Counting Comics - Part 4

So I started today's video/blog count with

DC 164

Marvel 23

Before starting the video though as I braved balancing on a rickety arm chair to grab the biggest, hardest to reach box so far, I found another long box, hidden between armchair and cupboard and covered in various things that I can't seem to find a more sensible home for. So with the extra 275 - 325 comics that makes my likely boxed comics total to be around 5775 - 6800. Which isn't a bad number, I kind of hoped it would come to more but let's just carry on counting and see how many it turns out to be. I had a comment in Facebook group saying that long boxes don't really hold quite as many as Google told me, but we'll see when I get to the 1st box.

I am surprised I remembered some facts this week, like Crispus Allen did become The Spectre and Earth's sector in the Green Lantern Corps, (read this last word to rhyme with door remember), is 2814. On the negative side I got some stuff all mixed up too, I confused Geo-Force's powers with Terra's I think and there's possibly some more stuff I'll point out here... if I remember!!

Batman And The Outsiders (2007)

1 - 40

Special One Shot (2009)

The Outsiders are a bunch of superheroes outside of the mainstream Justice League grouped together by Batman when he had a falling out with the League. The classic line-up of Batman, Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Katana, Halo and Looker 1st got together in 1983, debuting in their own book in August 1983. It was created and originally written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Jim Aparo.

This bunch of comics is from the 4th Batman and The Outsiders run from 2007 - 2011, that was interrupted by the Batman R.I.P. story so they dropped the "Batman and.." from the title for a while before finally resurrecting it when Batman ended up not being so dead after all!

Green Lantern - Larfleeze

Christmas Special

Larfreeze, aka Agent Orange, is the only wielder of the Orange ring from the emotional spectrum, this is the colour for Avarice and he personifies that trait in quite comical fashion mostly but he is dangerous and shouldn't be underestimated. Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, he 1st appeared in DC Universe #0 in April 2008. Although he is the only true member of the Orange Lanterns he has a host of ring constructs created from souls of those he has killed. He is able to control a small army of these due to his constant proximity to his power battery.

Ion

1 - 12

Created by Judd Winnick and Dale Eaglesham for Green Lantern Vol 3 # 142, the Ion entity lived in the Green Lantern willpower battery along with Parallax the yellow entity of fear. When  crazed Hal Jordan broke the battery it escaped and travelled the cosmos before finally it chooses and fuses with Kyle Rayner imbuing him with tremendous power. He relinquishes the power when he realises the enormity of it is making him lose touch with the people he is trying to protect. He later reacquires the power for this 12 part mini-series by Ron Marz and Glenn Tocchini that ran from June 2006 to May 2007.

He later passes the Ion power onto a fellow Green Lantern Corps member, the Daxamite, Sodam Yat who was originally created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

Tales of The Sinestro Corps (2007)

Superman - Prime - 1

Parallax - 1

Cyborg Superman - 1

Ion - 1

Green Lantern

Sinestro Corps Special 1 (2007)

I read the date wrong in the video!! I read it as 97 and was astounded that it was 21 years ago, still 11 years is pretty long ago too!! Dang where is my life disappearing to?

Green Lantern Sinestro Corps

Secret Files and Origins 1 (2008)

The yellow part of the emotional spectrum controls fear. The entity Parallax, the embodiment of fear was trapped inside the Green Lantern power battery, alongside the Ion entity of willpower. The members of the Corps were originally chosen as they were either fearless or able to overcome great fear. The Green rings were also powerless against the colour yellow thanks to Parallax's evil influence. Sinestro an ex-Green Lantern and their long time enemies manages to harness the Parallax entity to create his Sinestro Corps, able and more than happy, to install great fear.

I don't know about you but they scare me!!

Green Lantern Secret Files & Origins 2005

Guy Gardner - Collateral Damage

G'nort the dog-like runt of the Green Lantern Corps litter is looking for a mediator to help quell the Rann-Thanagar war. Like the hopeless dope he is he chooses hot-headed, bull in a china shop, Guy Gardner!! The only thing worse than his temper is his haircut! Oh dear!!

JLA/Hitman

1 - 2

As I mentioned in the video, Hitman, who 1st appeared in The Demon annual # 2 as part of the Bloodlines alien parasite attack on Earth, was the one character from this series that got some respect from DC. He was one of the very few to get his own humorous book that ran for 61 issues. OK like the rest of the Bloodlines created characters he died but it was in a magnificent blaze of glory not the victim of nasty villain of the week, like the rest of them. Created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, this 2 parter sees the incorrigible anti-hero Hitman team-up with the Justice League.

