Book Review: Lobster Johnson Vol. 6 by M. Mignola et al.

Lobster Johnson Volume 6: A Chain Forged in Life stories by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi with art by Troy Nixey, Peter Snejbjerg, Toni Fejzula, Stephen Gree, and Ben Stenbeck

Five one-shot stories in one volume!

A Chain Forged in Life--An inebriated donation-collecting Santa is found in a snowy rural area of New Jersey. The cops that find him get quite a story. The sodden Santa was collecting toy gifts from patrons at one of New York City's department stories. His shift ended when the store closed, which is also the time a trio of robbers burst out with the Christmas Eve sales money. Lobster Johnson appears out of nowhere and tries to stop the thieves. They kidnap the Santa and hightail it to Jersey with the loot and the hostage. Even with all that effort, the Lobster is still after them. The story is exciting and focused on the Santa character (he's narrating, so it makes sense). It follows in the Christmas-action-story tradition of Die Hard and works quite well.

The Forgotten Man--Some pretty massive plot holes ruin an otherwise interesting story of homeless people disappearing in 1935 New York City. The Lobster is drawn in when no one else (the cops or the papers) will help the indigent who face danger from the sewers and a fake preacher. The action is also standard and less interesting than it could be.

The Glass Mantis--The cops and the Lobster are tipped off about a hit happening at an art museum. Someone is supposed to kill a visiting Turkish artist who has made many beautiful glass sculptures for a visiting exhibit. The best is a glass mantis; a lot of other ones are much lesser works. The assassin turns out to be a Turkish woman who shouts "Imposter!" as she shoots. The cops have dressed up one of their own as the artist, but wearing a bulletproof vest and beard keeps him alive. The woman surrenders and escapes from the cops. When the Lobster catches up with her, she tells the story of what's really going on. The mystery of the story works really well along with the action. This is my favorite in this collection.

Garden of Bones--Lobster Johnson investigates a graveyard (the titular garden of bones) with his assistant Harry, hunting down a cop-killer who has an M.O. very similar to mob enforcer Big Benny Jeunot. The only problem is Benny is supposed to be six feet under and voodoo magic doesn't work on consecrated ground. They do have a run-in with Benny, leading to a small cult of Fimbakonu, which is not voodoo. The cult follows all the voodoo rules, leading Harry to save the day at the end. It's a fun story but pretty short.

Mangekyo--The Lobster and his crew stop a prison break set up for a German spy. A bunch of monkeys in kabuki masks tried to dynamite the prison wall. The crew follows the monkeys back into the forest where they confront the Crimson Lotus, a Japanese magic-weaving woman who lays traps for them, some psychological or mystical. The story is a lot of fun.

Recommended.

Book Review: Lobster Johnson Vol. 5 by M. Mignola et al.

Lobster Johnson Volume 5: Metal Monsters of Midtown and The Pirate's Ghost written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, art by Tonci Zonjic and Dave Stewart

In the first half of this book, Lobster Johnson is up against the titular "Metal Monsters of Midtown." Three robots attack a bank but don't steal anything. The police can't even put a dent in them; the Lobster is only slightly more successful with a grenade launcher. His real success comes as he and his associates investigate three missing Zinco Corp. employees. All three were working in Jersey on armored battle suits but they have not been to work in a while. The main engineer's wife provides enough information to turn the tide of battle. The story has the classic pulp adventure feel, like the old 1930s and 1940s serial adventures at the movies.

The second half is "The Pirate's Ghost." Crime boss Wald wants the Lobster dead and has hired the criminal schemer Isog, a Peter-Lorre-style henchman if ever there was one. Isog has an elaborate plan to lure the Lobster out of the city by kidnapping Cindy, a report who is the girlfriend of Harry, one of the Lobster's henchmen. Things are moving along but Wald is going crazy, seeing a pirate compadre (i.e. the titular ghost) who gives him all sorts of bad advice. The story drifts around a bit in an unsatisfying way. The real heart of story is the relationship between Harry and the reporter. She has an offer to move to Chicago to advance her career but Harry feels obligated to stay in New York to help the Lobster. 

