"The End" Week: Wolverine #13!

Starting "The End" week this year with a lucky number thirteen! Although I suspect the 'legacy' numbering was around three hundred; and there was an ad for his next series on the inside front cover! From 2014, Wolverine #13, "Killable, conclusion" Written by Paul Cornell, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.

This was the finale of the traditional make-the-hero-run-the-gauntlet story, except that Logan has failed pretty much across the board. Without his healing factor, Wolverine has been led by the nose to a mall in Alberta, Canada--a mall built over what had been his childhood home--by Sabretooth and Mystique. Kitty Pryde had come with him, but there were several hostages there; one of which presses an injured Wolvie until he takes a swipe at him, chopping off his arm! Or, her arm: it had really been Mystique, who was unhurt, but proved a point: Wolverine's vaunted morals were "tissue paper." Kitty argues he must've known, on some level, that had been Mystique and that he wouldn't have attacked an innocent: it's up to you if Kitty believes in him that much, or if she's trying to convince them both.

With Wolverine suitably softened up, Sabretooth comes out the denouement, calling out his many, many contradictions and hypocrisies. And he's right on a lot of them! But mostly, Creed just wants his "peer" and "confidante" back: his point is, everything Logan did to build himself up as different than Creed, was lie after lie. "Logan" wasn't even his real name! 

Meanwhile, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. are making a desperate last stand, against the mind-controlling virus from the Microverse: they were trying to power up bioterrorist the Host to stop it from taking over the world, but were running out of time. The Host manages to dial up the infecteds' sensitivity to pain, forcing the virus out of humanity the world over.

Creed asks Logan, if he wants him to end it for him, but has no intention of doing so. Better to watch him age, getting more and more inferior as time goes by. Maybe he'll kill Logan when he's in a nursing home. Creed leaves with Mystique, Silver Samurai, and his ninjas; leaving behind Logan's sword, which Mystique had taken as bait. (The sword had been offered to him when he was in Japan post-war, but after a failure in training and his wife's death, the old man who offered it never told him the sword's story or name: Logan had no one to give it to, but never felt worthy of it.) Kitty hesitates going to Logan, since this mess had gotten people killed; but one of the hostages does go to him: she's possessed by the Microverse virus, who has an offer for him. Let the virus live inside of him, and he could have his healing factor back, be like he used to be. Sure, the virus would eventually try to take over the world again, but so what? He could be himself again.

Logan says no, and the virus is destroyed by the Host. He gets up, and snaps the sword over his knee. He looks up, to see he's being watched, by the Watcher, but is more concerned with Kitty's gaze; that maybe she's seeing him for what he is. They return to the Jean Grey School, and Storm runs to Wolverine, who shrugs her off: "The Wolverine is dead now." Coming up next, Wolverine #1! Feels like a mixed signal, there. But that would be another short series, leading to Logan being dead for a couple years. I wonder if Cornell gave him any redemption in the next series: this seemed like a return to Logan feeling like he was an animal, not a man.  

Read more!

I think I always start with the back cover.

The front cover has the bar code, right? Ah, let's just do this: from 1994, Marvel Comics Presents #158, opening with the ClanDestine preview "Scare Tactics" Written and penciled by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer. Fighting an array of robots, youngsters Rory and Pandora are gung-ho, until they're crushed! The Hulk-ish Walter is furious with Woody Allen-lookalike Newton; since this was supposed to be a Danger Room-style training session to scare the kids out of superheroing, but they survive and thrive...which makes the rest of the family concerned they would be discovered. This issue might've been discovered by scalpers, after the ClanDestine's somewhat baffling appearance on Disney's Ms. Marvel show, but I wrote the rest of this post before that!

