West of Judgment, Trace Adkins is Luke McBain 1 Review

I might be slightly biased about Trace Adkins is Luke McBain. I worked in Country radio for a number of years, and I remember Trace Adkins' debut as an artist. He played one of the local fairs and the station I worked for promoted his appearance. Probably with his single "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing". I got to meet him and "bring him up" to the stage. That's the fun part of being a radio personality: meeting the artist and then walking out on stage and introducing him.

Trace Adkins is Luke McBain is definitely from the mold of "Billy Jack" and "Walking Tall". It's very much like the 2004 Dwayne ("The Rock") Johnson film. Johnson plays Chris Vaughn a discharged Green Beret who returns his small hometown to find it run down. The local mill is closed and there's a new casino downtown that is a front for drugs. A number of his former friends are now part of the corruption and criminal activity. 

Here, McBain - possibly a one-off of pseudonym Ed McBain, author of the 87th Precinct crime drama novels - walks tall back to his small hometown of Eden, Louisiana after fourteen years in prison. He is immediately offered a room above the gas station at the edge of town by the son of his family's former maid. Stopping at Eden's grocery store, he uses an ax handle and his fists to stop a robbery. After paying a quick visit to his brother, Paul, for keys to a truck, then dinner with an old high school sweetheart, he's paid a visit by the sheriff.

This is definitely a pulp-style men's adventure. Two-fisted. Coarse language. Courtesy of writer David Tischman. Brian Stelfreeze's cover is album cover material. Kody Chamberlain's art is moody. Lean and sparse on color, heavy on shadows and shadowy tone. The testosterone carries a heavy musk. Luke McBain is cut from the same cloth as The Man in Black, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Two-fisted tough, but sensitive enough to play a Country song. Probably about Mama.

Trace Adkins is Luke McBain earns four stars for tough-guy action.

A Genuine Mystery, Batman: Gotham Adventures 38 Review

Batgirl and Robin team-up for a real-world mystery!

There's a reason why comic books feature colorful, gimmicky characters. In the very early days of The Golden-Age, super-heroes fought gangsters, saved people sentenced to death-row, and were involved in actual war. The only downside to that is it raises the question: If a super-hero can easily and simply solve real-world problems, such as crime, poverty, hunger and war, why can't those issues be solved in the actual real-world? If criminals are indeed a "superstitious, cowardly lot", why not scare them and put an end to crime? The answer is that no matter how a real-world issue is addressed, it will never truly be solved. There will always be crime. There will always be poverty. Probably because there will always be human nature.

Maybe that's why characters like The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, Two-Face and The Riddler were introduced. A way to personify a specific trait of human nature and provide a solution. The Joker is chaos and arrogance. Batman provides order.

It's quite possible that Batman faces the deadly virtues of human nature and solves them.

Here, Batgirl and Robin solve a mystery. All across Gotham City, men of a certain age are being attacked. The attacks are quite vicious and severe. They are left nearly crippled, needing surgery and rehabilitation. The reason behind it is quite tragic. The thread-line is that Batman and his companions meet people on their worst day. It turns out that all the attacks are the result of desperation.

Cover artists Bob Smith and Terry Beatty breathe genuine mystery into Peterson's story. Loughridge once again is enjoyable. Legendary Albert T. De Guzman steps in as letterer.

"Sticking" is an off-beat story. It's atypical. Quite possibly an "After School Special" story. Peterson's story earns three stars.      

Secret Agents, Man! Untold Tales of Spider-Man Flashback Month Minus 1 Review

Richard and Mary Parker: The Amazing Parkers!

Marvel Flashback Month brings Untold Tales of Spider-Man Minus 1! A golden opportunity to see Peter Parker's parents performing in perilous predicaments! They are not quite Agents of SHIELD. Rather, they are CIA agents. Richard Parker was recruited out of Special Forces by Col. Nick Fury. Mary Parker used her education and late father's connections to land a job as a translator. Together, they become an Americanized version of John Steed and Emma Peel. They're a cute contemporary version of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence and Hammett's Nick and Nora.

On vacation along the French Riviera, they stumble upon The Baroness! A neo-Nazi sympathizer who may have deeper espionage connections - possibly to Hydra! She works for a Supreme Leader and is aware of the capture of an Agent Ten. Which leads Richard and Mary to Bombay, and a rescue mission.

There are a few "surprises". Agent Ten's identity. The Supreme Leader's identity and the inevitable surprise that will force Mary Parker out of action - forever!

Fred Hembeck provides an outrageously hilarious back-up story featuring adventures of Petey - way before he became Spider-Man. It's Hembeck at his finest and funniest.

"Danger", featuring The Amazing Parkers in Untold Tales of Spider-Man Minus 1 earns four stars!   

Happiness is a Warmed Batman... Batman: Gotham Adventures 37

Batman has gone missing!

Dick Grayson and Tim Drake are searching Gotham's underworld to find The Dark Knight! The trail leads from one informant to another.

Meanwhile, it is a Bright Knight that fends off The Joker and The Penguin through oversized props to rescue a nameless damsel in distress! And The Batman seems to be enjoying himself!

