The Ottawa Comic Book Guy

Good day, we will now begin the story of one of the most underrated original members of the Avengers, due to make her movie debut (as a different secret identity of course, can't have anything too easy), the diminutive winged wonder known as the Wasp. She was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (also un-credited at the time, H.E.Huntley). Making her debut in the above-pictured Tales to Astonish #44 (June 1963), she was Janet van Dyne, socialite daughter to Vernon van Dyne, scientist (who still managed to own a mansion and a yacht; how were all scientists rich in comics?) and partner to Ant-Man, Henry Pym. We first see her in the prescene of her father who visits Dr. Pym as he was reflecting on the death of his wife and deciding he needs a crime fighting partner. Dr. Van Dyne is there to ask Dr.Pym for help on a project he was working on and Henry refuses, citing different fields. After leaving and trying his experiment alone a hos home, Dr. Van Dyne is killed by a creature he m

Research for the Wasp is taking longer than I though, as I am having a bit of trouble sorting through all the various incarnations of the Janet van Dyne character (Marvels various reboots over the last twenty years and various titles with different names are actually confusing me.) I will start with them very soon. The comic pictured above is the earliest book I remember reading. It probably wasn't, as I was only five at the time (and then, this b ook had een out for ten years.) This book was part of my uncle's collection of Silver Age DC. I knew about Superman, and I do remember being attracted to this book because of the cover of Superman (I didn't know it was Superboy at the time.) This issue, however opened my eye. Part of it was the Curt Swan art, part of it was the story (written by E. Nelson Bidwell), but two things stood out to me in this story. one was near the end, where the doctor removed his mask to show his nose was on his forehead, and the presence of a fl

Today is the first of a feature I call "Random Books My Son Picks" where I will do reviews of random books from my collection that my son picks out. Today's book is Adventures of Superman #623 (February 2004) "Bittersweet". Writer: Joe Casey Artist: Derec Aucoin Colourists: Tanya and Richard Horie The book is a collection of stories that Superman tells Lois, showcasing what he does all the time. (For those that didn't follow this series or this time period in Superman's live, he and Lois are married but they are currently in a separation period due to Lois' feelings that she has to share Supermen with the world, and she doesn't like it.) Superman had asked Lois to talk and they fly to various areas of the world. The first story is about how Superman saves Christmas, where as long time DC fans know, Santa Claus is a real person in the universe (with 67 appearances total as of the time of this writing, starting with 1940's Superman'

Today we shall finish our look at the the King of the "Sucky" Seas ( I mean...awesome) Aquaman! 2003 saw another series for Orim. This one had some serous surprises in store, like in issues 15 through 20, when the city of San Diego, California floods from a tidal wave and its' inhabitants killed or, mysteriously, suddenly able to breathe underwater after developing gills. (Turns out this was a plot by a man named Geist, to save humans from environmental dangers.) Aquaman becomes the ruler of the renamed Sub Diego. With issue 37, when the Spectre ends up ruining Sub Diego and other parts of Atlantis, Orim has decided he has had enough. The character disappears after the Infinite Crisis after becoming a vessel for something "strange, dark, and terrible", known as the Dweller in the Depths." With a title change to Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis starting with the one year later issue 40, the title of "Aquaman" goes to Arthur Joseph Curry, a man who

To recap, I have talking about Aquaman, who is a very misunderstood hero.  I hope you have been enjoying this story. I feel I should mention that Aquaman also appeared in several issues of World's Finest Comics as a backup feature while he began his first series. So let us pickup from before... After the Crisis, DC spent some time redefining its heroes and mythos. Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern all made major changes (Batman had minor changes, but his timeline was changed and Jason Todd's origin  and how they met became new). There were new heroes such as Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Aquaman was no different. Sporting a new look, and receiving updates to his origin and to the origins and story of Atlantis (for those interested in such things, we finally start getting explanations for all the different "Atlantises" and how they became to be), a four-issue mini series was printed beginning with the cover date of February 1986. Of note, Vulko

Hello, let's just do a quick review, shall we? When we left off last time, Aquaman was just getting his first series cancelled for the first time in 1971. His TV Cartoon was cancelled in 1970. Where was this character to go? Two answers. One a new TV show came along starting in 1973... (This show, of course is where people started making the joke that Aquaman sucks, from everything from Family Guy to The Big Bang Theory.. .) Aquaman's appearance in the Super-Friends was a bit of a surprise to most, as Green Lantern, Flash and even Green Arrow were better known at the time than Aquaman. He ended up being a member for almost every episode of the series, in all of it's incarnations. In comic books, he was returned to the anthology series that before he had his longest run in with issue 441 (after a brief run from 433-435). He managed to stay here until issue 452 as the lead feature in the magazine. He disappeared for a few issues when his original magazine retur

The Title of the post may be a little misleading or not. In tribute to the current scheduled Guest of Honour for the 2018 edition of Ottawa Comiccon ( http://www.ottawacomiccon.com/ ), I will be writing today about the man that 4 out of 5 dentists think suck...the undersea wonder known as Aquaman. Despite having Dr, Fate on the cover, the above issue (More Fun Comics 73, Nov. 1941) had two surprising long-lived super-hero debuts inside. The first, currently having a renaissance due to the fact that a very successful TV show is on giving the character some much deserved exposure, was Green Arrow. The second, is our subject; he began as the last feature in an eight-page story titled "The Submarine Strikes." In this story we get a small bit of origin, where the character mentions that his father is a famous oceanographer that gave hos son powers to breathe and survive underwater. Using is power to fight evil, his first nemesis are  the Nazis (I think this was a trope in all

Welcome to my new comic book blog, where I will be writing about various comic books (mostly DC as I am a Super-Family fanatic) and other related topics, as well as the local comic book scene as I see it for the Ottawa/Gatineau area. I begin by posting one of my favourite covers (Adventure Comics v1 424). This was Supergirl's last appearance in Adventure Comics as a solo feature. A little about me. I have been collecting comic books on and off since the late 1970s. My personal collection includes at least one copy of every solo Supergirl appearance since Adventure 381, her first solo appearance. I also have an entire run of Post-Crisis Action Comics (including the ill-fated Action Comics Weekly run of 601-642). My other interests are Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Flash as well as the All-Star Squadron and the Justice Society. Non-DC interests are Star Wars, Buffy, Alpha Flight, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four,  Thor, Iron Man and the Avengers, as well as Disney Com