So I’ve been motoring through some back issues lately and much like the Superman books I just reviewed, I thought I’d do some quick reviews here. There’s a bunch of Marvel, DC, and independent books in here, and while it’s quite a bit, I’m happy to be able to whittle down this pile of unread back issues. That’s a terrible intro, I know, but I have a cold and am not feeling that eloquent at the moment. Here’s the books.

Fallen Angels #8 (Marvel): I can’t look at the cover of this book without getting the Poison song stuck in my head. I think that I got this from a Marvel grab bag, and I had never owned nor read the series, but I did remember it from the house ads that were running in the comics in 1987. So I was always a little curious. The entire series is available on Marvel Unlimited, so I read the first seven issues on my iPad before getting out this print copy. The premise is that Sunspot from the New Mutants has badly injured Cannonball during a game of soccer and when the other members of the team get on him about it, he quits the team and heads into the city where he meets a gang of mutants called Fallen Angels. There’s appearances by Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur, Siryn, Jamie Madrox, and two members of X-Factor. But it’s not a great series. The copious dialogue significantly outweighs the action, and the plot is … well, it seems to just meander until finally reaching some other-dimensional “climax.” Trash.

Steeltown Rockers #6 (Marvel): Another end to a miniseries, this one from 1990 and about a punk band that’s written by Elaine Lee and with art by Steve Leialoha. I couldn’t find the rest of the series on Marvel Unlimited, so I had to go into this blind and try and decide whether or not I wanted to seek out the rest of it. This has the feel of Marvel trying something that independent comics were doing (and would continue to do throughout the decade): non-superhero books that are focused more on drama than, say, blood and guts. And Lee had been writing books for the Epic line (most notably, Starstruck) as well as the teen book Misty. That also feels like it fits in with the Barbie comics that Marvel was producing. I could see this coming from that mold (or of Jem and the Holograms and other cartoon shows) and while it was kind of fun to read, I wasn’t interested in finding the rest. Trash.

Justice League of America (vol. 1) #210, 231, 232 (DC). One book from the classic “Satellite Era” league that has the earth facing an existential threat, and two issues that were the last JLA/JSA team-up before the Detroit Era. They’re all fun, although that JLA/JSA crossover involving some huge villain named The Commander and a pretty large pre-Crisis Monitor appearance was a little uneven. I’ve got a few random issues of the title from the early 1980s and am still trying to decide what to do with them, so for now, I’ll hold onto this. Keep.

Justice League of America (vol. 2) #4, 9 (DC). Two books that came from grab bags and two books that I’d owned before, from the post-Infinite Crisis era with Brad Meltzer on script and Ed Benes on art. Issue #4 was part of that first storyline involving the Red Tornado and ends with a Solomon Grundy appearance. Issue #9 was smack in the middle of “The Lightning Saga”, which was a JLA/JSA/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover that eventually led into Legion of Three Worlds. They solid books that are compelling even if Benes’ art has not aged well. Trash.

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #1 (DC). This is a miniseries from 2005 written by Brian Azzarello with art by Lee Bermejo. I think it’s taking place right around the time Superman first appeared and is supposed to make us … sympathize with Luthor? I really don’t know what the purpose of the book is. The art, while halfway decent, is colored in that mid-2000s way that makes things muddy and hard to see. I’m giving this a hard pass. Trash.

The Rocketeer 3-D Comic (Disney). Published to tie in with the 1991 feature film, this is written by Ron Kidd with art by “Neal Adams Continuity” in black-and-white with the classic red/blue/black 3-D treatment. It’s an adaptation (or close to it) of the Disney film, and while I haven’t seen that in at least a couple of decades, this seemed pretty faithful. The downside is that I didn’t have the glasses so it was really hard to read it. Donate.

Classics Illustrated: Moby-Dick. I read the Melville novel in college and the joke’s right–it’s 50% plot and 50% a textbook about whales. This is not the “classic” Classics Illustrated but instead one of several prestige-format books published in the 1990s and done by well-known comics writers and artists. In this case, the novel is adapted by Bill Sienkiewicz, who does an outstanding job. It’s dark, gothic, and creepy in places with the classic surreal Sienkiewicz touches. I grabbed this for a quarter and think it’s a definite steal. Keep.

