RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Post-Apocalyptic stories in comics

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It occurs to me that another post-apocalyptic series (although more of a space-travel science fiction series, as well as a romance with Alanna) is Adam Strange, in MYSTERY IN SPACE 53-91, by Fox and Infantino.
On the planet Rann, they had a devastating global nuclear war, from which a thousand years after, the people of Rann are still struggling to recover from.
https://viewcomiconline.com/mystery-in-space-1951-issue-53/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Strange




Infantino reluctantly left the Adam Strange series in 1964, assigned to work on the "new look" Batman in DETECTIVE 327-369.

The series continued after Infantino's last issue in MYSTERY IN SPACE 91 for a few more issues, by artist Lee Elias, but it just wasn't the same without Infantino. The series was remarkably upbeat and optimistic for a post-apocalyptic series. Because it was more about Adam Strange as the hero of Rann, using his wits to repel one race of alien invaders after another., with Rann's nuclear war history mostly as a backdrop occasionally mentioned. The series also focused on the unrequited love of Adam Strange and Alanna.
I first read these stories reprinted in STRANGE ADVENTURES 217-244 (1969-1973), in what seemed like a very long and well received series of reprints.

Since then about 15 years ago, they were also reprinted in three DC Archives volumes.
And just as I got the third volume, they announced an omnibus hardcover of the same issues.


Here are all the Infantino issues, in MYSTERY IN SPACE 53-91 :
https://viewcomiconline.com/mystery-in-space-1951-issue-53/

And while I'm less enthusiaastic about the three origin story issues that preceded the Infantino run, here are the three Sekowsky issues in
SHOWCASE 17-19 in 1958-1959 :
https://viewcomiconline.com/showcase-issue-17/


I also really enjoyed the wedding story of Adam Strange and Alanna, in JLA 120-121.
https://viewcomiconline.com/justice-league-of-america-1960-issue-120/

And a few Adam Strange team-up stories in three issues of BRAVE AND THE BOLD in issues 90 ( a good "last Batman story", by Haney and Andru/Esposito), issue 161 (by Haney and Aparo), and issue 190 (by Barr and Infantino/Trapani)
https://viewcomiconline.com/category/the-brave-and-the-bold-1955/

And a SECRET ORIGINS 17 story, Aug 1987, where Infantino once again pencilled Adam Strange in his origin re-telling. Why Murphy Anderson was not selected as inker (instead of Tony DeZuniga) is a mystery to me. Writing and art that re-tells the origin story, but for me strayed a bit too far from its Silver Age appeal. Thanks to DeZuniga, Infantino's art was virtually unrecognizable.
https://viewcomiconline.com/secret-origins-1986-issue-17/

As compared with this "Space Museum" tribute in SECRET ORIGINS 50, also pencilled by Infantino, and beautifully inked by George Perez, that I think in both story and art perfectly re-captures the Silver Age stories it was tribute to.
https://viewcomiconline.com/secret-origins-1986-issue-50/

Adam Strange's run was one of the brightest lights of the Silver Age. And likewise Infantino's FLASH run and DETECTIVE COMICS run, particularly the Elongated man backup stories in DETECTIVE. And Gil Kane's THE ATOM, and Kubert's HAWKMAN, and the early Zatanna crossover appearances. All very fondly remembered. A wonderful blend of beautiful art, whimsey and optimism across all of these Schwartz-edited titles. In Adam Strange's case, even amid the aftermath, a thousand years after a nuclear war on Rann.

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Bringing a little Biblical apocalyse to the post-apocalyptic topic, this offering from Jack Chick's THE CRUSADERS series, issue 5.

https://viewcomiconline.com/the-crusaders-1974-issue-5/




For those unfamiliar with the series, each issue has these two Christian missionaries, Jim Carter and Tim Clark, sent on missions to different parts of the world, to aid people against political and spiritual threats. And once there, enlighten people what Bible scripture foretells about the threat they face.

In issue 1, they travel to communist-occupied Rumania, where they help smuggle in the Bible on microfilm, to spread the gospel and allow the Rumanians to teach scripture and print their own bibles, The two missionaries clash with the KGB, who try to discredit and undermine them.

Issue 2 is set in southern California, and deals with runaways who unwittingly make friends with Satanists, and are unwittingly drugged and used as human sacrifices.

