in the hidden kingdom of Karkan saving a native girl and two European explorers from a mysterious cult intent on sacrificing their three prisoners to the gigantic spiders they worship as Gods!

In the second story, after Mabu rescues a young boy from dying of thirst in the desert, they must flee for their lives from a large band of raiders pursuing them on camels. They are saved by a flash flood and learn that water is faster than camels.

THE REVIEW: 

Of the two stories, I liked the first one a lot more. It has hidden temples, giant spiders, a damsel (actually, two damsels) in distress, a brave hero, and is just a great little action story! Nothing deep or too thoughtful here, just classic jungle adventure of the sort that never really gets old and is still very readable even in a fifty-year-old comic.

The only thing I can find wrong with this story is the same thing I ALWAYS find wrong about Gold Key Comics. . .the interior art is pretty bland and workmanlike compared to their reliably great covers. No matter HOW good the story is in a Gold Key Comic, the art is almost always disappointing.

The second story was extremely light and seems more like filler than anything else. It’s not BAD, it’s just sort of. . .there. I would have preferred the first story to be expanded a little more, but that’s not how they did things back then. With two main stories, a one pager, and two text pieces in this issue, Gold Key wanted to make SURE you got your fifteen cents worth.

CONCLUSION:

There it is. Probably the only review of Korak, Son of Tarzan #39 that will ever be written, AND done as an exclusive for the Cool Comics Crowd. No need to thank me. . .it’s what I do!

Overall, I really enjoyed this comic. It has a great signature Gold Key painted cover and a surprisingly good action-packed main story that’s just classic Jungle-Tastic FUN! The rest of the comic is pretty light, but not bad at all.

Except for the cover, the art is pretty disappointing, but if you read a lot of Gold Key Comics this shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you don’t like spiders, you might want to skip this one, but otherwise this is a nice little piece of Longbox Junk.

So until next time, remember that comics are worth more than money!

Would you like to write a review of a comic book or graphic novel for all the Internet to see? Our Cool Comics Reader Reviews section is looking for fans just like you to submit reviews of 500 words or less (introductions about yourself don’t go against the word count), along with a cover image of the comic, to edgosney62@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that we reserve the right to decide what will and won’t go in the blog, so keep the language clean, pick out a comic that won’t cause controversy (we try to have fun here!), and start tapping away on your keyboard!

ComicBooks For Kids!

ComicBooks For Kids! (CB4K) is a charity that Cool Comics In My Collection is honored to be working with. CB4K provides comic books to kids in hospitals and cancer centers all across the United States. You can check their website and see if your local hospital is included and if not, you can work with them to get them included! If you like what you see, please help them out and follow/like their Facebook page. Their link is https://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids/

Never Miss an Episode of Cool Comics!

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