Inside that comic book grab bag Part 1

I recently shared the results of a $6 gamble I took at Ollie's, a purchase of 10 comics books in a "grab bag" package that revealed only two of the titles. Now that I am actually reading the issues, I want to update you and report on how the bag is turning out.

We are off to a bad start.

I'm most excited about the 1982 Superman comic, but I was most curious about The Twilight Zone, written by Superstar Fan Favorite J. Michael Straczynski (he still has that designation? Am I years behind?) and art-ed by Guiu Villanova (no relation to Villanova University). This book fell victim to my own expecations, and I wound up getting a little cranky about it.

So the fault is my own uninformed assumptions, right? No, of course not. It's the book itself.

I picked out the grab bag I did partly because I thought a Zone comic would be cool. I assumed it would be a one-in-done story. I mean, that's what the source material was! It got in and out of there in 25 minutes. Yes, it did a season of hour-long episodes, but I think most would agree that wasn't the Zone at its best; in fact, it's one of those rare series that isn't complete  on Netflix. Ted Sarandos or some big shot there looked at it and thought, "Nah, you can keep that fourth season. We're good with the others."

Yet Twilight Zone #4 (2014) from Dynamite is the end of a multi-part arc. I'm not even sure it is the end; the final pages indicate something else is going on, and a blurb says "Next Month: Episode Two, REWIND."

What's here is competent, and I got some of the gist of it, but I was quite disappointed. And while I didn't necessarily expect to see Rod Serling in the comic itself, his presence sure would have helped.

Plus, as I mentioned in my original post, 21 pages for 3.99? Boy, am I glad this is but one title in a grab bag.

Dead Letters #2 (Boom!, 2014) is also part of an ongoing arc, but that doesn't surprise me. Let's face it, I think we just have to assume any single comic book issue these days is part of some trade-paperback-ready arc. That is why I was hesitant about buying the grab bag and why I wouldn't have bothered had I not known that at least the older Supes book was there. It's also why I stopped buying comic books years ago.

I'm just not the target audience for Chris Visions' art style, and Christopher Sebela's story seems ambitious--a lot of metaphysical/afterlife/mythology stuff--but I just couldn't get into this. I will say that the story seems to spend a lot of time setting up ground rules for this universe, which is good for someone who missed #1, I presume, but leaves you thinking, man, they are sure spending a lot of time setting up ground rules for this universe. Dead Letters #2 is but one small part of what appears to be a dense narrative. So again, I don't think I really got my 60 cents' worth from it.

I tell you what does look cool, though: This Avengers (the TV show, that is) book that a house ad touts near the end. I wish that had been in this grab bag!

True believers, I have a feeling I am going to come back to this theme again as I continue reading the grab bag haul. I will try my best to avoid repeating myself too many times. I will try my best to avoid repeating myself too many times.

So far, I really hope that Superman comic turns out to be awesome.