Feel like there should be more Deathstorms on that cover.

Today, we finally get to a book I'd been wanting for some time, just on the strength of the cover alone! From 2006, Firestorm #21, "Building a Better Firestorm, Book One: The Chalk Circle" Written by Stuart Moore, pencils by Jamal Igle and Eddy Barrows, inks by Rob Stull.

And we once again trot out the "crossover debris" tag, since this was an Infinite Crisis tie-in, as well as a callback to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, as the issue opens with a flashback to Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein's days as Firestorm. Jason Rusch was the current Firestorm, and had just gotten asskicked in Infinite Crisis #4, and his best friend Mick, as the other half of the Firestorm matrix, had died. Jason is saved by longtime floating head Professor Stein, who had been a "wandering galactic elemental" for the last several years. Stein asks about Ronnie, and offers to rebuild Jason's body, but doesn't seem broken up about Mick's death or Ronnie's: it's sad, but it was all just atoms, in the final analysis. (I couldn't tell you what had happened to Ronnie, and he's back since? I'm not up on Firestorm's current status, either.)

Back on earth, as various Crisis-related and opportunistic-crime events rage on the news, it's interrupted for Alvin Rusch, Jason's dad; by Air Wave and Donna Troy, broadcasting him a message from space with bad news. (I'm pretty sure Air Wave would be killed shortly; I don't think he got out of Infinite Crisis #4 either.) Meanwhile, Professor Stein explains a bit about the Firestorm Matrix, and Jason asks if he misses being human: no, since he got to see and do so much, even if there was loss. Jason has a brief vision of his friends and family, then Stein mentions the battle was going badly without him, and he would have to rebuild Jason's body and Firestorm--that might be a key point, but Jason interrupts: he couldn't do it alone. He asks Stein to help him, and he says no at first, but acquiesces, warning Jason that there had been days he and Ronnie "despised" each other...

I don't have a huge attachment to Firestorm, although I think I read his original series from around #65, for maybe a year or so. And I have a fond memory of getting the DC Universe Classics figure...that was completely wrong; I thought I bought him at K-Mart, and my records say nope! I also thought he was from the first series with Metamorpho, also no. Um, he's still a neat figure? Although I wish I'd got the later, I want to say DC Icons one, with swappable face plates for either Jason or Ronnie. Also wrong, it was the "Total Heroes Ultra" version. Ugh, how many times can I be wrong in a single post? Well, this issue would predate Deathstorm, so there's no way he'd be on the cover...that's it, I'm going back to bed. Read more!

There is a used toy place out in the valley, aptly titled Never Enough Toys, that has come through for me more than once; and came through again with a few more Marvel Legends: two Tracksuit Mafia and the Collector! And, I also got a cheap copy of this one, saving me a lot of digging: from 1996, Starman Annual #2, written by James Robinson, pencils by Craig Hamilton, Bret Blevins, J. H. Williams III; inks by Ray Snyder, Bret Blevins, and Mick Gray.

Not unlike Preacher, I didn't read Starman from the start, but got the trades with the early run, while getting new issues. Unlike Preacher, I didn't stick with Starman all the way through; and I haven't re-read much of it in years. I know I read the Batman/Hellboy/Starman crossover, but honestly, it's not my favorite Hellboy crossover: not trying to be harsh, but I liked the Painkiller Jane and Ghost ones more. For good measure, I've said multiple times, I liked Robinson's Ultraverse book Firearm much more and remember it way more fondly; which makes me feel like I'm not enthusiastic about this book. But! It is another Legends of the Dead Earth annuals, and the artists are high-end, so let's go!

