"Swordplay."

I probably haven't said yet, but I'm on vacation this week! Which meant I was scrambling to get a week ahead. 

Illyana has known Kurt for years--she appears in his first mini-series, for that matter. She also had a Bamf doll, when she died as a kid. 

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I would've sworn I mentioned this one before, but I didn't buy it in singles, I got the trade later: it seems like it's going to mostly be a test of "how much of a hardass is Frank Castle?" but maybe goes more into "what kind of bastard is Nick Fury?" You may be surprised by both answers! From 2024, Get Fury #1, "1: Sweet Bird of Truth" Written by Garth Ennis, pencils by Jacen Burrows, inks by Guillermo Ortego.

The Dave Johnson cover is an homage to the Punisher's first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129, but you know Ennis doesn't care about that; this is a Vietnam story. (I know Frank's history has ostensibly been altered in Marvel's sliding timeline, but we all agree, Frank fought in Vietnam, whatever we might call it to hide the fact he'd be older than dirt now.) Aged Vietnamese general Letrong Giap tells this story, as a bit of "mischief." Frank and Nick had tried to kill him, more than once, but never got him.

Back in '71, Frank was a captain in charge of recon, and turns away two M.P.'s who had orders to bring in whatever dogs were out there, for fear of rabies. One of Frank's guys has a very small-looking pup, that he was not about to give up; and Frank wasn't about to make him. He's then called away, for a meeting with General Mackie and what are obviously a couple of spooks: Nick Fury's plane had gone down near the Cambodian border, and since his body wasn't found he was feared captured. Frank immediately understands: they want him to kill Fury, since losing him would be unimaginably bad for military intelligence. Mackie at least makes a nod, to giving Fury a better end than the torture he would receive. They couldn't get a rescue team in, but could maybe get a single shooter in place, to take Fury out when he gets to his destination. (There's also zero paper trail on this one; so even if Frank followed his orders he wouldn't be able to prove it.)

There had been two other survivors with Fury, but one had been too wounded to continue marching, so the Viet Cong bury him alive, and kill the other when he objects: Fury hadn't liked it, but knew there was nothing he could do right then, as his march continues...You're fairly sure from the start, that Frank isn't just going to blindly put one in Nick's dome, but let's just say those two aren't best friends by the end of it. (Frank gets some help from a woman who had been Fury's mistress decades before, and a daughter Fury didn't know about; and you can probably guess that it doesn't end with Nick warmly embracing his new family...) Darn, I'm trying to finish a couple weeks worth of posts at once, but I'm still getting the trade off the shelf! There feels like a lot of sidebar in it, as the spooks wonder if they made a mistake sending Frank, or if Fury was really a threat to their own heroin-trafficking scheme at all. Still, Giap's conclusion, despite what both Fury and Castle became, is that if a man is judged by the enemies he made in life, his was then full of riches. Read more!

I too have wrecked several dances, thinking of my comic books.

I'm still chewing this notion over in my head, but I think traditionally, in girls' adventure stories--think Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, or Alice in Wonderland--in the fantastic journey to a far-off land, the heroine is triumphant, but wants nothing more than to get back home. Whereas guy adventure stories--John Carter, Travis Morgan to cherry-pick two that fit my theory!--the hero has maybe not yet met anybody there that didn't try to stab him at least once, but they're into it and are looking into a place there. Admittedly, if you live in America today you can probably see the allure of getting out and never coming back: if I could escape, what could possibly persuade me to return? I'm probably like Donald on this one: modern conveniences, friends, family, who cares? But they're selling off my comic collection? Oh, hell no. From 1987, Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures #1, "Donald Duck and Isabella" Written by Evert Geradts, US script by Byron Erickson, art by Ben Verhagen.

Donald and the nephews are running a ferry service, with the emphasis on service to the passengers, like a really fancy Lyft or whatever. A thief lifts a cash register and tries to get passage, but is dismayed at Donald's navigation of the deadly "whirling dervish" whirlpool of Duckburg Channel, and when they pause to play some music for Isabella, a friendly music-loving whale. The crook wants to capture Isabella for a show; Donald refuses and get clonked on the head: he and the boys are left in a life raft, to get sucked into the whirlpool, crashing to the bottom of the sea...where, unexpectedly, they're rescued?

