Monday, October 31, 2022

On The Shelf: Of witch cats, ancient evils, and misconceptions exposed

 Coinciding with the release of "Black Adam" 10 days ago, DC issued a facsimile edition of Marvel Family 1, first published by Fawcett in 1945.

In this first story, Adam arrives in the 20th century to wreak havoc, especially upon discovering the Marvels were his replacements as Shazam's chosen champions. The ending is radically different from subsequent return appearances, as apparently, readers liked Adam, and saw him as a bigger foe than, say, Mr. Mind or Dr. Sivana or his family. Of course, by this point, this was by-the-numbers writing.

Rating: B-.
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Archie Comics has experimented in the past with giving some spotlight to Sabrina's familiar, Salem, including a miniseries many moons ago.


This time, it's a 1-shot special, Chilling Adventures of Salem, in which the warlock-turned-cat goes it alone against a deranged mystic calling on demons to possess dogs. Written by the usually reliable Cullen "Hot Cross" Bunn, this is better than some of the more recent short story compilations Archie has released. In other words, it's a book-length tale that leaves room for a possible sequel. If they lost some of the ads in the back for more story, it'd be even better. Worth the trip.

Rating: A.
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DC is not only launching a 2nd volume of The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, but, coming in January will be season 3 of Batman: The Animated  Series: The Adventures Continue.

But, if that isn't enough to quench your thirst for 90's toons-turned-comics, Dynamite may get some readers back with the debut of Gargoyles, written by series creator Greg Weisman, in December, and Darkwing Duck (I kid you not) in January. How Marvel missed the boat on reacquiring the former, I'll never know.
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Also in January, Archie is trying another alternate reality with Archie and the gang, this time in a mock-up of films like "Mad Max: Fury Road". Meh.
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Ok, so I got deked by DC vs. Vampires scribbler Matt Rosenberg. 

The goof had me thinking he'd killed off Jayna, the surviving half of the Wonder Twins, who'd inherited her brother's water-based powers, but, she's back in issue 10, alive and well. Personally, I'd rather have a sequel to Mark Russell & Stephen Byrne's masterpiece, and have Mark find Jayna a boyfriend who appreciates her for who and what she is. Given the rebooted continuity, I wouldn't discount Jimmy Olsen as a possible suitor, but that's just me.
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41 or so years ago, Marvel had decided to kill off Elektra, only to bring her back a ways later, undoing one of Frank Miller's least popular ideas during his 1st run on Daredevil.

In December, the current creative team, after having Elektra stand in for Matt Murdock as DD for a few months, will marry the couple off at last. This after Daredevil turned up on She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law, with Charlie Cox reprising as Matt/DD, and getting busy with the title heroine. Then again, the last part of the season was bonkers, and I don't mean a certain Disney bobcat.

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