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Strange Tales No. 1 is a top-notch product

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Strange Tales No. 1

Published by Marvel Comics. Writing and art by various.

The Deal: After talking about this project for years, the folks at Marvel Comics finally release Strange Tales No. 1 -- the first part of a three-issue, anthology-style limited series that features the industry's best and brightest indie creators working on Marvel-owned characters.

The Good: Marvel has assembled an incredible bunch of writers and artists for this project -- and we're talking cats you've never seen on a Marvel book. Notable stories include Paul Pope's take on the Inhumans, a Hulk tale by James Kochalka, Dr. Strange by Dash Shaw, another look at the Hulk by Peter Bagge and two funny-ass tales by one of my favorite cartoonists, Johnny Ryan. Ryan is known by many because of his incredibly gross, tasteless and shart-inducing cartoons published in Vice magazine. He tones things down a bit for Strange Tales, but the work is still hilarious.

The Bad: My only gripe with this first issue of Strange Tales is the fact that every creator pretty much chose to craft funny stories. It's sort of expected that these guys would make fun of the superhero genre -- and maybe Marvel asked them to go in that direction -- but it would have really been strange if someone put together a more serious piece.

The Verdict: Strange Tales is a top-notch product that's predictably hilarious. Pick it up.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren't Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.