Timed to coincide with the current Neil Gaiman-scripted ETERNALS miniseries featuring the same characters, Marvel has assembled all 19 issues (plus one special) of Jack Kirby’s 1976-1979 blast of bombastic galactic goodness in one remastered hardcover collection, ETERNALS OMNIBUS. Upon diving into this massive tome, I am 10 years old again, albeit a 10-year-old who can afford to plunk down $75 (or even an Amazon-discounted $47.25) for an oversized book whose content originally cost $6.25 total.

So what’s the book about? It’s about gods and demons and giant, robotic “Celestials” from outer space. Various cover blurbs promise, “DEVIL IN THE SKY!,” “GODS AND MEN AT CITY COLLEGE!,” “HE’S…THE KILLING MACHINE!,” “THREE AGAINST THE TIME KILLERS!” and “…TRAPPED BY THE THING IN THE BIG CITY CRYPT!” It’s about Kirby drawing big guys with big fists, sexy supergals in shiny skirts, faceless robots towering over massive cityscapes. It’s about the King of Comics at the top of his craft, shooting a whopping dose of four-color smack straight into the veins of Marvel Comics’ true golden age. Kirby Bless America.

BIZARRO WORLD is a worthy follow-up to 2001’s BIZARRO COMICS, DC’s first anthology of superhero stories written and illustrated by alternative comics creators. Though a few of the entries kill the momentum of the book, most – or least – notably, Maggie Estep and Dylan Horrocks’ “Supergirl,” which lasts 10 pages but reads like an eternity, and Ben Dunn’s “Lantern Sentai,” a manga take on Green Lantern that, basically, reaffirms my utter distaste for the unreadability of the form.

The best stories cast the characters in situations dealing with the minutiae of modern bullshit. The hilarious “Ultimate Crisis of the Justice League” has the Martian Manhunter battling his perceived lameness by cracking and incapactitating or killing the other members of the JLA; “Legion.Com” explores the horrors of corporate culture infiltrating the 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes, and “Bring Your Kids to Work Day” is another Justice League yarn featuring the bored, tweener children of the heroes and villains who’d rather play with their Gameboys than fight each other.

The anarchic spirit of classic Mad magazine runs through the veins of these BIZARRO books, and my only hope with future editions is that they reject any stories that ain’t funny, ‘cause these indie folks spend enough time mopedly navel-gazing in their own books.

Speaking of mopey navel-gazing, my favorite publisher Drawn & Quarterly has released DRAWN & QUARTERLY SHOWCASE: NO. 4 in their series which showcases up-and-coming alternative talent. This one, like the previous three, is a mixed but gorgeous bag.

Gabrielle Bell’s lead story of an art student’s relationship with a famous sculptor and his neglected son starts moderately interestingly, but devolves into a subpar episode of SIX FEET UNDER. Martin Cendreda’s two-color “Dog Days” is a slightly sweet, slightly spooky, ultimately inert tale of kids and dogs and a Filipino barber shop on a hot summer day.

The final story is by Dan Zettwoch (who also provides art for the cover and endpapers), and he’s the true find of the collection. His two-color, historical fiction “Won’t Be Licked! The Great ’37 Flood in Louisville” combines elements of Chris Ware (densely structured layouts highlighting mechanical details), Seth (early/mid-20th-century sociology) and Joe Matt (slightly cartoonish-looking characters in realistic surroundings). Though the story does drag on slightly, it’s an engaging slice of historical fiction, expertly told, and it’s gotten me very interested in Zettwoch’s future work. –Brian Winkeler

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