Thundarr the Barbarian Comc Book

 It's still pretty early in the year but I think I can safely say Thundarr the Barbarian from Dynamite is my most anticipated comic of the year!

 

As far as Saturday morning cartoons go, Thundarr is at the top of my list and was likely a factor in my picking up the D&D Basic rule set at that age. If, for some reason, Thundarr isn't known to you, check out the show's intro. A post-apocalyptic world combining sci-fi and fanatasy? Doesn't get much better than that! 

 

 

 Like many comics these days, Thundarr has multiple cover variants. The above one is my favorite since Jack Kirby himself worked on the show's production design including most of the villains, which are all memorable in their own way. Not only is in done in a very Kirdy-esque style but there's a not so subtle Kirby tribute on the cover.

 

 The comic hooked me from the first few pages. Obviously, I'm an easy mark but even in the opening scene, they bring back a few of the bad guys Thundarr crossed paths with in the show. Being an 80s Saturday morning show, Thundarr was pretty episodic and usually dealt with a new threat each week. To see some of them pop up from the get go, told me these folks are really paying attention to the source.

 

 If you watched the intro, you might recognize the guy on the left that appears for maybe 2 seconds. 

 

The comic tells two stories simultaneously: The main story takes place in the present of 3994 and has Thundarr going under cover to break up a human trafficking/slavery ring. The other story is told through flashback and follows Thundarr's life as a gladiator slave leading up to him meeting Ookla and Ariel.

 

 Despite how much I was looking forward to this, the first issue snuck by me and I only found the second issue just released a few weeks ago. This issue spends a little more time in the flashback, you get to see how Ariel ties into things, and Thundarr faces his toughest arena fight yet: Ookla the Mok!

 

Meanwhile, in the present day, the gang confront the Council of Wizards who are involved in the human slave trade. In classic comic tradition, these wizards have all been bested by Thundarr over the show's run and are now gathered together to bring him down! One of them activates a time portal and sends our heroes back to 1994 just moments before the runaway planet passes between the Earth and the moon, kick starting the global apocalypse from the intro!

 

 

Another thing I love about the series so far is they perfectly capture the characters, including Ariel's commentary on Thundarr's recklessness.

 If you're a fan of sci-fi/fantasy that's just being introduced to Thundarr from this post, you'd probably enjoy the comic. But if you're someone that's been craving more Thundarr adventures since the 80s, I think you'll absolutely love this and find it a worthy successor to the show.

 

Lost in the Longbox - Dagar the Invincible

Back in 2018/2019 I did a few posts under the title Quarter Bin to talk about random old comics. That title never really clicked with me (even though I decided on it!) so I'm rebranding to Lost in the Longbox...and I'll probably post another one in 2033.

 

Today's deep pull (maybe that would be a better title?) is Tales of Sword and Sorcery Featuring Dagar the Invincible. Or just Dagar the Invincible to his friends.

 

 Dagar was published by Gold Key from October 1972 to December 1976 for a total of 18 quarterly issues. I think I was just getting into Superfriends comics when Dagar ended so I missed out. If he'd come along a few years later when I picked up my first D&D box set and Thundarr was on TV, I'm sure I would have checked it out. I mean, look at that cover!

 

Issue 2 was reformatted and packaged as a give-away with bubble gum. Bazooka Joe, he ain't! I know packing a comic book with bubble gum sounds weird but if you're wondering what it would look like, here you go. 

 

Issue 1, Page 1. That saber-tooth tiger is looking for lunch!

 

Dagar was written by Donald F Glut who Star Wars kids will no doubt recognize as the author of the Empire Strikes Back novelization. He was also a screenwriter for Saturday morning heavy hitters like Land of the Lost, Transformers, G.I. Joe, DuckTales, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and also created characters and lore for Masters of the Universe. How's that for a resume?

  

 Covers and interior art was done by Dagar co-creator Jesse Santos who is best known for this book and Tragg and the Sky Gods, another Gold Key book written by Glut. Tragg, as you might guess by the name, is a prehistoric caveman. The Sky Gods are humanoid aliens so this book has a little more sci-fi to it than Dagar. Santos would go on to work in advertising to work with properties like Blackstar, Jem, and Tiny Toon Adventures.

 

Monsterzone has a great post showcasing Santos' work on Dagar and Tragg. 

 

Dagar was a typical brawn over brains adventurer type contending with magic and monsters in a fantasy world. But Glut's writing is what keeps him from being a Conan knock-off. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can read an interview with Glut about his work on Dagar. 

 

If you'd like to enjoy some Tales of Sword and Sorcery, head back to that first cover and give it a click. 

Labyrinth Graphic Novel

I got this a little while back and keep forgetting to show it off. Boom Studios did a Kickstarter for this hard cover collecting their eight issue adaptation from 2024. The cool thing about it is that it adapts the movie novelization which was written while the movie was still in production so there are a couple things here and there different from the final film.

