He used to do friendly little Speedball stories, before Ellis and Ennis got ahold of him.

From 1993, New Warriors Annual #3, "Tough Choices" Story and art by Darick Robertson, inks by Ian Akin. In the lead story, Speedball exclaims how great it is to have more control over his powers, and not just be bouncing around "like a complete feeb!" That way lies Penance, you know...I rather prefer Speedball as well-meaning yet somewhat hapless, so it's weird to see him as somewhat competent; but that would get rolled back eventually.

Robertson would go on to do Transmetropolitan, the Boys, and Ballistic; so this is pretty early work for him. In "Tough Choices" Speedball has to stand up to a bully without blowing his secret identity, which means turning the other cheek no matter how much he'd rather not. In the next year's annual's back-up, he seems to have given up on that, and resolves to give his bully an ass-kicking...as Speedball!

From 1994, New Warriors Annual #4, "Two Sides" Written by Robertson, pencils by Stephen (J. B.) Jones, inks by Ron Boyd. Following his bully home, Speedball eventually realizes his bully lives in the bad end of town, and is getting a heaping helping of abuse from his father. I think Speedball's still considering beating his ass until he sees him bawling.

Just recently acquiring these again (EDIT: these two might have been new to me...) I read both these annuals and one of their appearances in the Kings of Pain crossover; all three had a ton of guest-stars. And the Warriors were a fair-sized team, so they were crowded books!
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Ah, nothing like a satisfying conclusion. No, I mean nothing like a satisfying conclusion.

I had actually intended to re-read this series one of these days; but found a cheap copy of the last one. And now I can't remember if this was intended as a mini-series from the start, or if the writing was on the wall and the bloom off the rose by this point...From 2003, Battle of the Planets #12, "Destroy All Monsters, part 2" Written by Munier Sharrieff, pencils by Wilson Tortosa, cover and art direction by Alex Ross.

This was of course based on the classic cartoon, which was a dubbed and edited version of the original Japanese Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman. Five teenaged ninjas with bird costumes and individualized weapons and vehicles are earth's only real line of defense against the invading alien Galactor. That's breaking it down to its most basic elements, but the series is still much beloved to this day by old men who watched it in the 70's fans and influenced numerous other series: any Power Rangers thing you see with five team members probably descended from here.

The title page proclaims "The Explosive Conclusion!" and there is a good chunk of action to be had here; but there's also a lot of open plot threads. More than just leaving the door open for a sequel, like followup was all but certain. And yet I think this was about it, and I'm not sure why: it may have gotten the ball rolling for more profitable DVD sales (I bought the box set with Jason figure advertised in the back!) or the license cost may have been more than Top Cow was willing to pay. I didn't think this was a bad little series, since I fall squarely into the target audience for it, but wish there was a bit more closure here.

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"Theft."

Some cuts had to be made this time: I had thought Black Cat might've been afraid to go to Xavier's school, for fear of getting mind-zapped by the Professor; but Cat stealing from/being stolen from by Gambit struck me as funny. Then I wanted Sat and Cat to make fun of Gambit for a bit, but it was a tangent, not unlike this.

I forget what Xavier's is actually called today, for that matter: I know the school has spent a little time in Limbo, but the building still looks closer to how it did when Logan was headmaster. Does it still repair itself? Or did that go away in Joss Whedon's run with Danger? Ah, let's pretend it still does, because that's the only way to explain how the school is often seen good as new immediately after being destroyed...well, I guess not the only way, if you've seen X-Men: Apocalypse...
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We saw the Dr. Druid issue of "Avengers Reborn" some years back, later we'll hit the Black Knight's story, but today we have Tigra in 1990's Avengers Spotlight #38, "Curse of the Cat, People" Written by Roy and Dann Thomas, pencils by June Brigman, inks by Doug Hazlewood.

