Even though posts have been going up, I haven't actually blogged anything--or even sat down with a comic, feels like--for over a week. Let's see if I remember how blog work...We'll start with a fairly recent one, that ties into a pretty old power for the Hulk, that always surprises me when it comes up. From 2025, the Incredible Hulk #27/LEG #808, "The Falling-Down Tree" Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, pencils by Kev Walker, inks by Cam Smith.

I'm definitely not up to speed on current Hulk continuity--I haven't even read all of Immortal Hulk--but this is a stand-alone story, mostly. Chilling in the forest, alone again as usual, the Hulk's solitude is disturbed by a small boy playing, who advises this were his woods, kinda, and did he want to be friends? Remembering recent betrayals and such, the Hulk does not, but the boy warns him to stay away from "the falling-down tree," and explains that he lives nearby, in a bus with his parents and baby sister. Sometimes Daddy gets mean, and they have to go somewhere else...

The boy continues to hang out with the Hulk, over the course of a couple weeks, and it becomes apparent the dad is both abusive and shady, involved with a thievery ring. Speaking through an animal's skull, the voice of Banner tells the Hulk he could help that kid. Sure enough, the Hulk hears a ruckus at the bus: after a shootout, the dad was pulling stakes, but the mom is reluctant to go, since she doesn't want to leave their son...buried alone, under the falling-down tree. Realizing the truth, the Hulk finds the body, then the terrified mom, left behind, finds the Hulk. She pleads for her life, as the Hulk just scowls at her.

The Hulk catches up to the fleeing dad, and over a four-page sequence just demolishes him, screaming "monster." He knew who the real monster was. Later, as the authorities arrive, the boy tells the Hulk his little sister was going to live with their grandma, but wasn't sure what he should do. The Hulk says, "there's no rules...when nobody's looking out for you." He's sorry he wasn't able to help the boy, but the boy's just glad his sister was safe, calling that "hero stuff," and opts to go with her, to teach her hero stuff too. 

 I'm not 100% positive on the issue, but I'm pretty sure the Hulk has been able to see ghosts since way back in Defenders, and that was probably just to explain why the Hulk could see Dr. Strange's astral form in some story! But, Peter David used that one maybe a couple times as well; and later writers have maybe brought that more to the forefront. If I recollect, maybe the Maestro pointed out the Hulk can see ghosts because he was afraid of his ghost dad or something...

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I've mentioned Paul Jenkin's Spider-Man work before, and I know there's an issue that's an all-timer, like "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" level good. This isn't it, but it's pretty good. From 2004, the Spectacular Spider-Man #14, "The Kid on the Roof" Written by Paul Jenkins, art by Pablo Rivera.

The issue opens with a couple pages of man-in-the-street style interviews with New Yorkers on the subject of Spider-Man; including one with J.Jonah Jameson and a smiling Betty Brant sticking her head in. But one person might know more than all of them: young Joey Beal, who narrates the rest. Born with cerebral palsy and wheelchair-bound, he knew he was lucky enough to have a dad and sister who took care of him; and often spent days on the roof of his apartment, watching the city and dreaming of flying. One day, he sees Spider-Man swinging around, seemingly looking for something; which Joey sees later: someone--or something--across the street, in an abandoned building. Sadly, Joey is unable to say anything, to tell anyone.

The next day, on the roof, Joey is visited at dusk by his new neighbor: it's Morbius, the Living Vampire! Who looks like Nosferatu today; not his best look; but he also knew Joey's name, which isn't something he'd usually be able to do. Morbius knew Joey had seen him, and might even think he'd be doing him a favor by opening his neck; but he's stopped by a boot to the face. The fight is larger than life, like an opera of gods, but it eventually moves out of Joey's field of vision. Near dark, Spidey returns, to tell Joey that Morbius wouldn't be back, and to apologize for using him as bait. (That sounds worse than it really was; Spidey does that sort of thing a lot, doesn't he? Following whoever around to draw out the baddie.) Before he goes, Spidey turns, and without saying anything, unmasks. Joey immediately realizes, Spidey was putting on a brave face for his benefit, and was actually almost inconceivably sad.

