Even worse, the scars were how he got the girlfriend in the first place. Stupid time loop.

Not to Monday-morning quarterback and second-guess a series from 1992, but maybe they shouldn't have come right out of the gate with the Wolverine guest-spot? Count on a new number one for some sales, save Wolvie for issue three or so. I don't think they thought they had the space to breathe, though; from the way this issue's laid out: Warheads #1, written by Nick Vince, pencils by Gary Erskine, inks by John Beeston.

This issue introduces us to Mys-Tech's mercenaries, the Warheads; by killing off three of them. Kether Troop usually goes through wormholes and tries to bring back tech or knowledge that can then be made profitable, but squad leader Colonel Liger realizes what this trip was: closing a time loop, since they've arrived in the past. Specifically, a nothing little ghost town in Australia...circa 1988. Liger remembers a warning, that three would die, two men and a woman; and was already kicking himself for dating within his squad. While Liger tries to underscore the danger while being super-vague; one of his men goes off-mission quickly, sick of Mys-Tech and no longer caring if the timeline were altered, he opts to shoot the first person he sees and change history. Unfortunately, the first person he saw was Wolverine, so that didn't go super-well: sometimes, the timeline resists being changed, doesn't it?

Liger's girlfriend gets it, while the other Warheads download data from the Reavers' computers. While the surviving squad members wormhole home, Liger stays behind, to talk to Wolverine; in an attempt to change history. Two years later, a young Liger is British intelligence in Madripoor, where he meets Wolverine: for his first time, but Wolvie has a message for him. "Remember me...and remember this." It might've been left at that, if the young Liger hadn't fought back: Wolverine goes berzerk on him, trashing his face. Liger did remember when he saw Wolverine, but couldn't do much without fear of changing history; not that he would've been able to kill Wolverine with ten squads of Warheads. Still, his boss Grant isn't too broken up about the losses; worth it for the intel they pulled. Liger struggles to not kill him; but that seems like a matter of time.

Despite being by the same creative team, the next eleven pages seem to be a completely separate story; like the formatting was going to be closer to a British anthology book like 2000 AD but then opted for a more American-style comic. It's not bad, just unusual; and the second story intros new Warhead Leona, as she tries to sort her role in the squad. Read more!

We saw a later issue some time back, but artist Gary Erskine recently reflected on his work some thirty years ago, as "no fear." And I think he's right! From 1992, Warheads #2, "A Fine Time to Die!" Written by Nick Vince, art by Gary Erskine; and "The Trouble with Pellis Globus" Written by Nick Vince, art by Lee Sullivan.

Last time we mentioned how the Warheads were mercenaries, warping to alternate dimensions on missions; and while the back-up story will allude a bit more to the why's of it, we open with a mission already in progress; as "diseased sleazoids" rise from the carcass of a slain dragon, for a grotesque game of tag. Johnny gets tagged/infected, then blown away by rookie Leona; but the psychic Misha breaks the spell, allowing the team to leave. But a mysterious shadow seems to attach itself to Leona...Later, in the Danger Room Rehearsal Room, as the Warheads train, the voice in Misha's head explains she may have other powers, like precognition. The "Cherubs" that run the Rehearsal Room had replaced a Warhead's dummy grenades with real ones; Misha warns him to save everyone, but is worried "no-one likes prophet in own city." She already knew she would see situations where teammates would die that she wouldn't be able to help. But she sees something else coming: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury was blackmailing 'Bad Hand' to infiltrate Mys-Tech Central and check out their tech.

Bad Hand and some rookie agents break into the Rehearsal Room during a "weapons failure" test: the Cherubs don't know why ninjas are on the test, but assume one of them screwed it up, and let it run. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are chewed up and spit out without mercy, as the Warheads thought they were "mechanicals," test dummies; and Misha manages to save team leader Liger with a hold-out pistol. The Cherubs flood the room with corrosives, intent on covering their mistake; but while the Warheads get out, so does Bad Hand, who at least snagged a battle gauntlet for S.H.I.E.L.D. to check out. Post-mission, the Warheads' immediate supervisor Mr. Grant hands out some fines, including a hundred pounds to Misha for not warning them earlier, but her little inner voice does show her a pleasant future vision: Grant, disgraced and homeless on the streets.

