"Investigate."

Probably my personal favorite Fantastic Four run is the all-too-short Walt Simonson era, which guest-stars Thor and Iron Man for a few, until oops, they lose them in the time stream on their way home. (FF #341! Get it.) Reed seems to shrug it off, since on TV they see the guys, so they assume they made it home too, but he's wrong about something there...Anyway it was a long trip even if it took no relative time and everyone's tired, so they all hit the sack! Deal with them later...I feel like Reed probably tries to underline the seriousness of it, but Ben, and Johnny, and possibly even Sue, are all ridiculously blasé about time-travel; but Reed only has himself to blame there. (Sue might feign concern for Reed's benefit, but...) 

I believe Howard was a private investigator in his most recent series, if not elsewhere. And P.I.'s are supposed to be licensed and bonded, although that is mostly a Simpsons reference, going back to "Mr. Plow." Death's Head is right, though: I don't see anyone asking him for anything, if they can help it.  

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"The End" Week: Black Cat #10!

Not picking on Jed MacKay, this was just next in the pile! From 2021, Black Cat #10, "Infinity Score, part 3" Written by Jed MacKay, art by C.F. Villa, color art by Brian Reber. I had this variant, that wasn't in the GCD, by Ema Lupacchino and Brian Reber.

Although this was the last issue of this series, it wasn't the end of the storyline: it would wrap up in Giant-Size Black Cat #1: Felicia was after the Infinity Stones, which were currently embedded in people, giving them powers, even if she didn't think much of them. Nick Fury was after her, as well as Nighthawk this issue: not the classic, but the new one from Coulson and Mephisto's Squadron Supreme! Nighthawk remembered the Heroes Reborn universe (not that one, the other one...man, comics sometimes) and Felicia from it. He tries to sway her, to bring back what he considered a better world; maybe with them as a couple? But, Nighthawk also uses the past tense, when talking about her mom, so no deal. (Which is weird, because Felicia is such a daddy's girl; I don't think I knew she had contact with her mom. I thought at best it was like Daredevil's mom, if not Bambi's...)

Fury isn't quite trying to murder Felicia--yet--but absolutely can't have those two working together, since he didn't want to "wake up living in the United States of Nighthawk or some damn thing." But, she's saved by Odessa, who I had not seen before: she forces Fury off with a rocket launcher. Odessa appears to be part of some guild, presumably thieves'? I don't know if it's the same thieves' guild seen in Gambit books, either. She's breaking some rules to help Felicia, who's trying to stall for time, that Odessa will probably cave and give to her; but there was at least one other miscreant with an Infinity Stone out there...(Odessa also seemed to have ninjas, who drop back for her and Felicia's conversation, like they did not want in on that drama!)

This wasn't bad, although not as good as Felicia's current book! After this series, I think she had multiple ones with Mary Jane, as Jackpot or just herself. Read more!

Always bet on Black!

Traditionally, whenever Marvel gets a breakout hit, they immediately try to milk--er, capitalize on it, usually by adding a spin-off or ancilliary book. That's how we get stuff like Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty or Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda or Fantastic Force and usually the heat dies down pretty quick. The recent Black Cat book is pretty good, probably the least surprising surprise hit ever, and I would not be at all surprised if Marvel was getting another title lined up for her. She just had a guest-spot in Fantastic Four, and recently guested in Avengers as well: from 2025, Avengers #23/LEG #789, "The Casino Job, part 2" Written by Jed MacKay, art by Farid Karami. Cover by Valerio Schiti.

This title's current ongoing plot involved something called the "Missing Moment," and the Avengers were trying to get a MacGuffin, a data file of Kang's, from the Grandmaster's casino. Some of the team, notably Storm and the Scarlet Witch, seem to be having fun with the idea of a heist or a caper, and it goes flawlessly...until they find the file already stolen, by Kang, the Black Cat, and one of the greatest thieves ever...Walter Hardy! Kang and the Cat lead the Avengers on a chase through the casino, that's pretty obviously a feint; and the story is interspersed with flashbacks of Kang recruiting Felicia, including taking her back to right before the dinosaurs were wiped out, to make a point of what they were up against. But, they've also hired some muscle: the Technet! Love to see those doofuses again. Felicia and Kang's pitch is amusing as well: sure, the Avengers are tough, but they wouldn't kill you, so easy money, right? Okay, maybe you take a few lumps, but...

