By way of apology to Guardian:

Since I had some fun at Guardian's expense recently, when I saw this one in the quarter boxes, I had to pick it up. I think I might've had it when it came out in 1988 as well, but I'm not positive: Superman #27, "Of course you know, this means war!" Written by Roger Stern, pencils by Kerry Gammill, inks by Brett Breeding.

This issue is from before the Superman titles had triangle numbers, indicating what order Adventures of Superman, Action Comics, and Superman should be read in, but it does have an Invasion Aftermath Extra triangle. Previously in the main Invasion book and his own titles, Superman had been roughed up a bit by the Daxamites, the Thanagarians, and at one point was fished out of the river by Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. After helping out with a crashed alien ship in Australia, the exhausted Supes gets back to the Daily Planet, where a disheveled Clark turns in the story. White orders the front page replated, but also sends the obviously beat Clark home. His apartment trashed in a previous issue, Supes shaves, then falls asleep in front of the TV.

Shortly thereafter, Lex Luthor is having a meeting with Pentagon officials about salvaging alien technology, when the meeting is crashed by Gangbuster. Although at this point Lex was still hiding behind the facade of benevolent big-businessman, Gangbuster knows he's dirty, and is more than willing to cross a few lines to get at him. Luthor is rarely unprepared, however: this time, his secret weapon is Brainiac, which is a little less impressive since this is paunchy carnival Brainiac, but still.

Brainiac begins taking Gangbuster's mind apart, but Gangbuster's mind surprisingly is too strong for him, and Brainy goes down. Disoriented, GB flees out a ninety-story window, making a spectacular, and impossible, escape. Luthor hides Brainiac back in the closet he was keeping him in.

While running across rooftops, Gangbuster bumps into Guardian, who is happy to see him, but thinks GB might be going a bit too far. Gangbuster doesn't want to hear it, and slugs Guardian, much faster and harder than Guardian had expected. Guardian sticks it out, though, and later the enraged Gangbuster charges and sends them both off the roof; Guardian able to catch a ledge, Gangbuster falling seven-stories headfirst into a dumpster. Which he walks away from. Pissed. Obviously outmatched, Guardian still doesn't quit:

Gangbuster's costume tears, revealing...to be continued in Adventures of Superman #450! Yes, I'm not spoiling a twenty-two year old comic! And what are you gonna do about it? What? Google? Oh.

At any rate, Guardian seems very Captain America-like in this one; and this issue is thankfully devoid of the Newsboy Legion. It also doesn't mention any of his clone-business, Cadmus, or other baggage; which is probably just as well. I also don't remember how the big reveal that came out of this went over, since I know I was reading the Superman books on-and-off at the time.

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Mr. Mind? Creeping me right out.

Picked up Dr. Sivana this afternoon, after getting Hoppy and Billy a week or two back. I don't know if I'm more afraid of losing Mr. Mind in the carpet, or him getting in my ear...
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Playmates Star Trek bridge playset, revisited:

A while back, we did a review of Playmates Star Trek Bridge Playset. Since then, through various clearance sales, I've managed to pick up enough bridge pieces, by buying duplicate figures, to fill in all but one of the console slots.


The second wave of figures still hasn't shown up, to the best of my knowledge (it still shows as a preorder at Big Bad Toy Store) and I kinda doubt it will. Blue-shirt McCoy and gold-shirt Chekov were among the figures for that batch, but with a little effort you can do it yourself! And when I say little effort, I mean buying the figures, which you probably shouldn't pay more than a couple bucks for, then switching the heads. Easy as pie.
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This one's for the DC historians:

This one is pretty much just for me and my sense of humor, yeah. Out for the weekend, so have fun!

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It's like the armor version of Bjork's swan dress.

Ah, that's not too dated a reference, but then again, this isn't a new comic, either: Crossgen's been down for the count for some time now. I don't think I've read another Crossgen title, but luckily for us, this was a mostly done-in-one from 2001: Crossgen Chronicles #2, written by Ron Marz, inks by Dennis Jensen, and art by none other than George Perez.

Without knowing anything about the CrossGen universe and the Sigil marking that kept showing up, this one's set in the always popular fantasy world with some technology but people still mostly stab each other up with swords. The naval fleets of the Herons, led by Admiral Edvin above, brave fog and incoming bad weather in search of the Ravens, led by Edvin's old foe Alexi.