 

 I shelled out a little extra to get the version with the slipcase which is styled after Sarah's Labyrinth book from the movie. Boom Studios was also offering hard cover collections of their two (yes two!) Labyrinth sequel comics. I already have those and didn't feel the need to drop the extra cash to upgrade to hard covers. Of course, I also already have the comics collected here but this is THE story.

 

 This Kickstarter version has an exclusive variant cover that won't be reprinted again. The pages are gold gilded which just adds to how it looks on a table. I like when they do stuff like this so you feel like you're really getting something special when you support them.

 

Speaking of something special...one of the stretch goals was this fantastic art print.

 

 And this enamel pin was unlocked for people that backed on day one (that's me!). The campaign hit its initial $25k goal in 15 minutes! I guess there's a lot of us weirdos out there that love this movie.

 

 I instantly fell in love with the art style. I like that it's sort of cartoony. Disney's been all about live action remakes of animated movies. I think this would be a great candidate for an animated remake of a live action movie! I'd just use the film audio and animate it.

 

At the back of the book are 16 pages featuring different cover art used for the individual comics.

 

The last six pages have character designs. There's two pages each for Sarah and Jareth and the last two have a bunch of the characters Sarah meets, including Alph and Ralph the two dog-like door guardians that pose the logic puzzle to Sarah. Bet you didn't know they had names!

I'm really happy with this one and it's going to be a great addition to my growing Labyrinth library.

Classic Creepy Comics - Superior Publications

This week, I've got three horror books for you from Canada! These pre-code horror books are public domain and available for free at Comic Book+. You can read them online or, if you create a free account, you can download them. 

 

 

Journey into Fear ran from May 1951 to September 1954 for 21 issues. It has the distinction of being the first Canadian horror comic.

 

 I couldn't find a lot of info on this series to share but issue 15 (above) was sited in the Seduction of the Innocent that warned that comics were harmful and a cause of juvenile delinquency.

 

 Mysteries Weird and Strange ran from May 1953 to January 1955 for 11 issues. Again, not a lot of info to be found but I did happen on a couple of random articles that mention Canadian pre-code books are a bit of a rarity.

 

  

Strange Mysteries ran for 21 issues from September 1951 to January 1955. Of these three series, this one definitely has the better covers in my opinion.

 

 Issue 10 here was another sited in The Seduction of the Innocent.

 

If you'd like to peruse any of these creepy classics, click the links below.

 

Journey into Fear 

Mysteries Weird and Strange

Strange Mysteries 

 

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below.

 

Archie Comics Trick and Treat

Way back in 2013, Archie comics put one foot in the grave with the Afterlife with Archie series which brought Riverdale residents into a zombie apocalypse. This also kicked off a a whole new imprint called "Archie Horror" which gave us titles like Vampironica and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina which became a Netflix series. I'm a sucker for "What If?"/alternate universe type stories so I was all in on anything Archive Horror put out. Ironically, these darker stories lead me to reconnecting with the timeless characters that I enjoyed so much as a kid.

 

 

I'm not a regular reader by any means. I mainly pick up the Halloween themed books which are a lot of fun because in addition to a new story or two, they reprint older Halloween stories ranging from recent years to decades ago. All this is a long road to get to the stars of the post: Trick and Treat.

 

 

Trick and Treat are relatively new characters in the Archie-verse. They first appeared in the Archie Halloween Spectacular from October 2022. 

 

Trick is an imp that can shapeshift. As you might imagine, he enjoys playing tricks. He's also more into the scary side of the holiday and is always in fierce competition with Treat. Trick may seem like the "bad one" but both can be mischievous.

 

Treat is the spirit (in more ways than one) of Halloween. He's all about spooky fun and candy. He's been known to help out trick or treaters needing a boost in the costume department to help them bring home a big haul. In case you're wondering, the string around his neck is meant to be like he's a ghost decoration hung from a tree and not anything more macabre.

 

The character designs are simple but so much fun and let them lean into their whimsical nature. Given their dispositions, they remind me of the classic angel and devil that pop up on cartoon characters shoulders.

 

Be sure to check out all the Countdown bloggers by clicking the link below.

 

Classic Creepy Comics - Baffling Mysteries

 Welcome to the fifth year of Classic Creepy Comics where I talk about horror comics from the pre-code days. Most of the books I'll be talking about are public domain and available for free at Comic Book+. You can read them online or, if you create a free account, you can download them.

 

 Baffling Mysteries was published mostly bi-monthly by Ace Magazines from November 1951 - October 1955 and ran for a total of 22 issues. The series starts with issue 5 having been under the title Indian Braves for the first four issues. I still haven't really looked into this weird practice of re-titling a book and keeping the numbering scheme.

