"Cartography."

Is "slut-shaming" usually hyphenated? I did have to look up "impugn."

The little controller Kurt's holding in a couple panels was attached to the "wire" by a little piece of putty, then Kurt took a header between takes and I'm not sure where that piece got to. A little later, though; we see an accessory Deadpool's used before, that's a colossal pain in the butt to keep on him...

Farscape had more episodes and more comics: sick burn on you, Firefly...

Today's post is just a reminder I need to get the War for the Uncharted Territories trade, but I also need #2 of the first limited: from 2008, Farscape #1-4, "The Beginning of the End of the Beginning." Created and story by Rockne O'Bannon, script by Keith R.A. Decandido, art by Tommy Patterson.

I didn't pick these up when they came out, but I think I came to the show late, too: Set after the last episodes of the series, The Peacekeeper Wars mini-series; John Crichton and the crew of the Moya are looking for a new home to live out their lives in peace. "Peace" not being the default mode of the universe, this is proving more difficult than he'd thought. New mother Aeryn is having difficulty adjusting to her new role; and former Dominar Rygel continues his long quest to retake the throne of the Hynerian empire. That last one is probably going to cause the most trouble, especially since they've brought in a familiar face as an advisor...

It does occur to me, I have a lot of limited series where I have three issues out of four. And a lot of those were picked up at shows. Why that is, I couldn't say.

I don't think anything like the cover occurs this issue.

Oddly, I know I only got the Julie Schwartz tribute to this issue only recently, but here's a quick look at the original: from 1967, Justice League of America #53, "Secret behind the Stolen Super-Weapons!" Written by Gardner Fox, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Sid Greene. An oddly dressed inventor has built a matter transporter, which leaves "a reasonable copy" of the original behind, "an operation made necessary by the law of the conservation of matter and energy." That specifically wouldn't work like that; but the inventor is able to steal an antique coin from the Midway City Museum, and Green Arrow's arrows, Batman's utility belt, and Wonder Woman's magic lasso! For good measure, he also has an "animator" ray that he uses to bring to life statues of the doodang, the Monster of Leeds, the Ring-Tailed Roarer, and Paul Bunyan and Babe!

Any of which seems like enough to make a ton of cash without having to steal stuff from superheroes, but the inventor seems afraid of his teleporter's side-effect, a radiation that knocks out GA, WW, Batman and Hawkman and turns them invisible! And the League can't reverse-engineer the inventor's machine, since it was stolen by mobsters, or use Hawkman's radiation-detector...if only they knew someone who had a radiation-detector like his...the Atom points out, they totally do: Hawkgirl!

Who does all the heavy lifting the rest of this story, and should've been added to the JLA immediately. And now I'm wondering if there even is a Hawkgirl, Hawkwoman in the New 52. Maybe after that new TV show...

This one has a Mike Mignola cover...and that's about it.

From 1990, Conan the Barbarian #237, "Serpent of Dreams" Written by Michael Higgins, pencils by Gary Hartle, inks by Dan Adkins and Mike DeCarlo.

I'm not positive Conan's sales were down, or if it was just time for a new look; but in issue #232 Higgins and artist Ron Lim started a "Young Conan" storyline--that issue has a nice Higgins cover inked by Jim Lee, that was very reminiscent of classic Conan artist Barry Windsor-Smith. But Lim would leave the title on the fourth chapter out of nine, since he was penciling Captain America as the time. (And possibly a couple other books...)

