My local Comic Book Shop does a great job of presentation, and has two other locations that are hubs for card gaming; but you know me: I'm there for the cheap comics, and those they can throw in a pile and I'll root through them like a raccoon through your trash. Recently, they've even had some bona-fide quarter comics: old boxes full of them, pulled from storage, ready to be dug through again. Although, I find something like this, and I wonder why I missed it before: I haunt the cheap books! Was...was I sick? Anyway, at least we finally get today's book: from 1981, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1, story and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.
The GCD calls this the first creator-owned comic: that might not be strictly true, since Joe Kubert retained rights to TOR back in '59, and Simon and Kirby himself owned Fighting American as well. But this was new, in a retro sci-fi way: in deep space, Captain Victory and his crew discover another earth-like planet has suffered a "takeover," stripped of resources and ruined by invaders. Although he calls his executive officer Klavus a hothead, the Captain still straps a "portable command unit" to his head and gets up to the bridge, despite repeated warnings that it would come under heavy fire, since the enemy "hated his guts." The portable command unit might seem a bit silly and dated now, but you know, it was probably solid-state, resistant to jamming, decent head protection--eee, maybe not, Captain Victory is killed like nine pages into this thing, but the crew fights on, since this maybe wasn't an unusual happening. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, the Lightning Lady makes her escape: she seems somehow sad to have had to kill Victory, and wants to create a hive somewhere the Rangers won't find them. Her regent has found a planet, out in the proverbial sticks, that might suit them...
Meanwhile, as you might expect, Captain Victory is revived in a new clone body--his tenth! Klavus mentions he could run out of them, but the doctors seem to enjoy the idea that now "our idols can die with magnificent regularity!" Kirby may have been on to something there. After deploying a "world-killer" to destroy the hive planet, Victory and crew take off after the Lightning Lady, catching up to them on earth. Which isn't a big dramatic reveal there, since we already knew that's where the Insectons were headed, but it's still like a page turn and Victory's on earth, talking to a couple highway cops in Colorado, as his dreadnaught "Tiger" fires into the hills at the unseen enemy. I think the cops serve a narrative purpose: somebody for Victory to talk to there, that would need explanations and be suitably impressed by the goings-on; as opposed to Klavus, who might be a bit of a buzzkill.
I hadn't read this series before, but got like six or so from the quarter box. Kind of hoping more turn up! I had seen Captain Victory before only briefly, in the tail end of the abortive Kurt Busiek/Keith Giffen Kirbyverse crossover Victory #1. His uniform (and hair!) seems less bombastic there, almost like fancy navy; kind of like the transition from original Star Trek to the Star Trek II uniforms. Victory is also seemingly taking over earth, but also perhaps without malice: it's for our own good, we're stupid baby primates. Can't really argue with him there.
Monday, September 29, 2025
A week or two ago, I picked up a batch of McFarlane DC figures, which I don't always since I don't usually love the scale, but he was doing a Metron and I didn't have the DC Universe Classics version. It would've been more expensive, but I wonder if I shouldn't have held out for the DCUC: McFarlane's Metron doesn't sit as well, the chair feels a smidge small, and is open/unfinished on the back side. Now granted, McFarlane probably figures who's going to open that thing, and who would even display the back side; but it still feels like you're getting about half of the Mobius Chair. (There is a chase version in black, for reasons.) Also, for those of you keeping track, this is like the third bald McFarlane figure I've bought largely for their chair, after Black Adam and Lex Luthor, although they were both seriously marked down--wait, is Metron bald under his little hood-cap-whatever? Also, I forget why Lex was in, as Vixen put it in a year-end post, "Darkseid-Superman cosplay", but he's got at least part of that going in today's book, which was sitting in the blog pile for some time because I had five issues and no goddamn idea what order to read them in, if any. From 2016, Justice League: Darkseid War: Lex Luthor #1, "The Omega Judgment" Written by Francis Manapul, art by Bong Dazo.