Justice 1 - 12

This 12 part series was written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, with iconic art also by Ross and Doug Braithwaite. The Justice League of America confront the Legion of Doom who had been drawn together by shared dreams that the JLA will fail to save the Earth so they seek to get rid of them. Heavilly infuenced by the 1970 Superfriends TV series, this comic is outside of normal DC continuity.

JLApe: Gorilla Warfare (1999)

JLA Annual 3

Batman Annual 23

Aquaman Annual 5

Wonder Woman Annual 8

Flash Annual 12

Superman Annual 11

Green Lantern Annual 8

Martian Manhunter Annual 2

The DC Annuals from 1999 crossed over as the Apes of Gorilla City make war on the humans of Earth, using technology to revert humanity back to apes.

Battleaxes (2000)

1 - 4

This sword and sorcery 4-parter from the Vertigo imprint by Terry LeBan and Alex Horley follows a group of all female mercenaries during the Dark Ages

Body Bags (Dark Horse)

1 - 4

Written and illustrated by Jason Pearson as a launch title for Dark Horse's Blanc Noir line of books, this got promoted as the most controversial comic of the 1990's! The blood splattered pages feature an Hispanic father and daughter team of professional hit-people (Body Baggers) which many found to be quite shocking apparently. The fact that the buxom young Panda is billed as being just 14 added to the furor I should imagine but it never stopped her from creating mayhem and slaughter with her dad Clown Face. Kind of makes me think of them as an early prototype of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.

Cruel And Unusual

1 - 4

In this mini from 1999 created by Jamie Delano and Tom Peyer (writers), John McCrea (penciller) and Andrew Chiu (inker) the prison system is overrun and short on money so they take to making it into reality television with live executions!!

Capes (Image)

1 - 3

This is pretty much how I described it in the video, written by Robert Kirkman with art by Mark Englert, superheroes are working shifts like cops, doing it for the paycheck rather than any altruistic reason. It's quite a fun read from the mind of the guy who brought us The Walking Dead and Invincible.

Dead Man - Dead Again

1 - 5

Deadman (2002)

1 - 9

Created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino and 1st appearing in Strange Adventures #205 in 1967, Boston Brand was a Circus acrobat in life before he was shot whilst performing on the trapeze. In his act he used the name Deadman,wearing a red costume and white make-up, now as a ghost he is a real dead man given the power by a Hindu goddess named Rama-Kushna to inhabit/possess the bodies of the living to try and seek out his killer and get justice.

Rose & Thorn (2004)

1 - 6

The original Rose & Thorn is a Golden Age character dating right back to 1947 when she appeared in Flash #89. Rose Canton turned into the criminal Thorn by night using plant powers to menace The Flash Jay Garrick. Eventually seemingly cured she married Green Lantern Alan Scott before Thorn reemerges on their honeymoon so Rose flees letting Alan believe her dead. She was however already pregnant by him and has two children Jennie-Lynn aka Jade & Todd aka Obsidian!! I must admit I know those characters but never knew this about their origins. Obviously being comics it's been retconned and there are alternate Earth versions too. In these books by Gail Simone she is Rhosyn Forrest - one woman but two personalities: the sweet, innocent Rose...and the deadly, dangerous Thorn.

Wanted (Top Cow)

1 - 6

So, just in case there are other people with rubbish brains like mine I will tell you Mark Millar who wrote this book also did Kick-Ass and The Kingsmen comics amongst many others, both of which have been made into films which I assume were slightly closer to the comics in style/tone than the movie version of Wanted was! So this is a pretty cool book, with lots of ultra-violence and an unlovable anti-hero. I will change up what I said in the video, Shithead is more a Clay-face parody, plus there is a character called Fuckwit who is a take on Bizarro.

Emperor Joker

Emperor Joker - 1

Superman in Action Comics - 770

Superman - 161

The Adventures of Superman - 583

Superman The Man of Steel - 105

I was again basically correct in my video synopsis about this, the Joker steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality-altering capabilities and takes control of the world. Every day he kills Batman and resurrects him to slay him all over again. The story ran through the Superman books in 2 story arcs Superman: Arkham and The Reign of Emperor Joker during September/October 2000.

Deadshot (2005)

1 - 5

Apparently this little run about Floyd Lawton, the assassin well known for losing to Batman and being a capable member of the Suicide Squad, is where he first learns that he has a 4 year old daughter. She is living with her mother in a crime infested part of town and he decides to clean it up to improve her life and chances.

