There's maybe a swerve or two in this one, I have to admit.

And I wasn't expecting two-thirds of this creative team! From 1996, Wonder Woman Annual #5, "The Unremembered" Written by John Byrne, pencils by Dave Cockrum, inks by Norm Breyfogle.

Not unlike the Robin Annual for Legends of the Dead Earth, this one also starts with a colony ship, but this one has apparently been going for way longer and not come anywhere near a planet, possibly due to mishap. It's been going for so long that evolution has taken some weird turns for the inhabitants within, although there were still humans, like young AylXa of the Unremembered. They were a tribe of humans, living in what used to be a hydroponics bay; and she had left before what would have been her wedding day; although it's unclear why. Y'know what, she doesn't owe me an explanation: maybe she wasn't ready to settle down, maybe she wasn't into him, whatever. We see her betrothed, ValXan, leading a hunting party elsewhere in the ship, and he does smack one of his guys in the mouth for badmouthing AylXa. The party comes across a group of Ratbats, and kills them; but later that 'night' an older Unremembered tells a barely-recalled tale, that the Unremembered and the Ratbats could have common ancestry, just adapted for different conditions. And, they also share legends: the elder tells of earth's legendary heroes--which even had dames in their number!--while deeper in the ship, AylXa watches a larger, female Ratbat use a strange instrument, to relive the history of Wonder Woman!

AylXa tries the machine out herself, and realizes the Ratbats were not that unlike the Unremembered, even more advanced in some ways; but can she arrive in time to keep the hunting party from murdering the Ratbat tribe? She might not have to...

I won't spoil it, but yeah, there was at least one twist there I didn't expect. Also unexpected was the art pairing of Cockrum and Breyfogle, but I'm always glad to see anything from them. Byrne, however...Maybe I'm being oversensitive, since I think he's maybe been creepier, but some of this one feels leering, and maybe not respectfully. But that twist maybe flips that? I don't know. Anyway, I hadn't read this one before, but we've only got one more Legends of the Dead Earth annual to go! That one will probably be sooner rather than later, since I've already bought another sprocking one of it.. Read more!

I wasn't regularly reading the title at the time, but I'm pretty sure I noticed the glaring absence of John Byrne in Fantastic Four #296. (Also, Jim Shooter plot? Was that necessary, or him getting in on the anniversary cash?) And now I wonder how much Byrne had checked out by this issue for the Superman books: from 1986, Fantastic Four #290, "Risk" Written and penciled by John Byrne, inks by Al Gordon.

We're back in the Negative Zone today, as Annihilus has beaten--or at least knocked down--three of the FF; before having to deal with the betrayal of Blastaar. I'm thinking Marvel Two-in-One #75, but those guys had double-crossed each other multiple times by this point already, right? Sue gives some backstory to newbie She-Hulk, before trying to save Reed, but she can't: he had been sucked into the Zone while in a S.H.I.E.L.D. battlesuit, and was still positive matter in the negative universe: if he touched anything, it would be a massive explosion!

The team had some back-up, in the form of Nick Fury, who warns them of the arrival of Blastaar's people and their fleet; which Annihilus immediately turns on. They had figured Blastaar would turn on them, and had a weapon to defuse him; so they could invade earth without him, but Annihilus drives them back with his Cosmic Control Rod. Annihilus takes off, and Reed tries to go after him, only to be stopped by Sue's force-field: she knew Reed intended to sacrifice himself to stop Annihilus. Reed argues, there was no way around it: billions could die if Annihilus made it to their universe. Sue sadly lets him go.

While Nick and the team follow in a Quinjet-looking ship, Byrne goes with tell rather than show, as Reed transmits back his final message. Well, Byrne does draw Sue going through it, and the Quinjet returns through the distortion zone, back to our universe...but at what cost? (Even though he was about to die, Reed still notes: "...Annihilus seems to be yelling something...I can't read his lips...")

