This will be new to me, sort of.

Despite having it playing in the background on streaming, or reruns from antenna TV, or both; I still bought Star Trek: the Original Series on DVD a couple months back. I should've sprung for the Blu-Rays, so I could get the orignal cuts, before digital effects were added. Granted, pick the right episode, and you'll see like 90% of the original Enterprise shots, but still. Similarly, next year's the 50th anniversary of the original Star Wars, and fans would love to be able to get a proper release of the non-Special Edition versions. (Or, you can see if this link still works!) I mention that, because I'm used to the special edition of this one; I'm not sure I've ever read it in the original format! From 1983, American Flagg! #1, "Hard Times, part one" Story and art by Howard Chaykin, letters by Ken Bruzenak, colors by Lynn Varley.

I've mentioned before, I've read this a million times, in the Hard Times graphic novel, collecting the first three issues of the series. The collection also features a bit more preamble, set as a news documentary playing while Reuben's flight was coming into Chicago. So, it was interesting to see this as an actual comic book, on surprisingly old-school paper; because back in the day, this was like a hand grenade shoved up a bull's ass on his way into the china shop. Longtime comics readers might remember a DC Comics house ad, hyping up their four spots on Amazing Heroes top ten books of 1984: DC had four spots, but upstart First Comics had #2 and #3, Mike Grell's Jon Sable, and American Flagg! Both were hits, from seasoned creators given more free rein than they would've got at Marvel or DC at the time (maybe ever) and both series had pretty solid runs until their creators got tired or bored and maybe didn't do all the work themselves anymore...but, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

American Flagg!--and Chaykin as well, I suppose--are largely known for being stylish, and smutty; possibly in equal measure. Which might not be entirely accurate, but this is a remarkably well lived-in vision of dystopia right out of the gate. Set in 2031, an idealistic, and fired, young actor named Reuben Flagg is shipped from Mars back to earth, for a term of duty in the Plexus Rangers. Flagg admits, his show Mark Thrust, Sexus Ranger was still on, but he had been cancelled; replaced by digital scanning technology called 'Tromplography,' one of multiple clever brand names Chaykin salts the book with. He's pressed into service right away, as it was time for the traditional Saturday night gang rampage; just like every week, after Bob Violence was over. (No points for seeing TV as the opiate of the masses, although he also sees actual drugs as said opiate, but even Chaykin couldn't predict streaming; all these programs were broadcast and apparently largely watched as they aired!)

Despite a, ahem, warm welcome from the local madame; Reuben soon finds out his boss Krieger is an asshole, and Chicago was packed full of armed gangs that wiled away the days by shooting at each other: the Plex not only supplied them with weapons, but taped their battles, for broadcast elsewhere. What the Plex actually is isn't clear at this point; it's like your local broadcaster also ran the cops, but it quickly becomes apparent that Reuben's job was going to be equal parts drudgery and ultraviolence; until next Saturday, when he happens to pass a TV with Bob Violence, and realizes the show was packed with subliminal, triggering messages. Krieger can't see them, and tells him to drop it; but talking cat Raul confides to Reuben, he sees them too. (Why Raul can talk isn't explained right away, except with Reuben just acknowledging it with "Talking cat. Right." I'm not positive it's ever explained, or that it needs to be.) Reuben, already fed up with how things were, throws down with a gang member he had previously bribed to "shoot high," knocking him out with a pair of electric 'buzz-knucks.'

When Krieger refuses to have Bob Violence pre-empted, his daughter Mandy helps Reuben, with a hasty-created signal jammer. (So far, it's unclear if Mandy likes Reuben, or just hates her dad; could be both!) Furious, Krieger gets strapped, figuring the gangs would go extra-nutso, without their favorite show...to be continued! I didn't really read American Flagg! in it's heyday, since it wasn't sold in newsstands--or grocery or convenience stores, where I would've been getting comics at the time! Also, maybe they wouldn't have sold it to a twelve-year old, although suggestive, this wasn't as far as Chaykin would go later. (Two words: Black Kiss.) But after Hard Times, the next issue of the series I read was randomly picking up AF! #33, which didn't feature Chaykin at all! Much later, I know I did get a few issues of the revival Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! but just recently I grabbed about half the first series from the dollar bins. Which might get us about to where Chaykin starts to leave the book, we'll see how they go! Read more!

This issue, Batman vs. Foulmouth.

If I find a $7.99 book in the dollar bin, I kinda have to buy it, right? And I bought a few of this series! Did I buy enough to read a whole serial...well, that remains to be seen. From 2023, Batman: the Brave and the Bold #1. Cover by Simone Di Meo.

