Editor's Desk 
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby return (sort of) in Image’s new miniseries Tales of Wonder. The book’s main characters – elderly artist Jake Crumsby and flamboyant comic book writer Stu Reeds – represent the two comic greats and are so identical to them that a sledgehammer would be more subtle.
Tales of Wonder #1, written and drawn by Steve Skroce with colors by Ian Herring, has Stu and Jake reuniting at the San Diego Comic Con after years apart. Much like in our crazy real world, Stu and Jake created tons of superheroes with their Wonder Comics label and now, decades later, a movie studio is making huge cash off the properties churning out one film after another.
On one level, the book parodies Stan and Jack. It lovingly teases the two of them and never seems mean-spirited. Writer Steve Skroce is especially hilarious giving Stu Reeds all of Stan the Man’s legendary quirks, with his speeches that run on forever and his random, bold proclamations of “Upwards and onwards!” the equivalent of Stan’s “Excelsior!”. And as with the real life Stan and Jack, there’s a lot of animosity between Stu and Jake that eventually comes to a head at the worst possible time.
On another level, it parodies fandom itself and the way predatory studio heads make a killing off the backs of fans who love superhero books and films, something else reflected in the real world shenanigans of Disney studio heads, who never met a fan they didn’t want to wring every single cent from.
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The book’s not all social commentary, however. There’s some good old-fashioned superhero action too, as America’s Freedom Force, the “Avengers” of this universe, appears to battle a Lovecraftian-style creature who attacks the convention. But how did these characters, who were created by Stu and Jake, suddenly materialize to life?
Steve Skroce gives each member of America’s Freedom Force a distinct look and style, from Dragovexia, who looks like she teleported in from a He-Man book, with her red armor that barely conceals her muscular form and an elegant magic sword, to Man-Bear, a titanic half-bear/half-man being who looks like he could go toe-to-toe with The Hulk and might possibly eat him (he’s always hungry).
I’ve always liked Skroce’s art, which alternates between capturing realism and taking right turns into the surreal and bizarre. Freedom Force member Ugly American’s grotesquely bulging and veiny muscular arms are always hilarious.
Future issues promise to give us more of the team, as well as having Stu and Jake be a bickering duo who get pulled along for the ride, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes next.
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