I probably thought this was the last issue of the series when I grabbed it, but at least it's a good one: from 2011, Booster Gold #43, "Endgame" Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Chris Batista, inks by Rich Perrotta.

Suffering from "chronal leprosy" and fated to become the Time Trapper the Perforated Man in the far future, Booster is more than a little out of it, but Rip Hunter sends him to the 30th century for help. He immediately finds the Legion of Super-Heroes, in battle with Validus, as was typical for the time. Which in this case...late 70's Legion, I think? Saturn Girl had given up her swimsuit costume, but the team had Wildfire and Dawnstar, and Star Boy had his starfield costume. Despite feeling sick as a dog, Booster still leaps into action to try and save people from being crushed by Validus, and the Legion leaps into action to beat the tar out of him, thinking he was in cahoots with the big monster. This leads to a large chunk of the Legion's headquarters destroyed--well, it's not the old rocket-accident clubhouse; they did tend to wreck headquarters...

The captured Booster tells the future team he'll only talk to Brainiac 5, despite an amusing good cop/bad cop session with Chameleon Boy and Proty. Brainy wants to know where Booster got a flight ring and one of his force-field belts; Booster says it's because they're actually good friends. Brainy seems dubious, which might be because he's not especially friendly himself; he knows it. He takes Booster to the Chronal Institute for study, which looks a lot like experimenting on him; but he's eventually cured of the chronal leprosy, which might prevent the Perforated Man from ever happening. (Maybe it worked, I haven't read the issues with the Perforated Man! Although I feel like they could've just used the Time Trapper, why not?) Brainy even gives him back his stuff, since somehow, history said Booster Gold was still needed; but he also advises Booster that his aging had been slowed down as well. (Which could be either a rebuttal, or a bandaid, for stories where most of Booster's JLI teammates both recognized when they were speaking to future-Booster and claimed they could tell roughly when Booster was from in the timestream, by the size of his bald patch.)

Booster returns to the present, and Brainy then asks Rip Hunter if he had planned that whole thing for Booster. Rip doesn't say, just that Booster would be tested; but back in the past Rip plays dumb when even Booster thinks he manipulated him, saying only that he believed in Booster Gold. The issue ends with Booster grousing that the last few months of his life felt like one of those dumb licensed comics of him--hey!--and that the book had gone in the toilet since switching writers--hey! This was Giffen and DeMatteis's last issue here; as Booster's creator Dan Jurgens would return for his last four issues--getting sucked into crossover hell with Flashpoint. Read more!

A Legionnaire is going to what, Nura? I didn't catch that last part.

I wasn't sure if I still had this--OK, I probably do--and I also probably could've bought the better formatting out of the same dollar bin, but this was where I started. Or close to it! From 1985, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #326, reprinting 1984's Legion of Super-Heroes #1, "Here a Villain, There a Villain..." Plot and story by Paul Levitz, plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt.

This was the point where Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes (formerly Legion of Super-Heroes, formerly Superboy & the Legion of Superheroes, formerly Superboy...) became a reprint title, for the direct-market Baxter paper Legion of Super-Heroes. I had read some old issues at a relative's years prior, and I think I had maybe been reading the Best of DC Legion reprint digests for a bit, so why not hop on here? Unfortunately, for this issue at least, I'm don't think the print quality was as good as the Baxter series: I'm pretty sure my old copy has the same error as the start of the post, where Dream Girl predicts that a Legionnaire was going to die. (You could probably guess from the context!)

On a mysterious world, in a thunderstorm, Lightning Lord makes a solemn pledge over a Mayan-looking stone tablet, with the incongruous symbols for the Legionnaires on it, to kill a Legionnaire. Namely, his brother, Lightning Lad; but he wasn't the only one taking a vow there, as the Legion of Super-Villains had made a big membership push: for a long time, the LSV had been Lightning Lord, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen; with Saturn Queen reforming in one of the "Adult Legion" stories in Superman. This issue alone, the LSV recruits Micro Lad, teleporting him away after catching a long-deserved beating by Shrinking Violet: they had history! The retired Light Lass (Lightning Lad's twin sister) is captured by Radiation Roy (he catches flak for his name later in the story!) while on the prison world Takron-Galtos, a team of Legionnaires is called in to stop a massive prison break, led by Daxamite kid-slash-Darkseid worshipper Ol-Vir. Mon-El seems ready to beat the stuffing out of the brat, but Ol-Vir and several other criminals, are teleported away...(I don't recall if he's seen directly in the Great Darkness Saga, but Ol-Vir either never broke Darkseid's hold on him, or was a psychopath before then.) 