They return to the S.H.I.E.L.D. space station--the really boxy old one they had!--and Fury orders scans for Reed. Sue is not optimistic: assuming he wasn't completely blown apart, how long could he survive in space? A tech in a doofy helmet relays the findings: nothing. With only one small anomaly, what appeared to be a weather balloon...seems kinda obvious, but Sue says they have to accept Reed's death. (She's very obviously in shock, and kind of knows it; like she'd probably keep it together until she had to tell Franklin.) Nick gives the three a ride back to earth in his flying car, but on the approach to New York City, doesn't pick up the usual homing signal, or see the usual skyline--because they've somehow returned to 1936! An odd cliffhanger, but one that puts what's left of the team into a situation they would usually need Reed to take care of. Read more!

We mentioned this back in 2021, and we're just getting around to it now; that counts as timely for me! From 2004, DC Comics Presents Hawkman #1, featuring "Visitors Day" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Lary Stucker; and "Love is in the Air" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Walt Simonson, inks by Bob Wiacek. Cover by José Luis García-López and Kevin Nowlan; in homage to Murphy Anderson's cover to Hawkman #6.

This was one of eight tribute issues to DC editor Julius Schwartz, and the last one to blog here! In "Visitors Day," extra-dimensional aliens visit Julius on his subway ride to work, to tell him about alternate realities, and that his cover story--Hawkman vs. a flying gorilla--could poke a hole in the multiverse, if it isn't resolved. Hey, that's the creative team's problem! Schwarz hashes out a plot with (I presume) Gardner Fox to resolve the problem.

But, I liked the second story better: "Love is in the Air." Hawkgirl is interested in the quaint earth "rituals" surrounding Valentine's Day, but Katar's mind is occupied with both museum work and Hawkman stuff, since both the Shadow-Thief and Matter Master were at large. (There's a brief appearance from Mavis Trent, a supporting character I just love: she's basically stalking Carter Hall, with Shiera right there!) Shiera feels slighted that Carter's all business and stomps off, and Carter has a talk with Commissioner Emmett, who asks how they got together, prompting a tale involving a savage winged gorilla! No spoilers, but it reminds Carter how important Shiera is, and he takes the time to Valentine it up right. (Shadow-Thief and Matter Master killed dozens and stole the Declaration of Independence--I'm joking, they were caught later.)

There's a Julie Schwartz tag for all of them, but you can check out the other tribute issues with the Atom, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Superman, Adam Strange, and the Justice League of America. Read more!

Wish I could find the button to turn the cloaking device off...

Sigh. It's getting close to the end of the year, so I should be doing more to prepare for the year-end, but I've had some injuries and some motivational trouble. I also have a ton of figures that I was super looking forward to, and have only used for background shots; but maybe today's book will help: from 1982, Star-Lord: the Special Edition, reprinting 1977's Marvel Preview #11, written by Chris Claremont, pencils by John Byrne and Michael Golden, inks by Terry Austin. (It's possible I didn't get to read this until it was reprinted again, in 1996's Star-Lord Megazine #1. I absolutely loved Marvel's Megazine reprints!)

Claremont and Byrne didn't create Star-Lord, but they reinvented Steve Englehart's character as less of a vengeance-driven obsessive and more of a swashbuckler. It's such a great one-shot it almost wraps the character: you don't really need more Star-Lord stories after this one! He and his companion, Ship, free a couple youngsters from slavery, then fight to stop an usurper and save the emperor of Sparta, who has a perhaps not-surprising connection to Star-Lord, if you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. (No, not Ego!) Sparta and a few other aspects of this version have since been folded back into the current, largely MCU-insprired version; although I think it's a planet of jerks nowadays and not the benevolent empire we see in the Michael Golden penciled framing sequence.

One thing this version has the others do not: a Doctor Who reprint! From 1981's Doctor Who: A Marvel Monthly #52, "Spider God" Written by Steve Moore, art by Dave Gibbons. An eight-pager with the Fourth Doctor? Nothing wrong with that!

It's entirely possible that Star-Lord figure is going to turn up in a strip here again, since it was a figure I was pretty happy to get: I've bought who knows how many movie Star-Lords (four?) and never figured they would make this one. And it was a mild pain to finally get as well: my first order from Wal-Mart was cancelled, and I don't recall ever seeing it on shelves locally. You could maybe get it from Wal-Mart's site now, but the price has gotten a bit gougey. Read more!

