There's a ghost right on the box, what did you think would happen eating it?

From 1982, DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #17, featuring "...the best of Ghosts and other tales of terror!" But, it doesn't actually reprint any stories from DC's Ghosts title! These stories were mostly from House of Secrets or House of Mystery, but with the host from Ghosts, the Gentleman Ghost-lookalike "Squire Shade" drawn in to present them instead of Cain or Abel. Still, it's a killer lineup this 100-pages, with art by Neal Adams, Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Wally Wood, and more!

I didn't have this before, but recently got it while buying DVD's! Anyway, no scans from this little one, I'm afraid, but if you hit your local shop, you might be able to get the facsimile reprint of the Limited Collector's Edition #C-23, better known as the House of Mystery treasury. It'll be easier to read and includes Neal Adams's "The Widows Walk" and "Nightmare" from this one. 

Right about when this posts I'll probably be starting a busy Halloween of horror movies and Boo Berry! Ooh, I've been eating lower carb and am just dying for a big blue bowl of sweetness; in typical horror comic twist-ending fate it'll probably blow the top of my head off! If I survive the experience, there's a toy show Sunday; and we'll see you next week!

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Admittedly, House of Mystery deserves a Congressional medal of honor probably more than any recent recipients.

Wait, I might be thinking of the Presidential Medal of whatever; but we're not waiting to save this for November 13th, either!

Ugh, this isn't even an 80-page Thursdays one. Some years I'm maybe on the ball enough for a whole month of horror comics or something, like all those Twilight Zones last year; and this year, um...I actually wrote Friday's post before this one, but there's some overlap between the two: from 1998, Welcome Back to the House of Mystery #1, featuring stories by Steve Skeates, Mike Friedrich, George Kashdan, Bob Kanigher, and more; and art by Jim Aparo, Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Neal Adams, and more. Cover by Bernie Wrightson.

This was a 100-pager, under the Vertigo label, reprinting classics from House of Mystery, as well as two Bernie Wrightson numbers from Plop! ("The Gourmet" and "Molded in Evil," Wrightson also has "The Secret of the Egyptian Cat" from HoM here.) Because they may have thought the reprints weren't enough of a draw, there's also a new framing sequence with art by Sergio Aragonés; although I wish it was with his usual collaborator Mark Evanier. Sergio also does a little piece for "Cain's True Things You Didn't Know About the House of Mystery!!!!" Four exclamation points, so you know it's good!

I'm going to mention it again tomorrow, since I've already written that post; but a few from here were just reprinted in the giant facsimile edition of Limited Collector's Edition #C-23, the big House of Mystery treasury! That one also has "Nightmare," "Secret of the Egyptian Cat," and "His Name is Cain Kane." So, you could probably grab those now if you hurry!

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"Break."

Back in the Walt Simonson Fantastic Four issues with the Time Variance Authority, there's a reference to a void where leftover stuff from deleted universes gets tossed, and there's what appears to be a Supergirl in there: a bit of a jab at DC and their assorted Crisis events. (Not to be confused with the comic of the same name, which is really well done and also often a downer.) Thrown into the void-hole would probably be a good place for Monarch, except McFarlane just gave him a figure! I don't love their 7-inch scale, but fudge it for bigger characters like him. 

There was a local Target, that for a long stretch, had a ton of Waverider figures. If they had been 6-inch, like the old DC Universe Classics or Marvel Legends, I probably would've bit; but instead I held out for them to go down in price and they seemingly just disappeared: maybe the timeline changed and bip! Gone. Anyway, you guys probably know Monarch's history, and I did have an Armageddon 2001 tag...that I had to update a bit, but there's an old post where I wanted a DCUC version! Well, take what you can get, and I did say there I didn't want an unmasked one, since Monarch loses any gravitas he had without it. Also, I think McFarlane has an Extant figure coming (from Zero Hour) and that's just Hawk/Monarch in a third identity, isn't it? I keep hoping for classic Manhunter, but I doubt it'll happen.  

"Unctuous Robot" is a They Might Be Giants song, but I kinda figure Death's Head might not be the most popular employee (or freelancer) at the TVA. And Black Cat charming her way past Monarch: everyone seems to think security breaches are all guys typing frantically at keyboards, when it's probably more often a pretty smile getting waved through a checkpoint! Also, Kurt does rattle off a lot of actual X-Men continuity: they did fight a lot of robots.