It turns out to be a not so sinister plot by Jervis Tetch, The Mad Hatter! Now that his fair Alice is married and enjoying a "happily ever after", Tetch has noticed that The Batman never seems satisfied, or happy, after capturing a super-criminal. So, he's provided The Caped Crusader with a reality in which he can be... happy.

And that's where The Mad Hatter fumbles his plan.

Peterson's story is somewhat sentimental. Levins and Beatty capture a simpler time, when the villains and props were wacky and somewhat campy. Loughridge and Harkins are enjoyable as always. Kudos to Levins, Beatty and Loughridge for the shift in Batman's appearance as well as a Classic look for The Joker and Penguin. Tetch gets a slight makeover - in brown - here as well.

"Images", Batman: Gotham Adventures 37 earns three stars.  

Ever Since The World Began, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Valles Marineris" Review

 

            Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season Four, "Valles Marineris" opens with Pike, M'Benga and La'An on horseback on an alien world. They've apparently covertly delivered needed medication to the planet's populace. Before returning to Enterprise, they enjoy a good horseback ride. Number One notes that the number of missions has served to distract Pike from the loss of Batel.

Admiral April arrives with word that Captain Pike is up for promotion. He has until after the next mission to decide. The next mission is observing a phenomenon. The interstellar storm that Enterprise is observing has a distress buoy inside it. They investigate. In a burst of energy, they find themselves damaged and adrift on impulse alone and in need or iridium.

Number One, La'An and Ortegas take a shuttle to a nearby Class M planet to recover some available iridium. Spock discovers that they have been (65) Sixty-Five Million Years into the past. The planet that the away team is recovering the iridium from is Earth. They also encounter a Martian ship. The ship's captain comes aboard Enterprise. The Martians have been at war with an insect race from another nearby planet in the Earth solar system.

The visuals and graphics are simply eye-candy. The story is well thought out. The distress signal Enterprise investigates is its own. SPOILER ALERT! The Martian ship captain sacrifices herself and her crew to destroy the insect race and home world. A meteor from the planet ends the dinosaur age on Earth. Another result of the destruction is the change in Mars. It no longer supports life. However, M'Benga's DNA scans reveal that Martians managed to survive and live on in other races and cultures.

As a fan of science fiction and comic books, the Martian angle is... "fascinating". Marvin the Martian; J'onn J'onzz, The Martian Manhunter; and My Favorite Martian. Let's not forget The Martian Chronicles. To this day, we are fascinated by Mars.

Valles Marineris, translated Mariner Valleys, is an excellent launch of Season Four!           

Launching The Silver Age with Barry Allen! The Showcase 4 Facsimile Reprint Review!

Welcome to The Silver Age!

Barry Allen as the re-imagined The Flash - The Fastest Man Alive! Literally bursting onto the scene. Classic cover and classic story. Okay, so Turtle Man and Mazdan aren't exactly Classic villains. Not quite as Classic as Captain Cold and Abra Kadabra. What is Classic is Barry Allen's origin. Somewhat similar to Jay Garrick's - without the "hard water". (If you're familiar with Barry, you will know that years later, during the seminal Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry became the lightning bolt that transformed him into The Flash, creating a loop.) What's cool here is that it takes some convincing for Barry to believe he has become "the fastest man alive"! And then, boom, he's got a costume miniaturized inside a ring! He's rescuing Iris from a murder attempt and facing Turtle Man! Even though he may be slow, Turtle Man is methodical and smart. And then, there's Mazdan. A Criminal sentenced to a dark and dismal future that's gone a little "ca-ca" by sending him into the past! His weapon - a gun that fires heat rings! Oh... if only the gun fired onion rings... One can dream. Barry figures out that simply by using super-speed he can break the time barrier travel through time into the future! This is brilliant science fiction!

What's enjoyable about Barry Allen is that he is THE most Peter Parker character of DC Comics. He's the Everyman. Not an orphaned millionaire-philanthropist; an adoptee from a dead planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men; or, even made of clay. Just a regular guy, with regular problems and issues, who just happens to be endowed with super-powers.

This is such a cool... "jumping on point".

The facsimile reprint of Showcase 4 earns five stars.   

What Evil Lurks? The Punisher Knows! The Amazing Spider-Man 129 Facsimile Reprint Review!

Definitely a Classic!

You may be cool, but you will never be running around in just your boxers cool. The Jackal is just one of those characters. Namor, Hank McCoy as The Beast. Apparently, The Jackal is a green-furred, pointy-eared creature. He definitely hates Spider-Man. He's found a kindred spirit in The Punisher. Making his first appearance in comics, The Punisher has been hired by The Jackal to hunt and kill Spider-Man as a murderer. The Punisher is looking for justice. The Jackal just wants Spider-Man dead. J. Jonah Jameson just wants pictures of the newest sensation!

Spider-Man and The Punisher tangle. It looks pretty dire for web-head, until he summons the intestinal fortitude and strength to fight back. Although The Jackal wants to remain in the shadows, he comes right out and clobbers Spider-Man, announcing his intent. Which is just bonkers crazy. 

Later, Spider-Man helps The Punisher do some deductive reasoning, and he comes to the conclusion that The Jackal was just using him to kill Spider-Man. 

This is definitely a Classic, in the traditional bonkers style.

The facsimile reprint of Amazing Spider-Man 129, featuring the debut of The Punisher earns four stars!