So there’s no insightful intro or rhyme or reason to this post except to say that in the last week, I picked several comics up off the reading pile and read them. Some of them do share genres, but they were only chosen because they happened to be on the top of the pile.

Anyway, here’s a quick rundown …

Archie Meets Jay & Silent Bob #1 (Archie/Secret Stash Press): I’d say that this is not a crossover I ever thought I’d see, but considering Archie had a crossover with The Punisher at one point, I’m not surprised. Written by Kevin Smith with “Archie-style” art by Fernando Ruiz and Rich Koslowski, the comic has Archie starting a new job at the Quick Stop with Randal as his boss. Gags include Veronica bringing him lasagna (and then her throwing it on him when he says they’re not a couple followed by Betty kneeing him in the groin when he tells Betty “You’re just one of the guys to me”), Archie getting Jay’s daughter Milly into a Josie and the Pussycats concert, Jay taking over as lead singer for The Archies, and a number of pot jokes. I’m not the most regular Archie reader, although they’re always fun comics, and I haven’t watched a Kevin Smith film in at least a decade (I think Zak and Miri Make a Porno was the last one I watched). The latter is kind of important, I guess, because I haven’t seeing Jay and Silent Bob Reboot or Clerks III, so some of the new characters and situations were unfamiliar (like … Dante’s dead?). Overall, a fun read for something I got in a free mystery box. Not keeping it, though.

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #1, 3, 4 (DC): These were fished out of quarter bins (and I swore I also owned #2 at some point, but I don’t). Quarterlies were a bit of a thing for DC in the Nineties. GL had this one and the Justice League had one as well. I’ve got one issue of Justice League Quarterly that has a tangential tie to a New Teen Titans issue, but overall these are not on my radar. With the GL quarterly book, I think that the writer and editor were trying to do was recapture the early Eighties success of the “Tales of the Green Lantern Corps” backup features that showcased characters who were not Hal Jordan. And while Hal (and Guy and John) do appear in a few of the stories and the framing device, they aren’t the main characters. The quality of the stories varies. The ones featuring the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, are great. The G’nort ones are fun. But I don’t know why DC tried to make Jack T. Chance a thing. It was like someone said, “What if we gave Lobo a ring?” Yeah, it’s very Nineties. But the stories about “Whatever happened to Arisia” and “Whatever happened to Charley Vickers” were interesting considering they were long-standing GL Corps members. I’m keeping #1 and #3 for a reading project, not keeping #4.

Space Ghost/Johnny Quest: Space Quest #3 (Dynamite): A four-issue miniseries team-up of classic cartoon characters. Most of my experience with Space Ghost was via Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost Coast to Coast “talk show” back in the day. I’ve never been that big of a fan of Johnny Quest (nothing against the character, it just never held my interests). But this was a great issue. Johnny and his team accompany Space Ghost on some intergalactic mission to defeat some alien baddie and back on Earth, there’s related shenanigans. The pacing was quick and there was plenty of action. Plus, the art was of “action/adventure cartoon” aesthetic. Not enough for me to want to buy the whole series, but a good time. Not keeping.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #121 (Boom): Speaking of properties I never cared for … The Power Rangers premiered just after I’d given up watching a lot of the after-school cartoons, and the show itself always seemed kind of dumb to me. And I’m not trying to slight anyone who liked it; I just didn’t. Anyway, this issue is apparently the penultimate in the series and is part of a “Darkest Hour” storyline. It involves Power Rangers from alternate realities and the blue ranger named Billy ultimately betrays everyone. It’s mostly Billy walking around and feeling left out of the situations the other Power Rangers are in, which leads to him succumbing to whatever temptation there is. I was pretty lost, to be honest, but to the writer’s credit, he laid enough down to allow me to follow it. Not keeping it.

Tomorrow Knights #1 (Marvel/Epic): This was one of three Eighties books that were in the pile, all of which were “independent” in some way. This one seems like it’s about some sort of futuristic special forces team and reads like it’s part of a syndicated science fiction show of the era. There were a number of books like this which had varying success, and the ones that were the most successful were DC’s Star Trek books and the 5YL Legion of Super-Heroes. This, though, didn’t hold my attention. Not Keeping.

Conqueror Universe #1 (Harrier): This was a special put out by Harrier for its Conqueror title, which ran for nine issues and two specials. It collects strips featuring characters from the book. I grabbed it from a quarter bin because it was giving “Eighties independent sci-fi” vibes. Which is exactly what it is. The stories vary in terms of quality but they remind me of both Star Trek and EC’s classic 1950s sci-fi stories. I don’t know if my LCS has any of the Conqueror series out there, but it might be work looking for. Keeping this.

Suburban High Life #1 (Slave Labor Graphics): This was a weird attempt at a humor comic a la Marvel’s What The–? or the 2002 indie publication Babyhead, all of which I’m sure were looking at Mad or Cracked for inspiration. It’s … I hate to say it, but kind of dumb. I got through the first couple of features and skimmed the rest. Not keeping.