"Avengers Reborn" was probably intended to touch up and revitalize some characters that had been pushed out of the limelight a little, but I had the impression that it was much further removed from the events that took those characters out of action. In John Byrne's run on Avengers West Coast, Tigra had been getting more and more feral, eventually attacking Dr. Pym; who was forced to shrink her to protect himself. Later, she escaped, and had been on the loose; but that had been only six months prior! (She was shrunk in Avengers West Coast #49, per the checklist in this issue #55 was the current issue.) That actually feels like a quick turnaround, a lot of times a character's left in limbo for a while before an issue like this.

After seeing the feral, tiny Tigra attacked by a pit bull (Hate the deed, not the breed!) an old woman takes her to the vet to be put to sleep. Luckily, Agatha Harkness and her familiar Ebony had tracked her down, and take her back to the Avengers Compound to re-enlarge her. Harkness recaps Tigra's origin, while summoning the Cat People to help her. In a rare instance of Harkness dropping the ball, instead of a "Balkatar" she gets dickish catman Tabur. While he shared a history with the Cat People, Tabur had been created by the High Evolutionary.

Tabur restores Tigra to her usual self, mostly because he wants her as his mate. Tigra might be tempted, if Tabur hadn't already attacked Harkness and Ebony. While Tigra and Tabur fight, Harkness transfers Tigra's "Cat-soul" to Tabur, turning him into an ordinary cat. An ordinary cat with a cape and boots, and probably 2.5 million hits on YouTube. Tigra is returned to her human form of Greer Nelson, but Harkness assures her she can change back, and will remain in control now.

This sort of clean-up isn't unheard of, but usually it's for characters who've fallen off the radar for a few years--Tigra had barely been missing at all, in comparison. I wonder if this was planned, or if this plot thread got away from Byrne.
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Sadly, this wouldn't have worked as a silent issue.

I almost wish I had a tag for "Legends of the Dark Knight" in addition to just "Batman; since we've seen issues from some great creators; like Warren Ellis, Chuck Dixon, and Mike Mignola. In fact, the writer of today's book has worked with Mignola, on a couple hundred issues of B.P.R.D. From 2003, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #162, "Auteurism, part one of two" Written by John Arcudi, art by Roger Langridge.

A down-and-out alcoholic comedian--and a classic one, in the vein of Buster Keaton or the Marx Brothers--has a chance encounter with the Batman; as the Joker laments being unappreciated and misunderstood by the hacks of the Gotham press. (Well, he has a point: "The Joker is Wild" is a terrible headline.) One of Joker's men suggests perhaps he needs a publicist, as the comedian's movie plays...

I don't know my classic comedians well enough to say if Arcudi based his Buddy Kantor on a specific one, but his rants about being snubbed and having to work with subpar material seem familiar. (The Joker mentions Kantor going off on the "Merv Douglas" show, which could refer to Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin.) Still, the Joker is enraptured by Kantor, filming his complaining and offering him a better grade of co-star; by robbing a bank with the unwitting Kantor in tow!

May need to pick up the conclusion later this week; this is one of my usual reminders to get that thing!
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Nightwing's beat includes Bludhaven, Gotham, Arizona...

Her previous appearance seemed like a Punisher comic written by a Punisher writer; and well, so does this one. From 2002, Nightwing #70, "Dangled" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by William Rosado, inks by Rob Stull and Jesse Delperdang. And a Michael Golden cover.

The cop-turned-burned vigilante Hella is back, in the last of her appearances; and I'm going to assume Nightwing had been working the case in a previous issue, because how he tracks her to Arizona I have no idea. For her part, Hella has tracked down a mobster involved in the bombing of her family; who has been living a miserable life in witness protection. Although the mobster seems not particularly happy to be alive, he changes his tune pretty quickly looking down the barrel of a shotgun.


Oddly enough, most of the town appears to be in witness protection; and while Hella is more than happy to gun them down too, Nightwing isn't making it easy. In the end, the mobster gets the drop on Hella, but is stopped from killing her; and goes back to suburban life...which probably wasn't going to end well for him.

If this had been a Punisher comic, Frank and Hella probably would've murdered the entire town. Which might have made for a more fun issue...I kind of thought the character had potential, although I don't know if she needed the faux-thong on her costume. Or the lips on her mask that looked like a sex toy. (I didn't think they did her first appearance.)