Issue 3 is set in southern Africa, about an African nation's dictator, who was savagely beaten at a young age by imperial British soldiers, sparking a lifelong hatred of whites that drove him to become an oppressive dictator. He also allies with Chinese-looking communists who seek to use his country as part their communist global expansion. One of the best illustrated issues. The dictator character somewhat resembles then-revolutionary and later prime minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Issue 4 is set in India, and deals with demonic posession.

Relevant to this discussion, in issue 5 the two crusaders are sent to Israel on a mission, and a Bible scholar they meet discusses details of Israeli history and end-time Bible prophecy, the rise of the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet, a revived Roman empire (ten nations with ten kings, "the beast with ten horns", that unite under the AntiChrist in end times), the 7-year Tribulation period, and the battle of Armageddon (Armageddon comes from Har Megiddo, or the hill of Megiddo, a high-ground hill overlooking the valley of Jezreel, where the battle of Armageddon is foretold will be fought, that in Biblical times had a watchtower fort built on top of it.

This issue was released in 1975, so it has some amusing dated elements such as hippies and peace signs, with giant tattoos of 666 symbols on everyone's foreheads. Whereas in the current era, we know this "number of the beast" required mark on everyone's right hand and forehead would be in invisible chip form that can be electronically scanned. And the global threat of Soviet communism has shifted since 1991, in modern times to be a world more dominated by a Chinese communist threat than a Russian one. Although the Russians still have enough missiles to blow up the world, or be reigned into a war in the Middle East, in alliance with Arab nations, that could bring about the same basic scenario of a global conflagration.
While a serious story and an informative review of Biblical end-time prophecy, these dated anachronisms in the story and other bits of deliberate silliness make them fun to read, such as the zealous communist spies everywhere: "I must notify Moscow at once, my Comrades will be pleased."

Issue 6 deals with Evolution, and anti-Christian messaging in popular culture.

Issue 7 explores archaeological history that supports the existence of Noah's Ark, that several documentaries have shown to still remain on Mount Ararat on the northeasternmost edge of Turkey, where the two missionaries travel on their assignment that issue.

The two best issues of the series for me are issues 3 and issue 7, that also have the best art. Issue 5 is another nice offering to the series.
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-crusaders-1974-issue-3/
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-crusaders-1974-issue-7/

Here's another updated link to larger scans of the complete DOOMSDAY +1 issues 1-6 (also reprinted as 7-12 in the same order), that load more quickly and are easier to navigate.
https://comiconlinefree.net/doomsday-1-1975/issue-1/full
On this site, you can click to select in the upper left, to either view one page at a time, or "full" and view the full issue you can more easily scroll through.


[ ViewComicOnline, also has these same issues, that are my current preferred online reading site. They are complete and work now. But weirdly, previously, issues 1-6 were on their website missing the last page of each issue. And then the reprints in 7-12 also were all missing the last page of each issue. But fixed and working now.
https://viewcomiconline.com/doomsday-1-1975-issue-1/

And frustratingly, neither ViewcomicOnline.com or ComicOnlineFree.net have scans of Fantagraphics' DOOMSDAY SQUAD reprints that provide better offset printing of the same DOOMSDAY+1 Byrne issues, and for the first time present a 7th previously unpublished story for the series by Byrne, reprinted from the CHARLETON BULLSEYE fanzine. Oh well, at least you have the above site where you can read the original 1975-1976 issues...
And less easy to navigate, but still there as a backup, the DiversionsOfTheGroovy site scans of them as well, from before these other online libraries were created.

ReadComicOnline also has them too, but is still having problems, that currently has a ridiculous amount of pop-up ads that re-open as soon as you close them. ]

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An updated link to the complete issue for ALIEN WORLDS 3:


I also updated the second link above so you can read the full story for WEIRD FANTASY 18 (Al Feldstein story, Joe Orlando art)

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From WEIRD FANTASY 17, Jan 1953, the Ray Bradbury story "There Will Come Soft Rains", adapted by Al Feldstein and Wallace Wood.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Weird-Fantasy-1951/Issue-17?id=124729


A wonderfully quiet post-Apocalyptic tale, where nuclear war has killed off all the humans, and for a while anyway, the timer-set lights still go on, the sprinklers still run every day, and to some degree the cities and suburbs continue their routine, even in the absence of humans. That in some ways is chilling, but also gives a surface appearance of normalcy.