This issue, after fouling up a robbery attempt, Conan's former rival and current friend Jorrma finds his head on the chopping block; but is saved by Conan. Who isn't mad or anything, why would he be? He's got a good buddy, and a hot girlfriend; which is driving Jorrma somewhat crazy with jealousy. For good measure, Jorrma also has a bizarre snake tattoo on his back that seems to have appeared from nowhere; and a mysterious witch and her demonic-looking brother plan how to use their pawn. In the middle of the night, swarms of snakes attack, and Jorrma turns into a snake-man that attacks his friends. Another rider appears and attacks Conan as well, and I'm not sure what his deal was, but he gets turned into another snake-man by Jorrma, then stabbed to death by Conan. Conan's already hacked one of Jorrma's arms off, but is about to really bring the fury, when Jorrma's power seemingly overloads and he sheds his skin, returning to normal; with no tattoo and his arm back. Jorrma's a bit freaked out, while Conan doesn't seem too worried one way or the other at this point.

Well, at least Higgins was trying something new; and avoided the trap of rehashing Robert E. Howard's stories again. Still, Jorrma's featured more centrally than Conan this ish, but it's pretty obvious he's not going to be around long...

I'm 90% sure I got this as a freebie from my local comic shop, and I appreciate the gesture...I know I also recently got issues of Secret Service and Green Team that I haven't even brought myself to open; so this issue's climbing in the rankings already! From 2010, Justice League: Rise and Fall Special #1, "Green Arrow Unbound" Written by J.T. Krul, pencils by Diogenes Neves, Mike Mayhew, and Fabrizio Fiorentino; and inks by Mike Mayhew, Vicente Cifuentes, and Ruy Jose.

The cover by Stanley Lau is kind of a spoiler, although I'm not sure Green Arrow murdered Prometheus this issue or a previous one. It's certainly hashed out here, along with GA's motives: the devastation of Star City, maiming his former sidekick Red Arrow, and killing his granddaughter Lian. (Well, "granddaughter," Roy wasn't Ollie's kid.) Ollie shoots Prometheus in the head and leaves the body to rot in the villain's extra-dimensional hideout. Which is easily accessible by the Shade, who takes Barry and Hal there. (Hal seems shocked, but Barry seems pissed.) Someone had been there, though: someone had stolen Prometheus's computerized helmet, then put the arrow back in his head! (Unless they cut the helmet off, which seems doubtful.)

Replacement heroes Wally and Dick take down D-lister Razer, while worrying about their friend Roy. They also wonder if they're better than Roy, or just luckier. (I'm gonna go with better, since Roy was probably shooting heroin into his arm stump after this issue...)

Meanwhile, GA and Black Canary have been tracking the Electrocutioner, who GA refers to as Prometheus's "triggerman." Canary has to forcibly stop Ollie from murdering him, then realizes Ollie isn't looking for Prometheus because he already knows what happened to him. Barry and Hal confront Ollie with the body, and Ollie points out Barry had broken the Reverse-Flash's neck. Pfft, like 26, 27 years ago. And he didn't lie about it. Well, Ollie may not so much have lied as not volunteered info; but that's for a lawyer to figure out. Ollie helps himself to Prometheus's cosmic key and teleports away, with Flash proclaiming the JLA needs to find him before he kills again! Geez, Barry, settle down. I think this was setting up Green Arrow's last series before the New 52 soft reboot, but I'm not sure Ollie would suffer any consequences for killing Prometheus.

"Ready."

I think it was a Peter David comic--90% sure it was the second issue of Star Trek: The Next Generation--The Modala Imperative--where an aged McCoy remarks that if Captain Kirk had a ready room like Picard did, he would've never gone back to his quarters. Of course Pool is aping that here, but he could do worse! We'll see if I could cobble together a little model of his prior ship, the Bea Arthur, for him...

The doors Kurt puts his foot through were from a Ultimate Spider-Man Web Warriors Trickshot Showdown set, which I picked up for under four bucks and didn't put any stickers on. The doors scream Star Trek to me...

I mentioned some time back that I appear to be blogging an issue or two of Warlord a year (and blogged another proper issue and that crappy Convergence since!) and it's not really intentional, but why not hit another one now? From 1984, Warlord #77, "Let My People Go!" Written by Cary Burkett, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Dan Adkins.

