Comic Book Mixtape #2, November 2023 (ft: Orson Welles, Godzilla, The Cull, King Kong, Elvira & Darkwing Duck)



It's been several months since this last happened, but I've been busy reading comic books.  One of the obstacles I faced in doing this is starting at the beginning of a series and then finding a way to keep this going while changing up titles within.   As an example, this whole #2 could've just been the second issues of all the titles from #1.  

This has taken some planning, some posting out of order of reading and other fine tuning, but I've got it planned out until at least CBMT #6 and then once that is up we'll take it from there.  I also wonder if anyone is even reading this.


Orson Welles: Warrior of the Worlds #1 (Milton Lawson / Erik Whalen) (Scout Comics)

I've always been a fan of that which combines fact with fiction.   Orson Welles: Warrior of the Worlds is an interesting title because it involves aliens, time travel and other mysteries but it is all set around the very real character of Orson Welles.   While I know this to be fiction, I do think having Orson Welles as an actual person (living at the time this takes place) can help blur that line between reality and the story.

Aside from the aspects of what events really happened and which ones didn't, there also comes this idea that Orson Welles was the one who convinced people an actual alien invasion was happening so everything in this story feels like it's in his wheelhouse.   It's not like we're taking a move director and suddenly turning them into a secret spy or super soldier and it just doesn't seem plausible.   Everything here lines up and that just makes this that much more brilliant.  


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Godzilla: War For Humanity #1 (Andrew MacLean / Jake Smith) (IDW)

I'm a sucker for anything that involves Godzilla and so this was an easy pick up for me.   This issue starts with a story where a child is in the presence of Godzilla, but rather than feeling the wrath as everyone else does, Godzilla lets this child live.   

The child will grow up to become someone obsessed with studying Godzilla and just trying to see a human side to the monster, where maybe even Godzilla can be trained to help them and protect their city rather than be the monster he is mostly known as.   I'm partly waiting to see if this all works or if the other shoe drops and Godzilla burns it all down.

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The Cull #1 (Kelly Thompson / Mattia De Iulis) (Image)

Visually, this comic book really appealed to me.  I bought it based a lot upon how the artwork looked.   Then, I was immediately drawn into the story.   A group of kids goes out one night to explore a cave and within the water they get transported to a place unlike any other place out there.

I really like this being set up as the first issue because I have no idea where it's going to go.   There are theories that can be explored, but overall, thinking of like The Goonies and Stranger Things, you just imagine that The Cull will lead to something different and waiting for that pay off is keeping me tuned in here.

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Elvira in Monsterland #1 (David Avallone / Kewber Baal) (Dynamite)

Elvira has gone into the Monsterverse!   A magic remote control enables Elvira to go into movies and she must do exactly that when she finds out that the real Dracula is going into movies and kidnapping all of the movie-based vampires.   So why is this happening?  We don't know.  But the idea of Vlad The Impaler creating an army of vampires is intriguing.

At one point, Elvira finds herself at Sesame Street and The Count is left behind because Vlad decides he is not worth it.  Maybe it is my love of the Muppets but I really like Elvira as a puppet and wonder if anything exists similarly in reality.   This issue ends with us leading into a similar adventure only with Frankenstein's Monster this time in place of Dracula!  I'm not sure where this is going, but I'm excited to find out.

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Darkwing Duck #2 (Amanda Deibert / Carlo Lauro) (Dynamite)

Darkwing Duck is back for his second issue and he's... not quite back.  So this starts with a day at the toy store, which turns into the toys coming to life and trying to fight Darkwing Duck with the help of Quackerjack.   Darkwing Duck comes to the conclusion at the end that he doesn't want to put his daughter in danger any more, so he decides to retire as a super hero and just be a dad.  

Launchpad peaces out and this issue ends making it seem like it's all over, but they just brought this series back and now, in the second issue, we're expected to believe it's over?  Maybe wait until a little bit later when it seems like this run might really end.  But I know this series goes on, I have the issues to prove it, and so reading them to find out why DW comes out of retirement is the next step. 

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King Kong: The Great War #1 (Alex Cox / Tommaso Bianchi) (Dynamite)

People find themselves on Kong Island but don't know it's Kong Island.  They climb and climb up into a cave, but they think that they can rest there and be safe.   Little do they know it's like they just set up camp inside of King Kong's food bowl.

I realize this time around I'm reading King Kong and Godzilla stories and I do enjoy that.  I like that so many of these characters who I've loved in movies have crossed over into comic books and stayed there.   I'm not sure what the future holds for this title, how they'll build off of the survival of these people on Kong Island, but I look forward to it!

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