Great art this time around, although poor Morby isn't his best today: Spidey tells Joey, the poor guy can't help being what he was, any more than they could. Read more!

It's at least partly because I keep coming in midstream, but I haven't loved a lot of Captain America stories in his regular title for some time. There was something I enjoyed this issue, though! From 2024, Captain America #13/LEG#763, "The Last Stand of the Front Door, part 2" Written by J. Michael Straczynski, art by Carlos Magno. I got the David Yardin variant, which kinda looks like Morbius is giving Cap the business; I couldn't be lucky enough to get the Godzilla variant from the dollar bin!

Again, I'm coming in midway through a storyline, but I don't think I'd ever be onboard with pseudo-Starlin level metaphysics in a Cap book; as here he's working for Lyra, an embodiment of Life itself, to stop her brother Death from wiping out the human race, as he's somewhat understandably sick of watching us kill each other. With a small team of mutants (new ones, nobody we know!) and a Guardian (who I don't think is Heather from Alpha Flight? I was confused because she's had not-Canadian flag costumes before, but feels like that'd be mentioned somewhere, and she has a sword: OK, pretty sure now she's just for this arc) they have to get a psychic, Malik, to the "mystical safe house" of the Front Door Cabaret. Death gives a ton of power to a massive crowd, threatening them with their own demises if they don't comply and stop Cap and friends. Taking back some magic rings, which I hope isn't a Captain Planet riff, Cap throws down with Death, to force him to draw that power back. Lyra had offered Cap a chance, to go back to his old life, to "lay down his burden," which feels a lot like trying to comment on his MCU arc, but we know darn well Cap isn't going to cop out here, and he doesn't.

Death gives Cap a pretty bad beating, before he realizes Malik was safe and he'd lost; which to him meant the suffering of humanity would be extended. He threatens Cap, that a bad end was coming for him. With seemingly everyone gone, while healing up Steve wonders if they made it, but thinks he might never know...while unseen behind him, a flowerbed blooms.

So, that didn't work for me much, except seeing Cap being Cap, even in a plotline that didn't feel like it was for him; but the next issue had Spidey and Thor guest-starring, so maybe Straczynski could course-correct from there. What I did like, was a Deadpool and Wolverine "Street Ball" ad, in the style of the great Spalding Jack Davis ad from the 70's! I know I've seen Wolvie and Pool hoop it up multiple times (like when I first started reading Deadpool!) but my headcanon now is that they sucked and always have. Wolvie's short and heavy as hell, no way he can jump...(Pretty sure that's Ryan North and Scott Koblish.)

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"Contract."

How do you get a bunch of super-powered egomaniacs to play in your little fight games? Honestly, it's probably easier to take Grandmaster and Collector's route here, and just give them stupid crap that they want. Mind control is risky: they'll turn on you if they get free, and it also might dull their game. Hostages and threats will only get you so far, especially if you're also taking hostages and threatening the other players. Care and feeding of hostages, plus keeping track of who you threatened with what; what a hassle! The only other aspect that comes to mind would be overly competitive types, that will fight for glory and love of the game; like the Champion, or Power Princess if she doesn't stop to think about it. 

"Purgatory Island" is of course a riff on Wonder Woman's Paradise Island, although I'm not 100% sure Power Princess means it: she might allow some men, as cooks and servants and such. They may or not be castrati, depending upon how she feels at time of hire...I don't think Hyperion has ever been shown to have a Supergirl-style cousin, but we've made that joke a couple times here, as well as alluded that Power Princess does not buy that story at all. In case it's not obvious, I find the Princess fun! She would probably be around more, if she stood a little better: Sat is a much better 'actress' in these strips. Very stable, always hits her marks, rarely topples over. That said, that Satana figure is what, from 2013? I had started this plotline with maybe the idea of swapping the figure with Spider-Woman, who per OAFE.net uses the same body. Just to have a back-up plan...

Also, we finally see the 'guy' Spider-Man 2099 had been trying to get back: Spider-Hulk! One of the shrinking number of Toy Biz figures to not get a remake yet and still look good. Miguel seemed to want to rescue him pretty badly, but Pavitr seems less enthused...