I'm really not up on New 52-era Justice League, but I think this was from a stretch where Lex was, at least in practice, a member of the League: I could be wrong on the reasoning, but I think his argument was, earth was his home and he could defend it just as well if not better than any stupid Kryptonian, especially since he wouldn't be encumbered by stuff like "morality" or "laws," so nyah. I don't know if they fully committed to the bit, and made Lex an official, card-carrying member; or if they left it open so when the inevitable backslide came they could say he was never "really" a Justice Leaguer. This issue, with Darkseid allegedly dead, Lex had the Omega power; and was being instructed by a woman named Ardora, who may have been one of the "Lowlies." She wanted Lex to use the power against those still enforcing Darkseid's rule, but also makes it clear she would stand beside Lex, but not beneath him. Lex then wonders if others would follow him, what did he need her for, and tries to use the power to murder her. Not being in control of it yet, he blows up most of a rock face, leaving him hanging off a cliff.
There are several flashbacks this issue, that try but maybe don't quite explain why Lex is the way he is: his dad leaves him to get himself out of a dry well after he falls in, telling him only the weak ask for help, "the strong find a way to succeed." Later, Lex tries to browbeat Perry White into killing a story, and is furious at Perry's defiance. (Luthor also says he had asthma as a child, which I'm not sure has been mentioned before or since?) Later still, Lex lets himself fall, rather than let Superman save him: I'm not sure how Lex made it out of that one, unless Superman still saved him regardless. Ardora tries to get Lex to simply ask for help, but ultimately has to go a step further, and jump off the cliff and fall with Lex, which ultimately gets him to accept help and opens him up to the Omega power, saving them both. Ardora tells him, gods need not be alone, and introduces Lex to his army...of Parademons! (They look impressive, but remember, as usual, conservation of ninjutsu rules apply: one Parademon is a terrifying, implacable ogre. An army of them are creampuffs.)
I grabbed four other Darkseid War books from the dollar bins, but didn't get the Darkseid War Special, which is probably the conclusion--no, looks like it ran in the regular book from #46 or so to #50. Shoot, I think I have some JL #50's, but not thatJL #50? Oh, comics.
There's two more Legends of the Dead Earth annuals next to me, and I have to dig the Aquaman and Starman ones out of my garage--yeesh, that'll be a job! But I found this one in a great haul today, in a fancy archival holder, that I went ahead and popped open so I could cram it in the scanner: from 1996, Sovereign Seven Annual #2, "Memento Mori" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Rick Leonardi, inks by Klaus Janson and Steve Mitchell.
I know I read the first issue of Sovereign Seven back in '95, and I'm pretty sure DC getting Claremont was a coup at the time. Before that, I know I had been reading his Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species, which was hindered by being a bimonthly limited--twelve issues over the course of a little over two years--as well as hitting some tropes he had already used in his X-Men years. Anyway, I'm going to compare S7 to a book from one of his former collaborators: Marc Silvestri's Cyberforce #1. Both those first issues are polished-looking, throw a ton of new characters at you, that already have their own history and team dynamic, as well as bad guys that have seemingly been fighting them for years: both of those books wanted to beX-Men, right out of the gate, without doing the tedious business of years of setting up. Neither would get there, although to be fair, Cyberforce has run sporadically in the years since; while Sovereign Seven would wrap after a three year run, and be retconned away from the DC Universe. (The book was creator owned, so it couldn't be used elsewhere, which may or may not have hurt it.)
This issue, at the Crossroads Coffee House, it's the end of the universe, and one of the proprietors, Lucy, watches the last star burn out. Well, they had a good run; and she reminisces over the night they first met the heroes of Sovereign Seven, which, in linear time, depending on what theory of the end of the universe you subscribe to, could've been several trillion years ago!...you might hope something else memorable happened in that time.
But, the house band shows up, then more and more, as various memories of events readers wouldn't have seen yet pass by: Aquaman dueling Fatale, for reasons not yet known. The wedding, and death, of Cruiser. Rampart defending Christians against his fellow Muslims, then later becoming President of the United States! Cascade, enslaved in the future, by Network, which somehow involves Saturn Girl of the Legion! (Cascade is either telepathically forced out of her armor, or cybernetically hacked, and forced to kneel like a dog before a dominatrix-like woman: even in a Claremont book, that's a really Claremonty bit!) Nightcrawler-lookalike Indigo shows at the coffeehouse to try and cheer up Daisy, who knows he was long dead, but he seems to think not. Likewise, in the 30th Century, a Kitty Pryde-type rescues "Summer Grey" from the government, and she really looks like Rachel Summers! (By that point, 'Network' seems to be a resistance group against an oppressive government; although having not read the other 35 issues or the Sovereign Seven Plus The Legion book, I could be wrong!)