See, they had to go "Crisis" with a 'K' or it's a whole thing...

...also, it's "krimson" Kryptonite, because red Kryptonite would be hokey, right? Title hijinks aside, this is still a pretty good one: from 1990, Superman #50, part four of "Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite," "The Human Factor" Written by Jerry Ordway, art by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Kerry Gammill, Dennis Janke, Curt Swan, John Byrne, and Jerry Ordway.

After getting his ass thrown out of the Lexcorp building, a glum and powerless Clark Kent recaps the recent storyline: Lex Luthor had used a mysterious red rock, to take away his powers and give him a solid thrashing. Swiped with the help of the Will Payton Starman, the rock was now being studied by Professor Hamilton, who found it wasn't anything like Kryptonite; but that wasn't helping yet. Forced to ride the subway, Clark's there when a giant mutated rat attacks his car, and still tries to help a downed man, putting himself in harm's way: he's luckily saved by Guardian. Later, on the streets, he sees a mugging thwarted by Gangbuster: Metropolis's other heroes were trying to rally to cover for the MIA Superman.

Back at his apartment, Clark gets a call from his mom, who left a surprise for him in his suitcase: a wedding ring. Y'know, just in case he might need it or something. After some drama at the Planet, Clark makes a somewhat awkward proposal to Lois at lunch, but she has to think about it. No time now, since she's got a call (on the restaurant's cordless phone!) from Lex Luthor! He offers to help Lois's ailing mom, if she will become his official biographer. Lois says no way, but Clark grabs the phone, to demand a meeting. He tells Lois this wasn't news, but to help Superman. Clark meets Lex, who threatens charges against him and Starman for stealing the rock, but Clark just wants the story, off the record. Dying of Kryptonite poisoning, Lex was desperate to bring down Superman...but, by "rule" couldn't tell him how he did it. Still, if he told Clark, that wouldn't be telling Superman, right? And he had to rub both of their noses in it: the red rock was a gift from "the imp from the Fifth Dimension...Mister Mxyzptlk!" Cue one of the best page turn/cutaways ever in comics, as a purple-and-green Mxy is very obviously hassling the Fantastic Four! Circa FF #11, and I always forget the Impossible Man appeared that early.

Changing back to his DC look, Mxyzptlk storms back to give Lex an earful, as Clark starts to put it together, since his powers were returning. Lex and Mxy are arguing about it when Superman shows up: Mxy had irons on the fire in other dimensions, and thought he could bug Supes by "remote control" with the rock. Now mad at Lex, Mxy tells Superman he'll leave for the usual 90 days, if Supes will punch out Lex. Superman refuses, but since he wants to get back to "that other, fun, world" (careful!) Mxy "helps" him by cloning a giant blobby monster from Lex's skin cells, so when Supes punches it, he was free to go. Back on "fun world" Mxy changes his color scheme and is ready to play, but the FF has copped to the fact they can ignore him and he'll go away.

After a bit more subplot work, Clark catches up with Lois at the hospital, where her mom is improving, and she has her answer: yes! They share a romantic kiss, in hospital parking, which I've cut off there...Keep in mind, there was still a few issues before she would be let in on his secret identity; but I think Clark felt he had to win Lois over, not Superman. 

I would've been buying Superman comics casually at that point, post-Byrne (and I wasn't all-in with him, either) but I would've bought the crossover issue, Starman #28! Along with the "You will not believe the last page!" cover blurb, Swan and Byrne on the cover would also have been a draw; but this was pre-Twitter, pre-comics internet, so the FF cameos were a complete surprise! That was neat, although some readers have since twisted themselves in knots trying to get all that to fit into continuity: it's just a laugh, alright? The only thing I could think of that might have come close--it's not as good, but would've fit in 1990--would've been if Mxyzptlk had to hustle back to the 24th century...

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Today we've got an issue I know I had read, but not sure I'd ever owned. Also, it was annoying since I had pulled the rest of "Rocky Grimm, Space Ranger" from the quarterbins but not this one. From 1985, the Thing #22, "To All Things an Ending" Script by John Byrne, breakdowns by Ron Wilson, embellishment by Joe Sinnott.