In the back-up story, Leona is trying to work through Johnny's death, taking it out on a dummy of Liger for telling her to "be professional." To cheer her up, Stacy takes her to the research labs "where they sort the money maker from the disaster spinner." They want to see the "pellis globus," or "fur ball," a cute little rabbity-thing...with acid spit! Leona gives chase, but the creature gets to Mys-Tech director Rathcoole, who isn't in any danger...since he had sold his soul to Mephisto, along with the rest of the Mys-Tech board! This was related to events in Hell's Angel/Dark Angel; and explains the Warheads' ultimate goal, that even they may not have known: find a weapon capable of killing Mephisto. When the fur ball spits acid at Rathcoole, time stops for him to save himself, and Leona in passing. But the shadow that attached itself to Leona moves to Mr. Grant, and seems to find itself more at home there.

I remember a promo piece of Erskine's from an old Marvel Age issue, that made this book look cool as hell--as well as just impossible to draw on a regular basis! The Cherubs make a cameo in Erskine's issue of Firearm; but I think my favorite of his was Hypersonic.

Ooh, almost forgot: also this issue, house ads for two of Marvel UK's other books, the aforementioned Hell's Angel, later Dark Angel; and the revamped Knights of Pendragon. I believe that's Liam Sharp art...well, Arthur Ranson seems to agree, so we'll go with that. I'm not sure if Sharp did more for the book, though: the previous Knights series had, at least at first, a more Alan Davis-look; and I thought maybe Sharp was going to take the second series in more of a Slaine direction, but that may not have happened. 

Also almost forgot, at least to mention: the Lilac City Comicon tomorrow! Which I'm completely unprepared for, absolutely no game plan in my head. We'll just see what jumps out at me. Then again, I say 'no game plan,' yet I think in the back of my head an elaborate end-run is being plotted to maybe see if I could get another stuffed Nightcrawler... 

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The double-edged sword of loyalty.

A very old memory: switching channels (by knob!) on the TV as a young child, and coming across a war movie--presumably WWII, but the film stock looked more "modern." (That would be to say, mid-seventies.) It was a tank battle, that seemed to be a lot more like tanks driving around. Maybe everyone was out of shells? Still no idea what that movie was. But I remember thinking those tanks should be doing more there, that they should be unstoppable. And they aren't. Not in the slightest. From 2001, War Story: Johann's Tiger, written by Garth Ennis, pencils by Chris Weston, inks by Gary Erskine. (Two Chris Weston issues this week!)

Near the end of the war, German tank commander Johann Kleist will do whatever it takes to save his crew, but the Russians are coming in waves. Johann decides they will find Americans and surrender (the Russians would almost certainly kill them, or throw into a gulag to die slowly) but not him: the memories of his atrocities are too much, and he plans on getting himself killed as soon as his crew is safe. After an encounter with German "fepos," field police, the crew is nearly hung for desertion, but Johann saves them. Leading the crew to make a plan themselves: later, when surrounded by Russian tanks, they toss Johann out, saving him as they die. Left for dead, Johann lurches through the woods, looking to die, and instead finds Americans, who take him prisoner; dooming him to live with himself.

Man, how did I miss these when they came out? Have to keep an eye out for the other three now...


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Ugly, and not Hollywood ugly:

We mentioned some Punisher comics with the Kingpin, that were released after the Kingpin had been brought down. Well, here's another, with the bonus of being released after but set before the X-Men comics references, too. From 1993, Wolverine and the Punisher: Damaging Evidence #3, written by Carl Potts, art by Gary Erskine.

A Punisher/Wolverine crossover book was probably an easy way to Marvel to print money, although I kind of wonder if this wasn't past it's sell-by date since it tied into bad guys from the first year of Punisher War Journal: Damage, Sniper, and Wolverine. Wait a minute...

