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Sometimes, people think their lives would be cooler if it went something like the Cyndi Lauper Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough two-part music video. And why not? I mean Roddy Piper was in it, and certainly if your life had to be something from Roddy Piper’s body of work outside of wrestling, it’d beat out Hell Comes To Frogtown and They Live. However some of us may not fantasize about living in one of the realms of Roddy Piper, some of us are better off just reading From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma-Rays (and here we are)!
To start off with some quick reminders, this month Boom! is reprinting classic Disney material finally in their issues to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Pick up Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #715 and Mickey Mouse #304 for all the classic fun! Also next month, two cool things hit comic stands; the first is Jinx, which will start its run as a new story in Life With Archie magazine from Archie Comics, giving us Lil Jinx all grown up and dealing with her first year of high school. Secondly and most important, IDW begins its run of Godzilla: Monster World, the much anticipated return of the king of the monsters to comics, with writing by The Goon‘s Eric Powell and Tracey Marsh, art by Phil Hester, and covers by Eric Powell and Alex Ross! Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidrah, and Mothra are all city-stomping our way, finally!
Out On Stands: Donald Duck and Friends #362
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
I was watching the Disney documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty a few weeks ago and I thought to myself, “God, when I was growing up in the 90s it really was a good time for Disney,” and I wondered to myself, when will Disney have a come back? They’ve been on shakey legs for a bit and now let Pixar run the show, yet Pixar’s films are still superior to what their brothers in the Mouse House are churning out. I was eating dinner this Monday night and the child in the booth behind me proudly shouted at his mother, “Mom! I’d punch myself in the face to see Tangeled again!” Now Disney hasn’t made a big splash come back yet, although Tron:Legacy rocked (as did its soundtrack), but if children are proclaiming they will provide bodily harm to themselves all for Disney again, that is a good sign.
Another good sign is that these Disney comics from Boom! have been rocking our world, and in particular the Donald Duck and Friends book took an awesome twist and started a new martial arts story line for Donald a few issues ago (we loved it so much it even made it into our top 10 Kids’ titles of 2010). In this issue, Donald, after having a fantasy in previous issues of being a warrior called Tekka-Don, has started taking martial arts. He is mistaken for a criminal named Mangler Mallard and the criminal world of Duckburg is up in arms. After Donald is tricked into helping rob a bank, the real Mangler shows up and wants answers as to who this imposter is! In the second story, Donald goes off to Hollywood to try and cash in on his martial skills, and hysteria ensues when he gets a job on the set of a Kung-Fu movie. Finally, we get a short with Mickey and Goofy doing some “Goof-jit-su.” As in the previous issues, the gags in Donald Duck and Friends have been classic Disney laugh-out-loud funny, up there with the original shorts, and with the artwork also being quality, how could you not pick it up? Out on stands now!
Something To Watch: Fantastic Argoman
1967. The year of many things forgotten by 2011, but possibly none more forgotten here in the United States (where this reviewer is based) than the Italian Superhero/Crime comedy Fantastic Argoman. Now he may (or may not) be familiar to some of our European readers, but the name Argoman leaves most here in North America scratching their heads. Why was it forgotten? I don’t know. It’s not an amazing film, but it’s not a terrible film either; it certainly is more entertaining than other Euro-Superhero flicks of the period (like Phenomenal). Released originally under the title The Incredible Paris Incident in Europe, Fantastic Argoman is the simple tale of our hero (or superhero, or anti-hero, or master thief…he’s both a hero and villain all at the same time, like Phenomenal and Diabolik) Argoman, who in this adventure must fight the evil Jenabelle and her robots, while stealing stuff, spying, and more. However as Superman has kryptonite, Argoman has a weakness, too: women. See, the whole problem is if Argoman sleeps with a woman, he loses his powers for six hours! All his super strength, telekinesis, etc: gone. The film unfortunately suffers two main pitfalls like other Euro-superhero films of this time period: 1.) It starts strong but then drops and goes up and down from there; pacing is a problem Italy, and 2.) He doesn’t wear his costume enough! Don’t let the trailer fool you; he’s not nearly in his costume enough. However, there are plenty of laughable moments, some cool stuff, beautiful women, and most importantly the spirit of fun, all packed into this film. So my pick for you this weekend is Fantastic Argoman.
That’s it for this week! See you soon, and remember, Mothra loves you!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net