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I think Frank mentions this has been tried before, and never ends well for them: giving the Punisher drugs is just going to be a bad idea. Even super-high he'd probably be cleaning his guns and planning mayhem, so that's not really stopping him either...From 2009, Punisher War Journal Annual #1, "If I Die Before I Wake" Written by Si Spurrier, pencils by Werther Dell'Edera, inks by Antonio Fuso.

Searching for a kidnapped little girl, Frank crashes the club of drug guru Captain Pepper, who caters to superhero and villain wannabes and groupies alike. Having appeared fairly regularly in the main series, the Rhino makes a brief appearance, which catches him both the side-eye and a grenade from Frank! Pepper isn't concerned, though; as he had just dosed Frank with "the psychic suckings of a kiddie's brainbox," plunging him into a trip of a child's imagination. Trying to use his rage to focus, Frank also had his current tech-guy Stuart Clarke guiding him by drone from the club's bathroom, but he can't see the real little girl and gets tased by Pepper.

Every so often Marvel pushes "MGH," or Mutant Growth Hormone, as the drug of choice for disposable dealer-type bad guys, and sure enough that's here, although Captain Pepper might be trying to diversify as well. Pepper has some weird tattoo/curlicue design on the side of his head, which I'm pretty sure is so he doesn't look exactly like Grant Morrison; but he's got some even more weird little helpers, Misters Jingle and Jangle, who can suck thoughts and dreams from someone's mind, and Pepper sold whatever they didn't digest. There was apparently a market for Frank's "psychosis in a can," to "supersquares want(ing) to get hard in the head": if Punisher lasts more than six hours, consult a physician immediately. (A joke, but it's alarming to consider how many people might want that drug, to kill all mercy inside themselves...) Coming through an airduct, Stuart manages to rescue Frank, but then gets a faceful of Punisher-brain from Mr. Jingle, rendering him a drooling psychotic: the clientale of Pepper's is likewise dosed and fare about the same. Imagine having even a smidge of Frank's rage, making you so goddamn angry you couldn't even do anything about it except vibrate in undirected fury--wait, I'm sorry, that's my social media feed.

Frank gets Stuart and the little girl out, where the building is surrounded by cops: shrugging, Frank says he just did as the girl asked, and gave away some magic apples. Yeah, those were grenades and you know it, Frank. Escaping with Stuart in the commotion, Frank looks back and momentarily sees the little girl not with her own family, but with himself and Maria. It doesn't last, but it's a nice thought; while Stuart is not enjoying his Punisher-trip and probably puking his lungs out. Frank advises, you get used to it.

I don't always comment on the art, but this feels like it could've gone like 60-70% harder on the drug trip: the colors likewise don't pop enough; that portion should be a lot brighter. My favorite comic trips: the Brian Bolland cover and Brendan McCarthy art for Judge Dredd's "Report to the Chief Judge on the Accidental Death of a Citizen" or Kevin O'Neill's 'Legends of the Dark Mite' or Judge Death's Scarecrow trip in "Judgment on Gotham." The colors, Duke, the colors--er, I mean, just say no, kids! Read more!

Oh, man, I hope Beatriz still flies around like that. Clears out the sinuses!

This is a pretty banged-up copy, but a moderately important one! From 1979, Super Friends #25, "Puppets of the Overlord!" Written by E. Nelson Bridwell, pencils by Ramona Fradon, inks by Bob Smith.

It always strikes me, when I get a random old issue of Super Friends; that it was in theory the younger reader, kid-friendly version of the characters, based on the cartoon; yet still leaned surprisingly heavily on continuity and lore, even events and characters not seen on the show. Today, bad guy Overlord (really the second Overlord, the first had maybe been his puppet, or was maybe now a puppet) had taken over a small nation and was using its resources against the Super Friends, starting with a "thought-induction helmet." Since the JLA satellite was too far away and he didn't know the heroes' secret identities, Overlord strikes at them at the Hall of Justice, located in scenic Gotham City! The assembled heroes go off the rails for justice, with Batman and Superman, frustrated at having to work within the law, opting instead to take over North and South America, respectively. Aquaman realizes all the mistakes he made as King of Atlantis, and decides to correct them by taking over all the undersea kingdoms; while Wonder Woman opts to free the oppressed women of Africa, and the Wonder Twins choose to bring their superior alien culture to Eurasia. Oh and Robin goes to Australia, where he has a run-in with Tasmanian Devil--no, not that one, you know it's not! 

