[paw broon]

Yes, they are very safe for kids, well, the early ones anyway.  I haven't read the new ones yet.
I'm intrigued.  Does that mean you are learning French?  My French has improved greatly since I signed on at our local Language Room and it's great fun.

[narfstar]

No I teach tenth grade Geometry and we have three Spanish and one French teacher for tenth grade

[paw broon]

Tenth grade?  What age group is that?  Forgive my ignorance but here we seem to have a different system. 
A while ago I mentioned that my sister-in-law brought me some recent Frew Phantom comics from Australia and I never got around to saying a bit more about them, so I'll bore you all daft now.  The 2011 and 2012 Annuals, 260 pages each packed with classic Phantom stories plus 6 regular issues featuring art by Joan Boix and Kari Leppanen (he's good).  These stories are reprints of original Scandinavian comics.  Also the 2011 Christmas special (100 pages), which is interesting as it features a reprint of the Cathedral Mystery story with art by Jean Yves Mitton and is a story I had heard about but have never read.  And in the back, a recent newspaper Sunday reprint with art by Paul Ryan on the first part and, after Ryan stood down, the story is finished by Eduardo Barreto, who seems to be regular on the Sunday strip and an artist whose work I have enjoyed.
Finished now - you can all wake up.

[Roygbiv666]

Grade ten is about age 15.

Tenth grade?  What age group is that? 

[narfstar]

Yes mostly 15 and 16 year olds. I have several Frew Phantoms I picked up from the same person pretty cheap and I wish I would have bought more at the time

[bowers]

Recently picked up the new "Warriors of Mars", "Rocketeer", a couple of "Zorro"s, and the new "Shadow". Enjoyed them all, especially the new "Shadow". Great characterization of Cranston, showing a little more of his mystical side, such as seeing small parts of the future and making the dead speak! This guy really HATES evil and will use any means to "stamp it back into the dirt", yet can still be merciful to those he deems worth saving. Not a sympathetic portrayal, rather presenting him as the deadly vigilante he is. Great art and writing (love the dialogue) makes this a darn fine read. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

I was so disappointed in Dynamites Phantom that I did not give the Shadow a shot.

[bowers]

Narf, Dynamite is not one of my favorite publishers either. A lot of the time they get the character totally wrong, or the art is plain crap. I really hated their version of The Phantom. I did give them another chance with the Zorro books and found that I quite enjoy that series. As for The Shadow, I'm a really big fan, so I'm willing to take a chance on any version, even Dynamite. I really thought it would probably be pretty bad, but was pleasantly surprised. Still too early to say if this title will be good or not, but I did enjoy the first issue. Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

O.K. I will try to find a copy of #1 as I also am a Shadow fan.   If you are interested, bowers, there were Shadow stories printed in The Thriller, The British "pulp" weekly, in the '30's, usually as a back-up story.  If you want to read some of them, (perhaps they have new illos.) try here:-
http://www.friardale.co.uk/Thriller/Thriller.htm

[bowers]

Thanks for the link, Paw. I'll be looking at some of these today! cheers, Bowers

[josemas]

Paw, interesting bit about the Shadow and The Thriller magazine in Britain.  Do you know if these were original stories or reprints from the American pulps?

Curious

Joe

[josemas]

Never mind I tracked down the answer me-self.  Apparently they were reprints from the American pulp but were heavily rewritten, abridged and had the Shadow relocated to England!  Pip pip cheerio and here's a blast from me 45s archfiends!


Here's a link that has a listing showing from which issues the stories originally came from.

http://www.shadowsanctum.net/pulp/pulp_oth.html

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Thank you for the Shadow link.  I didn't realise there were so many adaptations. The Thriller also featured The Saint; Blackshirt; Mr Reeder; Mr Preed and other excellent characters and had beautiful, dark, moody illustrations.  If you check the Friardale link posted on this topic and go to the Books and Story Papers page, here:-
http://www.friardale.co.uk/Story%20Papers.htm
you'll find piles of British papers to read and download.  Most are connected to the writings of Frank Richards, of Billy Bunter fame, and are more juvenile  than The Thriller but a wealth of stuff you've never seen before.  Most of it is PDF, so, unfortunately, we wont be able to host it here.

[narfstar]

New Earth 2 at DC. I have so far found Earth 2 and World's Finest to be pretty interesting so far. While I thought of it as excessive I think it was not a good idea to get rid of the iconic cleavage. It was a part of Power Girl.  SPOILER BELOW...












         I did not like when they killed off the only Wonder Women I have liked in a long time. I did not like the "gods" coming into the picture which is disappointing with The Flash coming. I hope that is the last we see of them.

[boox909]

Finally after approximately three and a half years since the last issue came out issue #9 of Marvel's maxi-series The Twelve is out!

I'm told by my LCS that the series is back on track and should finish up in the next few months.

We'll see.

Joe

The last issue was kind of anti-climatic for me. Now that things are sorted out, I await to see how the remaining characters will be used in modern day stories and such.

B.

[boox909]

Earth 2 and World's Finest came out last this week from DC.

I actually like World's Finest ... "Robin and Supergirl" make a nice pairing. However, Earth 2 isn't quite the Earth 2 we all know.

