Image's Invincible from 101 to 144...can't believed I stopped this title but thanks to a buddy I finally managed to complete the first run. What can I say, despite its (minor) flaws this has to be one of the best US comic titles I have ever read. The series...its like a cross between Spidey-Superman-DBZ combined, sprinkled with a multiverse concept. Loved some of the "easter eggs" like mentioning Battle Beast and a planet, Quintessa in one issue....to me its a Transformers reference. Highly recommend to fans of the super hero genre. A+++++!

 

For the last several weeks, I have been checking out the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics from Boom Studios which I wanted to for some time now and have just finished its fourth volume today. They are pretty enjoyable so far.

 

We've seen three volumes of John Byrne's Superman in hardback with one more on the way, and that's supposed to collect it all. I'm still hoping for an omnibus since I like the oversized pages, but I should probably just go ahead and buy the existing hardcovers.

 

Having enjoyed the early Lee/Kirby FF, over the last few months I have purchased and read several more of the Epic collections, only to see that they're reprinting the omnibus volumes 2 and 3 and coming out with a volume 4. The Omnibus is my preferred format, and I like the material enough that I think I will upgrade by buying them and then see if I can sell the Epics. There's nothing wrong with the Epics, the reproduction and restoration look good to me. I just like the larger size and the brighter paper in the omnis, and they have the letters colums as a bonus. At any rate, here are my thoughts on vols. 4-6.

Fantastic Four Epic Collection 4 - The Mystery of the Black Panther
Fantastic Four 52-67, Annuals 4-5, material from Not Brand Echh 1 and 5

As always, these books collect a monthly series and despite the title chosen for the collection, there are several more storylines in the book. This book opens with the introductory story for the Black Panther and the man who will turn out to be his arch-rival, Klaw, the master of sound.

Johnny starts his issues-long quest to find Crystal and the Inhumans, trapped under a dome for what seems like ages. The Thing gets jealous of the Silver Surfer and picks a fight, Doctor Doom steals the Surfer's power temporarily, Ronan the Accuser is introduced (so now I have a better idea who that guy from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was), and the book ends with the reveal of a character known only as "Him". The original 1940s Human Torch shows up and fights Johnny Storm.

It's a series of one and two part stories, mixed in with a few longer storylines. I think the Lee/Kirby FF is in a good place at this point, with consistently good stories and art. The Thing's temper gets old, but Stan Lee's hyperbolic writing style and purple prose is entertaining. The continuing plotlines drag on a bit longer than they probably should, and it seems like someone really, really wanted to work on an Inhumans series, given how much page time they get in the FF's book. Black Panther is a strong character from the start, and it's interesting to me just how often this book spends time introducing new characters that could well carry their own series. And maybe that was the intention.

They could save the pages spent on the Not Brand Echh material as far as I'm concerned. It's like Mad Magazine but not terribly funny, at least not to me. I tried reading it, but it just did nothing for me.

Fantastic Four Epic Collection 5 - The Name is Doom
Fantastic Four 68-87, Annual 6, Not Brand Echh 6-7

An attempt to cure Ben Grimm leads to him going bad for awhile, the Thinker returns, the FF have to fight the Silver Surfer, there is another conflict with Galactus, Sue is pregnant and it's a son. She goes on maternity leave and Crystal joins the FF. Maximus briefly deposes Black Bolt as king of the Inhumans, and then the volume ends with the FF going to Latveria to investigate for Nick Fury, becoming prisoners of Doctor Doom in the process.

I enjoy how the status quo advances in this series, which is not always the case with super-hero comics. Reed and Sue are engaged in the first issue, I think, then there's this long period where she's torn between Namor and Reed, but she finally marries Reed, and then they have a son and Crystal joins the team while Sue is on maternity leave. There is a feeling that time is passing and that things change. There is a good mix of new ideas and returning villains, though in this volume we revisit more old faces than new.