When is a team-up book not a team-up book? When it's an anthology title like this one, I guess. The opener was...sigh...yet another Batman "Year One" story, with Batman seemingly reeeeeeally considering letting a rather potty-mouthed wife-murderer get run over by a train; while a lost little girl is kept company in the rain...by the Joker. The Joker doesn't get word balloons in this one, but instead his speech is conveyed through silent movie-style dialogue cards. Which, kind of feels pretentious? And eats up like a splash page and 18 separate panels? I'm a little down on writer Tom King of late, so I might be too hard on him; but the Mitch Gerads art and in particular the Clayton Cowles lettering are on point; and it is a suitably gloomy start. (I don't know which designed the intertitles, though.) I also wonder, is there a database somewhere of "Year One" stories? Every year feels like twelve lately, maybe seeing that would put things in perspective. Or not. (Per the GCD, this is a retelling of the first Joker story, from Batman #1.) 

 Next, is it still a Stormwatch if they only have like two Stormwatch guys? Also, it's mentioned they would be less focused on extraterrestrial threats and more so on domestic ones; which differentiates them from the Suicide Squad how? I'm not sure anybody wants to be there. I guess they're in a satellite rather than a prison...New director Mr. Bones takes over, although holdovers Winter and Flint are still there, as the team's "Weatherman" and field leader, respectively. Most of the rest of the team appeared to be either disposable like Peacekeeper-01 (not the guy with the helmet!) or Phantom-1, or long-time characters that didn't seem to have a home now, like Ravager and Shado. The team is deployed to recover an evil scientist, which it does, barely, after a time-acceleration field nearly destroys Iron Heights. And Mr. Bones gets a call from his bosses, who threaten to terminate all of them if they don't work out...("Down with the Kings, part 1" Written by Ed Brisson, art by Jeff Spokes.)

Then, I was surprised to find a Superman story! A full Superman story, for that matter; I remember when Action Comics Weekly used to have the 2-page strips. I don't remember if super-memory is still a power, though? I feel like sometimes, maybe in later stories, but Clark doesn't maybe have super-recall over his entire life: he can't recollect the name of a childhood sweetheart from camp, but later receives a decoder ring like he had as a kid, with a note: "Save me!" Also, this was tied to then-current continuity, with Lois as acting chief of the Daily Planet; she admits to Clark that readership numbers were dire. ("Order of the Black Lamp, part 1" Written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Javier Rodriguez.)

Finally, and almost worth the full price of admission: Dan Mora does a little one-off, that is very much Batman Kamen Rider. Nothing wrong with that! ("Heroes of Tomorrow" Story and art by Dan Mora.)

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I haven't paid for Disney+ for a while, but I have all of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on DVD: I didn't have all of the comic series, though! From 2013, Marvel Universe Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes #15, adapting "Acts of Vengeance" Written by Michael Ryan, adapted by Joe Caramagna. Cover by Chris Jones.

You might notice, no artist credits there, since the art was taken directly from the show! While it works pretty well, it also feels like a weird throwback, to Marvel's old movie adaptations. But, do you really need to adapt something that's available on-demand? (If you pay for the service, of course.) Despite the title, this isn't related to the classic crossover: instead, several members of Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil have been picked off, forcing him to go to the Avengers for help, since he thought only Thor would be able to save him from the Enchantress. He explains that she was still mad over not being able to destroy the earth with the Norn Stones, and thought Zemo still had the last one, which he of course denies. In his requests, Zemo always addresses them pointedly to Captain America, the only Avenger he felt he could trust...although, while it's not referenced here directly, at this point in the series, that trust is misplaced! (It's not a spoiler if you saw the last episode of the first season, "A Day Unlike Any Other.")

The B-plot was the long-awaited face-turn for Wonder Man, who sacrifices himself to destroy the last Norn Stone, after Zemo's inevitable betrayal. He had been touched that Tony had been working on a cure for his ionic condition, and Tony regrets being unable to help him better control it. Still, Black Panther says, today he proved he could have been an Avenger, all along.

Absolutely loved that show, and still do; but we've seen other issues with new stories, which I would prefer. This series switched over to adaptations with #13 and would run that way until #18, which I have in a digest: it adapts "Michael Korvac" and it's a good one. Read more!

"Disgusting."

Years before they were banned outright, there was a bar in my college town that went smokeless: this was both a good idea, and bad business. I saw some good bands there, but between sets everyone would go outside to smoke, rather than drink! Even the people that didn't smoke would be out there to socialize. I've never been a smoker, save for a brief stretch dicking around with cigars, that probably weren't as terrible as Howard's: whatever you would consider the cheapest, foulest, rankest cigar on the market, Howard's brand is probably still worse. 

I haven't seen Mamma Mia, although I think I heard a fair amount of Abba as a very young kid? Nor have I ever had ouzo...to the best of my recollection. It does feel like something I might have tried at a party, made a face, then got trashed on something else. 

