On The Shelf: Steel returns, and there's a summer camp to avoid

 Most of us have been to summer camp. I spent two years at a day camp in town, and the worst that came out of it was having to be kept at home for about a week or so due to chicken pox.

Archie Comics, in their continuing quest to recapture the vibe of horror anthology books of the past, rolls out another by-the-numbers one-shot, Camp Pickens.

The writers may not be afraid to take advantage of the book being non-continuity----even though he's depicted on the cover, Archie himself doesn't appear----but they'd be better off if this was a book length story, instead of a couple of shorts and a framing sequence starring Jughead. As it is, each short doesn't really recapture the spirit of DC or Marvel's anthologies from the 50's through the early 80's. It falls short instead. Weak.

Rating: DOA (Dead on Arrival).

If you were watching Superman & Lois, which wrapped up season 3 earlier this week, you know that the writers there had begun the process of bringing Lana Lang, newly estranged from husband Kyle, together with John Henry Irons, aka Steel.

DC was already well into that plotline in the Superman line of books, and it appears Lana & John are engaged to be married, which will factor into the new Steelworks miniseries, a spin-off from Action Comics, written by actor Michael Dorn, who voiced Irons/Steel in Superman: The Animated Series several years back. You don't need to be reading Action to get a handle on things, as the key plot is explained in the first issue. Irons wants to retire his alter-ego, and convince the citizens of Metropolis to become more proactive, and less dependent on Superman and company, the idea being that the heroes and average citizens can work together as one.

Steelworks is off to a good start.

Rating: A-.

News you can use: Darkwing Duck's lookalike nemesis, Negaduck, gets his own miniseries from Dynamite in September. I say miniseries because I don't think it's going to be an ongoing for very long. Dynamite is gradually building the Disney line, at least the licenses they have, piece by piece.

Archie's horror division welcomes back Madam Satan in a 1-shot in September that is the kind of book length tale they should be doing. In contrast, for old school Archie fans, Sabrina returns right after Labor Day with a new Halloween special that follows last year's format (1 new story, 2 reprints), and continues where last year's special left off, with the return of Amber Lightstone, set up as Sabrina's arch enemy, now with 2 sidekicks of her own. Should be a book lengther instead of a short story that ends too quickly, as last year's did.