Blah blah earth is dead, blah blah credits page, then the framing sequence: a distant, distinctly art-deco world, opulent and peaceful and happy; home of the immortal Shade. I'm sure there's more of a continuity reason for this, but long ago Shade had visited, and immediately been smitten with, Opal City; kind of like that painting the Joker doesn't let Bob slash in Batman '89? He just liked it, and sort of resolved there, he wouldn't be a villain. Everywhere else, who knows, but he seems to have carried that benevolent side to this new world, as he tells stories to a bunch of kids that were probably described as "ragamuffins" in the script. The first story was of Prince Gavyn, the only Starman the Shade had never met. Gavyn had been a prince of a smallish (24 planet!) space empire, and had been a cheerful fop; but to prevent a Lion King situation, whenever the emperor died and a new one was chosen, anybody else with a claim to the throne was immediately executed. Gavyn had intended to remove that law, but he wasn't elected or chosen or whatever, his sister was, and she spaced his ass. In fairly typical superhero fashion, Gavyn was saved by his new alien mentor...Mn'torr; became a superhero, fought to defend the empire, died a couple times, eventually avenged the death of his jerk sister, dissolved the empire, and ruled over a single world. Happy ending, right? Only if you stop reading there!

Stop me if you've heard this one: a massive wave of nothingness, sweeping across the universe, headed straight for Gavyn's world. Red skies. Although given the opportunity to flee with his wife Merria, Gavyn immediately resolves to stay and defend his world. Before heading into battle, Merria tries to stop him, and Gavyn tells her how much her love made him a better person, but while afraid, he had to defend his people. And he did his best...to no avail, dying in the anti-matter wave. But, his world was saved, by the other heroes in the Crisis. If Gavyn had hesitated--done nothing at all--he would have lived.

A sad story, so the Shade's next one is perhaps a bit more upbeat, although it does involve several murders for the kiddies: back in the early 50's, Ted Knight, the original Starman, is put on the case of the Prairie Witch. She was a mysterious leader of a band of jewel thieves, with a "flying broomstick." Starman admitted, he didn't know how she did it, inspiring a bit of "professional jealousy." (I wonder if Ted felt that towards everyone he encountered that could fly, since probably 90% of them flew by magic, versus his science; even though said science was also basically magic.) In a recent robbery, three cops were killed while stumbling into the crime while staggering home from a bar, but one, Billy O'Dare, took a slug but still jumped onto their getaway truck, since they kidnapped another cop for reasons unknown. Starman's contact Bailey also lets on that O'Dare had been a big fan of his, and Ted doesn't feel like he's got enough fans that he can lose any.

Both Starman and the Witch go quiet for a few days, making their plans: Starman had figured her hit-and-run tactics, and had a plan. The Prairie Witch was very much swiping from the Wicked Witch of the West, although also with guns: she shoots Starman down with a .45; and he crashes, gravity rod shattered, and is captured. All according to plan! He wanted to be taken to the captured cops, although only Billy was left: out in the mysterious, creepy Turk County (man, I hope that name isn't racist) the Witch was leading human sacrifices; although we don't necessarily know why. Starman had concealed flat circuitry in his cape, and with Billy's nightstick recreates his gravity rod--the destroyed one had been meant to break. Teaming up, the Witch is no match for Starman, but disappears after crashing; and he's mildly dismayed that her broom...appeared to just be a broom. Billy tells Starman, he'll always be there for him, as will all of the O'Dares, as seen in the regular series; although the drink may not have done him any good. Sad, but the Shade tells the kids, that world, and the kids themselves, were the real happy ending.

OK, I might not have a lot of residual fondness for this title, but this could arguably be the best-looking of all the LotDE books. It's also one of only two--two that we've seen so far, anyway--that are in regular DC continuity; the other being the Power of Shazam Annual. If you trust the Shade's stories, of course.  

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"Travel."

Although Sat is able to travel back and forth from Hell--or some hell--I'm not sure how common that is. I think I remember an issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool were Pool would, in the moments he was killed before reviving, see Shiklah in the netherworld, where she either couldn't or wouldn't come out. Or, maybe Sat sending her there blocked her from transporting back. Or, maybe I make these up on the fly... 

I also can't recall the last comic I saw Arcade in--Murderworld from 2023 was maybe intended to make him a big wheel again, but not sure if it took..

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How many Batman figures do I have with cloth capes that could sit on the Mobius Chair? Just Batman '66 ones?