This one actually took me a bit, because I was trying to find if I had a cowl-down piece that would work for Kurt with his Spider-mask off. You can picture it, right? Wolverine has a bespoke, specific one; I feel like Cap figures might've had one, or the MCU Ghost. Couldn't find one handy in black, though.   .

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I don't think the Damage Control guys could...control my damage, around here; but today we've got the last issue of their third and final original mini-series: from 1991, Damage Control #4, "Cleanliness is Next to Godliness" Written by Dwayne McDuffie, art by Ernie Colón.

Clean-freak DC employee Rex Randolph accidentally handled a cosmic artifact at a clean-up site, which he used to turn himself into Edifice Rex. Galactus has sent the Silver Surfer to earth, to collect some of Damage Control for information: cheery Bart Rozum is having a swell time of it, while account exec John Porter is able stop screaming, eventually. They are taken before the "Cosmic Congress," a name I hope they don't use often; the usual big names like Lord Chaos and Master Order, the In-Betweener, Death and Oblivion, and Eternity and Infinity. All of whom seem to be a little snarky with the puny humans; why do we need to talk to them again? (Because like 99 out of 100 cosmic-doodad-weapons ends up on earth, duh.)

Summoned before the group, after doing Infinity's nails, Edifice Rex enlarges himself to equal status with Eternity and Galactus, to explain himself: the universe was basically one giant mess since the big bang, right? Just spreading like an orange juice spill on a clean countertop. Rex was going to clean it all back up, compress the whole universe back down into the cosmic egg, then maybe put it on a nice shelf or something. This sounds pretty terrible to everyone, except Master Order, who seems up for it. The big cosmic names seem unsure what, if any, action to take: fighting Rex could do more damage to the universe, or as foreman Lenny Ballinger points out, maybe they're just afraid of getting their asses kicked.

Earth's mightiest heroes are gathered (and the Punisher, who had met Damage Control before, because more cosmic events need a really angry guy shooting at them...) but John makes a suggestion to CEO Robin Chapel, who fires Rex. No longer a Damage Control employee, there was no longer any need for him to clean anything up; so that takes the wind out of his sails. And Damage Control gives out a lot of their cards, to the heroes as they leave.

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New reaction image just dropped!

We mentioned (probably more than once!) that the Walt Simonson Superman Special was a speedrun through "Kryptonite Nevermore!" but without I-Ching: I didn't realize it also omits Wonder Woman! Or Diana Prince, I guess. You'll see: from 1971, Superman #241, "The Shape of Fear!" Written by Denny O'Neil, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Murphy Anderson.

Hey, we saw the previous issue a few years back as well! The powerless Superman had just defeated some killers, but instead of inspiring him to go on, he was throwing in the towel. He wanted to live, as an ordinary man, "without the responsibilities...the loneliness...of Superman!" I-Ching doesn't really sugarcoat it for him: that's rough, but the world needs Superman, and copping out would be below rank cowardice. Superman despairingly agrees, and I-Ching performs a ritual that looks like releasing Superman's astral form, to recover his powers from the sand creature that had stolen them. His powers restored, Supes then speeds out to test them, first by flying into space and punching a meteor, then by building a concrete jail at super-speed around a purse-snatcher, in the middle of a rush hour street! He plays it off as "over-enthusiastic," but a couple days later, Diana Prince reads the news to the blind I-Ching, of another super-blunder: Superman had wrecked a water system, while fixing a leaky pipe. (Aside: it wouldn't stick long, but giving the powerless Wonder Woman a 'mentor' doesn't feel right: powers or no, she still had the juice.)

I-Ching asks Clark for a meeting with Superman, who obliges, after dumping a speeder, and his car, on the top of the Empire State Building to teach him a lesson. I-Ching thought, Superman's brain was probably injured in that last powerless fight, and getting his powers back had made the injury permanent. Superman, getting more and more arrogant, disagrees; so I-Ching and Diana have to perform another mystic ritual, to find the sand creature, which I-Ching says is from "the realm of Quarrm" and I'm pretty sure he's just making stuff up at this point. Quarrm, probably not called that by its inhabitants, is described as a land of possibility, and shapeless, unformed beings. The creature had been brought here in the same incident that destroyed the Kryptonite on earth and accidentally absorbed most of Superman's powers; I-Ching hopes it can do so again. Meanwhile, another shapeless entity enters earth, which is doubtless a problem for next month.

