I hardly keep any moldering garbage with my comic collection! Unless you count those Mark Millar books.

I've mentioned before, I seem to be accumulating a fair run of Kamandi, but now I have to keep an eye out for the Kamandi Challenge Special #1, which reprints what would've been issues #60 and #61. I did get all of this series, but just picked up a spare of the last issue, since I didn't remember how it ended, but also I'm not sure which covers I had: from 2018, the Kamandi Challenge #12, featuring "The Boundless Realm" Written by Gail Simone, art by Jill Thompson and Ryan Sook; and "Epilogue the First: The Answers" Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Joe Prado. José Luis García-López did a cover, and so did Ryan Sook, but this one has the Frank Miller cover.

Like the old DC Challenge, each issue of Kamandi Challenge had a different creative team, and each previous issue had ended with a cliffhanger, for the next team to have to resolve. Gail seemingly cheats, opening instead with "Kamanda, the Last Girl on Earth!" The last survivor of Command-A, she's dismayed to find a boy, floating face down in the water, but Kamandi surprises her by waking up. Unfortunately, before they can share their first kiss, Kamandi wakes up, in the previous cliffhanger, falling to his doom with the ape Silverbeck and orangutan Royer. He's more than a little frustrated, at having made not a lot of progress in his quest for the series, to find his parents and save the world; but Silverbeck is grateful to him for saving the earth from the Misfit in the previous issue, and makes him part of his tribe, so Kamandi will at least die with a family...unless he can pull off another daring and unlikely escape--well, no spoilers here.

Next, Kamandi and Royer are captured by the rats of Gnawbit, and he realizes his dream with Kamanda had been a warning. Gnawbit is actually mostly cool, though; although he hadn't always been. Warned of a horrible future, the rats had tried to breed human soldiers at the farm, in brutal conditions that would probably be familiar to any chicken farmer, but it didn't work. Kamandi is horrified, but Gnawbit points out humans used to do the same to rats, leaving them in cramped boxes until their tails grew together. But maybe there's a better way...that they had better find quick, before the Misfit's final revenge on earth! In the end, Gnawbit points Kamandi on the final leg of his quest, from his comic collection...to Kamandi's "daddy," the King himself, Jack Kirby!

Like a genie, Jack offers Kamandi three wishes: his first, leading to a taped message from his parents, is disappointing, but a clue. He then asks to speak to the leaders of all the tribes, which also brings back plant-girl Vila; but the last wish is a doozy, as Jack advises him to wish his name--accent on the third syllable--and after the wrap-up, a final cameo from one of DC's leading talking animals, then a two-page tribute to Len Wein, who was going to write this chapter but passed away before he could. Read more!

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!

I didn't buy this specifically to cue up "Electric Chair," but as long as we're here...

Kamandi gets the sad walking-away cover here ala Amazing Spider-Man #50, but doesn't have enough costume to leave in a garbage can. From 1974, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #20, "The Electric Chair!" Written, drawn, and edited by Jack Kirby; inks by D. Bruce Berry.

Pursued by gorillas--including the unfortunately named Sgt. Ugash--Kamandi finds refuge in Chicago, which appears to have been spared the ravages of the Great Disaster and still has talking, intelligent humans! That are living a pastiche of 1920's gangster life, but still. Kamandi had managed to convince the gangsters that they needed to fight off the gorillas just like they would any rival gang; but when a gangster gets his face smashed, he's revealed to be a robot, who still legs it out of there when the cops show up. Kamandi and Ugash are taken in--with possibly a smidgen of excessive force on Ugash.

Kamandi and Ugash end up in the pokey, with another mobster-robot; which Ugash promptly smashes before breaking out. The gorilla was both out of his element, and sick of listening to Kamandi; but the pair wander the station, filled with immobile people, until they get to the courtroom and things start up again. Ugash plans on tearing them all apart, while Kamandi realizes the numbers were against him.

Ugash is dragged to the electric chair and strapped in, perhaps not initially realizing its purpose; and Kamandi is too kind-hearted to let the mean ape just fry. He signals Ugash's gorillas, and the ensuing shoot-out seems to bring in everybody in Chicago.

Ducking into a service door, Kamandi finds his way to the inner workings of the city, and massive banks of computers. I do like the Kirby bombast of "Now for the fantastic, hope-destroying TRUTH!" He yells out, for whoever was in charge to show themselves, but the place was only run by computers, who show him the door. He comes out of a theme-park, "Chicago-Land, the Fully Automated Living Museum," but barely notices, as he was alone again. Aw!  

