"The End" Week: Gotham City Sirens #26!

Remember when Catwoman teamed up with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy?...no? OK, remember when their little team broke up? In today's issue, Gotham City Sirens #26, "Friends, part four" Written by Peter Calloway, pencils by Andres Guinaldo, inks by Lorenzo Ruggiero; and Raul Fernandez.

Ivy is the one most incensed this issue, since she's realized Catwoman's been playing her and Harley. Under Batman's influence (if not outright orders) Selina acted like she needed them, in order to bring them together to contain them and point them at bigger threats to Gotham. Selina doesn't think of either Harley or Ivy as evil, and points out it's not like Batman would've just let them run around free anyway. (Dick was probably Batman for at least part of this story.)

Enraged at being manipulated by Batman, Ivy starts tearing up the city. Really starts tearing up the city, Biollante-style. Batman comes to put a stop to it (amusingly, we see Bats tell Commissioner Gordon to give Catwoman ten minutes, unless they start destroying the city...) but Catwoman stalls him; either pissed at being manipulated herself or feeling the girls deserved a head start. Fade to black, cue up the New 52 reboot.

This was one of a pile of last issues I picked up on the cheap, and while it's not a horrible reset, it might've been more interesting if the creators had been given the freedom to go completely nuts before the end.

Tomorrow, our usual Christmas rerun, then more last issues Wednesday. Go to bed now and it'll be Christmas faster for you!

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"The End" Week: Kobalt #16!

It feels weird having Christmas on a Tuesday, doesn't it? So New Year's Day will be next Tuesday, and that'll be the Seventh Annual Year in Toys, which means the Fourth Annual "The End" week starts now! Luckily, I always have a good-sized pile of last issues, and with all the books cancelled and relaunched and relaunched again over the last year, there's no shortage. We're leading off with a book I mentioned a couple of times over the year, didn't think I had read, found again and yeah, I had read it: Kobalt #16, "Isle of Trouble" Written by John Rozum, pencils by Eric Battle, inks by Rober Quijano.

Set during the Milestone crossover "Long Hot Summer," the people of Dakota City are rioting in the newly constructed (and super-crooked) theme park Utopia Park. The vigilantes Kobalt and Clover are headed for a showdown with crime boss Milton St. Cloud, but Kobalt has lost one of his most potent weapons: his mystique. After spending years building up his rep, and making the criminals of Dakota honestly believe he was an indestructible demon; an old friend called in a favor and asked Kobalt to take on a new partner, Page. Once his new sidekick was spotted, Kobalt was outted as merely a guy in a costume...

As Page helps innocent bystanders escape the rioting, St. Cloud's enforcer Crimson is tracking him, but finds Kobalt and Clover instead. Crimson does a number on them, too; since he seems to actually have some powers. Although they stop him briefly, and catch up with Page, Crimson attacks again and beats the stuffing out of Page. Kobalt only finally manages to "beat" Crimson, by shooting him in the legs from behind. Kobalt then goes to save a woman on a monorail--really Clover--but the monorail then explodes.

Of course, Kobalt escapes easily, but lets everyone (except Clover) think he's dead. His rationale being, he needs to learn some new tricks to beat superpowered foes, or he's no use to Page anyway. Clover offers to continue Page's training, but Page thinks he's had enough. The next day, Milton St. Cloud feels like a king, while Kobalt returns to his own mentor, to train again...(I'm pretty sure we see him in the pile of heroes in Static Shock #4, the limited series from 2001.)

Of course, I wonder if Batman had to do the same as his tricks wore thin. Anyway, I just went back and retagged all "the end" posts, since Blogger decided it didn't like quotation marks in the labels! So many last issues, and more to come!

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I think Ravonna's wearing a Kang suit, and her regular outfit, under that...

So, we checked out Avengers: the Terminatrix Objective #2 about two, two-and-a-half years ago; and recently I found a quarter bin copy of #1. "Borderlands" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Mike Gustovich, inks by Bud LaRosa.