Between the storm and the battle, Edvin's ship is soon sinking, so he and his crew board Alexi's, which doesn't fare any better. As the ship goes down, Alexi thinks he's finally finished his longtime rival, who then gives it one more go before they're both swamped by the waves.

Alexi regains consciousness washed up on some island, wondering if there are any other survivors. Well, yeah, but...

Edvin wakes up in time to avoid being gutted, and they resume their battle, using whatever they have at hand, kicking, biting, and so on. For the better part of the next day, as the survivors of both fleets look on:

Eventually, Alexi, the ostensible bad guy of this, since he's the black hat; admits that this can't go on. Neither man can remember why they are fighting, but know the peace has to start with them, and the survivors that witnessed this battle without taking action against each other. The epilogue, with probably the big bad of the main series, underlines that Alexi brokered a peace and a ritual combat to take the place of full-scale war; but that the Ravens and Hurons may be headed back to the old ways shortly...

I have no idea if CrossGen's other titles were as accessible as this one, but of course, Perez's art on the large-scale battles or the single combat goes a long way. I got this ish for a quarter, but don't let that undersell it.

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Getting advice from Hawkman is like catching a cold:

You may not want it, but it's coming, and there really isn't a lot you can do about it. Between his multiple reincarnations, and his tenure as a senior member of the Justice Society, Hawkman's invaluable decades of experience are doled out like bowls of soup to the junior members. Figure Katar gives advice like he's Dear Abby, only without the pesky inconvenience of waiting for you to write in and request it.

I may have one more Guardian strip, then might have that out of my system for right now. It references another, possibly even more obscure comic. Goody.

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We've seen Batman waving a pistol around here before, and shooting away with rubber bullets, so here's Batman ready for all-out war. Don't worry, though: he's shooting "fast-acting tranquilizer darts," in Batman: the Cult #4, written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Berni Wrightson, inks by Bill Wray.

Damnedest thing: I only had issue #4 back when this came out in 1988, and I think I even had a spare copy from a friend's collection. I think I did eventually read the whole thing sometime, but #4 does a good job of catching you up. Conman and cultist Deacon Blackfire is two for three in his goals: 1. Beat Batman. 2. Take over Gotham City with his army of homeless. 3. Die a martyr's death.

While Batman's recovered mostly from the physical aspects of his torture, the drugging and brainwashing has taken a toll: Bruce is having nightmares of his parents as corpses, accusing him of abandoning Gotham; and describes himself as "nothing but broken glass inside." (Admittedly, Bruce might be having that nightmare just so Wrightson can draw the hell out of it.)

The Cult obviously came out post-Dark Knight Returns, both in the prestige-formatting, and the use (or overuse) of the TV-screen shaped talking heads panels, the tank-style Batmobile, and Robin as a soldier. In fact, aside from possibly The Man Who Has Everything, this is probably the most bad-ass Jason Todd Robin story: while later stories would have you believe Jason was a loose cannon, incapable or unwilling to follow any orders; here he's got Batman's back the whole way.

Even without the rest of the series, I liked this one. I know Starlin and Wrightson would reunite for Punisher: P.O.V. at Marvel, but I don't think I've read it.

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If I get Forager, expect me to continue flogging this joke:

I think Wonder Woman is supposed to be a peaceful warrior, and not going around decapitating bad guys, but if she throws that shield at someone, that's exactly what's going to happen.

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"Suspects."

It might be easier to narrow it down to who couldn't do this. Click to enlarge, anyway.
Man, Ultimatum the comic mini-series could only have been a million times better, if it had been about ULTIMATUM the organization; from Captain America and a few other books from the 80's.

In the original the Prisoner, you never really find out who's responsible for the Village. And there's probably a reason for that, since in the AMC remake, you do find out...which will just disappoint you, no doubt. Even if it was revealed to be the coolest secret society ever, it still wouldn't be that cool, because it won't be the one you imagined, even if you imagined something lame like, I don't know, evolved dinosaurs who were the secret power behind the English empire.

One and maybe a half more Prisoner strips to go, then we'll never bring up the remake again! Which will catch us up to everyone already not talking about it...

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This is what Batman calls a "pep talk."

Think we have a lot of Batman stuff scheduled for posting, but this one is for my reference for an upcoming Question homemade strip. Coming as soon as I get a bloody DCUC Question, which may be arriving the first of never, the way local distribution looks. In my neck of the woods, one Wal-Mart has no DCUC, another is jam-packed full of Power Girls and Foragers, and one has at least four KB-exclusive Cyborgs. How does that happen?

