The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 722: Angel Fire #3, October 1997

Something that I had never really thought about before I started reading from this box of oddball comics is that there are really a lot of comics in the Grand Comics Database that are represented simply by their covers. Today's comic, for example, has no other information, outside of the most bare bones technical stuff. It is a testament, I suppose, to the enormous volume of comics out there that not all of them get the loving treatment of the big books from the big companies. I had, at one point, decided that each time I came across such an undocumented comic, I would fill in all the information I could. But it's a time-consuming process, and one for which I simply do not have the time.

I really wanted to like this comic because it's written by Dan Mishkin, who wrote some of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comics that I dearly love and that I read very early on in this project when I thought I'd be able to go through my collection alphabetically. But, whether because it's the third issue of a three-issue series, or because it's a fairly generic kind of spy/action/pseudo-superhero story, I just didn't dig it. The art is not quite my cup of tea and the story seems like it's been told before. Numerous times, in fact.

This is not to say it's not a well-wrought comic. It's simply not to my taste.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 105: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #8, July 1989

We reach the conclusion of "The Spirit of Myrrth" in a decidedly Monty Python-esque manner involving a battle between musicians and adventurers for possession of a joke that can kill its audience. This issue has a really lovely caper feel to it as the group attempts to infiltrate the Musician's Guild to steal back the skull of Myrrth before it reveals the killing joke. That term in mind, this comic really does have The Joker plastered all over it, most explicitly in the opening scenes depicting the outcome of Myrrth's infamous joke. I've often theorized about myths reverberating forward and backward through time, and here the tropes of The Joker myth jump genres into the realm of Waterdeep.

The next storyline features the centaur, Timoth Eyesbright, who was conspicuously missing from this drole little tale, so once I've procured those issues, we'll move on to that. In the meantime, we'll delve back into the depths of the collection. There's definitely comics coming up that I've never read before, which is exciting. I had also suggested that yesterday I would begin my series of graphic novel reads, but a surprise visit from my in-laws has set that back about a week. Hopefully next Monday will see the beginning of this other ingress into my comics collection.

A short post today, but that seems to be the way it goes with extended reads of individual series. On to something new tomorrow, then. See you soon.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 104: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #7, June 1989

A raging battle against a re-animated giant skeleton with flame breath, ice breath, and a withering gaze through the streets of a medieval fantasy city, aided by guardsmen on winged hippogriff steeds.

That's the summary of this issue, and an awesome issue it is. The twist of the jesters using jokes as the components of a spell is made even more interesting by the fact that the punchlines to the jokes are the counterspells. I'm not sure if this is taken from the Jester NPC class that appeared many years ago in Dragon magazine, or if it's Mishkin's idea, but it's a cool one.

I've not commented much on the inking of the comics I've looked at, and that's because the inkers, amongst others, are unsung heroes of comic books. This issue replaces Kim DeMulder on inks with Joe Statema, and it's amazing the difference one can see. Statema inserts far more detailed line work that DeMulder, giving the characters a more realistic cast. Neither style is better than the other, and both bring something to the feel of the comic, though switching part way through a storyline is a dodgy gambit, if you ask me. Especially since this is a relatively light-hearted tale, it seems to me that DeMulder's more iconic work (as opposed to realistic work) functions more appropriately. Perhaps a grittier tale would benefit more atmospherically from Statema's work. I'm not sure if it's a permanent replacement or just for this particular issue, but the adoption of a more realist inking mode could work well for the series. What will be interesting is to see if the inking really has that much of an affect on the feel of the comic.

We'll finish up "The Spirit of Myrrth" tomorrow, and then move on to something else. I'll be continuing the AD&D series eventually, once I've procured the next storyline, but tomorrow we'll look to the next section of the collection, which I believe is an indie series from the eighties called The Adventurers, a grimmer take on the fantasy party quest model. It'll make an interesting contrast. See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 103: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #6, May 1989

Before reading today's comic, I took my son down to our local gaming store (The Sentry Box). While he was flipping through new D&D books, I had a look at the book section of the store. I was surprised to find a volume entitled Classic Dungeons & Dragons, published by I.D.W., that contained the first eight issues of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series. There were three more there collecting the complete series. My problem now is a mathematical one. Is it cheaper to buy the trades or the individual issues? Coupled with this conundrum is whether or not I'll be able to find all of the issues. Ah well. The concerns of the comic collector.