Doctor Mid-Nite (1999)

1 - 3

Here is another Golden Age hero and member of the Justice Society of America. He was created by writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Stanley Josephs Aschmeier, he 1st appeared in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941). He is a legacy hero though with 3 people having assumed the name. Charles Mcnider was the original, followed by Beth Chapel, and Pieter Anton Cross, who features in this mini. All 3 versions have used similar costumes and had pretty much the same abilities being able to see perfectly in pitch darkness whilst being almost blind in daylight. They use blackout smoke bombs to give them advantage over their foes. He is widely regarded to have been the 1st physiacally impaired superhero, pre-dating Daredevil by 20 years. All of them have been legitimate medical doctors specialising in meta-humans as well as normal patients. In fact Charles McNider delivered Pieter as a baby after saving his mother. Matt Wagner who did a sterling job on Sandman Mystery Theatre, (see last week's blog), wrote this series.

Beth Chapel the 2nd Doc Mid-nite was another character who died at the hands of Eclipso.

Unknown Soldier (1997)

1 - 4

I think I said Universal Soldier at one point in the video lol, it's a classic movie with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren but I did mean Unknown Soldier. Named after the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia it's for those who died at war but whose remains were not able to be recognised. That's really grim when you consider it. 

Originally created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, he first appeared with Sgt Rock in Our Army At War #168 (June 1966); the character is symbolic of the nameless soldiers that have fought throughout America's wars. The character proved quite popular running in Star Spangled War stories which was later renamed The Unknown Soldier keeping the numbering from #151 to # 268, 1970 to 1982.

There was a 12 issue series in 88/89 and this 4-parter from 1997 which sees a grittier, darker Soldier with a much less patriotic outlook as told by Garth Ennis with art by Kilian Plunkett. There have been other reimaginings and sightings of the Soldier since this mini.

The Monolith (2004)

1 - 12

Well it seems I remembered correctly that Monolith was a golem, in this book he was created in the 1930's during the depression to protect a group of friends in unsafe and difficult times. Decades later Alice the granddaughter of one of the Monolith's creators, also named Alice, receives a house in their will and discover the golem which assists them with their own present day problems. The comics tell the story of both the 1930's and 2004. It was cancelled due to poor sales and in 2013 the rights reverted to the creators Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmioti with a film by Lionsgate slated to be in the works. Cool, I hope that works out alright.

Ragman (1991)

1, 2, 5 - 8

Ragman Cry of the Dead (1993)

1 - 6

Here's another character created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, Rory Regan The Ragman aka "the Tatterdemalion of Justice" is a Jewish superhero whose continuity is tied to that of the DC comics Golem that is derived from the Golem of Prague of Jewish folklore. He 1st debuted in Ragman #1 in 1976 and was originally Irish Pre-Crisis but was retconned as Jewish after the event. Which explains some of my confusion about the character on the video as I kind of thought he was Irish but then also thought he was Jewish. Originally the Ragman costume was just an ordinary suit but in the 1991 run it was made into a magical costume where each scrap is a soul of an evildoer. 

The Butcher (1990)

1 - 5

Not to be confused with The Butcher, the avatar of The Red Lanterns light of rage born from the first spillage of blood.

The Brave and The Bold

Green Arrow/ The Butcher/ The Question (1991)

1 - 6

The Butcher, real name John Butcher is a native American vigilante created by Mike Baron. He has no super powers but has peak human agility & stamina and proficiency with ax weapons. He never proved that popular but since these books had a few appearances in Green Arrow.

Gunfire (1994)

1 - 13

So here's another Bloodlines character who got a bit of a run before meeting an unfortunate fate, not dead just lost his hands poor thing. Venev one of the parasite aliens from Bloodlines fed off Andrew Van Horn's spinal fluid and triggered his metagene, (not muta-gene as I think I called it in the video oops). This gave him the power to agitate the molecules of objects he holds and focus blasts through them. This happened in Deathstroke Annual #2 in 1993. His book ran from 1 - 13 but has 14 issues as there was a 0 book in there too, which annoyingly I don't seem to have for some reason. I collected the book when it came out so I am wondering if it is elsewhere in my collection! Maybe a bunch of 0's hiding somewhere.

Mister E (1991)

1 - 4

This run was after The Books of Magic it turns out. Mister E was created by Bob Rozakis and Jack C. Harris and appeared 1st in Secrets of Haunted House #31, Dec 1980 but was radically redesigned by Neil Gaiman for Books of Magic. Despite having his eyes scooped out with a spoon by his father he has the ability to see evil. He started off fighting supernatural foes but later thought Tim Hunter was destined to be a cause of great danger to the world so tries to kill him. In the New 52 he was an enemy of John Constantine who described him as one of the most cruel and insane mages in the world.