Usually, when I do a homemade strip, I have the figure in hand; or I see it on the shelves and have an idea. But with the Question, there's a lot of ground that could be covered. Need to pick up that Blackest Night issue, too.

Anyway, this page is from Question #2, "Butterfly" Written by Dennis O'Neil, pencils by Denys Cowan, inks by Rick Magyar. In the previous issue, Charles Victor Szasz, a.k.a. Victor Sage, a.k.a the Question, Question Mark, that No-Face guy, etc, takes a beating from Lady Shiva, then a touch-up beating from some thugs, then a shot in the head with an air gun, before being dumped in the river. Shiva fishes him out, but Vic's not in great shape yet, and while bedridden he receives a little visitor. Maybe. It could well be a dream, and I'm not sure if either Batman or Question bring it up when next they meet.

I mentioned not really seeing this page for years, since I saw it first in an article in Comics Scene, probably fifteen years before I got a copy of the issue myself. Well worth the wait.
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Maybe you have to register the name worldwide, not just domestically.

Tiny print? Click to Great White North-size!
I have no idea if Sasquatch ever threw Puck around. I guess typically you wouldn't throw a puck. Maybe Sasquatch curled him or something. Huh.

I'm also not positive if Guardian, or Puck, or most of the rest of "Awful Plight" are still alive. Or if Omega Flight is Canada's superhero team, or if they're still active either. I do know it seemed a little insulting to put USAgent on Omega Flight, but am not sure if that's harder on the Agent or Canada.

Another post will be up later, and while it's mostly a reminder for me, it's a cool page that I didn't really get to see for well over ten years. Check back!
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Admittedly, it's harder than it looks.

Since I can't remember that many stories with Guardian, I can't recall if I've ever actually seen him throw that shield. While it would doubtless be plenty painful to be hit with, it couldn't possibly fly that well...

Although, that wasn't what Jim Harper had in mind when he picked it: after getting a stout beating from some of Suicide Slum's finest thuggery, Jim decides to get some off-the-books payback. Breaking into a costume shop, he puts together the iconic costume of the Guardian, or rather finds some tights, puts shorts on over them, and adds a hardhat. Still, since the thugs had guns, he decides he needs a little equalizer: a shield. It was 1942, but even so, great plan, Jim.


The shield is described as an antique, to lampshade it being bulletproof, but later Guardian would get an indestructible shield, but I'm not sure how or why it is. I don't know if there is in an in-story reason for it, other than Captain America's shield is, so...

Scan from Secret Origins #19, "The Secret Origin of Guardian and the Newsboy Legion" Written and adapted by Roy Thomas, pencils by Arvell Jones, inks by Greg Theakston. This one doesn't get into any of his later Project: Cadmus clone business, which may or may not be more interesting for you. And this issue also has the secret origin of Uncle Sam...who also doesn't do anything for me.
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The post where I say I'm posting somewhere else:

New strip today, but not here! Head over to Articulated Discussion, where I've got this week's One-Shots! You should be reading there already, but check it out!

I had a couple reasons for getting the DCUC Guardian figure, but primarily because he strikes me as funny: like he's going to be cloned and replaced every time he's killed. Check out the strip, and let me know what you think!

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The best thing about Marvel's Siege #2?

I no longer feel guilty for not finishing my Ares Build-a-Figure.

Oh, and spoilers, I guess. I'm not reading Siege, but a big thanks to Bleeding Cool, which probably gave me the idea!

I read the original Sentry miniseries from Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee and quite enjoyed it. I also got the first five issues of the Age of the Sentry and was pleasantly surprised by those as well. And yet every single mainstream Marvel Universe story I've ever seen with the Sentry seems to want him to be an off-handed killer, a guilt-ridden psychotic, or a plot device that only works when convenient. No, thanks.

That said, I had an appalling amount of fun setting this little one up on the fly. I am more of an alfredo fan, though...one more:

Getting this one in early: tomorrow after work, the kids and I get set for the Super Bowl by buying a bunch of terrible snacks that we'll have eaten before Saturday. Great plan, eh? Have a good weekend!
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Still not reviews: Three from DC Direct!