In an interview of Ray Bradbury, in a funny account, Bradbury told how he noticed in the early 1950's, EC Comics was unashamedly swiping his stories and doing uncredited adaptations.
Bradbury sent a letter to managing editor William Gaines, saying "You know, I really enjoyed your adaptation of my story, but I haven't received your royalty check yet..."

After which Gaines sent him a check, and they became friends, and led to many more credited Bradbury story adaptations.

Also in this issue is the story "The Aliens", another post-Apocalyptic tale, observing Earh's destruction through the eyes of observing aliens, by Feldstein and Al Williamson. The origin of the famous humorous alien-language phrases "Squa Tront" and "Spa Fon". That also spawned two EC fanzines using the same names.

SQUA TRONT 1-14 (July 1967 - March 2022)
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=172261

SPA FON 1-5 ( 1966 - Sept 1969)
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=35146388

https://comiconlinefree.net/druuna/issue-1/full
New updated link.

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Another post-Apocalyptic offering is SABRE, initially a black-and-white graphic novel by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy (1978)

The black and white graphic novel was also released in more or less its original form in a 2nd printing(1979) , then 10th anniversary, 20th anniversary, and 30th anniversary re-releases.
(The various printings of the 8" X 11" b&w graphic novel version: ) https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?q=sabre+&pubid=&PubRng=

For the black-and-white graphic novel version, I like the 20th anniversary version the best, it has the clearest printing and the strongest binding. And has the nicest logo, that it was displayed with in ads when first released, but had a different logo on the 1st (1978) and 2nd (1979) editions when actually published. To my knowledge the logo in the ads was not used on the actual published book until the 20th anniversary edition in 1998.
In the 1st 1978 edition, this also had the distinction of being the very first Eclipse publication.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Sabre-1998/Full?id=159378 (b & w graphic novel, 20th anniversary edition, 1998 )


But I first read the McGregor / Gulacy story as the first 2 issues of the SABRE full-color comics series, when re-released in that form in 1982. Eclipse's first comic book series as well. While the b & w 1978 graphic novel version is interesting to see in its original form, I prefer the 1982 two-issue comic book color version.
Full issues online to read at :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Sabre/Issue-1?id=123387 (color comic series, issues 1-14)



I thought the first 2 issues by McGregor/Gulacy, and the 3rd issue by McGregor and Graham/Freeman beginning a new storyline, were all fantastic, both in writing and art.
To be honest, beyond that, I felt the story and art changed direction and become not as compelling.
Though there are also some nice backup stories by Sutton (issue 3), "The Incredible Seven" by B.C. Boyer (issues 4-6), Kent Williams (issues 7 -8, and many covers), Michael Bair (issues 9-10, a k a, Mike Hernandez), and Denys Cowan (issue 12)

But in the initial issues, I like the swashbuckling heroism and optimism of the character, in what is essentially set (issues 1 and 2) in all but name in the post-apocalyptic remains of Walt Disney World, with Sabre and his band of mercenary drifters and some innocent bystanders defying an authoritarian and corrupt police state that governs what's left of the world. With a lot of humorous ironies and twists thrown in, amid an intelligent and well-written story.

The series ran a total of 14 issues.
Issues 1 and 2 are a complete story.
Issues 3-9 complete a second storyline, with art by Billy Graham.
And issues 10-14 with art by Jose Ortiz, the third and final storyline.

Old Man Logan is a really good post apocalyptic Marvel story, marred only by the fact that bleak post apocalyptic marvel stories are a dime a dozen, and Marvel not knowing when to quit as they stretched out the Old Man Logan universe as far as it could go, until the character itself got folded into the 616 continuity.

I never heard of it till you mentioned it.
But yeah, looking it up, I can easily see Marvel turned it into a minor franchise :

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?q=old+man+logan&pubid=&PubRng=

I guess it starts with this 5-issue series in 2015:

OLD MAN LOGAN
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Old-Man-Logan-2015/Issue-1?id=18626


Followed by a 50-issue second series beginning in 2016 :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Old-Man-Logan-2016/Issue-1?id=18835

Plus a lot of other ANNUAL issues, one-shots and collected trades.
If Marvel did several TRUE BELIEVERS reprint issues, I guess they consider it a big deal in Marvel's continuity and history.
And that's not even including some other storylines you mention with "616", that I have no familiarity with.

Something to explore after the holiday.
I've been joking for years that you need a Phd. in Comic Book Continuity to read the new books, and this appears to be just the latest example.

