Ken Aldred

This year, as far as Secret Wars goes, I read the Avengers and Infinity prequels and the main Secret Wars storyline. At present I'm playing catch-up posting about the Secret Wars / Battleworld series I've read; far more than "the tip of the iceberg", but not even close to the whole run of them.

Should’ve thought of that, being an Eisner fan.

Yup. But Pharoah isn’t crushing the logo to pieces like Phoenix is. Byrne’s is a better example.

I didn't read the Infinity tie-in, which would've introduced me to Charles Soule's work sooner. I tried to keep it to material that had a more direct effect on the Secret Wars story progression.

447 to 468 Secret Wars mini-series, Part 3 (22 issues in total) Marvel 1872 (4 issues) A story about The Avengers in a town called Timely, out in the old Wild West. Worth a read; good story by Gerry Duggan, and nice art which works very well for the period setting from Nik Virella, who I’m not familiar with, but I’ll look out for more from him. Modok Assassin (5 issues) Written by Chris Yost, one of my favourite modern writers, this is an absolutely ridiculous and often fun story, in which psychopathic killer Modok gets a crush on one of Marvel’s hottest characters, Angela. Worth staying with to the end, despite the art not really working for me. Squadron Sinister (4 issues) As a standalone alternate universe story, just an excuse for Marc Guggenheim to create an absolutely evil version of the Squadron, going around barbarically conquering adjacent regions of Battleworld, with typically solid art from Carlos Pacheco. Thors (4 issues) One of the very best Secret Wars series, from one of the best Thor writers ever, Jason Aaron. A police procedural murder mystery featuring Doom’s enforcers, the parallel universe Thor Corps, with nice art from Chris Sprouse. Where Monsters Dwell (5 issues) I’ve never been a fan of Garth Ennis’ sadistic hyper-violence, but here he’s in mainstream, comparatively-restrained Marvel territory and this is just a ridiculous exercise in pure, British smut humour in the style of a 'Carry On' film. Nice art from Russ Braun.

He regenerated. The Illuminati, with their advanced medical and genetic technology, can do that.

Punctuation, Kav.

Nice Phantom Stranger comics. The She-Hulk collection is great as well.

His aloofness also possibly suggests Illuminati-type behaviour. Perhaps a search should be done for images from the past of individuals with an uncanny resemblance to Ditko, providing the same kind of conclusive evidence that he's an immortal as has been found for Jay-Z, Nicolas Cage, and, more recently, Greta Thunberg.

435 to 446 Secret Wars mini-series, Part 2 (12 issues in total) Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde (3 issues) Fairly throwaway, although it does tie into the much better story later on. Peter Quill from Earth 616 has decided that the best way to keep a ‘low profile’ is by working as a lounge singer in a Manhattan nightclub , and Kitty is working for Doom, hunting anomalies from the worlds before. The usual predictable, initial hostility, later warming to each other as in the 616 universe. Romantic fluff, mediocre artwork and story. Guardians of Knowhere (4 issues) Brian Michael Bendis phones it in story-wise for Secret Wars, and this is a quite average super-hero comic, saved by some excellent Mike Deodato artwork. Attilan Rising (5 issues) One of the very best mini-series, from Charles Soule again, tying into ‘Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde’, with Black Bolt working as the owner of the Manhattan nightclub, and secret rebellion leader. Intriguing enough to keep interested in the story through to what’s ultimately an excellent twist ending, despite artwork that for me has a sloppy-looking, distorted and unappealing modern style. Definitely looking for more from this author somewhere down the line, such as his Daredevil run.

Action Comics 1 and Detective Comics 27 have been reprinted in different formats with different types of paper stock; original and Famous First Edition on newsprint, Archive Edition, Millennium Edition, as examples, which could, of course, be more-or-less effective in dealing with the same load. Also, the Famous First Edition was a much larger book, and so a direct, one-sheet comparison would be a bit of a cheat.

It's a long time ago now, but, IIRC, it was musician / singer / songwriter Sheryl Crow, in the 90s, who claimed that one sheet of paper should be sufficient for anyone in any circumstance. She was, of course, delusional.

I concur. It’s also unbelievable, because to begin with I would require far more than just a single page from an Action Comics 1. Golden Age anthology comics had a higher page count, and so in the situation described one could permit more generous usage of the available resource.

The dialogue should be.. “That’s cute, bub.”

423 to 434 Secret Wars mini-series, Part 1 (12 issues in total) - Captain America and the Mighty Avengers 8, 9 Ties into Secret Wars 1 and the final battle between the 616 and Ultimate universes. Interesting, as in the later stages it focuses on ordinary people just before the end arrives. Good story from Al Ewing and art by Luke Ross. - Civil War 1 to 5 One of the essential series to read; an America divided into two sectors, one controlled by Tony Stark, the other by Steve Rogers. I’d never read anything by Charles Soule before, but it’s an excellent story with nice Leinil Yu art. - Future Imperfect 1 to 5 Old Hulk, The Maestro, as you’d expect. Good story by Peter David, raised later by a surprising, twist ending. I’m not much of a fan of Greg Land’s photo-referenced art when it comes to ordinary, human-looking characters, but here his versions of The Hulk and The Thing are surprisingly impressive.

Just reading the consequence of his last attack; Planet Hulk and World War Hulk.

We’re seasoned comic art fans. We know the good stuff when we see it.

The selectivity and the pillaging MO suggests that the culprits were Conan fans. There’s a starting point.

It’s surely only a matter of time before DC requests a crossover comic with their own classic, root vegetable character, Swamp Thing. (Tubers were commonplace during Alan Moore’s run.)

Shows a mastery of drawing feet, and at such an early age, which puts certain, much older comic artists to shame. Raw, precocious talent.

They’re young and maybe a bit uncertain, but not as much as Tom in this all-time classic comics scene...

We’ve had many similar experiences, Jeff, so if you want a chat don’t hesitate to PM.