Puck would maybe recognize one person on the team at that point, but I guess a lady in a flag suit would do it.

We saw Puck's secret origin some time back, and today we catch up with him after leaving the team--wait, he can do that? That feels super wrong. From 1988, Alpha Flight #59, "Comes a Dragon!" Written by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Al Milgrom. 

 Despite having part of a big 'P' on his chest, Puck would be barely recognizable here: there had been a big roster change back in issue #50, and the demon Raazer had been removed from Puck, changing him back into "septuagenarian soldier-of-fortune Eugene Judd." Feeling Alpha Flight no longer needed him, as well as bemoaning the fact that Heather was seeing "Mr. Jeffries," Box; Puck had opted to head to China, in search of a mysterious monastery that supposedly had a doorway to other worlds. Uh, yeah, like every monastery in that part of the world? Are you new to the Marvel Universe? But, the Chinese army also wants the monastery, as part of defending their border with Russia, but also because they didn't approve of the priests' religion. The Red Army commander is of course, a zealot; but one of his men, Dei Guan, questions their methods.

When attacked, the priests defend themselves non-violently, with a flash of light and a force shield; but can't stand up to helicopter fire. Puck uses a chunk of plastique to create a landslide and cover the priests' retreat, but wonders if they would approve of him killing some soldiers. The commander does take that as confirmation of his own bias against the priests, and presses the attack: the priests extend their shield to protect against the helicopters, but being without malice Puck can walk through it. But, the commander had another card to play--one that had been forced upon him by, deep breath, "the running dog intellectuals who have curried favors with the Central Committee since the overthrow of Gang of Four." OK, that feels like it's laid a little thick. But he had been given a ringer: Dei Guan, who could turn himself into a good-sized Jade Dragon! The kid had lost his parents during cultural revolution, then while in a forced labor camp had been visited by a "geomancer" that gave him powers. (Or, that may have been a hallucination brought on by starvation and propaganda; Guan could simply be a mutant.) He wonders, though, if he had been given them to oppress others, and wants something different.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, on Alpha Flight's Tamarind Island base, a government official who looks like Canadian Constantine stops trespassers, who claim they were the ones trespassing: it was Veronica Langkowski and her lawyer, claiming the island was hers since the death of her husband Walter, a.k.a. Sasquatch. Pretty sure he was in the white 'quatch body, of his old teammate Snowbird; there would be a lot of explaining needed there. You may be wondering why that subplot would even matter: this was written back when popular fiction at least pretended a government would maybe obey legalities and not just cry 'national security' and do whatever they wanted to. Back in China, Puck makes a dramatic, window-smashing entrance to the monastery, where the High Lama pretty immediately tells him he wasn't worthy: Puck may have thought he wanted to be rid of his old life, but the Lama knows he just wants new adventures. Well, so what? Still, was Puck ready to die, to see what lay beyond? He doesn't really get much time to think about it, as Jade Dragon storms in, and also thinks the worst of the Lama for associating with an obvious spy-subversive type like Puck. Although he makes a good effort, Puck knows he's no match for the dragon, but at least he's going out a "free agent." The Lama also knows that isn't what Puck really wants, and takes a flame-breath blast for him, getting immediately incinerated, but freeing him to move onto the next life. While Jade Dragon turns on his commander to protect the remaining priests, the Lama appears as a Force ghost (no!) to tell Puck he could accompany him to other worlds...like this one where Alpha Flight was currently fighting Dreamqueen!

Although his feelings were still hurt, Puck can't let Alpha Flight die, but instead of being sent there, Dreamqueen is seemingly released, with her army, into our world! Alpha Flight is also brought there, even if I don't seem to recognize half the team; and the Chinese army is less than thrilled by any of this. To be continued! 

This was of course Jim Lee, before he was JIM LEE, but it's rock-solid and maybe a bit less flash, more fundamentals. It's maybe weirder to think of Alpha Flight without Puck; that feels like Wolverine quitting the X-Men. And while it seemed like Puck was back, that might've been short-lived, and it also might've been a bit before he was his usual self.  

    .

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If I crash-landed crotch first, I think I'd hold a grudge.

Also, I couldn't say why he's got a face like a terrier, but whatever. From 2016, Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fools' Special #1, "Evil Anonymous" Written by Rob Williams, pencils by Jim Lee and Sean "Cheeks" Galloway; inks by Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Richard Friend, and Sean "Cheeks" Galloway.

I got this (cheap, of course!) with a big order of comics from Midtown Comics, and I got the more-cartoony Galloway cover. I thought it would be a larf, wacky Harley hijinks, and there are some; but overall it's a bit darker. A bored and depressed Harley wants a change of direction, and gets one delivered to her door in a sequence resembling scenes from the Exorcist. It's a card and a file for "Evil Anonymous," like Alcoholics Anonymous for baddies. Harl wonders if that's why she became, as she puts it, "colorful," to walk like them, talk like them, in order to help them. Hmm, now who's a super-villain that could use her help? Man-Bat is the unlucky first recipient of Harley's "treatment," picked because he didn't look like a happy camper. Jumping on his back as he flies through Gotham, seemingly minding his own business, Harley crashes Man-Bat in an alley: she takes a pretty good bump on the head, but Man-Bat takes a worse one, reverting back to Kirk Langstrom and looking kind of dead. But, he's not a bat anymore, so yay, he's cured!