Next, Kymaera...you know, Kymaera? OK, Namorita, from when she was blue! She wasn't thrilled about it either, and was trying to get to geneticist Matrix to maybe get changed back. I'm not sure how exactly that was going to happen, or how she was going to convince Matrix to do that, since the cape-wearing drama queen scuttles her sub and abandons her crew to get away. Kymaera saves the crew and turns them over to the Coast Guard, but laments she may never be what she was...Of course she'd get changed back at some point there. ("Reversal of Fortune, part 4 of 4" Story and art by Ed Lazellari, inks by Joe Rosas.)

Under the other cover, we find yet another middle chapter of a Vengeance serial--good grief, I'll see how one ends someday. Michael Badilino has fallen prey to the old "give up my powers, oh wait, now they're being misused and I have to take them back" plot. Phantome is now rampaging through the city as a knockoff of Vengeance, which makes her a knockoff of a knockoff of Ghost Rider; while her old thug Gargantua tries to get Michael to save his boss and change her back. After she melts a homeless guy's face (!) and tries the same on Michael, he realizes he still has her powers; Phantome just manifested her own somehow. With multiple deaths (including Gargantua, apparently) she realizes she'd lost it, but with her and Vengeance surrounded by fuel cannisters on a burning pier, it may be too little, too late! ("Altered Spirits, part 3 of 4, Fire and Blood" Written by Chris Cooper, pencils by Reggie Jones, inks by Fred Harper.)

Lastly, the conclusion of a Shang-Chi three-parter, "The Gauntlet" Written by Karl Bollers, pencils by Cary Nord, inks by Bambos Gorgio. Shang manages to rescue Leiko, but is then drugged by Lazarus, then has a flashback to his childhood and another ordeal at the hands of Fu Manchu nope, he's just referred to as "my father" here, multiple times! Shang's dad tries to force him to kill and fails, but that doesn't save the victim. Shang comes back to end the gauntlet with the "silent shout," which doesn't seem to be one he uses often? Ever?

Read more!

I don't know if unbreakable bones help him take a kick to the face; or if it's just tenderizing him further.

I'm a casual Wolverine fan, but fifty-cent issues, with Alan Davis art! Sold! From 2013, Wolverine #8, "Killable, part 1" Written by Paul Cornell, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer. 

A mind-controlling virus from the Microverse--nobody we know, I don't think--has both invaded earth and "eliminated" Wolverine's healing factor. The Host, a bioterrorist that could possibly stop the virus, has been arrested and sentenced to suspended animation, in Wakanda; a nation currently in turmoil: among other disasters, they were currently short a queen, as Storm had just left the Black Panther. S.H.I.E.L.D. is concerned the virus might have already possessed T'Challa; so the plan is Storm, Nick Fury, and Victoria Frankenstein would get the Host; while Logan would see whether or not T'Challa had been got, by pushing on his emotions.

Sending the most hair-trigger X-Man to set off the incredibly composed and controlled T'Challa, seems like a terrible idea: Logan needles him about trying to control his ex "like you're 13" but T'Challa pushes right back, since he knows his healing factor was off. What was Logan trying to prove? Could he still cut it? Or was he "a scared, desperate fake--" Oh, that'll do, fighty time. The panel where Logan tells him, "you only see the Wolverine, then the Wolverine's all you get" may sound like his usual fight-talk, but may be a clue as to Cornell's overarching plan for this series.

T'Challa has Logan's number, noting his fighting style was built around taking damage he couldn't take anymore. Logan gets floored, but comes back; but T'Challa is a step ahead as usual. He had been wearing a breathing apparatus, to protect himself from the virus; and was using them to flush out any infected in his country. While S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the host, Storm greets T'Challa: she had sworn to never return to Wakanda, but he asks her to be free of that vow. All's swell--wait a sec, Logan's getting a call--Mystique, loose in the Jean Grey Institute! I'm not sure how she took that picture, it doesn't look like a selfie. (The next issue explains it as surveillance camera footage hacked and sent to him, but that's a weird angle for that?)  

