All Time Comics

 (Fantagraphics/Floating World, 2017-2019) I love these comic books, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I feel good about that. These works are in part a sincere homage to the era of comics that I was awash in during my horde-milk-money-to-buy-comic books scamp-hood, when the late 70s/early 80s comics were in a no man's land between the then distant mightiest Marvel Kirby/Ditko/Steranko era and the emerging X-Men/New Teen Titans explosion that raised the industry up (kinda/sorta). It was an era when distinct artists like Herb Trimpe and Al Milgrom were familiar and appreciated, but not exactly beloved. These four titles are also an ambitious parody, riffing on the magical space in comics where unabashed absurdity and a kind of liberating mediocrity make unhinged storytelling and no-bad-ideas freedom possible But more impactfully, these comics are serious in their world-building and genuinely disturbing in their harshness in a way that does not really read as homage or parody. These tales of the violent quartet of Atlas, Blind Justice, Bullwhip, and Crime Destroyer are only about 8% off kilter in a way that references in ugly clarity the inherent fascism of superhero comics and the disturbing reality of what actual violent vigilantes are like in our current hellscape. That these look like real-assed comic books, down the printing, and that the actual Trimpe and Milgrom join today's all stars Josh Bayer, Benjamin Marra, and Noah Van Sciver, is invigorating and confusing. The fake ads featuriing the brutal do-(sort of)-gooders seem to position these titles in the MAD (or Sick, or Obnoxio-era Crazy) realm, but the actual, functional, dark as fuck, captivating stories make me feel kinda like I felt reading Answer Me! zine - fascinated by the content and quality but uneasy (bordering on queasy) about the message...and perhaps the messenger. Which is to say, this is powerful stuff. There is a hefty compilation out now, but I think tracking down the so-called floppies is the way to go. If you can buy them in a dirty 7-11 or a head shop/record store, even better.