Wolverine was part of the DAYS OF FUTURE PAST story in X-MEN 141-142 (mentioned earlier in the topic) , which is well received by many, including me.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Uncanny-X-Men-1963/Issue-141?id=22820

I guess we were lucky back then, that Marvel didn't think to maximize that storyline into a massive franchise, like they did with this OLD MAN LOGAN one.

It's not just a storyline. There was a period where the mainstream continuity Wolverine died, and he was replaced by Old Man Logan (in all the teams). It's poorly handled, too. Unlike his version in the miniseries, Old Man Logan in the mainstream 616 continuity is basically the same character, just with grey hair (grizzled, with a lot of emotional baggage and frequent problems with his age is not a defining trait, because normal Wolverine already has those qualities.)

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So... he became a cranky old Wolverine who needed to take his Midol?

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Man...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-616

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Universe

... as if the Marvel continuity were not already complicated enough.

It's gratifying how viscerally both editors Tom Brevoort and Joe Quesada thoroughly reject the "Earth 616" term.
As apparently do many others in the Marvel offices they refer to but don't name, as staff who agree with them and don't use the term.




I actually read these Dave Thorpe, Alan Moore and Alan Davis stories about 25 years ago, reprinted in the U.S. in a title called X-MEN ARCHIVES 1-7, and at the time didn't realize they had any significance at all, that apparently spawned the idea for this "Earth 616" thing.
The Thorpe, Moore and Davis stories were apparently given a greater significance retroactively by other writers and artists in later storylines.

all 7 issues at :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/X-Men-Archives-Featuring-Captain-Britain

They can reject it as much as they want, even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the videogames have started assigning each other numbers. DC's not doing so well either. I don't even know what their mainstream continuity designation is, but they have letters and numbers for each Earth.

Yeah, I think it's a case of Quesada, Brevoort and their editorial staff being the older generation (about the same age as me), and therefore resistant to the whole "Earth 616" thing.
Whereas the newer generation of Marvel editors, and readers, and Marvel movie fans, maybe were introduced to Marvel with the "616" thing, and so are not resistant to it.

If you grow up with dumb stuff, I guess it seems less dumb.
And that's no doubt true of a lot of the stuff I grew up with and love too.

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Another I enjoyed is the Atomic Knights, that ran in every 3rd issue from STRANGE ADVENTURES 117 to 160, from June 1960 -January 1964.
The entire series written by John Broome, with all art by Murphy Anderson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Knight#The_original_Atomic_Knights

117 “The Rise of the Atomic Knights” (16 pages), June 1960 ... (also r in issue 217, pages 1-8 of story, and 218, pages 9-16, April and June 1969)
120 “The Menace of the Water-Raider” (8 pages), Sept 1960
123 “The Cavemen of New York” (9 pages), Dec 1960 ............ ( r in 219, Aug 1969 )
126 “The Lost City of Los Angeles” (9 pages), March 1961 ...... ( r in 220, Oct 1969 )
129 “World Out of Time” (9 pages), June 1961 ..........................( r in 221, Dec 1969 )

132 “Thanksgiving Day--1990" (9 pages), Sept 1961 ................( r in 222, Feb 1970 )
135 “War In Washington” (9 pages), Jan 1962 ...........................( r in 223, April 1970 )
138 “The Attack of the Giant Dogs” (9 pages), Mar 1962 ...........( r in 224, June 1970 )
141 “Menace of the Metal-Looters” (9 pages), June 1962 .........( r in 225 , Aug 1970)
144 “When the Earth Blacked Out” (15 pages), Sept 1962 ........( r in 226, Oct 1970 )

147 “The King of New Orleans” (16 pages), Dec 1962 ...............( r in 227, Dec 1970 )
150 “The Plant That Hated Humans” (16 pages), March 1963....( r in 228, Feb 1971 )
153 “Danger In Detroit” (15 pages), June 1963 ..........................( r in 229, April 1971 )
156 “Threat of the Witch-Woman” (16 pages), Sept 1963 ...........( r in 230, June 1971 )
160 “Here Come the Wild Ones” (15 pages), Jan 1964 ..............( r in 231, Aug 1971 )

So 15 issues total, spanning 4 years. It was a delightfully upbeat and very Silver-Age-ish post-Apocalyptic vision. As in other post-nuclear-war stories of the 1950's and 1960s, whether in comics or movies or TV shows, I'm always struck by how polite everyone is, so well mannered, so clean cut, as they fight in the post-Apocalyptic ashes for the last can of beans. One thing that stuck out for me visually was their riding mutated giant dalmation dogs as horses. And also the notion of wearing medeival suits of armor from a museum, and holding rituals like King Arthur and his knights sitting at round table meetings, discussing how they would organize and resolve their survival issues.