Probably concussed, as denoted by the art changing from Jim Lee to Sean Galloway, Harl is on the run from the cops and gets a lift from a mysterious--and noticeably large--benefactor. She wakes up, dressed as a psychiatrist, with an office to match. The next patient for Evil Anonymous arrives, Killer Moth, and Harley decides she can combine her two lives, cure super-villains, get a Nobel Peace Prize, then take over as president of the world. Well, it's no more grandiose than any of Lex Luthor's plans, I guess. She doesn't really question where her patients are coming from, until Poison Ivy suggests she not only "needs the bad," someone set this up with her in mind. In turn, Harley sets Killer Moth up with the next of "the Evil Anonymous Twelve Steps," namely helping someone else. Unfortunately for him, the Scarecrow "isn't quite ready to embrace change," but Harl is able to pick up a tank full of fear gas, which she uses on her patients, since she had learned all their secrets, like where their loot was. Kind of a dick move, and one that gets squashed immediately, by the larger-than-life arrival of the Justice League!

Although furious at the "bullies," Harley doesn't stand a chance, and is quickly straitjacketed up by Green Lantern. She does still give Batman a solid headbutt, though. As she loses consciousness, she tries to ask her subconscious inner voice, hey, who did set all this up, anyway? Amanda Waller, of course; who has Harl strapped into a pretty elaborate looking brainwashing set-up. Worse, apparently separate from that, a Joker hallucination advises Harley that she's going to want to get onboard with whatever Waller has planned, it might be a hoot. Was it all a dream? Does it matter? An off-panel member of the Squad (probably Captain Boomerang) chastises Waller for this particularly egregious violation of personal liberties, but Waller needed Harley motivated for what was coming...
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That seems slightly more suggestive than I'd realized.

I've never been big on "decompression" in comics: the trend of basically taking maybe two good issues worth of plot and stretching them into six issues for the trade. But today's book feels like six issues crammed into one! From 1990, Uncanny X-Men #269, "Rogue Redux" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Art Thibert.

Rogue had been missing in action for about a year, sucked into the deus ex machina er, Siege Perilous, with the Master Mold in Uncanny X-Men #247. (Most of the rest of the team would willingly enter the Siege later, in an attempt to move on to new lives, or some damn thing that didn't work at all; but basically wrote the characters out until Claremont wanted to come back to them!) Even though her body is seemingly torn apart and reassembled, she comes back...in her room, in Australia. Even Rogue finds that anti-climatic, but she may have jumped the gun. Somebody's using her room, the TV news announces the deaths of Mystique and Destiny (one would stick, the other wouldn't!) and oh yeah, her flight and invulnerability powers are gone, the X-Men are also gone, and the mutant-hating cyborg Reavers have retaken their town!

Reaver Bonebreaker must've had some kind of cyborg exposition pack installed there. Rogue is saved by the surprising return of Ms. Marvel--sort of. Years ago, when Rogue fought her, she stole her powers and memories; this was the Ms. Marvel that lived in her head given form. Wanting to be quits with that, Rogue runs to the mutant teleporter Gateway, borrows his powers, and bails. This time, Rogue ends up in the Savage Land, and not only manages to go the whole issue without seeing Ka-Zar, but she seems to have possibly the most pleasant stay there of anyone ever. It's a journey of adventure and self-discovery; although Claremont does mention "the sun doesn't rise for half the year, doesn't set for the other" and I don't think that would work. The jungle plants couldn't survive six months of darkness. Right, that's the unrealistic thing about a jungle full of dinosaurs in Antarctica. Anyway, Rogue got the better end of that deal: faux-Ms. Marvel lands on Muir Island, where the Shadow King takes her over.

Rogue finds the village of the X-Men's Savage Land friends destroyed, and has about a 30-second pity party over that and the deaths of everyone else; but has just about bucked back up when Ms. Marvel sucker punches her. (She's also being monitored by someone high-tech, but we don't see who here.) Appearing as a rotting corspe, Marvel tells Rogue they don't have enough life force for the two of them; but Rogue is unwilling to kill her. Still, the Shadow King's control plus her already-pretty-strong dislike of Rogue, gives Ms. Marvel the edge, and she nearly drains Rogue dry before being struck down from behind...by Magneto! Who uses some lab stuff to fix Rogue, and make a dramatic appearance that was totally spoiled on the cover.