With brief periods of air when the whirlpool hit, there was a small society down there, made up of survivors from assorted shipwrecks over the years. They had indoor gardens, a hospital, a desalination plant, and to the boys' dismay, a school. Donald is becoming sold, though: fresh air, no taxes...the boys point out, what about Daisy? And his house, his car, his comic books? Gladstone and Uncle Scrooge were probably moving in on both sides there; even though Donald had been gone about twenty minutes. The undersea party is interrupted by Isabella, who doesn't like it when the music stops; then for helping them with their whale problem, the undersea folks help Donald seal his boat up airtight, for a trip back to the surface.

Getting back to Duckburg, the Ducks catch up to the crook, who tries to shift the blame by framing them for stealing his flea circus. Isabella then comes up, and a dancing whale doesn't help lend credence to the crook's story, and he's brought in. Donald and the boys decide to keep the undersea people a secret, since they think no one would believe them.

Again, Donald wasn't even gone much longer than maybe his regular shift; but I'm still positive Gladstone was moving in on Daisy all the same. Scrooge probably didn't sell Donald's comics, if only because I could see him not knowing what comics could be worth. Then getting way to into investing in them, then getting rug-pulled, then maybe actually reading one and deciding that was the way to go. Read more!

Hey, they went to series! I'm sure that'll turn out for them.

I don't think I noticed this said "One of Six" on the cover until I got to the "to be continued" at the end: from 2017, the Ruff and Reddy Show #1, "Ruff and Reddy: A Cautionary Tale in Six Parts, part one" Written by Howard Chaykin, art by Mac Rey. Cover by Howard Chaykin.

We were re-introduced to the titular duo in the back-up story in Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special #1, but this issue follows them from their 50's heyday, to their inevitable breakup: despite being the bottom rung of the entertainment ladder, as living cartoon "celimates," they had been briefly beloved and successful, even though they largely couldn't stand each other. Backtalking each other durning a Thanksgiving parade, they are undone when deaf kids are able to read their rather foulmouthed lips. (This being Chaykin, there's a rather risque joke about Superman's trunks!)

Ruff, the cat, would go on to moderate success in a Law & Order style show; while the dog Reddy would stumble into alcoholism and obscurity. Neither had worked in some time, but a young talent agent is tasked with bringing them back together...Yes, I'm sure that will go swimmingly, until it doesn't.

DC had a smattering of Hanna-Barbera books going for a minute--some, like this or Dastardly & Muttley were fairly obscure but had talent on 'em, like Garth Ennis! The Flintstones was pretty great, and Exit Stage Left: the Snagglepuss Chronicles was supposed to be as well. This particular one might just be Chaykin hitting his usual interests (see also: Satellite Sam) but he can do that pretty darn well. Read more!

I dropped it mid-stream, and I still like Firearm better, but Starman did have more issues. And this random one's cover grabbed me, at least! From 1999, Starman #55, "Taxicab Confessions" Written by James Robinson and David Goyer, pencils by Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Weston, and John McCrea, inks by Keith Champagne. Cover by Tony Harris.

The Starmen--Jack Knight, his dad Ted, and alien Mikaal--were doing a lost-in-space/time storyline at the time; but we don't really see them this issue. Instead, Space Cabbie picks up a couple guys who want to go to the Karloff sector. Figuring this was probably going to end in gunplay or something, Cabbie chats them up, trying to get at what they want out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing to see there but a debris field, and the Cabbie knows the story of that one: the Starmen had answered a distress call there, and fought Jovian pirate Jarko, to rescue the Teen Titans' Starfire. Jarko had a strange, curved staff--that you might recognize as another Starman's, Prince Gavyn's! His duel with Jack's Cosmic Rod is inconclusive, since the Knights of the Galaxy arrive and start shooting the place up, but Mikaal frees Starfire and they escape before it explodes.

EDIT: Did I have the wrong picture here? Lemme try that again.