The Terminatrix of the title is actually Ravonna, who returned and replaced Kang, in "Citizen Kang." Unfortunately for her, she's finding that managing Kang's vast chronal empire, is a colossal pain in the ass. She has to pretend to be Kang, but isn't fooling Kang's elite team, the Anachronauts. (Who, aside from having a great name, never accomplished anything, ever.) She has to deal with the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, which is either a vast army of formidable time-traveling conquerors, or a bunch of cannon fodder, depending when you ask. And she's just discovered the creature Alioth, which claims to be "the supreme time being of the timespan prior to Kang's!"

Meanwhile, the mysterious (and previously unseen) Revelation pulls War Machine, Thunderstrike, and USAgent out of time; allegedly to help her stop Ravonna from reviving Kang. The guys huddle up and discuss it, and decide Kang's a dick, so they'll go along with this. They fight "Kang," who is quickly revealed as Ravonna; who pulls other versions of herself out of time to fight the guys and makes a good showing of it, but is having technical difficulties. Her equipment not fully functional, she ducks back to the Old West for a drink, then decides to recruit some Avengers of her own--a gambit Revelation saw coming, as she spies on Ravonna...

Ravonna seemed friendly and reasonable in her first appearance or so; but her association with Kang seems to have done a number on her better nature, and her patience. This was by no means the best Kang (or Kang-related) story ever, but at least Gruenwald was trying something a little different.
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80-Page Thursdays: Dark Horse Presents #13!

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

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

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

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"The Power of Love...or Stereotypes. Either or."

I'm at least 40% sure the blue hope rings do more than, "shoot optimism," but here we are...

TheFwoosh pointed this one out: if you missed the recent DCUC two-packs with Blue Lantern Kyle/Sinestro Corps Hal or Azrael Batman/Battle-Damaged Batman, try Ross if you have one in your area! They're marked down to $12.99! As I type this, I haven't gotten around to picking up the BLK/SCH one, but it is tempting.

Will Hal's prank on Guy come back to haunt him? I had not thought that far ahead, to be honest.


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Stuff that won't fit in the scanner today:

Feel mildly like crap right now, so we'll take a quick look at some stuff that I couldn't cram into the scanner. (Like the title said, I guess!)

First, I finished Devin Grayson's DC novel Inheritance last week: the main plot with Deathstroke is honestly a little thin, but the main draw is Nightwing, Arsenal, and Tempest's history and relationships with their mentors. It's also strongly tied into DC continuity (pre-52 reboot) which is both a pro and a con: man, Aquaman seems like such a dick he makes Green Arrow look like father (figure) of the year, and GA was genuinely horrible and neglectful. (In comparison, Batman is far stricter, but much more caring, but seemingly incapable of expressing any affection.) I didn't like it as much as Jeff Mariotte's Trail of Time, but I think you can pick Inheritance up on the cheap, and it's a worthwhile read. Let me know if Ollie seems like a really dirty old man, though...'cause he kinda does. Inheritance is mentioned on TV Tropes under 'Pandering to the Base', which could also apply to...

Next, we've got the 1992 Chris Claremont/Adam Hughes/Karl Story graphic novel Star Trek: Debt of Honor. I had this back in the day (never had the hardbound one, though...) and just got a cheap replacement at the Comic Book Shop's sale last Saturday. I love it, but you may need a venn diagram to see if it's for you. Like Adam Hughes art? OK. Like Claremont's stylistic tics? Kay...so far so good. Are you deeply into classic Star Trek? And I don't mean the easy shout-outs like the Doomsday Machine or Klingon commander Kor, I mean hardcore callbacks like Jaime Finney and the Farragut. (Both of those are pretty well explained in context, however.) Still, it's really, really pretty; and I don't think it's tough to find, either.