The overall effect, for me anyway, is like the Simpsons episode "Pygmoelian," where thinking he's going to be written off of the soap opera he was starring in since becoming handsome, Moe conspires with Homer to get even, by spilling a ton of the soap's "top secret storylines." I find it weird when writers do that, you might be able to use some of that stuff later.
In the end, after a night of memories and friends, including cameos from Deadman, Lobo, Enemy Ace, and more; the cosmos appears to be starting up again, a brand new day. "The world will end but love and music endureth." Hey, nothing wrong with that.
Seriously, I'm not sure Batman could get away with that. This is one I knew of, and I knew one of the surprises going in, but it still won me over! From 1985, the Shadow War of Hawkman #1-4, written by Tony (now Jenny Blake) Isabella, pencils by Richard Howell, inks by Alfredo (P.) Alcala.
I usually give Hawkman a bit of the business on this blog, because his continuity has been wrecked so many times it feels deliberate now--Geoff Johns had it pretty much shored back together in JSA, and I think it's been broke two more times since then! And he had some unflattering moments in various Justice League turns: he was often the conservative, authority voice to play off the more liberal and rebellious Green Arrow; then in the DeMatteis/Giffen era he had a brief stint as a humorless prig, not even good as a straight man. To be fair, he's hardly a jokester, but he's in a good place at the start of this mini, which was tying into most of Katar and Shayera's continuity to that point. Earth is invaded, subtly and quietly, by an unknown number of shadowy men from a shadowy planet (not those ones!) who seem to start by forcing a small-time cat burglar to rob the Emmett house, home of the former police commissioner, where Carter and Shiera Hall were currently staying, in order to steal the Hawks' anti-gravity devices.
For their part, the Hawks are about as happy as can be, although Katar is a little grumpy after beating up some thugs after senior citizens; since by earth standards he was twice those seniors' age. (Which might explain why he sometimes seems a bit stodgy! And it's given as a roundabout reason why Shayera kept the Hawkgirl monicker for so long.) They had come to earth so many years ago on a case, then stayed to "study earth policing techniques," but earth had long since become home, partly because Thanagar was a mess. An alien had "equalized" the populace, averaging them out and making them all the same; then the alien tyrant Hyathis had taken over, just on the promise of a partial cure. (Hyathis is the third of three alien tyrants typically seen in JLA books; Despero and Kanjar Ro are probably better known.) When they arrive to finish setting up an exhibit at the museum, they overhear art director Mavis Trent getting into an argument, where she blames Shiera for the Halls being late, because she wants Carter, bad, married or not. Carter gets called away by the burglar alarm he set up at their new place, where he fights the shadowy men, who disintegrate the cat burglar, burning a negative shadow into the wall. The shadow men don't think they're a match for a furious Hawkman, and retreat when they receive word that their second squad destroyed their objective, which doesn't seem to have been their goal.
Hawkman quickly realizes, the shadow men had wanted his anti-gravity belt; and races back to the museum...to find the horrifying shadow of Hawkwoman, burned into the wall! (Spoilers after the break, or at least that's where I tried to put them, the blog's not playing ball today!)
You've probably guessed they weren't going to kill Hawkwoman there, but it's still a solid ending, and largely fair-play. Hawkman, brutally grieving, destroys a lot of his Thanagarian/alien stuff, to prevent it falling into the wrong hands, while matter-of-factly bringing police captain Frazier into his confidence, and putting on a pair of spiked cestus gloves. (Actually, that looks like just a strap with spikes, but I don't think I'd want to be on the business end of that.)
Katar uses some tech, to trace the shadowy men's weapons, and is dismayed to discover, they were from Thanagar! Thanagar had recently decided to conquer the universe, and what better place to start than earth...also, they had lost their anti-grav tech, and needed to steal it back from the Hawks, so...But, they did have some tech of their own, as well: the Absorbascon, with which they could read the minds of anyone on earth, except the Hawks. So, Carter isn't even able to get help, since anyone he told, the Thanagarians would know. They also hook one of their own up to the Absorbascon, as punishment for failing, which is a fair bit of horror, since it chews that guy's mind up.
Anyway, there's the double meaning of the "shadow war," which I can't remember if I knew before; and I'm also not sure if this was the first heel-turn for the Thanagarians, who previously were fairly bland victims that always needed saving, like Adam Strange's Rannians. While the Hawks have stayed cool, the Thanagarians are by-and-large dicks when encountered since. (I don't know if this is supported by the material, but it feels like the Thanagarians got hurt once and have been lashing out ever since.)