Like I say every (sort of) review, I don't do a lot of reviews. Partly, because either I like a character to the point that I'd buy their action figure if it was made out of rusty nails and shaving cream; and partly because a lot of stuff I buy is clearance, marked-down, on sale, or some kind of deal that may be cheaper than the suggested retail price. Just because I like a figure I got for three bucks, doesn't mean you're going to want to pay $18.99 plus postage for it.

And this review is going to be either much more or way less half-assed than usual, since I had the photos and half the work done, then switched computers. So, I'm retaking pictures, attaching a couple of scans of the characters in question, and generally redoing the whole damn thing. And in case that wasn't long enough, I picked up a third figure that's going in here just because. From the History of the DC Universe line, (series 1) Manhunter, and (series 2) Creeper; and from Justice League of America series 3, Geo-Force.


For those of you unfamiliar with Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson's Manhunter, Paul Kirk was a big-game hunter turned mystery-man in World War II. After the war, he was killed while on safari; but then resurrected by the super-science of the Council, an organization that had banded together to save the world, then went bad and tried to take it over. To that end, the Council made multiple clones of Kirk, to serve as their assassins. Teaming up with Batman, Kirk would bring down the Council and destroy all of his clones (maybe...) at the cost of his second life.

Manhunter was a back-up feature in Detective Comics, crossing over into the lead for the concluding chapter, "Gotterdammerung." If you can find it, Manhunter: the Special Edition collects the story and a silent story plotted by Goodwin before his death, and left silent by Simonson. Buy it. Now.


Manhunter comes with his trademark bundi daggers, and a base; which gives him three times as many accessories as the average DCD figure: Geo-Force and Creeper both only come with a base. Manhunter also has what I'm going to describe as blue plastic leg thingees, which I thought were for holding his daggers, if he didn't mind leaving stab holes everywhere he went. Honestly? He might not have cared.

Initially, I was staggeringly disappointed that Manhunter didn't come with his Mauser pistol. (At the time, he was one of the relatively few costumed characters using a gun...) My disappointment was compounded by the fact that in the earlier New Frontier line, Blackhawk got a kickass one. Actually trying it, though, I saw that Manhunter is bigger, and Blackhawk's pistol would be too small for his meathooks. Luckily, I had a cheap substitute, purchased from a capsule machine, that will do for me.

The plastic on Manhunter feels like a DC Universe Classic figure, but he's not quite as poseable; but that is pretty standard across the board for DC Direct. Still, he stands pretty well, although the hip articulation seems particularly limited; and that probably applies to these other two as well.


Like the Question, the Creeper is a Steve Ditko creation. And not unlike the Question, Jack Ryder was a reporter that wasn't afraid to piss off his advertisers. Fired from his show, the brash Ryder takes a job as a security investigator. His first case was trying to find Professor Yatz before the Reds did, which dates the hell out of his origin. Following a lead, Ryder plans to crash a mob party, but discovers when he arrives that it's a costume party, so he puts together an outfit of some odds and ends: green wig, yellow makeup, gloves and boots and a "sheepskin rug."

After the break: the rest of the Creeper's origin! More pictures! Oh, yeah, and Geo-Force!

The mobsters have Yatz, and become suspicious of Ryder, who is forced to fight his way to the Professor and is wounded. Not wanting his inventions to fall into the wrong hands, Yatz treats Ryder with both a "instant healing agent" and a "molecular rearranger." Yatz destroys his notes and other equipment, and is promptly shot. Healed and stronger, Ryder fights the mobsters, affecting an insane laugh to unnerve them. In the end, the Creeper is wanted by the mob and the law, and Jack Ryder wonders how long the rearranger will work.

The Creeper's origin is a bit of a mess: later versions would point out the unlikelihood of Yatz having a "double major" in molecular biology and subatomic engineering. In the early stories, Ryder was sane enough, and the Creeper's laugh and mannerisms were all an act; he seems to have gotten progressively crazier every version since. And Ryder had a few different jobs after his origin; but seems to usually appear as a sensationalistic TV host, less of a muckraker than a ratings-hog.

The History line is billed as based on the art of George Perez, but you can see more than a little Ditko in there, probably because George kept some, I guess.

