Unkie Dev's Amazing Stuff

You know you are a comic book geek when Labor Day does NOT fill you with the happy anticipation of hot dogs and swimmin' pools but with anguish and the apprehensive question: "Will this push back my weekly comic books to Thursday?"

Let's Talk Silver!

Nothing beats the Silver Age of comic books for non-stop excitement and joy! Both Marvel and DC comics are keeping a plethora of their silver age material reprinted at rock bottom prices. Does Forbidden Planet have it all in stock? Let's ask:

UNKIEDEV: Forbidden Planet, would you say you have a plethora of Silver Age Comics?
FORBIDDEN PLANET: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.
UD: Forbidden Planet... do you even know what a plethora means?

The Silver Age is the early sixties comics revival started by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and the mighty Marvel Bullpen. For the first time the emphasis in the comics was not on the powers that the super heroes possessed, but on their personality, or their friendships and foibles.

Foibles? Wasn't that an 80's toy line of plush, suction cupped lizards?

Essential Hulk Volume 1 - Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Marvel
Not only is this Essential reading for Marvel fans, it is essential reading for all. Explosive panels of a lumbering beats jumping over mesas and smashing tanks to bitty-bits, all while Stan pours on the prolix about pain and responsibility. Fun, fun, fun. Don't look for continuity; it still hadn't been invented. In one story the Hulk's lungs are his only weakness, another issue has them as his greatest strength! This is Silver Age at its best!

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1 - Jack Kirby, DC
Kirby is raw comic book id. After leaving Marvel due to rights, tension and respect Kirby took his fantastic imagination over to DC creating a whole new universe: All the gods that ever were die in a battle, giving birth to two new planets: New Genesis, home of benevolent New Gods and Apokolips, an evil land of power hungry deviants! What follows is the over-the-top shouting, punching and drama of Kirby's unfinished masterpiece. I swear to Pete, every sentence in this book ends with an exclamation point! This is a beautiful volume of reprints, but not as cheap as the Merry Marvel essentials.

There is so much great Silver Age material, and at such low prices, you can't really go wrong. Here's one more of my favorites:

Showcase Presents: The Haunted Tank Vol. 1 - Robert Kanigher (W), Russ Heath, Irv Novick and Joe Kubert (I), DC
This book is a little Golden Age-esque. It's a war comic, and as the Silver Age blazed its trail the diversified topics of the Golden Age: war, romance, western and horror fell by the wayside. Now, maybe you want to go read some new modern comics with long, drawn out stories about attractive teenagers with super powers who still sit around and mope that nobody loves them. Maybe, however, you want a REAL comic book about a Haunted Tank that shoots Nazis in the face! HAUNTED TANK, PLEASE. I could write more explanation on the characters and plots, but "Haunted Tank" sums it up pretty dang good.

Comics should be fun. I have all of literature and cinema for pathos but I have only one time and place for Hulking Green-skinned atomic Monsters, an epic battle of dorky-dressed battle gods or a Haunted Tank piloted by a man named Jeb: The Silver Age.

So this week, blow your paycheck/parent's allowance on some Silver Age treasures. This goes for you too, Hipsters: The Silver Age is Iconically-Ironic. That's it for me, Unkiedev. Have fun and help *CRUNCH* take a bite out of crime!

By Guest Contributor: Unkie Dev