I have a few trades of the prior Dark Horse series, Empire, but I don't think I had read any of this one. So of course, let's hop in mid-stream! From 2007, Star Wars: Rebellion #9, "The Ahakista Gambit, part 4" Story by Brandon Badeaux and Rob Williams, script by Rob Williams, art by Michel Lacombe. Cover by Ryan Sook.
This issue is the point in the mission where everything goes wrong, but when the leader has a bomb in his head from a crime boss, you're already starting on the wrong foot. Their Imperial contact hasn't lowered the force field, as she managed to drop Vader's name and bluff her way past a brutish officer, who then follows up on sexually harassing her and holds up the works. (I wonder if there wasn't a disconnect somewhere, or someone was thinking of another character: the Imperial officer Bex is a modest brunette inside, and a blonde model on the cover?) While waiting for the field to drop, the two party members with lightsabers have turned on each other: one had killed the other's master, yet in a reversal of that usual trope, it's the bad guy trying to avenge his fallen master! The leader's love interest and gun girl admits she knows about the bomb in the leader's head--she put it there, she had been working for the crime boss for years, but was still trying to get him through this one.
But, chased by Vader and Stormtroopers, a local resistance leader manages to get off a shot with a rocket launcher. He stands up to Vader and is immediately killed, but might have turned the tide: the force field had dropped, and the lightsaber fight is interrupted as the fallen Jedi is forced to use the Force to keep from being crushed by a statue, and Vader senses that. Which might have just pointed him at all of them...
It's pretty obvious not all of the cast here was probably going to make it out alive, but the next issue might still have some surprises. I lucked into those other trades on the cheap, I'll have to see if I can get all of this one.
1. So there's an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Hal wants to take the boys out for a fun excursion before Lois has the new baby, but because nothing ever goes right there, instead of a monster truck rally they arrive at a bridal fair, and they already paid for parking, so...the whole episode, there's a subtle running gag where every time we see a musician or hear music, it's a version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration." Anyway, I could probably set something up like that with covers of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love." I don't think I heard it before like a year ago, and it's been covered about 18 million times. Tough to get wrong, really, it's that good.
2. Sometimes I just want to do a post of random nonsense; and I always liked the style of 70's era Marvel Bullpen Bulletins, although I'm not going to shout "ITEM!" at the start of each point. The last time I did one of these I was mired in overtime and foggy; now I'm back to regular hours and have a ton more free time...and am starting to miss the overtime cash, since I've recently gone way off-budget: I ordered an extrathe Prisoner figure from Wandering Planet's Kickstarter, the fancy new Conan figure, I had to get a loose Marvel Legends Shanna since I missed the set in August, I bought a batch of McFarlane figures. (The latter was a little disappointing, but we'll maybe see some later!) Huh, I pre-ordered Rachel Summers, that shiny pinless Surfer, and Man Without Fear Daredevil. Ugh, I might have to get back to work...
3. Well, I could probably save some money by dropping Disney+ and Paramount Plus, since the corporate heads of both seem bound and determined to pre-cave to whatever the Trump administration vaguely threatens to do, or to smooth the path for yet another merger so maybe only two entities have all the IP and all the money instead of three. It's just galling that a lot of things I love--Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel--are in the hands of people that aren't going to fight for them the way you might prefer. Actually, it seems like they're going to take the policy of "give the baby his bottle" for the foreseeable future, and just keep their heads down and hope they aren't noticed. Of course, another good reason to drop Disney and Paramount is that I think I can count on my thumbs how many times either of them have had two new shows I wanted to watch running at the same time: really feels like I'm paying the sub fees for one show a week at best. (In fairness: I don't think a lot of viewers liked the most recent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes; but I did? All the continuity doesn't seem like it's going to line up right, but after years of comics god knows I'm used to that.)
