"The End" Week Addendum: I see dead comics, apparently...

This is only the second time I've done "The End" week specifically to look at last issues, but over the years and through that ever-popular happenstance I've hit a few other ones prior.
Lawdog #10
Morbius #32
Warlord #10 (The Bruce Jones series.)
Marc Spector: Moon Knight #60
Badger #70
La Cosa Nostroid IX (I may still do a longer post on that one someday.)
Avengers #402
Captain America #50
Star Trek: Early Voyages #17
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #19
El Diablo #16 and Green Goblin #13, a double whammy!
Silver Surfer #18 (The Surfer's first last issue.)

Bloody hell, while some of those aren't full-on writeups, I think I've read more last issues than first issues for this blog. And I'm scratching the surface. Reckon I could do a week of Unknown Soldier, Doom Patrol, and Moon Knight alone. (Not counting limiteds, I know I have two last issues for each of those books! And they've had more!)

Of course, you may realize by now that comic book numbering is, at best, completely arbitrary. And some books are always going to sell about the same amount of copies, whether the number on the cover is #1, #97, #337, or #-π. Just a crapshoot on multiple levels; but that's to be expected around here.
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"The End" week: Incredible Hulk #474

Joe Casey drew the short straw when he got the writing assignment for the Incredible Hulk...after Peter David's decade-plus stint. Casey's last issue would be the last of the series, which would be relaunched a month later with John Byrne; but let's look at Incredible Hulk #474, "The Great Astonishment, conclusion: It's All True!" Written by Joe Casey, art by Javier Pulido and Sean Parsons.

The issue opens rather candidly, with Casey himself taking a call from editor Matt Idelson:

It's a bit 'man-behind-the-curtain," but it was big of Casey to own up to having trouble wrapping up his storyline and the series.

In-story, Bruce Banner and the alien Qnax are taking fire in their attempt to recover the Ultimate Machine. Following his pet, they catch up with the Watcher (and I don't believe that it's Uatu, but one of his race) who then destroys the Machine; or what they thought was the Machine: the true Ultimate Machine is the core of the Watcher homeworld, and not just the accumulated knowledge of the universe, but also "a house of truth."

Meanwhile, back on earth, General 'Thunderbolt' Ross faces down the Abomination, who just dropped the bombshell that Betty didn't die from radiation poisoning caused by the Hulk, the Abomination poisoned her.

The Watcher gives a vague warning about the Machine, but Qnax, desperate to save his people, goes in. Banner is equally desperate, but has a more esoteric question: why. Bruce goes in, and has a moment seemingly taken from his childhood.

Somehow, after a tussle with an Oscar the Grouch-analog and a gamma bomb explosion, Banner seems to have had an epiphany. Qnax was not as lucky, realizing the elders of his people used him as a pawn in their quest for power. The Watcher then breaks up the planet that he made, since another alien race was attacking it, and returns everyone to where they belong: Qnax to try and bring justice to his people, and Bruce to get the final answers on earth.

Back on earth, the Abomination explains to Ross how he killed Betty by substituting his blood for her transfusion...now, as Emil Blonsky, he had been a pretty good spy, but how the hell a huge, ugly green monster was able to mess with her blood supply without being noticed, I have no idea. He also explains he treated the blood with "undetectable, albeit lethal chemicals," and while Betty's death was regrettable, they had to feel the pain he did over losing his wife Nadia. (Interestingly, Nadia wasn't dead, and eventually Bruce slept with her; hopefully not just for revenge...)

The Hulk arrives in time to start pounding on Abomination, but Ross stops them, and the army surrounds them. Denied his victory, the Abomination leaps away; and Ross grudgingly lets Banner off the hook...if Banner won't let himself off.

Banner gives Ross the chance to kill him, but Ross declines since Betty loved him too. In the end, Banner is back on the road, with "absolutely no plans," but feeling like his life was "a sphere of chaos" and not wanting anyone too close to him. And Ross visits the cryogenically frozen body of Betty, to take his share of responsibility as well; although Betty knew about the danger of her life with Banner as well, and stayed to the end.