The computers in this one are maybe locked into their programming, but at least aren't actively unhelpful. Meanwhile, I just tried searching "Jack Kirby mobsters" and got a bunch of results for Kirby monsters. Admittedly, he's better known for those, but that wasn't the question! He had also done In the Days of the Mob in '71 and the Skrull gangster-planet in Fantastic Four #91 in '69!

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Ugh, we're not doing "Blame Canada" again, are we?

My local comic shop keeps a rack by the door, of maybe not minty fresh books, but interesting ones: a lot of the Gold Key Twilight Zones I blogged last year were from there, a fistful of early Swamp Things, and a bunch of Kamandi. I'm almost getting a decent run going, but I wasn't sure if I had read this whole series before: from 1993, Kamandi at Earth's End #4, "The Man at Earth's End!" Written by Tom Veitch, pencils by Frank Gomez, inks by Mike Barreiro.

Tom Veitch wrote Star Wars: Dark Empire, which I think had one of my favorite lines in Star Wars comics, with Palpatine badmouthing Vader in a fight. I mention that, because this one...enh. This was an Elseworlds modernization of Kirby's Kamandi, but it doesn't have the evolved, talking animals anymore; which leaves a rather charmless apocalypse. It's kind of like if the original Kamandi had been inspired by Mad Max and its sundry knock-offs instead of Planet of the Apes. Raised in a bunker by the computer "Mother," Kamandi is kicked out into the world with a mission, to kill the man Mother claimed destroyed the world...a familiar figure, with a big red 'S.' Kamandi quickly picks up a couple sidekicks, um, Burly Gun-Guy, and Girl. Okay, they have names, but they're no Prince Tuftan or Dr. Canus. They're chased all the way across the country by Ben Boxer and his Terminator-like friends, who are both less and more human than they were in Kirby's version.

I didn't love this one, but I guess it did well enough that Veitch and Gomez got a prestige format one-shot sequel, for Superman: At Earth's End. Read more!

Maybe the best thing about an old, kinda beat-up Kamandi comic? By god, it looks like a comic! And this one's got the classic Batman and Robin vs. a mummy Twinkies ad! How could you ask for more? From 1975, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #28, "Enforce the Atlantic Testament!" Edited, written and drawn by Jack Kirby, inks and letters by D. Bruce Berry.

Kamandi and Ben Boxer were currently undercover in the "Horse Marines," serving under Anglophile bulldog Captain Pypar. Humans were dumb animals here, but the gathered military forces seemed to be less amazed that Kamandi could talk than annoyed, they had other things going. Kamandi is sick of chores and marching, but Ben suggests they need to see what was happening: the bulldogs had patterned themselves after British soldiers, and their allies the gorillas were Prussians, with French wolves. Checking out one of their maps, Ben finds they had crossed the Atlantic ocean over a land bridge; that was new. Captain Pypar also had "articles of guardianship," which meant they had the section of America now called "the Dominion of the Devils" as a protectorate, under "Nations of the Atlantic Testament Orders." Kamandi realizes, they mean NATO!

Perhaps understandably, Pypar gets mad at the animals pawing through his stuff, but Kamandi and Ben quit after Pypar takes an unwise swipe at Ben. They explore a bit of the new Canada, a bizarrely lush new forest of huge insects, giant plants...and resources to be exploited. The Sacker's Company, leopards, were abusing the land; possibly in violation of the Atlantic Testament somehow, but they were also well-prepared for a fight. Kamandi and Ben find artillery, and can see a frontal assault would be suicide. Ben tells Kamandi to warn Pygar, while he tries to spike the guns, but his steel body isn't completely invulnerable and he gets knocked out by a high-velocity grenade.

The bulldogs make their charge, down the barrel of the leopards' guns, and are "decimated!" as Kamandi watches. He sneaks behind the leopard gunners, gets a gun, and plays mad dog, barking and threatening to blow up a stack of ammo cases. The leopards break and run, leaving Pygar and his forces to overrun the lines: Pygar is annoyed to see Kamandi there, a dumb animal in the midst of battle? Kamandi gives him a sarcastic salute, then catches up with Ben: their next adventure would be "The Legend!" A fun issue, although I think Kamandi maybe saved the bulldogs from learning a lesson: he has a comment, that the animals had picked up man's worst habits...I think I had just watched a Night Gallery episode ("Hatred Unto Death") that repeated the then-common environmentalist/peacenik creed that animals would get along just fine without humanity, but that slogan seemed to paint them as innocent little lambs and didn't give them credit for having their own desires, and maybe their own grudges. Kirby maybe realizes, even animals can be jerks. Read more!

