The first comic you read in 2023 will set the tone for your year...uh-oh.

Maybe this'll be the year random exclamations come back as titles. From 1975, Arrgh! #4, featuring "The Night Gawker" Written by Russ Jones, pencils by Jerry Grandenetti, inks by Frank Springer.

This was a short-lived horror spoof book from Marvel, that appeared to also lean heavily on the perhaps-not-yet-completely-hackneyed premise that the cities were crime-ridden, unlivable cesspools. If you ever read, say, a Mad magazine from about the same timeframe, they were probably hitting that angle pretty hard too; although I think any given Mad from 1975 is probably a stronger read and not completely dependent on pop culture references that are going to age terribly. For instance, the bulk of this issue spoofs the beloved yet largely unwatched cult TV show, Kolchak: the Night Stalker. Which is pretty great, honestly: it's got Darren McGavin, the dad from A Christmas Story. But they had success with two made-for-TV movies, then went to series, and...crickets. Then they were released as late-night movies and popular again. Like people were willing to watch it for two hours, but not one? Anyway, the spoof pokes fun at the series' status quo: no matter what the monster of the week does or how many people see it, nobody's ever going to believe him. Even the cops are like, well, you've got the answers, you handle it, smart guy. (You can really see how the series influenced the X-Files!)

Also this issue: a Hunchback of Notre Dame spoof, that at least isn't based on any version I recognize; and the very short "Bang!" Both of which were reprinted from old issues of Crazy, which I'm not positive I've ever read an issue of? I read a fair amount of Mad, but... Read more!

All this and more could be in the basement, for all I know.

The mess in my basement is rapidly approaching problem levels. Maybe if I sorted everything into 'blogged' and 'not blogged' piles. No, those piles of 90's Flash issues alone would be too intimidating. (Not that they're bad, but they aren't bad enough or great enough for me to write a ton about. Maybe. Damnit, now I have to try some, just to see.)

Oh, and this issue, hell, the whole run of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Not so great. Fury is a great character, but as much as I like some of his stories, like the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson limiteds; he's always going to be in the shadow of the Jim Steranko issues. I'm hard pressed to think of anything from this particular series that's still in continuity, except the deaths that were undone: Baron Strucker, Clay Quartermain, Jasper Sitwell, Jimmy Woo, and others killed in Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.

Oddly, the letters page mentions the first part of "The Cold War of Nick Fury," which involved how Nick Fury first got involved in espionage after WWII, and was set in North Korea. The story was completely reversed the next issue, written off as Fury B.S.'ing his way through a debriefing, which seems like a waste of $1.75. (I think the writer was changed as well, though...)

And now, apropos of nothing, I would absolutely buy this:


Cover for Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #43 by John Heebink and Mike Manley. Deranged Tales #666 from the back cover of What The--?! #19 by Doug Rice and Hilary Barta. Read more!