Random Happenstance

Vertigo Comics has recently returned to the racks--I'm quite enjoying End of Life myself--but I won't consider them back back until they start weird little mini-series like this one again. And now's the time for it, there are a ton of anthology horror books coming out now! Still, I haven't read all of this one anyway, so I still have a few to find: from 2015, Strange Sports Stories #2, cover by Dave Johnson.

DC had a six-issue Strange Sports Stories in 1973, but it's also not unlike gorillas, just something they like to do every so often. Honestly, I thought they did it more often; it was also in old, pre-Batman team-up Brave and the Bold (with the aforementioned gorillas!) but I'm thinking the sci-fi titles trotted it out as well, since I can picture the almost-clickbaity covers; probably dreamed up by an editor on a three-martini/six beer lunch and sketched on a cover by the first artist he saw back at the office. "Why is this boxing match being fought on the rings of Saturn?" "Who was the Phantom Umpire?" "What is the secret of the Alien Baseball League, and their sinister application of the infield fly rule?" "Why isn't my wife returning my calls?" "Can anyone defeat the Foosball Gorilla?" Like that.

This issue kicks off with "Skate Cynic," wherein said cynic grinds and grinds to land a new trick, only for it to immediately be copied, and he loses it so hard he spirals off the planet. (Written by Lee Loughridge, art by Nick Dragotta.) Then, it's Mike McCoy, Merchant Marine vs. "The Patchwork Palooka," as the boxer finds a derth of opponents and fights in harbor today, but an old foe may be putting something together for him...it's a fun one! Along with the alliteration, Mike McCoy legit sounds like a C-list, back-up story character like DC used to have in the day; probably less popular than Roy Raymond, TV Detective but more popular than Captain Compass. (Written by Mark Finn, art by John Lucas.)

"Not Allowed to Play Ball!" finds two young rookies getting their big try-out, but one worries that if his secret were discovered...and it of course is, but not what you'd guess. (Story and art by Tim Fish.) Finally, "Le Boules de Mal" is a rarity: how many Pétanque stories will you find in comics? Or anywhere? A spectator tells two players, of the greatest match ever thrown...against the devil. One player dismisses it as yeah, they've heard "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," but that might not have been the ending here.