The first passenger, revealing himself to be Space Ranger, disagrees on some of the details: yes, the Starmen were answering a distress signal. But it wasn't from the Titans' Starfire, it was from the 70's sci-fi revolutionary leader Starfire! Speaking mangled "ye olde Englishe," like they spoke back then, Jack challenges Jarko...to a game of a Twister knockoff? This time, the duel is interrupted by the Star Rovers, but Mikaal (looking very Spock-like in this version) still frees Starfire and they escape.

The second passenger also disagrees, and he was Ultra the Multi-Alien! In a far more bombastic version, the Starmen (including Jack in a more classic costume, as Mikaal as space Bucky) rescue Russian Starfire Red Star--why he was there is anyone's guess. Jarko challenges Jack to the contest of "unflinching gaze," and whoever grinned first lost! This time Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers blast up the joint, but the Starmen free Red Star and escape.

Although they had split a cab, Space Ranger and Ultra had been sent separately, by the Space Museum, to recover Gavyn's staff, since it could be dangerous. How'd Gavyn even get that thing--the guys all argue on that story, on their way home. 

Do comics do a better job of Rashomon'ing a story than Rashomon does? Sometimes, when the art shifts go hard enough, I'd say they might!

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"Illyana."

Most guys would probably be intimidated that Illyana has a big brother that's an insanely protective, seven-foot-tall, slab of metal beefcake; but she's actually plenty intimidating on her own. 

X-Men '97 has, in my probably solitary opinion, maybe done too much to rehabilitate the rep of Cyclops. Everyone thinks he's the bee's knees all of a sudden, 'cause he can what, electric slide using his eyebeams now? I say, he probably maintains a running mental total, of demerits for all of the X-Men, and probably himself. Only took out two Sentinels instead of three? Demerit! Not wearing a clean uniform after a three-issue fight? Demerit! Abandoning your wife and kid for your ex? Demerit, but only one.

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Sometime back, we saw an issue of Cybercrush: Robots in Revolt, but I thought I had covered at least a couple of these: they were in the same boat! Late era Fleetway/Quality reprint books, with better print quality and paper, a bit more expensive, and almost always with covers having nothing to do with the reprinted stories within! From 1992 (or thereabouts) Time Killers #3, cover by Rich Larson and Steve Fastner. 

 

The first reprint was from 1991's 2000 AD #739, an Indigo Prime story featuring Winwood and Cord. I don't know much about that one, but they're investigating what feels like a Doctor Who situation: Victorians with a time machine, one of whom might be (as in, totally is) Jack the Ripper. (Written by John Smith, art by Chris Weston.) Also weirdly: I don't have a ton of actual 2000 AD progs, but I feel like I have this particular one? Or maybe I've seen the Dredd story from it reprinted somewhere: the cover seems familiar, but Cliff Robinson does such a good job of aggrieved, "well, I never" kind of faces.

Next, "Shadows, part 3" was from 1990's 2000 AD #674, and I think I've read a chunk of that serial: Peter Milligan maybe wasn't big yet, but was on his way. Young "knowledge broker" Nina Coltrane had perhaps seen something she shouldn't, and was being erased from society. This chapter, her lover and her mom are killed, and her artist friend has a crisis in conscience while turning her over. The artist is killed by spherical drones, and Nina is forced to flee where she feels she now belongs: underground, "the world of shadows." (Art by Richard Elson.)

Son of a gun--I actually have the next prog as well! From 1992, 2000 AD #776, "Tales from Beyond Science" presents "Long Distance Calls" Written by Mark Millar, art by Rian Hughes. The pipe-smoking Professor Tremayne presents accounts of the voices of the dead, recorded on tape; and Guglielmo Marconi's experiments in contacting the dead, trying to reach his lost brother. The presentation feels exceedingly British somehow: "The dead seem to be trying to warn us all the time; I prefer not to speculate why..."

After a quick Future Shocks, another chapter of "Dry Run," from 1990's 2000 AD #690, written by Taisto Vahimagi, art by Kevin Hopgood. The Albion British Comics Wiki has a brief entry on it, set in a future earth where the seas had dried up; but the entry mostly didn't like the balloons used for the telepathic characters. (I had momentarily thought this would've been in Dredd continuity, like a Cursed Earth run, but nope!) 

Time Killers only ran seven issues, best guess I have two. Still, I kinda want whatever book the covers promised there...

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