The cover proclaims "The Final Chapter of Rocky Grimm, Space Ranger!" Also known as Ben's stay on Battleworld post-Secret Wars. (The original, back when that meant something...) And when Ben looks this chipper, but we still have a chapter to go, you know things are going to get rocky. (If I had more readers, I'd hear the boo's for that line from space.) A human Ben, still wearing his wrestler-like singlet, finally returns to Alicia with flowers and candy. He is not greeted warmly, as Alicia proclaims "(ordinary) men are a dime a dozen!" and that she loved the Thing. Even without the slightly distorted visuals, this is obviously Ben's nightmare: Alicia has never responded to Ben like that, no matter how much he's feared it happening.

As the Thing, he wakes up in a stone ring like a gladiatorial arena, faced off with a hooded figure who recaps some of Ben's problems before he's going to be destroyed. Ben thinks it's Reed Richards, since he's gotten into his head, but it's really the human Ben Grimm. Battleworld apparently responded to desire at this point, since the Beyonder had created it to study the concept alien to him, and created another Ben Grimm in response to Ben's frankly convoluted and conflicting subconsious wishes. Alt-Ben wanted to stay the human version of themselves, but while "Rocky Grimm" was having adventures on the other side of the planet, he often changed into the Thing to save himself, and Alt-Ben felt that as "(sacrificing) another tiny scrap of your true self." Alt-Ben also finds the severed head of Ultron, and puts into motion the killer robot's return. (Shouldn't the rest of Ultron be around there somewhere?)

With a suit of armor, sword, and frankly out-of-character ponytail, Alt-Ben declares "Long live Ben Grimm! Death to the Thing!" The Thing is less than impressed: he's heard all that super-villain balloon juice before, and also knows Ben Grimm never had the Thing's fighting chops. He does have the sinking feeling destroying his duplicate would leave him stuck as the Thing forever--again? That trick never works! Tarianna, warrior-woman love interest (and imaginary girl) tries to free herself; while elsewhere Ultron has built a massive robot army, and made a little flag with his face on it! I wish Marvel Legends would give us more weird accessories like that...

Alt-Ben slaps the Thing around a bit, claiming the right to live as a human being, but before the final deathblow Tarianna stabs him in the back. As he dies, most everything on Battleworld starts to fade away: Alt-Ben and his arena, Tarianna, Ultron's army, and even Ultron's body, leaving him a severed head again. Ben has what should be a tearful goodbye with Tarianna, but is instead a lengthy monologue about how maybe he'd always been able to change back into Ben Grimm, but subconsciously blocked it because he was afraid Alicia wouldn't love him unless he was the Thing. Moot point, since Tarianna had "killed" the Ben Grimm inside him, leaving him the Thing forever. (Moot moot point, since as we'd see the next issue, Alicia had not exactly just been waiting for him...)

Pacing around the now-empty Battleworld, Ben ponders that Tarianna was created from his thoughts, so by transference he somehow wanted to stay the Thing. Finding Ultron's head, Ben gathers up his litter, and says his goodbyes and transports home. Finally completely empty, the Battleworld breaks up.

A little maudlin this issue, but the next one would be outright grim; setting up Ben not rejoining the Fantastic Four right away. Read more!

T-Bolt Ross pulls something readers might've wanted for years here.

I wonder if I started reading this book for John Byrne, because I've had it for years, but it would've been a slightly unusual one to start with: from 1986, Incredible Hulk #319, "Member of the Wedding" Story and art by John Byrne, background inks by Keith Williams.

Byrne might've done this a few times before, but this issue is told in almost split-screen: half following new Hulkbusters LaRoquette and Saunders versus the mindless Hulk; half with the separated Bruce Banner about to marry his longtime, long-suffering love interest, Betty Ross. They greet their old friend Rick Jones, who drifts in for the nuptials, and maybe get a bit of his guilt over the creation of the Hulk assuaged.