Fantastic Four Epic Collection 6 - At War with Atlantis
Fantastic Four 88-104, "Lost Adventure" #1

This volume wraps up the Lee/Kirby partnership on the book, and at just over 100 issues and some annuals, 80% of which is a very strong run full of ideas and characters. In this volume the Mole Man returns, the Thing is forced to fight in a Skrull arena, Agatha Harkness is introduced as Franklin's babysitter (she's very different from the WandaVision version of the character), the Mad Thinker and the Red Ghost return, and the book ends with a semi-team up between Namor and Magneto. Kirby only draws the first chapter of that story, and then John Romita takes over. The book ends with an issue that Kirby apparently drew but which was not published as intended, so it's been finished for inclusion in this book.

All of these are pretty big paperbacks as you can see, so it's a good value for the price. I have the first omnibus and wanted to continue collecting and reading in that format, but at the time they were out of print and going for crazy prices, so these are a good alternative. Thanks to the Epics and the omnibus not quite lining up, there are still two FF issue and an annual that I have not read, but other than that I've now gone through the entire Lee/Kirby run, and it's very good, well deserving of the high regard it's held in. I like all the characters, I like the constant new ideas and new characters and threats for the team to face, and Kirby's art is great. I've really come to appreciate it through reading this series.

 

I'm torn on omniboo. Like you, I love the bigger page size and premium look when it sits on the shelf. But at the same time, I like the size and weight of the epic collections. They're easier to hold and read. I really loved the paper quality of some of the earlier epics, because it was a gorgeous matte that looked just right for comics. I usually get the omnibus if it comes first, but I rarely upgrade if I start with epics.

 

My original intention was to get the omnibuses, but they were oop and at crazy prices, so I settled for the Epics. If I didn't enjoy the series so much I'd probably be happy with the paperbacks, because they are good quality with plenty of content per book, but I like FF enough that I'd like to go back to my original plan.

It's too bad I didn't read the series years ago, the Masterworks are up to volume 22 or something, 200+ issues into the series. They've reached the 80s and John Byrne, while the Epics are still back in the late 60s. But the Masterworks go for crazy prices too.

 

Yeah, I prefer the Epic Collections, too. Many of the omnibi have a thing where there are so many pages, you can't open the book wide enough to see the side of the pages closest to the binding. To me, a Marvel omnibus is more for how it looks on the shelf than it is for reading.

 

I have that problem with the FF epics. All four of them put the art too close to the gutter in the center of the book, making part of some panels difficult to read. I only have four Marvel omnibuses, and they don't have that same problem. But that's why I think Marvel does a far better job with the CEs of older material than DC, even though I prefer DC's characters and universe. Marvel offers multiple ways to collect and read the same material, DC rarely does.

 

Daredevil Masterworks Vol9
7/10
Just finished this in digital, one of the dozens of MMWs I bought in that format during the .99-1.99 sale late last year.

A little Gerry Conway goes a long way, and this book was a lot of Gerry Conway. As a result, I came up with the Gerry Conway Drinking game: every time a hero addresses another character as "mister", you take a drink. If you're not dead at that point, you can also add a drink for every time logic and/or the laws of known physics are casually ignored.

Favorite nonsensical sequence: DD is chummy with a cop, busts him in the face for some reason, and in the next panel the cop is rubbing his jaw while watching DD through the window and admiring him. It's surreal, mister.

Gene Colan artwork with a lot of Tom Palmer ink--it is beautiful, mister.

Fun but uneven run from DD's mostly ignored 1970's period hanging in sunny Cali with the Black Widow.

Mister.

 

Sweet Tooth - 8/10. Only read this after watching the show. Way darker and various changes. But I did enjoy the read.

Sweet Tooth: The Return - 7/10. Played it safe compared to the original series. But it didnt give a good look at the future. I actually want to see a sequel to this... hopefully it'll happen.

 

Without spoilers, does this have a satisfying conclusion? I ask because I've tried Lemire's work with Black Hammer (a dozen or so issues and a couple of the minis) and Bloodshot, and while I liked them for a while, neither felt like the story ever actually progressed anywhere. I've thought of reading Sweet Tooth as I understand it's kind of his signature work, just don't really want to wander down another road to nowhere.