Angel and the Ape (1991)

1 - 4

These guys debuted in 1968 in Showcase #77 created by E.Nelson Bridwell and then ran in their own book for 7 issues. This unlikely duo are private detectives, Angel O'Day and Sam Simeon he's a talking gorilla and also a comic book artist when he isn't working cases. The book has had a couple of 4 part revivals, this one from 1991 by Phil Foglio and a Vertigo take in 2001.

Peacemaker (1988)

1 - 4

I spoke about Creeper and Wild Cat (Yolanda Montez) getting killed fighting Eclipso, I totally forgot that Peacemaker met his fate there too. The original Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (Nov. 1966) from Charlton Comics, and was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette. He was acquired by DC in the mid-80's and they put him in this 4 parter. He goes from using violence to fight wars using non-lethal weapons to becoming a deadly vigilante who kills at the slightest notice and starts believing that the ghosts of the dead inhabit his helmet. He was the basis for The Comedian in Alan Moore's Watchmen, I messed up in the video and said Owl Man instead of Niteowl I think, silly me!

Challengers of The Unknown

Unknown comic (cover and 1st page missing)

8 part mini-series (1991)

1 - 8

Who created these characters is uncertain, it's generally agreed that Jack Kirby had a hand in them but it's not sure if he created them alone or in collaboration with either Dave Wood or Joe Simon. They first appeared in Showcase #6 in 1957 and ran there for a while before getting it's own book that ran till 1971. The story is that after surviving a plane crash "Ace", "Red", "Rocky" & "Prof" decide that they are "living on borrowed time" so they band together to go on hazardous adventures. This 8 parter from 1991 shows them older and semi-retired when a disaster strikes that ruins their reputation and lives, they have to pull themselves together and find out the cause of the disaster.

 The team has been rehashed a number of times in the DC universe.

Night Force (1996)

1 - 5,  7 - 12

There have been 3 runs of this book in DC comics over the years, all of them with Baron Winters manipulating and managing people in missions to battle supernatural menaces. He can not leave his home Wintersgate Manor in Washington D.C. The mansion is located in a special juncture of time and space, allowing him to send his team to different places and times. Created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan they debuted in Teen Titans #21 in 1982. The books I have are from the 2nd Night Force run, which was one of 4 books in what was called the Weirdoverse alongside The Books of Fate, Scare Tactics & a later run of Challengers of the Unknown which had a different line-up to the '91 books I mentioned above. The Convergence crossover I mentioned in the video was with these 3 other books.

So that's a pretty bumper set of books there, here's the count
DC comics = 209
Others = 13
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Making the running totals
DC Comics = 373
Marvel = 23
Others = 13

Come back next week for more comic counting folks

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I managed to recover some of the lost footage of this counting and thought I'd put it up for people to check out if they want to.

      

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Counting Comics - Part 3

Thanks for watching my video/checking out my blog, let's go into more depth and count and talk about the comics on this week's show.

Justice League of America (80-Page Giant)

This is a cool book from November 2009, I think it was a kick off for Vol 2 of the League. In this book the team are split up and spread through time by Epoch a time-travelling villain when they prevent him from killing a child who is destined to grow up as his enemy Time Commander. Each story of the time hurled heroes is told by a different creative team. I love this sort of story, they are a lot of fun.

DC Universe Decisions 1 - 4

Created by Bill Willingham, Judd Winick and Rick Leonardi this 4 parter from 2008 tells the story of what happens when ouspoken liberal Green Arrow openly endorses a political candidate in the presidential elections. An interesting idea that really makes you think outside the normal, punching criminals box, as it explores the repurcussions of this action in interesting depth.

Justice League - Cry for Justice 1 -7

Written by James Robinson and drawn by Mauro Cascioli this 7 parter has Hal "Green Arrow" Jordan and Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen head up a spin-off Justice League seeking to take a more pro-active stance against the villains of the World as a reaction to the 'deaths' of Batman and Martian Manhunter during Final Crisis. This was originally planned as an on-going but changed to just 7 issues.

Booster Gold 1 - 25

This is the 1st run of Michael Jon Carter aka Booster Gold, created in 1986 by Dan Jurgens. As stated in the video he stole tech from a museum in the 25th century including a Ledion of Superheroes flight ring, Braniac's forcefield belt and he used Rip Hunter's time sphere to go back to the 20th century where he saved then President Ronal Reagan's life and got known as Booster Gold when he got tounge tied and fluffed his name. His nickname from his football career was "Booster" and "Goldstar" was the hero name he actually wanted to be known as. I joked in the video about maybe Rip Hunter arresting him for time violations but in a later Booster Gold series (2007 - 2011)they team-up and it's revealed that Rip is Booster's son!! Time travel eh? It gets a bit messy doesn't it?