Things would of course get worse for Wolvie over the course of the next five issues, with him taking a kicking from Batroc the next issue. I don't think this has been reprinted yet, so keep an eye out; if you can sort out Wolverine's numbering...

Read more!

Fifty-cents for an Alan Davis cover? OK! But the interior wasn't bad either. From 2001, JSA #20, "Injustice Be Done, conclusion: Godspeed" Written by David Goyer and Geoff Johns, pencils by Stephen Sadowski, inks by Michael Bair. 

This felt a lot like the conclusion of a Morrison/Porter JLA serial; as the Spectre has just gotten reduced to a giant hooded skeleton by the King of Tears, an extradimensional entity currently powering Johnny Sorrow. I had to double-check, but Sorrow was a new villain with an old-school feel that made him perfect for the JSA. While the Spectre recovers (and I believe he was Hal Jordan at the time, based on Canary thinking he sounded familiar) he can't do anything to the King of Tears, as it was soulless and conscience-free. Black Adam thinks they're sunk then, but Hawkgirl challenges him by calling him Teth-Adam. Rookie Stargirl has noticed Kendra acting weirder and weirder, as she seems to be increasingly remembering past lives stuff.

While the captured, and tortured, Sand distracts Johnny Sorrow; Mr. Terrific has a plan: have Jay run the speed of light and punch stuff. Jay's not that fast, but what if he stole Black Adam's speed of Heru? Great, but then Jay would get sucked into the speed force; but what if he used the link to Black Adam to find his way back? Seems a lot of if's, but bad stuff was happening, so no choice. Jay says goodbye to his wife Joan, who seems to have a picture of a child they lost.

Dr. Mid-Nite distracts Sorrow at the crucial moment, with a video capture of Sorrow's "fatal countenance," and Jay punches the King of Tears out of this plane of existance, snapping reality back to normal. While the Spectre visits, and saves, the injured Alan Scott; Jay begins to decelerate, then trips running across water, and wakes up in a desert...in ancient Egypt, with Nabu and Teth-Adam wondering what's up with him! Some years back, we saw the Legion's Ultra Boy in the same boat, zapped by the "chronal howitzer" into the past. The Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers are probably punching Rama-Tut nearby, too...and probably Hawkman, since this had been building up to his return, teased in the next issue box.

Also this issue: an ad for Playstation 1-era game Incredible Crisis, a memorably weird sounding game that may have been weirder than I would've guessed. Featuring music from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, which sounds great!

Read more!

Look, Bill Sienkiewicz couldn't get me to read these kids; can Alan Davis?

Actually, I'm going to cop to my own hypocrisy: I know I did read New Mutants a couple times in its initial run, usually during crossovers and whatnot. And I'm pretty sure I have (or had) at least some Liefeld ones, too; but hadn't flipped through today's book: from 1987, New Mutants Annual #3, "Anything You Can Do--!" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Paul Neary.

Doug Ramsey, Cypher, was still alive at this point; but he's running the boards on the Danger Room instead out there in it: he really should've put in the time. The rest of the New Mutants spar with the "Avengers," aged down to "Teen Avengers" to give them a fighting chance: Mirage worries Doug took it too easy on them, as they win handily; while something from the far reaches of space comes ever closer to Xavier's school. It's the Impossible Man, back again: Illyana remembers the last time he was there, he stole the X-Mansion in X-Men Annual #7. He's back for more fun, but the X-Men weren't there, and probably not in the mood for fun anyway, Mirage tells him. She heads the team back inside, already seemingly onto the fact that if you ignore him, Impy will go away. But Impy calls them out as "scared!" and Warlock takes the bait.

After changing out of their school uniforms and into the outfits from X-Men Annual #10...which, honestly, I didn't think ever showed up again...the kids give chase, finding the 'Hulk' and the 'Thing' duking it out in Manhattan, with wrong colors. Next, they have to switch to swimsuits, in Rio de Janiero, where on the beach two suspiciously muscular studs are having an impromptu beauty contest, to the delight of dozens of gorgeous girls. With the crowd getting a little too into it, Cannonball grabs them both and dumps them in the water, shorting Warlock's disguise, and washing the body makeup off Impy. Although momentarily stifled, the duo disappear again after the girls turn on them.

