"Face."

I seriously don't recall if Moon Knight could use his ankh for anything, or if Sat and Kurt are right and I'm thinking Thundercats. I do think he could use it like a crucifix against vampires maybe? Can he use it for exorcisms? "The power of Khonshu compels you! THE POWER OF KHONSHU COMPELS YOU!" Read more!

"Sword."

I could look it up--fine, I will! I guess I got Ghost and Luis in 2019: they're in the background of the annual group shot, but I don't think they've appeared in any strips since? Well, better late, I suppose. This isn't the same Ghost that was in Thunderbolts with Sat and Moonstone, but they treat her about like she was. Also, for little apparent reason, I thought both the comic Ghost and the movie one had the same sibilant speech pattern as Cobra Commander. Didn't go with that; maybe Moonstone was seeing her for speech therapy as well. 

The D'spayres are quiet this time around--are they planning something, or did I forget to give them dialogue? One of them was going to mouth off to Kurt, but might've got interrupted. Side note: I checked, and I could get another one almost immediately if it came down to it, but I don't think I want to pay full-price for another...yet. Maybe if there's a skyrocketing demand for Rintrah legs. 

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Way better than that "MARTHA!? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?" business.

I may have read more Ghost comics than Shadow comics when this came out; but there may have been more issues of Ghost than Shadow had at that point. (No. Not even close. Super wrong.) From 1995, Ghost and the Shadow, written by Doug Moench, pencils by H. M. Baker, inks by Bernard Kolle.

It's going to be a run on .45 ammo in Arcadia, after a commando team storms a Tibetan monastery, killing the monks and stealing a large jade idol. A message is sent to the aged Harry Vincent, who then revives Lamont Cranston from suspended animation. Cranston is momentary taken aback that his old operative is so old, and then his other assistants had "passed on," including Margo Lane. The message reads, "Tulpa Arcadia," and the Shadow is on his way; after a momentary joke about where that city is. The Shadow blows up a couple people before we even get to his guest-star, Ghost, and her sister Margo: the commandos attack and kidnap Margo, leaving a message to lure her to a sleazy Club Hell.

Ghost is nearly trapped in a jade net--jade was her Kryptonite, she couldn't pass through it--but the Shadow saves her, and gives her the exposition; without eyeballing the heroine like every other man she had run across in her book. Ghost goes along with him, to rescue Margo; the name striking a chord with the Shadow. He doesn't get all Batman v. Superman about it, though. Margo is freed and the bad guys killed off, although with less shot in the face than I'd expect from either character.

This feels like it was maybe hoping for a modern Shadow relaunch, set in the present, which would've been fine: 40's or 90's, he would've been blazing away with those .45's either way. I'll have to get to the Ghost/Hellboy crossover sometime as well.
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FCBD Haul!

Hopefully, you dropped some cash at your local comic book store for Free Comic Book Day. At my regular Comic Shop, I got the usual pile of books, and the trade The Strange Deaths of the Batman: I'd only read a single issue of it, and it's entertaining even if it's chock full of imaginary stories, lies, and dream sequences! Sadly, the trade doesn't appear to include the original covers, since I liked Batman #293, in which Lex Luthor claims to have killed Batman, but only as a "waste product" of killing Superman!

Later, at Hastings, I got 30% off the new DC Collectibles Batman: The Animated SeriesMan-Bat, and a pile of trades! Thanos: Infinity Abyss, Ghost: In the Smoke and Din, Star Wars: Empire volume 5, and Star Wars Tales volume 3. (I had much of the later in singles, but it included a Vader vs. Maul issue, and Garth Ennis's "Trooper.") On top of that, got the first three issues of Guardians 3000 and a pile of Batman: Gotham Knights, mostly for the Black & White back-up stories.

A fun haul, on a fun day! Now, if I just had time to read some of them...
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80-Page Thursdays: Dark Horse Presents #13!

Today, another 80-pager I had been waiting for: Dark Horse Presents #13, featuring stories from John Arcudi, Steve Niles, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Mike Baron, and more; and art by Sam Kieth, Steve Rude, Dean Motter, Phil Noto, and more.

This issue features the first chapter of the relaunched Ghost, which is well-done, although I'm not sure I'm in for the long haul with it yet. (I read the original series to the end, and was planning on checking out the last issue next week.) Nexus, Finder, Alien: Inhuman Condition, and Mister X all continue, while the serials for Black Beetle, Criminal Macabre, the Occultist, and the Creep all wrap up. All rock solid--I wasn't really a fan of either the Occultist or the Creep, but both were strong here.

As usual, we'll be looking at a lot of DHP for 80-Page Thursdays; although a couple of them might be 84 pages or so. #14 is 104 pages, for the same price, with more self-contained stories than usual. #15 will come up sooner or later...

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Last month (as I write this, anyway, well before I went on vacation) I noticed a leak in my apartment's front bathroom. I thought it was from the washing machine in the apartment upstairs, cleaned it up multiple times, and mentioned it to the landlord, or management agency or whatever. A couple of weeks later, someone finally stopped by to take a look at it. (To be fair, the apartments across from me recently burned mostly down; and the maintenance guys don't like to stop by when I'm not around because of the dog.) They weren't able to do anything straightaway, since they would have to check out upstairs; but they did say the leak wasn't from the washer. Gross...

When I got back from vacation, they still hadn't done anything. And a little later, I noticed a recurring leak in front of my other bathroom. Is there anything more annoying than stepping on wet carpet? How about the leak from the other bathroom seeping into my closet where I keep my comics? Although several boxes got soggy, I didn't lose very many comics worth noting--a few Bendis Daredevils, a chunk of Starman, possibly the world's largest surviving run of the Vertigo Kid Eternity book, and maybe my last remaining ToyFares. I am both not really broken up, and absolutely livid by this; and my landlords will be getting an earful if no progress is made between now and the next time I pay my rent.

But, whenever something like this happens, I do tend to find a mess of books I haven't flipped through in a while.

I haven't read all of Hitman, but the issues I've read were pretty good. Like this one, Hitman #60, "Closing Time," written by Garth Ennis, pencils by John McCrea, inks by Garry Leach.

And my collection of Ghost appears to have survived another disaster. I kind of need to re-read those one of these days. Panels from Ghost #6, "Stare at the Sun, part 3" Written by Chris Warner, pencils by Christian Zanier, inks by Steve Moncuse.

We might see what else I find later, I have to clean up a bit now...






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