I also like how they traveled each story to a different city almost every issue, so that whatever part of the country you lived in as a reader, you got visuals of the local region you were familiar with in the bombed-out post World War III future, as well as seeing the rest of the country.

Years later, right after the Neal Adams Deadman run ended (STRANGE ADVENTURES 205-216) in 1969, DC then made STRANGE ADVENTURES a reprint book for the remainder of its run in issues 217 - 244.
Reprinting one Adam Strange story per issue, and one Atomic Knights story per issue.

And it was with these issues that I first discovered and enjoyed both Adam Strange, and the Atomic Knights.
All but one of the Atomic Knights stories were reprinted, in order (217-231), with the single exception for some reason of issue 120 ( “Menace of the Water-Raider”").
And a thick slice of the more numerous Adam Strange stories were also reprinted.

Another thing I loved was the nuclear war that destroyed the world being well known to the characters as October 29 1986.
There were two guys working at DC in the 1980's and one of them was a huge enthusiast of the Atomic Knights, I think maybe Jack C. Harris and Cary Burkett. And in a DC editorial around 1987, that I haven't been able to find again, one of the 2 discussed how one day he got a phone call from the other, saying "Hey Jack, guess what? It's October 29 1986...." !!

When I first posted this, there were not scanned issues posted online to read.
But there are now :

https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Psychonauts/Issue-1?id=233242

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The links from 5 years ago are obsolete, so here it is updated with working links.

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Another brief series from Marvel's Epic Comics line that I recently re-read, THE LAST AMERICAN, a 4-issue series from 1990-1991,
by writers Alan Grant and John Wagner, with art by Mick McMahon :



It begins with an army Captain named Ulysses Pilgrim, who is awakened by service robots from cryogenic freezing, about 20 years after a nuclear war, and is apparently the only person in the U.S., or by all appearances the entire world, left alive after a nuclear war. And in flashbacks you see that he was specifically cryo-frozen to be awakened after 2 decades for the specific mission of looking for survivors, after the full effects of the nuclear war have played out (sifting through the ruins as "commander of the U.S. Deep Reserves") .

So Pilgrim travels across the terrain and rubble of the New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and Virginia region looking for signs of life and survivors.
And meanwhile he is coping with the loss of his remembered wife and child, presumed to be dead.

And in his mind in flashbacks and music and TV clips, and the programmed human-like comments of the service robots around him, while searching the ruins he re-lives the past in his mind, convincing himself that culture still exists. Part of the robots' programmed orders, it is learned, is to keep him content, and from going over the mental brink and committing suicide.

And after watching the "Duck and Cover" 1950's public service film of how to protect yourself from a nuclear explosion, among Pilgrim's many delusional fantasies, he imagines having conversations with the animated turtle in that film, kind of like a devil/angel on his shoulder, along with imagined conversations with LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and other dead presidents, and nuclear scientists like Einstein, who were responsible for creating the nuclear deterrent, the patriotic cold-war rhetoric, and ultimately the war, that he now lives in the bombed-out remains of.

He goes back and forth between near-suicidal depression, and an optimistic hip-ho-away-we-go optimism that they're just about to find survivors and bring back the world to the way it was.

An interesting and sometimes darkly humorous study of the effects of nuclear war, and of the fake optimism of nuclear survivability in the cold war era, that such a war could be winnable, and through one character, an introspection of coming to grips with that reality, of what aftermath of such a war would truly be like.

All 4 issues online at :

THE LAST AMERICAN
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Last-American/Issue-1?id=131434

SUPERMAN 295 story :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superman-1939/Issue-295?id=16127

When G-man first posted this way back in September 2012, we didn't have the luxury of an online library to pull up instantly and read a given issue in. But in the years since, we now do, and I finally got around to reading it.

I both did and didn't like it.

