I’ve been numbering my entries, picking up where I left off with the I LOVE COMICS 3000 CHALLENGE as one of the participants on the Captain Blue Hen Facebook page. This started as a challenge from friendly comic shops in Ohio and Texas, originally as the 1,000 Comics Challenge, then the 2021 Comic Book Quarantine Odyssey, and then I Love Comics 3000 - - all goals met by the group of Captain Blue Hen customer participants. I’m curious to see how long it takes me to read that many comics. My journey began with the 1,000 Comics Challenge on approximately March 15, 2020.
Reading some symbiote books in preparation for the big King In Black event coming in December . . . . .
#683 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: SYMBIOTES OF VENGEANCE one-shot (Marvel Comics, November 2019) A brief summary for the uninitiated: Venom good, Carnage bad. Background: Every time Venom bonded with various hosts, left behind was a tiny piece of its genetic material called a codex. Unify the codices and get a direct line to symbiote god Knull! Carnage is hunting them down as this story begins.
A Nicaraguan village is the setting for Carnage, who rips through everything in search of the codex. Guarding the village is ghost rider Alejandra Jones (Jones? . . . wha? How many Nicaraguans do you know named Jones?) She needs help, but Johnny Blaze is stuck in Hell.
He projects his astral form to recruit Danny Ketch to assist. A semi-trailer load of hooded acolytes follows Carnage around. Will he get what he wants? Battles ensue. One of the riders doesn’t make it, and joins Blaze in Hell where we learn there is a whole family of ghost riders hanging around there. THREE STARS.
#684 ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: AVENGERS one-shot (Marvel Comics, December 2019) This story takes place after Carnage’s fight with the Avengers in Doverton, Colorado where he (Cletus Kasady) took control of the town and several Avengers before Spider-Man showed up to free them.
Now those Avengers carry the codices in their bodies, as Carnage hunts them down. Carnage is turning as many innocent people as possible in New York City to act like a zombie horde and follow the scent of Captain America, Spider-Man, The Thing, and Wolverine.
In California another group of Carnage zombies are zeroing in on Hawkeye, who has to get to San Francisco and disable the beacon that makes Carnage’s psychic hold possible. There are huge underground zombie societies in both cities. Will the Avengers take down both beacons and disrupt Carnage’s scheme? What do you think? THREE STARS.
#685 RED GOBLIN: RED DEATH one shot (Marvel Comics, December 2019)
Background: Poor Norman Osborn lost his Green Gobin abilities - - until the Carnage symbiote restored his powers and his insanity, birthing the Red Goblin.
This includes three separate stories, but all basically follow the same trajectory. At first Norman has qualms about the Carnage symbiote he shares a body with needing to feed, and then he gives in.
They both want Spider-Man destroyed. They eat a drug dealer. They eat a former high school classmate of Norman who he has a grudge against. They eat a school bus driver and a bunch of elementary students, turning one who then refers to Red Goblin as grandfather. A total waste, completely outside of the main story and so very unessential. TWO STARS.
Two more rescued from the bargain bins . . . . .
#686 FEARSCAPE #1 (Vault Comics, September 2018) “Why must liars always project their own dishonesty onto others?”
I like the unique concept here, and may have to seek this one out to read the full story. An alternate world known as the Fearscape is populated by fear-creatures, manifestations of our greatest terrors. The role of the Muse is to travel to Earth every generation to bring the greatest storyteller back to battle the fear-creatures.
That person would be Arthur Proctor, a prolific fantasy writer. The problem is he’s in the intensive care ward, unresponsive. His pupil, the fraudulent wanna-be writer Henry Henry, has been the recipient of his generosity for years, siphoning off works by Proctor and claiming them as his own. The Muse mistakes Henry for Proctor and off we go.
That doesn’t sound that special when summarized like this, but what makes Fearscape work is the narration of Henry Henry, who speaks directly to the reader - - and we get to see what a pompous insecure slacker he is. But his words make him somewhat likable and creepily charming to a small degree.
“Forgive me, dear reader, but we will not end our first chapter revealing our villain. We are not some trite genre novel in need of a cliffhanger. We are creating literature together, friend.
Yet, despite this, we shall still find ourselves opposed by the casual reader and even worse, its mutated older sibling, the critic.”
Indeed. FOUR STARS.
#687 CONAN THE BARBARIAN 2099 one-shot (Marvel Comics, January 2020) This serves more as a summary of what could happen to a Conan in 2099 rather than an actual story that could be interesting. I was bored, so I’ll summarize for you and save those who haven’t read this some time.
Apparently the process that brought forth Conan from the Hyborian Age to join forces with the Savage Avengers gave him eternal life, so long as he doesn’t get killed, natch. In 2099, Conan has an agreement with Doom to leave him alone and rules a huge swatch of land from Mexico through California.
During his coronation, a cloaked woman approaches the throne with a deadly gift. It’s another immortal, Morgan Le Fay, who’s seeking sanctuary from Doom’s forces. Conan will have none of that and slays her, not before she curses him to live forever (I guess she added some more years to his prison sentence) and have her nagging voice reside inside his mind to torment him. Another side effect is that his kingdom withers, so Conan abandons it and tells his people to wander, just like him.
He finds a crashed alien vessel, and in a scene straight out of Green Lantern, takes the helmut of a dying Nova Corps warrior. He finds another Nova Corps ship concealed inside a tower, and because he’s wearing the helmut, the navigation system recognizes him as a Corps member and evacuates the planet. Conan gets the last laugh, as leaving Earth wipes out the witch’s curse. The sun disintegrates the spaceship, but Conan survives, walking the space ways without benefit of a surfboard.
You’re welcome. No, you don’t owe me $4.99 or even the $1 I paid for this. Your attention is my reward. TWO STARS.
#688 - #693 DOOMSDAY CLOCK #1 - 6 (DC Comics, 2018) Nothing can touch the magic of Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN, simply because we’ve moved beyond that. At the time it came out in the 1980’s it was fresh, literate, chock full of pop culture and sociological references, and a new way to utilize the old six or nine panel comics format. The best stylistic touches of that landmark series have been copied and utilized in countless comics since then - so a return to that universe is unlikely to seem as good as the original.
However, Geoff Johns is to be commended for the best homage to WATCHMEN in my opinion. This is so much better than the mostly bland BEFORE WATCHMEN mini-series. It’s a better recreation of what came before compared to the WATCHMEN video series on HBO, which I liked very much but for completely different reasons.
This first six issues are collected in the DOOMSDAY CLOCK, VOLUME 1 trade paperback. (You can now buy the complete series in one book - ask the Captain - it’s in the shop). Characters from the original series cross over into the DC universe in search of Dr. Manhattan, who’s allegedly been hiding out there. Many questions are posed, which will not be answered here but in the second half of the story.
There are some clever touches here like the back stories that give important background via newspaper articles, and secret documents, etc. The incorporation of a story-within-a-story with the Nathaniel Dusk (old DC mini-series) detective films, reminding me of the pirate tales in the back of the original. Lots of funny moments, such as when the new Rorschach eats the breakfast that Alfred left out for a late-returning Batman as well as Bruce Wayne taking a Rorschach psychological test. The new characters of The Marionette and The Mime are great introductions and fit right into the Watchmen universe. Gary Frank’s art makes me think I’m looking at the original books.
DOOMSDAY CLOCK was a winner for me. Apologies to Alan Moore. Yeah buddy, you got a bad deal back then. This is good stuff. Parts of it can be confusing, just like some of Alan Moore’s work. You have to pay attention and read the issues more than once. I’m sorry I waited this long to read the whole thing at one time. FIVE STARS.
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