Zadzooks book reviews: Marvel: The Silver Age 1960-1970 & DCeased

This chronic feature lets me review what sequential art has recently passed my bloodshot pupils. So pull up a chair, break out the prescription reading glasses and welcome to Mr. Zad’s comic critique.

Marvel: The Silver Age 1960-1970 (The Folio Society, $225) — A celebration of a key time period in the history of Marvel Comics arrives in a 368-page, full-color, deluxe, hardback tome reprinting 14 key issues from one of the most influential sequential art publisher’s in the world.

Offering a pop art glimpse into the days when mighty editor Stan Lee, with help from a bullpen of legendary artists, created a universe of colorful superhero and villains, the red book is contained in an eye-popping box.

The box is bound and lined in printed and silver-laminated paper and illustrated with classic versions of key characters drawn by modern-day Marvel artist Paolo Rivera and inked by his father Joe.

Once inside the pages, after opening the screen-printed and metallic foil-blocked cloth cover, the issues, twice the size of the originals, offer an introduction to a who’s who of the Marvel universe explored in key issues such as: Amazing Fantasy No. 15 from 1962 (the first appearance of Spider-Man); Tales of Suspense No. 39 from 1959 (first appearance of Iron Man); The Avengers No. 4 from 1964 (the return of Captain America); and The Avengers No. 57 from 1968 (first appearance of the Vision).

Other choices in the book seem slightly random such as ignoring the Silver Surfer’s debut in Fantastic Four No. 49 from 1966 but including the Silver Surfer No. 3 from 1968, that is, until reading the forward by former Marvel editor Roy Thomas as he explains the method to the madness.

For example, Amazing Spider- Man No. 33 from 1966 not only showcased the creative might of Lee and artist Steve Ditko but a dramatic plot that found Peter Parker surviving a near-death experience in the finest of Shakespearean tradition.

Or, the unusual call to include The Mighty Thor No. 126 from 1966. Mr. Thomas considered it one of the “thrilling examples” of artist Jack Kirby’s ability to command action on pulp pages as the Norse god fights Hercules.

However, not random is the celebration of the artistic craftsmanship of some of the legendary humans that brought these characters to life.

Besides Kirby and Ditko prominently displayed, I’m talking the big penciling and inking guns of Jim Steranko, John Romita, John Buscema, Don Heck, Wally Wood, Joe Sinnott and Vince Colletta.

Despite the overall brilliance and care in bringing the books back in a glorious format, I am still not sure why designers decided to go with a more organic and rather unsightly approach to reproducing the pages.

Instead of clean digital scans with the chance to offer color correction and really allow the artwork to pop from preferable glossy white pages, readers get a facsimile of the original paper stock used, a dingy newspaper pulp that sacrifices visual intensity for authenticity.

Now, where this method works well is in the replica of the first issue of the Fantastic Four from 1961, offered as a welcomed stand-alone comic book in its original size, with detail down to every ad that appeared in the classic. One can practically smell the age coming from the reproduced pages.

Another extra in the package is a quickly frameable print on cloth cardstock (7.5-inches-wide by 10-inches-long), once again created by the Rivera team, offering 1960s looks of 11 heroes including Black Panther, Invisible Girl, Wasp, Marvel Girl, Hulk and Thing.

Despite my grumpiness on the page reproduction, “Marvel: The Silver Age to 1960-1970” offers a wide swath of nostalgia for the comic fan and not only a coffee table mainstay for the pop culture aficionado but a way to get a younger generation excited about one of America’s coolest indigenous art forms.

DCeased (DC Comics, $29.99) — This hardbound book compiles a fitting tale for our pandemic times as writer Tom Taylor explores what happens in the DC Universe after 600 million people are infected by a mysterious techno-organic virus that turns victims into mindless, rampaging killers.

Yup, it’s the DC Comics’ version of the zombie apocalypse set apart from its current timeline and the full-color book includes the six-issue limited series as well as the one-shot “DCeased: A Good Day to Die” from last year.

In the story, after the Justice League delivers a crushing defeat of Darkseid, he kidnaps Cyborg and torturer extraordinaire DeSaad implants a virus in the hero and releases him back to Earth to unleash the end of humanity by infecting digital devices and its owners.

A star-studded cast, reaching deep into the DC characters roster, including Superman, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold, Superboy, Batman, Kid Flash, Captain Atom, Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Mera are challenged to stop the end of Earth, but nothing seems to work as the comic book pages reek with desperation and destruction.

As the drama and violent stench of death builds, readers engulfed in the emotional story must unfortunately endure a too-steady stream of comical dialogue that might have been used to lighten the doom but actually completely ruins the moment.

Was it too much to ask that the story remain in emotionally intact  without wisecracks from John Constantine, Harley Quinn or Big Barda. Marvel’s heroes have a way of pulling this off but not so much in the DC universe.

Artist Trevor Hairsine leads the pack of illustrators including Neil Edwards, Laura Braga and Darick Robertson assigned to the entire story. I wish he was the only artist (penciller) with inker Stefano Gaudiano involved.

Not only does Mr. Hairsine have the horror chops when it comes to illustrating the grotesque, but I really hate when extra artists are added to draw pages. It totally takes away from the required visually continuity to complement the story.

With Mr. Taylor willing to kill off any character for sheer shock value amid an Armageddon’s worth of action, this package will absorb fans looking for a bloody dose of superhero-fueled horror comics. 

However, lacking any creative twists in the narrative, the name DCeased remains the cleverest part of the series.