Shamballah and neighboring Kaambuka have been invaded by New Atlantis--this Atlantis being unrelated to Aquaman, Namor, Spongebob, or such. But while Travis had a flashback to old Atlantis some issues back that made it seem OK, the New Atlanteans are monstrous. Sometimes literally: most of their officers were mutated Beast-Men...which, with few exceptions, mostly looked like regular medieval-style troops but with like a bear head or something. A little low-end, but probably perfect for action figures, not unlike the Warlord figures advertised this very issue! (I don't think the Beast-Men were specifically intended to become toys, because I don't think they did; although there's any number of He-Man knock-offs with the big muscley body and a beast-head!)

While supporting characters Shakira and Scarheart rescue Kaambuka's King Ashir, Travis and Tara share a moment at the lake: this war is horrible by any measure, with war crimes and atrocities and refugees and death, and it is about the best of both worlds for the Warlord. He gets battle, without having to leave his wife, and that's a win-win for him; even if Travis isn't going to examine that too closely. They're interrupted by the bard Graemore, Tara's childhood love; and Travis suspects him of swiping the odd metal cartridge stamped "U.S.A.F." that he had found in a mysterious cavern of weapons. The reader sees an odd, hairy hand take it, though.

Elsewhere, a New Atlantean force attacks a seemingly undermanned castle, only to be driven away by giant monsters. The castle formerly belonged to Deimos, and is now the home of sorceress supreme Jennifer Morgan, who spooks the troops with illusions, but now wants to find out more about the invaders. Later, Travis rallies his forces to attack a New Atlantean slave caravan, freeing the slaves and then capturing a galley. Next, Travis and Tara plan to sail to the cavern of weapons...which of course is not going to go as plan, but there are some big detours coming! Which is probably why the New Atlantean invasion would go on until the somewhat underwhelming finish in issue #100.

Also this issue: Episode twelve of "The Barren Earth!" While Jinal has lost all of her stranded shipmates from the first episode, she has fought hard to survive, made friends among the native humans, and forged some allies between different races. Still, the threat of the alien Qlov lingers overhead, so her discovery of a working Federation space cruiser is a godsend. That of course is taken away before the end of this chapter, by mysterious hooded types who remotely control the ship and destroy it. I absolutely wouldn't blame Jinal for being a little discouraged at this point, but she realizes somebody had the power to control her ship, and it may be time to look for them...I wish DC would relaunch this one, but I already know it's not "meat-and-potatoes" enough for their current business plan.

I wonder if Batman and Nightwing called him "Wrathchild" to his face...

Today's an issue that I was excited for when it was first announced...then forgot about, then picked up a marked-down copy of last week: from 2008, Batman Confidential #16, "Wrath Child, Conclusion" Written by Tony Bedard, pencils by Rags Morales, inks by Mick Gray and Rodney Ramos.

I was looking forward to the return of the Wrath from Batman Special #1, and good news: he's got a costume pretty close to the original, not the nondescript armor of the New 52 version. The original Wrath died pretty definitively in his first appearance, so this storyline features his protege out for revenge: this Wrath is a little closer to guest-star Nightwing than Batman, and that's his downfall.

With Alfred hacking child protective services databases for orphans whose parents were killed by police, Batman and Nightwing deduce the Wrath's real name, Elliot Caldwell. They also realize Elliot wasn't the Wrath's only protege: he had kidnapped four other kids for "training," only Elliot had survived. He knew the Wrath never loved him, but while shaken, he's game to take on Batman and Nightwing together. Their teamwork and partnership kicks the Wrath's ass metaphorically--his beating isn't even pictured, he's just in jail on the last page!

Perhaps this would have held up better if I read all of the previous issues, although I suspect they were mostly callbacks to the Batman Special: the new Wrath going after Commissioner Gordon and the old Wrath's old girlfriend. And while he's far better known for his work on Identity Crisis, I liked Morales's work way back when on the AD&D comic Forgotten Realms. Such a fun, charming book; he's changed his style a bit since then...not sure if for the better. Well, perhaps the first three issues of "Wrath Child" will trickle in later.