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"You don't have to shout, I'm right here. By those hoary hosts you're always on about..."

This is the second-to-last issue of the second series, but the hook feels like it could've been from midway through the first! From 1998, What If? #113, written by Chris Duffy, pencils by Gregg Schigiel, inks by Ron Boyd.

In this reality, Tony Stark never had his heart injury, but Stephen Strange still got his hands wrecked; this time driving a blitzed Tony after a party. Guilt-ridden, Tony attempted cure after cure for Stephen's hands, which thankfully didn't involve amputating them and replacing them with cybernetics--I swear I saw Doom do that in one of these! Eventually the pair make it to Tibet, where Tony is the one who interferes with Baron Mordo, and then becomes the Ancient One's apprentice. Eventually Tony became Sorcerer Supreme, although he put his own high-tech spin on it; with Strange as his Wong. His increasingly resentful Wong...When Tony has to face the dread Dormammu on his home turf, will Stephen betray him?

A solid issue, leaning more into Strange's continuity than Iron Man's; but Dormammu is probably a much better villain choice than anything you could pull from Tony's early days. Since this is from well before the movies, Tony isn't maybe as snarky as you'd expect--an animated version of this with Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch would've been filled with asides and ad-libs!--but maybe he's taking the Sorcerer Supreme bit seriously. On the other hand, that mask looks cribbed from Dr. Fate, and on the next page as Tony lays into Dormammu, he hypes his armor like he's making a sale! If this had continued or been revisited, I'm sure Dormammu would've taken steps for his own armor--I'm thinking Titanium Man, he'd be a big 'un. Read more!

Hey, I have that Lockjaw! Is that machine washable?

Despite having cleared my schedule a bit, and having stacks of them all over the damn place; I haven't been reading enough comics, which I'm going to blame on trying to watch as many scary movies as I can before the end of the month. So (the original) Halloween II is on in the background while I grab some from the pile, starting with this one 'cause it's got Jeff! From 2023, Extreme Venomverse #5, featuring "The Rhythm of the Night" Written by Kelly Thompson, art by Gurihiru; "Field of Screams" Written by Jordan Blum, pencils by Brian Crosby, inks by Scott Hanna; "Spider's Eclipse" Written by Jason Loo, art by Gavin Guidry and KJ Diaz; and "Full Symbiote Panic" Written by Cody Ziglar, art by Jim Towe and Dee Cunniffe.

I got most of this series from the dollar bin--and now I'm seeing issue #3 has Ty Templeton strips, so that'll be next--but this series was not unlike the assorted Spider-Verse stuff, just with Venoms. While Jeff's story is just him randomly getting a symbiote for an afternoon, most of the others were established in their realities, and there might have been an Agent Venom recruiting them, or a Carnage killing them. Maybe both! A baseball-themed Venom--an Eddie Brock whose origin might be the Natural--gets recruited; while in a sequel to another story, the Kingpin takes Venom so he can finally kill the Fantastic Four's Spider-Man but is instead killed by Carnage.

The last story is a Neon Genesis Evangelion-riff, with an old and maimed Flash Thompson still piloting Unit-1 against giant, Venom-infused kaiju. But, he might have more back-up now. I had to look midway through if Adam Warren did that one--he had done that in Marvel Mangaverse: Fantastic Four, but we can have another. The issue ends with an ad/tease for Death of the Venomverse #1, which features a Venom-killer that looks like McFarlane should've made it an action figure instantly, but it would be a pain in the ass to draw repeatedly.  

I'm a casual Venom fan--I say that, despite having a bin of him, and several of his old mini-series--but I bought a Venom sweatshirt the other day. It's so warm and snuggly! Probably more than a real Venom would be, I'm thinking.

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Not quite as much fun as the last time Simonson and Miller were in a comic together, but OK.

The last time would've been Robocop vs. the Terminator, one of my favorite mini-series ever! But, they aren't working together on this one: from 1996, Dark Horse Presents #114, featuring "Fever Dream" by Walt Simonson and "Lance Blastoff" by Frank Miller.

"Lance Blastoff" is Frank's spoof of sci-fi, jetpack-wearing heroes; and is mean-spirited as hell, which is also presented as American as hell...which, OK, fair. Women love him! Men love h--I mean, want to be him! Lance would only appear a couple more times, because the joke is mighty thin.