Now, the Creeper doesn't come with any accessories, at least, not a traditional, removeable one. But he does have his red mane-boa-cape thing on his back; what it actually is varies from creator to creator. Sometimes, it's a chunk of sheepskin rug, sometimes it's a furry or feather boa, either of which would make the Creeper the Dennis Rodman of DC's heroes, especially when you consider his costume is otherwise briefs, gloves, and boots. In the recent Steve Niles update, I think it's a spiky mane growing out of him. In his 1997 series, the red things are weird tendrils or psuedopods; the Creeper himself is as surprised as anyone when they untie him from an operating table.

Why am I going on about the Creeper's rug? Because it's flocked! Flocked! Shout it from the hilltops! I don't know if DC Direct had ever done any flocking before, but they didn't flock this one up, they knocked it out of the flocking park. Sorry. I think I appreciate the effort from them more than anything. The rug is a bit of a hindrance to his shoulder articulation, and he should doubtless be a bit more articulated anyway; but even putting aside that I've wanted a figure of him for ever, overall Creeper strikes me as a noble effort, like DCD worked a little harder on him than they had to.

I don't want to say Geo-Force is unpopular, but in his wave, he's the only one to have never gotten a figure: Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash all aren't hurting for plastic representation. And yet, GF is the one I find for 80% off. (To be fair, this Manhunter never had a figure either, the Creeper had one in Batman: the Animated Series.)

Moreover, I don't think I own a single comic with Geo-Force in this costume: while looking for some comic with him in it, I vaguely recalled a DC Digest reprinting a Batman and the Outsiders story with Jim Aparo art and Superman guest-starring. It was issue #19, and while I can only think of one other issue he did with Superman, Jim Aparo's Supes always looked pre-Crisis to me. Damn, Aparo was great...oh, right, Geo-Force: I was thinking of his green outfit with the "GF" logo on it. That's not an iconic image either, but this brown one seems too generic.

So, unlike Manhunter or the Creeper, Geo-Force is a character I have no great affection for. Obviously. So, his figure does not fare as well. That's not really fair: GF only has a couple less points of articulation than Manhunter or the Creeper, with no chest or waist joints. I don't like his hands, though: they look like they're meant for a flying pose, that GF can't do at all, since his neck and ankles can't pull it off.

I don't know if GF is based on the art of Ed Benes, but while it does a good enough job, it's just a little bland. I know he's the prince or king of Markovia, and typically is more of a hothead than his facial sculpt would suggest.

Now, to tie it all in to the opening: Typically, DC Direct figures run maybe $15-19 dollars. I had expected Manhunter and the Creeper to go for a little bit more of a premium, since they were the only characters in their respective waves not to have (comparable) figures before. (That said, I'm not sure if retailers have to buy a whole case to get them, either.) Manhunter was $6.50 on eBay, plus $8 in postage, and I believe I got a deal on the postage as well. The Creeper was $4.80 at a clearance sale for a closing location, while Geo-Force was marked down to a mere $3.40. At those prices, I'm more than glad to have the lot.

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"Escape is...well, yeah, possible, but..."

So Nightcrawler, Falcon, and probably Deadpool (if he wasn't drugged out of his mind...) could almost certainly escape the Village at any time; not unlike the Number Two's of both Prisoner series; but the trouble is that they keep getting taken back. Which, if done properly, would doubtless be even more demoralizing than just being stuck. Maybe.

Of course, in actual continuity, both Sam and Kurt would know a lot about their respective teams that they wouldn't want to divulge to just anybody. Then again, maybe they don't: Falcon wasn't given the A-list treatment when he was in the Avengers, so maybe they didn't give him the launch codes or anything. And Kurt probably doesn't get access to the Xavier Protocols or any of that nonsense, either. For our purposes, Sam and Kurt are straight-forward, unassuming...and possibly on the outs with their teams anyway.

Now, Wade would have intimate knowledge of the Weapon X program, and doubtless dozens of still-classified military operations; and that's before you get to his hitman days. He knows where the bodies are buried, probably because he shot the guy that buried them. Sorting out the facts from what he remembers would be dicey at best, though.

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Ooh, this is gonna bug me.

Long-time readers will remember that I have a great filing system: I always find what I'm looking for the last place I look. Between that and my creeping senility sometimes a search for a particular page or image may go on for weeks.

Case in point: I was doing some research for a homemade strip involving the Penguin. He's not my favorite Batman villain, although I will say I really liked him on the Batman cartoon, even as that show has been overshadowed by the superior Batman: the Animated Series and the newer Batman: Brave and the Bold. On the Batman, Pengy was the descendant of the Cobblepot family, all of whom were odious, ill-bred thieves with aspirations of nobility, pretending to be high society when they were strictly no class. That, and Penguin's hopping, kicking fighting style made him seem a physical threat for the first time in ages.

