I've seen some of those Fu Manchu movies; Shang didn't punish him enough.

We saw the double-sized last issue some time back, but today we have another double-sized issue that almost feels like more of an ending. From 1982, Master of Kung Fu #118, "Flesh of My Flesh" Written by Doug Moench, art by Gene Day.

It's an all-out action banger, as with Sir Denis Nayland Smith kidnapped and hidden somewhere in London; Shang-Chi parachutes into his father Fu Manchu's fortress in Honan, China. He accompanied by his comrades Black Jack Tarr and Clive Reston, and while Shang is glad they're with him, he also knows they will only be able to go so far with him. Despite having a solid army and later, a giant mantis! Fu was not at the top of his game: he had been kept alive for centuries with his "elixir vitae" serum of immortality, but he needed boosters every so often, which had to come from the blood of his children. Right now, that appeared to be Shang, his sister Fah Lo Suee (which I kept reading as "Fallacy"?) and a clone of Shang: Fu had him cloned years ago, and actually raised the clone in the same castle as Shang, who for years would maybe catch a glimpse of him every once in a while but not understand it. Fu says he had always suspected Shang could be "corrupted" by weak western ways, so he kept the clone in-house and always near him, and their relationship seems much stronger for it, although while Bizarro Shang has a facial scar and wears a black gi, I don't recall if he had a name? Although Fu probably had other kids, maybe just not handy: I think Moench would pull out another for Shang's Marvel Max mini with Paul Gulacy, which also looks coooooooool.

After smashing up the blood previously stolen from him, Shang kills the Death Dealer--maybe that one?--in a one page fight; then frees Fah Lo Suee and confronts his old teacher, who is still loyal to Fu since he wants a return to the old glories. Fah Lo Suee shoots him, then Fu's assistant Ducharme, then tries to kill Fu, who escapes underwater. While Sir Denis escapes in London, so Leiko Wu and Dark Angel (not that one! can save him; Shang runs a gauntlet of vipers and fights his way out of being eaten by that giant mantis, before facing his clone-brother. Meanwhile, Black Jack and Reston have planted bombs all over the place, but then the detonator is triggered in a fight, starting the 30 minute countdown early.

Shang defeats his brother, throwing him to his death: Fu mourns him with a screamed "MY SONNNNN!" before he starts trying to drink the blood before it all leaks out of the corpse. Black Jack and Reston try to warn Shang to get out, but he refuses, telling them their mission was to rescue Fah Lo Suee, and he had to do this. Pouring the elixir into the dirt, he watches the great Fu Manchu trying to lick it off the ground. After the explosions, and the collapse of the castle, they find Shang, not just fine, but "(alive)...for the first time, Reston." They're worried they never found out where Sir Denis was being held, but Shang already knows, his real father is fine, and he tells him so on the last page. 

This was a more than fitting end to the Marvel saga of Fu Manchu, so of course if you go to his Marvel Wiki entry it continues for pages after that. Also, Marvel calls him "Zheng Zu" now and doesn't keep the license, although at least some of his novels have got to be public domain by now. There were five Fu Manchu movies--with Christopher Lee as Fu!--and the last, the Castle of Fu Manchu was a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode that nearly broke Joel and the bots! So much stock footage...

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Hey, sort your trash! Some of that has gotta be recyclable.

Kurt Busiek has written a ton of great books--Astro City should be on everybody's reading list, but the latter half of his Avengers run is my favorite--and today we've got an early one from him, that probably should've got him the regular gig for the title! From 1984, Justice League of America #224, "The Supremacy Factor!" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Chuck Patton, inks by Dick Giordano. And the cover is, of course, a homage to that page in Amazing Spider-Man #50!

Clark, Hal, and Ollie are enjoying a rare get-together out of costume; with a waitress thrilled to have three hot guys at her table, maybe just a hint of the civilian angle Busiek would take much later with Astro City. The guys are waiting for Dinah, who has been delayed by three guys mugging another--and getting the tar beat out of them! Black Canary has to step in to stop the masked figure from killing the muggers, but then he turns out to be a far more adept fighter than she expected, setting her up for a bad throw. Worse, he shrugs off her Canary cry, but that is heard by Superman, who arrives in time to save her. (I think other JLA stories from this time indicated Supes had a soft spot for her and might've been even more protective of her than Hal and Ollie were.) Somehow, the masked man is able to slug Superman so hard he hits the outer atmosphere; then he escapes at super-speed. Still, Superman had snagged the man's trenchcoat pocket, which contained some notes.