We saw the Lex Luthor issue a bit ago, but why not flip through Batman's, even if a lot of it might seem familiar, even if you haven't read it! From 2015, Justice League: Darkseid War: Batman #1, "God Only Knows" Written by Peter J. Tomasi, pencils by Fernando Pasarin, inks by Matthew Ryan. Just like Marvel's Civil War II, if you've seen Minority Report you're going to be ahead of the game here: Batman has the Mobius Chair, with which he can, among other things, see into the minds of everyone in Gotham City. Which, as Commissioner Gordon points out, is driving the arrest rates way up and the conviction rates way down: Batman may or may not be stopping crimes, but judges wouldn't convict people for crimes they hadn't committed yet. (Which feels optimistic as hell, but I suppose Gotham's criminal element might have good lawyers!)

Standing on the now-obsolete Bat-Signal (!) Gordon makes an argument that Batman should have thought of: was the Chair from a magical land with no crime and no wars? It wasn't? Then what the hell makes you think it was gonna work here? Bats ducks out to stop a planned robbery rather than answer, and was getting creative with punishments: he leaves the potential robbers stranded in Antarctica, where they'd be picked up by a Navy icebreaker in a few hours. (Probably! Maybe? The Chair probably crunched the numbers on them dying of frostbite or getting eaten by a bear.) Next, he stops a man who was going to murder his ex; since that one had already broken into her apartment and had a knife in hand, there's a bit more probable cause this time. Bats teleports him to Paradise Island, still holding the knife, and leaves him in the care of a couple Amazons, at least one of whom seemed game to mess that guy up. Then, Batman says, it was time to "get personal."

Batman tells the Chair to "show him" the murder of the Waynes, something he--and we--have probably seen a million times, but this might be a new angle for him, as he reaches out to stop the bullet but it flies through; he wasn't really there. He is able to get a good look at Joe Chill, and visits him in the state pen. This is then a variation of Batman #47 (which we glanced at so many years ago!) as Batman unmasks to Chill, telling him he could easily spread the word "Joe Chill created the Batman" and then sit back and watch. Chill is horrified and screaming, and Batman tells him to forget, that he didn't know who Batman was and never would. Chill is left in his cell, shaking and sick, but not knowing why.

Returning to the Batcave, Batman is greeted by more acerbic remarks from Alfred than usual, while coughing up a little blood: he tells Alfred, the Chair "didn't appreciate someone as proactive" as himself, and it was pushing back a little. I don't know if that's true; but Bats also says he can get out of the Chair whenever he wants, yet is seemingly unable. (Alfred doesn't say anything, but gives him a look that is just that bitch for "anytime, sir.") Well, small price to pay for being "an absolute Batman dealing absolute justice," and now he could take the time to narrow his focus...to the Joker! Which leads to Three Jokers, maybe; that was a Black Label book and may or may not be in continuity. "God Only Knows" maybe didn't fit there; "I Know There's an Answer" might actually be more appropriate! Of course this will build up to a point where Batman has to give up absolute power; I just hope we see him apologize to Jim for a change. Also, although my dad was a big Beach Boys fan, I didn't hear Pet Sounds in its entirety until much, much later: Dad liked the poppier songs, I like the borderline depressed ones. Read more!

Puck would maybe recognize one person on the team at that point, but I guess a lady in a flag suit would do it.

We saw Puck's secret origin some time back, and today we catch up with him after leaving the team--wait, he can do that? That feels super wrong. From 1988, Alpha Flight #59, "Comes a Dragon!" Written by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Al Milgrom. 

 Despite having part of a big 'P' on his chest, Puck would be barely recognizable here: there had been a big roster change back in issue #50, and the demon Raazer had been removed from Puck, changing him back into "septuagenarian soldier-of-fortune Eugene Judd." Feeling Alpha Flight no longer needed him, as well as bemoaning the fact that Heather was seeing "Mr. Jeffries," Box; Puck had opted to head to China, in search of a mysterious monastery that supposedly had a doorway to other worlds. Uh, yeah, like every monastery in that part of the world? Are you new to the Marvel Universe? But, the Chinese army also wants the monastery, as part of defending their border with Russia, but also because they didn't approve of the priests' religion. The Red Army commander is of course, a zealot; but one of his men, Dei Guan, questions their methods.