Next up, Wimbledon!...which, if it's daytime in Rio, shouldn't it be night in London? Or at least not tennis-time? With their match again interrupted by the kids, they then move to a superhero brawl at Forbidden Planet in London; where Warlock calls time: if he's being Captain Britain, and Impy Captain America, they're both heroes and can't fight. One of them has to be the bad guy, and Impy's game, taking Clubber Lang, Baron Strucker, and the Viper in rapid succession; to Warlock's Rocky, Nick Fury, and Spider-Woman. The latter makes Impy call foul, as he calls Spider-Woman a friend, and claims he couldn't fight her, even in fun. (When did they ever meet...? Ever?)

The kids dogpile them again, only to get teleported to Moscow. Magik uses one of her "stepping-discs" to drag Warlock to Limbo, and chew him out; but Impy is steamed that his friend is suddenly missing, and turns into Thanos in his anger. (This was 1987, so Thanos had been dead since Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 in 1977, and his return in Silver Surfer #34 was still like three years away; but this might be the closest to an appearance he'd had in that stretch! And Impossible Man would appear the issue before Thanos's comeback.) Magik returns Warlock to the fight, but he goes in as Captain Marvel, missing a trick to be a Warlock Warlock.

In Japan, in front of a visiting Charles and Diana, Warlock and Impy go at it as the Watcher and Galactus, then Red Ronin and a slightly-off brand Godzilla, before Douglas suggests how Warlock can beat him: Warlock can change color. Impy does not take the loss well, but later they do shake and make up. Just in time for Magneto to come back from his trip...and catch the New Mutants on the news! Busted.

Man, Alan Davis is always great. I feel like I've read his other New Mutants Annual, but can't recollect it off the top of my head. And I should set up an Impossible Man tag one of these days.  

Read more!

"Head."

You know, that head does look more comfortable than some of my furniture.

Anyway, short one this week, but some stuff has started to come in for me: my Sentinels arrived (one to play, one to resell sometime later maybe) as well as my Arcade 1-Up X-Men game. The latter of which, I haven't had time to put together, let alone play; and I'm not sure if I want to do so here or wait until I move. (I have seen some online pics where people seem to have bought enough Sentinels to stage the opening to the arcade game, "In the 21st century...") Likewise, I don't have any backdrop or set big enough for the Sentinel to fit in, so no pictures of him yet. Well, except for his damaged head!

It's pretty big. I guess. I think I was remembering (or misremembering) an X-Men cover--not Uncanny #472 there, but close--where some mutants are sitting atop a severed Sentinel head, possibly in the yard at the mansion, and it's big enough to have a picnic on. (So, in Legends scale, the size of a person's head!) And I love this sequence from Uncanny #444, where Rogue is giving some young mutants a tour of the mansion, and finds Storm, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler hogging the Danger Room. All three are in training outfits--something I don't think you saw Kurt in often--and are mostly just playing, if not showboating a bit. Kurt teleports the torso out of one, a trick that I don't think would work every time; but isn't a bad idea: there's no reason the Sentinel's "brain" needs to be in its head. ("The End of History, part one" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.)  

For some reason, as I was falling asleep last night, I was thinking about how just awful our world is, but the X-Men's must be just a little bit worse?  I mean, you sometimes see Sentinels put together in colossal assembly lines, or birthed out of a Master Mold or whatever, but they're probably either assembled by underage workers in some disadvantaged country, or some small town in Michigan or the like that's "real proud" that they're USA-made. And remember maybe the late 80's, when in Marvel continuity, the NRA was on the side of mutants? "A short step from registering powers to registering firearms." On the other hand, I have to assume the Marvel U doesn't have (or doesn't have for long...) cryptocurrency or NFT's, since those would doubtless be hacked by or turn into Ultron or something. 