The Power Company

Witchfire 1

Manhunter 1

Josiah Power 1

Skyrocket 1

Striker Z 1

Sapphire 1

Bork 1

The Power Company 1 - 18

Created by Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett this team of professional heroes for hire 1st appeared in JLA # 61 before starring in their own 18 issue series. The series of one-shots introducing the cast were called Power Surge and had them team-up with existant heroes and act as origin stories for the team. Josiah Power although the strongest meta of the Company, and the man who brings everyone together, rarely fought alongside the team. This is not the 1st hero-for-hire team from DC, there has been The Conglomerate, Captains of Industry, Hero Hotline, S.T.A.R Corps and the ill-fated Blood Pack, heroes created by a Bloodlines alien's bite, who in line with my rant of the video were mercilessly killed off during one crisis or another!

Adventure Comics presentsDial "H" for Hero 479 - 490

Well this is cool, I was only just talking about these books last week when I found the H.E.R.O. books in the 1st box I peeped into. Rather than just repeating myself here is a link to that blog for you to check out HERE

Ambush Bug

Son of Ambush Bug 2

Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer (1985)

Irwin "Ambush Bug" Schwab was intenttionally created by Keith Giffen as a silly character and 1st appeared in DC Comics Presents #52 in 1982. Apparently both Bug and Lobo were created by Giffen from an old character Lunatik who he created whilst in high school. Does that make them brothers!? Ambush Bug has the power of teleporattion and was inititally an annoying supervillain for Superman before deciding to become a good guy. His origin is disputed but one story is that when the planet Schwab was doomed one of it's inhabitants, Brum-El, desperate to save his wardrobe sends his clothes into space where it collides with a radioactive space spider and only Ambush Bug's suit and an angry sock with a Doctor Doom complex named Argh!Yle! survive. The sock is Bug's evil nemesis. He is considered to be suffering with mental illness and often breaks the fourth wall, I think he predates Deadpool in this regard but I'm not sure. HERE is a cool list of 4th wall breakers for you to check out!

Ms Marvel 1 - 23

Over the years there have been 4 series of Ms Marvel with the 1st two starring Carol Danvers and the others with Kamala Khan. This run from 1977 is the 1st ongoing series she starred in. As Carol Danvers she 1st appeared in Marvel Superheroes #13 (March 1968) as a non-superpowered United States Airforce officer. In Captain Marvel # 118 (November 1969) she was caught in an explosion with the Captain which caused her DNA to merge with his and ended up giving her super powers. She started fighting crime as Ms Marvel in her own book quite some time later though in January 1977. 

Over the years she also had the names Binary and Warbird before taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel in 2012 after the original hero died and Captain America told her that Mar-vell would want her to have it. "The Death of Captain Marvel" from 1982 is Marvel's 1st ever graphic novel. 

Although only Carol and Kamala had runs of Ms Marvel books there have been 2 other women to use the name. There was Sharon Ventura who was an Unlimited Class Wrestler and love interest of Benjamin "The Thing" Grimm, who also was a member of the Fantastic Four for a time. Then there was Karla Sofen aka the villain Moonstone who was a member of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. As for the Captain Marvel name that's a whole another story, you can go and check that out HERE as I think this week's blog is long enough already!! 

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I looked into the book and found that it only ran for 23 issues so I do have all of them! I have no idea why it says at the end of the book "Next Week: Sabretooth" when there is no #24!!

So that's 76 DC comics and 23 Marvel comics in the tally this week, making the totals 164 DC and 23 Marvel comics so far. That is still the tiniest sliver of the tip of the iceberg so come back next week for some more counting.

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Geek Tee Friday - Judge Dredd

Check out my other Geek Tee BLOGS

Gaze into the fist of Grey

This week's shirt features the baddest Law Man in fiction, Judge Dredd,  who has been "The Law" in British comic 2000AD since it's 2nd issue, way back in 1977 when 2000AD personified "the future" instead of being quite a while ago, as it is now!! He is the brainchild of writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, who I have to say is possibly my favourite artist ever. Although in the 1st appearance of Dredd in the comic it was in a story written by freelancer Peter Harris with re-writes by Pat Mills, and drawn by Mike McMahon.

