Fairest: Wide Awake

DC Comics, 2012; Originally published in Fairest issues 1-7.

This story stars Ali Baba, Briar Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty), the Snow Queen, and a bottle imp; plus seven good fairy godmothers and one very bad one. There’s an interesting retelling of the sleeping beauty fable. I really disliked the bottle imp, but the artwork is absolutely gorgeous.

There’s a short story at the end, called Lamia, about Beauty and the Beast, with an unexpected explanation about something strange about Beauty.

[Here’s some interesting info about the mythology of Lamia.]

Sword of the Atom 2-part Special

DC Comics, 1984

• Jan Strnad - Script
• Gil Kane - Art
• Tom Ziuko - Color
• John Costanza - Letters
• Alan Gold - Editor

The first issue is told in flashback, covering a summary of the story in the 4-part mini-series along with the strife between Ray Palmer and his wife, which ends in divorce. The story concludes with a trip back to the Amazon jungle, capture by drug smugglers, and, finally, a reunion between the Atom and his alien lover.

In the second issue, Ray’s ex-wife is accidentally shrunk by his old machinery while she’s trying to dispose of it, necessitating a trip to the Amazon jungle by her and her lover to get help from the Atom. Everyone gets involved in a battle with a splinter group of diminutive bird-riders. Things eventually get sorted out and all’s well that ends well.

Sword of the Atom 4-part mini-series

DC Comics, 1983

• Jan Strnad - Script
• Gil Kane - Art
• Tom Ziuko - Color
• John Costanza - Letters
• Dick Giordano - Editor

Ray Palmer, a.k.a. the Atom, goes to South America in search of a piece of pure white dwarf star material. After running afoul of drug dealers and being left for dead and stuck in his mini-size, he’s rescued by a colony of miniature human-like aliens who live in the Amazon jungle. The story transitions into pure fantasy, where the Atom takes sides in a king-vs-rebel conflict in a semi-barbarian culture where the diminutive people ride frogs and fight giant snakes. The good guys win in the end, though the ending is not exactly a happy one.

Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell

by Phil & Kaja Foglio

Graphic novel 11; First printing, June 2012

Agatha finally gets Castle Heterodyne mostly repaired and is proclaimed The Heterodyne while battles rage in the streets of Mechanicsburg. The Doom Bell is rung on the final page.

Favorite Quote

“But why are there mechanical squid in the cistern?”

“Why is everyone so surprised about that? Where else would we keep them?”

Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse

by Phil & Kaja Foglio

Graphic novel 10; First printing, May 2011

In this story, more and more things interfere with Agatha as she tries to get back to getting her castle repaired. It’s a wild roller-coaster ride! The book ends with a short, amusing Jägermonster story about a hat.