 

One thing there's no shortage of on Baffling Mysteries covers is a damsel in distress! 

 

Baffling Mysteries #7 came out in 1952, two years before The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The cover may have some similarities but the story itself is about an entire race of these weird bearded creatures that live underwater. It's a fun story because although they live underwater, their lair is sort of a giant air bubble that you can only get to by swimming through a whirlpool. 

 

Baffling's covers aren't quite as horrific or grotesque as some of the other books I've mentioned over the years. Even though the interior features monster or supernatural stories, the covers give more of a pulp adventure vibe. 

 

 As the series ran on, it would occasionally reprint a story from another book to fill out its page count. Issue 24 was one of the last pre-Code books Ace put out. Most of the issue was reprints with only one original story. The final two issues were made up entirely of reprints from other Ace books and some of the stories were retouched to comply with the new Comics Code Authority.

 

You can find the complete run of Baffling Mysteries at Comic Book+. 

 

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Monthly Media Recap - August 2025

 Two months until Halloween! That means the blog will be going into hibernation mode for the next month so I can prepare a post for every day in October. 

 

Linked titles will take you to a trailer and let's get on with the show...

 

 

Shows

 

Twisted Metal (S2, Peacock)

I LOVE this show! It's been filling the hole in my heart left by SyFy's 2017 Blood Drive. Season 2 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger setting up a Season 3. If this doesn't happen I will NOT be happy! I know this is already based on a video game, but can we get a new video game based on the show?

 

Gatchaman Progress

Episodes watched this month: 8 Currently up to: 59

 

Movies

 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

I guess you could call me a casual, enthusiastic fan of FF comics. I keep up with them because I like the character dynamics and the sci-fi elements. This movie delivered for me on both fronts and definitely had a human aspect to it that made it more than just another superhero movie. I love the art direction and that we're just dropped into it with enough backstory to skip the usual "origin story" tropes. My biggest complaint is that Ben got the short straw in the character development department.

 

Rating: 8/10 

 

 

Clown in a Cornfield (2025, Shudder & VOD)

Yes, it's a silly title but the movie itself has a little humor to it. This has actually been a book since 2020. I frequently see Amazon recommend it to me and just never got around to it. The movie doesn't do anything really new for the slasher genre but it doesn't have to because it's a near perfect specimen with some fun (sometimes funny) kills.

 

Rating: 7/10

Comic Review - Space Ghost/Jonny Quest: Space Quest #1 (2025)

Worlds, and galaxies, collide in this crossover event featuring two of the biggest (at least in my book) Hanna-Barbera names in action.

 

 Just about a year ago, I posted about Dynamite bringing Space Ghost back and earlier this year, they also kicked off a Jonny Quest series. This crossover event takes places after JQ #5 which has Team Quest venturing briefly into the future from their 1965 home time.

 

This isn't the first time they've crossed paths in comics but it is the first time in this Dynamite continuity. Back in 2016, DC had the ambitious 12 issue Future Quest that also included the Herculoids, Birdman, Mightor and other heroes.

 

In this story, an alien craft has crash landed and the military turns to Dr. Quest for assistance. Of course, they've stripped it for parts but there's one piece of tech they can't figure out on their own. Dr. Quest just happens to have something that will charge it up but is hesitant to help before fully understanding it. Plus, the General running the place is kind of a jerk. My money's on him being an alien in disguise.

 

 Boys being boys, Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit can't help but get into trouble and juice the alien tech while everyone is asleep. Only they're shocked to find themselves teleported and face to face with Space Ghost! In their place, the equally bewildered trio of Jan, Jace, and Blip arrive.

 

 The art in the book is great. It may not look like the cartoon, but it definitely captures the feel of 60s science-action. You don't need to have read the Jonny Quest series to understand what's going on. There's enough exposition to get you caught up. With this being the first issue, it feels like they're just lighting the fuse on something that's sure to blow-up into something bigger as it goes.

Classic Creepy Comics - Spook

 Spook is another book brought to you from Star Publications, the same folks that put out last week's pick, Ghostly Weird Stories. It ran for nine issues From January 1953 to October 1954.

Spook is a bit of a mixed bag. You'll get at least one supernatural/monster type horror story but you'll also find crime, science fiction, and jungle stories along with a couple pages of prose fiction. This is probably due to it originally being a crime book that started in 1945 and changed names a few times.

The first issue kicks off with a Headless Horseman story (sort of) so I had to check it out. The stars of the story are teen Jerry and his pal Sergent Spook, who is in fact, the ghost of a cop. I'm guessing they had other adventures in the books leading up to this because it's just a weird place to start with no back story. The Horseman ends up being being a projection created by some guy that found oil and wanted to keep everyone away. Sounds like a case for the Mystery Inc.!