From 1978, Kamandi #58, "Enter the Legionnaire!" Written by Jack C. Harris (with a thanks to Bob Rozakis), pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

This was--perhaps not intentionally, or planned--the second-to-last issue for Kamandi, and this issue was a crossover with Karate Kid, which, like so many DC titles was being cancelled but still had to crossover anyway. (Usually, crossovers are meant to bring in readers, but counterintuitively, DC seems to have a lot of last issues trying to wrap up a series while also fulfilling some tie-in mandate.) The Legion of Super-Heroes Karate Kid, Val Armorr, had been trapped in the 20th century for some time; but he and his friend Iris Jacobs, aka 'Diamondeth,' are in the wrong future today, that of Kamandi and the world after the "Great Disaster." After a brief scuffle, Val and Kamandi have to team up, to try and free themselves from being trapped in movies, by lobster-men. Which is just the sort of thing that happened, in Kamandi's world!

With the help of Mylock Bloodstalker (and his faithful assistant Doile) the heroes manage to get free, by putting on a poor show until the lobster-men demand them replaced. They are all then picked up by the rest of Kamandi's supporting cast, in the alien Pyra's ship. Pyra explains to Val, while she had managed to turn Diamondeth back to human briefly, she had kind of freaked about the talking animals and aliens, and turned back; and now Pyra only had enough energy left to either return them to their own timeline, or turn Diamondeth back again. Somewhat surprisingly, Val opts to return, hoping the 30th Century might have a cure or treatment for Diamondeth. The Time Lord and Major Disaster, baddies from the Karate Kid series, watch over monitors as their foe eludes them, returning to his future. Iris/Diamondeth's story wasn't done: she would appear in Brave and the Bold #198, of all places; but she may have been in for some disappointment: she had maybe thought Val came back for her, but he was just inviting her to his wedding, to Princess Projectra. (Because I read the Legion mostly as digest reprints, before the start of the reprints of the Baxter series, I don't think I read any with Karate Kid until just before his death, in LOSH #4.)

Pyra and the others--she was kind of ramrodding things here, since she was trying to save her own people--push on towards "the Vortex--the power source of the Great Disaster that almost destroyed the earth," only to find "the Wondrous Western Wall," which seemed to stretch on forever, and seems like a really Kirby bit even if he had left a ways back. The next issue blurb for #59 also teases the return of OMAC, but does it in a way that makes it seem like he would be part of the storyline, not just a back-up feature! Read more!

If you've been waiting for a comic where Jonah Hex and Scalphunter murder Batman and Superman...what the hell is wrong with you?

This is a book I'd seen in the quarter bins a number of times, and been moderately curious about, but hadn't coughed up for it until recently. And...uh, it's pretty, anyway. From 2005, Superman/Batman #16, "Absolute Power, chapter three: When Time Goes Asunder..." Written by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Carlos Pacheco, inks by Jesús Merino.

The adult Legion of Super-Villains--Lightning Lord, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen--are a continuity disaster just standing there; but they've gone a step further in this one, having altered the timeline so Superman and Batman were raised by them, and considered those three their parents! Although they had ruled the earth and crushed all opposition, now the timeline was going all weird, starting with Supes and Bats trapped in Kamandi's time. Kamandi tries to get "the Mighty One" to help, but this isn't the Superman of legend; and for good measure Batman gasses Tuftan when he tries to help; before Superman and Batman disappear again.

Next, in a version of New York City, Batman has been shot a few times, but Superman wants to get all of the culprits at once: a passel of DC's western heroes, including Bat Lash and El Diablo! Supes thinks he's got it all sewn up, until he catches a load of Kryptonite buckshot in the back from Jonah Hex. (Jonah seems to have intuitively determined, maybe use space rocks to kill a spaceman? Sure, it works, but...) Scalphunter assists with Batman, but as Supes and Bats die the timeline resets again; as they appear on Apokolips. Wait, that's earth's moon--this was earth! Damn him! He blew it all up--Anyway, Darkseid shows up, with a Kingdom Come-looking Superman, Metron, and a leashed Etrigan. They want the timeline reset the way it was, and Superman and Batman agree: Batman seems to think, they ruled before, they would rule again when it's all over. (For his part, Darkseid almost seems to admire the balls on the LSV; even if going big has shattered the timeline.) The heroes are sent back in time, to just before baby Kal-El arrived on earth; this time scaring off the Legion of Super-Villains, who retreat into the timestream. Superman is seemingly back to normal, albeit racked with guilt over those he killed in the other timeline.