While the Technet are "possessed of myriad bizarre gifts...chief among them being sheer aggravation" they're at best only going to slow the Avengers down: Joyboy does turn Iron Man into his "deepest wish," namely, Captain America! Tony is mortified, but the rest of the team largely no-sells the Technet: Thug and Ferro² never had a chance against the Vision, and Wanda nopes Scatterbrain's power--unfair! Kang and Felicia are cornered, and Tony lectures her a bit, but she wasn't doing this for money: she did things for the experience, and wanted to work with her daddy, Walter. Who was long gone with the data file. Which was the cue, for Kang to revert to type: he had seemed relatively friendly and almost charming with Felicia, but now it was time for his fleet to destroy the Grandmaster's "speculatorium" casino and the Avengers! All of which is being watched by the Grandmaster and mysterious baddie Myrddin, who have some bet on this: somehow Myrddin is less surprised by this heelturn; the Grandmaster should know Kang is a dick.

Like that Immortal Thor issue the other day, this was one of a smattering of pretty recent Marvel books fished out of the cheap bins, but I did get all of the Black Cat arc; which I'm not sure moved the Avengers' plot forward a ton but was a solid showcase for her. I do feel like the Black Panther wasn't included here, because he would've seen through the diversion immediately. Still, it's a pretty heavy-hitting Avengers lineup: a lot of their issues that I've read lately have felt a lot like Grant Morrison-Howard Porter era JLA. Read more!

"Strike."

Hmm, I had typed something here, but I don't think it saved. Anyway, the Wand of Watoomb does look like it would hurt, shoved anywhere. Read more!

"Break."

Back in the Walt Simonson Fantastic Four issues with the Time Variance Authority, there's a reference to a void where leftover stuff from deleted universes gets tossed, and there's what appears to be a Supergirl in there: a bit of a jab at DC and their assorted Crisis events. (Not to be confused with the comic of the same name, which is really well done and also often a downer.) Thrown into the void-hole would probably be a good place for Monarch, except McFarlane just gave him a figure! I don't love their 7-inch scale, but fudge it for bigger characters like him. 

There was a local Target, that for a long stretch, had a ton of Waverider figures. If they had been 6-inch, like the old DC Universe Classics or Marvel Legends, I probably would've bit; but instead I held out for them to go down in price and they seemingly just disappeared: maybe the timeline changed and bip! Gone. Anyway, you guys probably know Monarch's history, and I did have an Armageddon 2001 tag...that I had to update a bit, but there's an old post where I wanted a DCUC version! Well, take what you can get, and I did say there I didn't want an unmasked one, since Monarch loses any gravitas he had without it. Also, I think McFarlane has an Extant figure coming (from Zero Hour) and that's just Hawk/Monarch in a third identity, isn't it? I keep hoping for classic Manhunter, but I doubt it'll happen.  

"Unctuous Robot" is a They Might Be Giants song, but I kinda figure Death's Head might not be the most popular employee (or freelancer) at the TVA. And Black Cat charming her way past Monarch: everyone seems to think security breaches are all guys typing frantically at keyboards, when it's probably more often a pretty smile getting waved through a checkpoint! Also, Kurt does rattle off a lot of actual X-Men continuity: they did fight a lot of robots.

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"Deep."

In Mark Waid's Fantastic Four run, there were repeated jokey references to Ben and Johnny using, and probably abusing, the time machine. Reed had put notes all over like "THIS IS NOT A TOY" and "REMEMBER THE ALAMO," as well as repeatedly asking them to leave poor Davy Crockett alone, for some reason. Whenever he wants to go off by himself, I'm positive Ben has routines set up with H.E.R.B.I.E., maybe dating back to his Two-in-One days. Reed almost certainly could override those if he wanted, but doubtless at least tries to respect Ben's privacy. Also, I know Reed likes H.E.R.B.I.E. too much to T-Bob him like the character from M.A.S.K.. 

If you have too many toys or watch too much TV, you might recognize the recall devices: the bigger ones are WildC.A.T.s communicators, and I've had to type a lot of acronyms today. The little white one is a GDO from Stargate: SG-1. I had another device in mind for Ben's big-button remote; the big-antenna'd thing Madame Masque was using here.  

I would love to have a time sled vehicle, but it would be probably kind of big; since it needs like seven seats or spots.  Hey, we don't have human-Ben Grimm or She-Thing/Sharon Ventura, either! 

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