What is actually decent value for the money? Tubi!...since it's free and all. Actually, I think I'm enjoying it because it has a surprisingly deep roster of forgotten and obscure movies, kind of like Disney and Paramount both did at first. Those two would then clear out about everything except the new crap they were pushing incessantly, and the occasional franchise they were somehow caretakers of. (I mention this while making eye contact with Paramount: their horror selection is terrible, but they've got all the Paranormal Activity movies, a franchise that's best known not for the movies or the scares, but for being stupid profitable because each installment was made for about forty bucks, figuratively.) The other day on Tubi I watched Gunbus, which had also been called Sky Bandits, where a couple dynamite-happy bank robbers end up as pilots in World War I: it's cheery, agreeably dumb viewing that the streamers you pay for wouldn't know what to do with, but a fun throwback to the kind of afternoon movie that used to be on TV. The downside is, of course, like TV you're at the mercy of ads: during A Better Tomorrow III there was a David Spade sporting goods commercial at an inopportune time that I cursed out like it owed me money, and not just because I hadda see David Spade. Later, I watched a lesser Chow Yun-Fat number, Rich and Famous, and was trying to remember where I'd seen this meme:
(20 minutes into any Hong Kong action movie, when they intro the 'comedy relief')
STINKY DICK: H-h-h-hello, my name is Stinky Dick, I stutter, and sexually harass women.
Boo, get outta here.
(90 minutes in, Stinky Dick gets stabbed 37 times and explodes)
Bastards! They got Stinky Dick!
Swear to god, I don't know if it just in the subtitles, maybe somebody just insulting him, but I swear the sneezing comedy relief was actually called Stinky Dick! And he's useless through most of the film, then totally redeems himself in the end!
Chow Yun-Fat is not in that one as much as the trailer implies: he's the "good" mob boss, and two adopted brothers start working for him, Goofus and Gallant style: one is loyal and reliable, the other a bigmouth suckup. Anyway, the fact that Tubi has even got a decent batch of Hong Kong action flicks is impressive: Hard Boiled and the Killer are both on there, and if you haven't, drop this and go see them now. Oh, and I couldn't sleep the other night, so I watched the oddball Motivational Growth, and whatever they pay Jeffrey Combs, they should pay him more.
4. I haven't had as good of a summer biking as I did the last couple years, but that's probably on me, since I've been a big baby about getting too far away from my house: I don't want to be fifteen miles out and blow a tire or rupture a testicle or something. That said, I might do something I've wanted to forever, and take my old bike into the shop and have it fixed back up. It won't be cheap, except as compared to buying a new bike. I'll still have my current bike for riding around town and such, but if I get that baby going again I swear I'll treat her like a princess: I'll only ride it on the pristine bike trails, not the filthy glass-ridden streets. (The tires are more narrow on that one, which will be mildly perilous at first but feel a gazillion times faster.) Something to look forward to then, although I probably still have another month and a half, two months, this season; before it's indoor bike trudgery again.
5. This one, I was worried was a warning sign of depression: I have zero interest in football so far this year. That might be because it's well over 80 degrees out even still and it doesn't feel like football time; but I also thought the NFL would be a bit too rah-rah America for me right now. And I'm eating lower-carb, and don't need to be exposed to a ton of ads for stuff I'm not eating right now. And I hate gambling ads: I've been doing this blog long enough that it remembers when the NFL's official line was "gambling is bad" and the NFL doesn't even pretend anymore. And I've never paid to watch a football game, and I'll be cold in my grave before I watch a goddamn game on YouTube or Amazon. And the Cowboys are going to be awful: I don't blame the players or general staff, but somehow Jerry Jones is going to continue making a ton of money off the team even if they never win two playoff games in a row again in his lifetime, or mine. Prove me wrong, guys! Prove me wrong. Maybe I'll feel differently before the season is over, but for now if I'm in on Sunday, I'll think I'll put on DVD's. Or, like I did this Sunday, go on a downloading spree over at Internet Archive! That and I fell off Nine Inch Nails like, um, almost thirty years ago? An ex...actually, a couple exes ruined them for me; but I was listening to the new Tron: Uprising soundtrack, and saw some others I liked, so back I guess?
6. I'm getting older--which, admittedly, is generally how it works, and obviously, if I remember when Nine Inch Nails was a new band--but I still don't take any medication or anything regularly. Which I mention because I'm somehow still exposed to a seemingly dangerous amount of ads for assorted drugs. If you live outside of the U.S.--first of all, congratulations--but in this country, and maybe only New Zealand, "direct to consumer" drug advertising is allowed. This is in the hopes that you the viewer will then decide that such-and-such will cure your specific ailments, and that you'll hound your doctor to prescribe it to you, as opposed to maybe letting your doctor figure out what you need? God, I hate business. This is also a downside to an aging population: if you're young and hip enough that you don't watch TV with ads like a medieval peasant, you probably aren't seeing them, but rest assured they're annoying as hell and have set both society and musical theatre back like two hundred years. I have no goddamn idea what my "A-1-C" is and I don't care to learn, and Jardiance could taste like pumpkin pie and friggin' cure death, I still won't take it: I hate their ads that much. (OK, a generic, maybe; presumably it tastes like pumpkin pie without whipped cream.) Also, it's cool cool cool that this country's trying to roll back birth control and abortion rights, but sanitized generic Viagra spots on TV are acceptable. Raise the double standard!
