The Classy Comics Podcast

Proto-borgs, a space race, James T. Kirk, slave trader, and a trip to the 20th Century for some fan service. That's what ahead and more in today's review of Star Trek Newspaper strips.
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Transcript below:
Space, the Final Frontier! These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her four-year mission: to help promote Star Trek movies in newspapers all around America. Learn more when we take a look at Star Trek: The Newspaper Comics Volume 2, straight ahead.
 

 
It's amazing the number of properties that have appeared as newspaper strips. Some we wouldn't be surprised by comic books, but daily and Sunday strips were oftentimes seen as a great way to adapt a property. Many obvious superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been in the comic strips along with characters like Blondie and the Peanuts gang. There was even a series of Stars Wars comic strips. In conjunction with the release of the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek launched newspapers across America with the crew appearing in the same uniforms that they wore in the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
 
The American Comics Library has put out two bound editions. The first collects Volume One collecting 1979 to 81, and the second collecting 81 to 83. The first three strips in the book are written by Sharman DiVono with the art by Ron Harris, and actually the first story in the book in actually the most interesting. In fact, the introduction by JC Vaughn to this volume cites only this particular story because it features the appearance of Cyborgs, Cyborgs which assimilate biological lifeforms and make them part of their whole.I think the…what Vaughn calls the ‘Pro-Borg' aspect of the story is a bit overplayed in the introduction in the back cover copy, but it's definitely there. The way that beings look when assimilated, as well as the appendages call the Borg, even though there are a lot of differences. Even though you can't call this directly a look at the Borg, it's a pretty good science fiction story…and as I said it's the best story in the book.
 
The next story is The Wristwatch Plantation which finds the Enterprise transporting a diminutive alien race known as the Bebebebeque who have a lot of complications. The story is a bit rambling. First, the aliens are having difficulty getting along with the crew and Kirk's got to solve that; and then there's narcotics trafficking and then there are other aliens who are enslaving them on their colony. And it does have just a bit of meandering and wandering to it, but it's kind of like the old Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon stories where they would tell a story over the course of months in the comic strip and it would seem to wander about almost endlessly as one development led to another, but still on the same plot. This is a fairly good story.
 
The Nogura Regatta finds the Enterprise, as well as twenty other Federation ships participating in a space version of a Japanese race for an Admiral's birthday, while the Admiral's grandson is deciding to do a social engineering experiment on the crews of these ships using space pirates. This is an interesting concept – I think it works for the most part even though it's a little bit silly, particularly when you think about all of those episodes of Star Trek when the Enterprise is informed, "You're the only ship that's close enough to get there." You wonder was it because all of the other ships in the Federation were often involved in some race for an Admiral's birthday.
 
The fourteenth story set in September of 1982 brings a new creative team on board which initially is no team at all. It's Padraic Shigetani who both writes the story and does the art,

Proto-borgs, a space race, James T. Kirk, slave trader, and a trip to the 20th Century for some fan service. That’s what ahead and more in today’s review of Star Trek Newspaper strips.

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Adam Graham discusses how to legally read comics for free. Legal sources for free comics include the library, library services such as Hoopla, Overdrive, and Comics Plus. Also, there is NetGalley and Comixology has a free comics selection.
Transcript:
Do you want to read comic books and graphic novels for free? We'll tell you how, straight ahead.
Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
Today is one of those non-review shows where we take a look at a topic that's really worth pursuing. There are a lot of people who like comics and superheroes and sci-fi franchises, but they can't afford to read as many books as they might like. And this episode is going to show you legal ways, and I want to underline that, legal ways to read comics for free. Now, of course, there are people out there who will pirate anything, but I strictly discourage that. As somebody who writes things and does podcast, it is just not appropriate to violate copyright law and I completely and utterly discourage that. It also can hurt the production of new works, particularly with lesser known comics. Though it should be said that many methods of reading comics for free don't necessarily put money into the pockets of companies and creators either. But some of them do and we'll discuss that as we go.
The first and most obvious way to read comics for free, and we're talking about physical books, is through your local library. Most libraries with any size have a good collection of comic books and graphic novels that are onsite and that you can go and check out. Personally, I rarely go through the stacks – I use the online catalog and place the books on hold that I'd like to read. If I'm in a medium-size city like Boise, this helps because I can have everything shipped to my particular branch library. Now, if you want to read a book your library doesn't have there are a couple ways to go about it. The first is you can request that your library order the book. This way not only do you get to enjoy it, but so do other people; plus it also can help the publishers of the comic books get some revenue from the book being purchased by the library.
Another option – and often this only applies to older books, usually at least a year old perhaps, even more so depending on your branch – is to place an interlibrary loan request where the library will try to borrow the book you're requesting from somewhere else in the country. I had a lot of success at giving some pretty rare graphic novels that I couldn't find anywhere else online or I could only find online at a big premium – though it's not always successful. I would suggest if there is a space for it to include the ISBN number, because there are some comic book titles that are very similar to other ones. In addition, do keep in mind when it comes to borrowing from other libraries that you may have less time to read it than a book that you get from your own library. So, if you're putting in a request for a thousand page novel, be sure that you're actually going to have time to read it, because you may only have a couple weeks unless they're able to get it renewed.
Of course the big downside with library books is that they have been handled a lot, and particularly if you read an all-ages title, some of the younger of those all-ages readers may have done some things to the book. It's particularly popular for kids to decide, ‘Hey, we'll cut the cover for the comic out of the book' – even it has a page of story on ...