At the JLA satellite, neither Superman nor Red Tornado are able to get much out of the equations on the notes; so Green Arrow is surprised Firestorm wanted a look. But, we know there was more to him than met the eye: Professor Stein recognizes them as relating to RNA coding. Green Lantern then searches the database for recent scientific journals on the subject, finding Dr. Joel Cochin, a very smug looking three-time Nobel prize winner. Presumably, from back when the Nobel prize meant something; but the only three-time recipient is the Red Cross! Although Wonder Woman advises caution, even suggesting maybe the Atom should investigate, Ollie isn't one to let hitting Dinah slide, and Dinah isn't either: they head to Cochin's lab with Firestorm. The lab seems unusually closed off, with no windows; and Ollie is about to have Firestorm blow a hole in the wall, when someone else does: Cochin, now in costume as Paragon, with Firestorm's powers! Smugly, he explains he possesses the mental and physical powers of anyone within a certain range, only better, so nyah. The Leaguers are thumped and captured.

Paragon doesn't depose of them, possibly because he wanted Firestorm's powers, to use to make components for his machine. (He also mentions Ollie's engineering skills, which I'm pretty sure have long since fallen by the wayside.) Born with the mental portion of his powers, Paragon had long ago become sick of "hostile inferiority" from those he considered his lessers, namely everybody; so he was going to wipe out 90% of the population, figuring the rest would then acknowledge him as their superior. The rest of the League then arrives, giving him a ton of powers; but when Firestorm gets knocked out of his range, Canary realizes the trick to beating him: Paragon couldn't copy Red Tornado or Green Lantern's powers, and they were able to keep him off-balance. Canary lands the finishing blow, but Firestorm wonders, how were they going to keep him locked up...? 

I had to look it up: Paragon would return, sort-of, post-New 52, in Grayson of all places. I think he might have done a bit better, with maybe one more pass on the costume: the underwear-over-tights look is super-traditional, sure, but it made Paragon look like he was wearing tighty-whities on the outside of his clothes. And Firestorm could rock those sleeves, but they aren't for everybody.

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This wouldn't have been the most dignified opening for Serling, but I do feel like he would've been smoking through it.

I used to hate in old sci-fi stuff when to seem futuristic, ordinary items like clothing or small appliances were given catalog sci-fi noises, bings and beeps and whistles. Why would anyone want a beeping hat? But there's every possibility something is beeping at you in your home right now, so...Let's see what else the future holds in this issue! From 1974, The Twilight Zone #56, cover by George Wilson.

"The Vandals" is the cover story, and the lead has to catch up with the reader, as he was an amnesiac, having lost all memory in a bad future-truck crash. He's put in the care of a pretty mnemo-therapist, who he calls Nemo; and she calls him Jon. (Was his ID lost in the crash? They should know his name.) Jon is disturbed, when on a walk with Nemo, they see a "rest and relaxation" club swarm a car, smashing the hell out of it, and finally firebombing it. Nemo finds it perfectly ordinary: the club left their account number by the wreck, so the owner could be reimbursed later. She invites him to join her own R&R club that evening, where they blow up a rather nice house, shouting "remember the Bruteway-49 trashing!" It's a rallying cry like "remember the Alamo" even though no one really remembers it, just that it was the start of R&R clubs, shortly followed by the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, and the Taj Mahal.

Jon tries to talk Nemo out of what he considers vandalism, but she still considers it normal and right. He then tries to stop a club--dressed as clowns, on their way to blow up 'J.Namath Stadium'--who of course also disagree. Destroying things made jobs, right? Made room for new things. Jon is warned, standing in the way of a legal R&R action gave them the right to kill him; but he wakes up before the hammer blow lands. 'Jon' was really Harry Green, an ordinary trucker from 1974. While still wondering about his dream, he sees a convertible doing 80 in town, and the passenger throws a firebomb (or large firecracker) into a trash can, blowing it up. The crowd of onlookers laughs, seemingly delighted, and even the cop seems not to care since no one was hurt. Harry notices it happened, on the corner of Broadway and 49th...in the Twilight Zone. (Written by Arnold Drake, pencils by Adolfo Buylla.)

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a bit of fun: Mrs. Mooney, a cleaning lady for a lab, is more than sick of cleaning up after those big-shot scientists. But, she notices a leaking chemical seems to produce "instant shine!" so she uses it to clean up, dreaming of turning it into wealth and leisure...until it starts to grow and fill up the lab! This is a Gold Key story and as such has a very different ending than an EC version would have, but it's still charming and might remind you of other experiments. (Art by John Celardo, and no Rod Serling in this one.)

