Cue up the "why would you say something so controversial" meme, but Ann Nocenti is my favorite Daredevil writer by a country mile, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But, when did I start buying her run myself; since I'm pretty sure I was reading a friend's for quite a while. Which gets me to today's book, where the cover was very familiar, but opening it up I had no recollection of reading this one! From 1987, Daredevil #244, "Touch Me" Written by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Louis Williams, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

Shoot, I'm not sure I've read the previous issue now either, but Karen Page recaps the hell out of it here: clutching Matt's red glove, she laments that she killed him...maybe. She had been developing a complex: the same hands that Matt used to lovingly caress her, were also the ones he used to beat the snot out of bad guys. Karen admits she had wanted his hands clean, figuratively, although probably also literally; and had been nagging him to give up the violence. Now left holding his bloody glove, she felt responsible. But, not that far away, Matt was waking up in a pile of rubble, after getting the snot beat out of him, by some kind of voodoo creature. Missing his mask, he improvises one out of strips--keeping his eyes uncovered, which I don't think he usually bothers to do--but also notices that not only was his glove missing, that hand didn't work. Still, the creature had a distinctive stench, that Matt would be able to follow...just as soon as he could move.

With few leads, Karen brings in young junkie Eric, and cop Bucko Leary, who both want to bring down dealer Danny Guitar. Guitar was using a combination of "bad drugs" and voodoo threats to build an army, and was going to hit a warehouse that night for more troops; but he wasn't doing great himself, as we see in a three-page sequence where he sweatily remembers freaking out in a voodoo ceremony in Haiti and running away to New York. That feels like Nocenti was trying to make Guitar a victim himself--just about everybody in her run has been hurt bad by someone or something--but also doesn't seem especially culturally sensitive. Just like there's more than mummies to Egypt, Haiti wasn't all voodoo: the art was nice, but I wonder if this was researched more than re-watching Live and Let Die. (When I was young, and my heart was an open book--no, stop that!) Shirtless and painted, Guitar robs some fellow dealers for cash to flee further; putting his faith in the gun and seemingly not even realizing he had been marked.

The voodoo priestess's Nameless One had "dragged (Guitar's) apartment back to the ritual ground," and also advises that Daredevil--Matt--now believes his fists are useless: they had divined his secret name, and as such had power over him. But having no name, his power couldn't be taken; although the priestess tells him to wear DD's mask: "Wear the cloth of a man of courage, and you steal his courage." (Maybe Nocenti did do some research!) At the warehouse, Guitar is alone, and the cops actually capture him alive, shooting him through the hand: Leary had wanted to show up Daredevil, and brags even as Karen begs him to find DD. The Nameless One then strikes, first from the shadows, then in the open; just rolling through the cops. When he grabs Karen, she notices he was carrying the mask (somewhere...) and grabs it; just in time for Daredevil to arrive! He takes a bit of thumping, before Karen can give him the mask back--and more importantly, her faith. 

After a lengthier fight than we see here, Daredevil defeats the Nameless One, which then dissolves. Guitar is left seemingly catatonic, as if scared to silence, possibly forever. Later, Matt wonders if he should've been involved in this one at all: would the Nameless One have just done its business, then left? Karen then tells Matt, she understands he only uses his fists to save lives. As they embrace, the voodoo priestess and the Nameless One watch from a distance, and think they may meet again, possibly as allies. Not yet, anyway! Also, if I was a less-trusting soul, I would wonder if this wasn't building up Matt and Karen, for a bigger fall: we were coming up on the first appearance of Typhoid Mary in DD #254.

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This guy was afraid he couldn't take a bleeding, unconscious Tarzan: it's good to be aware of your limitations.

We saw the previous issue some time back, but I'm mostly just randomly grabbing these to see Big John Buscema go to town. From 1977, Tarzan #5, "La Seeks Vengeance!" From the original story "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, adapted and edited by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

This was part 5 of the "Jewels of Opar" adaptation, which seems long but wasn't done here, either. At this point, deserter and murderer Albert Werper was just about to stab the unconscious--and amnesiac and savage--Tarzan, before he starts to fret that if he doesn't one-shot the ape man, he'd get torn to shreds. Werper decides to skip out with the jewels: later, Tarzan notices the "white man" took his "pretty stones," and plans to find and murder him; right after a little nap. Werper continues weaseling through the plot: he meets up with the slavers that had captured Jane, but then has to flee when the slavers realize he had the jewels.

The injured Mugambi finally catches up to try and rescue Jane, but she was already gone: the head slaver thinks Werper had taken her, but she might have just escaped herself. You'll have to wait for the next issue...which I don't have. Meanwhile, Tarzan gets into a standoff with a pride of lions, that is broken up by a rhino: I don't know if this is a Burroughs line or Thomas's, but the narration points out that fight was super-cool and most people would rattle on about it the rest of their lives, while Tarzan's already about forgotten it. But, Tarzan is then jumped by the Sacred Apes, who bring him before the steamingly furious La of Opal, who wants the sacrificial dagger back: even if he had his memory, Tarzan might not have even known about that being gone, Werper might have stolen the dagger behind his back. Tarzan does maybe get the gist from the tone of her voice, though.