Judge Death 1st appeared in Prog 149, (in 1980), he was a terrifying supernatural Judge from another dimension Deadworld where they decided that as all crime was commited by the living then life itself would be a crime. The city is guilty, the crime is life, the sentence is death!! He was eventually defeated; after his body was destroyed, his spirit inhabited the Psi-Judge Anderson and they captured her and Death's spirit in Boing®, a spray on plastic that turned people into human pinballs.

Later in Prog 224, (8 August 1981), in a story written by John Wagner/Alan Grant with art by Brian Bolland, some of Death's brother Dark Judges from his world, Fear, Fire & Mortis came to free him from his captivity and continue bringing their brand of justice to Mega City One's "lawless" populace. Fear has the ability to literally scare a person to death but in this classic panel by Brian Bolland it's illustrated just how tough Dredd is, whereas a normal human would collapse and die he punches straight through Fear's helmet.

I must admit to not having read much Dredd in my later years, 2000AD started losing it's appeal to me with some of it's stories and art not capturing my interest at all but Dredd is always cool. 

There have been 2 Dredd movies too but I only like to talk about one of them, the Karl Urban one from 2012 was really cool and I have high hopes for the proposed TV series and really wish that it has great success when/if we get to see it!

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Counting Comics - Part 2

So 1st up let's talk about my YouTube channel name Thegreyman, it's an alternate spelling based on my nickname and the DC comics character the Gray Man, who is pretty obscure and related to the Lords of Order. He had a run-in with the JLA back in 1987, 1st appearing in Justice League # 2 in June and dying in November the same year in Justice League International # 7.

The Gray Man captured dream energy and could duplicate himself

So the 1st box of comics is sorted through and as I knew it would be it was all DC, we won't be seeing any Marvel comics until I start sorting through my upstairs boxes. Just 2 titles so far H.E.R.O. and Sandman Mystery Theatre.

H.E.R.O.

(1/2 - 22 = 21 comics)

The H-dial from H.E.R.O. originates from House of Mystery # 158 which came out April 1966. It's original holder was Robert "Robby" Reed who discovered that by dialling 'hero' he would magically be transformed into one. 

Later, in the books I recall from my younger years, there were 2 dials, found and utilised by 2 teens, Christopher "Chris" King and Victoria "Vickie" Grant. They lived in the New England town of Fairfax and fought crime in a number of different guises against a wealth of villains, all created by the readers who wrote in and won a t-shirt if their ideas were used. They appeared 1st in February 1981 as a special insert in Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol 2) # 272 then ran in Adventure Comics # 479 - 490, before going over to the The New Adventures of Superboy # 28 - 49 as a back-up story, which works out to be a 3 year run from 1981 to 1984. 

The book series I have here in my collection ran for 22 issues from 2003 to 2005 and focused on how the dial affected a number of ordinary people, Robby Reed appears again seeking to reclaim the dial for himself. It ran for 22 but I only have 21 comics as 1 & 2 are compiled together in one book.

In 2012 with the New 52 a new Dial H book was launched, it ran for 15 issues with a last appearance in Justice League #23.3 in November 2013.

Sandman Mystery Theatre

(1,4 6 -10, 13 - 70)
(Sandman Midnight Theatre 1995)
(Sandman Mystery Theatre annual # 1 - 1994)
67 comics

There are a number of characters in the DC universe with the name of Sandman. I think the 1st that I was aware of was the Jack Kirby created one from 1974. Garrett Sanford became trapped in the dream dimension only able to leave for 1 hour a day, he became the protector of the dream dimension and met up with the Justice League a few times. He started in Sandman # 1 in December 1974 and died in Infinity Inc # 50 in May 1988. I never read that many of his books but I think I liked his costume so he stuck in my mind.

I mention Sandman also known as Morpheus or Dream of The Endless in the video too, he was created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg and debuted in Sandman (Vol 2) # 1 in 1989.

This Sandman though is the original character to use the name, created by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman, Wesley Dodds is a Golden Age hero who wore a gas mask, fedora and trench coat and utilised a gas gun to send his enemies to sleep. He was a member of the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron and was later succeeded in the name by his sidekick Sandy. He 1st appeared in New York World's Fair comics in #1 in April 1939 and dies in JSA Secret Files and Origins #1 in August 1999.

In Mystery Theatre which ran for 70 issues from 1993 to 1999 wealthy investor and business man Wesley Dodds is plagued by prescient dreams of crimes which he feels compelled to solve. So he dons his mask and uses his patented gas gun and keen detective skills to get to the truth and apprehend the guilty. He is aided by Dian Belmont the socialite daughter of the District Attorney. The pair become lovers and remain together for the rest of their lives which makes me happy as they have such great interplay and dialogue in these books. It always bugged me in comics that the path to true love is so bumpy with the hero rarely getting the woman he loves, so it's nice that Wesley & Dian work out! 

