It's not a good sign when I have a figure a week before opening it...

For some reason, I remember poor Mary Marvel, from DC Universe Classics wave 12 in 2010, as just dying on the pegs. She had two variant costumes, but I don't think it mattered, either version seemed to be available forever. I even think some bastard kept returning her at a local Target for newer figures.

The weird thing is, she comes with the torso for the Collect-and-Connect Darkseid, but I don't know if she was more heavily-packed (which would explain why she lingered in stores) or if a lot of Darkseid pieces were left unconnected. I'm in a tough spot here, since the only other piece I have for him was the arm that came with the Spectre! Desaad came with a stupid stand, and I picked up Eclipso, Copperhead, and Dr. Mid-Nite on eBay loose and cheap. The odds of me ending up with a completed one seem pretty long...

I would prefer classic, C&C Darkseid to the New 52 look, though. Still, to me Darkseid is less creepy for all the evil, Anti-Life stuff; than for his seeming preoccupation with corrupting underage girls: Supergirl, Mary Marvel, Secret from Young Justice. Kinda skeevy, man.

Decisions, decisions.

Pac Con is coming up October 24-26, and I've been debating whether or not to go, and then what to get. I'm not usually an autograph collector, but both Stan Lee and William Shatner are scheduled to be there; and there's the temptation to spring for one or both. Maybe? It's $70-75 for one, and while I've got an old copy of Silver Surfer #18 that could use Stan Lee's John Hancock, I'm not sure if I have anything I would want to have Shatner sign.

But whether or not I decide to spring for that, I'm still on the fence about the convention in general. I'm looking for old, cheap, quarterbooks and random issues that probably only appeal to me; and maybe some loose figures if I see 'em. I don't usually care to see panels or Q&A's or cosplay: fun for some, but not my thing. So I don't know if there would be anything for me or not. There may be nothing but scalper-bait, overpriced "collector's items," and unsold backstock.

Right now, I figure I'm going, but not sure what if anything I'm locked onto buying...

This week felt like five decades, too...

Having one of those weeks where I'm not positive I even read any comics; but I did finish Five Decades of the X-Men, a fun little anthology with stories from, well, if not five decades, five different eras of the team. The sixties story recaps a lot of Lee and Kirby's X-Men #1, while the nineties one brings back Reverend Stryker from Claremont's God Loves, Man Kills. (I think Claremont tried to bring Stryker back himself, in X-Treme X-Men, but I don't know if that was super effective either.)

Some of the stories feature fun bits that may not strictly fit the time period: the seventies story features the Secret Empire, up to the point where it's unmasked by Captain America! The eighties guest-stars Pete Wisdom, who didn't appear until the nineties; and the last story with Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Psylocke features the latter in her "Crimson Dawn" mode. Not the most essential novel, but still pretty good.

"Continued on 3rd Page Following," is just one of the reasons I should get this in trade...

There are more than a couple old DC miniseries that are probably far better remembered as trades, than as single issues. I have a random single issue of Dark Knight Returns floating around somewhere, and how many people read that in singles? Ditto Watchmen. Today's book isn't as well known, but at the rate I'm piecing together the run of it, it could take me a millennium: from 1983, Camelot 3000 #9, "Grailquest 3000" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Brian Bolland, embellishments by Terry Austin.

Actually, I kind of like that it's taking me forever to randomly find issues of this series (I found #9 here bagged in a dollar store with the Path #3) since it took a long time to be published, starting in December 1982 and running until the twelfth issue April 1985! On Wikipedia's article on the book, Barr mentions it took Bolland nine months to draw the last issue, at least in part from an urge to top himself every issue. And it looks really sharp, even though it now seems a fairly traditional Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere triangle, set in a sci-fi future that wouldn't have seemed out of place in classic DC space comics. There are some mildly subversive gender identity issues--the knight Tristan is reincarnated as a woman, which poses some problems with his lover Isolde remaining a woman--but while somewhat tame, it's done quite well.

Camelot 3000 has been collected a few times...but while I enjoy it in random bursts, I would just have to find the trade by chance as well, rather than just getting it on Amazon or something. The hunt is kind of adding to it...

"Secret Weapon."

Pool and Kurt are kind of being jerks to Venom this week, but rest assured they completely support the right for a man and his icky symbiote to do...whatever they do.

The Batzooka is ripe for a comeback in the New 52, y'ask me.

The Fwoosh! had an article on its front page about Mego Batman accessories from Figures Toy Company; featuring the Batman Desk Phone, the bust of Shakespeare at the entrance to the Batcave, and the Bat-Shield. All kind of neat, and I ordered a bust; but I can't believe they didn't order the Batzooka!

Although there's a 25-piece pack, Figures was nice enough (and wise enough!) to offer an À la carte option, and I ordered the bust, a Bat-Radio, and the Batzooka! The accessories are scaled for 8-inch Mego style figures, so they're a hair oversized for Mattel's Batman '66 toys. But pretty close!

The handgrip on the Batzooka is probably perfect for Megos, but is a bit much for most six-inch scale figures. However, some of the older Marvel Legends figures, with hinged hands, may work quite well for it. Like a certain someone we see around here sometimes...

We'll check out some of the other accessories later, but as we mentioned a while back, "Blam! Murdered you!" is Rocket Raccoon's current catchphrase in Bendis's Guardians of the Galaxy. And a great track from Adam WarRock!

"One afternoon on Ord Mantrell..."

Someone on Twitter described the Prototype Boba as "Boba Fett arisen, like Gandalf the White, after his ordeal in the Sarlaac pit." Or to that effect.

OK, This Week's Comics:

A light week, with a mere four books, and all four in various points of larger storylines. First up, probably the best selling of the lot, Trees #5, from writer Warren Ellis and artist Jason Howard. The various threads of the book haven't yet come together, if they will at all, but they all serve the larger story of a world that has been invaded...by invaders who don't seem to care. It's a slow boil, that's going to explode later.

