The Warlord #2 - February 5, 2023
Released in March of 1976, The Warlord issue #2 takes readers into the center of the Earth to a land called Skartaris to follow the continuing adventures of Travis Morgan, The Warlord. Written and illustrated by the imaginative and talented Mike Grell, the second Warlord is an explosive, edge-of-your-seat action-packed raucous fantasy free-for-all that makes Conan the Barbarian seem tame by comparison.
The opening panel depicts Morgan, effectively crucified and tied to a cross while wild saber-toothed tigers attempt to disembowel him. Dang! And you thought you had bad days. In between dozens of cheesy 1970s bodybuilding and weightlifting ads, Morgan manages to fight off one of the beasts while mysterious soldiers on horseback rescue him from the other.
Together, they travel to Bal Shazar, a “sprawling seaport city where men’s lives and women’s charms are cheaply bought, and blood flows as freely as wine.” Sounds awesome, except, the soldiers turn out to be sailors and bad ones too. They bash Morgan on the back of the head and chain him inside a Phoenician Galley named the Gryfalcon to row with the slaves. The Warlord has gone Spartacus!
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #2 - January 31, 2023
G.I. Joe doesn’t just fight for freedom over land and air. They also battle for truth and justice over ice and snow! “Wherever there’s ice and snow, G.I. Joe will goooooo!”
Behind a spectacular cover design featuring four of our favorite Joes hiking through a blizzard on the North Pole is a unique issue that follows our team of anti-terrorist military specialists battling a corruption-riddled failed global superpower instead of the boneheads at Cobra. Released during the height of the Cold War in August of 1982, the second issue of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is titled “Panic at the North Pole!”
Written by Larry Hama and penciled by Don Perlin, Issue #2 strikes a somewhat more serious tone than the rest of the series, or at least a more believable one. Before Zartan, the dumbass Dreadnoks, Terrordomes, and Serpentor, the Joes confronted some believable bad guys like the Russians.
Alert! Somebody shot up an American North Pole research station! My mind immediately goes to John Carpenter’s The Thing, where the obvious solution is just to take off and nuke it from orbit, but the idiots in the U.S. Government decide to recall four Joes from some well-earned R&R to investigate instead.
Transformers #10 Review - January 25, 2023
“Hey, Dad! How are Transformers born?”
Oh no! It’s that dreaded talk that all parents have to give at least once. You could take the easy way out and tell them that a bunch of marketing stooges at Hasbro just make shit up because it looks cool, but that would be a lie. Dear readers, let me tell you how to really deliver the news to your human youngling.
“Well Timmy, when a mommy and a daddy Transformer love each other very much, the mommy Transformer transforms into a pink 1970s Coupe De Ville with white leather seats and an 8-track player. She puts on a little Barry White, invites the daddy Transformer into the back seat, and ER ER ER ER ER!!! BANG! WHOOPIE! KACHING! WHOOSH!”
“Ewww, gross!” Click for Full Review---->
Transformers the Manga 01 Review - January 9, 2023
As a general rule, I can remember something from 40 years ago better than I can remember what I did yesterday. I think I woke up and did crap yesterday, I’m not entirely sure. But 40 years ago, I clearly remember watching cartoons and reading comic books.
For one year, mid-1984-1985, my parents rented a place that had this really weird wallpaper in the room with the TV. I can date everything from the 80s by the weird wallpaper (WWP). Things are either pre-WWP, WWP, or post-WWP.
G.I. Joe was pre-WWP. Galaxy Rangers was post-WWP. The first time I saw Transformers was WWP.
I remember watching a commercial for The Transformers in the room with the weird wallpaper... Click for Full Review---->
The Warlord #1 Review - January 3, 2023
The only decade to come close to the 1980s was the 1970s. The 70s is the decade that brought us Star Wars, the Atari 2600, the 1972 El Camino, disco, yours truly, and The Warlord from DC Comics.
Though The Warlord started out in 1975, it ran through the 80s and is, therefore, in my biased opinion, worthy of being spoken about in the same sentence as G.I. Joe and the Transformers. The Warlord is one of the most underrated comic book series of all time and for whatever reason, fails to get the attention that it so rightfully deserves....
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #3 Review - January 1, 2023
Fighting for freedom over land and air – G.I. Joe is there! Let’s take a trip way back to September 1982 for the third explosive issue of G.I. Joe published by Marvel Comics titled “The Trojan Gambit,” a superb issue of G.I. Joe worth adding to your collection today.
For starters, the cover is fantastic. This is easily one of the best early covers in the long-running G.I. Joe series with an eye-catching design that jumps off the shelf featuring robots, lasers, and mayhem. It’s even got Scarlet and Stalker, two of my favorite Joes. What’s not to like?
Conan the Barbarian #147 Review - December 29, 2022
If Conan the Barbarian ever needed to write a personals ad for the newspaper it would read something like “Barbarian. Muscular. Into drinkin’, womanizing, and all types of ill shit. Seeking lady friend who wears little, drinks more than I do, and doesn’t mind being called a wench.” Ahhh, Conan. A relic from another age. The 1930s!
G.I. Joe #5 Review - December 26, 2022
Let’s kick it way back to November 1982 for one of my favorite super-old-school issues of G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, “Tanks for the Memories!”Get it? Tanks… thanks… tanks! G.I. Joe made a funny. And it is funny. But tanks aren’t funny (Unless you crush Ewoks with them. Then they’re hilarious!)
Issue 5 explodes off the shelf with an exciting action scene on the cover featuring the G.I. Joe MOBAT running over Cobra soldiers in Central Park... Click for Full Review---->
G.I. Joe #30 Review - December 25, 2022
G.I. Joe #30 delivers an action-packed cover design that promises loads of violence, stupidity, and devastation wrought by the Dreadnoks! (The Dreadnoks are Cobra’s contract employee biker gang, and it should be noted that because the Dreadnoks are not actual full-time Cobra employees, they are not eligible for Cobra’s IRA program or health insurance.) Click for Full Review---->