The trio break into Morgan Edge's apartment, to summon Clark Kent, and to re-establish the simmering subplot of who was locked in a soundproof room there. Then, things start popping: the other Quarrm entity possesses a giant "Oriental war-demon" statue at a parade in Chinatown and starts rampaging. Superman smashes through a wall at Edge's--I don't know why they had to bring him there, if he was going to show up as Superman, but he's also decided doors and windows weren't good enough for him. To distract him, Diana gives him a kiss on the cheek, which admittedly, would do it; but Superman then sees the creature and flees, which I believe smashes another hole in Edge's apartment! The creature explains, he couldn't just grab Superman: because of their psychic link, to do so would cause a massive explosion, killing them both. That feels like information they could've used earlier...Superman doubles back, trying to outsmart the pursuing creature, but then sees the disturbance in Chinatown, and stops to help, showing he wasn't completely bad yet. But, after saving a kid, Superman's powers conk out and he crashes, to be dragged away by the 'war-demon.' To be continued!

OK, so it feels like a lot of what could charitably be described as "Orientalism," but this issue also features a reprint from 1957's Superman #112, "Superman's Neighbors" (Written by Bill Finger, pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Stan Kaye.) Taking a rare evening in, Superman still has to pitch in to help out his neighbors, which does include a bit of Super-dickery, as to keep a young girl from wasting her life pining for Superman, he takes her on a date to show her it wouldn't be everything it's cracked up to be. Not like that, you pervs! He takes her to a dance, but keeps ditching her for emergencies. Probably sticks her with the check at dinner, too; but the evening drives her to manage her expectations, as in, settle. There's also a guy watching Clark Kent, but not for the reasons you'd expect--again, not like that!  A slight bit of fun, but a far cry from the 'modern' take O'Neil was trying to bring the book to. Read more!

If DC Direct was still in-house, I feel like this absolutely would've got a figure already.

Mildly surprised McFarlane hasn't hit that one, actually. But, I was a little sick the other day, so I had time to finally read this one: from 2024, Superman: Lost, reprinting 2023's Superman: Lost #1-10, written by Christopher Priest, art by Carlo Pagulayan, Lee Weeks, Dan Jurgens, Will Conrad, Jose Luis, and more. 

While Lois investigates a Congressional scandal, Superman joins the Justice League for what seems like an ordinary mission. Later, back home, Superman seems incredibly out of it, and also doesn't seem to be breathing regularly. Bruce Wayne shows up, with bad news for Lois, but he seems just as surprised to see Superman there; Lois tears into him, "what did you do?" But this wasn't on Batman: the Chinese government had been trying to salvage the drive from a crashed spaceship, but caused an implosion that could've destroyed the earth: Superman sacrifices himself to stop it, and is thrown something like 14 thousand or so light-years into space. Still in shock, Superman tells them, it had taken him twenty years to get back...!

On earth, the series alternates between Clark's pronounced PTSD, and Lois's probably ill-advised attempt to bring him out of it by going to Lex Luthor. Lex's 'help' involves giving Lois cancer: he figures, she would tell Superman, Superman would attack him, and Lex would kill him, but at least he wouldn't be all weird and mopey anymore, right? Lex did not take into account the idea that Lois might not tell him, instead passing her nausea off as a pregnancy! We also see Superman's space travel, which covered vast distances but didn't really get anywhere: with no points of reference, he's mostly stuck on a distant world--that doesn't seem to have a name, so Supes calls it 'Kansas'--inhabited by a culture Priest describes as libertarian at one point. It's sort of a democracy, but also cliquish: the general consensus seems to be, if people are dumb enough to vote to be idiots, it's not anyone else's responsibility to save them. In the same vein, so what if the sun's going to explode? That might not happen tomorrow, or in my lifetime, why do anything? Oh, and Superman couldn't get full power in the sun there, blocked by a nebula; the whole thing seems virtually designed to frustrate him. Even the arrival of a Green Lantern doesn't help much, as the ring wearer, Hope, had no idea what that was...in more ways than one. 

This kind of series was usually 12 issues, right? I almost feel like it could've used the extra two, even if there's some What If Elseworlds-like sidebars towards the end that don't add a ton. Likewise, Superman goes to therapy, which he probably needed after this, but he also borrows Supergirl's therapist and her appointment! (Clark is also, somewhat rightly, hard on himself for not understanding what Kara had been going through or supporting her enough.) The therapist later asks, how much does Superman hate Lex, which Supes tries to brush off; but there are several short fantasies of Superman murdering Lex in various ways: those might actually be Lex's annihilation fantasies. After all, if Superman killed him, he would be proven right, which is really all Lex ever wanted. 

Lois also has a conversation with Wonder Woman, that seems full of jealousy and resentment, that I had thought Lois had got out of her system long ago. Similarly, every time Bruce shows up it's with bad news, and Lois is taking none of his crap. 

 I got this at a buy two/get one free at EntertainMart: they haven't come through for me as often as the dearly departed Hastings, but here and there. Recommended!

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