This issue reads just fine coming in relatively cold, but is chock full of continuity for those who had been reading for a while: I wouldn't realize until much later, but several of the LSV's new members were former Legion applicants, from Superboy #212 in 1975! (I feel like a lot of the LSV members were former tryouts! Feelings could have been hurt, and the LSV may be more accepting.) But, if this issue had clues as to where the LSV was, or what Legionnaire was doomed; I hadn't been reading long enough to get those yet. (I don't think I read any stories with said doomed Legionnaire, until his last!)

Bonus: from Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #325, here's the bespoke subscription ad for the Baxter book, with art by Dan Jurgens and Karl Kesel. I'm used to Marvel's generic, linewide sub ads, rather than the specific ones DC used to do, usually with the heroes directly addressing the reader: "Buy my book! Everyone else can shift for themselves..."

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"The End" Week: Atari Force #20!

Like hopefully a couple of other "The End" posts, I'm writing this in the summer, where we've had what feels like more 100-degree days than usual, and more than a few days where it was far too hot to go biking when I usually would've. Which left me, too many days, staring into space and not accomplishing much. One thing I could've done, that I still haven't as I type this, is look at some runs I've been putting together on the cheap and figure out what issues I actually need; maybe prevent myself from buying the same books multiple times. I've got a much longer stretch of Kamandi than I would've figured, almost all of Strikeforce: Morituri, but have recently stalled out on getting Slapstick or Arion. Oh, and as of now I have four of this series, although there are some more to track down besides: from 1985, Atari Force #20, "Trial...and Verdict!" Written by Mike Baron, pencils by Eduardo Barreto, inks by Ricardo Villagrán.

As the title implies, this issue the team faces judgment: they had defeated series big-bad the Dark Destroyer, but had committed a few crimes to do so. The authorities still don't seem to believe there had ever been a 'Dark Destroyer,' despite testimony from lawman Rident, and later psychic evidence from Morphea. The team organizes a small-scale jailbreak, walking out of court, the verdict no longer mattering to them. In a "multiverse shuttle" that resembles a larger version of the Legion's time bubble, the Atari Force heads from New Earth to old...and whatever adventures they might have in your imagination. Oh, and the Atari Force Special, which maybe hit stands in 1986! Collect them all, unless somehow DC or somebody has announced a trade collection in the four months since typing this. (The editorial page from Andy Helfer tries to paint this last issue as merely the natural conclusion of the story, as opposed to losing the license or being unwilling to shell out to maintain it; but I'm pretty sure Atari Force sales were well above cancellation level even in the end, so they aren't horribly difficult to find. The special and mini-comics, maybe.)

But, like we mentioned last time, this issue also features "Hukka vs. the BOB," from Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, and Karl Kesel, a slapstick masterpiece! Tempest buys "Personal Pal" robot Bob, to keep the Hukka company while he studies. But, when Hukka ignores (or, probably can't read) the warning "Do not immerse in water" Bob stops playing nicely. Hijinks ensue! Read more!

The "serious breach of galactic law!" isn't on earth. At least not yet.

My local Comic Book Shop does a great job of presentation, and has two other locations that are hubs for card gaming; but you know me: I'm there for the cheap comics, and those they can throw in a pile and I'll root through them like a raccoon through your trash. Recently, they've even had some bona-fide quarter comics: old boxes full of them, pulled from storage, ready to be dug through again. Although, I find something like this, and I wonder why I missed it before: I haunt the cheap books! Was...was I sick? Anyway, at least we finally get today's book: from 1981, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1, story and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

The GCD calls this the first creator-owned comic: that might not be strictly true, since Joe Kubert retained rights to TOR back in '59, and Simon and Kirby himself owned Fighting American as well. But this was new, in a retro sci-fi way: in deep space, Captain Victory and his crew discover another earth-like planet has suffered a "takeover," stripped of resources and ruined by invaders. Although he calls his executive officer Klavus a hothead, the Captain still straps a "portable command unit" to his head and gets up to the bridge, despite repeated warnings that it would come under heavy fire, since the enemy "hated his guts." The portable command unit might seem a bit silly and dated now, but you know, it was probably solid-state, resistant to jamming, decent head protection--eee, maybe not, Captain Victory is killed like nine pages into this thing, but the crew fights on, since this maybe wasn't an unusual happening. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, the Lightning Lady makes her escape: she seems somehow sad to have had to kill Victory, and wants to create a hive somewhere the Rangers won't find them. Her regent has found a planet, out in the proverbial sticks, that might suit them...