The twenty-sided dice are for my Oldest son, since we like to play Monopoly with them. You still have to use regular sixes for things like the utilities, or you could have a $4000 water bill...but it's fun to roll a 35 and count it out.

The Rorschach figure was another loose eBay purchase, $9.99 shipped from China. I'm not sure if he was a con-exclusive or for that Black Freighter subscription club coming up, but he's not bad. The coat does hinder a bit of the articulation, and the neck joint does seem as good as it could be, but as is so often the case, the price makes it.

The Fwoosh! turned me on to this one: Ross Stores got the latest DCUC two-packs--Azrael Batman/Battle Damaged Batman and Yellow Lantern Hal Jordan/Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner--$12.99 a set. A steal! "Battle Damaged" Batman isn't as beat up as I thought he'd be, with a slash across his chest, and a slight and perhaps unintentional ding on his chin. If you have Ross in your area, start digging now.

I got a pin from Toys for Tots a couple weeks back, which I thought was very nice of them! And you still have time to donate, and enter to win at Geeks for Tots! And Infinite Hollywood's Infinite Toys for Tots will match your donation with another! Go now if you haven't already!



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Five year mission? More like a sixty-five year mission, I'm guessing.

We haven't checked out a Star Trek comic in some time, so today we'll remedy that: Star Trek #63, "The Alone, part two" Written by Kevin Ryan, pencils by Rod Whigham, inks by Arne Starr. The cover is a bit of a spoiler on this one.

This is a flashback issue: the older Captain Kirk is reading leaves, that relate to a mission from twenty years prior, towards the end of the Enterprise's original five year mission. Kirk describes it as "facing death in a way I had never faced it before...and that some changes were endings and not beginnings."

In the previous issue, while investigating a highly advanced alien transporter, Kirk accidentally was sent to another planet...and back in time. While Kirk is more than capable of surviving (he mentions picking up helpful skills during "A Private Little War" and "The Paradise Syndrome") he realizes he may be beyond rescue, and may spend the rest of his life there.

Meanwhile, Spock negotiates with the alien Wumbar, who attacked the alien structure out of fear: their race has been under siege by another alien race, the Drasalle. Spock also receives orders from Starfleet Command, to write off Kirk as lost and return to base. As always, Spock obeys...after a fashion.

In the past, after an attack by the wolf-like predators of that world, Kirk adopts a lost cub as a pet. He is mildly concerned that the creature may grow up and turn on him, but it's better than being alone; and names the creature "Gary" after his old friend. Building a cabin near a plateau, Kirk finds enough raw materials for his plan, lugging a pile of rocks up the plateau.

The Enterprise continues their survey of neighboring class-M planets for the captain; and Spock continues to win over the Wumbar commander. Spock also attempts to open relations with the Drasalle, who open fire on the Enterprise, then run like hell.

After five hundred days on the planet, Kirk has befriended Gary, created crude paper and ink and other tools, and begun carving steps into the plateau as well as multiple loads of rock a day. Although it seems hopeless, he never gives up; until years later Kirk finally dies of old age, with Gary mournfully howling besides him.

With the Wumbar now also looking, the Enterprise finds Kirk's signal. And his corpse. Kirk lived his whole life there, about a hundred and sixty-seven years prior. Scotty laments losing the captain, but Spock points out there was no intelligent life on that planet, so they can just slingshot around the sun back in time and get him. Which they do, although McCoy points out the paradox, which they also work around: they'll have to use the transporter to move rocks and set up the message.

Back in the present, after spending less than a day in the past, Kirk reads the logs he wrote of a life he never lived. He knows he got a second chance, and contemplates a change after the end of his mission. (This was a point a number of DC issues seemed to hammer on, to retroactively establish why Kirk took the admiral's position, since that rarely seemed a good fit for him.) Further in the future, the Enterprise-A visits the Wumbar, who are doing well for themselves, having just settled Gribbin-II, taking care to preserve a local landmark.