Read more!

I've said here a few times I like the idea of the Outsiders way more than any comic I've actually read with them, but over the last couple of months I've picked up a pile of cheap issues. And we all know Alan Davis makes everything better, so why not start with this one? From 1985, Batman and the Outsiders #24, "I Went to the Animal Fair..." Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Alan Davis.

After learning her origin, the alien entity now called Halo has left the Outsiders, and decided to never become Halo again. Instead, since Gaby believes she stole the body of Violet Harper, she's going to live and die in it. Showing up at the Gotham Bus Terminal might be a good start towards the latter, since she's first approached by an obvious pimp, then saved by an obvious cultist, who picks her up for a commune upstate called 'Eden.' There's probably a real Manson-vibe there, but my first thought was that creep Brother Blood! Wrong title, I guess.

The rest of the Outsiders are enjoying a bright, sunny day at the zoo; even though Katana is gloomy as Batman with Halo gone. Rex and Sapphire are getting married soon, and they're meeting her dad Simon Stagg on neutral ground. Someone seems to be watching them, though; while Bruce Wayne is on the scene to give the zoo a komodo dragon. Sapphire is thrilled to see, and still loves, her horrible, horrible dad; she's had enough of Rex and Simon fighting over her.

The day is interrupted by terrorists...like a lot of Outsiders comics were, if I recall. Today, the 'Liberators' are protesting animals getting cushy zoo treatment while people live in poverty. Katana saves a child from being eaten by the komodo dragon, advising the grateful parents to tell them they love them before it's too late. Batman turns on the scare tactics in an aviary full of bats, and the Liberators sing like birds: they were really there to kill Simon, so his business manager could take over. Simon does seem legitimately grateful to Metamorpho for saving him, and the wedding was scheduled for the upcoming annual.

Lastly, the inquisitive Gaby arrives at Eden, and meets Sister Eve and Brother Abraham; and my first thought was wrong again: I was thinking of Mother Night and Minister Blood from Captain America! Wires crossed there.
Read more!

I had looked it up the other day, but "the Cross-Time Caper" in Excalibur was like 30 years ago! And today's book a mere twelve or so: Clandestine #3, story and pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.

This issue's cover is a homage to Davis's own Excalibur #1; which hasn't been homaged as many times as Maguire's Justice League #1, but it's had a few! And this was midway through their last (to date) limited series but ties back into the Cross-Time Caper era, as a misadventure involving a role-play date (best left alone!) leads to Dominic thrown through a dimensional doorway and landing on Excalibur's train! Their Marvel-misunderstanding scuffle doesn't last long; partially because Excalibur is pretty polite for a super-team, but they also have the best telepath, Rachel. (Jean < Emma < Rachel < Alan Davis's Rachel. I will brook no discussion on this topic.)
Landing on yet another alternate reality, Kitty quizzes Dom, and doesn't think he's from their earth, since he was from 2008. Kitty doesn't say what year she was from, but it "definitely" wasn't 2008. But after Kurt saves some ungrateful slaves and Rachel punches out some remote-controlled red dinosaurs, an alien ship knocks them out and takes some of them! Ooh, I bought this random issue out of a quarter bin to blog, and have the whole series elsewhere, but are they on Killraven's earth?

Also this issue: the main plot involving the Clan Destine losing control of their powers continues. When their dad Adam disappears, the youngest of the family, masked kids Rory and Pandora; try to get their older siblings Kay Cera and Sam from a goth wedding. Goth wedding? It may actually have vampires!

I took a second to look up the sales numbers and...man, this issue sold worse than Simon Dark? Well, I haven't read that, maybe it was swell--oh, c'mon, Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter sold better? I wish I could sit comics in the corner to make it think about what it's done, since as always, Alan Davis draws the living hell out of this.
Read more!