Next, "A Taste of Immortality," in which a young woman is hit and killed by a car on a busy street. A doctor is on the scene, but finds it's too late to do anything...since based on the condition of the body, she had been dead for five years or more! The woman's identification indicated she worked at a club (did that used to be a thing, ID for a job like that? 'If found dead, please return to the Tropicana.') and the doctor goes there to find fading hypnotist Mesmerus, who might have been depressed and drunk before he got the news. Mesmerus admits, he had been engaged to her, but she was dying of an incurable disease, so he basically hypnotized her to live. The doctor of course wants in on that action, threatening to expose Mesmerus if he didn't...can you blackmail a hypnotist? That seems like a great way to think you're a chicken for the rest of your life. After his treatment, the doctor decides he didn't want anyone else to be immortal, so he kills Mesmerus, but is spotted leaving the scene and caught. He's nonchalant at his trial; what were they going to do, kill him? Um, no: since there was no motive for the crime, the judge has him put in an institution for the criminally insane for life; and he's dragged away screaming he wants to die. No "Escape Clause" for him! (Written by Paul S. Newman, art by Luis Dominguez.)

Finally, "The Night of the Ravens" has the Ravens, your typical couple waiting for the rich uncle to die so they can get the inheritance. This rich uncle had a massive aviary full of actual ravens; and while the wife doesn't care for the uncle, she hates the ravens. When the uncle kicks it, she gets pecked by a raven when feeding it, so the husband poisons them and buries them. Dead ravens then start turning up around the house--I think the time to leave would be when you find one in the freezer, don't wait for one in your bed! Anyway, moral, don't mess with ravens. (Written by John Warner, art by Adolfo Buylla.) Read more!

They have a Super-Ventriloquism guy, I think he works from home.

This one drifted towards the bottom of the pile, because I may have confused it with one of the earlier Elseworlds annuals. Maybe this one should've had the big "Earth is Dead" page to remind me, but no time for that! From 1996, Superman Annual #8, "The League of Supermen!" Written by David Michelinie, pencils by Tom Grindberg and Kevin J. West, inks by Barb Kaalberg, John Lowe, and Bill Anderson.

On another far-off colony world, the legacy of Superman lives on, in a team of genetically-modified humans, and their 'boss,' a computer-simulation of Superman himself, saved by his drones. Unable to bring him back without a new body, Kryptonian DNA data was used to give humans powers, although they could only be given one power tops, and there were side-effects. (The heat-vision guy had to let off blasts when they built up too much, the flying guy couldn't not fly, the x-ray vision guy couldn't turn it off either, etc.) Worse, 'Superman' seemed to becoming colder, planning an elaborate system of defense satellites. New members were given technological enhancements instead of the DNA, to emulate super-speed and super-breath; but they discover the defense satellites were intended for use on the populace, if they should become unruly. The League has to come together and use all their powers to stop 'Superman,' after they lock their invulnerable teammate in a closet since he wouldn't turn against their mentor.

Nothing essential, but pretty good; and no spoilers: while there are some kind of terrorists in the opening, this is the rare story where there maybe isn't a bad guy! I was positive one of the League went full traitor but I guess that's from some other annual. (Either a Superman or JLA Elseworlds, probably.) Also, the last Legends of the Dead Earth post, for Guy Gardner/Warrior, I thought I was down to three: wrong! I also thought I had all of them, and I'm not positive I did then, but we do now: three more to go, with at least one I haven't read. Read more!

"Blackmail."

I think I'm writing Elektra as rather sweary, but there's a reason. Also, she's not a big one for dialog, is she? Although there is a bit in Daredevil: Man Without Fear, where by the fireplace young Matt is just beyond smitten, and she admits she killed a guy the other day...maybe a couple? The girl might've survived, maybe...

There's maybe some in-universe inspiration for this one: way back in Amazing Spider-Man #69, I think the Kingpin gets nicked in a surprisingly hands-on robbery of an ancient tablet. That was pretty much the last time he exposed himself to the law for years, but it might have seemed out-of-character for him even then. Sometimes, even the most lead-from-the-rear baddie might see a brass ring that they have to make a grab for...  

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I often say, if there's a full run of a mini-series in the cheap boxes, I'm obligated by law to buy it: well, I think I skipped Batman: Cacophany the other day. But I did get this run, that I don't think I had seen before: from 2006, Conan and the Midnight God #1, written by Joshua Dysart, pencils by Will Conrad, colors by Juan Ferreyra.