Saunders hesitates mid-fight, afraid to take a shot since the female member of their team was basically fridged the issue prior in a fight with Doc Samson, when Samson returns, still hellbent on stopping the Hulk. LaRoquette opens fire on Samson as well, leaving himself open to the Hulk; and Saunders has to talk the reluctant Samson into saving him. In the best soap opera tradition, as the minister gives the "speak now or forever hold your piece" bit, former general "Thunderbolt" Ross shows up, with a gun, intent on keeping his daughter from making a terrible mistake. Ross is a disheveled wreck of a man, since he had committed at least a little light treason with M.O.D.O.K. in his lengthy war against the Hulk. Rick attempts to stop Ross, and gets gutshot for his trouble. Fed up over years of his overbearing orders, Betty lets him have it, with a verbal slapdown that seems to crush what was left of him: Bruce is impressed, Betty isn't: "A tired, foolish old man. And I crushed him, as he tried so many times to crush me. Quite a triumph!!" It wasn't seen very often, but Betty seems to handle the gun she takes away from her father quite handily: he did train her, up to a point, then seemed to just think of her as something to be married off and maybe produce some sons with a good Army type.

Although badly injured, Rick refuses treatment, until the wedding is completed; it had been put off far too long already. Meanwhile, Samson rescues LaRoquette, then slugs him, claiming the Hulk as his, and they and Banner should back off. Once he loses sight of everyone, the mindless Hulk promptly forgets about them, and jumps off. 

Thunderbolt Ross might not have been seen since appearing with his gun to his head in Hulk #291; Betty and Bruce had suspected he was dead prior to this. We mentioned his treason some time back, and I know he would be killed off fairly soon after this, yet somehow return and get recommissioned much, much later. And that's even outside of the Red Hulk stuff!

Read more!

I didn't get Mr. Hyde built yesterday, but I did go through a box from the last comic book show I went to, and found a book I had been wanting to blog forever! We did actually blog one panel from it back in 2007, since I've had the trade forever, but didn't have one to cram into the scanner. From 1980, Captain America #251, "The Mercenary and the Madman!" Written by Roger Stern, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Joe Rubinstein.

While Cap indulges in a bit of flashback, Mr. Hyde is broken out of prison, by Batroc the Leaper! Well, by Batroc's staff. He is, how you say, très busy, non? Still, he has a lot of overhead costs, what with staff, equipment, his floating barge/secret headquarters, prostitutes; so he's going to need the five million Hyde promised him. Too bad Hyde doesn't have it! While Batroc gets steamed, he can't kick the crap out of him, and Hyde has some scheme cooking to come up with the cash. The next day, Steve Rogers wraps up an all-nighter, and new love interest Bernie Rosenthal makes him some breakfast and grills him for info.

Hyde and Batroc hijack a Roxxon tanker, which could easily explode and destroy most of New York, and Hyde tries to extort a billion dollar ransom from the company. They also demand Cap as a hostage (well, one of them does...) but Cap has a trap laid for them, gassing most of Batroc's men, then is able to slug him into it. Then, it should be a piece of cake to take down Hyde; Cap had done it before--

And Hyde straight-up no-sales that one! You don't see Cap drop the ball like that very often, but Hyde had leveled up since he fought Cap, and beats the stuffing out of him. The issue ends with a dire cliffhanger, with Cap chained to the bow of the tanker, as Hyde is going to ram it into the city! Stern and Byrne's run was a short one, but a great one. Read more!

Put this issue on your fridge, to remind you not to snack...or use gamma rays.

I thought this was kind of a mean-spirited issue, and the continuity may be a bit iffy, but let's take a gander: from 1985, Incredible Hulk Annual #14, "The Weakness of the Flesh!" Written by John Byrne, art by Sal Buscema.

The Hulk is on his way home--wherever that may be? It's the purple-trunked version, but could still talk in the traditional "Hulk not understand" manner, so he wasn't mindless rage yet? And as he is accosted on the next page, one of his attackers notes it's been months since he was even seen on earth. A very large flying vehicle (bigger than a 747, smaller than the helicarrier?) grabs the Hulk, brings him aboard, and tries to gas him. Here Hulk "knows how (gas) works," having been gassed about 400 times; so he hops above it and tries to punch his way through the roof. He is observed by a woman, and two men; wearing not-S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuits; and one of the men is massively obese. Blob level. Grabbing a jetpack, the other man, Professor Kortz, goes in with the Hulk, figuring correctly Hulk would take a swipe at him then fall in the gas.