When they say "let your freak flag fly," that's not what they meant.

Actually, I kind of dig it! From 1986, Adventures of the Outsiders #33, "A Tiny, Deadly War!" Written and edited by Mike W. Barr, art by Alan Davis.

It's day one for the Outsiders without Batman, and they've got a tough one lined up: Geo-Force's homeland Markovia is under attack, by Baron Bedlam, the Masters of Disaster, and the Soviet army. Somewhat surprisingly, it's the Masters that give them the most trouble today: Windfall's air powers notice Metamorpho sneaking into camp as gas, and once he's frozen it's all downhill from there. She also has a bond with Halo: neither of them want to hurt the other, but Windfall was browbeat by her sister, New-Wave.

While the Outsiders are captured, their friend (and future member) Looker has a psychic flash, and leaves her fretting husband to come help. And bad guy the Bad Samaritan tries to investigate what Baron Bedlam's game is exactly, and learns...he's got Hitler in a tube! I doubt the Soviets are real keen on that either; so he's doubtless in for a kicking. Maybe: looking it up, it was building up to AotO #36, "Sympathy for the Fuhrer!" Um...no. Not at all.

Read more!

I feel like Alan Davis was given a memo, "Draw Star-Lord more like Chris Pratt." I wonder if that's still the case, or if they're like no, draw Star-Lord like whoever now...From 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy #1, written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.

Weirdly, while I think Knowhere cop Dietz is based on John C. Reilly as Nova Corpsman Rhomman Dey; I only see a little Zoe Saldana in Davis's Gamora. His Groot is great, though: super-expressive. This mini-series leans heavily in the movie characterizations along with the looks: the team has saved the universe, or at least a planet or two, more than once; but they're also broke, irresponsible, and prone to questionable decisions. To make some quick cash, Drax was selling his blood, to be used as a drug, until Gamora shut that down.

On the verge of cutting and running out; the Guardians get a job offer from the cops, to transport a creepy alien monk and his "Mother Stone" home. The monk tells them, their holy scripture says no more than five people can be around the stone at any given time, or something terrible and unspecified will happen. Gamora and Peter are both "whatever" to that, but the monk dies shortly thereafter of a heart attack, leaving them worried how that delivery was going to go. But they don't have time to worry, as Pip the Troll teleports in to steal it! Drax and Gamora know him, even if it's left at that: their time with the Infinity Watch, for example, is not gone into. For that matter, Pip is still able to teleport, even though he hadn't had the Space Stone in years.

Still, there's no time to dwell on that either, as five Guardians plus one troll make six, and the Mother Stone does...something.

This was a little five issue mini, which came out around about the same time as the second movie. I got it on the cheap, but just about anything Alan Davis is worth checking out. In fact, I had to check to make sure I hadn't blogged it yet!
Read more!

After three years building them up, let's quit the team in the most dickish way possible.

I've mentioned before that I like the idea of the Outsiders, much more than any Outsiders comic I've actually read; but I didn't read the book when it was first on the stands. So I remember ads for this, but hadn't read this last issue: from 1986, Batman and the Outsiders #32, "A New War's Winning!" Written and edited by Mike W. Barr, art by Alan Davis.

The first four-and-a-half pages of this one are recurring bad guys the Masters of Disaster in Markovia, kidnapping a princess on her way to her wedding; but the Outsiders are busy in Gotham, as a mob boss holds a meeting to unite since Batman had been gone for a few days. "Matches" Malone shows up to see if the boss is serious, and verifies the heist of plasma from the hospital; "Matches" of course being a longtime alias of Batman! Signaling the team, the mobsters are wrapped up quickly, and with the mission complete Geo-Storm takes the opportunity to break radio silence, and finds his country has been at war for two days! Moreover, Batman knew!