Meanwhile, as you might expect, Captain Victory is revived in a new clone body--his tenth! Klavus mentions he could run out of them, but the doctors seem to enjoy the idea that now "our idols can die with magnificent regularity!" Kirby may have been on to something there. After deploying a "world-killer" to destroy the hive planet, Victory and crew take off after the Lightning Lady, catching up to them on earth. Which isn't a big dramatic reveal there, since we already knew that's where the Insectons were headed, but it's still like a page turn and Victory's on earth, talking to a couple highway cops in Colorado, as his dreadnaught "Tiger" fires into the hills at the unseen enemy. I think the cops serve a narrative purpose: somebody for Victory to talk to there, that would need explanations and be suitably impressed by the goings-on; as opposed to Klavus, who might be a bit of a buzzkill. I hadn't read this series before, but got like six or so from the quarter box. Kind of hoping more turn up! I had seen Captain Victory before only briefly, in the tail end of the abortive Kurt Busiek/Keith Giffen Kirbyverse crossover Victory #1. His uniform (and hair!) seems less bombastic there, almost like fancy navy; kind of like the transition from original Star Trek to the Star Trek II uniforms. Victory is also seemingly taking over earth, but also perhaps without malice: it's for our own good, we're stupid baby primates. Can't really argue with him there. Read more!

I'm not positive I've ever mentioned it here before, but as a kid; for all of first grade, since I was a bag-luncher, I sat between two kids who regularly--and repeatedly--argued about which was better, the Atari 2600 or the Intellivision. "2600's got more games." "Intellivision's got better graphics." An entire year of that. My first system was a Colecovision, by the way; which is barely remembered today but was the absolute best; those guys can suck eggs.  Anyway, maybe that's why I hadn't read this before? From 1984, Atari Force #2, "Direct Encounter" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Ricardo Villagrán.  

This was early in the series, although I believe the mini-comics included in some Atari games were in vaguely the same continuity; and as such was still putting together some characters, since said games didn't yet have a lot of space for narrative and characterization. While the mercenaries Dart and Blackjak lead a heroic--and successful--charge against an enemy gun emplacement; the Darth Vader-esque big bad of the series, the Dark Destroyer, sends the monstrous Warbeast to capture Dart, for reasons he doesn't let his lackey Kargg or the readers onto yet. On New Earth, young Chris "Tempest" Champion teleports to save his girl from a poisonous "scorp," but she then breaks up with him because her dad, a senator, doesn't approve of him or his "lunatic" dad. Alien psychiatrist Morphea visits said dad, Martin Champion, on the A.T.A.R.I. Space Station, where he lived like a hermit, trying to find the force out there in the Multiverse that he felt was responsible for "corrupting this galaxy with hatred and violence." Morphea is certain he's projecting his sorrow over the loss of his wife; but it could be a less general "eee-vil" out there than he's making it sound like.

We also meet other future team members Babe and Pakrat; but the main draw is José Luis García-López drawing the living crap out of everything. Man, what a good looking comic. Before this, the only Atari Force I had read was in the digests, like "Hukka vs. the BOB," a Keith Giffen laugher from the last issue of the series, reprinted in Best of DC #71. Which I mention because I'd just read Giffen's probably-less-than-fond farewell to the series (or at least, the comic relief Hukka) in the 1986 Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer #1! (Script by Robert Loren Fleming, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Bob Oksner.)

Atari Force has, for rights issues, never been collected; although I have read of fans having their own issues bound. I wonder how many of those have the Ambush Bug pages included, though...Along with this, I got issues #4 and #5 from a dollar bin; I'd better see if I have that last issue. Read more!

80-Page Thursdays: Legends of Tomorrow #5!

