The story is set as part of the background history of John Connor‘s future war with the machines. It is also set after the events of the 17 part The Terminator (1988–1989) series also penned by Fortier. The story starts with members of the resistance fighting against the machines with John (nicknamed Bear) giving a commentary on how the war has been. Later he is seen having what could only be described as a loss of faith as he is shown putting a pistol to his mouth. However, after watching two lone fighters (one injured) firing on an oncoming Hunter Killer tank only to be run over, John regains his resolve to never stop and never give up.
When Staton became art director at First Comics, the publisher acquired the rights to the character from Charlton and launched a series. Cuti was asked to write the title, but his obligations to DC Comics prevented him from accepting. The series was initially written by Martin Pasko, who had previously worked with Staton on Plastic Man and Metal Men. After Pasko’s run, Staton and Paul Kupperberg wrote the series until Cuti took over as writer with issue #24.
As a direct-market publisher not distributed to newsstands, the First series was not obligated to seek Comics Code Authority approval and could address more mature topics than Code-approved comics. Where the Charlton series featured broad whimsical themes, the First Comics series engaged in more specific satire directed at targets including the X-Men, Steven Spielberg, and Scientology.
The first 10 issues each contained a one-page parody of the Hostess snack advertisements that ran in comics through the 1970s and 1980s. These parodies were written and drawn by different creators and featured characters from across the independent comics industry.
Tales from the Crypt was an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955, producing 27 issues (the first issue with the title was #20, previously having been International Comics (#1–5); International Crime Patrol (#6); Crime Patrol (#7–16) and The Crypt of Terror (#17–19) for a total of 46 issues in the series). Along with its sister titles, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror, Tales from the Crypt was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles, along with the company’s remaining crime and science fiction series in September 1954.
Tales from the Crypt #36 CGC 6.5 Off-White Pages $1149
Four normal modern day teenagers are plunged into a world they thought only existed in novels and film. They are whisked away to a magical land where dragons roam the skies, orcs and hobgoblins terrorize travelers, and kingdoms wage war for dominance. It is a world where man is just one race, joining other races such as elves, trolls, dwarves, changelings, and the dreaded night creatures who steal the night. Not a typical “dungeons and dragons” world, for this story follows the adventures of these teens into the unknown as we watch the world unfold with their eyes. It is a world that is foreign to them. We learn as they learn. And what hope do these teens have in this strange Middle Earth world? How can they survive against wizards, dwarves, halflings, dragons, and trolls if they had a hard time making it in high school?
Stan Lee makes an appearance in the one-shot digest Joker, on three separate pages. (The only person to sign their text material.) This title would re-start shortly after as a large bedsheet (Life Magazine size) and run 4 more issues as Volume #1-4 on a quarterly basis. It will also concurrently become a comic book at the same time.
You’ve seen him on MTVs Liquid Television–Richard Sala continues his all-new, ultraterrifying 13 O’clock! He’s harder than hard-boiled, he’s Johnny Nemo by the ultrascientific Peter Milligan and Brett Ewins! It’s sex, it’s rock n’ roll, but is it drugs? It’s Doe, the latest graphic vortex from Harvey Award ultranominee Ho Che Anderson! They play the game, God makes the rules! They’re the A-Men by the ultraconservative Shaky Kane! Plus work by Julie Hollings, Philip Bond, Alec Stevens, D’Israeli and never forget GWAR, puny human! And an ultraspecial music feature! And another ultraschizophrenic cover painting from the corkscrewed psyche of Mitch O’Connell!
Panic was a bi-monthly humor comic that was published by Bill Gaines‘ EC Comics line during the mid-1950s as a companion to Harvey Kurtzman‘s Mad, which was being heavily imitated by other comic publishers.
Panic was edited by Al Feldstein (who became the editor of Mad a few years later). Beginning with its first issue (February–March 1954), Panic had a 12-issue run over two years. Feldstein was the primary cover artist, with stories illustrated by Jack Davis, Will Elder, Jack Kamen, Joe Orlando, Basil Wolverton and Wally Wood. Some story ideas were by Nick Meglin, later the co-editor of Mad. Scripts were by Feldstein, Elder and Jack Mendelsohn, later a co-screenwriter of Yellow Submarine (1968) and an Emmy-nominated TV comedy writer.
Comic book version of the 1960s TV series about one man’s crusade to convince people that an advance guard of alien creatures had infiltrated the world’s population and were preparing to conquer Earth.
The comic book’s detailed artwork by Michael Zulli, which focused primarily on wildlife and nature, was superposed to a loose narrative with a druggy, dreamy, new age apocalyptic atmosphere. This de-structuralizing of the main narrative increased dramatically in later issues, with the second half of the series often taking the form of illustrated prose poetry within an associative narrative.
Murder Incorporated would’ve been an obvious title for a hard-hitting true-crime comic book in 1948. The real-life Murder Incorporated, the infamous hit squad of New York City organized crime had been shut down by the early 1940s, but their legend lived on in other media. This Fox Feature Syndicate series was true to its title as it featured true crime tales with a focus on mob killers and other notorious murderers. Murder Incorporated‘s notoriety was such that the series was mentioned by both Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent, and Geoffrey Wagner in Parade of Pleasure, and it landed on countless municipal government ban lists around the country in 1948, along with much of the rest of Victor Fox’s comic book line. An interesting series in the context of both comic book history and from a true-crime perspective.
Murder Incorporated #1 CGC 4.0 Off-White to White pages $495