This was set early in the reign of King Conan, with a very pregnant Queen Zenobia: in an early scene, he's sitting in front of a mirror late at night, which doubtless felt odd to the barbarian. But his brooding is interrupted the next day, by the arrival of a delegation from Stygia: the "snake worshippers" are not given a warm welcome in Aquilonia, but Conan decides he needs to hear what was going on there. If you aren't Conan fans, well, Aquilonia was probably the mightiest and most prosperous nation of the time; while the sorcerous Stygia had been on a bit of a backslide: the ambassador, Ra-sidh, admits the Stygian economy had been wrecked by Thoth-Amon and they had been forced to seek peace. Conan is neither trusting nor especially sympathetic to the Stygians' plight...which might be worse than he could imagine. 

In a late-night drinking and strategy session with Pallantides, Conan grumbles that he'll probably have to start a war with somebody, just so everyone remembers Aquilonia was not to be stepped to. Pallantides wonders, if he was so disdainful of "civilization," why did he take over the country? Because he could. Later, Zenobia has a nightmare about Ra-sidh, and Conan tells the Stygian "to flee as if your life depended on it." Ra-sidh congratulates Conan on his coming heir, and when Zenobia goes into labor, Conan is about to go kill Ra-Sidh himself, but she begs him to stay, so he sends Pallantides, who tells his men it's not an act of war if there's no survivors to speak of it!

Ra-sidh proves more formidable than expected, using magic to kill Pallantides' men. (A more intense magic than Stygia's usual smoke and mystique; it looks like Ra-sidh is going full Human Torch there.) Zenobia survives the delivery, but the child is stillborn and not Conn, as longtime readers like me would've expected! Conan decides, it's time to unsheathe the sword of Aquilonia--its full armed might--and march on Stygia. No spoiler to say it doesn't go as expected, either. Oddly, in Dark Horse's main Conan title at the time, they were also doing a King Conan story: despite years of reading Conan comics, I don't have anywhere near as full a run of Dark Horse's books, so this one was new to me.

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My local Comic Book Shop put a ton of books in the dollar bins, just for me! OK, maybe not "just for me," unless I get there first! I tried very hard not to buy any issues I already had, although I know there were a few: there was a variant for Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead that grabbed me, and like I'm not going to grab spares of Sergio Aragonés Massacres Marvel #1 or Giant-Size Mini-Marvels #1; and I did get almost a complete second run of the two Blackwood series.

From 2018, Blackwood #2, written by Evan Dorkin, art by Veronica and Andy Fish. The first two issues weren't in the GCD, so I just uploaded this Declan Shalvey cover.

Four new students at Blackwood Academy--Stephen, Wren, Dennis, and Reiko--have just had a rough night, as one of them, Stephen, was dragged into a well, after the school's dean Ogden had turned into a creature. The well spits Stephen out, along with seemingly a ton of spirits, leaving him on the lawn in a ring of glyphs. The Blackwood faculty scrambles to try and piece together what had happened, as well as what to do with the new kids: the increasingly stressed-out acting dean Colby tells them, about the real Blackwood. The main school was a front, but there was also a secret school, teaching about "magic and ghosts, and all that stuff." "The secrets of the occult world," one of the kids phrases it better than the 1988 manual...

Wren wonders if it isn't messed up to offer scholarships to a school like that, but Colby tells them what they already suspected: all four of them had already suffered horrific mystical experiences, which may have prepped them to learn more. Unfortunately, they are then visited by Dean Ogden, wrapped in a coat and scarf, changed after reading from "the Book of Despair." Apologetically, Ogden curses "thee," binding their fates to that of the school. Stephen tries to argue "thee" means Colby, not all of them; although I don't know if he believes that. Following Ogden into a secret passage, they find a ton of weird bric-a-brac, including a stuffed monkey with two heads--that's alive!

Already knowing he was cursed, Dennis tries to leave the school, but a homeless woman starts babbling at him at the train station. A homeless woman, holding a headless rat, and with a horrifying parasite "child" that looks like it's coming out of her...! 

Blackwood would get two mini-series, and I wish it had continued: not to damn it with faint praise, but it's like Harry Potter if it was interesting. Just from this one issue, the characterization is a gazillion times better, and no weird stereotypes, and a two-headed monkey! Beats the crap out of Hufflepuff or whatever.

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