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I read all of these annuals back in 1989, but I've lost some over the years; which is why I'm more than happy to take a quarter bin copy of X-Factor Annual #4! Actually, after typing that and looking up that cover, I'm willing to bet I skipped the New Mutants chapter, I've never really warmed up to them. I also had thought this was earlier in the Atlantis Attacks crossover, but it's chapter ten!

"I Must Go Down to the Sea Again" Story and pencils by John Byrne, embellishments by Walt Simonson. In this chapter, the Deviant Ghaur summons Marvel Girl to become a bride of Set; and she flies off in a trance. The Beast grabs on to her, but is dragged along as well! There are tie-ins to Hank's time with the Defenders, with the return of the Atlantean warrior Andromeda; as well as a callback to a Jean Grey Bizarre Adventures story with Attuma: that story had been retconned so it was the Phoenix Entity instead of Jean, but Attuma is not having that.

In the end, with Jean nearly drowned, the Beast has no choice but to let Ghaur have her, in the hopes of saving her life and getting the chance to rescue her later. Which could've bit Hank in the ass if Set had manifested on earth, but he lucks out.

On top of all that, I had forgotten this back-up story, "That I Be Bound in a Nutshell" Story by Ralph Macchio, art by John Byrne. Magneto vs. Dr. Doom! In fact, at first glance, I had thought this was post-Acts of Vengeance, but it was set earlier, after the 1987 X-Men vs. the Avengers mini-series. Doom challenges Magneto with a mutant child telepath and Magneto's old helmet, which contained mind-control technology. Magneto had destroyed that helmet before, to remove the temptation; but Doom says the tech never worked as well as advertised: it would control a few minds, not thousands. With the telepath to keep Magneto honest, Doom and Mags will fight it out with the mind-control tech, which they do with recaps of the other's origins. As might be suspected, Doom is harsher in his editorializing; pointing out the convenience of Magneto's power failures in saving his family, yet they worked to kill humans just fine.

Magneto breaks Doom's control, saying the tragedies that made both men, made them stronger. Doom points out the telepath has now been privy to both, who knows what she might have learned...and Magneto murders a little girl, without a second thought. Y'know, I'm also not sure he had any proof the girl was a telepath, other than Doom's word. Kind of undermines any redemption arcs he's had since, huh?



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"Things."

I had to do most of this one from my laptop, since the Wife helped me with Linux on my old computer, and it's a little pokey. Kind of hoping eventually Windows has an update that'll get my drivers going again...

Pool mentions cubits--from Battlestar: Galactica--and latinum; traditionally gold-pressed, from Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Mainly, because I'm not sure what interstellar societies use for cash in the Marvel Universe; and how would you know? Aliens could pay in in radioactive sludge, or beads, or anything, and convince you it was legal tender across the cosmos.

For the staggeringly old comic creator software I use--which I wasn't able to find a link for in a quick search on Amazon, but I did find a similar one from the same company, but a tie-in to the movie Nacho Libre for some reason. Anyway, I had to download the fonts I use this time: I would've sworn they were included standard. I use Pig Iron Medium Bold most of the time, and I got it from an old Geocities site.




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I read this issue a quarter of a century ago, and reading it again today...was like reading a brand-new comic, it wasn't super-memorable. From 1991, Armageddon: the Alien Agenda #1, "Days of Thunder Lizards" Written by Jonathan Peterson, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Steve Leialoha.

After the conclusion of Armageddon 2001, Hawk, Dove, and Captain Atom are all presumed dead. Out of those three, Dove is the only dead one; murdered by her partner Hawk, who become the time-travelling despot Monarch. Monarch and Cap end up thrown back in time to the Paleozoic Era...or some time with dinosaurs: Captain Atom's not a scientist, he doesn't know for sure. Still, his powers aren't at full, Monarch's still trying to kill him, and oh yeah, there's aliens. Maybe more than one group...