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I do enjoy how the quarter bin can still surprise me: even though we've seen other issues from this series, I hadn't seen this one! Even the cover didn't ring any bells. From 1995, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #37, "Body..." Written by John Arcudi, pencils by Patrick Olliffe, inks by Keith Williams.

On a distant alien planet, Harkort, a young boy with an unfortunate name (that's fun to yell!) is scolded by his mother, for goofing off with an unusual staff he had found...found next to a body; that of Firelord! Who looks appropriately sad, with his fire out. Meanwhile, back on earth, it had been, what, four issues now since Warlock defeated Count Abyss but lost his potion-caused love Maya, and Warlock was still moping? He had enough willpower, to keep from torturing himself by using the Orb of Eternity to see what Maya was up to; but then at first doubts he's really seeing the appearance of Firelord's soul, who had followed his murderer to earth.

The rest of the Watch is not particularly sensitive or supportive of Warlock in his troubled time--Maxam accuses Gamora of still being hung up on him, but Adam doesn't appear to return her attention, as he has Pip teleport them all--to Pittsburgh? (Having a weird Mandela effect/flash of senility here, because I think I usually spell it wrong, with no 'h' at the end!) In a tough bar, an out-of-place looking man is buying the beer, and acts like he has no idea when Warlock accuses him of murder. The toughs, to their credit, ask if the guy murdered a woman or a kid or something; Warlock, completely missing the point, says no, he killed a brave and mighty warrior. Which clears the way for a brawl...a remarkably ill-advised brawl. Gamora could easily beat up everyone in the building, up to and including her teammates; but both Drax and Maxam were Hulk-sized characters and nobody should be in a rush to punch it up with them.

A subplot continues, as within the Soul Gem, Kray-Tor had been traumatized back in the Count Abyss storyline, and may have been plotting to leave the peaceful world within the Gem. On the alien planet, the locals had decided Firelord must have been some kind of king, and begin preparing his funeral as such. (I'm betting cremation, to re-ignite him!) And the bad guy reveals himself, after trying to befriend and beguile Drax: it's Zakaius! Who announces himself like his name should mean something to us, but this was his first appearance! It's a traditional mystic-style look, very un-90's: no pouches or straps or anything. The fight, and the issue, end as a gas tanker explodes: the driver had the sense to hightail it when he saw the fight headed towards him. 

Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting Firelord to be dead (or, 'dead') right out of the gate here. It took a long time for this to occur to me, but did Firelord even know Warlock? Have we ever seen them together? Because that makes it weird that Firelord would go to him all "Avenge me" to Warlock. Unless it wasn't personal, and Firelord just came to him based on the Infinity Gems and/or Warlock's general rep of cosmic busybody.

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"Dane."

I still don't think Nightcrawler has met the Black Knight in comics, but like seven years back we saw Kurt vs. Dane. If it seems like Dane is getting the short end of it here, you're probably right; but this is the second--no, the third released!--Black Knight figure (from a two-pack with Sersi) and Hasbro still hasn't really done him justice? The head on this figure looks like he just smelt something awful and is furious about it. And I didn't realize until looking at that OAFE review again: the new figure only comes with one head, and it's actually one from the previous figure, which had three! One being his ancestor Sir Percy, the other being a more friendly neutral expression but with big bat wings on the helmet. That said, I'm glad they've never tried to do a removable helmet: it's pretty thin, and would either look awful or the unmasked head would be woefully undersized to accommodate it. 

 I might not love either Black Knight figure, but the Ebony Blades aren't bad! Traditionally swords don't change their looks, but here we are. Wait, the new figure only came with his lightsab--er, "photon sword." The fancier Blade Dane is using is from the even older Brood wave Black Knight. Man, good on Dane for getting three figures, but none of them are quite there. The other Black Knight was from Fortnite, and I just had to get up and take a look at him: there was a McFarlane version, but this one was from Jazwares and thus more in scale for around here. Say it with me: every time I have an action figure from a game I don't play, drink! Oh, and sadly, the Ebony Blade may currently be destroyed in Marvel continuity, which does seem to happen from time to time: Doctor Doom may have suggested it was too dangerous to be left out there, but that may have been self-serving, as the Blade could slice through his armor.

We might not be done with Dane yet, although I want to swap that head out, just so he doesn't seem so sour all the time.

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Weird plasticine smell from this comic!