The Hodge and the Podge:

My unread pile is appallingly high, and we haven't even mentioned two I'm in the middle of: a used copy of Essential Spider-Man #8 (which has the Faustus issue we checked out a bit ago) the third DVD set of Batman: the Animated Series ($12.99 at Costco! Get 'em while you can!) and the Humble Bundle Dungeons & Dragons bundle! The latter is pretty great, and I haven't even got to the 1991 Forgotten Realms series yet. Love that one...

The issue of Convergence I picked up was garbage, yet I still picked up a pile of ninety-nine cent crossover issues: Adventures of Superman, Booster Gold, Infinity Inc., Batman and the Outsiders, and the last issue of the Atom. Betting I could probably get at least a few of the Secret Wars limiteds on the cheap later; in fact, got M.O.D.O.K.: Assassin #1 for a buck, too.

I did pick up a great, old figure...that I can't talk about yet, since it's a surprise in an upcoming strip! But I also picked up a few Minimates: the Shanna the She-Devil/Reaper set for $2, and the Walgreens exclusive Star-Lord/Groot/Rocket. And DC Collectibles Pandora for four bucks! Haven't read any comics with her, but worth a look for the price. Oddly, she almost appeared dusty in package: her rubbery cowl and cape have an oily residue on them. It wipes right off, so if you're interested, don't let that stop you.

There's still more in the unread pile I've been meaning to get to for a while: most of Metamorpho: Year One has been waiting for me, and so has the new Baltimore: the Cult of the Red King. Soon...

The Crime Doctor would be ripe for a comeback, if not for the Obamacare jokes...

The cover to this issue is pretty breathless: "Who is this man? How did he learn Batman is Bruce Wayne? What will he do with that knowledge?" From 1980, Detective Comics #494, "The Crime Doctor Calls at Midnight!" Written by Michael Fleisher, art by Dan Newton and Bob Smith. Said cover does make the Crime Doctor look like a bit of a thug or slasher, when in actuality he's pretty suave. Dr. Bradford Thorne makes a pretty penny planning criminal heists and treating banged-up crooks, which he funnels into medical services for the poor: he's not in it for the money, but the thrill.

When Batman is hurt beyond Alfred's medical skills, and his regular physician Dr. Dundee on vacation--this being pre-Crisis, so Alfred wasn't the accomplished combat medic we would see later, and Dundee knew Batman's identity--Bruce Wayne is forced to visit Dr. Thorne for treatment of a "fencing wound." Both are in attendance of a society party later, but as Bruce leaves after seeing the Bat-Signal, Thorne gets an emergency page on his beeper for the Crime Doctor! His "house call" is helping a gang rob a drug company of interferon; a crime he finds distasteful since patients needed the drug. When Batman shows up to fight the gang, Thorne blinds him with his headlamp, then slices him with a scalpel, exposing the dressing he had placed earlier! The gang flees with the interferon, leaving a bomb to take care of Batman and the Crime Doctor!

This was a 68-page issue, and only 16 pages were this story! Worse, I don't have the next issue!

But the Crime Doctor seems like an OK guy for a criminal mastermind there, whereas in the first issue I saw him he was a straight-up gangster baddie: from 1987, Detective Comics #579, "The Crime Doctor's Crimson Clinic" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Norm Breyfogle. Batman and Robin (Jason!) know the Crime Doctor is back in down after they fight a gang trying to rob a bank...a blood bank! The Crime Doctor wanted a good stock for an upcoming heart surgery on a mob boss, while a low-level thug says good-bye to his family, since he's going to be the heart donor!

It's a fun, one-and-done issue, although I don't know how the Crime Doctor just plumb forgot Batman's secret identity...yet. We'll find it sooner or later...

"Patsy."

How did Hellcat get there so fast? Find out next time!