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“From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays, we want to kidnap your cat and lickkkkkkkkkkk your face!”, was the original theme song to our column, until I realized outside of Disney’s The Aristocats, I don’t like cats. Now of course the latter half is still half true, as there are a variety of people whose faces I would lick (I’m talking about you Abe Lincoln, hopping in my time machine right now), but just not anyone’s face, though. And for those of you who are new readers to this column, I welcome you to From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays! A little bit shorter column for this week, but let’s jump into it!
First off, a SUPER COOL LIVE EVENT to go to this weekend if you’re lucky enough to live in Los Angeles! It’s called KIDS COMICS L.A. and will feature such writers as Sam Humphries, who worked on the Fraggle Rock comics, Ian Brill of Darkwing Duck and Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers fame, and more! Children can meet the creators of their favorite books, as well as learn how to make their own comics, so if you live on the west coast, check this event out this weekend!

Out On Stands: Thunderstrike #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writing and Art By: Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz
To sum up simply: It is Shazam! meets Thor. The mighty Marvel twist here is instead of bright-eyed Billy Batson who can turn into Captain Marvel, we get Kevin Masterson, troubled teenager. He gets into endless fights in school. His father Eric Masterson was the hero known as Thunderstrike, who was killed in action. Kevin sees this as his fellow Avengers not being able to come to help his Dad and so hates superheroes. After one typical day at school, Kevin is whisked away and meets Steve Rogers, Super Solider. Steve gives Kevin his father’s mace, however, to Kevin’s surprise, the mace doesn’t seem to work. No magical transformations, no lightning, nothing. Steve lets Kevin take the mace, it’s his rightful possession, but hopes secretly one day Kevin will grow up and become a great hero like his Dad. This all seems very doubtful until Kevin is caught in the middle of the Rhino attacking people, and goes to rescue a baby trapped in a car that’s about to blow up. Under the pressure, suddenly the mace comes to life and Kevin transforms into a fully adult Thunderstrike (looking exactly like his father). Kevin now is Thunderstrike, but is that enough to stop the Rhino?
The new Thunderstrike rocks. Defalco and Frenz have done a great job with this first issue setting up a wonderful story. As mentioned, Kevin transforming into a fully adult Thunderstrike has that Shazam! feel to it, like how Batson transforms into a fully adult Captain Marvel, but I’ll take it and just enjoy. Art wise the action scenes were exciting and there were hints of a Kirby-esque style throughout the issue. After such a nice setup, I look forward to seeing where the story goes. Highly recommended pick up.
Out On Stands: Yo Gabba Gabba! Gabba Ball! and Yo Gabba Gabba! Goodnight Gabba Land
Publisher: Oni Press
YO GABBA GABBA!!!!!!!!!!! ‘Kay, so there are things I usually don’t admit in this column, but I LOVE Yo Gabba Gabba! Party In My Tummy, one of my favorite skits of all time on any show. So when I was given the press release for these books, I freaked out.
Oni Press has launched what are called “board comics.” These are essentially comics for toddlers, (hey, start them young). They are built like a board book, but the 16 board pages are a story comic book style. And everyone’s favorite gang from the Yo Gabba Gabba! TV show are here for two titles, Gabba Ball! and Goodnight Gabba Land. The art style is simple and cartoon style, like some of the segments on the TV show. It’s bright, it’s colorful, and a heck of a lot of fun to look at. I dig it, kids dig it. The stories are fun and straight forward plots. You’re not going to ponder about life, but you’ll have a good time and the target audience of kids will eat it up. If your children are fans of the show, they will love these board comics, no question about it.
So if it’s for your child or just out of curiosity to see what these board titles are all about, I recommend picking up these two books.
That’s it for this week, short column this time around, but be prepared for an epic one next week, with a lot of really cool things to check out, just in time for the holiday season! Until then, remember, Guiron loves you!!!!!!

Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net