In a co-incidental turn for this blog, much later in his life, after the events of these comics, Wes becomes aware of a plot by a mystic being called the Dark Lord to prevent the rebirth of Dr Fate. He travels up a mountain to meet the Gray Man to learn the place of Fate's arrival, he gets the message to his JSA colleagues and then leaps from the mountain top rather than tell the secret to Mordru who appears and threatens him with torture to get the information.

So he remained a total hero to the end and rests with Dian in Valhalla the cemetary for superheroes, with just 1 disturbance to his sleep during that awful Black Lantern episode!

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I have ideas to improve the look of the video for next time, not having the bright light from the window behind the comics for one thing. I might see if I can use a different video programme to make a split screen or have a small window for my face and a bigger one for the comics cam. We'll see what I can work out!

So here is the count so far of my collection

H.E.R.O. - 21 comics

Sandman Mystery Theatre - 67 comics
Collected books - 2

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Total 
DC comics - 88

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Counting Comics - Part 1

I am going to start counting my comics. I had to stop collecting back in 2013 due to cash shortage and I want to properly document how many and what comics I have. So I am going to start going through them and make some videos chatting about them as I go.



So in this 1st video I just show you my boxes and shelves in my very messy house, as you can see I have quite of few of them. This is the earliest one that I can remember buying off the shelf at the time it came out back in 1979. 

So I make that 35 years of comic collecting although I didn't go crazy with collecting Super Hero comics until 1986 I think. I'm guessing that as I can recall that Blue Beetle, Ted Kord was the 1st comic I collected from the start of it's run til it's finish and that began in 86. I used to collect a load of British fun & action comics like Whizzer & Chips, Buster, Monster Fun, Cheeky Weekly, Tiger, Eagle, Speed, Nutty and loads more but I have since sold them all apart from my 2000ADs on Ebay, which is a shame as I could've done videos on those too!

I need ideas on some manner of cataloguing my comics, I think there are some cool programmes or websites you can do it on, so I need to work that out.

So by this video I have 14 long boxes, 11 short boxes and a fair few on some shelves. A quick search tells me a long box holds around 275-325 comics and a short box 150 - 175. So just in the boxes alone I'd estimate somewhere between 5,500 & 6,475 comics. I would guess it's towards the larger number as I stuffed those boxes to almost bursting I reckon.

I started out getting mostly Marvel I think, collecting most of the titles at some point or other. I gradually converted to DC though, I can't recall how it happened really. I know the X-Men books annoyed me with their deliberate over complication and convoluted plots and Spider-man's angst ridden character that never seemed to resolve any plot lines made me stop caring. So I fully expect there to be more DC than Marvel in my collection but we'll see. If you watch my videos over the months you'll see that I have some cool classic Marvel titles in my boxes too. 

I will try and do these videos on a weekly basis, please leave a comment, correct me on any mistakes, share your comic memories etc as I get disheartened easily so a bit of encouragement and feedback always helps.

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Nextflix Reviews - GLOW

Want to know what to 'watch next' on Netflix? Check out my Nextflix Reviews

GLOW stands for Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling, this program has had 2 seasons so far on Netflix and I am hooked. I binge watched both seasons pretty much as soon as they hit the network. The premise is based on a real life wrestling promotion that started out in 1986 and had a syndicated TV show for 4 seasons that was known for it's comedic skits. 

In 2012 there was a documentary about the promotion, this was seen by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, who were looking for ideas for a female-centric show at the time. They went on to create this GLOW show. This 2012 documentary is also available on Netflix and is an interesting, funny and poignant watch, well worth checking out to see the history and influence it had on this show. 

Season one of GLOW came out on Netflix in 2017, with season 2 just coming out at the end of June this year. The wrestlers from the series are based on the original characters but with different names.

Alison Brie is a keen but essentially failed actor, she just can't get a decent role despite her passion, professionalism and enthusiasm. Her best friend Debbie Eagan is a fairly successful soap opera star and seems to have it all, making Alison feel overshadowed by her. The pair fall out in spectacular fashion when Brie sleeps with Eagan's husband. 

Alison goes to an audition for GLOW, a wrestling show to be filmed for TV, it's pay rolled by enthusiastic but inexperienced rich boy Sebastian "Bash" Howard and to be directed by irascible, jaded Sam Sylvia. The team is soon put together and starts training, Alison brings her acting chops and enthusiam to the project which rubs Sam up the wrong way but this is the best job she's ever been given and is determined for it to be a success.