Batman claims he needed the Outsiders in Gotham, and didn't want to be running all over the world like the Justice League: "...so busy saving the world, we lose sight of individuals." It kind of reads more like Bats was mad he hadn't got to punch a junkie, mobster, or homicidal clown for a minute and was pitching a fit; as he disbands the team. Halo protests, and a smirking Batman seems to think they were going to cave, but she suggests they stay together themselves, without Batman! Batman leaves in a huff, noting Dick had already quit and Jason probably would someday: "...soldiers come and go, but my war never ends." He does not handle rejection well, does he?

The Outsiders would go on to face Baron Bedlam and the Masters of Disaster in Markovia; but the rest of this issue was a Looker story: formerly "mousy" Lia Briggs was now Looker, who had super-powers but was mostly just thrilled to be staggeringly hot. Her husband Greg was still adjusting, and may have missed his old wife and been uncomfortable with the attention Lia now got, but she showed no interest in the person she used to be. Yeah, I got a feeling Greg is not going to be in this book for too long.
Read more!

80-Page Thursdays: Marvel Super Heroes Winter Special!

We've looked at a few of these before--#1, #3, #5, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, and #13--but today we've got 1990's Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special, or #4. Featuring stories from Gregory Wright & Dwayne McDuffie, Scott Lobdell, Bill Mumy, Archie Goodwin & Gerry Conway, and more; with art by Don Perlin, Alan Davis, Ron Wilson, and more.

So, we've obviously seen a few of these Marvel Super-Heroes issues, and they were all inventory burn-off, clearing out unused stories. Some of them were probably intended as fill-in issues, if the regular creative team blew deadline; this issue's Spider-Man/Nick Fury story, for example, may have been intended for Marvel Team-Up. Other stories are more difficult to guess where they may have been meant to go: the biweekly Marvel Comics Presents used to run a lot of eight-page stories; while others may have been meant for back-ups in an annual; but where was an eleven-page Black Knight story going to be published? (In England, maybe?)

Accordingly, the Spidey/Nick Fury story is workmanlike at best. Bill Mumy's "Scout's Motto" has a nice three-page opening sequence as a western before becoming a Wonder Man story; and the Black Knight tale is carried by Alan Davis art. This isn't the worst issue of this series; I know there was a two-part X-Men that may have been an unused back-up and I don't think they were good.
Read more!

If Congresswoman Gordon isn't in continuity, this oughta be.

Barbara shows Bruce the Master of Laws from Harvard, that she quite possibly picked up over the weekend, in one of the few light moments in Batman: Gotham Knights #25, "No Exit" Written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Roger Robinson, inks by John Floyd.

This was part four of the crossover Bruce Wayne: Murderer? There's a lot of cover elements, but the Brian Bolland cover of a handcuffed Batman is pretty sweet. I actually had to do a quick search, since I wasn't sure this storyline had been collected, the GCD didn't mention a reprint. But the storyline ran over twelve issues through seven titles, with at least five writers! (Grayson, Chuck Dixon, Ed Brubaker, Kelly Puckett and Greg Rucka.) I have to believe that sort of thing is going to be a bit of a trainwreck, unless one writer or the editor really rides herd on the rest. Grayson may have also had the unenviable task of having to try to make Batman, or Bruce Wayne at least, seem unstable in the issues leading up to the murder of Vesper Fairchild. (She appeared in the Doug Moench/Kelley Jones run of Batman, and deserved better.)

The judge rules that Bruce, with his vast resources, would be a flight risk and denied bail. Pending trial, Bruce is held in Blackgate Prison, but seems oddly reticent and reluctant to have Nightwing, Oracle, Robin, Alfred, or anyone else help him. And...that's about as far as we get this chapter; counting the conclusion Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, this is part four of thirty. (About $75 cover price!) And Vesper's real killer only makes sense if you'd been reading Batman comics all the way back to No Man's Land, and possibly then-current issues of Superman and JLA as well.