When attacked, the priests defend themselves non-violently, with a flash of light and a force shield; but can't stand up to helicopter fire. Puck uses a chunk of plastique to create a landslide and cover the priests' retreat, but wonders if they would approve of him killing some soldiers. The commander does take that as confirmation of his own bias against the priests, and presses the attack: the priests extend their shield to protect against the helicopters, but being without malice Puck can walk through it. But, the commander had another card to play--one that had been forced upon him by, deep breath, "the running dog intellectuals who have curried favors with the Central Committee since the overthrow of Gang of Four." OK, that feels like it's laid a little thick. But he had been given a ringer: Dei Guan, who could turn himself into a good-sized Jade Dragon! The kid had lost his parents during cultural revolution, then while in a forced labor camp had been visited by a "geomancer" that gave him powers. (Or, that may have been a hallucination brought on by starvation and propaganda; Guan could simply be a mutant.) He wonders, though, if he had been given them to oppress others, and wants something different.

Meanwhile, back in Canada, on Alpha Flight's Tamarind Island base, a government official who looks like Canadian Constantine stops trespassers, who claim they were the ones trespassing: it was Veronica Langkowski and her lawyer, claiming the island was hers since the death of her husband Walter, a.k.a. Sasquatch. Pretty sure he was in the white 'quatch body, of his old teammate Snowbird; there would be a lot of explaining needed there. You may be wondering why that subplot would even matter: this was written back when popular fiction at least pretended a government would maybe obey legalities and not just cry 'national security' and do whatever they wanted to. Back in China, Puck makes a dramatic, window-smashing entrance to the monastery, where the High Lama pretty immediately tells him he wasn't worthy: Puck may have thought he wanted to be rid of his old life, but the Lama knows he just wants new adventures. Well, so what? Still, was Puck ready to die, to see what lay beyond? He doesn't really get much time to think about it, as Jade Dragon storms in, and also thinks the worst of the Lama for associating with an obvious spy-subversive type like Puck. Although he makes a good effort, Puck knows he's no match for the dragon, but at least he's going out a "free agent." The Lama also knows that isn't what Puck really wants, and takes a flame-breath blast for him, getting immediately incinerated, but freeing him to move onto the next life. While Jade Dragon turns on his commander to protect the remaining priests, the Lama appears as a Force ghost (no!) to tell Puck he could accompany him to other worlds...like this one where Alpha Flight was currently fighting Dreamqueen!

Although his feelings were still hurt, Puck can't let Alpha Flight die, but instead of being sent there, Dreamqueen is seemingly released, with her army, into our world! Alpha Flight is also brought there, even if I don't seem to recognize half the team; and the Chinese army is less than thrilled by any of this. To be continued! 

This was of course Jim Lee, before he was JIM LEE, but it's rock-solid and maybe a bit less flash, more fundamentals. It's maybe weirder to think of Alpha Flight without Puck; that feels like Wolverine quitting the X-Men. And while it seemed like Puck was back, that might've been short-lived, and it also might've been a bit before he was his usual self.  

    .

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I'm usually more ahead in my posting, but...

Sometimes, if for some reason I'm not watching Star Trek reruns, I'll put in a DVD while I'm maybe going to be blogging. But, the audio is sometimes an issue: if it doesn't have captions, for instance, I might have to pay more attention, especially for something as wacky as Kung-Fu Zombies! There was a stretch about a year ago or two when the local dollar stores were getting DVD's and even some Blu-Rays--I think they were actually a dollar even, so maybe it was a bit ago. There were a few name brand ones in there: I know I got Child's Play, Return of the Living Dead, and the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But, there were a lot more cheap ones, and I'm having to go back through some of them and label them if they're awful, so I don't accidentally watch something like The Strangers: Prey at Night again. (Spoiler alert: it suuuuuuucked! It wasn't even my least favorite part, but the dad is pleading for his life, after his wife, Christina Hendricks, was killed: no, just kill me. You lose someone like her, you would give up on life at the earliest convenience.) 

