Comic Book Review: LOBO # 55 (September, 1998).
As we used to say in the old APA and Fanzine days…
THE ISSUE AT HAND IS: LOBO # 55 (Cover Date: September, 1998)
Published by DC Comics.
Bonus Summary Pun: "Double or Mutton"!
Let’s begin with an abbreviated version of my “stock introduction” to Lobo, for the few who may be unfamiliar with him:
Lobo is the most feared
bounty hunter in all of Space. Armed with a massive hook and chain, and riding
a souped-up “space bike”, he is the scourge of wanted men (or beasts) throughout the cosmos. He is the self-proclaimed “Main Man”!
He’s even given Superman his share
of trouble. And, as Lobo told us in his
animated debut: “I can do trouble!”
With a cursory resemblance to the members of
the rock band KISS and the fashion sense of the WWE, he possesses the requisite
measure of strength and invulnerability, is ruthless in the pursuit of his
quarry or his goals, yet lives by an unusually strong, but quirky, “code of
honor”.
…And, no one “frags a
bastich” quite like Lobo!
Now, on with the fraggin’
show!
“What I Did on My
Holiday”. 22 pages.
Click to enlarge on all comic pages!
On some far-off world, a class of alien high school students has just returned from their summer vacation. Note the student population:
A “Charlie Brown
Shirt-Wearer” is cut off at the extreme left.
Middle / right is a “Betty Boop-like kid” and to the far upper right is
a “Bazooka Joe-kinda kid” sans eye patch.
But our main focus, sitting right up front as you’d expect him to, is “Cecil B. Geecky”, looking for all the world like a purple alien version of “Cleveland Brown, Jr.”, from the THE CLEVELAND SHOW. This is all the more odd, because FAMILY GUY had not yet made its debut. Sometimes, coincidences just happen!
Cecil tells the story of his
purple alien family’s vacation trip to “…The exciting new theme park --Sheepworld”,
where loose sheep abound, and all the attractions are based on (You guessed it!) sheep, including the park’s main draw; “The
Hall of Sheep Fame”!
How did they ever fail to put
a smaller sign under “Hall of Sheep Fame” that says “Fame is Bleating”?!
Oh, well… I didn’t write (or dialogue) it, though I’d LOVE a shot at LOBO someday. It’s the only DC comic I feel I could really do well with! But, I digress…
Meanwhile, Lobo, partnered with an attractive female bounty hunter, is on the trail of the four members of “The Shapeshifter Gang”. The gang has eluded their pursuers, and fled to (You guessed it, again!) Sheepworld.
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| "The Shapeshifter Gang" -- Looks like The Ghostly Trio, Plus One! |
As expected, Lobo frags a
number of sheep while trying to “out” the shapeshifters, which he eventually
does, but not without raining much carnage upon the park and its visitors,
leaving young Cecil B. Geecky with one heck of a vacation story to tell his class!
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| A tale to tell the class! |
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| Lobo sez: "NO SPOILERS, ya Bastich! |
Ah, but one thing we DO in these reviews, is break things
into CONS and PROS.
The CONS:
The Story Title: Ever since my brief turn at professionally scripting Disney comic books, I can’t help but look at certain things in comics and imagine how *I’d* do ‘em! One of my favorite things to do was to create TITLES for the stories I scripted – and, instead of the Way-Too-Generic-for-LOBO “What I Did on My Holiday”, I’d have called this one: “Baa-Baa Frag Sheep!”
…And I still like “Fame is
Bleating”, too! So sue (or frag)
me!
Yep! It’s all of the classic DC character NAMES, with new meaningless one-shot characters created around them. “Superman”, “The Batman”, “Wonder Woman”, etc. Unfortunately, in the nineties and if they were from DC, I bought ‘em all… when there were some things I shoulda skipped.
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| No 'Bo! Leave the REAL Superman alone! |
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| Go after this POSER, instead! |
It’s LOBO: Lobo might have been my most favorite DC
title of the nineties – and, given DC’s great quality with the Superman and
Batman lines of the time, that’s really saying something! Lobo was FUNNY (albeit in a violent, sometimes
sick sorta way) – and “FUNNY” is something that is missing from today’s DC
Comics, and comic books in general.
It’s LOBO written by Alan Grant: Alan Grant came out of the wonderful British comics publication 2000 AD, where he wrote the humorous-but-violent feature JUDGE DREDD, first partnered with DREDD’s regular writer John Wagner and then on his own.
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| Detective Comics # 604 written by Alan Grant |
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| LOBO # 25 written by Alan Grant |
It’s DC Comics, of the Nineties: In the nineties, as opposed to today, DC Comics could do no wrong. (Okay, maybe not useless gimmicks like “Tangent” – but MOSTLY “no wrong”!) I’d extend this streak back into the eighties. Even their seventies comics were “okay”, if less distinguished, but that was a lesser period for most publishers.