Somewhat more cheerfully, this issue also features another sterling installment of Batman: Black & White, "Last Call at McSurley's" Written by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer. The titular bar may be a filthy, debauched gin joint; but to the Batman it's a virtual goldmine of information. When the bar faces closure over unpaid taxes, Bats chips in to save it...with a rare grin in the Batcave. He doesn't do the full on Alan Davis grin though; Bats is still too serious for that. Probably more enjoyable in eight pages than all of Bruce Wayne: Murderer?
Read more!

Another replacement, but I'll hang on to my originals too, thanks:

I had to order a Christmas present from Amazon, so I decided to throw in a couple books for myself and save on the shipping. One book didn't make it (but I found it in Everett myself!) and I thought the other one was going to be shipped separately. Then I checked the present and it was in there...Dark Horse's collection of rare or uncollected stories, Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space, volume 1.

The big selling point is probably the creators: there's early work from Alan Moore, Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson, Alan Davis, and more. Some of the stories are pure apocrypha (the Alan Moore one in particular, I think) from the days before Star Wars had really settled into a solid look and feel; so it isn't necessarily "in continuity," but that may depend on your tastes. Some of the stories were from Marvel UK, where Star Wars was a weekly comic, and they had to generate a few more stories. (Or use backup features--I was looking at a cover that also featured Guardians of the Galaxy, Deathlok, and Tales of the Watcher.)

"The Day After the Death Star!" is a personal favorite: restless after the Rebellion's victory party, Luke takes Artoo and his X-wing for a quick flight to think...only to run into a lost TIE fighter. Forced to clip the fighter with his wing, Luke and the TIE fighter pilot end up face-to-face and hand-to-hand in a swamp on Yavin IV; where Luke learns more than a couple lessons. "The Weapons Master," is another, where Princess Leia explains how a young woman from the pacifist planet of Alderaan got so handy with a blaster. (Retroactively, I suppose they'd say because of her lineage; but this story is more interesting; she isn't a natural.) Those two were part of a Marvel paperback that I've had for what, thirty-some years, and it's kind of worn. This version actually has a few recap pages that were redundant when they were packaged together, but in the original black-and-white.

Read more!

"Just add aliens" isn't the worst plotting advice ever, I guess...

My girlfriend and I watch Falling Skies together--in fact, it's one of the few shows we do watch together. But as of yet, we haven't watched the third season finale that aired a week or two back, for reasons that are somewhat unclear to me. "Once we watch it, it's over!" was one answer. The other being, she may be worried that Falling Skies season finales have traditionally been a little weak. The first year ends with the new alien overlords revealed, and Noah Wyle's character surrenders to them...the why of the latter I don't recall, except that they needed a cliffhanger to go out on. Year two, new aliens show up, and they turn out to be fighting the earlier alien overlords. Her money seems to be on more aliens showing up, quite possibly out of nowhere in particular. Just like in today's book!

From 1992, Excalibur #47, "Come One and All to the Ugly Bug-Eyed Monster Ball" Story and art by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer. Davis is more well known as an artist, but is not too shabby a writer, either: his first eight issues writing and drawing Excalibur wrapped a ton of loose ends and red herrings (his own and other writers) from the entire run of the book to date.

More and more mysterious occurrences and alien arrivals keep piling up in the basement of the team's lighthouse, opening this issue with the newly arrived Cerise fighting Nightcrawler's N-Men. (The N-Men are the aliens formerly known as the Technet, an amusingly slapstick batch of mercenaries currently exiled on earth and trained by Nightcrawler to keep them out of trouble.) After their Marvel-misunderstanding rumble wraps up, yet another team of aliens arrive, to offer the N-Men a contract, and after some negotiation they accept. A selling point in that negotiation may have been that the aliens' psychic member has an alarming prediction:

Also this issue: on Otherworld, Captain Britain gets a recap of most of the series to date, along with the Excalibur special that didn't really add up in continuity. Love this run: just read the first eight again the other day, and wish I'd the time for the rest.

Read more!