Secret Origins Special #1 (DC). A special from 1989 featuring The Penguin, The Riddler, and Two-Face that was clearly published to take advantage of the Summer of the Bat, coming out around the same time as issue #44, which featured “The Mud Pack.” I could have sworn I already owned this one because I think I’ve read one or two of these stories before, but I think that a couple of them were reprinted in a trade featuring Neil Gaiman’s DC Universe-related work. They’re all interesting takes on those heroes’ origins with the Penguin and Riddler pieces being the strong ones and the Two-Face being the weakest of the three even if it helps serve as a tie-in to “A Lonely Place of Dying”, which started that same month (and that’s probably because the 1990 annual does one of the best Two-Face origins I’ve ever read). This was another book to check off of my want list to complete my run of this book, so that’s also good. Keep.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 (DC). Honestly, I only grabbed this out of a quarter bin because I never owned this book and it’s kind of a rite of passage for anyone in my generation of comics collectors to own it at some point. I never bought this book when it was coming out because I didn’t have the money to pick it up in addition to Batman and ‘Tec, unless I wanted to drop another book. Since the 1990s, though, I’ve gone back and read a number of the book’s well-known storylines and found some of them to be excellent and others to be not so good. I’d always heard the book was hit-or-miss and it seems that way. This, the first chapter of “Shaman”, which takes place concurrently with “Year One” and is written by Denny O’Neil with art by Ed Hannigan and John Beatty. It’s a storyline I’ve never read and really liked this issue, so I may go onto DC Infinite and find the rest of it, but I don’t need the issues themselves. Donate.

Terminator 3: Before the Rise #1 (Beckett). Another curiosity plucked from the quarter bin sale, this is the first of a two-part prequel to Rise of the Machines, a movie that’s incredibly uneven but has an ending that is way better than the entire movie. The premise of this is that it takes place in the post-apocalyptic future where the resistance has captured a Terminator and is going to reprogram it to send it back in the film. The book’s all right, although the likeness to Schwarzenegger isn’t so great. I’ll hold onto this for now and see if I can find the other for cheap. Keep.

JLA: Created Equal #1-2 (DC). A two-part Elseworlds from 2000 written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubenstein, the premise of which is that a mysterious cloud has passed by Earth and brought along a disease that kills every man. The JLA becomes and all-female outfit and we soon see Lois Lane become pregnant via Superman, who is the lone male survivor–well, except for Lex Luthor, who is pulling strings behind the scenes, especially after a race of super children is born, and Superman is scared off of Earth because his body is radiating the disease. I have never been the biggest fan of Nicieza, but this is the second Justice League-related thing I’ve read of his and I really enjoyed it (maybe it was just his X-Men work that I didn’t like?). This is one of those Elseworlds that completely passed me by back in the day, but finding them for a quarter has been worth it. Keep.

Batman/Captain America (Marvel/DC). What is there to say that hasn’t been said before? I did pay a slight premium for this–$5–but it was worth it because I’ve been wanting to read it for years and it’s been a pain to find. Batman and Captain America fighting the Joker and Red Skull during the 1940s as told by John Byrne is such a great recipe for a book that I’m amazed I never bought this back when it came out. It’s a true classic. Keep.

Marvel Heroes and Legends (Marvel). A 1996 retelling of the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm that stars just about everyone in the Marvel Universe and is created by a classic lineup of writers and artists. This is from 1996, which is right around the time that the company was going through some huge changes brought about by the crash of the comics market a few years earlier–Onslaught was being published and I believe they were either filing for or emerging from bankruptcy. It’s a fun summer one-shot meant to give us some classic Marvel at a time when a number of their classic books were ending prior to Heroes Reborn. Donate.

Marvel Super-Heroes Fall Special #3 (Marvel). Published in 1990, this was one of those books that you’d see at a stationery store and really contemplate buying even though it was $2.95 and you only had so much money. It’s got a September 1990 cover date which means it was probably out in late summer. I’d venture to say that had I spotted this while on vacation in New Hampshire that year, I would have picked it up as a “mountain comic” (TM Rob Kelly). The stories feature Captain America, The Hulk, Blue Shield, Speedball, Wasp, and Captain Marvel. So you have two A-listers, a couple of B-listers, and a dead guy. All in all, it’s worth the cover price (or in my case, the quarter I paid for it). The Cap story is especially good, taking place around the same time as his origin and featuring Dominic Fortune, whom Steve idolized and whom might have been Captain America under different circumstances. Every other story is solid, too, even Speedball’s (and I’m not a huge fan of that character). Keep.

Flash 50th Anniversary Special (DC). This is a book I’d heard of for years and I knew that it had the first appearance of John Fox, who would be a key player in the latter part of Mark Waid’s run around 2000 or so. We’ve got three stories featuring three Flashes–Jay, Barry, and Wally–with some great creative teams. There’s really no continuity to consider here (despite what I mentioned about Waid’s run), just good stories featuring a classic character that much like that Marvel Super-Heroes Special would have made for some great vacation comics reading. I’m glad I finally found this. Keep.

DC Special #16 (DC). “Super-Heroes battle Super-Gorillas”. The cover sells itself. And inside we have some classic stories featuring Batman, Superman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman. It’s from 1975 and from a time that I know DC would reprint old stories in specials like these, so you have some Carmine Infantino art on Batman and The Flash as well as Wayne Boring on Superman. They’re all goofy Silver Age stories, but come on … gorillas! Keep.