This is peak Claremont, Lee just hitting his stride as a penciller, and yay, Art Thibert! (He had done some Warlord art before, so I recognized his name!) It's an issue jam-fatty-packed full; if slightly derailed since the next issue wouldn't follow up on Rogue or Magneto, but would be the first part of the X-Tinction Agenda crossover, which I surprisingly don't think I ever read. Still, I think Claremont wanted to return to Rogue after her being out for a bit, and had so much stuff he wanted to do. The bit about Rogue's walkabout-quest I felt he had used before though, for Karma in New Mutants Special Edition. And Storm may have done a bit of that in Lifedeath 2 maybe. It was a theme, we'll say.
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"The End" Week: The Intimates #12

Traditionally, the last week of the year is pretty slack in both new comics releases and the comics blogosphere-thing, but not here at Random-Happenstance! ("The Blog that doesn't care if you're there...") All this week, we'll be looking at last issues of various series, then on the first we'll have the Fourth Annual Year in Toys! Now, some books we're going to look at were Marvel-cancelled, as in cancelled then restarted with a new first issue (in some cases, almost immediately) but we'll start out with a book that was cancelled and stayed cancelled: the Intimates #12, written by Joe Casey, art by Ale Garza and Carlos D'anda.

Casey, Jim Lee, and Giuseppe Camuncoli created the Intimates, and for some reason, I thought Lee did some random panels for this issue. Specifically, the Boss Tempo panels, the comic-within-a-comic that Punch is lamenting the cancellation of. (Lee definitely did on earlier issues.)

Ostensibly, the Intimates is about young potential superheroes attending a mysterious school called the Seminary; but then again it's really not. I've read most of the series (from the quarter box...) and off the top of my head, am not really sure on the kids' powers. But that wasn't important. Likewise, the Seminary's conspiracy (involving mind-control and bad school food) doesn't really matter either. The book was more about teenage life, fitting in, not fitting in, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life, pretending to know what you're doing when you're absolutely clueless, and screwing up a lot.

The Intimates is a poster child for comics' noble failures, or maybe for books doomed from the start: even Jim Lee's name and involvement couldn't keep it going for over a year. Which isn't that surprising: the state of the direct market in late 2005 wasn't that unlike now. If Jim Lee said tomorrow that he had a full year of WildC.A.T.s or Gen13 ready to print, figure there'd be the usual hype for the first issue, then spiralling sales. If that. But if Lee said he was going to draw the next twelve issues of Batman, sometime between now and 2016, the crowd would go wild. The comics reading fanbase, or at least the direct market, just doesn't seem to want anything new.

And I'm probably as guilty of that as anyone, but I'd at least pick it up out of the quarter boxes.

Although the Intimates was seemingly set in the Wildstorm Universe, if there is such a thing, they haven't appeared since: on the info scroll on the second-to-last page, the kids are "Teleported or disentegrated? U-decide!" Maybe someday they'll be back, but I wouldn't bet the farm. There's a bigger write-up of the book at CBR's Comics You Should Own, and as they advise, you should be able to dig it out of the quarter bin easily enough.
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Your happenstance panel(s) for today:

I didn't notice in Dark Reign, but did Dr. Doom have his fancy chair out? Although, I would have to imagine 90% of that chair's comfort is from the sheer envy it generates in others, and it is damn comfortable. Of course, knowing Doom it's probably also a mobile weapons platform with time machine and dimensional doorway options, and cushions made from the skins of those who have disappointed Doom in the past. And two cup holders.

Plus, doesn't Doom's armor weigh some absurd amount, like two hundred pounds? Can't just pull up a desk chair for him, can you?
From Punisher War Journal #13, "Confession" Written by Carl Potts, pencils by David Ross, inks by Russ Heath. I really thought Jim Lee did this issue until I looked it up there, and Lee only did the cover. Because he did do pencils and inks for this issue, duhr, it's miscredited, as pointed out at the Grand Comics Database: "Art Mis-Credited to David Ross and Russ Heath who begin next issue."

This was near the height of the Punisher's popularity, but he was in two Acts of Vengeance tie-ins this month--the other, Punisher #28. (God, I really need to just buy those Essential Punisher volumes. And Quasar appears on the cover to #29, which is weirdly entertaining.) In this issue, the Kingpin and Doom are having a little contest involving the Punisher: mocking Doom for letting the Punisher live, the Kingpin sets Daredevil villain, and former priest, Bushwacker on him. I always thought Bushwacker's transforming gun arm was cool: Rick Leonardi, I believe, was the artist in his prior appearances, and set the bar. Nicely, Lee keeps the gun-arm looking like a fleshy-plastic nightmare.

I had completely forgotten Frank was going to become a priest at some point. I don't think I ever read the issues or graphic novel that goes into it, and it doesn't seem like Frank anymore, does it? So, keep it under your hat. Instead, please enjoy a page with that Striker auto shotgun I mentioned on Christmas!

Frank remote-controls his van into Bushwacker's house, then busts in, shotgun blazing. And both Bushwacker and his wife are more pissed about him shooting up the house then at them. It makes sense there, really. Have a good weekend! Read more!