They still have to reset Batman's origin though, by preventing Cosmic King from saving the Waynes from Joe Chill: instead, Batman leaps in, disarms Chill, then blows his brains out--and wipes himself from the timeline! Is this the end of Batman--nah, there's still two more issues in this plotline. This felt a little mean for my tastes: usually, it's more fun to see Kamandi, Hex, or Etrigan; but they do look good here. Read more!

I have two of these, had I read it?

Also, you could've maybe bought this at a Wal-Mart four years ago--comics for sale in Wal-Mart? Sure that was this century? From 2020, From Beyond the Unknown #1.

Shoot, I seem to have two of the Direct Market versions, so maybe I didn't get this at Wal-Mart; but the distribution for those was a crapshoot; and I feel like this and the Our Fighting Forces reprint books were late in the game. I say reprint book, but there's a fair amount of new stuff in this one: a 16-page Green Lantern story, "In Gloom" Written by Dave Wielgosz, art by Kenneth Rocafort. The Guardians of the Universe lecture Hal about maybe giving the rest of Sector 2814 some of the attention that earth hogs; which Hal kind of brushes off until he encounters the Gloom, who have hunted down Bolphunga the Unrelenting, and blame Hal for not being there to save them. Bolphunga had maybe blown up their planet, but calls them crybabies, and he might have something there.

Next, a Kamandi story, "The Butler" Written by Tom Sniegoski, art by Eric Gapstur. With that title, you automatically assume it's going to involve Alfred somehow, but nope! Fighting off rat-men, Kamandi meets a robot butler, that had been struggling to maintain its home, in readiness for when its masters returned. They were of course dead as hell, but Kamandi brings back the bodies, and the butler dotes on them like they were hale and hearty. (The butler must've been a Norman model!) Then, another new story: "Stealth Mode" with the Legion of Super-Heroes, story and pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Norm Rapmund. This is a short little Bronze Age Legion story--why that timeframe? I dunno, Jurgens may have just wanted to draw Wildfire and Dawnstar. And why not?

The rest of the issue is reprints, but pretty good ones: "The Riddle of Little Earth Lost!" from DC Comics Presents #3, a classic with Adam Strange and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez art; "The 50-Story Killer!" from Brave and the Bold #113, a Haney/Aparo number with Batman and the Metal Men; and the Alan Moore Katma Tui story from Green Lantern Annual #3. Read more!

I thought I might have this reprinted or collected somewhere, but no, I maybe have just bought it multiple times. And it's a grabber, for sure. From 1975, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #35, "The Soyuz Survivor!" Written and drawn by Jack Kirby, inks by D. Bruce Berry. Joe Kubert cover!

The last boy on earth, is not on earth today; as Kamandi and Dr. Canus are in orbit with their new friend, "that alien fireball, pretty Pyra." Canus is freaking out a little bit: Pyra was an energy being, who could "wear" a humanoid shape, but it wasn't comfortable, hence the little trip in her ship. But, they soon see something more interesting: an ancient spaceship--well, from before the Great Disaster, at least. A Soviet Soyuz, to be precise. Canus forgets his fears and wants to explore it, and after airing the Soyuz back up, they board it, and find a dead cosmonaut, strangely in the lotus position. Dead? No, Pyra notes, he was still alive...Pyra introduces a bit of energy to the cosmonaut, then the trio step away to explore the rest of the ship, so they don't see this bit of nightmare fuel:

The mutated cosmonaut attacks Canus and Kamandi, seemingly now boneless, and secreting acid for defense. Canus is injured, before Pyra flames on to drive the creature away; and Kamandi realizes while he might sometimes resent Canus for not being the last of his kind, he still cares deeply for him. Pyra plays a flight recorder--noting she "unscrambled" it so Kamandi could understand it, which probably means translating it from Russian! The Soyuz crew could see whatever the Great Disaster was hit, and assumed it was nuclear war; then debated what to do next: Vassilov, the cosmonaut that was mutated, argues they have to obey their final order; but their ship was hit by shock waves, and probably radiation, from the Disaster.