 

Green Lantern vol 1: Sinestro 5/10



That's a harsh rating, but I find a lot of faults in this volume. I read the original issues when the New 52 began in 2011 but haven't read them since. A $3 copy of the collected edition at Ollie's today made me decide to pick it up and re-read it, because I miss a good Hal-centric Green Lantern book. Sadly, as I remembered, this is not that book. It's Green Lantern Sinestro with a very dumbed-down Hal Jordan as his sidekick. Hal the veteran Green Lantern doesn't remember what being transported to the anti-matter universe looks like, even though he's seen it many times. He's shocked that Sinestro stops an entire bridge from collapsing by using his ring, something Hal could easily have done himself. Hal kills a Sinestro corps member by blowing his head off very casually. Despite the fact that this story picks up from the "War of the Green Lanterns" storyline with Hal stripped of his ring and sent back to Earth, the character is vastly different between that story and this. I don't know whose idea it was to turn Hal into a dumb rookie, but it does not work.

Meanwhile the story itself is manifestly not a self-contained storyline. Understanding it depends on being familiar with what came before, and by the end of it nothing is really resolved, other than the Sinestro Corps being kicked off Korugar. We still don't know for sure why Sinestro is a Green Lantern again (though it's implied the Guardians did it because they knew Sinestro would remove his Corps from Korugar), Hal still hasn't regained his ring and is stuck with the one Sinestro gave him, and the First Lantern and Third Army plots are still in the background. This isn't a six issue storyline collected, it's six issues of a much longer ongoing storyline. It's not even written for the trade.

At least the art is great with five issues of Doug Mahnke drawing the book. I'm not a fan of the fill in art for issue 6. I do enjoy the extra covers included in this volume. But as for the writing, it's an odd mix of continuing what came before while changing some things as well, so it's awkward and isn't a seamless fit with Geoff Johns previous work. If Hal Jordan was himself that would improve things a lot.

 

Green Lantern vol. 4 - Dark Days - 7.5/10
Robert Venditti, Billy Tan

As much as I enjoyed Geoff Johns as GL writer, I thought he ran out of good ideas by the end, and I hated the whole Third Army/First Lantern plot, to the point that I dropped the book and didn't come back until a new writer took over. I like Robert Venditti's Green Lantern work quite a bit, with only the Renegade arc failing to satisfy, and that was largely down to the editorial mandate of the short-lived "DC You", throwing all the characters out of familiar looks and surroundings.

At any rate, "Dark Days" collects issues #21-26, #23.1: Relic, and Annual #2. It's mainly the Green Lantern portions of the "Lights Out" storyline where Hal is put in command of the Green Lantern Corps by the Templar Guardians, who go off with Kyle to explore the universe before they settle down to running the Corps. We get new recruits, an attack on Oa by Larfleeze and an escaped prisoner with a Star Sapphire ring before the main plot kicks in and the Corps is attacked by Relic, a survivor of a previous universe who is convinced that the various Corps are depleting the emotional energy of the Universe and hastening its death as a result. It's a nice idea, though the idea that emotional energy comes from some reservoir rather than from all the living beings in the universe doesn't quite hold up, in my view. But after years of stories where the various Corps fought each other it was refreshing to have a new villain on top of a new challenge for Hal in learning to take the reins and make decisions for the entire corps. It's a flawed but enjoyable story with some good concepts and a well-motivated villain.

The art is the real weak link here. Billy Tan can draw, no doubt, but his Hal Jordan is not good, and given that Hal is the main character, that's a problem. Hal almost never looks quite right, so even when the other characters and the shot composition are good, that odd looking facemask and oddly shaped torso and strange hair all become very distracting.

So I've gone with 7.5 out of 10 for this collection: problems with the art and the story, but overall far more positive than negative, and this material was a much needed breath of fresh air after the last few years of Geoff Johns went so dark and grim.