On the plus side, it does follow the basic story elements from KAMANDI 29, and develops them in a whimsical early/mid 1960's Silver Age DC sort of way(as Cary Bates and Elliot Maggin were good at re-creating in ACTION and SUPERMAN issues of that 1970's era) rather than a 1970's Kirby way.
Where TECHNICALLY issue 295 follows the KAMANDI 29 storyline, but does introduce a lot of playful new Silver Age-type twists, and all is not what it seems. Where a Green Lantern from the future drops in at the end to explain everything, and confesses his own role in the charade

But on the negative side, Kirby's story in KAMANDI 29 is far better told, and with far more striking visuals to carry it along from start to finish. It's really hard to compete with Kirby, especially when it deliberately takes the previous KAMANDI 29 storyline in a completely different direction.

While not credited with being in the same continuity as KAMANDI 29 and SUPERMAN 295, a later 1984 issue has a 4-page Frank Miller story in SUPERMAN 400, and also has several other future Superman stories in that issue, by Williamson, Kaluta, Rogers/Austin, Pini, Janson, and Steranko, that also play with the future legend of Superman.
But the Miller one most closely follows the costume and ambiguous element of possibly being the actual costume of Superman, or possibly just a stage costume, not that of the real Superman.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superman-1939/Issue-400?id=16245

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In the 1970's era, only Jim Aparo did a satisfying version of Kirby's characters in a non-Kirby story.

I'm thinking in particular of this story in BRAVE AND THE BOLD 120, where Batman is transported into the future (or one possible future) and has a shared adventure with Kamandi, in the remains of Mount Rushmore park in Souh Dakota.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-120?id=31220



There was a second BRAVE AND THE BOLD story in issue 157, Dec 1979, , that was the reverse, with Kamandi being transported back to our present, and having a shared adventure with Batman in Gotham City. I honestly didn't like his one nearly as much.
But the story in 120 was great, and had a very consistent feel to the Kirby KAMANDI run.

https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-157?id=31257

Aparo demonstrated a similar consistency witth other Kirby series, in other BRAVE AND THE BOLD issues
109 (THE DEMON) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-109?id=31209
112 (MISTER MIRACLE) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-112?id=31212
128 (MISTER MIRACLE) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-128?id=31228

And one last issue by Bob Haney, wih John Calnan/Bob McLeod art, that is more of a mixed bag.
137 (THE DEMON) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Brave-and-the-Bold-1955/Issue-137?id=31237


The O'Neil / Vosburg story in 1st ISSUE SPECIAL 13 was also a nice offering, consistent enough with Kirby to work.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/1st-Issue-Special/Issue-13?id=85359


I was not nearly as pleased with Conway and Newton's revival of NEW GODS in 12 -19 . I like Gerry Conway on his JLA run with Perez, and on other series. I like Don Newton on THE PHANTOM, BATMAN, Shazam in WORLD'S FINEST, and other series. But while interesting for a few issues, their work together on NEW GODS was inconsistent with the previous Kirby run and O'Neil/Vosburg's 1st ISSUE SPECIAL 13 issue, just completely different characters.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/New-Gods-1977/Issue-12?id=88514

Nor was the Englehart/Rogers run on MISTER MIRACLE 19-22 consistent with Kirby either.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Mister-Miracle-1971/Issue-19?id=47336

Nor was the Gerber/Golden run in MISTER MIRACLE 23-25. Both good in their own way, but not consistent with the Kirby run
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Mister-Miracle-1971/Issue-23?id=47344

Despite a number of these writers and artists otherwise being very talented and producing many of my favorites on other titles, their efforts on Kirby's characters came off way short of what Kirby himself did on these series.
Which is to say, Kirby is a very difficult act to follow.

Updated, with a new working link to the full story.

DRUUNA volume 3 : CREATURA
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Creatura/Full?id=166340 - 60 pages



The volumes in order are :

1. MORBUS GRAVIS (1985) 62 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Summer 1986 issue

2. MORBUS GRAVIS II (1987) 62 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Spring 1968 issue

3. CREATURA (1990) 61 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Nov 1992 issue

4. MANDRAGORE (1992) 49 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Sept 1995

5. CARNIVORA (1995) 58 pages
r in HEAVY METAL SPECIAL EDITION, Sep 1993

6. APHRODISIA (1997) 51 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Sept 1997

7. THE FORGOTTEN PLANET (2000) 62 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, May 2001

8. CLONE (2003) 60 pages
r in HEAVY METAL, Nov 2003

Also a slight correction. I previously said 8 volumes that are Druuna stories.
In addition there are 3 collected sketchbooks of Druuna ( not stories).

and ANIMA 1 and 2 (2016) (portfolio only? I only saw listings for the two portfolios. )


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Eleuteri_Serpieri