Vassilov attacks again, and Pyra simply melts a hole for them to get back to her ship. Alone again, Vassilov pulls himself into a vaguely more human shape, then starts work on his final order: arming a doomsday weapon. But, the radiation and age had "long since rotted the parts to harmless junk" yet he would remain in orbit fiddling with it, probably forever...

This was only an 18-page story, which might've been the standard for the book, but feels a bit short. Kamandi could maybe have had something to do in his own book, too; but I don't think he often had a lot of control of where he was going. But, the imagery in this one...creepy stuff, a tool I don't think Kirby used often, but could. I wasn't quite getting comics off the spinner rack when this came out, but I'm also kind of glad I waited! Read more!

80-Page Thursdays: DC's Nuclear Winter Special #1!

Yay, a new DC 80-pager! These are usually light, breezy reading...OK, this one may not be scads of fun. Or scabs of fun. From (late) 2018, DC's Nuclear Winter Special #1, featuring stories by Mark Russell, Mairghread Scott, Paul Dini, and more; art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mike Norton, Christian Duce, and more.

Sigh. Look, I know sometimes comics readers can want "dark" stories: that's why stuff like What If? or Days of Futures Past is popular. "All your favorite heroes, and here's them dying!" This issue feels like a step further, since just about everyone else is dead, too. Framed by Rip Hunter pages, as he tries to play Scheherazade and tell stories to stall three post-apocalyptic cannibals while his time sphere recharges; these stories could all be canon, carved-in-stone predestined futures, or lies Rip pulls out of his ass. Or both! Still, the cannibals are supposed to be funny, with their references to "Oogle" and terms and conditions of who can be eaten; they really aren't.

The obligatory Batman story is Damian's dark future, but as least pits him against R'as al Ghul instead of the Joker. Next is a Superman One Million/Martian Manhunter story, then a dark Flash story: sacrificing himself to save the day one last time, Barry is trapped in the Speed Force forever, but at least gets to see those he left behind before he goes on to what's next.

In "Where the Light Cannot Reach," Aquaman is living on a mountaintop, but two scientists convince him to brave the irradiated ocean depths in search of a radiation-eating microbe. "Last Daughters" features an older Supergirl trying to save what might be the last girl on earth. Paul Dini and Jerry Ordway pit Firestorm against oddball Outsiders robots, the Nuclear Family. That one is set after some level of atomic holocaust, but Firestorm appears to be about as usual, not huffing radiation or anything.

Phillip Hester's "Northern Lights" is a Kamandi Hanukkah story, and probably my favorite of this lot. Then a kinda generic Catwoman story--it puts the "winter" in nuclear winter, anyway; then the last full story, "The Birds of Christmas Past, Present and Future." An aged and crabby old Green Arrow is invited to the JLA holiday party, despite having quit the team long ago; and revisits an old friend and an older frenemy. It's not bad, especially if you hold with the opinion that Ollie is never going to make the right decisions in his personal life, not even if he lives to be 80. (All that chili he eats, I don't see him living past that...)

The scans are in no particular order this time, since this was a square-bound that we still crammed into the scanner. Despite having Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman on the cover, they aren't in this one. (Save WW briefly appearing in Flash's story.) I paid half-price for this one, and I guess I half-enjoyed it? Despite the grimdarkness of nuclear winter, it didn't quite go that far. It's no Twilight of the Bat, that's for sure.
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In case the "Great Disaster" wasn't great enough for you:

I picked up most of this series for a buck an issue, but did have to order the last one: from 2013, Joe Kubert Presents #6, featuring stories and art from Joe Kubert, Henrik Jonsson, Sam Glanzman, and more. But my favorite this issue was a Kamandi eight-pager by Kubert and Brandon Vietti, "Devil's Play." It adds a couple new wrinkles to both Kamandi and the Great Disaster, as Kamandi here also works as a scientist, intent on discovering a cure to restore humanity's intelligence; and that there may have been even more to the Great Disaster than anyone could've possibly guessed. Namely, the involvement of the supernatural, personified by Etrigan the Demon!

This Etrigan seems full-on evil, and hints that maybe some force wanted the Great Disaster to happen. It's also a great-looking little story, and I wish it could be followed-up on.
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"The End" Week: Kamandi #59!