 

10/10

 

All of Tokyo ghoul

8/10

 

Green Lantern (1990 series) #1-47

I can't rate all of this from 1-10. I'd give the first 24 issues 8/10, and then issues 25-47 a lower score, maybe 6.5/10. Not bad, but a step down in quality from a strong first couple of years.

In my re-read of the 1990 Green Lantern series, I think I've figured out just why sales were down so much that they decided to replace Hal Jordan with a new character, or at least part of the reason other than just that it was the trend of the day after killing Superman, Bane breaking Batman's back, etc. There are 47 issues before the book reaches the "Emerald Twilight" storyline, and the first 24 are pretty strong. The book is essentially divided up among Hal, Guy and John as lead characters, with all three getting their own storylines. Once Hal becomes Green Lantern of sector 2814 again starting with issue 25, the quality of the book becomes very uneven. M. D. Bright becomes the primary artist rather than Pat Broderick, and I've never cared for Bright's style, so the art is not to my liking. A lot of the storylines go back and pick up plotlines from the late 60s or the Green Lantern/Green Arrow era, and a lot of it tends to get very convoluted. Add to that the constant references to events in other books, and it often feels like we're only getting part of a storyline. The book feels stuck in the minutiae of decades past, though what we get that is forward looking is quite good. There's just not enough of it. I enjoy consistency with what came before, but I honestly think this book has an excess of that.

I did enjoy revisiting the series, and there's some good ideas in there. "The Third Law" is probably my favorite storyline of the second half. But I doubt anyone was clamoring for a return by Olivia Reynolds or for an explanation for why Hal lets Oliver Queen walk all over him during the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. That's all water long under the bridge by 1993-1994. I had certainly read none of that at that point. The page where the aliens land and complain about Hal that's a takeoff of the famous page form GL/GA is pretty funny. I always thought Hal should have told that old guy "I've saved the entire planet and everyone of every color a hundred times now. What more do you want?"


So a better regular artist and less dependence on decades old plotlines would probably have helped keep the book afloat longer. I understand the other two GL books running at the same time, Mosaic and GL Corps Quarterly, both had stronger sales than the main title. If the market could sustain three ongolng Green Lantern titles, the main book should have done just fine. Up next: Emerald Twilight. I never read most of Kyle Rayner's GL run, and I usually only bought issues where Hal showed up. I might have to start buying a few back issues since I don't think most of his book has been collected, or at least not recently.

 

The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison - 7/10 for the entire series, with some issues higher and some way lower
season one #1-12, annual #1, Blackstars #1-3, season two #1-12

I found this series frustrating to read the first time around at an issue a month. It started out well, and was a nice change of pace, even though I really enjoyed Robert Venditti's "Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps". But as the series went on, particularly once we got to "Season two" (and I hate the idea of splitting comic book series up into "seasons"), the plot started getting hard to follow and there was a lot of weirdness for weirdness sake, and I largely kept buying and reading out of habit, and because I'm honestly not buying a lot of DC right now, so I didn't mind continuing with a series I was struggling to like, in the hope that it would improve.

A few weeks ago I sat down and re-read it all over three nights, and like so much of what is written in comics today, it holds up better and is far more cohesive when the issues are read back to back and I haven't forgotten something crucial that took place eight issues back. With most writers that's not a problem, but with Grant Morrison you really have to pay attention. The series has gone up in my estimation, though it's not without problems still.

