Issue#63: Comic Books For The Week Of Wednesday, July 8, 2009:

The Mangalicious Tick: The Rise Of The Setting Sun #1 (of 4) (New England Comics)
Superman: World Of New Krypton #5 (of 12) (New Krypton #32) (DC)
After Watchmen ... What's Next?: Tom Strong #1 (America's Best Comics/Wildstorm/DC)

The Mangalicious Tick: The Rise Of The Setting Sun #1 (of 4) (New England Comics) * * *

I have always been a fan of The Tick comic book, animated and live action series, so it was a pleasant surprise when I saw this title on the shelf at Acme Comics (http://acme-superstore.com/). I missed seeing it on the new release list this week at http://http://www.diamondcomics.com/ . The story is about someone dressed in ancient Japanese samurai armor poppint into the city from a time or dimensional portal. The Tick seems to be sucked through a portal to ancient feudal Japan while Arthur has to deal with the samurai warrior. The art is drawn in a manga style. The quality of the art reminds me of the crude style of Ben Edlund's earliest Tick comic book stories. I'm not much of a manga reader, but the art seemed a little too crude for my taste. But I'm such a Tick fan that I will be getting the other issues. What I do like is that New England Comics has collected all of the Tick mini-series in five paperback volumes. I have the complete Edlund series in several volumes, and I look forward to getting the others. I have only a few issues of the other series. Something I can put on my wish list for birthday or Christmas.

Superman: World Of New Krypton #5 (of 12) (DC) * * * * *

Kal-El and one of his subordinates are on trial for treason, prosecuted by General Zod, in a switch from the Superman movie. This has seemed inevitable since Superman resettled on New Krypton temporarily (?). What made this issue such an enjoyable read was that, as familiar as we have become with these characters and New Krypton, creators Robinson, Rucka and Woods have thrown several plot twists into this issue that I did not see coming. That is the mark of great storytelling. And the last page of the issue was the most shocking of all. It's a great time to be reading Superman comic books.

After Watchmen ... What's Next?: Tom Strong #1 (America's Best Comics/Wildstorm/DC) * * * * *

While I have heard of Tom Strong, as well as the other Alan Moore creations, I have not had the pleasure of reading any of these stories, other than Watchmen and some of Moore's regular DC stories. If it's Alan Moore, it's bound to be good, to borrow an old advertising slogan. Of course I was not disappointed. Tom Strong reminds me of the old pulp character Doc Savage. The introduction, drawn in a cartoony style, of a boy getting his Tom Strong Fan Club membership package in the mail, before he goes to school, was a fun way to begin the story. He reappears between sections of the origin story, reading the comic book while he rides on public transportation. He reads along, blissfully unaware of the adventure happening just outside his wondow. After reading this issue this title is going on my list of titles I have to one day read in trade paperback, along with all of the other Alan Moore titles.

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