Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Want more alcoholism in your comics, but sick of Tony Stark?

Then have we got the comic for you!

I like this cover.  Not sure why.  Even though it seems like I read nothing but superhero comics, I do pick up other genres from time to time, when they show up on the shelves. That is to say, immediately after there's been a surprise breakout hit in said genre: in this case, Acclaim Comics line of Crime Fiction, coincidentally showing up right after the first couple Sin City mini-series came out.

Armed and Dangerous was very, very Sin City though. And I say it's not superheroes, but the main characters might as well be: the lead in Hell's Slaughterhouse, Charly, is drunk as a lemur through most of his series, yet still kicks a lot of ass. Still, Armed & Dangerous treats women better than Frank Miller's whores and strippers: they've got a junkie, too...well, if you can work through that, it's actually an entertaining little read, not reinventing the wheel or breaking new ground, but entertaining.

I think Acclaim and Hall did at least three mini-series and a special, so it must've done well enough at the time, but I don't see it mentioned anywhere. A quick search on Bob Hall brought up that he was co-creator of the West Coast Avengers, and I think he also did the old (good) Squadron Supreme, although those were in a much more traditional superhero style. These might be floating around the quarterbins, so if you like pulpy mob action, with booze, give 'em a spin. Also, the Bullet Points text pages in them, while having a pretty awful name, were good. Maybe better than the actual comics, sometimes.



Sorry for the short one today, I was trying to get something added to the blog, and it's not taking yet.

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