"Fever Dream" is a short prequel to Walt's Star Slammers revival; as aging Slammer Rojas is cut off and pinned down by the alien Pliests. He can't form the telepathic "Silvermind" link with the other Slammers, to warn them about mined caverns; but does make contact with what could be the Silvermind of the dead. With his ancestor Jalaia advising him, or a severe concussion, Rojas fights his way out; but Jalaia also tells him his wife Rilla was still out there, neither alive...nor dead. Rojas warns the others and is airlifted out, with the nurse telling him of another upcoming mission, that could be a milk run--it won't be! Darn, when we discussed the old Marvel Graphic Novels a bit back, I'm not sure I remembered having the Star Slammers one, and I'm a big Simonson fan! (Or, maybe I still haven't gotten around to that hard count!)

Also this issue: a chapter of "Lowlife" by Ed Brubaker, "Under a Big Black Sun." I don't think he does art very often anymore, but I guess if I had Sean Phillips to do it I wouldn't either? Still, this reads like a whole thing rather than just a chapter; although it's downbeat as all get out: the sun had changed, now appearing black; but otherwise no different, and life went on. But, as a young grad student's relationship and friendships collapse, and he realizes his life was not satisfying at all, he wonders if that was the start of it, or just a coincidence. And, another chapter of "Trypto the Acid Dog" by Bill Mumy, Miguel Ferrer, and Steve Leialoha: Trypto was a somewhat Spuds McKenzie-looking pit bull (I think?) given godlike powers from a dip in toxic waste, trying to get home to his boy and punishing assorted wrongdoers like he was the Spectre. This installment, Trypto breaks up a dog-fighting ring, turning the spectators into dogmen to fight themselves and healing and freeing the innocent doggos to return to homes they were stolen from. But he finds his family had moved, and they might be headed for trouble in L.A. It's actually immensely satisfying, like a good revenge movie.

Oddly, I didn't read this run of DHP regularly, but around this time I picked up several! Evan Dorkin had his Hectic Planet "Bummer Trilogy" starting in #118. Read more!

I wonder how many of those Home Depot giant skeletons Thor has accidentally smashed? I'm guessing more than ten but less than a hundred.

The cover makes it seem like this issue will be crawling with skeletons, but first, drama! From 1975, Thor #241, "The Death-Ship Sails the Stars!" Written by Bill Mantlo, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.

Previously, an Egyptian pyramid had appeared near San Diego, and the army, Thor, and Jane Foster have shown up to investigate. None of them were probably expecting Odin to appear out of it! Calling himself "Atum-Re" he doesn't quite recognize Thor, or Jane; although he maybe sees a bit of Sif in her. But the Egyptian gods Osirus, Isis, and Horus needed Odin, to use the power of Atum-Re, to fight their way back into their heaven, after being forced out by Seth. Thor takes a pretty solid blast from Odin--although, c'mon, it's not the first time we've seen Odin zap his kid; it's a recurring bit like Homer strangling Bart--before Horus intervenes, not wanting Thor to be hurt. Osirus offers to free Odin, if they survive; Thor is upset because Asgard was also in crisis then--again, when wasn't it?--but not much choice there.

As they walk the "golden Path of the Gods" the Egyptians explain their plight, before they're attacked by Seth's legions, skeletons in chariots pulled by skeletal horses! Which should be given more page time, but "Atum-Re" takes a shot at them--and misses clean. Thor claims the Egyptians' enchantment was muddying up big daddy Odin's juice, but he hit Thor just fine...? Hmm. Thor lightnings a lot of skeletons, before the melee begins; while Jane is able to get the entranced Odin to blast one and save them both. Seth arrives, in the titular death-ship, and calls out Horus; but that's a ruse, as he strikes their parents Osirus and Isis first, aging them horribly. Horus pleads to die in their place, but Seth is content to see him suffer, so Thor has to step in, for a hammer-to-sword fight. The fights seem a little off this issue? Not as dynamic as usual, or maybe not given enough space, which I choose to blame on Seth: they're trying to make it seem like Thor is in trouble, but I'm not seeing it. Jane cries to Odin to step in, and he does, seemingly a bit more himself, blasting a huge hole in the death-ship and blowing off Seth's hand. With his concentration understandably broken, Seth loses both his death-ship and his legions, and Horus punches him off of the Path, where some of the other gods he wronged might be waiting for him. (Seth would turn up about a year later, in Marvel Two-in-One #22-23!

