Because science! I guess.

I know Dynamite has the Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom license now, after Dark Horse's brief run. And I've only read an occasional issue of Dark Horse's, or Gold Key's--I don't think I read any of the Valiant ones. But today we've got Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom #14, "Solar's Midas Touch" Story by Dick Wood, art by Frank Bolle.

That...that's a weird turn of a phrase, there. After stopping one of the surprisingly frequent nuclear accidents at Atom Valley, the Man of the Atom finds his powers are out of control, and he's adding a proton to the nucleus of every element he touches. That should be problem enough, but there's spies hijacking a space capsule, so he can't let that slide.

I think Solar's written as omnipotent and godlike a lot, because that's easier that way than trying to figure out any atomic chemistry or nuclear physics. (Metamorpho, Firestorm, Captain Atom, all in the same boat.)
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An election, a misleading cover, a teammate thinking another's gone bad...traditional as fireworks on the Fourth!

Mon-El gives Superboy an epic slapping--and then pretty much disappears from this issue. From 1977, Legion of Super-Heroes #225, "And Who Shall Lead Them?" Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by James Sherman, inks by Bob Wiacek.

As Wildfire is sworn in as the newest leader of the Legion, Superboy shows up mid-ceremony to throw down, claiming Wildfire cheated him out of the spot. Dream Girl (who should've seen this coming) explains that although Supes received more votes, since he only spent part of his time in the 30th century, they needed a full-time leader. As Superboy leaves in a huff, Shadow Lass asks him what's really up, knowing he's far too nice to throw a fit like that, but he won't say.

Wildfire's tenure as leader begins facing off an attack by the Resource Raiders, alien pirates. But Superboy stops Wildfire from blasting their ship, since he could see explosive powder they'd left behind. Later, Ultra Boy tells a group of Legionnaires he didn't see the powder before, leading them to wonder if Superboy planted it, to discredit Wildfire. Elsewhere in the Legion Headquarters, Wildfire catches Superboy stealing one of his spare costumes and they fight. Only one leaves, but you can't see which one.

Later, Wildfire leads the team against the Resource Raiders again, but is seemingly blown apart when he saves Dream Girl from an alien ship. The ship fires at her again, and this time Superboy saves her, and explains what happened since this was the last page of the story: the Legion's computer predicted the team leader would be blasted on their first mission, and Supes figured he'd be the most likely to survive. He tried to overrule Wildfire and replace him, but their fight made him realize Wildfire would probably survive being blasted. Wildfire says the computer (which shouldn't be making predictions, that was Dream Girl's job!) miscalculated: the blast had Kryptonite in it, and would've killed Superboy. Wildfire gets a new costume, and it's all good.

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Today, Thor vs. Elvis. (Or not.)

And that's just one of the many lies from today's book! From 1989, Alpha Flight #75, "Tigers in the Rain" Written by James D. Hudnall, pencils by John Calimee, inks by Mike Manley.

The cover blurb exclaims, "All-out war in the Marvel Universe!" which isn't necessarily accurate. Lost between dimensions, the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight has been trying to get home; and has arrived in a dimension where the traditional Marvel heroes have taken over America and turned it into a fascist state. (It's also a weird mix of heroes, mostly Avengers, but some X-Men and Fantastic Four members too.) Although things are looking grim, AF gets two surprises in their favor: the return of their old teammate Puck (no longer the dwarf he was) and this wasn't an alternate reality at all. Instead, it's the dimension of the Dreamqueen, an old Alpha Flight foe; and the team was trapped there by another, Llan the Sorceror.

Puck explains that the matter of that dimension was "shadow substance," and could be molded to their will. To help defeat the false heroes, Puck conjures up a gun-toting Santa and a guitar-smashing Elvis. Once Alpha Flight was back together, they leave for earth. Presumably to beat Llan's ass when they get back...

I read a bit of Alpha Flight here and there, although I picked up a batch recently--some of the double-sized issues and annuals, and a few with Mike Mignola art. I'm not sure I've found a great one yet, though.



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"Ah! A hit! The way you make your living!"

Getting comics from the quarterbins (or dollar bins, or whatever) is a sliding-scale of quality: sometimes, you find books that are good for a quarter, but not something good enough that you'd pay full price for. And sometimes you find a treasure. Like today's book! From 2000, Hitman/Lobo: That Stupid Bastich! Written by Garth Ennis, art by Doug Mahnke.

I thought this issue actually came out after the series had ended, but it was still a couple issues from the end. The author's note on the opening says "Clearly, this story takes place before most of the cast was slaughtered." So, um, spoilers? Anyway, Lobo shows up at Noonan's Bar, and starts a fight with Tommy's pal Sixpack, and Tommy has to throw down with him. Hijinks ensue.

Hitman was set in Gotham City, but very rarely ran afoul of Batman--in fact, this Gotham was a lot more like New York and surprisingly infested with organized crime. So, it's not surprising when the mob goes after Tommy, who's barely a step ahead from Lobo. But he sees a way to kill two birds with one stone...