Every so often in my sporadic DVD purchasing, I see the set for the complete Legends of Tomorrow, which for a good stretch was my favorite show on TV! (Aside: I can't remember the last time I watched a regular-broadcast, first-run show on old-school network TV! Possibly towards the end of the CW's DC shows.) It's mildly annoying, since the first season was only OK, and I have the second season set already: the episode "Raiders of the Lost Art" with George Lucas is where it takes off! Then again, I know I had this issue already, but for a buck I couldn't leave it in the cheap boxes. From 2016, Legends of Tomorrow #5, featuring stories by Len Wein, Keith Giffen, Gerry Conway, and Aaron Lopresti; with art by Aaron Lopresti, Eduardo Pansica, Bilquis Evely, Yildiray Cinar, and more.

This was the penultimate issue of this mini-series, which was three-quarters meat-and-potatoes superhero stuff, and one relaunch that felt like an oddball but might've been a bigger swing: Sugar & Spike by Giffen and Bilquis Evely. They had a long-running series as babies; and here they were young adults, private investigators specializing in superhero weirdness, who could still speak their secret baby-talk to each other if needed. This chapter, Spike recaps their breakout case, where they took down D-list Flash villain Colonel Computron. His tech support friend Bernie isn't especially helpful, and maybe wonders if there isn't sexual tension between the two, with a comment I'm pretty sure put creator Sheldon Mayer spinning in his grave. (I also don't know if it's sexual tension, as much as that Sugar has basically been the boss of Spike, since they were toddlers.)

Also this issue: the traditional Metal Men vs. new Metal Men fight, as the originals face new ones like Ziconium, Silicon, and Copper. Not the old Cooper--er, Copper--but while she seems to be the most stable and mature of the new bunch; Platinum swears she looks familiar, like her creator, Dr. Lace. Copper denies that, but the two teams are probably going to have to work together, as Chemo returns! Doc Magnus is somehow surprised by that; continuity reboots or not, Chemo always comes back, c'mon. Also, Magnus is way younger seeming in this version, and has goggles instead of his pipe!

Firestorm gears up for a final battle with Multiplex, as a bunch of personal stuff hangs over his head--Ronnie was high school age again, and wondering if he should stick with his team, or take a scholarship at a better school; while Jason was having health issues, and the Professor seems particularly boring? Like, more than usual? There's a solid page of him microwaving breakfast before work at his lab! Still, that could be to establish how Professor Stein was isolated and alone and needed the guys and Firestorm nonsense in his life. And in Metamorpho's feature, Sapphire has stolen the Orb of Ra, which later communicates with her, telling her she knows what she was doing was wrong; but god she could be a daddy's girl sometimes. The cliffhanger has Java ready to kill Rex; maybe he had been built up as threatening the rest of this series, but I can't buy it. You'd be better off with the current Metamorpho series there!

Technically, this might be a 100-pager, but it actually has 80 comic pages! I like the package, I like the idea; it's just not my favorite version of some of the characters. Read more!

So, a few years back, we took a look at an issue of the New Universe title Justice, and I spent most of the post bitching about time zones. I also advised against buying those from the quarter bins, as "They'll just hurt you in the end." Yeah, you see where this is going, but I swear I've got a good reason! Or a reason. Maybe marginally good? From 1987, Justice #10, "Hour of Corruption" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Vince Colletta.

At this point, the book seemed to be building up for a final battle in the other-dimensional Winterland, like King's the Dark Tower by way of Kirby's New Gods. Am I overselling it? Definitely, the book would absolutely whiff any potential it had. The bad guys, including corporate evil Damon Conquest, were preparing for their massive assault on "the justice-warriors of Spring," who were disorganized and demoralized, possibly because of their name. Damon reports to a bigger bad here, his dad; and had abducted and corrupted the hero's love interest, FBI agent Rebecca Chambers. Damon also makes a phone call to one of his agents on earth, casually talking through his hand, his cold breath seeming to come out the other end...a much stronger visual than this book deserved! Back on earth, Tensen, a.k.a. Justice, was still murdering drug-dealers here and there, but was largely depressed; since Rebecca was believed dead and he was being blamed for it.

Damon transports Justice to the desert, to face Klane, Black Justice; who has a real Fist of the North Star vibe to him, as does their fight. (Fist wasn't released stateside yet, although it had been running in Japan since 1983. Could Giffen have seen it and be riffing on that...?) It's a trap, though, intended for Justice to strike him down in anger, a violation of his code. Beaten in the desert, Justice is unable to do anything when Rebecca appears, at first intending to kill him, but deciding he wasn't worth it. Harvesting dark power from Justice's corruption, Damon lists off his evil plans to his dad, as the invasion draws nearer...

