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jonh's review
3.0
The Short of It: A mixed bag, wherein the good is REALLY good and the bad is just so-so.
I reread this collection every now and again, and always for the same artists: Jason and Peter Bagge. As a matter of fact, they are the reason why I heard of Strange Tales in the first place. I was idly searching my library's card catalog, trying to find books of theirs I'd yet to read, and I found this. Not normally a Marvel comic reader, I decided to check it out anyway.
Strange Tales is a bevvy of spoofs, parodies and satires (whatever differences those terms entail) of Marvel superheroes, ranging from the gentle nudge "isn't it cute when superheroes do normal people things" to full-blown deconstructions of the warped psyches of heroes and their villainous counterparts.
Typically, I'm drawn to the latter type, and was thus taken with both Jason's and Bagge's savaging of Spider-Man. But so, too, did I like some of the more absurd take-downs in this collection, such as the work contributed by Tony Millionaire and Michael Kupperman.
Honestly, a lot of my enjoyment from this read came from the comics whose authors I already knew, explicitly or tangentially. Example: I only knew Jhonen Vasquez through Invader Zim, but I enjoyed his addition to Strange Tales quite thoroughly. And though Johnny Ryan's work has a tendency of making me a little ill, I begrudgingly liked his juvenile panels, as well.
Those were the highlights for me, at least. The benefit of an anthology such as this is that different readers will like different things, AND that this is not a collection merely for fans of Marvel or fans of underground/alternative graphic novelists. I, personally, did not like some the "cuter" strips, and there were a few splash panel pages that were just downright baffling. But overall, I like it.
Strange Tales is a fun little read to bide the time between Marvel's inevitable cinematic sequels. Check it out!
I reread this collection every now and again, and always for the same artists: Jason and Peter Bagge. As a matter of fact, they are the reason why I heard of Strange Tales in the first place. I was idly searching my library's card catalog, trying to find books of theirs I'd yet to read, and I found this. Not normally a Marvel comic reader, I decided to check it out anyway.
Strange Tales is a bevvy of spoofs, parodies and satires (whatever differences those terms entail) of Marvel superheroes, ranging from the gentle nudge "isn't it cute when superheroes do normal people things" to full-blown deconstructions of the warped psyches of heroes and their villainous counterparts.
Typically, I'm drawn to the latter type, and was thus taken with both Jason's and Bagge's savaging of Spider-Man. But so, too, did I like some of the more absurd take-downs in this collection, such as the work contributed by Tony Millionaire and Michael Kupperman.
Honestly, a lot of my enjoyment from this read came from the comics whose authors I already knew, explicitly or tangentially. Example: I only knew Jhonen Vasquez through Invader Zim, but I enjoyed his addition to Strange Tales quite thoroughly. And though Johnny Ryan's work has a tendency of making me a little ill, I begrudgingly liked his juvenile panels, as well.
Those were the highlights for me, at least. The benefit of an anthology such as this is that different readers will like different things, AND that this is not a collection merely for fans of Marvel or fans of underground/alternative graphic novelists. I, personally, did not like some the "cuter" strips, and there were a few splash panel pages that were just downright baffling. But overall, I like it.
Strange Tales is a fun little read to bide the time between Marvel's inevitable cinematic sequels. Check it out!
richard's review
Indie comics folks doing superhero comics that are often worse than regular superhero comics. There are a few gems, like Dash Shaw's Dr. Strange.
alenka's review
3.0
Think comix meets mainstream marvel! It's a collection of goofy superhero stories, and it's pretty hit or miss. The highlight for me was Nicolas Gurewitch's comics. A bigger marvel fan would probably enjoy it more.
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