That said, I am going to schedule Covid and flu shots. I'm curious, if they'll ask if I "need" them because of a pre-existing condition. Yeah, I'd die of guilt if I didn't do something easy and instead got somebody else sick; how's that? RFK's lunacy has worn thin for me--like New York's current Mayor Adams, he was amusing in a guy-yelling-on-a-street-corner fashion, but definitely not somebody that should be making decisions like he is. I'm pretty sure he has some opinions--and, god forbid, plans--about autism, that I find beyond reprehensible. I gotta admit, he worries me.
7. OK, a more cheerful point: Dark Horse is collecting Nerd Inferno: the Essential Evan Dorkin! Milk & Cheese! Dork!The Eltingville Club! Dead serious here: I have probably 95% or more of that already and I am so buying this one. How to put this...there a lot of creators and storytellers out there that I like, or I enjoy their work. Dorkin might be one of the few that I genuinely admire. He's always been up-front about his shortcomings and failings--I don't think a lot of people would be as open about projects that didn't work as he is, or his anxiety problems. And through it all, he has done stuff that just makes me laugh, even years later. Get it, get it, get it.
...oh, that's "Off to kill a wizard." My bad. From 1993, Motormouth and Killpower #10, "The Saving Graces" Written by John Freeman (based on a story by Graham Marks), art by Rosie Mendoza.
This issue, on their way to a Faith No More concert (which probably isn't appropriate for Killpower, since he was mentally what, eight?) the pair's Moped technology (not like that, it was dimension-hopping tech implanted in Motormouth) takes them to a medieval, barbaric world; complete with evil wizards and the swordswoman Sabra, who bears a distinct resemblance to long-running sci-fi heroine Axa. Motormouth gets zapped away for a bit, coming back with a gun and a caption box saying it would be explained in a future issue, but she only had two left, so I'm not sure it was?
As per the usual generic prophecy, Motormouth and Killpower are the chosen ones, the fabled "Saving Graces," from a prophecy allegedly written by Motormouth herself. With the wizard's power waning, and his werewolf forces reverting to men, he uses what was left of his power for a final curse, leaving a shiny brooch for Motormouth to find, prick her finger on, and go all Sleeping Beauty. It takes a bit, but the prophecy does mention that Killpower could wake her with a kiss on the cheek, which he sheepishly does, and embarrassedly doesn't mention to her later.
Also this issue: a USPS Statement of Ownership, which again, I believe means somebody was subscribing to this one? Or it was an option, anyway. Average number of copies sold during preceding 12 months (total paid circulation): 25,228. Actual number sold for issue nearest filing date (total paid circulation): 94,510. That feels like a big bump! Best guess from checking Mike's, but that 94K was probably #7, with Cable on the cover. Which, not unlike this issue, feels like Motormouth was often like the third lead in what used to be her own book!
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Good news: I got another big ol' pile of dollar books from the Comic Book Shop the other day; including a few I had really been looking for! Bad news, and this is very much a First World Problem: a lot of them were double-bagged, in these extra-fancy Ultra-Pro Comic Sleeves. It's not quite like cracking open a slabbed book, but it's also not conducive to just picking one up and reading it. I know I picked up three issues of Garth Ennis Legends of the Dark Knight because I wanted to read that story again, but I should really go find the reader copies I already have and not pop these open...On the other hand, I didn't quite remember if I had read this one before--I had, and I remember now why I memory-holed it--and it did not need to be in the fancy holder. Unless it was there to keep readers out, in which case it should've tried harder. From 1994, Green Lantern Annual #3, "Ring of Evil" Written by David de Vries, pencils by Dean Zachary, inks by Andrew Pepoy.
