Daddy Issues and Tampering with Time

Action Comics #962, 984, 989, 991-997 (October 2016 to April 2018)

#962: "Path of Doom: Conclusion" Writer: Dan Jurgens, Penciller: Stephen Segovia, Inker: Art Thibert, Letterer: Rob Leigh, Colorist: Ulises Arreola.

Lois and her son Jon are safely sequestered on the Watchtower with Wonder Woman while Superman struggles to contain Doomsday. During the battle, Superman lures Doomsday to a fortress similar to the Kryptonian one, but is hard pressed to defeat his foe until Wonder Woman intervenes. Together, they succeed in sending Doomsday to the Phantom Zone.

Part of Rebirth, this comic includes multiple supermen: Clark Kent out of costume, the Superman with Lois and their son Jon, and a super Lex Luthor. There's also a cloaked scythe-wielding stranger who somehow "intercepted the projection" and captured Doomsday en route to the Phantom Zone.

The issue includes ads for Snickers (Woman Woman is as cranky as Doomsday when she gets hungry!), Midtown Comics, DCBS, action figures, and NC Comicon. There are also several house ads: Doom Patrol, Shade the Changing Girl, Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye, Mother Panic, Blue Beetle, Teen Titans, and Cyborg, as well as a checklist of comics on sale Sept. 7-28, 2016.

Cataloging Comics Ephemera

Minis, Digests, Etc. #1-8 (Tanreth Press, April 2016 to December 2017, $4)
This infrequently but consistently published "iterative reference guide" edited and published by Scott Davis picks up where The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide and Fogel's Underground Price & Grading Guide leave off, bringing those two resources closer to review zines such as D. Blake Werts's Copy This! to catalog and document mini-comics and other comics ephemera. Each 32-page edition, limited to a first print run of 25, indexes mini-comics, digest-sized comics, and comics of other shapes and sizes—including material from the United Fanzine Organization and Small Press Syndicate. The first eight issues go up through D, to Brad Foster's The Dirty Old Lady Digest, which ran five issues between 1986 and 1993.



This zine might not be of interest to everybody—but it is an amazing and impressive project. If you've read mini-comics over the years, it'll be a fun read. And it's a crucial tool for zine and comics librarians, archivists, collectors, and scholars. Davis indexes titles, issue numbers, dates, contributors, price, and additional information for each item. The neatest part of the index zine, however, might be the reduced cover art at the foot of many pages. Just flipping through a few issues, some of the cover art highlights include Adventures of A-Girl, Amazing Cynicalman, Andy Nukes's BLDGS., Jeff Zenick's Destined, Max Traffic's Diary of Neo-Psychedelic Man, and others.



This zine is a labor of love that is much appreciated. I look forward to future issues!

Availability: Write Scott Davis at 114 Lesnyk Road, Goffstown, NH 03045, or email him. You can also order it from the Poopsheet Foundation.

A Wonderful Return

Love and Rockets Vol. 4 #1-3 (Fantagraphics, October 2016-July 2017, $4.99)
There have been three previous volumes of Love and Rockets. The original series began in 1982 and ran for 50 issues. The second volume included 20 issues over six years, and for the last eight years, there's been an annual graphic novel. This new series returns to the original magazine format and feels like reading a long-lost friend.

Jaime Hernandez's "I Come from Above to Avoid a Double Chin" (six pages) jumps right back in with Maggie and Hopey at a 40 Thieves/Ape Sex show. His two-page "Zine Fest" is a wonderful, brief look at tabling at a small zine show.



Gilbert contributes a 16-page Fritz story focusing on Rosalba "Fritz" Martinez, an actress who's inspired no fewer than five lookalikes who work in pornography. The story shimmies between the past and the present, which gets a little confusing. ("What does it mean when we're surrounded by thicker lines?" "Indicates flashback.")

Jaime also offers an eight-page science-fiction superhero story in which Anima and Lumina meet Katak. The issue ends with a letter column. What a wonderful return for the comic. It's nice to see some old friends again, and there's enough new—and new potential—here that Love and Rockets is sure to be a welcome ongoing read.

Simple Stories About Bee Stings

King-Cat Comix and Stories #76 (Spit and a Half, June 2016, $5)
This minicomic by John Porcellino is one of my favorite self-published comics of all time. His work is simple, earthy, loving, and gently important. He reminds me to slow down, live life, and to pay attention to the details and little things that can often go unnoticed. Things like animals, bodies of water, and the wind.



Porcellino now lives in northern Illinois not far from where I grew up in southern Wisconsin. This issue made me miss my former home: its geology, geography, flora, and fauna; and my family still there. The opening text piece "Sinnissippi Days" tells about a spring walk to where the Rock River meets the Pecatonica and the birds seen along the way, including an egret and a cormorant.

Comics, simply drawn, address a project started while waiting for car repairs, living in an unheated apartment, and signs of fall and winter. Porcellino also includes a top 40 (45!) featuring books, records, and experiences; and a nine-page letter column that includes missives from minicomic long-timers Jeff Zenick, Ariel Bordeaux, Jenny Zervakis, and Buzz Buzzizyk.

If you've never read King-Cat, give it a chance. This is a comic series for the ages.