We checked out Kamandi #50 a couple of months back, but now the conclusion of Kamandi's saga--more or less! From 1978, Kamandi #59, "The Wonderous Western Wall" Written by Jack C. Harris, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

By this point in the series, Sherlock and Watson-types Mylock Bloodstalker and Doile have caught up with and joined Kamandi and his crew, as they quest to find the power source behind the Great Disaster. The alien Pyra hoped to use that power to restore her homeworld; but it's supposed to be some kind of vortex, and it's blocked off by a gigantic wall. And the wall is locked, by a "radiation-powered" lock.

Before Pyra can state her plan for the lock, they are beset by "the Kangarat Murder Society," the locals who maintain and guard the wall. With murder! While the Kangarats have a bolo contest to see who gets to murder them, Kamandi's girl Spirit uses her newfound "fiber-spinning" powers to tie them up, and they escape in the Kangarats' hopping-ship.

To get through the lock, Kamandi plans to use radiation from his mutant friends Ben, Renzi, and Steve; who are expelling a ton of it right now. With Spirit and the Kangarats' equipment, he creates radiation suits so he and Dr. Canus can pick them up in Pyra's ship. Great plan, except the Kangarats seem pretty convinced opening the wall will end the world; and Kamandi is sucked in, to hear a strange voice...

The cancellation was a surprise--again, two issues were already completed but not released--and Kamandi may not have been seen again properly until DC Comics Presents #64 in 1983. I may have to look again for scans of Kamandi #60-61, I'm not sure that link is still good.

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I can't recall OMAC's uniform, but I'm betting it was more intimidating than cut-off jean shorts.

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth was a series cancelled when I was about seven years old and just starting to get into reading comics. I've only read random issues here and there, both from series creator Jack Kirby and some from after he left the title; but I've often thought the book would be better remembered if it had a definitive conclusion, rather than merely ending with Kamandi still questing to bring humanity back from savagery in a world of intelligent animals. Then again, Kirby's OMAC could've done with a proper ending as well, but I don't know if this was the way to do it...

From 1977, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #50, "The Death Worshippers!" Story by Denny O'Neil, art by Dick Ayers, Alfredo Alcala, and Manuel Auad. Previously, Kamandi had been infected with a disease that caused brutal, killing rage fits; but his friends Dr. Canus (a dog) and Pyra (an alien made of fiery energy) have finally caught up with him to cure him. Unfortunately, Pyra's genetic manipulation sends Kamandi back a couple of generations--she apparently left the machine set on "dog"--and turned him into OMAC like his grandfather! Confused yet super-strong, Kamandi tears off into a forest, and runs into a creepy band of sloth-people! They finish each other's sentences and worship a skeleton, and it's a skeleton of someone they ate, so sloths are apparently way more disturbing after the Great Disaster.

The mutant Ben Boxer knew of OMAC, so Kamandi's friends take Pyra's spaceship to find OMAC's partner, the satellite Brother Eye. (Brother Eye has gotten a bad rap in the last decade or so of DC comics, but he was friendly and helpful back in the day.) Pyra frees Brother Eye from the shell that imprisoned it (which was seen in an issue of OMAC, I think!) and it feeds energy to Kamandi, which also helps him escape the sloths. (Presumably, by walking away briskly.) In the memory of his partner, Brother Eye restores Kamandi to normal, referring to OMAC as "an experiment that failed!"

I've been meaning to pick up the last issue of Kamandi, but it really isn't! #59 was the last one published, although #60 and #61 were completed. We looked at the OMAC back-up that ended up in Warlord, but I don't think the main stories were ever printed. Although you can find them online with a little looking!
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"Future's Mend."

Eight years running, and no one's traveled back in time to stop me yet. So we'll probably keep going a while longer.

I'm looking forward to seeing X-Men: Days of Futures Past this weekend, although I thought I remembered Claremont or Byrne saying they regretted that story for the damage it did: instead of learning from the example of a tight, two-issue story; other creators followed the example of a seemingly inescapable horrible future and to kill off characters whenever possible for the sales boost. I don't think DC's the New 52: Futures End is bringing anything new to the table. In fact, the "Batman builds Brother Eye, and is pretty much responsible for the OMAC's killing a ton of people" plot was done a few years before the reboot, sometime after Identity Crisis, and it was just awful then.

First time I've had my DC figures out for a bit, then. I would've had this done earlier, but it took me forever to find the DC Direct Batman Beyond figure--which is a little oversized for use with DCUC, but I still like it. Makes him seem tougher.


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