Yes, yes, yes, that's all well and good; but I was actually looking for Giffen's issues of Justice, because of a joke in a better book! From 1990, Secret Origins #48, featuring "The Secret Origin of Ambush Bug: We Thought Him Up!" Plot and pencils by "Keith Van Giffen," script by "Robert Louis Loren Stevenson Fleming," inks by "Bob the Louvre Lewis." Cover by Kevin Maguire and Al Gordon! This is a banger of an issue from late in that series, featuring a bit we saw in Blue Devil Annual #1: here's a whole bunch of 'secret' origins, not a one of them even remotely close to right. "This calls for a Giffen 'big-eye' panel!" is still a fun bit of him poking fun at himself; but Giffen had done layouts for Wally Wood: if we consider Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work!! is the big-eye panel a variation on 'extreme closeup,' or its own thing?  

For good measure, this issue also includes Phil Foglio on Stanley & His Monster, a few years before that mini-series, an extended Captain America riff for the origin of Rex the Wonder Dog, and the largely-forgotten western heroes the Trigger Twins. I had to double-check, since I was thinking it would be just like me to say something like 'largely-forgotten' and then find out the Trigger Twins had a book for like 14 years and a massive following in Paraguay or something: I mean, Rex the Wonder Dog used to be huge. The Trigger Twins, not so much. They were in a bunch of All-Star Western, and the name's been repurposed since.

Anyway, all of this, and there's only one proper "big-eye panel" in Justice #10. Feel like there were more in the previous issue...or maybe the next one? Giffen only did three total here, but I still feel like there is a Fist of the North Star influence.

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There's no Justice...in this comic, appearances notwithstanding.

For "The End" week this year, one of the books I didn't get to in my pile of last issues was Justice #32, the last issue of the New Universe title. And spoiler alert, it's not very good: we've mentioned before how that title had been massively retconned midstream, but while there's a couple decent supporting character beats, Peter David gets really referencey-jokey, even for him, here; and Lee Weeks had moved on: the art was by Alan Kupperberg and feels rushed. Of course, I also say in that post, don't buy Justice out of the quarter bins, it will just hurt you; but of course I'm not one to take my own advice. That said, we've got something else today, but close: from 1987, Nightmask #8, "Transfer Point" Written by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Rich Bryant. 

Nightmask was one of several New Universe books cancelled at the twelfth issue, and although Marvel has tried to bring a redesigned version back, I don't know much about the character, Keith Remsen, except that he could enter people's dreams. Which seems tapped into the zeitgeist, "Dream Warriors" would have been having their moment in 1987! The series didn't appear to have a consistent art team--which could lend itself to dream interpretation, or could make every issue feel like a fill-in--ah, there's a Kyle Baker issue in there! It also wasn't consistently written, either: this would be the last written by series creator Archie Goodwin, and it ties into another New Universe character he created: Justice. Who appears here, as an implacable serial killer with a laser hand. Even though Keith knows it's out-of-character for him, he sees Justice murder most of his supporting cast, while coming for him and his sister Teddy.

To try and pump himself up in a chase on a subway train, Keith manifests his Nightmask costume, while awake, which he hadn't been able to before. Because he was in a dream, duh: he had been trapped in the nightmare of a young thug, whose older brother had been a drug dealer killed by Justice in his first issue. The thug had seen the murder and understandably been a bit traumatized, but in trying to help him, Keith's own survivor's guilt over the deaths of his parents transferred "Justice" to him, and he has to work through that guilt and his fear to survive. Granted, "it was all a dream!" but it's still a much more solid comic than the New Universe rep would lead you to believe. We've actually seen Nightmask before on the blog, but in his own series, he appeared to need his sister as an anchor to reality; that was probably phased out after his title was cancelled, because we know it's traditional as hell to lose your supporting cast when that happens...!

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It'll be an Unexpected find in this box later, but that's probably true for the other books as well.

I'm more of a reader, than a collector: my collection is merely a build-up of reading material; and in that vein my organization would probably make most of you scream in frustration. I was just loading a number of books into a box that could only be described as "recently blogged," so yeah, bit of a crap-shoot. Then, I had double-check to make sure we hadn't seen this one already: from 1982, Unexpected #219, cover by Joe Kubert.