I plan to give each book about 6 issues or through their first story arc before deciding to drop them or not.

B.

[narfstar]

Earth 2 not being my earth 2 is my biggest complaint. I have in the back of my mind that my earth 2 still exists in the DC Universe just with a different number now. I would like for DC to come out with a new comic called Silver and Gold. Half of each issue would be new stories from my silver and golden age worlds. I think they would need to wait until this earth 2 is established but after awhile I think there is a large enough fan base to support the book

[josemas]

Finally after approximately three and a half years since the last issue came out issue #9 of Marvel's maxi-series The Twelve is out!

I'm told by my LCS that the series is back on track and should finish up in the next few months.

We'll see.

Joe

The last issue was kind of anti-climatic for me. Now that things are sorted out, I await to see how the remaining characters will be used in modern day stories and such.

B.

I just started reading it.  About a third of the way through it.  So far I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Earth 2 and World's Finest came out last this week from DC.

I actually like World's Finest ... "Robin and Supergirl" make a nice pairing. However, Earth 2 isn't quite the Earth 2 we all know.

I plan to give each book about 6 issues or through their first story arc before deciding to drop them or not.

B.

Yeah that's  my plan too.  I gave several of the initial launch the same chance (although I tired of some befgore they even got through the first arc).  I haven't seen the Earth 2 titles yet as I was waiting for this Saturday (Free Comic Book Day) this week to make my latest trip to my LCS.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Picked up the four new 52 titles from DC (Worlds' Finest, Earth 2, G. I. Combat, and Dial H for Hero).  I haven't read any of them yet but noticed that the buzz around my LCS, from those who had read them, was that Dial H was easily the best of the batch.  I was sorta surprised as I had expected to hear that either Earth 2 or Worlds' Finest would be the favorite.

Also snagged the concluding issues of the Daredevil/Spider-Man/ Punisher crossover.  DD has another issue coming out next week and then another three weeks later.  Glad to see Marvel giving this title an extra push lately as it is their best comic currently, IMHO.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

Dial H was different. I can't say that it grabbed. Probably an age thing. Was it an under 40 crowd that liked it so much? WF and E2 did both grab me to start. Let's hope they keep it up. I suspect that I will like WF but not E2 or the new JSA. I think it is my prejudicial preference for the past. Huntress and Power Girl were neither original to the old JSA so I can accept them better. But PG without cleavage is just not PG

[paw broon]

Apart from the freebies of Free Comic Book Day, I came home with, Smoke and Mirrors 2; Mind the Gap 1 (intriguing and complicated story, I'll try a few more issues.); Cap. 6; All Star Western 8; Saucer Country 2 ( don't anybody mention what happens  - haven't read it yet); Near Death 7 (ditto); Activity 5 (ditto); Sixth gun book 3 tpb (this is just such an entertaining read); Peter Panzerfaust 3 ( I'm going to have to chase down 1 & 2 as it looks eminently readable); DD 12 and the 3 part crossover DD/Spidey/Punisher.  Now,this annoyed me.  I don't like crossovers and no matter what the editors say, I always feel they're conning me.  Apart from anything else, I don't like The Punisher. Nor do I buy or read Spidey. And this whole thing didn't seem up the standard of the regular DD title.  Honestly, I thought it creaked a bit.  So, I wont be spending good money on more crossovers.  And, while I'm having a bit of a go, Cap., despite looking simply a lovely comic, was a bit obvious and too fighty - imo. 
Note - no 52.  I looked but couldn't bring myself to buy.  I used to be a DC freak and just look at me now.

[josemas]

Dial H was different. I can't say that it grabbed. Probably an age thing. Was it an under 40 crowd that liked it so much?

Now that you mention it, most, if not all, of those I listened to talking about Dial H were probably under 40.  You may well be right about the age thing.

Best

Joe

[bowers]

Picked up the second issue of "The Shadow". Much more gore than the last issue, and the "colorful" language doesn't really add that much to the story.If anything, it's more of a distraction. Looks like Dynamite might be up to it's old tricks. I'll probably stick with it for a couple more issues and see how it evolves. The storyline and art are excellent, as is the characterization of The Shadow himself - hope they don't really mess it up! Got an order in for the first issue of "The Spider". With Dynamite producing both books, I have a feeling it will be hard to tell the difference between "The Shadow" and "The Spider". Cheers, Bowers

[josemas]

Two new issues of Alter Ego in this week!

The (late) April issue (#108) contains Warren Reece's memories of meeting Carl Burgos, Bill Everett and others as well as some on early fandom, the Tony Tallarico interview pt. 3, Fern Peppe interviewed about her husband- GA artist Mike Peppe, the Roy Ald interview pt. 5 (conclusion) and more.
The May issue ($109) contains Ken Quattro's article on the early work of Bernard Baily, the Tony Tallarico interview pt. 4 (conclusion), recollections on Mike Peppe by his daughter and contemporaries in the comic biz, about twenty pages on the JSA, and more. 

Best

Joe

P.S.  I noticed an ad for issue #7 of Charlton Spotlight in A E #108.  The cover did not look familar but it has been so long since an issue came out that I'm not sure whether this is a new ish or not.  Can anyone confirm one way or the other?