And you thought the seat between the baby and the fat guy was the worst:

The trouble with nattering on about old Manhunter comics is that eventually I'm going to run out of them.

This issue, after bringing in Flash Rogue Dr. Alchemy (through his personal Kryptonite, "redheads with balconies you could play Shakespeare from") Manhunter Mark Shaw checks out the other bounties up at the police station. Kobra? Seems labor-intensive, not to mention overly dangerous. Count Vertigo? He's a manic-depressive and a former Green Arrow bad guy. Sounds easy enough...


I wanted a straight-shot of that mask. After some legwork, including working out insertion into Vlatava via dropping off a landing jet, Manhunter tracks down the Count, who's in the middle of a truly epic depressive spiral--he was massively emo before that was the term. Vlatavan separatists had planned to use Vertigo as a figurehead, but between his past conditioning and his depression, he can't really see the point in it. Shaw tries to break Vertigo back, but he doesn't see the point in that, either. So, Shaw slaps him around a bit, and Vertigo's royal blood rises; turning him against Shaw and the 'peasant' separatists.
Manhunter has his work cut out for him, but manages to beat the Count; which would lead to him appearing in Suicide Squad, also written by Ostrander. At the time, I think I had Count Vertigo pegged as fodder for the Squad's grinder, but he's survived more than a couple times there. Good for him.

From Manhunter #7, "Prelude to Havoc" Written by Kim Yale and John Ostrander, pencils by Doug Rice, inks by Pablo Marcos.

We probably won't have much on Monday, so have a good weekend! I'm hoping to be out in the sun; hope you are too.