Fresh Eyes on Old Books #19 by Dan!

It’s now a Sunday!  So you know what that means… More old stuff! Let’s do this!

Green Lantern #47 from 1966

So this is an absolutely classic Gil Kane comic, and it’s absolutely amazing to look at.  The story is completely doofy, but what do you expect form the 60s?  Hal Jordan has to fight a red alien creature that is spreading diseases across the universe, including an alien that uses 100% of it’s brain (editors note reminds us that we don’t use all of ours).  With all the problems of the “red disease” that this issue has, I start to wonder if Geoff Johns took some of his ideas from these kinds of issues.  There’s a whole weird sub-plot about Hal being kind of dead, but I couldn’t quite grasp what exactly was going on.  Hal then goes and fights Polaris to save Pie-Face (how politically correct is that?) and of course save the day.  More info can be found HERE

There are three separate Green Lantern titles, and they all mix together very well.  For your Hal Jordan stories go with the main Green Lantern.  For Guy Gardner, read Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, and for Kyle Rayner and John Stewart, look for Green Lantern Corps.  It’s good stuff.

Detective Comics #237 from 1956

This issue starts with Batman using a Bruce Wayne dummy-ventriloquist.  I can’t make that up.  This issue is absolutely bizarre, especially in terms of the art-style.  There’s something about it that just seems really primitive, even for the 50s.  Bruce Wayne kicks Dick Grayson out of being Robin and then proceeds to imagine how all the other kids he knows could be a new Robin.  No, I don’t know why Bruce knows all these kids.  But I am starting to realize why Congress freaked out about all this.  There’s also a back-up story from the Martian Manhunter where we don’t ever see the traditional Manhunter costume; just a guy shooting beams out of his head.  It’s really, really weird.  More info can be found HERE

Detective Comics is still going.  It’s been around for almost 900 issues and it just keeps going.  It’s currently written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock, and it’s been an intriguing mystery story.  Weve got a ton of Detective Comics back issues if you’re in the market.

Turok: Son of Stone #5 from 1956

This. Was. Awesome.  It seriously was just a simple example of Indians teaching each other and reacting with Sabretooth Tigers!  The point of this whole thing is dodging an erupting volcano and surviving in the primeval world.  It seems that at every turn, Turok and his followers have to deal with either ridiculous weather conditions or random extinct animals.  It’s the kind of story that is completely different from what DC and Marvel were putting out at the time.  Dell was more like the Dark Horse or Dynamite of the time, being a completely separate entity that has all the stuff for the non-superhero types.  More info can be found HERE.

Turok has recently been restarted under the Dark Horse publishing company.  It’s written by Jim Shooter, and there’s also plenty of other Dell properties that are going strong with Dark Horse.  It’s interesting stuff, and perfect it you’re a fan of this kind of this genre.

And that’s it!  I’ll see you in a couple weeks folks.

“The” Dan Jacka

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