The good:
- All of Hal Jordan's history counts here, and a good many of the plots and incidental characters refer back to the 60s and 70s, both in Green Lantern and Justice League of America. There's even a Jack Kirby Green Arrow story that gets a sequel, and a Flash story from the early 60s provides some of the season two villains. Hal had a long history before he became Parallax and he had a lot of girlfriends other than Carol Ferris, and a lot of jobs besides being a test pilot, and it is good to see those referenced. Even before the "everything counts" idea took hold at DC, this series was built in part around the idea that everything counted for Hal Jordan.
- I like Morrison's take on Hal's character. He's a character without angst, he's as determined and resolute as Johns and Venditti wrote him, but he's more serious here as the series emphasizes the "space police" aspect of the Corps more than the adventuring or philosophical side. I also really like the idea that Hal has grown beyond Earth, that it's uncomfortable for him to return and that it feels like a tiny backyard when he's used to having the whole universe in front of him. He even discusses with Carol at one point that if they ever finally settle down they could leave Earth behind and find somewhere better.
- the Guardians are back to being patient, wise, far-seeing and tolerant leaders of the Corps, which is how I prefer them. They even shower accolades on Hal for saving the entire universe and praise him in front of the Corp in an award ceremony, something we rarely see as writers are busy emphasizing Hal's problems with authority and the Guardians being demanding and unreasonable.
- We get villains other than Sinestro and we get a break from the various other ring corps. I like both, but it's a big universe and it's nice to see other threats for a change.
- I like that a different group of Lanterns is focused on: Trilla-Tru, the guy with the volcano for a head whose name escapes me, the crystal salt alien, etc. Hal's hanging out with a different crew than the usual during this series.
- Liam Sharp's art is very good, and visually quite different from what we usually see in a GL book. Sometimes the storytelling isn't as clear as it should be, but his style and level of detail is very much to my liking. The fact that he drew every issue of the main series is impressive, and definitely makes this book feel like the writer and the artist were considered equally important.

The bad:
- some of the experimental writing is just not all that enjoyable to read, such as the phonetic way one of the aliens talks, or the way the anti-matter creature sees the chronology of the issue in reverse, mixed with out of order scenes. Some of the characters and their motivations are not explained well, and I'm still not sure why Hector Hammond is wearing a cartoonish Sinestro mask in the final issue. There are some ideas that just don't get fleshed out.
- No sign of Kyle or Guy, while John Stewart and Jessica Cruz only get a cameo. Hal's my favorite GL so I don't mind seeing him as the primary focus of the series, but I enjoy the others as part of the cast. And it does feel a bit strange to come off the "four Corpsmen" of the Venditti run to Hal spending almost zero time with them for all of Morrison's run. Having one series end with a Darkstar storyline and the next start with Blackstars does offer some thematic continuity between the two, but Hal's attitude and company is quite a change.
- Not every connection between characters and the plot is spelled out. Sometimes I just had to fill in the gaps in my head and keep going, or accept that I had no clue what Morrison was going for or trying to say, and just enjoy what I could. You never know what Morrison will do, sometimes he's a brilliant writer and sometimes he's just strange and experimental for the sake of it, and we get some of the latter here.

Of the last three main writers on the Green Lantern book, this is my least favorite era, but as I noted earlier, my enjoyment of it has improved by re-reading it over a short period of time. There are things about it that I really enjoy, and things that I still don't get.
-

 

The Starman Compendium volume 1 - 8/10



Starman Compendium One collects: Starman #0-42, Starman 80-Page Giant #1, Starman Annual #1, Starman Annual #2, Starman Secret Files #1, Showcase '95 #12, Showcase '96 #4, Showcase '96 #5, The Power of Shazam! #35, The Power of Shazam! #36, and The Shade #1-4

This is a massive, 1,400 page trade paperback. I've never seen another one like it, though I'm sure there are other examples of the "compendium" format out there. It's the size of a phonebook, but it's on coated paper so it's heavier than a phonebook. I'm surprised this wasn't an omnibus, but maybe DC is experimenting with a cheaper format. This has a $59.99 cover price, but I only paid $35 + shipping for it, which made it an excellent bargain considering just how much content this book has: 53 issues plus stories from the listed Showcase issues.

A word on the physical construction of the book: I always try not to crack the spine on my paperbacks, and I'm happy to note that even with what is probably a 2" thick spine on this book, the paper they used is heavy and flexible enough that it still looks fine. It's not a stiff, glossy cover stock that you might typically see on a DC trade paperback, it's more matte and flexible. As you might imagine with a book this thick, there is some gutter loss on the inside edge of some pages, which is the main flaw that I can see for this format. Only on a few pages do parts of words actually get lost, and the book is very readable. I suppose if someone didn't care about the spine and wasn't worried about the binding they could open the book up much more flat than I'm comfortable with.