This was about when I fell off reading DC's Star Trek regularly, although I'm not sure why, since I love this one.


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An Alien leashed, in more ways than one:

I've mentioned before, the occasional problem with Dark Horse's Aliens comics, is that in revealing aspects of the Aliens biology and life cycle, the titular xenomorphs get less and less...alien. And what's true in one mini-series, may not be in the next one. Or the next movie. But the best of their stories still hold up regardless. Like today's: from 1993, Aliens: Labyrinth, written by Jim Woodring, art by Kilian Plunkett.

Colonial Marine Doctor Crespi is dispatched to the research station Innominata to assess the situation and take command if necessary. Rumor has it the scientists there have been conducting illegal research; even using staff in experiments. Of course, the rumor is correct...but is there more to it than that? Is Dr. Church a Mengele, or will his research rid the universe of the Aliens? And Crespi's investigation is further complicated by him not being the only one looking.

Issue #3 is the most disturbing of the run: Church tells the story of his encounter with the Aliens as a young man; a hellish ordeal, trapped in a hive...but also an unprecedented opportunity to research the creatures, possibly even learn how to stop them. Hell of a cliffhanger on that one:

I'm not getting into it, but the third issue may be the grossest, most horrifying of any Aliens comic I've read. That should either sell it for you, or not.




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80-Page Thursdays: Superman Family #183!

Another Thursday, another 80-pager: I have always wanted Superman Family #182, probably because of the cover. This is Superman Family #183, which is now just disappointing to me, even with stories from Jack C. Harris, J. Aruns, Bob Toomey, Cary Bates, and Paul Kupperberg; and art by Carl Potts, Al Milgrom, Kurt Schaffenberger, Vince Colletta, Bob Brown, and more.

Supergirl takes the lead with "Shadows of Phantoms!" The title should've been a clue, but I was distracted as Kara rescues a test pilot that probably should've been Hal Jordan. Later, students at Kara's school are victimized by a sleep-research study--luckily, this was 1977, or that could've gotten really creepy--and Supergirl faces a Phantom Zone criminal of her own. I'm not sure if Shyla ever made another appearance, which would be a waste.

There's another shaggy dog of a Krypto story, Jimmy Olsen vs. smugglers, a Perry White story that reads like it was written by J.Jonah Jameson, and Brainiac gets completely owned by Nightwing and Flamebird. The latter should be a bigger deal: Brainiac attempts to destroy Kandor, the city he once shrank, in order to drive Superman insane. You wouldn't think NW and FB would let him off with just a beating.

Lastly, there's "The Day Lois Lane Walked All Over Superman!" It's only made notable by a surprisingly chatty narrator, who has a surprise cameo at the end. I won't say!

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"Off-target."

The midseason finale of the CW's Arrow is tonight...and I really do hate the trend of calling it a "midseason finale." Still, it may be the opportunity for a big cliffhanger, and it hasn't been a terrible show so far. Enjoyable, not very good: the Huntress episodes really made me wonder why it was OK for Ollie to straight-up murder guys but not for her to do it.



Anyway, I showed a certain friend the DCUC Green Arrow figure, and she did not recognize him at all: "It's Errol Flynn, I think you got robbed." Hawkeye was in the same boat. But as Deadpool points out, it's not unusual for a movie or TV version to only vaguely resemble their comic book inspiration.

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The Nightcrawler comes prowling, prowling; next week maybe.

Today's book is one of the few back issues I specifically went after as a collectible: from 1976, Amazing Spider-Man #161, reprinted in Marvel Tales #214, "...and the Nightcrawler came prowling, prowling" Written and edited by Len Wein, illustrated by Ross Andru, embellishments by Mike Esposito.