Every so often I find a book in the cheap bins, that I'm positive has to be a mistake. I'll usually ask to make sure, if I'm at a proper comic shop; but at EntertainMart? Nope! Yoink! Grabbed this one and hauled right off with it. From 1988, Gumby's Winter Fun Special #1, written by Steve Purcell, art by Arthur Adams.

Somehow, I was never exposed to Gumby as a kid? This comic would've been towards the tailend of Gumby's 80's revival, post-Eddie Murphy and Saturday Night Live. The only short I know I've watched was a 50's one, "Robot Rumpus," because it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000! ("Just work the lumps, Mike!")

Art Adams is doubtless the big draw for this one...man, he was huge then, this feels like a very weird book for him to do; but he won an Eisner for Best Single Issue for Gumby's Summer Fun Special the year before with Bob Burden. The Gumby books are mentioned in Adams's Wikipedia page under "Diversification and experimentation!" But, I'm glad to have Winter Fun, because of Steve Purcell, of Sam & Max fame. (You can see a toy lagomorph--er, rabbit-shaped thing, and a dog with a very distinctive hat in one panel!)

This issue, after an explosion at the toy mine, Gumby and Pokey try to help the trapped miners, which leads to meeting the mole people, and being sent on a mission to Heck to rescue Roy Crabbe, aka Santa Claus! Giant kaiju monsters and mail-away prizes are both involved. And, for good measure, I scanned the back cover so you can make the little diorama! That oughta keep you busy for a bit; don't use the good scissors. Read more!

We're shooting at this guy's face, in space...I think it's symbolic, but I'm not sure.

Because I'm old, I remember the days when TV was pre-cable, limited to what you could get by antenna--which, in my town, wasn't a lot! I might've been able to get more Canadian TV than American...no, but it was close. And of course, this was pre-VCR, so if you missed something, that was probably it. But, sometimes I would visit my grandparents, and have access to, if not better, at least different TV. I have a very strong memory of the tailend of some episode of what we called "Japanimation" back then, with a crew struggling to keep their ship from falling into the sun: I to date still have no idea what that show actually was! I'm thinking Star Blazers but I'm not positive; I've still never been able to sit down and watch that. (I probably could on YouTube or something, but, yuck.) That half-remembered show, and the Ken Steacy cover, got me to pick this one out of the cheap bin: from 1989, Star Blazers #4, "A Blast from the Past" Plot by Phil Foglio, Doug Rice, and Markalan Joplin; script by Phil Foglio, art by Harrison Fong and Bill Anderson. (Also, the letters page was put together by future Vertigo editor Shelly Bond!)

I feel like Star Blazers was on syndication in America around '83-84? Roughly the same time as Voltron, at least near me--and not that near! The Wikipedia entry does mention this comic series...namely, as weaker than the first series. Well, I can kind of see that, Doug Rice did the art for the first one, and he would later do fun giant robot comic Dynamo Joe for First Comics, as well as my favorite Manhunter! (The Mark Shaw version with the cool blue mask!) Anyway, this series involves the Star Force against a exiled Earth general, who had found some alien allies, tech, and a mercenary fleet. Said general was trying to get revenge on another, for taking the fall for war crimes; which I don't think necessarily had anything to do with the rest of the series. Also, at this point everybody seems to have the "wave-motion gun," so maybe two different fleets get straight-up smoked in the space of a few panels, seemingly leaving it the big alien ship against the Argo.

Somehow, I have a model/figure of IQ-9, the little robot from this show: I want to say he was usually the comic relief/R2-D2 type. This was a Comico book, which we've seen barely a fistful of here over the years: for starters, we've seen surprisingly little of Sam & Max Freelance Police Special, one of my absolute favorite comics ever. Steve Rude's Space Ghost was a memorable one. We've also seen Gene Colan's Bloodscent and a random issue of Robotech, the latter in a post where I complain about Star Blazers being on at maybe four in the morning, weekends, two towns over. Although, shoot, I think I have another Comico book right handy! Wouldn't have bet on that one. Read more!

A lucky find; I wish there were more of these as well!

We'll wrap up the week with another one that'd be tough to scan: from 1981, Shocking Tales Digest #1, cover by Ernie Colón, although some images might have been taken from Bob Powell and Jack Kirby.

This was a Harvey comics reprint digest, a one-off, made up of stories from the 1950's, from titles like Black Cat Comics, for Bob Powell's "Colorama!" Alarming Tales is also strongly represented, with nine Jack Kirby shorts, making up almost half the book! "The Cadmus Seed!" and "The Last Enemy! both seem like precursor, test versions of his later DC work: "Enemy" is very Kamandi. Despite the little "TERROR" skull in the corners, most of these aren't super scary; but still not bad. 

I hadn't seen this one before, but if you're ever somewhere with a bunch of Archie digests, give 'em the once-over: every so often you'll find an oddball like this! I think from the same shelf at EntertainMart I got a Disney digest a bit ago; I'm hoping I luck into say, DC's Plop! digests at some point.

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