Strange Adventures in New Orleans

Strange Adventures #147.  Copyright DC Comics

Sometimes, when I've got nothing interesting to read, I head Uptown to Freret Street to Crescent City Comics.  Like many nodes of vital activity in a big city like New Orleans, Freret Street is a place that mostly the locals visit.    

You can walk to Freret Street from St. Charles Avenue, but it is usually considered too far for tourists to venture.  If they stay at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, guests take a complimentary bicycle and discover all sorts of things.

I rode my bicycle up to Crescent City Comics yesterday and I was looking through the old comic books they have for sale.  I saw Strange Adventures #147 and the top of the cover caught my eye.  Look closely: "An Atomic Knights Adventure...The King of New Orleans!"  Who could resist?

Here is the splash page of that epic story:

It isn't odd to see people dressed as either knights or cowboys in the Vieux Carre

To make a 16-page illustrated story even shorter, I'll just tell you that the Atomic Knights go to New Orleans where all the doctors have been hypnotized and jazz music has been outlawed.  In New Orleans!?!  Someone has to set the world aright.  Call in the Atomic Knights.  They wear suits of armor down Bourbon Street and are pursued by villains dressed as cowboys.  Nobody does a double-take. 

I provide this link to provide a description of this issue and its heroes.  The Atomic Knights fought crystal monsters and sentient plants.  Their most challenging mission, however, was bringing jazz back to New Orleans.  I am not going to let the cat out of the bag.  You can scroll down the linked page to find out how they rescue the brainwashed physicians.  As usual, the spirit of New Orleans saves the day.  If the Atomic Knights hadn't done it, somebody else would have.  Every day has a reason to join a second line parade.

Speaking about Crescent City Comics, located at 4916 Freret Street, down the street from Dat Dog and Midway Pizza in one direction, and Ancora Pizzeria and the High Hat Cafe in the other direction, the staff here is professional and friendly.  You don't need to be a comic book geek to gain admission.  

We've been to a few comic shops in New Orleans.  This one is the best.  If you are thinking about staying in New Orleans, stay at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  We'll give you a bicycle and we'll give you directions to Freret Street.

The French Quarter is surrounded by a big, plump city ripe to deliver the stuff of which good memories are made.  If you are in town and looking for a graphic novel about New Orleans, you don't need to shop on Amazon.  You can visit a real, freindly brick-and-mortar comic shop.

A votre sante.