Nightcrawler is surprised to see an old friend of his in the newspaper, recently murdered by a sniper in New York City. After a brief cameo/scuffle with Wolverine, Nightcrawler investigates a Coney Island carnival; incidentally attended by Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. When the sniper claims another victim, Nightcrawler is able to recover the shooter's rifle, just in time for Spider-Man to find him with it. Cue Marvel-Misunderstanding brawl; but Nightcrawler teleports away. He does notice Spidey recovering his camera, though...

At the Daily Bugle, Spidey hits up Robbie Robertson for info: Robbie's sources say the sniper killings could be the work of the Punisher, even though it doesn't match his modus operandi at all. Unseen, a somewhat deranged looking J.Jonah Jameson overhears part of their conversation, as he examines a set of photos of Spider-Man disposing of a body that looks like Peter Parker...

The Punisher is also looking into the sniper killings, while Spider-Man gets jumped near the Roosevelt Island Tramway by Nightcrawler. After a couple sucker punches, Nightcrawler swipes Spidey's camera and runs for it. Spidey catches up quickly, and Nightcrawler cheerfully returns the camera, after exposing the film. (Man, that dates this story!)

As a pissed Spidey gets ready to lay the smack down, both heroes are surprised by the sudden stop of a tram, by the Punisher, who's there to kill one of them...!

Best guess, I think this was maybe Nightcrawler's sixth or seventh appearance since his introduction in Giant-Sized X-Men #1; but it was also the Punisher's seventh appearance since his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #129! So, still early on for both characters, and their looks hadn't quite solidified yet. Also, in older Punisher stories like this one, he sometimes comes across as a bit unwilling to do any research before shooting someone in the face based on a questionable character's word...

I wanted a few scans of Nightcrawler's early look, since that seems to be what the Marvel Select Nightcrawler is based on. Hopefully, it should be out on December 26th, if not earlier; and if so, I'll do a proper review of it! I'm sure it'll be completely unbiased, yeah.
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Thor doesn't remember most of this one, but maybe you do:

This is a bit of continuity fluff; but I still like it. Thor '99, "Tears of a God" Story and art by Dan Jurgens, inks by Klaus Janson.

At the end of Heroes Reborn/Return, as said heroes were making their way back from the pocket universe to the Marvel U. proper; Dr. Doom tried to take Franklin Richards. Thor grappled with Doom, and both were left behind. This issue, the returned Thor visits the Fantastic Four. While grateful, Reed wonders why it took Thor a couple weeks to return; and Ben points out that in that time, Reed was struggling to find a way to rescue the missing god.

For his part, Thor remembers nothing, although for the moment he's more concerned with the destruction of Asgard and the missing Asgardians. In fact, on a distant planet, Thor was found and nursed back to health by a desert-dweller named Ceranda. She admits to having been banished for practicing sorcery, but Thor doesn't judge. He also isn't able to use Mjolnir to get home.

Meanwhile, Dr. Doom pretty easily crushes the technologically advanced natives, takes over, repairs his armor, and then moves against Thor. When Doom realizes Thor hasn't been looking for him, he knows something else must be keeping the thunder god there. Planting a bomb to force the natives to obey him, Doom attacks Thor; who easily routs the natives and destroys the bomb. That was a feint, though: Doom's real target was Ceranda; who, in her lonely exile, used a spell to bring Thor to her and keep him there. Doom steals Ceranda's magic, mortally injuring her, and returns to earth.

Dying, Ceranda erases Thor's memory of her. Thor eventually returns to earth, but as he contemplates his missing time, he is stricken with a sense of loss. Luckily, the FF is there to cheer him back up, and Thor is touched by the gift of a hammer from Franklin.

Doctor Doom doesn't have the same level of rivalry with Thor that he does with Iron Man; which of course doesn't hold a candle to his hate for Reed and the rest of the FF. In fact, as far as the big Marvel heroes that Doom has tangled with, I'd say Doom probably dislikes Dr. Strange, the Hulk, and even Spider-Man more than Thor. That doesn't make this a bad issue, but Doom doesn't seem as invested as usual, either.

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