While the woman, Dr. Kelloway, wants more tests, Kortz thinks they are ready to proceed; and the obese St. Johns wants the procedure. He tells the gassed Hulk that "your prison may be the key to mine!" Kortz takes a sample from the Hulk with a specially-made device, causing the unconscious Hulk to yelp in pain or surprise; which Kelloway feels bad about. She still thinks the risk factor is too high; but St. Johns berates her as a coward, afraid "to seize the unknown by the throat." Kelloway later visits the Hulk, who is awake enough to be alone and afraid. Kortz notices her leaving, and also comes down on her: they apparently had a history, the promising young student, and the older academic who fell for him. The power dynamic has changed, though; and later Kelloway mentions taking the fall for Kortz's mistakes, trying to protect him. Both St. Johns and Kortz sneeringly point out her failings, and that she had lost perhaps several patients, in back-alley abortions! That feels out of nowhere, and out of place.

Meanwhile, Hulk frees himself, and wandering the aircraft finds their earlier experiments, a plethora of mindless gamma monsters. One, with a massive upper body and barely stubs for legs, manages to give Hulk a moment's trouble, nearly choking him out. The monsters are nowhere near as durable as Hulk, though; and dissolve fairly quickly. St. Johns slaps down Kelloway, promising to kill her after his procedure, and gets his gamma treatment. As the Hulk and Kelloway arrive, St. Johns has gone from being massively obese to being massively obese and green, and he kills Kortz. Furious, Kelloway screams that Kortz didn't fail:

Internally hemorrhaging, St. Johns does manage to keep a promise, by falling on Kelloway. As the gamma fat starts to dissolve, the Hulk realizes he's alone again, but is maybe okay with it right now. 

St. Johns mentions this project having cost "billions of dollars and hundreds of lives," and I feel like there had to be cheaper ways to slim down? Even if his problem was glandular or whatever and Nutrisystem wasn't cutting it. But I can absolutely see some rich asshole getting it into their head that gamma was the way to go, and not letting up on that easily. Or accepting that he, the guy with the money, could be wrong...

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I have never seen anyone in one of those "Anti-Bat" shirts; running from a monster or otherwise.

I needed to research something, so had to dig this one out of the garage; and I noticed a big-ass hole in the wall out there! Like somebody shot a hole in it. Hopefully not taking any shots at this one: from 1990, Avengers West Coast #54, "The Troubled Earth" Story and art by John Byrne, inks by Paul Ryan.

This would be the second of three Acts of Vengeance tie-in issues for the book; as previously the U-Foes had attacked the team from out of nowhere; and now the Mole Man is tearing up Los Angeles. Or, his monster is, in this case Giganto! Best known from the cover of Fantastic Four #1, it may not have had a name before now. Also, it apparently weighs less than 85 tons, since Iron Man is able to pick it up!

While Wonder Man and the android Human Torch backtrack down Giganto's tunnel and encounter the Mole Man--who is confused as to why this Torch doesn't sound like the "witless stripling" he's used to--Hank Pym and the Wasp are bringing the catatonic Scarlet Witch home when their quinjet runs into another of Moley's monsters: Tricephalous! Kirby's version of Ghidorah, although Tricephalous was also from FF #1 in 1961, predating Ghidorah by three years. Anyway, the flying dragon destroys the quinjet, which inexplicably doesn't crash, saved by a mysterious magnetic field...Also inexplicably, Pym thinks said field is somehow related to Tricephalous; but I suppose he's concentrating, since he shrinks it "to the size of a sparrow!" Pretty cool, actually.

The Mole Man thinks he's getting revenge for the Avengers attacking his Monster Island; although a brief interlude with Magneto and the mysterious "lackey" make it apparent that he's been fooled. To convince him, Wonder Man lets Moley blast him a few times; although I doubt Simon was in any danger, it still convinces the Mole Man to withdraw. Still, after multiple attacks from different foes, the Avengers have started to realize something was up.

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