While I did like this issue, it's nowhere near the level of Peter David's last issue, but Casey didn't have the same history with the characters and may not have been given enough time to prep, either: I get the feeling the space adventure with Qnox might've been planned as one issue, with the Abomination/Ross/Hulk confrontation another storyline. A month later, the new Hulk #1 went in the direction Marvel had tried to steer David, more "Hulk Smash" than the book had been in years. I think lower-tier Hulk baddie Tyrannus was responsible for the Hulk's backslide, but I don't recall. Casey's Hulk I remember though.
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"The End" Week: Catwoman #82

I have a fair run of Catwoman, which I got from the quarter bins: even though I liked it, I wasn't buying it month to month, and then it was cancelled with issue #82. Yes, I'm part of the problem. And I know DC has since solicited #83 since, for some reason, but we'll go with this one. "Final Jeopardy" Written by Will Pfeifer, pencils by David Lopez, inks by Alvaro Lopez.

Although Batman doesn't seem to be in a playful mood, Catwoman is, stealing his utility belt, playing with the Batmobile alarm, checking his phone log. Not wanting to talk, Selina uses Bats' smoke pellets and takes off, over the roofs of Gotham's East End. She smashes through some hapless gamers' apartment, noting as Batman comes smashing after her that Bruce will doubtless pay for the damages later. She does catch his face switching from Bruce to Batman, and it's running time.

Cornered, Bats does go back to Bruce mode, concerned for Selina; but she remembers "the Batman she met on Planet Crazy," presumably during the Salvation Run crossover. Between that, and feeling like she's being scolded by Bats, Selina's had enough.


Selina fights Batman, not really knowing why, and uses all of the utility belt capsules: "Smoke, tear gas, deoxygenating compounds...something called 'regurgitants.'" Batman walks through them all without as much a sniffle. Caught, Selina kisses Bats, but doesn't seem sure why she does that either. She asks if he ever feels closer to him than after the chase, after the fight; and Bats doesn't have a good answer. Selina says she wouldn't do this, if she still had her daughter Helena--from after One Year Later, Selina had recently given her for adoption to keep her safe.

Batman isn't sure about that.
Selina is forced to admit he's right: if she had really wanted to be with her daughter, she would be. She could've left Gotham and walked away, but she didn't: she's Catwoman.

Batman understands. She gives Bats back his belt, but then proceeds to steal the Batmobile, having stolen the batteries from Batman's remote.

It's a fun issue, and Pfiefer makes the most of a bad situation: I don't think readers really wanted the adventures of Cat-mommy, and likewise no one wants Selina to quit being Catwoman. Eventually, someone else would've got rid of Helena, and adoption was probably the least worst way. But...and this is irrational, and also not Pfiefer's fault, but it seems like a dick move for Selina to have to own up to being all right without her daughter, when it seems like a purely editorial decision. The tables had to be cleared so the next writer could make Selina a cat-worshipping nutso, or a pathological thief, or a prostitute, or a superhero. Selina is forced to admit she can't change, when she never had a chance or a choice.

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"The End" Week: Fantastic Four #416

This one isn't my favorite: I was predisposed to not like Tom DeFalco's stint as writer on Fantastic Four since he took over from Walt Simonson. Even with Paul Ryan on art (I liked him on D.P.7 and Quasar) I didn't care for the issues I read, which included the Invisible Woman's worst costume ever, Alicia Masters as a Skrull, and the surprisingly long alleged deaths of Reed Richards and Dr. Doom. So, at the time, I don't think I had a big problem with the notion of Jim Lee relaunching Fantastic Four #1 in Heroes Reborn. (Even though my memories of Heroes Reborn are vague, at best; I don't think Lee's FF was memorable, or terrible, or memorably terrible.)