Let's see here: over the years, we've blogged Green Lantern Annual #5, part of Legends of the Dead Earth; Green Lantern Annual #7, part of the 1998 "Ghosts" annual event; Annual #8, part of 1999's JLApe, and even 2013's Green Lantern Annual #2 (part of "Lights Out," which didn't get a tag!) 2018's Green Lanterns Annual #1 and the 2021 Green Lantern Annual #1 with Jessica Cruz. And I need a new copy of GL Annual #6, super sci-fi pulpy goodness with Kyle! I mention all of this, not just to show I've read too much Green Lantern, but because you would be happier reading any of those, this book is full of Nazi stuff. And not in the usual fun comics way of Nazis getting punched the hell out, either; they get a ton of page time and build-up. (Also, every time I see this cover, I think that's a slightly different cover logo, and I wonder why it wasn't used again: because it was used on this one, that's why!)
First up, this was an Elseworlds annual, and I don't think the creators went into this with any ill intent. The whole thing reminds me of the Star Trek episode "Patterns of Force." Instead of rings from space, or however Alan Scott got his ring (It's probably changed in-continuity, but I've seriously forgotten! I want to say he carved it himself from a bigger ring but that can't be right.) the power ring this issue is...created by Heinrich Himmler in WWII? Not even a knock-off like Hindlich Hinder or anything either, straight-up Himmler. In a ritual that seems to involve summoning a demonic entity and sucking the souls of some of his men into the ring, he charges up a ring with an SS/lightning bolts logo; and basically wins the war from there. Fifty or so years later, America is formally Nazified, as we see SS Major Guy Gardner and Flight Lieutenant Hal Jordan getting Iron Crosses from a Reich dame in an SS bathing suit, which might be believable if she wasn't actually the boss: I think in recent years we've kinda seen what fascists think of women. The woman senses a man in the crowd, who looks like he's dressed like a medieval monk, complete with rope belt: oh, yeah, he blends in.
At a party later, despite the glory, Hal is gloomy, seemingly because his relationship with Carol had ended. Guy has to leave early, since his SS has to take out the local resistance, the Green Arrows! Their leader Ollie is killed, as he was turning over leadership of the group to John Stewart, but most of the Arrows are slaughtered. John does put a literal arrow into Guy, before escaping; wounded, he makes his way to his girlfriend, Carol! Meanwhile, Hal's moping is interrupted by the monk-man, who was being chased by demons, who want his yellow SS ring. The guy had been Himmler's adjutant or assistant or whatever, and took the ring after Himmler was seduced by the Reich dame, Karelia; who's really a demon or something. While Hal's getting the yellow ring, Karelia sucks the souls out of the remaining Green Arrows, to put into a green ring for Guy. First Hal, and then Guy, find John and Carol together, and they're taken prisoner. Hal and Guy fight...and I'm not even sure why at this point? Hal thinks the green ring, is a "ring of evil," and that Karelia has perverted the dream...of Nazis? Yeah, enough of this. Eventually, John puts an arrow in Karelia; Guy stabs Hal with that arrow, Guy and John fight with rings, and eventually John wins and becomes Green Lantern, with a Lantern ring instead of an SS one, but with a bunch of souls in it? Even that feels gross, it's got Jordan and Himmler's goons in it.
Anyway, I'm not scanning anything for this, because there's too much Nazi imagery, and super-racist talk against John. ("Super-racist" in a PG, Comics-Code approved way that would seem childishly tame on X nowadays, but I still don't want to repeat or scan any of that.) While Hal definitely wouldn't warmly embrace his counterpart, Guy would immediately kill the Nazi-cosplay version of himself; except this story was kind of like back when Guy was a villain: as a bad guy, he could take a licking and keep on ticking. Still, were there traditionally red-headed Nazis? Anyway, this whole post is just a warning: no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us." It's just to remember I've read this before. It's kind of like how I'd like to get a cheap copy of Stallone's Judge Dredd on DVD, so I can duct-tape it shut and not be tempted to watch it again! "Oh, it can't be as bad as I remember--" It is! "The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours."
Also, if you're curious: the first two Green Lantern Annuals are Gerald Jones, we're not going to be reading those; and #9 was part of the Planet DC event, that introduced a bunch of international characters that were mostly never seen again. That first GL Annual has Hal punching Star Sapphire, in a really abusive-looking way; and her costume is not helping there: that was when she was really mean, and that outfit was like linebacker-dominatrix on top, heels and panties on the bottom. Classy!