Things take a nose dive for Alison when her ex-friend Debbie is picked up to be the star draw of the show as all american good ol' girl Liberty Belle. This threatens her position and stirs up animosity between them, but can they forget their differences and make the show and their relationship succeed?

This disparate team of women need to become like a family to each other, living through the bumps and bruises of life whilst going through the bumps and bruises in the ring. Will the fans like the show? Will the network like the show? Will they be able to pull off the manoeuvres they've practised?

The tone of the show is a great mix of fun and serious, there is drama and proper character development but there is a lot of light hearted stuff mainly in the in-ring personnas of the wrestlers, with such names as Welfare Queen, The She-Wolf, Zoya the Destroyer, Beirut, Fortune Cookie and Brittanica. Most of them are terribly non-pc stereotypes which are so familiar to anyone who watched wrestling back in that era.

Season two is a continuation of the themes of the 1st really with new challenges being presented to them to do their best to try and overcome. I won't say what happens but it seems very likely we'll see a 3rd season sometime in the future, where I hope they'll be able to keep up the level of quality and entertainment of the previous ones.

Oh yeah I just found out today that the character Welfare Queen is played by real life wrestler Kia Stevens. Her TV show wrestling persona is a fun heel who is a sweetie out of the ring, nothing like the powerhouse, Awesome Kong she portrayed for the TNA wrestling promotion.

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Nextflix Reviews - The Limehouse Golem

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I remember seeing adverts for this when it hit the cinemas and it looked pretty good to me so as soon as I saw it pop up on Netflix I watched it with my girlfriend. Set in Victorian London before the days when Jack the Ripper terrified the city there was another serial killer gripping the populace with fear and morbid fascination. They've been dubbed the Golem after the killer left a part of a Rabbi's anatomy on the page of a book in a section about the Jewish folklore creature of that name. 

Bill Nighy plays John Kildare, a vice detective moved to homicide as they are clueless, and need a scapegoat to shaft if the killer is not caught. Rumours about Kildare have damaged his reputation so he is chosen to take over the case and shoulder the blame. Assisted by local police man George Flood (Daniel Mays) they get an emphatic lead that points to the killer being one of 4 men.

This leads to another story altogether, one of the suspects John Cree has been murdered, poisoned, and the blame has been placed upon his wife Lizzie. Kildare is convinced that she killed her husband after discovering that he was the Golem and seeks to prove it so she can possibly avoid being executed once these extenuating circumstances come to light. Kildare and Flood follow through the clues, question the living suspects and through interviews with Lizzie, Kildare gets into her history finding out how she met John Cree.

This takes us into her story, from a harsh early life she manages to find a place and begins to thrive in the theatre. She meets and becomes good friends with Dan Leno a star in the music halls and is taken under his wing. John Cree is a theatre critic and aspiring playwright who becomes besotted with Lizzie. The historical story crosses over with the present day investigation as Kildare struggles to identify the killer as Lizzie's husband before she feels the cut of the hangman's noose.

I found this to be a very enjoyable movie, the actors are all excellent, the settings and plot are engrossing and there is a bit of gruesome murder too, so something for everyone. Erm... well not for kids though... obviously!

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Nextflix Reviews - Tau

Want to know what to 'watch next' on Netflix? Check out my Nextflix Reviews

Julia, (Maika Monroe), awakens in a cell along with 2 other prisoners, all of them captured to be tested and experimented on by Alex, (Ed Skrein), a cold, enigmatic science genius who is working on perfecting artificial intelligence. Seemingly without morals or emotion, Alex has implanted devices into his captives necks that collects data from them that needs to be tested and eventually extracted, a process that will prove fatal. 

Julia manages to free herself from the cell but is still trapped in Alex's house which is full of high tech drones and a security robot that stops anyone from escaping. These are controlled by an earlier AI creation, Tau, who Alex commands to make Julia take on a series of mental tests every day when he is out of the house.

The company he works for are on a deadline and time is running out, he has only so many days to test and remove her implant. The countdown is on for her to try and escape before she dies. Her only chance of escape is to convince Tau the AI to help her. Can she find more humanity from a computer than she can from the emotionless Alex?

I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll leave this review like that, it's a good film though with a cool concept, decent script, good acting and it's well paced. There is some gore but it's more a sci-fi thriller with some good tense scenes than a horror. Can Julia convince Tau to go against it's programming and help her? What makes a person a person? 

I was surprised when looking at the cast to find that Gary Oldman voiced Tau, I certainly never recognised him.

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Also starring Maika Monroe