Random Happenstance

From Suicide Squad Annual #1, "Ghosts and Shadows" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Graham Nolan, inks by Timothy Dzon. Why did I type this? The credit box is right damn there!

This issue's been lying around in front of me for quite some time, and I'd been considering but couldn't quite nail down a post for it. Then in the middle of more Civil War nitpickery, it occurred to me I had been expecting at least a few more heroes in the Marvel U. to take the Justice Society route, and take their ball and go home. It would work even better if it was a character with enough power to be missed (no one cares if you quit or join, Nighthawk) yet having the gall or undeveloped sense of responsibility to stay quit when things eventually go south. Nothing would bring more of a smile to my heart than Peter Parker being able to tell Jonah, "Sorry, I can't do anything about the Green Goblin blowing up the Bugle. I'm not registered."

Of course, since Peter's sense of guilt is more overdeveloped than his spider-sense, that would never work; and yet again Spider-Man would throw his own ass into the fire, save the day, and yet be unappreciated and reviled. Pffbt. (Is it wrong to enjoy harshing on Civil War so much?)

I was also wondering briefly where all the Justice Society's super-villians went, because you might think they would come out of the woodwork after an announcement like that. In retrospect most of them were either Nazis (and killed/tried as war criminals) or useless. Pretty sure Task Force X or the Challengers of the Unknown could take Sportsmaster. And he's not seen in this version of this scene, and I don't recall if he was there for this or not; but Hourman would continue fighting crime/'chasing that high' after the JSA quit anyway. Cripes, there probably weren't enough villains left for Hourman to fight. I'm not 100% on all the continuity for that, though: I could be confusing the New Frontier (where a rather junked-out Hourman dies) with the official version.


Hmm. Looking around, I have two copies of this issue, which is probably why I kept seeing it. I was a fan of the 80's Mark Shaw Manhunter, and am curious to see if he ends up rolled into the Azrael costume, because the mask would look great on that costume. Sort of a 'his face, on his body' thing...and that's a little uncomfortable, but you see where I'm going with that.

I swear, Captain Boomerang Jr. or whatever his name is never gonna be a third of the character his dad was. Granted, his dad was a selfish racist sexist cowardly sniveling bastard, but by god he had character.

Much, much later, I would come across an old DC war comic--possibly, an old issue of Unknown Soldier--with the World War II adventures of Control, the bald spymaster of O.S.S. After the war, he became the head of the civilian side of Task Force X. Actually, Control's crew are shown beating the stuffing out of Sportsmaster, which pretty much answers my earlier question. John Ostrander rocks. Following Kennedy's assassination, he took Argent so far underground it became a scary campfire story for the world's governments when they got out of line, taking action only when absolutely necessary, "the final court of appeals in international matters."

Unfortunately, Argent become so secret, the only way to get in was to be born in or marry in, and as one member points out in the end they were all reputation and running out of actual members. Control was the heart of the organization, and they were fading without him. Brr. I could totally see my body being found like that. If the focus of this blog turns to minpins or jewelry, you know what happened. I just hope my wife doesn't stuff a pipe in my skull...