The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1355: Moon Girl #3, Spring 1948 (Flashback Replica #9)

Yeah, I got hooked. But at the price these comics command, I'm going to have to stretch things out.

We get a nice mix of tales today, and even a visit back to Moon Girl's home country, Sarkomand. It isn't, as I'd first thought, a female-only society, a la Themyscira, but is a matriarchal society. Moon Girl, or Princess Luna's mother, the Queen, is caught up in a coup, and the Prince and Princess return home to lend a hand.

Satana shows up again, firing missiles at various targets all over the US for reasons. The final story is a classic twist story: we see a splash page of Moon Girl as criminal (shocking!), and follow the exploits of a villainous double until the real hero shows up and all is explained. I think that one thing that gets overlooked here is that, without prosthetics or make-up, there was literally someone who looked exactly like Moon Girl, just with blonde hair. How weird would that be? Then again, this is a superhero world. Stuff like that just happens.

From what I can tell, Canton Street Press published seven issues of Moon Girl. These two are all my local comic store had, so it looks like cons or the Internet next. But not until I've saved up my pennies.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1352: Moon Girl #4 (Flashback Replica #11), 1948

As I was discovering the wonders that are pre-Code horror and science fiction titles, two things happened in succession. First, I finally read Jon Morris's amazing The League of Regrettable Superheroes, a wonderful look at some of the strange heroes of the early days of comics. Moon Girl is one of them. Second, as I was picking up a reprint collection, I noted that they had replica editions of some comics at my local comic shop. Moon Girl was one of them.

As EC's only costumed hero, I was intrigued, and the reprints from Canton Street Press are super-cool. And I've been talking about adding depth to the collection. The replica is slightly different than the reprint in that the comic in its entirety is reprinted. We don't often get this in reprint volumes. Indeed, the ads from 1948 are chilling - one invites you to purchase, through the mail, a proper .22 caliber rifle for $11.95. I know that was a lot then, but it's the mail order aspect I find bizarre.

Moon Girl's adventures are cool, and I think I might pick up a couple more of the replicas, though they are a bit more expensive than your average comic. What these editions do bring nicely to the books is the materials from which they're made, far superior to the original editions. There was definitely something a little magical in reading a comic that, aside from its newness, was exactly the same as the original, read by some forgotten fan 70 years ago. Literature forges connection.

(Edit: I totally forgot to mention that the last story is an incredible one about crooks trying to stir up racial unrest in order to buy up property and make a lot of money. Remember, 1948 - things haven't changed much in the last 70 years.)

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 279: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1, January 2016

Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur is probably my favourite of all of his works. It's quirky and strange, and really troubling, with lots of commentary on the Bible and implied rape by cave people. I know that Devil has shown up in various Marvel series since his debut in the late 70s, and in many guises, often accompanied by Moonboy. So you'll understand if I was really looking forward to a new series starring this delightful duo.

It's not quite that, but it's close, and it's cute, and it's got character. I'm still in denial about what happens to Moonboy in this issue, and I can only hope that I'm being fooled into believing something that CANNOT BE TRUE!!!!, but even if I'm not, I'm impressed enough with the first issue to stick with it for a while and see what happens.

I've noted over the last couple of posts that in the late nineties, DC was creating a cool, weird, not-necessarily-popular-or-epic-but-kind-of-interesting-nonetheless little corner of their universe with titles like Chase and Creeper. Marvel is engaged in a similar sort of project with some of their newer titles. I think I'd put this series in the same sort of space that Moon Knight, Howard the Duck, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are inhabiting. Slightly off the beaten track, not really concerned with all the grave and serious business of the A-list heroes and their angst, but still telling cool superhero stories. Moon Knight and Squirrel Girl veer more closely into the mainstream, but they're still quirky and weird enough that you know the writers are simply enjoying the madness of the superhero universe, rather than worrying overmuch about its coherence.

We'll see where Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur goes. Not really enough has happened yet to be able to comment on the story, but Moon Girl is definitely an atypical Marvel heroine, much as Devil is an atypical hero. Hopefully they'll manage to get into some atypical adventures. Issue two isn't out yet, so that's all I've got of this series for now. I'll check back in in a month. Til then, we'll move on through the collection tomorrow!