Posted by Os Davis | 1 Comment
Nine super innings: DC Superstars #10
BuckBokai was going to do a full-on review of a highlight in science-fiction sports literary history, namely the lead story of DC Super Stars #10 (1976), but the issue has proved elusive to download and more importantly has been amazingly critically analyzed by Comic Treadmill back in 2005 and recently by Baseball Prospectus, so we’ll refer you to those links.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to experience the life-changing greatest of DC Comics finally living up to their “Strange Sports Stories” franchise in form, this epic is based on an argument between the simply awesome Sportsmaster and the Huntress. This couple makes a bet stemming from a dispute in which the Huntress maintains that the bad guys never win (she must have been hip to the Comics Code Authority of Earth prime, eh?) and thus set up a superheroes vs. supervillians match.
Read MorePosted by Os Davis | 1 Comment
Review: “The Challenge of the Headless Baseball Team”
In this, the 75th anniversary of DC Comics and the 40th anniversary of that brave and bold experiment to craft science-fiction stories for the pages of a superhero comic, BuckBokai begin its reviews of the stories inside Brave and the Bold nos. 45-49.
Issue #45 in DC Comics’ distinctly daffy plan to present science-fiction sports stories on a regular basis led with a story called “The Challenge of the Headless Baseball Team.”
Immediate thoughts upon seeing the cover of Brave & the Bold #45 (in no particular order):
Read MorePosted by Os Davis | 2 Comments
A tale of two tales: Introduction to Buck Bokai
Two books changed my life at a key formative age, and thanks to BuckBokai somebody might finally relate to the combination.
When i was an 11-year-old frequenter of flea markets and secondhand shops wheedling chump change off my mother for cheap baseball cards and cheap comic books and just generally cheap collectible stuff, i once accidentally ran across an intriguing sublime-looking little paperback.
It was white in cover with a baseball tucked neatly into one corner, knuckles riding atop as through to throw the Niekros’ (Niekroes’?) favorite pitch. The book had a cover quote describing the work as “a classic in the American vein,” while the final two pages were a long table of neat statistics (Statistics!) running under the headline “Tell Your Statistics To Shut Up.” Charlie Brown’s Peanuts meeting baseball in to what was to me-then a completely unique diary format?
I never knew books could be like this.
I did know i had to have it.
That book was, of course, Ball Four.
Read More