Venus – Volume 01 Issue 01

Venus stood in the middle of a roadway marked Lexington Avenue as noisy machines raced around her heading in opposite directions. Some of them even blared what sounded like war horns in warning not to obstruct their path. Dazed and confused, the goddess looked around for a moment wondering what just happened to her.

Only moments before she was sulking at the top of an observation tower which overlooked the Venusian city of the gods. An overwhelmed sadness has loomed over Venus recently as the thought of immortality without companionship was becoming unbearable. Then by some miracle, a powerful cosmic force grabbed a hold of her and sent the goddess of love rocketing through outer space toward the planet Earth.

The next thing she remembered was the obnoxious man dressed in a blue uniform yelling at her to get out of the street. Venus didn’t really understand the words “dumb broad” but it mattered little, for the moment a nicely dressed young man ran over and attempted to rescue her from the lout with the billy club. Was this a start to a new adventure?

Venus was whisked away from the busy intersection by one Whitney P. Hammond, the owner of the second best women’s magazine in the entire United States. Things are looking up for the goddess of love, but watch out Venus, things are very competitive in the glitzy world of high fashion and beauty.

With the editor of Beauty Magazine quitting in protest over his boss giving a no-name model the new cover girl spot, Mr. Hammond’s business is in complete turmoil. Who can fill the shoes of Clarence Snippe? Della, Hammond’s secretary, believes it should be her. Not so fast missy, the boss has a plan.

Whitney wants his newest employee to pose as the last descendant of Venus herself. Is it an insult to ask someone to pretend to be themselves? Venus agrees to play along, but unknowingly has made two enemies today. Easy Della, your time will come. Now is the time to save the magazine from total obscurity.

Will Beauty Magazine beat Lovely Lady Magazine in the top ten loveliest ladies competition nationwide? Where can Venus find ten women more beautiful than those printed in Lovely Lady? Is it possible to have a perfect figure?

Susie Latimer was the new girl at school. She was cute and friendly, even the most popular girl in class, Evaline Cramer thought so. But why has Susie started snubbing Evaline recently? Does Susie have an issue? Is she trying to steal her boyfriend? Just what is the problem? Time to investigate!

Hedy De Vine just wanted a new painting to go with her rust colored Settee. Gabby just wanted to take his gal to the show. Will Hedy find the perfect painting, or will Gabby have to move heaven and earth to make everything match? Do worry Gabby, the movie wasn’t that good anyways. Let the comedy begin!

Two men enter the cave, one man leaves. Is that a Grizzly!? Time to make dust. Was the glowing bow tie worth it?

I originally bought the Marvel’s Masterworks Venus edition after reading Marvel Spotlight volume one issue two which contains issue sixteen of Venus. In that issue Venus is a full fledged superhero with a secret identity. With powers similar to the future Marvel Comics powerhouse the Mighty Thor, Venus was a well rounded character at that point in time. I thought I would crack open this omnibus and discover whatever else I could learn about the most beautiful girl in the world.

The hardcover book starts with a well written history of Venus and the era in which she was printed. At the time of Venus’ release World War II had just ended and the superhero genre was fading from the newsstands. Crime and romance comic books were steadily taking over the market, but the teenage girl market was still in need of new characters. Thus Venus was born.

As far as the omnibus, my plans are to read and review each issue independently. There are eighteen appearances of Venus in total, this book contains the first nine issues. Unfortunately, I don’t know if Marvel ever released a book with the second nine issues. It’s a shame. Hopefully there are scanned versions somewhere on the internet. But let’s talk about issue one.

I’ve said this before, but I will say it again; modern comics (2015 to present) can’t hold a candle to these old classics in the storytelling and writing department. Issue number one contains three complete storylines, plus one complete text only storyline, as well as a one page comic strip. Modern publishers seem to have a hard time doing this today.

Overall I liked issue one of Venus, but I was a little bummed to find out she lost all her powers after landing on Earth. Venus does regain these at some point between issues one and sixteen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s sooner that later. This issue is more of a comedy/romance, which Dr. Michael J. Vassals gratefully explains in the introduction section of the book. I’m okay with that as I know she will kick ass in future issues. With that said, I’m giving issue one of Venus four out of five stars. If you are looking for a golden age omnibus to buy, so far I recommend this one.

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