DeFalco does get the chance to go out with a bang, with Carlos Pacheco on pencils, in the middle of the Onslaught crossover. The FF, various hangers-on like Ant-Man and replacement Doom Kristoff, and most of the Avengers and X-Men; have gotten their collective ass kicked sideways by Onslaught, who has kidnapped Franklin Richards for good measure. As Franklin tries to use his powers to project images of himself to show them that he's ok; Onslaught twists it into an assault, and psychic copies of the FF's villains begin appearing at Four Freedoms Plaza.

Luckily for the Four, their friends have started to show up during the crisis; so Pacheco gets to draw everyone from Alicia Masters and the Puppet Master to the Inhumans to Namor to the man, Doctor Doom. In the end, Reed creates a machine to block the psionic attack, but has to cannibalize the alien machine Ben was using to turn back to human form. True, it's with Ben's blessing, but as usual Ben is stuck a Thing once more. At least DeFalco gets to do that much; usually shafting Ben is the next writer's job.

In the end, with that victory, the Fantastic Four begin to rally and ready to face Onslaught. The art carries this one quite a ways, although Pacheco is on occasion forced to draw some characters in their unfortunate 90's looks. I'm not going to scan it, but I keep forgetting that Hawkeye's had some costumes that make that Ronin outfit a lot more understandable.

Scans from Fantastic Four #416, "Unfinished Business" Written by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Carlos Pacheco, inks by Bob Wiacek.
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I probably should've set up a tag for it a while ago, but I have a lot of last issues, for a lot of books. Books cancelled before their time, books cancelled before another reboot, books cancelled because they never had a chance. Marc Spector: Moon Knight #60 feels like it was cancelled because the artist had better things to do..."The Final Phase" Written by Terry Kavanagh, art by Stephen Platt.

I never read a lot of the Marc Spector: Moon Knight, partly because it was just another book in the 90's glut, and like Nick Fury this book was nowhere near as good as past versions. Still, I had wanted to read this issue for a while, since Moon Knight dies and stays dead for a few years from here, and because I remembered Wizard back in the day, when it was acceptable to read it, hyping up artist Stephen Platt as the next big thing. And I can see why: some of his shots are very dynamic, McFarlane-esque, except without Todd's charm, design sense, or readability. I think, probably like some other bloggers, that I'm a little uncomfortable criticizing art; in that it's not like I could do any better. True, but...

This book is a mess. Granted, I haven't read all the previous issues, and have no idea who the Hellbent or Cadre or whoever are (and I don't think they ever appeared again) or what's the deal with Spectorcorp (and it's subsidiary, Phalkoncorp) and I don't care.

The only supporting cast Moon Knight really needs (besides his alternate identities like Jake Lockley), are Frenchie and Marlene; who are both there but both almost unrecognizable. Frenchie's never referred to as such, his proper name Jean-Paul is used instead, and he's apparently developed super-powers as part of yet another hidden enclave of super-powered loons. For good measure, he spends the issue in Professor X's floating wheelchair. And yet, there were fans that pitched a bloody fit when he was revealed to be gay, even though there wasn't a lot to support that in the early issues. Yeah, like the 'Bloodline Agenda' was telegraphed from issue one.

Marlene is there, just drawn really, really badly.

I should mention that I've seen better art since from Platt, but at the time I believe he was hustling his way through this to go do Prophet or something for Image.

After Moon Knight's death this issue, Doug Moench would bring him back a few years later. I'm not sure, but I think Moench passed his death off as a dream. I'd have to re-read it, nice Tommy Edwards art on it as well. But, if a comic is bad enough, the fans will accept any explanation to get back to good stories...

Tim O'Neil had a pretty good write-up a while back on the Essential Moon Knight, and that reminds me: he's got a book out, and it's worth checking out to see if it's for you. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but the preview is compelling.

I'm dogging it today: the Oldest and I have been playing the classic Marvel Super Heroes PS1 game. Love it. Borrowed it from my brother-in-law, and I'm gonna have a hard time giving it back... Read more!