Using technology from Donald Pierce and the Reavers--which, really, really sounds like a band--the Kingpin has the crippled thug Damage rebuilt into a cyborg, than further has his face rebuilt to look like the Punisher. With his new face, Damage begins a shooting spree to both discredit and gaslight the Punisher; while Wolverine tries to warn him and Sniper wants to kill him himself. Wolvie and the Punisher don't see each other until the last issue!

Erskine's an interesting choice for art on this one: Frank and Logan are both ugly as hell here. And they're handsome compared to Damage and Sniper, who are so scarred up you'd think they ran into Wolverine, not the Punisher.
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The art says '92, this was published in '97, and it's creeping up on the year the story was set...

It may seem odd, but in the days before comic blogs and ubiquitous hype and previews (and Previews) spoiling every new issue; but I hadn't even heard of this series before I found it in the quarter boxes. And I'm glad I did: Hypersonic is too good of a little series to lanquish there.

Set in a slightly futuristic 2009, United Nations forces are losing ground to the annual Chinese offensive. Pilot Wes "Righteous" Anger flies mission after mission, addicted to the thrill of aerial combat. Although he's probably not completely safe and sane, there's no one left to replace him, even if he, and other pilots, claim to have seen "angels," unidentified fighters.
Wes organizes a prank on a Marine bomber flight that chickened out of supporting ground troops; dropping yellow paint on them, their planes, and their airfield. All good fun, until they hit enemy fighters on the way home. His wingman down, Wes is good and screwed, until the mysterious angel saves his ass again. The bizarre, striped plane had no markings, no radar signature, and no cockpit. Wes goes down, the angel circling him and it's pilot making sure he's ok:
In shock, Wes has the misfortune of being picked up by a yellow-splattered Marine, but the mystery of the angel only deepens for him.

The last issue of the series has a little history of the almost-publishing of Hypersonic: originally slated for Tundra under the name "Foo Fighters" in 1992, then "Pale Horses," but left hanging when Tundra folded. Epic almost published it as "Warbirds" but didn't. The book was finally on the shelves through Dark Horse, and VR1, "an on-line interactive company" was making it an animated, interactive comic. Sadly, VR1.com doesn't appear to be there anymore. A shame, since I was hoping to see how it translated: the action of the dogfights could look good, or it could be like watching a flipbook, I couldn't say.

I don't think it was ever collected, and a heads-up: the first issue has a couple pages out of order--at least my copy does. A rare gaffe from Dark Horse, but still a great read. Like sci-fi flavored war comics? Try Hypersonic #1, written by Dan Abnett and Steve White, art by Gary Erskine.

I realize I didn't put any scans up for the "angels." Try the quarter bins yourself!

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I like to think Jack Knight and Alec Swan are having a drink right now, in some quieter universe.

Even though James Robinson would get more recognition for the Golden Age and Starman, and those were both excellent works; I still hold his run on Firearm closer to my heart. Sometimes I wonder how much of the themes that ended up in Starman would have been explored differently with ex-Lodge secret agent and English expatriate Alec Swan.

I also like Gary Erskine's art a lot, in the same way you might like pumpkin pie or kung pao chicken: not an everyday thing, but when you're in the mood for it, it's all that will do. It's got an ugliness to it that I assume is a British thing, and that a lot of artists would shy away from. There's also a level of insane background detail you would usually associate with a Frank Quitely or Geoff Darrow. I prefer Erskine, though: a little clearer, and a little faster--although I freely admit, that's just a gut feeling and not based on anything.

Previous books of Erskine's that I've enjoyed have been City of Silence, Hypersonic, and Jack Cross. Previously, I had mistakenly thought I hadn't read that last one, but I was thinking of Jack Staff! Damn. I don't know if Cross took off or not, but I'd like to see it back: Warren Ellis presents 24's Jack Bauer as a liberal leftist, who cuts himself like the Batman villain Zsasz. Read more!