One of the things that jumped out at me looking through these books is the number of ads that seem targeted to girls. I'm not saying these comics are "just for boys" but were a lot of girls reading this stuff back then?

 

All but one issues of Spook are legally available online at Comic Book+. If you're looking to get the most horror out of your reading, I'd suggest issue 30. Although 28 has the below story, a scifi adventure, and some jungle girl action.

Swing over to the Countdown blog below to see the other participants!

Classic Creepy Comics - Ghostly Weird Stories & Blue Bolt Tales of Terror

Welcome to the fourth year of Classic Creepy Comics where I talk about horror comics from the pre-code days. Most of the books I'll be talking about are public domain and available for free at Comic Book+. You can read them online or, if you create a free account, you can download them. I'll have direct links at the end.

As I was digitally digging through the horror books, the covers and art for this one grabbed my attention. I love everything about this! The gruesome monster, the slime dripping font on The Thing from the Void. So good!

Ghostly Weird Tales (rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?) was released by Star Publications from September 1953 to September 1954. The company went under shortly after this time due to the outcry from the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency that convinced some people that comics were a bad influence on kids. Can you imagine?!

 

The origins of the book go all the way back to 1940 when it was a completely different comic. It featured the superhero Blue Bolt and was one of the first titles to use a single characters name.

Gatchaman Comics - Mad Cave Studios

 Back on Free Comic Book Day this year, I was over the moon to see a new Gatchaman comic. Depending on where and when you grew up, you might know Gatchaman as G-Force or Battle of the Planets. Those are both Americanized, edited version of the original Gatchaman anime.

I hadn't heard of Mad Cave Studios before but they're also bringing back Flash Gordon and Defenders of the Earth in comic form. I've read the first two issues of Gatchaman and am loving it so far. You can actually get the FCBD comic from their website. 

 

Thanks to this comic coming out, I finally decided to make my way through the BluRay set of all 105 episodes. I've probably seen every episode of Battle of the Planets multiple times as a kid but the original, unedited series is not quite the same.

If you've seen any version of the cartoon, you'll no doubt recognize this sequence from the first issue. They've done a fantastic job of making it feel like you're watching the show. The art style, bright colors, and kinetic action scenes will make you want to grab a bowl of cereal before reading. 

 

One thing tI'm really interested in about this comic series is that back at the Gatchaman base, there is a backup Science Ninja Team in training.

In addition to the on-going Gatchaman series, there are two more titles!

Space Ghosts Returns!

 Space Ghost is back in a new comic book series from Dynamite. Issue #1 dropped last week and there are incredible amount of variant covers. Between foil variants and retailer exclusives, there are over 40!

 

Since my introduction to Space Ghost was Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s, this is my favorite cover. A superhero in outer space. How can you go wrong? Being able to fly and turn invisible are great powers but what I really like are his power bands because it seemed like he had a ray for just about everything packed in there.

Trick R Treat - Sam's 15 Anniversary Collection

Now that Saint Pat's day has passed, we can finally talk about...Halloween! Just kidding, I don't need an excuse to talk about Halloween any time of the year.

 

I recently received this gorgeous beast from a Kickstarter campaign. Now, I didn't have the $1500 to spare to get drawn into the book (how amazing that would have been!) but I also didn't go for the bare bones digital version either. These days, I have to feel like something is really worth it to get a physical copy and this definitely did not disappoint!

 

The main attraction is this hardcover, oversized graphic novel with over 260 pages of Halloween goodness. It includes the original comic adaptation of the movie and the sequel graphic novel (Trick R Treat: Days of the Dead). Plus, the KS exclusive version has a brand new story by Michael Dougherty and a slipcase, which is under the book in the above pic. It didn't come out great in my photo but the book has the movie logo at the top in an orange shiny foil.

 

 

 Also included is this set of 3 enamel pins by Hot Topic artist M. Victoria Robado.

 

 

And this pearlescent print titled "Halloween Carving" created by Michael Dougherty.

 

But that's not all!

Classic Creepy Comics - The Beyond

Welcome to the last Classic Creepy Comics for 2023! Can you believe it's the Wednesday before Halloween already? This week's feature is The Beyond from Ace Magazines which ran for 30 issues from November 1950 to January 1955.

In yet another case of a comic company changing a title name, what was to be Challengers of the Unknown issue #7 became The Beyond issue #1 so technically, Challengers #6 is The Beyond #0. Because that makes sense.

I just picked this one because it was seasonally appropriate.

The most notable thing I found about this series is that issue #27 was sited in Dr. Frederic Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" which warned against the dangers of comic books. In particular, the story "Strange Potion of Dr Lorch." 

You can read the full run of The Beyond online for free at Comic Book+, including the notorious issue 27 which also has a great story about a dentist that turns a patient into a werewolf by transplanting all their teeth with dog teeth. Good stuff!

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