The Four Color Comic Book History of Comic Books: Birth of a Medium

The Four Color Comic Book History of Comic Books: Birth of a Medium

By Van Lente, Fred, Dunlavey, Ryan - Artist,  Guzowski, Adam - Colorist  155 pages

Reviewed by Rae C.

This is a great book for anyone that loves comics!  Covers Platinum Age through Silver Age. There is a lot of information and history to cover, but it is deftly handled and presented clearly. (The more you know about comic books, the better, although newbies will benefit as well.) The illustrations are hilarious- often in very subtle or sneaky ways!

In particular I enjoyed the way they condensed the ascent, struggles, feuds, and victories of Stanley Lieberman, aka Stan Lee.  And the book discusses something about Lee that is unique in any of comics: that Lee is a writer, but is often confused for being a creator and/or artist.  The book also defends Lee (somewhat), and points out how this misconception came about.

Another favorite segment was the evolution of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, and The Shadow, and how they directly influenced Superman and other superheroes.  (Not mentioned in the book: V For Vendetta is also a direct descendant.)

One of the best things about it is the History of Women in Comics.  It’s one page per issue that focuses on (mostly unknown) female creators, artists and writers.  Patricia Highsmith, Jackie Ormes, June Mills, and, of course, Trina Robbins!

New 52's Suicide Squad Vol 1-5

Suicide Squad Comics Vol 1-5 by assorted artists, five books totaling 848 pages

After seeing all of the trailers promoting this movie, I went in search of the comic that started it all, or at least the next best thing. The only Suicide Squad comics I found are not from the originals, but the rebooted New 52 DC universe. (Comic readers know what I mean). In Suicide Squad a shadowy government organization, through the use of force and threats are using supervillains to fight worse evils. The cast varies from the well-known Harley Quinn and Deadshot to somewhat lesser villains like Yo-yo and Captain Boomerang.

Personally I had never read the original series, but I did enjoy reading the reboot. I think the characters were accurate and, despite some flaws, acted as expected when you force a bunch of villains to work together. There was constant bickering, fights and plots to kill each other and their employer. I am not a fan of rebooting an entire comic universe, like DC does here, but for the most part it seems to be working, though the Joker gets a hard rap.

Constantine Hellblazer Volumes 1-4

Original Sins, Devil You Know, Fear Machine and Family Man by Jamie Delano, 304, 264, 240 and 277 pages

These first four volumes in the Constantine Hellblazer series represent the print issues 1-32 and cover the early years of Constantine's existence (1988-1990). While I have read some comics through the years I have never been a big fan of reading a series from start to finish. Nor had I really heard of John Constantine until the semi recent movie starring Keanu Reeves. Since then there has been a reboot of the Constantine comics and also a television series. Both of these try to bring Constantine into the modern world but I feel they lose some of their grittiness in doing so.

The Hellblazer series obviously follows the life and career of John Constantine as he learns about and combats the growing dark forces. While this is sort of the theme to every comic and superhero Constantine's attitude and approach is what sets him apart. While he will morn the death of a friend or associate he still frequently throws them in harms way either as bait or through his inexperience. The fact that you also see him smoke constantly, get drunk and generally skate by while mooching off his friends helps him seem like a normal person. Since this series reached 300 issues I guess that imaging worked.

If you like darker, almost horror, comics or if you liked the Constantine movie than I recommend you give this series a try.

Beyond the Code

Beyond the Code by Erin Hunter
89 Pages

This is one of the books in the graphic novel version of the Warrior series.  It is book 2 in the Skyclan And The Stranger sec  In this book, Leafstar, the leader of the clan has just had kits and his having trouble balancing her duties as leader with motherhood.  The heat is making everything very difficult.  Hunting is bad and  one of their newest members, Sol, doesn’t seem to be catching on to warrior training.  This is a very popular series with kids who like animal adventure stories.
tion.