Good things about this issue: it does dial back a lot of Captain Atom's recent angst from the end of his series and his almost heel-turn to Monarch. For his part, Hawk-Monarch is a whiny, useless bully; which I think he would remain in any of his later appearances. Losing his mask doesn't help; he has a somewhat thick head and shaggy haircut. Oh, and Jurgens draws dinosaurs pretty well! (He did in his Warlord days too.) Almost makes up for this issue's title.

We glanced at another Armageddon mini about a million years ago, Armageddon: Inferno, which I think brought back the Justice Society. I think the Captain got at least another mini-series out of being lost in time; before probably getting shoved over to Extreme Justice or something.
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It’s fun when I find an issue that ties into an old post here. It’s less fun when that leads to Holocaust references…from 1991, Namor, the Sub-Mariner Annual #1, “Never Again” Written by Scott Lobdell, pencils by James Fry, inks by Erik Larsen.

This was a chapter of another of Marvel’s crossover annual events; as opposed to an annual crossover event; you know what I mean. By this point, instead of one huge event like Atlantis Attacks or Evolutionary War; Marvel was going with smaller crossovers like Lifeform or the Terminus Factor , or on the lower end of the scale, Citizen Kang. Those first two aren’t Watchmen or anything, but they’re pleasant little page-turners with a basic level of quality that some of these absolutely missed. Possibly because at this point, Marvel was just flooding the market; Fry and Larsen are usually pros, but this didn’t seem up to their usual work and I want to say it might have been rushed?

Anyway, Subterranean Wars was a five-parter, which I’m not positive I’ve read all of, involving Brutus and the Deviants (not my garage band, although that’s a great name) versus the Mole Man, Tyranus, and others. And Namor's story is running at a tangent to the others: he's about to go looking for the Avengers, when he's interrupted by the sudden arrival of Lord Vulko. Er, Vashti; Vulko is Aquaman's supporting character, and I've done this joke before because I've been blogging for forty years.

Vashti is there to warn Namor of the possible genocide of the Moloids, who are being murdered wholesale by the survivors of El Dorado. We mentioned the citizenry of El Dorado just wandering off into Subterranea or whatever; there was no indication there that they were going to go nuts, but it doesn't appear there were a ton of them left, either. I suspect Lobdell needed another underground faction, but not a big-name one like the Lava Men or anything: the people of El Dorado would be just one of seemingly hundreds of hidden races in the Marvel U.

Namor initially seems reluctant to help out the Moloids, since he has his own business going on, but an Invaders flashback that's also a holocaust flashback kinda shames him into it. Namor feels guilty that he didn't get involved in World War II until it threatened his people; and wonders if he could have done more.

Look, I love the Moloids too, but I don't know if that equates, there...in fact, the Moloids were facing "genetic cleansing" during the Evolutionary War as well, in X-Factor Annual #3. Again, vile supposition, but I think some of Marvel's editorial staff at the time wanted a more gritty, "realistic" Marvel Universe; and wanted to do away with fantastic elements like mole people and savage lands. With the help of Stingray (who looks weird in a panel yelling for Namor where you can see his mouth!) Namor saves the Moloids, and leaves the El Dorado soldiers to die in a cave-in, rather than killing them himself.

Also, the Invaders scene reminded me of a similiar yet better one in Garth Ennis and Kilian Plunkett's Unknown Soldier mini-series, where the Soldier does not let the German guards off easily...

Namor had four annuals from his 90’s series, and they weren’t great. The Defenders crossover wasn’t awful, even though I think Namor is mind-controlled all the way through that one; and there was the occasional interesting back-up story, like Namor getting his girl took by Baron Blood. That annual also features a very cheesecake-y back-up by Tom Raney with Spitfire that I love to death; probably my favorite from all Namor's annuals, and he's not in it!
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"Reconstruct."

I usually alternate the Kurt & Pool and the Satana/Black Cat strips, but I'm having some computer trouble! First I had to update to Windows 10, then it decided to update my drivers into the ground. Still working on it, but I'm not sure about the rest of this week. And I have a massive pile of quarterbooks to get to, too...
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