Tommy has Sixpack put his team back together, Section 8: "A caped drunk an' a superteam fulla the criminally insane." Together, they manage to knock out Lobo long enough for Bueno Excellente to, um, marry Lobo and videotape the whole thing. Tapes were made, and Tommy promises they've been sent to all sorts of parties. "The next time you're fighting Superman, don't be too surprised if he's laughin' his ass off." Pissed but unable to do anything about it, he takes off, as Tommy, Noonan, and Sixpack have a laugh about Sixpack pissing in the gas tank of Lobo's bike. (No spoilers, but you probably know what happened to Tommy, so I guess Superman probably did get that tape...)

I'm not a fan of Lobo, but I do enjoy the occasional story where he gets a bit of what's coming to him.
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"Interlude."

We may have to check in with Black Cat and Satana later...
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"Waiting Room."

Doubling up this week, with another strip tomorrow! It's longer and less wordy, which should be a plus on both fronts! We did make a minor change, though. It's subtle...

Anyway, even though I had another song in mind making this strip, I was listening to this while I finished it:

Oh, and this of course:




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A pile of stuff from this year's con! I didn't make my goal of four hundred quarterbooks, but came away with 121 books; including a few trades like a couple Hitman's, and the old Silver Surfer: Homecoming graphic novel.

And so, we're taking a day to read some comics! We'll see one tomorrow.
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I'm watching "The Earth Dies Screaming" on YouTube as I start this post--kind of a crummy day today, so I needed a little boost to get started.

First up, some pictures of our unseen monster from the other day, from Prometheus and NECA, the Trilobite!

I'm not sure where the Trilobite's...ovipositor got to. Which is terrifying.


Next, the Spokane Comicon is tomorrow! It's not a big show, but I'm not one to jump up and down for meeting celebrities or anything. I just want a metric ton of quarter books and maybe a figure or two. (The first year I tried and failed to get to this con, they had Margot Kidder as a guest...and I don't think it was tons of fun for anyone involved.) I should be looking into what books I need to be looking for, but let's face facts: I'm not that organized. Or that anal. Mint condition collectors items aren't necessarily what I'm digging for, just as much reading as I can get.

On the other hand, I should maybe make an effort to avoid buying anything I know I already have, but don't have handy. But there's other books like Hulk #300--do I have that somewhere? Or have I just seen it online? I usually have a pretty good inventory in my head, but that one seems to be slipping my mind. And of course, if I stumbled across a copy of it under a couple bucks, I'd probably end up grabbing it. (I was thinking of that one since I picked up another Marvel double-sized issue, packed with guest-stars, that I thought had a similar cover. I may be wrong on that, though...)

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Today: Nightwing clears the benches.

I've seen lots of stories where the hero can't find anyone else for back-up, like the Fantastic Four or Avengers being out of town. I've seen fewer where the hero has to get rid of everyone. Like today's book! From 2008, the Brave and the Bold #15, "Wings and Arrows" Written by Mark Waid, art by Scott Kolins.

Nightwing is described as "next to Superman, Dick Grayson is the one guy alive that every other crimefighter trusts." So when he claims Trigon is going to invade earth, he's able to get the Justice League, Titans, Outsiders, and Justice Society in position to counter-attack. Too bad it's a lie.

Nightwing keeps Hawkman in reserve, but he also has Deadman, who explains the situation: the dragon-priest Siva Anuttara invaded Nanda Parbat, captured Deadman's boss Rama Kushna, and created "an army of body-haunting ghost assassins," who can take over people like Deadman can, except when they do it they kill their host. Deadman and Green Arrow failed to stop Annutara, but GA was able to put an arrow in Deadman and throw him off a cliff. This wasn't as stupid a plan as you'd think: while he comes back to life in Nanda Parbat, he returned to his ghostly self outside, and went to Batman for help. With Bats undercover, Deadman possesses Alfred to give Nightwing the head's up, but Nightwing realizes if he were to organize any superheroic help, they could be taken over and killed by the ghost assassins. So he lies to get all the heroes to safety; except for Hawkman, because they need his knowledge of ancient civilizations and whatnot.

Actually, Waid may need Hawkman for a specific bit later in the story, but it's fun so I'll allow it. I don't know how I missed this when it came out--I do kinda like the low-continuity, done in one or two stories better than the multipart crossover pseudo-epics. And for fifty cents, hell yeah.
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"Culture."

As in most low-budget sci-fi movies...seeing the monster wasn't really in the budget. Actually, that tentacle thing is from the Prometheus Trilobite vs. Battle-Damaged Engineer two-pack (review from OAFE) and is super-gross. I should get some pics of Deadpool fighting it, but I'm running behind. That ovipositor thing really looks like...well, you know what it looks like.

Meanwhile, next week: two chapters! There's a reason...

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