Still, like we looked up before, the Criterion Closet has like 1500 discs in it, although a lot are probably duplicates. No way I'm going to get that many DVD's, but even the lowest end Criterion discs are like 15 bucks a pop new: I'm usually getting between three to fifteen DVD's for that! I did splurge about six bucks each for Event Horizon--the bestest horror movie I will never say an unkind word about--and, as I think H. suggested, Judge Dredd which...maybe has some good bonus features or something? I don't know if I'll watch the latter for spooky-season. Along with, um, six more movies in that Kung-Fu Zombies set, I still have the recent Nosferatu (wow, Nicholas Hoult is in everything!) and the first Black Phone; before I start digging back into Tubi or Shudder. I say that now, but I might see what they've got; and see you next week!

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I don't see how you're going to use disaster power for your planet's energy, but I guess I'm not the alien scientist.

All the days after the Great Disaster probably run together, and this might be a typical one for the Last Boy on Earth. From 1976, Kamandi #38, "Pyra Revealed" Written and edited by Gerry Conway, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Mike Royer.

While Kamandi is captured by a strange band of humans--they look human so far, which means they're probably going to peel their skin off any minute--Pyra's spaceship had been shot down and crashed, and after she pulls the shaken Dr. Canus from the wreck, the alien girl tells him her story. Her people, the Zirandians, were basically fireballs that occasionally took humanoid form to build or work; but when the planet started running out of energy, Pyra was sent searching for new sources, and saw what she later learned was the Great Disaster--whatever it was--from far in space, and began investigating earth. Unfortunately, most of earth was a flaming ruin by the time she arrived, with no one that could tell her what happened. She began collecting "artifacts," up to and apparently including the Great Sphinx from Egypt, and teleporting them back to Zirandus. But, she hadn't heard back from them, in all the decades she had been there.

One of the humans of "the tribe" had seemingly been a talking baby, and the girl Arna takes Kamandi to "the stalls." The tribe was what was left of a "top secret experimental population center," breeding children that grew from infancy to adulthood inside of three years...but they would also die around five or six. Arna asks Kamandi to put his hand in a machine, and he obliges, getting surprised with a "ZAZZZK" and a numb hand! Arna tells him that's only temporary, but that he'll soon be a father! The machine took "a reading of his genetic pattern," seemingly not even taking cells? And combining them with Arna's...shades of A Boy and His Dog there; not even having kids the fun way.

Kamandi, freaked, takes off running; and Arna gives chase, not just to get him back, but because losing a prisoner would be a sign of weakness and a death sentence in the tribe; so the guards were after them both. By the time Kamandi gets to a boat, the whole tribe was after them: a gaggle of really pissed off children with guns. As usual, Kamandi's too soft-hearted to leave Arna to die, so takes her onboard, but accidentally throws the boat into full speed. Arna also picks a bad time to admit, the machine wasn't a "genetic sampler," but took a sample of his "life energy," and would've taken more and more if he had remained: Kamandi considers putting her off the boat, but then has to knock her out when they struggle over the controls. Still, as usual Kamandi's out of the frying pan, into the fire, as their boat is attacked--and destroyed--by a giant lobster! Which seems a fairly typical Kamandi cliffhanger, as the next issue blurb teases "The Air-quarium!"

This was the first issue scripted by Gerry Conway, and Kirby only had a couple left on pencils. Read more!

"Deep."

In Mark Waid's Fantastic Four run, there were repeated jokey references to Ben and Johnny using, and probably abusing, the time machine. Reed had put notes all over like "THIS IS NOT A TOY" and "REMEMBER THE ALAMO," as well as repeatedly asking them to leave poor Davy Crockett alone, for some reason. Whenever he wants to go off by himself, I'm positive Ben has routines set up with H.E.R.B.I.E., maybe dating back to his Two-in-One days. Reed almost certainly could override those if he wanted, but doubtless at least tries to respect Ben's privacy. Also, I know Reed likes H.E.R.B.I.E. too much to T-Bob him like the character from M.A.S.K.. 

If you have too many toys or watch too much TV, you might recognize the recall devices: the bigger ones are WildC.A.T.s communicators, and I've had to type a lot of acronyms today. The little white one is a GDO from Stargate: SG-1. I had another device in mind for Ben's big-button remote; the big-antenna'd thing Madame Masque was using here.  

I would love to have a time sled vehicle, but it would be probably kind of big; since it needs like seven seats or spots.  Hey, we don't have human-Ben Grimm or She-Thing/Sharon Ventura, either! 

