Femme Noir - Spirit In A Skirt!

I love this series. To begin with I'm an absolute nut for Joe Staton. Ever since I stumbled across his work on E-Man for Charlton back in the 70's I've craved more of his stuff. His early Charlton work is a must-have for me when I find them, his covers especially. So, when I chanced across a series online that he was illustrating I had to check it out. It was big time fun.

The series was written by Chris Mills, a name I'd come across in other Indy comics and a name I've come to associate with stuff I like. (He was even a commentor at the Dojo in its early days.) The two of them produce a comic story that's got all that old-fashioned storytelling jazz I adore. It's grim but not necessarily gritty. It's dark but not necessarily gloomy. It's a ripe blend of fun and furious action. It was a great online comic adventure. And when I heard the boys were going to publish some of these on actual paper I was thrilled. The series did not disappoint. 

The stories were wide-ranging in contents and characters but nonetheless still obviously took place in a recognizable world. Whether fighting jungle girls or robot hoods, "Blonde Justice" the knockout star of the series finds a way to give the adventure a clever and distinctive twist. The series evokes Will Eisner's The Spirit for certain, and then it adds layers of other references and influences. Spotting what inspired this, that, and the other in the short-lived series is fun for fans. Whether you round up these stories in the original comics or get the trade, I highly recommend this series. It's the most fun you can have reading comics...period. 

Here are the covers (with both A and B versions) for the four-issue mini-series. 

If you can find it, it's a treasure. For more about where to look, check out this link to the Thrilling Detective Website. 

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Fantastic 4 - Antithesis!

Fantastic Four - Antithesis is the final published work of the late great Neal Adams. I am proud to be able to have and hold so much great work by an outstanding and important artist in my collection. The story was written by Mark Waid. 

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD SO TREAD WITH CARE. 

The creative team of Waid and Adams are joined by inker Mark Farmer who does a remarkable job taming the pencils and giving them a nifty polish. The story begins with the Fab 4 battling Annihilus yet again. Once they've mopped him up and sent him scuttling back into the Negative Zone, one of Reed's many machines issues a warning about an object entering Earth's atmosphere and posing a threat, so the team combine their powers ingeniously and deflect it. Turns out it was the Silver Surfer all along. (Not like the cover wasn't a tip-off.)

A wounded Surfer is in need of fixing and warns that Galactus is no more, having been defeated by a powerful enemy called Antithesis who emerged from the Negative Zone and absorbed the might of Galactus making him merely Galan, the mortal man he once was, again before tossing him into the Negative Zone. The FF race to save him, and of course have to battle Annihilus yet again and end up on the mighty ship of Galactus. 

Galen arranges to give the Fantastic Four the Power Cosmic which they use to confront the forces of Antithesis and the monster himself. They succeed in defeating him and send him packing into the Negative Zone, hopefully returning the power to Galen so he can become Galactus once again. But it turns out Reed ends up the power cosmic (didn't see that coming) and world eating has a whole new name. 

Mister Fantastic / Galactus plans to starve himself and end the threat for all time. But Sue ain't having it and she and the team along with the Surfer and Galen go to Whisper Hill to enlist the aid of Agatha Harkness. They lure the Reed/Galactus hybrid to them and then reminds him of his children. This proves to be the right move and he surrenders the power back to Galen, and the Surfer and the new improved  Galactus head back into the cosmos. The improvement is a bit of compassion for the people of the worlds he encounters. 

SPOILERS HAVE COMPLETED. 

Once again, the Fab 4 have saved the day with a combination of bravery, smarts, and the proper application of superpowers. It's just what you want in a Fantastic Four yarn. The artwork is lush, and the storytelling works almost all the time. This final published comic story produced by Neal Adams is a worthy contribution to his legacy. 

The four-issue run of this FF story was deemed a little too slight to run as a trade itself. It clocks in at around eighty pages, so we get couple of choice more vintage reprints such The Uncanny X-Men #65 which proved to the last of the Neal Adams issues on that venerated run,and told the story of an alien invasion. This invasion was anticipated and so gave an excuse to revive Professor X, who had been dead for a bit. Denny O'Neil is the scripter. That's Marie Severin's work on the cover. 

We are also treated to the first issue of the Fantastic Four by Waid and artists Mike Wieringo and Karl Kesel. This was the last time I paid regular attention to the team, and I enjoyed the late Wieringo's work very much. 

All in a dandy little package and a great way to enjoy the work of a master. Look out for more than a few more Neal Adams posts as the year rumbles along. 

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Dojo Classics - An E-Man Artists Gallery!

Joe Staton

E-Man is somewhat unusual in comics history in that the only artist to have done the actual stories is Joe Staton. But other artists have drawn the Energy Man and the lovely Nova too from time to time. Here are some of them.

Carl Taylor

Don Newton and Bob Layton

Bob Layton

John Byrne

Mike Wieringo

Frank Thorne

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The E-Man Reports Extra - Artists' Gallery!

Joe Staton
E-Man is somewhat unusual in comics history in that the only artist to have done the actual stories is Joe Staton. But other artists have drawn the Energy Man and the lovely Nova too from time to time. Here are some of them.

Carl Taylor
Don Newton & Bob Layton
Bob Layton
John Byrne
Mike Wieringo
Frank Thorne
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