I've not much more to say about this storyline as yet. Both the praise and the problems I've outlined thus far with the series are still present. The Myrrth story is quite amusing, especially the Marty Feldman appearance as the leader of the Ancient and Revered Order of Merrymakers (the Jesters' Guild). A bit more of Vajra's backstory is filled in, by way of the mysterious Connor and his cat-child. One of the slight inconsistencies this time around was Vajra's behaviour while lost beneath the City of the Dead in Waterdeep. She begins to act quite petulantly, which Connor points out, and it's certainly not in keeping with her character as portrayed in the earlier issues. I'm sure this will be dealt with at some point, and the off-putting nature of the scene serves in some ways to add a bit of depth to characters that, as with any adventure-based comic, run the risk of descending into stereotype.

This issue, and the next, do afford me the opportunity to type something that I've never, ever typed before: Giant Undead Skeletal Jester.

That was satisfying. See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 102: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #5, April 1989

I managed today to find a copy of AD&D #8, so I've got the complete "The Spirit of Myrrth" storyline, which I'll report on for the next 4 days. Of our previous group of adventurers, only the three pictured above are featured in this story. No word on what has happened to Timoth or Agrivar, but I quite like the idea that the cast can fluctuate. It gives the comic a sort of fantasy-Avengers kind of feel. The other nice thing about this story, as the title attests, is that it's not taking itself seriously. The adventurers are contacted by the ghost of a famous jester to stop his grave from being robbed. There are some truly amusing moments in this initial issue, mostly centering on Onyx's attempts at humour, and Myrrth's attempts to educate him in humour. There are rumblings of the ongoing stories that were set up in the first storyline, with the bearded stranger, who knows Vajra somehow, and his cat-eyed child who might be more cat than child. The writing still suffers a bit from the name-dropping that I mentioned previously, but it's starting to feel....not exactly natural, but like it's a part of the aesthetic of the fantasy story that's being told. The really important thing is that I'm very much enjoying the series, and I'm planning on procuring the rest of it. I like the characters, the setting of Waterdeep engenders all sorts of nostalgic feelings, and the writers and artist seem to have a good handle on the characters and the type of story they're interested in telling. I'm curious as to whether we'll see an even larger over-arching storyline, a campaign to these individual adventures, but that'll have to wait for a while.

I'm tired today. My in-laws have been visiting for the last few days and it's been quite a whirlwind of activity. Next week I'll try to get back to a bit more critical thought, as well as the personal reminisce, once I've a bit more energy to devote to the project. See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 98: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #4, March 1989

(A note: while writing this, the Grand Comics Database is down, so this is a lower quality picture, and lacks a link to the statistics page. I'll fix this once the GCD is back up.)

The epic conclusion to the first storyline, which has actually been an origin story for a couple of the characters. What I noted about Duursema's art the other day has ceased to be a problem. There were no moments in this issue in which I felt like I was looking at statues rather than golems, if you'll pardon the referential humour. Even the dialogue has ceased to spell out (I did it again) every movement and action, so, overall, this was a really satisfying read. I notice from the cover date that I was 15, almost, when this comic came out, and I still for the life of me can't understand why I would have given this series up when I did (as I did 3 issues from now). It really seems to sum up just about everything I was interested in at the time. (This was, of course, one year before I discovered sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll.)

I am a little concerned about the series moving forward, as the writing chores are relinquished by Fleisher and handed to Dan Mishkin (whose name appears on this cover, but who is not the scripter of this issue). As with Duursema, I've relatively little work by Mishkin that's not fantasy or sci-fi, two very under-represented genres in my collection and, let's be honest, in North American comics in general. But perhaps that means the he'll have a good grasp of how a fantasy story based on a table-top role-playing game should read.

(I have to note, again, what good shape this comic is in. I must have read it maybe once and then never touched it again. It doesn't even have those little tiny creases along the spine that would earn it a "Very Fine" rating.)

As far as moving forward with this series, I'm enjoying it immensely. The whole run only lasted 36 issues, though, as I've noted, I stopped well short of that number. I only have 3 issues of the next story arc, but I think this is the first series I've come across in this project that I'd like to finish collecting. So before galloping with Timoth into "The Spirit of Myrrth" (a lighter-hearted story, as you might glean from the title) part one, I'll have to find part four first. I do so like a challenge.

See you tomorrow with.....I have no idea.