These later DC horror/sci-fi books were also crap-shoots, and the stories aren't A-list this time, but have some early work from a couple artists. Cover story "Boxed In!" finds alien visitors to earth, that find themselves not to scale, and their end is not surprising. (Story by Andy Helfer, pencils by Ric Estrada.) "They Don't Call Him Lucky Sam for Nothing!" is a shaggy dog of a sci-fi story, as a tramp spaceman signs a bum contract with an alien pirate; but it all turns out in the end for no reason. (Written by Sheldon Mayer, art by Jose Matucenio.)

"A Wild Tale" is told by a future teacher to her incredulous students, of a young girl rescued from an alien planet, who developed shape-changing powers. Could that be true? Well, let's just say nobody messes around in that class. (Story by George Kashdan, pencils by Trevor Von Eeden, inks by Ricardo Villamonte.) Lastly, in "Dust Devil," a small town in the Depression, on the verge of collapse, is offered an out by a devil. To make sure they don't get "a pig in a poke," one man asks for a trial period, and is given 12 hours to try their promised prosperity out. Kind of like the small-alien story; you pretty much know where this one's going; but it's got early Keith Giffen art that shows his Kirby influences. (Story by Gary Cohn.) 

Not a great one, but okay. I am blogging the cover though; so I don't buy it again! I feel like that cover's kind of well-recognized, probably seen by way more people than read this. 

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I'm sharing some scans with you, but that's it! This issue's mine, mine, mine!

That happens sometimes, and I'm almost surprised it doesn't happen more often; where I pick up a random comic to blog--in this case, just because it was on a nearby shelf--and then find part of the creative team is a dick I don't even wanna mention. On to another book, that I'm already looking at suspiciously! From 2013, Larfleeze #1, "The Extremely Large Dog on the Edge of Forever!" Plot and breakdowns by Keith Giffen, script by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Scott Kolins.

Far off in space, at the "Creation Point" where "matter becomes energy (and vice versa)" Larfleeze and his "conscripted butler" Pulsar Stargrave, have about 15 minutes left to live, before the charge runs out on his ring. Having destroyed all of his possessions, except Stargrave, Larfleeze didn't seem to feel he had anything to live for. Stargrave tries to talk him into maybe choosing life, which of course prompts a retelling of Larfleeze's life story...

Probably should be a content warning on this issue, since like Miracleman #9, it features graphic depiction of childbirth, namely Larfleeze's mom giving birth to him in a field; and hardly the "momentous occasion" he describes it as: he was the youngest of sixteen, possibly more, since his family had already sold a few. Then, his planet is invaded, Larfleeze was enslaved, then later forced to mate and sire several children; which Stargrave claims weren't mentioned the last time he was bored by--uh, heard, that story. As the story goes on, it gets to when Larfleeze stole "the Parallax Essence" and was pursued by the Manhunters; which would have been several billion years ago, and Larfleeze notes he was at least two million years old by that point: his race was "virtually immortal," which seems weird considering they seem to breed a lot. I suppose he's only immortal as long as nothing kills him? Despite being a completely unreliable narrator, the flashback pages have corners as in a scrapbook, like these are precious memories to hold on to. (Shakes fist, Homer Simpson-voice) Cherish them...

Eventually, Larfleeze stole the orange power battery; killing his partners in crime to keep it for himself. But, the story had to have taken over fifteen minutes--or felt like it, at any rate--so Stargrave realizes Larfleeze was now an organic battery. This revelation is interrupted by a colossal hound, that swallows Larfleeze. Larfleeze blows it up, but the hound's master, "the Laord of the Hunt" then arrives, wondering what happened to his dog. Still, this has given Larfleeze a new reason to live: to get new, more stuff! This series would only run like 12 issues and without looking I'm curious how many of those were crossovers...huh, maybe none? I wouldn't have bet on that. Larfleeze's mother shows up a few more times, at least as a hallucination, with the unfortunate name "Larfloozee," which is so Giffen and DeMatteis I can't stand it. Also, Pulsar Stargrave was an obscure Legion of Super-Heroes baddie, who looked far more robust in the 30th century: maybe he started a workout regimen between now and then. Read more!

Somebody or other brought this up on Blue Sky the other day (and if you need an invite, lemme know!) and if I didn't randomly find it in my garage foraging the other day! From 2004, the Authority vs. Lobo #1, "Jingle Hell!" Plot by Keith Giffen, script by Alan Grant, art by Simon Bisley.