I have been meaning to read this series for years. I started reading it back when it was originally published during Zero Hour in the mid-90s, but due to my unhappiness with DC turning Hal Jordan into a villain and killing half the JSA, I quit reading comics for a number of years, and I only read Starman through issue 8, despite enjoying it quite a bit. I had always meant to pick up the hardcovers and continue reading but never made it a priority. This book has finally given me the chance to continue on, and the series probably deserves its high reputation among 90s series. I'm not going to delve into all the various plotlines of 50+ issues worth of stories, I'll just say that there are aspects of the series that I really enjoy, some that I do not, and a few things that make me question what was going through Robinson's head when he wrote them. I appreciate the respect shown to DC's Golden Age characters in this series, and Robinson humanizes them without deconstructing them. I like the father/son relationship between Jack and Ted Knight. I enjoy the depiction of the Shade in this series. Opal City and the O'Dare family are a great setting and supporting cast respectively. The book is a dense read, with lots of dialogue and narration, so you don't burn through an issue in 5 minutes. The book treats the concept of legacy about as well as I've seen it done at DC.

This was a good purchase. I think a volume 2 that finishes collecting the series is on the way, and I'll certainly buy that as well.

 

The Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 4 - 8/10
Fantastic Four #94-125, Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure (2008) 1, material from Fantastic Four Annuals 8-9, Not Brand Echh, original pencils, reprint cover art



So I did decide to sell the Epics and upgrade to the omnibuses, which put me 21 issues beyond where Epic volume 6 ended. Jack Kirby left the book with issue 102, and I think Stan Lee left as a regular writer with issue 125, so with this volume it's not only the end of the collaboration between the two, but the final regular work of both men on the title they created. After 102 issues of stability, the book goes through multiple writers and artists as they tried to stabilize and find a new direction, and my opinion is that while the book was not as good after Kirby left, it's still a perfectly enjoyable super-hero comic. It does feel like the introduction of new ideas slows down drastically, with a lot of returning villains instead.

The way the issues are collected works to put the introduction of Agatha Harkness at the beginning of this volume, after which she becomes a recurring character who not only takes care of baby Franklin Richards, but often warns the FF when something dangerous is approaching, and occasionally helps out with her magic. The book tackles a few more political topics with Richard Nixon making a few appearances in the book and a psuedo apartheid issue featuring the Black Panther. Crystal parts ways with the team, unable to remain healthy in the polluted air away from the Inhumans' sanctuary. A lot of this book is returning villains rather than new ideas, making me wonder how much in the previous three came more from Kirby than Lee. Galactus returns yet again, this time wanting to reclaim the Silver Surfer. Other returning adversaries include Diablo, Klaw, Namor (though he's a holdover from Kirby's final issue), Annihilus, and the Hulk. We do get a few new villains, but it feels like the writers are playing it a little safe.

The team's arguments feel a little harsher too, the domestic scenes with them goofing around and playfully ribbing each other don't seem as common. There is a definite change in tone to the whole book and by the end of volume 4 I still don't think they've quite settled down. I do like the logo change to the "block letters with an arc on the bottom half of the text". The book itself includes a lot of extras, mainly original pencils by Kirby from various issues and a lot of covers from previous reprints of this material, including both comics and Masterworks. Probably the best extra is "the Lost Adventure" (which was also in the Epic vol. 6) which attempts to recreate what became the FF #108 as close as possible to what Kirby intended. Call it an alternate version of 108, and it makes a lot more sense than the finished product.

FF is a good series, worth owning in omnibus form, and I'm likely to buy a future volume 5 if and when it appears. The Masterworks have reached the John Byrne run on the book, so the material for future omnibus volumes is already restored and ready to go, meaning it's likely only a matter of time.

