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Title: Ripley's Believe It or Not 001 (2018)
Author: Howard Mackie, Fox Kavanagh, Dale Mettam, Victoria Rau, and Ben Meares
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.9/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: October 6, 2018
Book Summary: A 48-page anthology of some of the most phantasmagorical oddities in the Robert Ripley collection, written and illustrated by by an equally mind-blowing mix of comic book legends and rising stars. You'll have to see it to believe it! "A Tale As Old As..." (THE REAL STORY OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST), written by Howard Mackie and illustrated by Hakan Aydin "I've Been Working On The Railroad" (PHINEAS GAGE, THE MAN WHO SURVIVED A RAILROAD SPIKE THROUGH HIS HEAD), written by Fox Kavanagh and illustrated by Daniel Maine "The Ride Of His Life" (THE DEAD MAN WHO WON A HORSE RACE), written by Dale Mettam "Mother Nature Blew Her " (THE YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO THAT COULD WIPE US ALL OUT), written by Victoria Rau and illustrated by Pat Broderick "49 Lives" (THE CAT WHO COULD PREDICT DEATH), written by Ben Meares and illustrated by Marcelo Basile And 5 illustrated fun fact pages, featuring more juicy tidbits about the stories within this issue and Robert Ripley himself!
Book Review: As a child, television channels were fairly new. We were just getting channels like HBO, MTV, and other great channels that would offer great new material for people to enjoy. One of those great material shows was one called Ripley's Believe it or Not starring Jack Palance and his daughter, Holly, as the shows two hosts. I remember watching this during the weekends with my parents. It was fascinating and filled with interesting facts and some even having demonstrations of various pieces believed to bring innovation to the world. I was sad to see it ended and when it was given a reboot in the nineties, I suppose I was just not impressed with it as I had been with the older version.

However, when I found that this was coming out in comic book form I was thrilled. For the first time, I was seeing my childhood returning and I could not wait to crack this comic open.

In the first issue, we are given four stories.

In the first story called "A Tale As Old As", we are given the tale of the real beauty and the beast set in a Chateau in the north part of France. Here we learn of a young man Petrus Gonsalvus suffered from a condition known as hypertrichosis, where hair grows all over a person's body. He was captured and put on display until King Henry of France saw him differently. Henry saw someone of intelligence and a soul. So he took it upon himself to make Petrus somewhat of special project. He was given a tutor and taught but Henry believed there was something missing from Petrus's life - a wife. Both he and his wife, Catherine, set out to find the young man a bride. At first, the girl outright rejected him but Petrus persisted and in the end, the two of them were married by the King himself. The one telling this tale? His daughter, Antonietta Gonsalvus.

In our second story, "I’ve Been Working on The Railroad", we learn how Phineas Gage managed to survive having his head impaled by a tamping iron‍. Unfortunately the damage it did changed much of Phineas's personality and behavior during the course of the rest of his life.

In our third story, "The Ride of His People", the year is 1923 and Frank Hayes was a horse jockey whom was about to compete in the steeplechase at Belmont Park. Sadly while he was riding a horse named Sweet Kiss, Frank Hayes had a heart attack and died during the race. He is the first dead man to ever win a race.

Our fourth story called "Mother Nature Blew Her", a father tells his daughter what the future would be like if pollution continues to dirty our air and waters.

And our last story called "49 Lives", we meet a cat whom cares little for human companionship but tends to visit those on the verge of death and stays with them until the very end. The cat's name is Oscar and he lives in a nursing home. He visits those whom either have no family or the family is far away and unable to be there during the final hours before death claims their loved one.

To those whom may not know of this series may find some of these true stories utterly bizarre but quite interesting. For those, like myself, whom grew up with these sort of tales on television this is a nice added addition to your collection. Each story is unique and each one told by different artists and given their own spin upon these tales.