Al Kennedy recounts Alan Grant's research for this one: calling Warren Ellis to ask who the #### the Authority was. Although, I'm pretty sure their star was on the rise by that point, while Lobo's maybe wasn't. That said, I distinctly recall a Stan Lee interview where he said Lobo was the main DC title he liked, so...there's that, I guess. This was the post-millennial Authority, with the newly-reincarnated Jenny Quantum, who was currently three years old, and the rest of the team was spectacularly not well suited to the task of parenting the semi-precocious little waif. Wandering off to an unexplored area of their massive extra-dimensional Carrier, she stumbles across a copy of the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special from a few years prior, where the Main Man snuffs Kris Kringle. Distraght, Jenny wants her team to find Lobo, and make him pay.

Said Main Man, was currently pissing away a bounty by gambling away his internal organs, and after losing is approached by some tapeworm-looking aliens for a job: they want the Authority dead, for killing their god/host. In return, they offer Lobo the massive biomass of said host, a colossal chunk of meat and whatnot. Sold American! Meanwhile, the adult members of the Authority were discussing whether or not they should hunt down Lobo, or tell Jenny Santa wasn't real. Hunting down Lobo seems easier? Midnighter is grudgingly forced to bite the proverbial bullet, and take Jenny to the North Pole...which is, surprisingly, full of reindeer corpses, dead elves, and the remnants of Santa's workshop! The rest of the Authority is doubtful, until Jack Hawksmoor takes a Door to Times Square; and they remember in the comic, "bombs dropped down every chimney." NYC is a post-apocalyptic nightmare, a city of the dead and dying.

The team quickly realizes, maybe this wasn't all Lobo's doing, but Jenny's: she altered reality without realizing it. While the Authority questions survivors of the massacre, the Sugarplum Fairy and Frosty; Lobo tracks down the Ship in the Bleed, and fight time! Eventually, Jenny throws Lobo through a Door to the wreckage of Santa's workshop, and confronts him with his comic; which Lobo is surprisingly thrilled to see: it was a collector's item! But also fiction, part of a licensing deal he did years back. Lobo confronts Jenny with the knowledge that by making it real, she killed Santa! She explodes with power, resetting everything, and knocking out Lobo. But what to do with him: they weren't even sure Lobo was killable. They have to settle for taking pictures of Lobo, beat by a three-year-old, which would kill his rep if they got out. Also, the alien meat-corpse's orbit decayed and burned up, so there wasn't any payout coming for him to keep fighting. Still, Lobo doesn't seem to mind; as Jenny seemed to impress him...and he makes a deeply creepy comment as he leaves. 

The Authority has a right merry Christmas, maybe not noticing that Jenny had lost some of her innocence. I don't think I loved this one at the time, but I'm not a big Lobo fan anyway, and can't remember the last time I read an Authority story. I think I stuck with them through maybe Ed Brubaker's run, then was done with them.

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If he doesn't get a figure in the next couple years, egg will be on my face. Or half my face maybe.

I don't think I'm one to repeat rumors, but supposedly Jack of Hearts is finally on the list of upcoming Marvel Legends figures: he's probably got a bit of a bump from his recent appearances in She-Hulk, but we're going way back today: from 1978, Marvel Premiere #44, "The Jack of Hearts!" Written by Bill Mantlo, breakdowns by Keith Giffen, finishes by Rudy Nebres.

Headed home from an appearance in Iron Man, Jack of Hearts helps a Coast Guard cutter find some sinking yachters, with the old-school flourish of slipping his 'calling card' into the captain's pocket. Jack displays some of his grab-bag of powers: energy projection, seemingly enhanced senses and intellect--his so-called "computer mind." But his power could build up explosively, to the point that he had to wear his armor 23 hours a day: he could use Tony Stark's "neutro-mist" to negate his powers for an hour. At his home, his late father's mansion, Jack chats with his butler, Martins, a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist assigned to help him. Martins has a recent letter for him--ooh, perfumed, nice! Except it's from a Corporation assassin, Hemlock, calling him out!