Never mind DC’s landmark accomplishments of the Silver Age, which pretty much BECAME the cornerstone for mainstream comic books ever since.
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| DC Comics Silver Age Logo. |
Such a pity, DC lost its way (and lost ME) in the 21st Century. With the departure of President and Editor-in-Chief Jenette Khan and Executive VP and Publisher Paul Levitz, DC Comics was never the same. But, they sure were great BACK THEN, and for most of their long and illustrious history!
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| DC Comics Logo - when they were best! |
Comics DC Wants Us to Buy (Also Advertised in This Issue): “DC One Million”: “Witness the ultimate vision of the DC Universe. From the minds of Grant Morrison and Val Semeiks.”
Unlike “Tangent”, this actually
WAS worth buying! Imagine if all
then-present DC Comics series reached their “One Millionth Issue” – in the same
month (!), and all in one good interconnecting
story set in the far future of the DC Universe!
Um, we’ll just ignore the fact that ACTION and DETECTIVE COMICS would reach that impossible milestone well over a half-century before LOBO would – and just enjoy the story. Grant Morrison was DC’s most innovative writer of the decade, and virtually anything he touched turned to gold. “DC One Million” was no exception.
Um, we’ll just ignore the fact that ACTION and DETECTIVE COMICS would reach that impossible milestone well over a half-century before LOBO would – and just enjoy the story. Grant Morrison was DC’s most innovative writer of the decade, and virtually anything he touched turned to gold. “DC One Million” was no exception.
Oh, and
with DC restarting all their titles in 2011, as part of their “New 52” stunt, I
suppose the timetable for “One-Millionth-numbered” DC titles has been
pushed-back further than ever! Though it
DOES markedly increase the possibility of the titles reaching “Issue Number One
Million” all at the SAME TIME, so maybe Grant Morrison was more prophetic than I ever
imagined!
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| Maybe they REALLY DID come out on the same day, after all! |
Bonus Bottom-Tier Comic Strip: Later in its run, LOBO developed yet another stylistic quirk that was never seen in another comic book title – a “Bonus Bottom-Tier Comic Strip”. Like the gag credits, the subject matter of the strip, running at the bottom of various story pages, hooked into an aspect of the subject of our story. Here, we had examples of taken from the aforementioned “Hall of Sheep Fame”, strewn across the lower tier of several story pages. Here’s an example or two…
LOBO had a rather unique
letter column, in that it was conducted by Lobo himself. You addressed Lobo and, in his inimitable
way, he would wise-off back at you. I
was once a regular in the LOBO Letter Column and at least one of those
exchanges (in response to a particular “Bonus
Bottom-Tier Comic Strip”) is worthy of a Blog post of its own. I’ll put it up someday.
Oddly, the only other two comic book letter
columns that were conducted by their “host characters” (of which I am aware) were DC’s GUY GARDNER, and (believe it or not)
Disney Comics’ GOOFY ADVENTURES. So,
yes… Over the years I’ve exchanged written words with Lobo, Guy Gardner, and
Goofy! …Funny, how they never leave comments on
my Blog.
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| Delivering letters to LOBO? |
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| They NEVER CALL. They NEVER WRITE... or COMMENT! |
The Word “Bastich”: A sort of pseudo-curse word, which sounds
like a more well-known actual one, was Lobo’s term for anyone he didn’t
like. “Bastich”, along with “frag”,
became catchphrases (okay, more catch-WORDS, than “phrases”) for Lobo to the point
where their use became almost smile-inducing to Lobo’s readers. Indeed, in Lobo’s letter columns, it was somewhat
of an honor to be called a “Bastich”.
OVERALL:
Lobo, as a character, and as a comic book series, is not for
everyone. No one will ever confuse LOBO
with (oh, say…)
“My Little Pony: Friendship
is Magic” – though “Frag-ship is Magic” does have some potential! Not to mention “The Mane Man!” (I’ve got one very close friend out there
whom I know will appreciate this pony bit! Apologies to the rest of you!) 
LOBO # 55 is a “middling”
issue, as they go, and close to the (alas) end of the run of 66 issues. But it is great fun.
Rapid-Fire Sheep Pun Closing Alert: This is no “sheep” trick. You “wool” trust me on this, won’t “ewe”? For the “shear” delight of it all, grab a copy of LOBO # 55 before somebody “bleats” you to it – and all you can say is “Baaa! Humbug!”
Rapid-Fire Sheep Pun Closing Alert: This is no “sheep” trick. You “wool” trust me on this, won’t “ewe”? For the “shear” delight of it all, grab a copy of LOBO # 55 before somebody “bleats” you to it – and all you can say is “Baaa! Humbug!”