I don't have the issues in question, but I know Penguin pulled a stint on Ostrander's Suicide Squad back in the day. Ostrander may have been one of the first (if not the first) to play up Penguin's planning and organizational skills, which would later serve to make him more of a Kingpin-style behind-the-scenes crime boss, rather than that fat guy robbing a bank with an umbrella.

Still, there are two problems with the idea of Penguin doing missions for the Squad, in exchange for a pardon or reduced sentence: one, Batman, if not the citizens of Gotham City, would doubtless realize something was amiss if Penguin's sent up the river for nine consecutive life sentences (Pengy's body count in some stories is surprisingly high) then turns up with a get-out-of-jail free card a week later. (Figure the Squad would have to put its "graduates" into witness protection, even though those villains might not sit still for that.) Two, while Penguin is one of Batman's relatively few not-insane villains...every once in a while he's seen in Arkham Asylum, usually in crowd shots. Or...at least, I thought he was.

I read a batch of Batman comics recently, and was positive I saw more than one with Penguin in Arkham. And there are a few stories were he is acting crazy, but usually he's going to go to prison. I thought I saw him in Grant and Breyfogle's first Shadow of the Bat storyline, "The Last Arkham," but I guess that must've been Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and the Mad Hatter:

Grr...I'm going to be reading a lot of Batman comics the next week or two, to see if I can find that again. And then lose it again, if past experience is any indication.

Arkham narrated page from Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1, "Scream if you love me" Written by Alan Grant, pencils with Frank Teran, inks by Carl Critchlow.
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OK, this Warlord #10 still isn't the best comic ever, but it's a damn sight better than the last one.

I still get a few hits looking for Warlord #10, the last issue of the Bruce Jones-written relaunch, and a terrible, terrible comic. But to complicate matters, Mike Grell has since returned to Warlord, so recently we got another Warlord #10, his third. How does this one stack up in comparison? Better, but it would kind of have to be.

From "Next..." Written (and art on pages 8 and 9) by Mike Grell, art by Chad Hardin. DC (and Marvel) have recently been called on unannounced creative team changes, since this issue was solicited with Grell art.

"Next..." and the previous issue "Then...Now..." have been set-ups for an upcoming arc featuring the return of Warlord's biggest villain, Deimos. This issue could use footnotes, since Deimos is brought back by the Mask of Life, which I believe was last seen way back in Grell's last Warlord #10, the original series, back in 1976 or so. Kate Archer, recent immigrant to Skartaris, and psycho-bitch, has been doing her homework and reveals the Mask to be not magic but Atlantean technology; and brings back Deimos to use him against Morgan and his forces. Deimos, however, comes back without his memories, and isn't convinced he wants to become an evil bastard again.

Meanwhile, Archer's fellow visitor from the outside world, Ewan McBane, is using up probably the last of his camera's batteries for a message to anyone else who ends up in Skartaris. In doing so, Ewan's been exploring the story of Travis Morgan, the first person to come from the outside world to Skartaris; but Travis proves to be a complicated subject. His friends don't seem to know him very well, either: Mariah, Machiste, Tinder (Morgan's son, although no one knows that), and even his wife Tara end their interviews about Travis the same way: you'll have to ask him.

Meanwhile, Tinder has been trying to organize the various tribes and kingdoms of Skartaris into a unified force. Although in his earliest appearances Morgan spoke of rights, and liberty, and freedom for all; now he seems bitter and disparaging.

And I just realized it's not really fair for Morgan to reference Jefferson, since Tinder will have no idea who that is, unless his girlfriend from the surface mentions him. I didn't guess where this was going, until I saw the April DC solicits...but I couldn't say if Morgan was bitter over having to take responsibility for Skartaris on a fairly regular basis, or over the loss of his son.

Meanwhile (and I just noticed I used 'meanwhile' too damn many times this post) Kate is at a loss at how to get Deimos to grow a pair, until she sees the ornately carved original skull of Deimos, which had a deep slash across the face courtesy of Morgan. To refresh his memory, Kate slashes him again, and Deimos responds with a mystic blast in defense. Kate is thrilled to see he's making progress...