Batman heads up to the JLA satellite, where he immediately has to gas Green Lantern for not being onboard with his plan. Likewise, Wonder Woman throws down with her "black sister" Nubia in Africa, and Superman knocks out Beatriz Bonilla da Costa, aka the Green Fury, better known to us as Fire, in her first appearance! Her flaming--and, inexplicably, freezing--breath does nothing to the Man of Steel, so not a great start for her. Aquaman takes out Mera and Aqualad, to keep their "old-fashioned morality" from getting in his way, while Jan and Jayna's plan to rule hits a snag when they address a crowd somewhere in "the Arabian Peninsula" that didn't speak English. But, Seraph, the hero of Israel shows up to help--look, it was a different time, alright? Although even so I'm wondering what he was doing there. When Jan and Jayna change form, they snap back to their usual selves, and realize that's how they can save the other Super Friends, by changing them to their civilian identities. Except, Aquaman didn't have one, so he was going to be tougher, especially since the team had to fight him plainclothes! (A bit of lip service is paid to protecting their identities: if anyone saw this fight, it was just going to be Atlanteans, who were telepathic and could've found out anyway, if they cared.)

Aquaman puts up a solid fight, using a squid to get a Kryptonite meteorite to keep Clark out of it, then he no-sales a Green Lantern battering-ram by letting it hit him in the back of the head: his blonde hair was yellow and immune to the power ring's yellow impurity! Diana however is able to contact Mera to pop him one, and the magic lasso cures everyone of the mind-control effect, but they don't know who was behind it. Meanwhile, Overlord ponders his next attack, while one of his puppets seemingly taunts him...

Also this issue: another of DC's title-specific subscription ads; and their Daily Planet hype page! Man, I miss the latter: I know they tried to do something in that vein with "Channel 52" for a while, but it's not the same.

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For Americans, this was like space Sgt. Rock, if Ice Cream Soldier and Bulldozer and L'il Sure Shot all hated the new guy.

That might not be entirely accurate, but pretty close! From 1987, 2000 A.D. Presents #16, reprinting strips from 2000 AD and Tornado #140-#145 and 2000 AD #61-#63. Cover by Tom Grindberg!

It took me a dog's age to find the previous issue, which had the conclusion of space prison break serial Harry Twenty on the High Rock: Alan Davis art! So, this issue starts a new serial, the VC's. Not unlike the much later Bad Company or any number of British war comics, it starts with a new recruit joining a squad of hardened, grouchy, slightly insane veterans. In space! Which explains one of the taglines for the series: "If you're hit, you're dead!" since almost any hit would rupture a space suit. Young Steve Smith had signed up to help earth and the colony worlds defend against the invading "Geeks," but is surprised to realize he had been assigned to a unit of all colony soldiers, who of course do not immediately take to him. They have to explain their private joke squad nickname, short for "the Vacuum Cleaners." I had thought this issue might be most of their storyline, but the V.C.s not only ran for a while, it got a revival starting in 2002. (Written by Gerry Finley-Day, art by Mike McMahon, Garry Leach, and Cam Kennedy.)

Also this issue: Dan Dare on "Nightmare Planet!" (Written by Jack Adrian, art by Brian Lewis.) Yeah, it's a world of illusions and Dan has the will to see through it, but it is an excuse to show his old foe the Mekon for a sec. Dare had a little over two years at 2000 AD, including a stretch with Dave Gibbons art, but might never have really fit in there? After a seemingly ill-advised shift towards a more superheroic bent, Dare's last strip for the time was 1979's 2000 AD and Starlord #126. Back to this title, though: I thought I had more of this, I'm missing like the next eight issues! Read more!