Adam Graham discusses how to legally read comics for free. Legal sources for free comics include the library, library services such as Hoopla, Overdrive, and Comics Plus. Also, there is NetGalley and Comixology has a free comics selection.

Superman barely has time to adjust to his latest retcon before a team of malcontent supervillains form the new Superman Revenge Squad and declare war on him.
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Transcript:
Superman faces his revenge squad and we take a look at it in Superman Action Comics Volume Four: The New World.

The return of Superman has been one of the big pluses of the DC Rebirth Event. The DC Universe was rebooted in 2011, more than a quarter century after the last full Universal Rebirth in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the 1990s Superman married Lois Lane but the younger Clark Kent under The New 52 Universe was a single man, allowing writers to explore the possibility of things such as a relationship with Wonder Woman. In The New 52 event ‘Convergence' it was revealed that the post-Crisis Superman had actually survived along with Lois, and that they had had a son. In the eight-part mini-series ‘Superman: Lois and Clark' written by Dan Jurgens it's revealed that they made it to The New 52 earth, but that Superman didn't want to tread on the territory of the Superman of that world. However, The New 52 Superman went out literally in a blaze of glory, which meant the world needed a Superman and he took over the job full time after spending years fighting in the background. And there were a great many plotlines around people getting used to this new Superman and how they reacted, and those were interesting stories, but that bit of backstory probably wasn't something that was ever going to last. And so in Superman Reborn many questions that have been hanging over particularly the Action Comics title were answered, and at the end of the event The New 52 Superman and Lois emerged and they merged with their post-Crisis counterparts, creating one unified timeline and thus the title of The New World. It reveals what that unified timeline was and provides a retelling of Superman's origin stories, something that they've never done in comics again. And of course we're going to soon get another retelling when Brian Michael Bendis writes his new Man of Steel series, though I'll talk about that after we finish talking about this one.
This book, ‘Superman Action Comics: The New World’ collects issues 977 to 984, and 977 and 978 begin with Superman somewhat unsure about what's happened to him, and so he goes back to The Fortress to get a unified view of his timeline and concludes everything is fine – not even remembering where the big difference occurred. It's a good enough retelling, it provides some interesting details. Instead of Superman operating at night undercover in a black costume to stay out of his younger self's way, we're told that he and Lois took a sabbatical from The Daily Planet – though given the number of years involved that's a pretty big sabbatical. [He/It?] does a good job of holding the timeline together that there are some problems, particularly when you consider The New 52 Superman's relationship with Wonder Woman, this was never going to be perfect. And then we get into the Superman revenge squad. This is a concept that dates back to the Silver Age but it's been nearly a decade since we've had any active teen. And this one is an impressive one with Blanque – a shape-shifting alien, Metallo, Eradicator, Mongol; and it's initially led by Hank Henshaw as the Cyborg Superman, not to be confused with the one that Supergirl defeated earlier in DC Rebirth. They decide they have to spring General Zod from the Phantom Zone when they're able to do that by breaking into Belle Reve, home of the Suicide Squad. And the story features a good confrontation between Superman and Amanda Waller. The Squad then falls more or less under the leadership of General Zod with Henshaw being usurped, and Zod has a single target in mind.

Superman barely has time to adjust to his latest retcon before a team of malcontent supervillains form the new Superman Revenge Squad and declare war on him.

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It's World War II and Namor declares offensive war on Japan, sometimes very offensive. He also finds time to work undercover at a lumber company and fighting underwater pirate Nazis because Golden Age. Meanwhile the Angel fights crime in a loud costume that doesn't enhance his abilities or hide his identity also because golden age.
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Transcript below:
GrahamPrince Namor or declares war on Japan. Find out all about it as we take a look at Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1, straight ahead.

