I bought that in an ebay lot about 10ish years ago.  Speaking of Dark Horse Star Wars, I plan to read their Shadows of the Empire adaptation in the not too distant future.

I've read the novel, but not the comic, so I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks to the kick in the rear end that the icctrombone/Hoosier X Thor thread provided, I bought Essential Avengers #5 and finally read Avengers #98.

I love that early Barry Smith art. Even its flaws manage to look good!!!

The idea of Ares using satyrs to drive mortals nuts and cause them to trigger world war III was pretty good, and I'm glad not even righteous heroes like Captain America were immune to the Olympian magical pipes. I wonder how diplomats managed to de-escalate the situation afterwards, though... "Sorry, our people weren't really trying to murder your ambassadors; it was actually due to the effect of a magical tune played by mythological creatures recruited by a Greek god. We swear!"

The issue looked beautiful and was a lot of fun. On to issue 99!

I've been reading a lot of old Spider-man lately, as it's my favourite thing to read, and I'm waiting for the latest Epic Collection to be delivered. I took a break from that to read a collection of Kirby's Captain America run from the 70s. I've read it at least a couple times before in digital format, but I recently got it in an Omnibus that collects the whole run, including the two annuals and the Bicentennial Battles special. Omnibus isn't my preferred format, as the size makes it cumbersome for reading and storing, so I don't have too many of these.

There was a recently released Epic collection that includes the early issues from this run as well as Bicentennial Battles and it was on my list of things to purchase but I changed my mind at the last minute. The Epic collection included a bunch of issues that preceded this storyline which I wasn't terribly interested in, and it was missing the tail end of Kirby's run which would mean I'd be waiting for the next scheduled volume to finish the story. I got a good deal on the Omnibus, which I figured worked out better than the cost of two Epic collections. Other than Bicentennial Battles I had these and all the other issues in other formats, so it's not like I was missing out on anything. Even though they're one of my favourite formats for collection older comics, I find the Epic collections sometimes make odd decisions as far as choosing a cover, when there are usually better ones available. There were certainly a few Kirby covers in this collection that could have been used. The Omnibus used an iconic Madbomb cover, so it was definitely the better choice for me in this case



I'm also waiting for a Hulk Epic collection coming out later in July and noticed it crosses over with and includes Cap 230. There's a big stretch of Cap comics from the 200s to early 300s which I've never read and been meaning to get around to. Kirby's run finishes with Cap 214, so I'll probably read 215-229 next, before the Hulk Epic comes out and likely continue with 231 onward later this summer

Love Street 1-3 by Peter Hogan and Michel Zulli.

This is a miniseries starring John Constantine, with cameos by Morpheus and a few members of the Sandman cast.

Plotwise, a curmudgeon might complain that we are treated to a huge build-up with a wet petard of a resolution. But that would be, I believe, very unfair. This series manages to do what few works succeed at: making us care about its protagonists. I mean, really care. You'd really like to see these characters again.

For Hellblazer fans, it's also a treat because we get to meet several old friends of John Constantine, an endangered species if ever there was one. (Alan Moore, Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis all introduced a cast of characters for the British magician, but most of these met a dire end. Paul Jenkins also created a new bunch of old friends for John, but even if the writer spared their life they all severed ties with our hero). In this miniseries Hogan introduces us to the small community of eccentric individual with whom John lived for a while in the '60s; all of them are the kind of folks who become friends for life, even when decades go by with no contact. 

The story revolves around a mishap that occurred a long time ago, during an open-house party at Wych Cross (the domain where Morpheus was kept imprisoned). Alex Burgess (from Sandman #1) who inherited the place as well as his father's cult, made money with such "events". 

While the whole magical fair is mostly just for show (with wizard-wannabes making fools of themselves) one of John's gang (Ivan), using a grimoire he "borrowed" from Burgess, manages to cause another member of the group (Pammie) to be possessed by an unknown spirit. We readers know that said spirit is that of a denizen of the Dreaming (called Magpie) who is looking for her missing king and felt he was nearby; but to John and the gang, she might as well be Pazuzu himself. A botched attempt at an exorcism causes things to go kablooie; Pammie falls into a coma and Ivan turns apparently insane.

Thirty years later, Pammie (still in a coma) is dying of cancer. John is convinced that her condition is due to her being possessed by an evil spirit who, upon her death, will take revenge on them all. The old gang reunites (in a succession of understated but moving scenes) and tries to prepare for the onslaught, but it is all for nothing... As one of them manages to puzzle out (that would be Ollie, who became a rabbi and is no mean kabbalist) that the botched exorcism from decades ago trapped both Ivan and Pammie's souls in her body, while Magpie's got caught Ivan's shape. One assumes that her later protestations that she was a creature from the Dream Kingdom didn't facilitate an early release from any mental facility. When she was freed, stoned to the gills, she had a hard time knowing what to do or how to go home.

As Pammie passes away, the spell dissolves. She goes on to the afterlife, Ivan returns to his own form and an apologetic Magpie returns to the Dreaming (where she will alas learn that Morpheus has since been found and has later died). The other friends say their fond farewells, happy to have seen each other again. And as a reader, I, too, am glad that they did.

Great characters in there, from Raji the seemingly immortal Hindu mystiv/video store owner, to Estrella (well... "Nancy") the sexy Katmandu-bound American Earth-mother type, to Pammie the ballet dancer, by way of Oliver the naive runaway. And of course, teenage Johnny Constantine is a riot.

What to say of Michael Zulli's art, ably inked by Vince Locke? It is of course worth the price of entry all on its own.

My feelings on Kirby's return to Cap are honestly mixed. It felt like a half-hearted continuation of what he was trying to do on OMAC at DC and the fact that he made the book so close-guarded from any interaction from the rest of the Marvel universe just seemed odd. Bicentennial Battles is fantastic though, probably one of my favorite Captain America stories of all time

It was, and that was what Kirby wanted. He wanted to do his own books without interference.
Unfortunately he got some, on this and on the Eternals. There were those at the Marvel office who were out to sabotage him.
My favorite story from that run is the Armin Zola one. Another lasting Kirby creation.