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The twist wasn't Identity Crisis-level bad, but I still booed the reveal.

Don't let this put you off getting them, but the day I got my shots, I felt pretty good and had fun getting DVD's the rest of the day; then the next day was really muddled through work and had a brutal headache in the afternoon. Then I took a nap, read some comics, and am all better? Even if they weren't my favorite comics: from 2019, Event Leviathan #1-6, written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Alex Maleev.

This feels mean to say, and might not be completely accurate, but it feels like Bendis is following the same path as Chris Claremont, and maybe even Jack Kirby: coming over from Marvel, they were seen as a big get for DC, then their DC stuff maybe didn't take off as expected. (Were the New Gods or the Demon big for DC at first? Sure, they made hay off of them over the years, but...) Event Leviathan was a spy/detective story, as the detectives try to figure out, what happened to all the spies? The big spy/clandestine organizations of the DC Universe--Argus, Spyral, the D.E.O., Cadmus, and probably Kobra on the bad guys side--are all seemingly wiped out; everyone that worked for them gone, even the buildings destroyed. Amanda Waller and Sam Lane are both attacked, with Waller disappearing and Lane hospitalized after a heart attack. Batgirl and Green Arrow are taken, with GA returned and Batgirl offered a spot in the new organization Leviathan was putting together. Several people are framed or set up as patsies, including Steve Trevor and the Red Hood. Even Lois is seen as a potential suspect, or a red herring, by some.

With Superman gone for part of this, Lois Lane teams up with Batman, and they put together a team of detectives to work the case: Plastic Man, the Kate Spencer Manhunter, GA, the Question, and Damian. Lois also sets up a group of mostly magic-types to work it as well: Zatanna, Constantine, Ralph Dibny, Harvey Bullock, Deathstroke. Damian maybe figures out the motive, telling a story Alfred had told him, about how being a spy largely blows: like so many jobs, it maybe isn't about what you actually accomplish, as much as it's about looking busy. Still, Leviathan seems to be going out of his (or her!) way, to avoid a big body count: it's implied that most of the missing spies joined him (or her!) in a mission to make the world for-real better, by revealing everyone's secrets, all at once. Still, I don't think Leviathan's reveal was fair play, even if you had been reading DC comics non-stop since the mid-80's or longer, but there are clues! Spoilers after the break! Batgirl was offered a job: Leviathan had worked with her as Oracle before, almost from the start. Bullock had been involved with Checkmate back in the day, which had a crossover with Suicide Squad and some other books. Manhunter realizes she's being set up as a suspect, and her tech is bugged with super-science. Leviathan tries to explain his goals to Superman, and reveals himself, as Mark Shaw, the 80's Manhunter! Making this like his second heel turn, after being used to kill some of the others that had used the name in Kate's book. Sam Lane had become aware of the discontent in the intelligence communities, with intelligent and good-intentioned people frustrated by never getting anything done: he had meant it as warning, Mark took it as a roadmap for action. He tries to turn Superman, revealing that Spyral had files for contingencies labeled--apparently literally--"things to do in case the Son of Superman hits puberty badly."

Actually, Mark probably had some heel-turns before I started reading him: he had been the Privateer and the Star-Tsar in old Justice League of America issues. I don't love the new mask at all though; either the full Leviathan one or the partial eyepatch like one, which maybe is a callback his Privateer days? Lois Lane writes an expose revealing Mark's new identity, but she didn't really have to do a lot of investigative work: he told Superman, who tells her, fairly straightforwardly. There's also a bit of Manhunter history, which New 52 either glosses over or outright cuts out Millennium: the Manhunters were basically the Green Lantern Corps before Green Lanterns, and had liberated multiple worlds...just not earth, which Shaw describes as "unfair," "total chaos," and "a circus." He's not wrong, but good luck bucking that status quo with Superman, Batman, etc. protecting it.

I can't quite tell if this is something anybody could've figured out: somebody had told me Manhunter was in this, but I assumed--rather, hoped--they just meant Kate Spencer. Plotwise I might not love it, but Bendis's real strength is dialogue, and there are some zingers here and there; although there's too many characters for anyone to get a lot. Read more!