Post by Administrator on Nov 4, 2005 19:59:33 GMT -5
Contributed by Tony Whitt
In the intro to this Allred, All the Time issue of Solo, Bizarro #1 informs us that Mike Allred "despise DC comic books so this whole stupid comic book in your hands am hate letter to DC Comics." Aw, Mike, you no should have! And by the way, that's Bizarro-speak for "Thank Buddha you did!" Not only is this a love letter from Mike (as well as Laura and Lee) Allred to DC, it's a love letter to the DC of a very particular time period, that groovy part of the 1960s when all DC books were adorned with "go-go checks." Don't know what "go-go checks" are? Then check out Allred's alternate cover to this issue on the back – yeah, there's your go-go checks, bay-bee! (Sorry, sorry… too much time looking at something like that makes me channel Mike Myers, for some reason.)
And never a sweeter, more adoring love letter to an era of comics has been written – except, perhaps, Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier. The difference is that that love letter to DC's Silver Age stopped short of poking fun at its paramour, whereas Allred does very little else... and the results are amazing. Our first stop, after a "pulse-pounding" Metal Men pin-up (did DC actually do pin-ups back then?) and the aforementioned Bizarro intro, is "An Hour With Hourman," in which Rex Tyler pops a Miraclo pill to rescue a damsel in distress… only to discover she's screaming because she's being tickled by her husband. An hour of hopped-up superpowers and 54 minutes left to go – what does a chemically-dependent superhero do? The answer is outrageous and provides a solid laugh every panel – especially the "good grooming" one. (You'll know it when you see it, trust me.)
Equally outrageous is the "Doom Patrol vs. Teen Titans," which is far groovier than it sounds. Seriously – it takes both teams as they were circa 1968 and has one throwing a party while the other is trying to rest in the pad downstairs. (You can probably guess which is which.) Hilarity, and a whole lot of references to the sorts of things you'd forgotten you used to make fun of in those old stories, ensues. And bless his freakish little heart, Allred even throws a Legion cameo in there!
"Comic Book Clubhouse" and "Fourth World Wager" are harmless little bits of fun, but the real centerpiece of this solo effort is "Batman A-Go-Go!" which imagines what it would be like if the Batman from that campy 1960s TV series were suddenly confronted with the real world issues going on at that same time. Holy Social Consciousness, Batman! Although the story ends with everything returning to normal – or as normal as things got on that show, anyway – it's a knowing, sobering look at the distance between the world of comics and other forms of mass media in that era and the world of those who were entertained by them. Ah, the more things change…
Well done, Allreds, well done. Now, how about doing a Silver Age miniseries for us? Wouldja? Huh? Please? A
In the intro to this Allred, All the Time issue of Solo, Bizarro #1 informs us that Mike Allred "despise DC comic books so this whole stupid comic book in your hands am hate letter to DC Comics." Aw, Mike, you no should have! And by the way, that's Bizarro-speak for "Thank Buddha you did!" Not only is this a love letter from Mike (as well as Laura and Lee) Allred to DC, it's a love letter to the DC of a very particular time period, that groovy part of the 1960s when all DC books were adorned with "go-go checks." Don't know what "go-go checks" are? Then check out Allred's alternate cover to this issue on the back – yeah, there's your go-go checks, bay-bee! (Sorry, sorry… too much time looking at something like that makes me channel Mike Myers, for some reason.)
And never a sweeter, more adoring love letter to an era of comics has been written – except, perhaps, Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier. The difference is that that love letter to DC's Silver Age stopped short of poking fun at its paramour, whereas Allred does very little else... and the results are amazing. Our first stop, after a "pulse-pounding" Metal Men pin-up (did DC actually do pin-ups back then?) and the aforementioned Bizarro intro, is "An Hour With Hourman," in which Rex Tyler pops a Miraclo pill to rescue a damsel in distress… only to discover she's screaming because she's being tickled by her husband. An hour of hopped-up superpowers and 54 minutes left to go – what does a chemically-dependent superhero do? The answer is outrageous and provides a solid laugh every panel – especially the "good grooming" one. (You'll know it when you see it, trust me.)
Equally outrageous is the "Doom Patrol vs. Teen Titans," which is far groovier than it sounds. Seriously – it takes both teams as they were circa 1968 and has one throwing a party while the other is trying to rest in the pad downstairs. (You can probably guess which is which.) Hilarity, and a whole lot of references to the sorts of things you'd forgotten you used to make fun of in those old stories, ensues. And bless his freakish little heart, Allred even throws a Legion cameo in there!
"Comic Book Clubhouse" and "Fourth World Wager" are harmless little bits of fun, but the real centerpiece of this solo effort is "Batman A-Go-Go!" which imagines what it would be like if the Batman from that campy 1960s TV series were suddenly confronted with the real world issues going on at that same time. Holy Social Consciousness, Batman! Although the story ends with everything returning to normal – or as normal as things got on that show, anyway – it's a knowing, sobering look at the distance between the world of comics and other forms of mass media in that era and the world of those who were entertained by them. Ah, the more things change…
Well done, Allreds, well done. Now, how about doing a Silver Age miniseries for us? Wouldja? Huh? Please? A