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Dark Horse Freebies

Dark Horse Comics has made a bunch of comics free to read during the pandemic lockdowns (it's still the spring/summer 2020 lockdown as I write). As with most mixed sets, it's a mixed bag. And since it's now late in the lockdown, fewer titles are available.

Lobster Johnson: Garden of Bones story by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, art by Stephen Green, and Geof Shaw, and colors by Dave Stewart

1930s pulp hero Lobster Johnson investigates a graveyard (the titular garden of bones) with his assistant Harry, hunting down a cop-killer who has an M.O. very similar to mob enforcer Big Benny Jeunot. The only problem is Benny is supposed to be six feet under and voodoo magic doesn't work on consecrated ground. They do have a run-in with Benny, leading to a small cult of Fimbakonu, which is not voodoo. The cult follows all the voodoo rules, leading Harry to save the day at the end. It's a fun story but pretty short. It's no longer available for free--sorry for the delay!

The Witcher Sampler by a large variety of artists

The Witcher started out in written form but exploded in popularity thanks to the video games and last year's Netflix television series. This collection of stories has Geralt of Rivia meeting various people. One man is all alone, except for his dead wife. The Witcher stays with him for a few days, developing a poignant connection that might save the man from more than supernatural problems. The second story is frustratingly incomplete (perhaps a marketing tool) where Geralt winds up on a ship bound for a mysterious rescue. The story ends as they board the ship. The final section has excerpts from "The World of the Witcher," a sort of encyclopedia of Witcher facts and figures.

I enjoyed the humor and action, though not enough to seek out the comics. Maybe if the library has them...

Choke Gasp! A Selection of Handpicked EC Comics Stories by many artists

EC Comics specialized in horror and the macabre. The TV show Tales from the Crypt was based on the EC comic of the same name. These stories include the tale of a former concentration camp commander who fled to America but whose past finally catches up with him (and rightly so). The next tale is of a butcher during World War II who started selling the good meat on the black market and, at first, sold horse meat to the regular customers. He rather quickly worked his way down the quality scale in order to make a buck. His substitutions finally catch up with him (and rightly so). The third story is about a WWII colonel whose son is a lieutenant under his command. Worse, the son is a coward. The colonel sends his son on a mission with some horrible results. The final tale is a blatant commentary on the stupidity and injustice of racism set in the far future on a planet where gold robots and blue robots live in different parts of town. The story was surprisingly relevant to today.

I found this interesting but not enough to make me search out other EC Comics.

Book Review: Lobster Johnson Vol. 2: The Burning Hand

Lobster Johnson Volume 2: The Burning Hand by Mike Mignola et al.

Lobster Johnson is a fine example of the pulp magazine hero from the 1930s and 1940s. He's a figure of darkness. His back story is unclear. He wears the same outfit all the time. He has a easily identified signature--a dark blue claw on his leather coat and a burning claw mark on the foreheads of his slain enemies. So a reader would think that the title refers to his hand, which it probably does. But it also refers to something else.

Lobster Johnson lives in New York City and, in this story, deals with lawless prohibition gangsters. One group has been running around pretending to be ghostly Indians and terrorizing people. Johnson breaks up one mugging, leaving his trademark on the dressed-up gansters' foreheads. Enter the police detective and the girl reporter (also staples of the pulp genre) who are both investigating what happened. She's more effective at finding out what happened, naturally landing her in trouble.

The head gangster, Wald, is in trouble too. Too many gangland slayings and the end of prohibition looming, he needs a big investment that will pay off quickly so he can retire to Connecticut (or was it Long Island?). The "ghost Indians" are driving down prices on the East Side so he can buy up all the real estate and sell it to the city government for a big profit when the East Side Highway is built. But Lobster Johnson has been a problem. A crime associate brings in some help from Europe, someone else with a burning hand and a regular outfit.

The story has a nice pulp-noir flavor to it. All the right elements are in place. Johnson is a good tough guy but a little bit too generic. I wish he had a little more personality. The other characters are well done. The art is great, capturing the gritty New York underside of the 1930s well. The story moves at a nice pace. I enjoyed reading this book.