As we slip into a new year, we dug back into the Graham Crackers Comics Archieves. The first recorded review was done in 2006! And the very first Doc’s Corner Blog appears to have been in 2017! That’s a long time to be reviewing books. So lets see what we have to work with on the very first Wednesday of 2022.
ONE-STAR SQUADRON #2 DC COMICS
Depressing. This one word says so much about the really dark turn this story has taken. What seemed to start out as a goofy little Ambush Bug-type tale has quickly gone to the dark side. With references to drug addiction, government test programs, corporate takeovers, betrayal, and the inherent meanness of children, this is definately a bit of a bummer. Two issues in and they are not appealing to Red Tornado or Power Girl fans. However, Mark Russell’s cameo as himself stealing food from the VIP room at a comic convention is rather amusing. But don’t be fooled by Steve Lieber’s art that keeps the visuals happy and peppy, this is one dark story. I give it 5 out of 10 Grahams.
MARJORIE FINNEGAN TEMPORAL CRIMINAL #8 AWA UPSHOT
The big finally to Garth Ennis’s latest opus. And it ends pretty much like you thought it would. A lot of swearing, some blood and guts, and a thought provoking look at what makes religions tick. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Mr. Ennis. So until volume 2 or at least until someone thinks of a better name than the Booglarizer, we bid Marjorie, Harriet, and Tim ado. All in all a very interesting 8 issue ride. I give it an 8 out of 10 Grahams.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN 1966 …
THE FLASH #163 (ORIGINAL SERIES) DC COMICS
Introducing the one hit wonder villian, Mr. Haddon who creates a form of radiation that cause people to forget things. (In this case, the Flash!) However, I wonder if writer John Broome realized the philisophical questions his story contained. For as people forget about you, you start to fade away (in a sort of Marty McFly-Back To The Future way). So is your existance based on what other people remember of you? Another question raised by the story is that the police officers that work with the Flash, his wife Iris, the townspeople who he rescues on a daily basis completely forget about the Flash. However, the one little insignificant child who has her doll saved by the Flash remembers him. Is our memory on this plane based on the big things we do or the tiniest of kindnesses we don’t even think about. Big questions for 1966 and definately not what popped into my head when I first pulled this issue off the newsstand. Actually, that first time reading it, I was not all that impressed as it had none of the Rogues in it (Yes, it has a short Abra Kadabra story at the end but that doesn’t count). It wasn’t until I stumbled across it again in a box of back issues that I took in the whole picture and had a new respect for the story. Plus its wall to wall classic Carmine Infantino art, so it’s got that. I give it an 8 out of 10 Grahams.