 

Dynamite's Lone Ranger omnibus, written by Brett Matthews with art by John Cassaday, Sergio Cariello and Paul Pope - 7/10



The omnibus consists of 26 issues collected in a very thin 630 page book. I'm a big fan of the Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels tv version, and lately I've been listening to some of the old radio episodes as well, with Earl Graser and John Todd. I knew this book would take a different approach than the older material, and that's fine. We live in a more cynical era, and no one's going to write the Ranger and Tonto as the same noble, selfless heroes that we saw in the older series. The book can still work for me as long as the writer can still manage to capture the essence of the main characters. It's worth noting that the radio version is a little more willing to pull underhanded tricks to capture the villain of the week than the tv version (though neither will kill except in cases of self defense), so we already had varying interpretations of the character. But the Clayton Moore version casts a very long shadow...

The verdict so far, 12 issues into the Dynamite series: Matthews gets some things right and some things wrong. He captures a lot of the characteristics of the character while giving the series a much more violent and sordid tone. The Ranger and Tonto in the tv show and the radio show were always motivated to achieve justice and to promote law and order as the West was settled. Matthews initially gives the Ranger, John Reid, the motivation of revenge on Butch Cavendish for the murder of his father and brother. As of issue 12 he still hasn't found him. I think making him part of the story for an extended time is a mistake, because Butch Cavendish plays the same role for the Ranger that Joe Chill does for Batman. He exists as part of the origin to create the hero, but beyond that he's not necessary or interesting. I don't know what motivates Tonto in this series, or why he's riding with the Ranger, because so far no real explanation has been offered, other than perhaps he has nowhere else to go. I hope a better explanation is forthcoming. As time goes on the Ranger takes on other challenges as he looks for Cavendish, and his reputation begins to form. He insists on no killing, while Tonto is more willing to kill in this version, but he generally respects the Ranger's wishes.

The origin story is familiar, Reid is part of a patrol of six Texas Rangers, including his brother (and father in this version) who are ambushed and left for dead by the Cavendish gang. Reid is the only survivor, though badly wounded. He is found by Tonto who helps him recover, after which the two set out to capture Cavendish. Reid lets the world believe he is dead and wears a mask cut from his brother's vest to conceal his identity. Along the way he begins to operate his silver mine to make his silver bullets and to financially support himself. Matthews has Reid operating his silver mine (an old friend who knew who he was and operated the mine is omitted from this version) near his sister-in-law and nephew's home, so this is his home base that he returns to after venturing out into the field. He uses silver bullets to remind himself that there is a cost to every shot fired. Logically, as the owner and operator of a silver mine, the Ranger is a rich man, something this series notes once or twice though it was never emphasized in the old tv or radio show.

I mentioned earlier a more violent and sordid tone. There was always a lot of gunplay and fistfights in the show, and people sometimes got stabbed. It was never gratuitous violence though, it was sanitized tv violence. Sometimes blood was shown, often it wasn't. Sometimes the camera would zoom in and the actual impact of the shot or stabbing would be just off-screen. That's not the case here, nor would I expect it to be. When people are shot, there's plenty of blood. People have grotesque injuries. More extreme violence is hinted at from time to time. At one point Tonto shoots an arrow through a man's neck. I don't have a problem with depicting violent acts in this way and not sanitizing them, but I don't want to wallow in the blood and gore, something that isn't always avoided.

Overall: this series does a better job of modernizing the character of the Lone Ranger than that ridiculous Disney version from a few years ago did. I think it would benefit from less long-form storytelling and more episodic adventures that stand out on their own rather than all blending together as part of the larger narrative. Making the Ranger an old west version of Batman (in some ways) is an approach that works reasonably well. I do think that this version of Cavendish isn't a villain worth being the final boss for a 25 issues storyline. Far too much time is spent on him being vile and slimy when I wanted to see the Lone Ranger and Tonto being awesome instead.

I don't like it as well as the Clayton Moore version (and let's face it, nothing will live up to that version!), but I generally enjoyed the book.