Writer: Jed MacKay, Michael Conrad, Becky Cloonan, Sebastian Girner
Art: Francesco Manna, Chris Mooneyham, Becky Cloonan, Carlos Pacheco
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: October 2, 2019

Anthology Books- back in the heyday of the ’70s and ’80s, Marvel had quite a following with their monthly collections of A-list, B-list heroes, horror, and sword and sorcery titles. They reappear every so often these days, with varying degrees of… well, quality. Bizarre Adventures #1 has 4 stories, all a throwback to the world of 70’s Marvel (mostly) non-superhero titles. We get a sword and sorcery, Kung Fu, Vampire, and a rather odd story of Black Goliath. 4 stories at the bargain price of $4.99? Is it worth it? Let’s take a look.

We start with Ulysses Bloodstone: a Sword and sorcery tale- a magic meteor crashed into the lands of a Northern Land, a fragment embedded into the chest of Ulysses. The Barbarian fights his way through an army of zombies to find an evil sorcerer terrorising the land of Vanda-Gor. After a little switcheroo, Ulysses loops his head off. Will the Noble Barbarian ever find peace? That remains to be seen…

We continue with Shang Chi, catching up with his apparent former sensei in a yearly bout. Shang Chi has had a busy year- but after some anthropomorphic telegraphed attacks, Shang Chi loses the match, but saves a cute dog. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Our Third tale is the classic Dracula Vs Van Helsing, only in a tweest they team up to take down a few hungry werewolves in the band. Talk about starving artists! They Dance, they banter, they stab things. All in a nights work.

We conclude with short Black Goliath story- what really happens when shape changers borrow mass from a pocket dimension? Some trippy stuff, apparently!

Thoughts and Score:

You either like anthology titles or you don’t. I generally like them, it’s sort of fun to read a quick “one and done” story of characters you might not otherwise see in a title. While this book isn’t the best anthology book out there, for the price it’s a fun 4 story book (the last story is only 3 pages, so it’s really only 3 1/2 stories) that harkens back to when books not featuring capes and tights were best sellers. For the price, it’s a fun palate cleanser, if you’re into books slightly left Of Center.

Plus, splash page features some bitchin’ art that would do any creepy blue van justice airbrushed on the side. Worth it almost for that alone!

Overall Score: 6.9/10