Odin doesn't seem to have his full memory back, although he could be sneaky! It strikes me that could be a way to forgive his son while saving face for both of them. The Egyptian gods thank them, and everyone is friends in the end. Well, except Seth, but he kind of sucks. The best thing I remember with him, was one of the Atlantis Attacks back-up features, "The History of the Serpent Crown," where a few thousand years back Seth poached the worshippers of classic snake-god Set, by appearing and telling them they were mispronouncing his name! Read more!

"Hell."

We're keeping Shiklah's insults PG-rated, because no doubt she would've gotten progressively cruder with Satana. Also, if I recall Arcade's OHOTMU entry correctly, he was a spoiled brat failson who murdered his parents when they cut him off, then got into progressively more elaborate hits. (Marvel probably dropped a ball not capitalizing on him when escape rooms were bigger!) OK, the entry doesn't use the expression 'failson' but you get the point; although my question was, does Arcade have skills? Other than killer level design? Maybe we'll see later. 

Also, some time back we saw the old, Amanda Sefton Magik mini-series, and the various Hells of the Marvel Universe were maybe consolidating after centuries separated. "Better to rule in Hell," Milton said, and there's probably no shortage of ambition down there.

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Lois and Jimmy could've just explained, you can do good, just not too much good, see?

Another one from just before the Byrne-era reboot, that maybe underlines why that was needed: from 1986, Superman #418, "The Replacement!" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Dave Hunt. Cover by Eduardo Barreto.

Mid-change from Clark Kent, Superman is abducted by aliens, but with good intentions: Superboy had saved their planet long ago, and it was now under attack by a "cloud-eater" they couldn't defend against. (Although advanced, the aliens were silicon instead of carbon-based, and the cloud-eater would gobble them up!) They beg to teleport Superman across the galaxy to save their world, and Supes of course agrees. The aliens apparently only had enough juice to teleport him, and get ready for a long flight back, but first leave a thank-you for Superman: a temporary replacement, to take care of earth while he was gone! One alien wonders if maybe they should've mentioned this to him; the other is like nah, it'll be fine.

The replacement makes himself known quickly, stifling a bank robbery by flattening the getaway car, then repairing instantly his damaged arm after a bazooka hit. Lois is on the scene to get the story, but worries about what this means...and where it might be going. Sure enough, the next day, Metropolis is disarmed, as every gun in the city is turned to dust. Although there's no proof directly tying that to the new "Superman X," Lana Lang reports "speculation runs high," but the replacement does score some points by quickly stopping a mid-air hijacking by Metallo. This seems to inspire another feat, as all the Kryptonite in Metropolis is turned into sandstone: yes, I think that'd been done before, but more had turned up since then? Krypton was a big planet and most of it apparently landed here...

Superman X then starts healing people at the local hospital, preventing car accidents with force-shields, and maybe funnest of all, powers-up Metropolis's senior citizens so they can protect themselves! The effect looks like Granny has learned to focus all of her chi into her iron fist. Then, he sets up broadcast towers, for a radiation that while harmless, forces criminals to turn themselves and their misbegotten gains in; and Lois and Jimmy decide yeah, things have gone too far. Using Jimmy's signal watch, they call in the replacement, for a prepared lecture on Superman's need for restraint. Maybe a PowerPoint. They also had news footage from Lana, of a bad scene at the hospital, which was mobbed by out-of-towners trying to get in on Superman X's cures, and a boy was crushed in the riot. Although he had been silent up until then, Superman X wails in anguish, then takes off into space, presumably headed home; while Jimmy ejects the video--which was fake! They made up the dead kid, to try and teach a lesson; figuring the replacement would have shared the real Superman's code against killing or unnecessary death. That strikes me as too far: if you have to lie to make your case, how strong is it? Or, was that the only way to de-escalate events before somebody really got hurt?

Everything returns to normal, or at least so they say: were the guns and Kryptonite all restored? The sick that had been cured were still good, anyway; so some good had come of it; but as Superman returns with a story for Lois and Jimmy, this time they had one for him.

There were more than a few stories like this, back pre-Crisis; trying to explain why Superman hadn't wiped crime or disease or weapons from the face of the earth. I think there's one with the Guardians of the Universe, where they accuse Supes of making earthlings soft and dependent on him? Post-Crisis they were largely able to say "Superman is mortal and fallible, not God" and call it a day. 

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