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BOOK REVIEW! THE COMPLETE CAPTAIN FIGHT (Gawandaland Comics)

COMICS ARE YOUR BEST ENTERTAINMENT VALUE??? 

Well sure, if you can get the right kinda comics at the right kinda price and have a whole afternoon to just soak yerself into the entire universe of the books at hand. Sheesh, I remember way back inna seventies when my idea of an adventurous fun time woulda been to go haunt a few flea markets and garage sales, amass a good number of comic books cheap, and spend the ride home readin' everything from MILLIE THE MODEL (boy did dad razz me about those even if for all intent purposes the late-sixties Stan Goldberg version was nothing more than a slightly-revamped ARCHIE) to some DC or Marvel effort long before those companies lost their initial spark and became way too self-conscious of themselves to matter. Yes, for less than a buck I had a whole slew of comics that I could read and re-read to my li'l ol' heart's content, and although mother was wary of me buying used comic books because who knows what leaky bathrooms they might have been (and other stories I told Brad Kohler ages back!) I sure didn't care as long as I got those adolescent thrills outta 'em that I just couldn't get with the Bobsey Twins!

Of course your money wasn't exactly invested wisely if ya happened to buy a real dudster of a deal which I had quite a few times. It could be disappointing to spend that last dime on something that seemed promising but once you read it was about as fulfilling as jacking off to nude pictures of Rachel Levine. And even if a comic was an oldie from the "Golden" or "Silver" age that didn't guarantee it being a bonafeed winner as quite a few efforts would attest to, Fiction House's CAPTAIN FIGHT bein' just one of 'em.

Now from what I know Fiction House wasn't exactly a lower-rung comic book company. Sure they weren't as good as anything National or Quality were cranking out at the time but they weren't bargain basement either. But that doesn't mean even they coulda slipped up at times like they did with this series, a seafaring and swashbuckling throwback to eighteenth century England and the main character, a handsome goodski who does his best fighting pirates and thwarting nefarious plans by ne'er do well dukes with plots telegraphed so far in advance that I'm sure even Karen Quinlan coulda gotten 'em.

Seeing pix of a swordfight ain't the same as watching a film of one, and the usual comic book fixin's like a young sidekick (Rusty, who originally was trying to kill Captain Fight under the delusion that the guy killed Rusty's own pop!) don't really add anything special to the saga. Even the occasional gals with the big suckems and cleavage galore don't create any real throb thrills like ya thought they would for many a hungry pre-teen nationwide. I mean, this was the eighteenth century an' you can just imagine what these ladies smelled like, especially during one of those "Calendar Days"!

Collections like this 'un make it so OBVIOUS that even the early classic comic book era came up with more'n a few clunkers. And yeah, CAPTAIN FIGHT was more or less filler but even the usual in-between material would have kept my attention held longer. A blatant swipe of a popular comic strip or competing book hero woulda done me much better'n this comparatively dismal effort! Oh well, there are hundreds more PD comic heroes to discover...it's just that CAPTAIN FIGHT was not the one who could dredge up any pre-pube fun 'n jamz entertainment no matter how much plot or curvaceous femmes were packed into it.