Over in B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth #123 the apocalypse has been going for seemingly eighty issues or more. This issue visits Japan, and takes a traditional Toho monster approach to the end. A crazy scientist has seemingly pulled a giant monster out of nowhere, and it throws down with the creatures that the B.P.R.D.'s fared so poorly against. These last two issues were billed as jumping-on points, and while they're not bad, between this book and Abe Sapien, it feels like the apocalypse has gone so long it's losing a little steam. ("The Broken Equation, part 2 of 2" Written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, art by Joe Querio.)

Similarly, Satellite Sam #10 is billed as the conclusion of the second story arc, but the titular mystery of "Who Killed Satellite Sam?" is seemingly no closer to being answered! Yet, like Trees, it's playing a longer game and building up to an explosion. A five-part finale is set for 2015, so it's nice to know the end is at least in sight; and the book continues to be cheeky and smutty in individual installments. ("Keyhole and Welt; Shadow, Seam, Heel" Written by Matt Fraction, art by Howard Chaykin.)

Lastly, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #33 moves forward some recent plot points--the disappearance of most of the Lost Light's crew, the mystery of Rodimus Prime's corpse, and a measure of Megatron's altruism--as well as the reveal of a traitor who's been there since the beginning, and an appearance from a dead favorite. I don't know if I've enjoyed the issues as singles lately--too many questions up in the air!--but as part of a larger read it's a remarkable tapestry. ("Slaughterhouse, part 2: The Road Not Taken" Written by James Roberts, pencils by Alex Milne, inks by Brian Shearer and John Wycough.)

Now, maybe I can figure out where the previous issues of all these books are...

EDIT: I actually went back on the "OK this week's comics" tag, and saw the last time I reviewed most of these same titles...and said pretty close to the same things! Enjoyable, but installments of a larger whole. Seems to be a running theme.

Best explanation for Superman being Clark Kent I've heard lately, random 70's Action Comics...

I know Superman spent a good chunk of the seventies as a TV anchor for Galaxy Broadcasting, but I'm fuzzy on the start and end dates there. So when Clark gets fired at the start of Action Comics #452, I thought it might stick! From 1975, "The Loser--and New Champion!" Story by Jim Shooter, art by Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell.

Lois tries to cheer up Clark after he gets canned, but he has to ditch her so Superman can take care of an armed bomber at an oil refinery. The bomb turns out to be a fake, but Supes only finds that out by accident: he knows he doesn't have his head in the game today. Moreover, the bomber turns out to not only have super-strength, but he blocks metal fragments like Wonder Woman and her bracelets--and wants Superman to beat him! The bad guy almost foregoes his plan when he sees an opportunity to kick Superman's head off, but Supes rallies to win.

The owner of the refinery wants to make a donation in Superman's name, and he suggests the WGBS children's hospital fund. Clark nails what could be one of his final newcasts, but overhears with super-hearing a bit of good news and puts one over on Steve Lombard. But the bomber, Rick Lawrence, has posted bail, and has gone to confront the scientist that experimented on him, Sunder. Said experiments had been incredibly painful, but were supposed to mutate Lawrence's DNA to make him as strong as anyone he fights. And it works, after a delay: Lawrence gains the power of the fighter that last beat him. In a flashback, he explains how he took a shot at Wonder Woman, and gained her power; before deciding to go all out and pick a fight with Superman. You know, years later, I think they used something like that for Doomsday's origin...

Superman finds Lawrence before he kills Sunder, since he sprayed him with a "super-perfume" he could track anywhere on earth. Now in top form, Supes is still able to beat Lawrence, then takes him to the bottle city of Kandor, where he won't have powers. Except, wouldn't he still have Wonder Woman's powers? I think you'd be able to do a lot of damage there with those...oh, yeah, there's a bit of due process/extradition issue here too. Superman kinda disappeared that guy...

In the end, Clark still has his job--the refinery owner liked his work and signed on as a sponsor. He even manages to get another lunch with Lois, so not a bad day.

"Planning a Killing."

Secret weapon Nightcrawler? Next time!

When was the last time I read a proper comic with Ronan the Accuser? Maybe Annihilators: Earthfall, which featured him on a team with Beta Ray Bill, Quasar, and Gladiator. I'm far more used to seeing him as the villain, as in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. But we'll get to him soon.

There's still time! (To get this, not post today, apparently.)

Over at Humble Bundle, you can get a mountain of Star Trek books from IDW! From Gold Key reprints to John Byrne to the new movie universe, it's over 80 issues that you can download and take wherever! I got the Transformers bundle this summer, and enjoyed it quite a bit. And they're DRM-free, so you don't have to be connected to the internet to read them!

I'm most looking forward to reading Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive, which I thought had been billed as the last Borg story, but I could be mis-remembering that. Guess I'll see!

A scene I'd love to see in Marvel's Axis crossover:

God, I hate Cyclops. Although he may actually be more interesting as a villain. But he'd have to be...

I don't think we've seen Nightcrawler call Cyclops out yet. Kurt was going to quit the team before his death in "Second Coming," a death that couldn't have been more telegraphed if he'd announced he only had three days until retirement. Since then, the Phoenix-possessed Cyclops killed Professor Xavier, and Professor X and Nightcrawler had some time together in heaven before Kurt came back. Cyke and his current team showed up at a party celebrating Kurt's return, but Kurt played peacemaker (as usual) between Cyke and Wolverine. I'm not positive it's fair to call Cyclops a terrorist, but, well, maybe.

EDIT: Oh, and the Captain America/Wolverine encounter Cyke mentions is from Secret Wars, but that line may have a bit more negative connotation today.