Now, I grant you, I can't think of a logo or sigil for Hemlock, but Jack has one of the most intricate costumes in superhero history, and Hemlock gets...a mostly featureless black outfit: it's either an interesting contrast, or super-lazy. Not sure which. Anyway, Hemlock left his address, in scenic Ithaca, to lure Jack in and get the secret of the "zero fluid" that had given him his powers. (The Corporation had tried to destroy the new energy source, to maintain their fossil-fuel monopoly, but maybe thought it might be nice to have later.) When Jack proves resistant to his poisons, the fight carries into Hemlock's greenhouse, to his regret, as his prize azaleas become a casualty! Hemlock catches Jack by surprise with a hidden "hand-blaster" and knocks him out, but when he tries to cut Jack out of his suit, he releases too much power, and is seemingly killed, or at least knocked out. Jack's a little put out that he didn't learn anything and that wasn't much of a win, but life goes on.

Somehow, I could see that coming up again in She-Hulk: Hemlock returning, blowing up Jen's apartment trying to kill Jack, to avenge his azaleas; Jen suddenly realizing they should see other people...Also this issue: the Dave Cockrum character sheet for Jack, to try and keep him on-model. The GCD points out, George Perez was maybe Jack's first artist, but Keith Giffen had designed him. Man, I'm going to miss him. 

I got this and the Jack of Hearts mini-series from the toy show; I think they were all stamped from Lone Star Comics in Wichita Falls, TX.

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Aw, man, Cooper doesn't even make the cover!...'Copper'? That doesn't sound right.

Oddly enough, I've never picked up the Showcase collections for the Metal Men; partly because I never see the first one, and partly because I already have the Walt Simonson issues in the should-never-be-out-of-print Art of Walt Simonson. Also surprising: I didn't already have all of this one: from 2011, DC Comics Presents: Metal Men 100-Page Spectacular, mostly written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, mostly drawn by Kevin Maguire!

While this starts with a reprint of the Bob Haney-written Silver Age: the Brave and the Bold #1, the rest is the complete run of back-up stories from Giffen's 2009 Doom Patrol, which I have most of but I don't think I added it to my pull list until it was already on the chopping block for cancellation. The Metal Men stories are fun, but that's all they are: there's barely a lick of development or drama, but maybe that's the way to go with them? They're largely resistant to change, or change and then quickly change back--malleable, you might say! One change should have stuck, though: the addition of new team member, Copper; but one running joke is that most of the team seems to forget her on a regular basis. (I thought she was from Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire, but Copper was actually an earlier addition, from 2007's Superman/Batman #34!) I'd love to have her back in the lineup again, like she took two years off to hitchhike across Europe, then just told everyone she had been there the whole time, and they bought it...I wondered if maybe the guys weren't building up to something, like the reason Magnus and the others never remember her was that she was some kind of plant; but now I kinda doubt that: in the last couple stories, they gave Magnus his own lab assistant/wacky sidekick, which really feels like overegging the pudding there. Read more!

Huh, this is the same artist on the previous issue and the next issue, but Claw looks different this month? Like with his hair tied up, he looks less Conan than usual. I say 'tied up,' but I'm not positive how he does it. It's not just a scrunchie or something...I don't think. From 1978, Claw the Unconquered #11, "Death at Darkmorn" Written by David Michelinie, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by John Celardo.

Claw finally catches up to bad King Occulas this issue, and is tearing through his best men, so the king throws some verbal abuse at his wizard Miftung to have him stop him. He doesn't seem like the best king, but Miftung doesn't seem like the best wizard, either: while he does send the castle rising into the sky and away from Claw, Claw still had time to climb on before it got away. (The castle seems remarkably understaffed, like Miftung was the only employee left; but I absolutely could see Occulas forcing him to cook, clean, empty the chamberpots, rub his feet, whatever.)

A fight with a muck-monster stalls Claw long enough for Occulas to force Miftung to mystically juice him up into an ogre/oni kind of monster. Occulas is over-confident, which gives Claw the opportunity to stab him in the chest, which kills Miftung, since it was his life-force powering the monster form. Claw feels bad about that one, but Miftung is okay with it, knowing Occulas had been abusing his loyalty for too long. Dying, Miftung teleports Claw away, since his spells will end with his death, like the one keeping the castle in the air...Which is probably why the castle is so empty; so Claw isn't responsible for a bunch of squashed scullery maids and kitchen staff and what all.

Claw seems to find his victory a bit empty: possibly because he didn't get to see the light fade from Occulas's eyes, or maybe because dying in a massive castle explosion was cooler than he deserved. Hmm, probably the former. Read more!