Off The Shelf: Strange Tales

Marvel's long anticipated indie take on super-powered heroes arrived on book store shelves in March of 2010. This unique and humorous three-part series is now available in one hard bound collection with Strange Tales II w/Gene Yang due out April 6th of this year.

The first collection features Peter Bagge's The Incorrigible Hulk whose story Bagge describes in a 2009 interview with Sean Collins of Marvel.com as "... about both the Hulk and Bruce Banner trying to cope with their many issues via the use of modern pharmacology, in the form of head pills, Viagra, etc. Needless to say, wackiness ensues." The comedy gold that Bagge is not pointing out is the cover art of the Hulk arriving in cramped dress shoes at his date's door step with a pained expression on his face and a heart-shaped container of Valentine's Day candy tucked under one arm.

Blogfoot favorites Johnny Ryan (Angry Youth Comix, Prison Pit and Blecky Yuckerella) and James Kolchalka (American Elf) also are featured in Strange Tales as Dr. Strange records a gangsta rap album, the Hulk goes out on a date and Spidey and Doc Ock get into a drunken bar brawl. What more could any body want? $30.00 gets you the the entire set at Amazon.



References:

• Marvel.com, Bagge Talks Strange Tales
• Again With The Comics, The Incorrigible Hulk
• Bloody Cool, Incorrigible Hulk Gets Marvel Stamp

Off The Shelf: Taskmaster

Beginning in 1980, as a nemesis for the entire Avenger team in Avengers #195-196, The Taskmaster has stalked, barrel-rolled and back-flipped his way into the hearts of many comic fans. Mr. Master has even been included in the third installment of Marvel vs Capcom in 2011.

His origins, although mysterious even to himself, were humble, beginning in middle-class America. It was there that his strange ability for a chameleon-like "muscle memory" manifested. By simply watching a task being performed his body "recorded" it allowed him to play it over and over again. Soon after, he began using his quasi-mutant ability (Taskmaster is listed in databases as strictly non-mutant) to commit elaborate crime, continuing to push his power by taking on larger super-heroes. Notably Taskmaster continues to emulate some of the heroes he's battled including the Avengers' Capitan America, Black Knight, The Swordsman and Hawk-Eye using the best of their strength and weaponry against them.

The drawback for Taskmaster is that as he learns new abilities, his body "forgets" old ones. This weakness is also generally believed to include his thoughts and memories making Taskmaster a creature of an eternal present - acting and reacting with no past or future. The perfect instructor for S.H.I.E.L.D. but also for Hydra, Taskmaster knows no lasting loyalty only the here and now.

Several new books featuring The Taskmaster, such as Avengers Initiative and his own limited series, are out on store shelves now.



References:

• Wikipedia, Taskmaster
• Comicvine, Taskmaster
• L.A. Times, Marvel v. Capcom Part 3

Off The Shelf: The Stand

Beginning in January of 2010 Marvel Comics started the process of releasing Stephen King's classic 1985 horror masterpiece, The Stand, as a limited edition mini-series. This series features all of the characters that made the original book a classic with breathtaking, detailed artwork, work that's on a whole other level for comics - mixing photorealism with the abstract, reflecting the source material perfectly.

The Stand is being released 16 years after a doomed attempt by ABC in the mid-nineties to bring the series to life on the small screen. This attempt left fans reeling with disappointment due to wildly unbalanced casting, including an aging "surfer dude" Jamey Sheridan as the central character. Sheridan fumbled his way through the part of Randall "The Dark Man" Flagg enough upset a lot of people - Sheridan's next dramatic turn would be in a made for tv movie My Breast starring Meredith Baxter Birney, go figure. The series also starred Gary Sinese as Stu Redman and Rob Lowe as Nick Andros. However, 16 years later, The Stand is now coming to an electrifying life as a mini-series from Marvel as artists Mike Perkins and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa apply an amazing amount of detail to King's vision of the American Apocalypse.

References:

• Gargantuan Media, Full Variant Cover
• Amazon, The Stand: The Graphic Novel

Off The Shelf: Foolkiller

In 2008 MAX, an imprint of Marvel, recruited a band of artists and writers including Gregg Hurwitz, Paul Azaceta and Tomm Coker. Together, they revamped a forgotten minor Marvel villain whose first appearance was in Man-Thing #3 way, way back in March of 1974 into a bad ass in 2008.

In Foolkiller's previous 70's incarnation, "Tricky Dick" Nixon was pretending to be President, Viet Nam was raging and Marvel had been generally "toned down" to appeal to the kiddies.

In 1974, Foolkiller was an early proto-type for the anti-hero - a figure closely resembling the Ballisk-snuffing Scourge(s) and the character that Frank Miller's Punisher eventually became - but with noticable differences. In his original incarnation, Foolkiller was a wide-brimmed hat sporting, Bible-banging annihilator of humanity who killed fools with his trusty "purification gun" - a laser powered by Jesus beams.

This first Foolkiller, aka Ross Everbest, was inspired by a faith healer named Reverend Pike who had cured Everbest of his childhood paralysis. As a result, Everbest became an evangelist with the Reverend as his mentor. Both soon became very popular.

However, things took a bloody turn when, after catching Reverend Mike in a drunken orgy, Everbest killed his former hero and mentor then preserved the good Reverend's corpse in formaldehyde. Everbest then went about using the two-faced preacher's money to fund his own vigilante activities. First step, don a flamboyant Zorro-like costume. Second step, kill fools. Simple. Step two went pretty OK for awhile until Everbest was killed when his mentor's glass preservation container exploded, sending glass shards into many of his vital organs. Youch!

Now in 2008, Foolkiller is Mike Trace, a man who trudges through a series of rat's nests populated by brain-damaged narcotics addicts, white supremacy groups, and so-called modern "superheroes" who are in the city for lucrative Hollywood movie contracts. In the modern Foolkiller's world, deserving criminals are executed in ironic Saw-type ways with semi-clever notes left behind for the police to decipher. Not a bad read at just $3.99 American a pop.



References:

• Wikipedia, Foolkiller
• The King of Comics, Foolkiller: White Angels #5
• Marvel Universe Appendix, Foolkiller I
• Marvel Wikia, Foolkiller II

Off The Shelf: The Rampaging Hulk

The Rampaging Hulk was a comic title in magazine format featuring the Green Goliath released in 1977 by Curtis Publishing (an imprint of Marvel Comics) and ran until 1981.

The Rampaging Hulk was first released with a full-color cover and black-and-white interior in magazine format. It featured full-length stories dealing with a more realistic depiction of violence, death, loss and alienation - subjects intended for a more mature audience. The title veered away from the mindless and sulking "Me Smash" Hulk that ol' green jeans had sadly devolved into since the good old days. The Rampaging Hulk was a return to the darker original character of the Hulk in the tradition of Tales to Astonish - a science fiction anthology that, after the first Hulk book was canceled in 1963, developed the Hulk as a raging, atomic super-mutant. In fact, many of the Rampaging Hulk stories were originally intended for the defunct Tales to Astonish title.

When the whole magazine went full-color the title featured interviews with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno while the Incredible Hulk TV series was in full swing on CBS as well as the art of a young John Romita Jr. at 19 (he later a became a writer and artist on Amazing Spiderman) and his father John Romita Sr. one of the original Marvel Bullpen.



References:

• Wikipedia, The Rampaging Hulk
• Wikipedia, Incredible Hulk TV series
• Comic Covers, The Rampaging Hulk
• Amazon, Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1