No prizes will be given for guessing what my vent "set" was made out of...But, generally speaking, the Fantastic Four's security system is as good as it needs to be for the story. One of the first, regular (non-reprint) FF books I ever read featured the Trapster getting into the Baxter Building while dressed as Spider-Man: FF #218, although that could have been human error. I also recall around either Englehart's run or Simonson's, Thor and Cap show up at Four Freedoms Plaza, and the security system yells at them until they get off the roof. Is the security good enough to stop the Black Cat? Not consistently, I'd say. I'd even guess that Felicia's "tests" were almost like a fun side-project for Reed, almost like playing chess by mail: he would make improvements, then see if or how she beat them, and then make changes accordingly, with both trying to think three steps ahead of the other.
Reed probably wouldn't be onboard with letting Felicia use Doom's time machine, but we've seen before, Ben is. I didn't originally intend for him to show up, either; he just kinda did, but it's Ben and he's the coolest. Both Felicia and Ben tease Johnny more than a bit, but that's probably to keep him from getting a swelled head, since pretty consistently in the Marvel U. I think Johnny's had Beatle-like popularity. I'm thinking of that time he burned down Empire State University, which admittedly looks bad, but large portions of his fanbase would doubtless insist he did nothing wrong. Anyway, Ben is also there because while Felicia probably could access the computers for info on the TVA and such, it's more fun to get the dirt from Ben, who has got to be a font of vaguely disparaging knowledge: you name it, he's seen it, and probably been smacked around by it, before. He of course has seen both Death's Head and the TVA before, but one thing he hasn't seen: Sat holding that bottle, so I had to cut a line about "I thought that bottle looked familiar." (She had both hands free in the last strips with her and the FF!)
I hesitate to mention it, in case it was somehow in error and would be corrected; but I had more than two Battlegrounds matches for Contest of Champions recently where Morbius just wrecked Doctor Doom! I think every so often updates happen for game balance, but Morby might've lucked out on that one. Also, I saw his movie in the five-dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and damn near hadda call my son to make sure I already had it; and we've got a recent dollar book with him, so everything's coming up Morbius! From 2024, the Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #3, written by Justina Ireland, pencils by Marcelo Ferreira and Chris Campana, inks by Roberto Poggi and Craig Yeung.
The cover makes it look like something bad is going to happen to ol' Morby, but not like that: in the middle of the unending night of the Blood Hunt crossover, a corporation has been turning people into vampires, so it can profit of the cure Morbius was creating. With Colleen Wing vampirized, it's up to Spidey, Misty Knight, and the Lizard to bust into a building full of vampires for the cure. (The corporation, Hemoglobin Inc., seemed like it was going to water down said cure, or dole in out in same fashion that victims would have to keep paying for treatment; which is unfortunately realistic.)
Morbius does have a cure, but is also sick of never having funding, proper equipment, a lab that wasn't in the sewers, etc. He's also mad that while he can cure Hemoglobin Inc's newly-created vamps, he still can't cure himself or other kinds of vampirism. Spidey's like, sucks, but still kinda impressive? And Morbius does move to save the cure when a Lizard/vampire fight endangers it, since he doesn't want anyone to have to be like him. Maxine Danger of the Beyond Corporation swoops in at the end, to ruin the Hemoglobin CEO's day: he used to be her assistant, and had signed non-competes! He's seemingly dragged back to work at Beyond (literally dragged, in a vampire-proof silver net!) while Maxine gives Morbius the use of the lab and facilities. (With the Lizard as like his lab partner? He doesn't really say anything in this one, so I'm not sure what he's up to.) But while a lot of people are cured, including Colleen, this really didn't have anything to do with the bigger endless night thing; it was just a shady businessman trying to take advantage: disaster capitalism again. Although, I hate to admit it, the people that were turned into fake vampires were probably saved from being turned into real vampires; I don't know if any of the latter were cured, and I read Blood Hunt. It was one of those Marvel events that feels not like it ends, but it just...stops? Because there was another event already coming, the big Doom one, that I haven't touched at all.
I hadn't read this series before, but got like six or so from the quarter box. Kind of hoping more turn up! I had seen Captain Victory before only briefly, in the tail end of the abortive Kurt Busiek/Keith Giffen Kirbyverse crossover Victory #1. His uniform (and hair!) seems less bombastic there, almost like fancy navy; kind of like the transition from original Star Trek to the Star Trek II uniforms. Victory is also seemingly taking over earth, but also perhaps without malice: it's for our own good, we're stupid baby primates. Can't really argue with him there.