[Intro Music]
Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.
Graham:The Golden Age of Marvel Comics is not quite as celebrated as D.C. Comics Golden Age and there's some reason for that. D.C.'s greatest heroes Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, all had their beginning during those years in the late 30s and early 40s and the Justice Society of America was a big crossover event featuring a lot of heroes who D.C. really, subsequently, kept as part of their ongoing narrative, either as being from an alternate universe and occasionally crossing over or being from the past and continuing in some way in the present day. In addition, D.C. also acquired the rights to such classic Golden Age characters as Captain Marvel and Plastic Man from their respective publishers. Marvel, on the other hand, had one major character who had their roots in the Golden Age, Captain America and their references back to the Golden Age are incredibly infrequent and usually, it's in somewhat obscure mini-series or one shots. Yet, Marvel's Golden Age had a lot going for it. There were multiple magazines that put out some great work many by solid artists who would play a big role in the Silver Age of comics particularly in Marvel's resurgence and they had their own big three of Captain America, The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner.
Today, our focus is on the Sub-Mariner, Prince Namor and volume 2 of his solo series. Sub-Mariner was first introduced in the pages of Marvel Mystery Comics, an anthology feature and in his first issue, he inadvertently killed two divers thinking if they were robots and learned of his origin, as the son of an Atlantean and of an American sea captain and his mother's desire that he make war on all surface men which I guess could kind of make the Sub-Mariner a bit of an antihero except his wars on surface man were very intermittent. Whether he was trying to help humanity out or trying to declare war on humanity, kind of varied from issue to issue and story to story. Yet, he's a likeable character because he's driven by a sense of honur and there's a decency about him, even if he's a little bit mixed-up from our perspective as to what the right thing to do is. Probably my favorite story in terms of what the Sub-Mariner is like is one story from Marvel Mystery comics where he decides he's going to invade and take over New York by himself and he sets about doing it. However, he stops the entire invasion when he sees that a nanny has run away and left a baby carriage unintended and he turns instead to rescue the baby. That's the Sub-Mariner pre-war for you.
In the first issue of his comic, in his own solo series, the Sub-Mariner and Atlantis as a whole, declares war on the Nazis when the Nazis tried to invade Atlantis and this book continues Namor’s story. I should mention that Marvel Masterworks have a very different approach to the Golden Age than D.C. does. D.C. reprints, as a general rule, bound collections featuring the most popular characters. Its Golden Age collections feature Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Even in anthology comics where other characters appear, they're not going to reprint all those other stories. The Marvel masterworks reprints,

It’s World War II and Namor declares offensive war on Japan, sometimes very offensive. He also finds time to work undercover at a lumber company and fighting underwater pirate Nazis because Golden Age. Meanwhile the Angel fights crime in a loud costume that doesn’t enhance his abilities or hide his identity also because golden age.

Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary battle a metahuman who is turning other metahumans deadly, find out the truth behind the new Oracle, and battle a pair of evil realtors. Along the way Nightwing, Green Arrow, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy guest star.
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Transcript:
Graham:Brace for adventure with the ladies of Gotham as the Birds of Prey fly into another adventure. Today we're taking a look at Batgirl and the Birds of Prey Volume 2: Source Code, coming right up.
[Intro Music]
Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.
Graham:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast. Be sure and check out our website classiccomicsguy.com, email me at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter at classiccomicsguy
The Birds of Prey began in 1995. In the post crisis universe, Barbara Gordon was put in a wheelchair by the Joker, thus ending her career as Batgirl. However, she found a new career as Oracle. Her hacking skills and ability to master technology made her an asset to so many heroes and she started her own team, the Birds of Prey with Black Canary being a key member. When the D.C. Universe was rebooted with the New 52, the timeline changed so that after time in a wheelchair, Barbara was able to walk again and now is active again as Batgirl. However, there was a Birds of Prey during this New 52 era. It wasn't a successful the old one and didn't last long but with the D.C. rebirth initiative, it returned this time under the title Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. Black Canary teamed up with Batgirl in the initial story and they met the Huntress, Helena Bertinelli. She was introduced in the post, in the New 52 world as an agent of Spyral and then resumed her classic identity of the Huntress to find revenge for her family's murder by mobsters.
At the end of that story, which ended with her not exactly getting revenge but justice instead, she joined the Birds of Prey and we have our current team of Batgirl, Black Canary and the Huntress.
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey Volume 2: Source Code actually contains three different stories. It ranges from issue 7 to issue 13 of the series. Issue 7 is a one-off, Soldiers of Fortune which begins with a super villain fight but the main plot is about them uncovering why Barbara's realtor has been constantly spying on the property and that involves the Huntress and Black Canary going undercover. This is just a pretty fun story. You have Huntress deciding to go and spend the night at Black Canary’s house and really annoyed by how spartan it is but she gets up in the morning and sees an espresso machine and notes that Black Canary owns a high-end espresso machine but not a pillow to which Black Canary replies priority. That's just a very nice little idiosyncrasy there. The real estate agents, it's kind of interesting what they're doing, is that their big specialty is selling homes that have been previously occupied by super villains because once they get thrown into jail or Arkham Asylum, well, their house is going to be available or on the market.
As they say it, when one of these guys go to the big house, we have an open house and we get to see a few of the homes that have previously held supervillains and it's nice and I think that the idea of Huntress and Black Canary in disguise is played pretty well and there's a clever solution and resolution to this thread that's been working through the book. This is, it's not like a huge issue but I think it's important because it establishes the baseline relationship between these three characters and after the events of the first Arc through which Helena was mostly on the outside.
The second story is Blackbird. It begins with Dick Grayson pursuing the metahuman,

Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary battle a metahuman who is turning other metahumans deadly, find out the truth behind the new Oracle, and battle a pair of evil realtors. Along the way Nightwing, Green Arrow, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy guest star.

Affiliate link included.