For a book that seems like it's going to be a hack-and-slash sword-and-sorcery potboiler, recent issues have been predominantly more about relationships than battles. Still, I enjoy the book, and I think it's still the only DC book on my pull list right now. (Although, I am considering adding Doom Patrol.) But Warlord is currently written for fans, who remember (at least vaguely) the old series. Hopefully, sales will let it keep going long enough to try and get some new readers.

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Well, Peacekeepermaker's Helmet was good for something after all.

OK, the other day I mentioned that the Manhunter figure, that I'm never going to get, should come with a Peacekeepermaker mask as an accessory. Why, you may ask? Readers of Eclipso may remember that both Manhunter and Peacekeepermaker were killed in a failed assault on Eclipso; Manhunter turned out to be a sub in over his head, but Peacekeepermaker was dead. (I don't think that's been reversed yet, like a few other deaths there: Creeper was killed there, and had to dig himself out of his own grave.)

In his first storyline, mysterious collector and reclusive actress Olivia Vancroft wants Mark Shaw's Manhunter mask for her wall of masks. Vancroft hires the shapechanging assassin Dumas to get it for her, and hiring an assassin for a basic theft may not have been a great choice, since Dumas proves overzealous and goes after Shaw and his family. To protect them, Shaw offers Vancroft his mask, but she tells him that Dumas' code of honor won't let her cancel a job. Before he leaves, Vancroft asks Shaw to put on his mask, perhaps not realizing the sensors in it would reveal her secret...

Shaw returns later, as Manhunter, to blackmail Vancroft: she and Dumas are one in the same; Dumas being his male identity, and Vancroft his idealized woman. Unfortunately, Shaw forgot one important detail in his plan:

Shaw was already outmatched, but now on Dumas' home turf he doesn't have a chance. Dumas offers him the chance to kill himself, but Shaw declines, deciding to fight it out. He realizes the collection is Dumas' mask, and starts to destroy it, luring Dumas into the open for the kill:

I'm willing to bet Shaw picked the Peacemaker mask because it's a big, metal lump; and not for the irony. Dumas dies, and Shaw leaves both their masks in the collection: unlike a lot of masked heroes, Shaw has no particular attachment to his. It's just a mask. In a nice touch, he leaves his mask with three of DC's prior Manhunters'.

From Manhunter #4, "Through the Mask" Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale, pencils by Doug Rice, inks by Kelley Jones.

Researching for another post, I realized on this and Peacemaker's other post, I started typing his name as Peacekeeper halfway through. No one appeared to notice, which should tell you all you need to know about him.
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Having a bit of a lie-down today:

Ah, I was going to do a little longer post, then the day got away from me somewhere. Still, it'll keep, give me a little time to check out another issue or two, and a good excuse for this panel from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #54, "Sanctum" Story and pictures by Mike Mignola, story and words by Dan Raspler.

Come to think of it, the other day I read three or four of the Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers, and every time I do I probably realize again that Mignola did the cover for one. The second one, Vendetta in Gotham. Can't find the first one handy, but I liked those. Dredd and Bats? Not fast friends, but towards the end of Die Laughing they seem a little more tolerant of each other. Batman and Judge Anderson? Seem a little friendlier...well, no scans from those, since they are all prestige format and a pain to cram in the scanner.

Like another book: last week at the Comic Book Shop, I found a used copy of an old favorite: Robocop versus Terminator, written by Frank Miller, with art by Walt Simonson.

There must be some kind of licensing clause in play, keeping the property names front and center, and Miller and Simonson's names off the cover! Yeah, they aren't selling points for this or anything.

I had seen it before there, but someone else got it first! I must've lost the individual issues some time ago, but this is the damn weirdest trade, a "Star System Exclusive": first, there are three cardstock inserts: Robocop, a Terminator, and the human freedom fighter (whose name isn't mentioned until late in the series) that you can cut out and stand up. So, it's weird to flip through, since you'll keep hitting those. And I thought there had been an ED-209 in the fourth issue, that's not included here, which is odd that they would have three and not go the whole nine yards.

Still, it's even stranger that the trade appears to be made out of the individual issues: the covers are on a shinier paper, and some of the ads from the comics are in the trade! So there's ads for video games and Dark Horse comics from 1992, and the back cover isn't full of blurbs or anything, it's an ad for Previews from 1993. Odd, but I'm still glad to have it.
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