I thought it was weird Todd had even drawn Paladin twice.

I'm also 80% sure this issue did not need to be reprinted at the time; it was probably widely available in quarter bins and such. From 1989, Marvel Tales #231, reprinting 1981's Marvel Team-Up #108, "Something Wicked This Way Kills!" Plot by Tom DeFalco, script by David Michelinie, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Mike Esposito. New cover by Todd McFarlane.

Todd did Marvel Tales covers from #223 to #239, starting with reprinting the classic Doc Ock/Death of Captain Stacy storyline, then shifting to mostly Marvel Team-Up issues with mutants. This would include a trifecta with Dazzler, so you've got Todd doing a pretty sharp classic Dazzler, with a bunch of hacky jokes about her, being a mutant, and/or disco. She doesn't make the cover this time, but Paladin does; and I remembered Todd had drawn him on the cover of Amazing #321...and had forgot about #320. Huh.

Anyway, this issue. This was back in the day when Peter Parker was a teaching assistant at Empire State, and here he catches an earful from a coach for flunking a star player. The guy only answered three questions out of fifty; so yeah. Spidey's also on the trail of a strange "street stalker," who seemed to be sucking the heat out of his victims; and Peter Parker was also trying to get back on top, since Lance Bannon had been getting the big pictures lately. Patrolling the park, Spidey of course gets into the traditional Marvel misunderstanding brawl with Paladin, who was working the case for cash, but ditches out for a date, leaving Spidey to get a victim to the hospital: predictably, Lance gets a picture of Spidey holding the victim, which J.Jonah Jameson just adores. It of course won't last, but JJJ is ridonkulously happy, like that Vince McMahon meme: "Pictures!...Pictures of Spider-Man!...Pictures of Spider-Man, committing a crime!...Pictures of Spider-Man, committing a crime, NOT from that weasel Parker!"

Spidey catches up with Paladin outside a fancy restaurant, where he was meeting his client; and Spidey has to suffer the indignity of being forced to wear a tie to get in. The client was the stalker's husband, and she tells a sob story of a lab accident involving microwaves, a radiation-absorbing suit, and vitamins? Sure, why not. Spidey isn't sure he would be able to help, which Paladin assumes was a bargaining ploy for a better payoff: Paladin has a hearty laugh when he finds out Spidey didn't do that for cash, which feels like a missed shot for an "action is his reward" crack. Later, as the increasingly unstable scientist takes up the name "Thermo" and kills a co-worker he thought was going after his wife; Spidey and Paladin get serious...seriously beat-down. Dazzler has a cameo, since she'd be in the next issue; but she decides to see what the hubbub is about after she finishes her makeup, while Thermo drains the heat out of Spidey...!

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A lot of times in the morning, I have the old western show Have Gun, Will Travel on, and one episode, "Full Circle," Paladin catches up with an old acquaintance, Quill, a shifty snake of a conman, who once sold him a bum mine, then skipped town in a dress to avoid gunmen, who then tried to kill Paladin. Years later, Quill needed Paladin, to verify his alibi for a murder he was actually innocent of, but Paladin's leaves him hanging, saying "you should've kept me alive, Quill." Of course Paladin gets sucked back into that one, and also has to settle with a old skunk and his two jerky kids who try to steal his stuff; Quill is later shot while again fleeing in a dress. It's immensely satisfying: everyone who gets shot in this one absolutely had it coming, and the old skunk laments his lost son, "who died for five dollars." I mention this, because you used to see this on old TV shows: a crook dressing up in drag to avoid the cops or something. It wasn't perhaps honorable, and certainly wasn't usual, but it wasn't considered pervy or anything. It's probably insensitive to the drag community, but then I kinda figure if that plot was tried today some viewers would make more of a stink about a dress than any crimes committed. Like a triple homicide, fine; but wearing a guy in women's clothing would corrupt the youth of the nation. Come to think of it, I think there's an old Power Records Batman story, where Bats sleuths out Catwoman disguised as a man, by her lack of Adam's apple. Which you don't usually notice in comics...

From 1989, the Punisher #20, "Bad Tip" Written by Mike Baron, pencils by Shea Anton Pensa, inks by Gerry Talaoc. Omigod, this dates back to when people could smoke indoors! And in comics! Frank is in Las Vegas, trying to stop the assassin only known as Belzer (Not that one! Probably...) from whacking a key witness in a mob trial. Frank did not have a lot to go on: Belzer maybe liked to gamble, and that was about it. A private investigator tries to take Frank with a blackjack later, thinking he was Belzer, which is a solid two-page fight sequence that just annoys Frank.

Spoilers for a 36-year-old comic after the break!

Frank sees where Belzer planted a bomb, and figures he would've wanted to be somewhere he could see it go off, like a nearby casino. Frank busts into the lounge, calling out Belzer's name; and he sees the woman that chatted him up earlier! The way she held 'her' cigarettes would've obscured her Adam's apple, and 'she' had a high-collar number on here. It was Belzer in drag...maybe. It's definitely a guy in a dress, but maybe wasn't even Belzer? With Frank wearing people-clothes, 'Belzer' has got no idea it's the Punisher, and is just as confused as Frank. Also, traditionally you can't put a silencer on a revolver, which I remember from a Batman issue with Jason Todd.

This was, as we've mentioned before, back when Frank could put on a suit and pass as a normal human being; as opposed to the Garth Ennis/MAX era, where a grizzly bear with a hat on would look less like a serial killer than Frank. (Having a regular haircut instead of a buzzcut/military one helps a ton.) It grated eventually, but I have an immense fondness for this stretch of low-continuity stories where Frank fought a wider variety of crime than just nondescript gangsters or gangbangers; even if I mock it occasionally for almost reading like it was generated with a plot wheel. "Today, in...Akron? The Punisher fights...videotape pirates...with a .50 Desert Eagle and a corkscrew." Read more!

"Taken."

I don't love this one, because it ran afoul of my staging: Longshot's unconscious ass was on the farthest edge of stage left. (From the point of view of someone facing out at us!) Without breaking up the set, I spent a lot of time trying to finagle a shot from the other side of the bar shooting out; which was difficult because of the placement of the figures, focus, and that such a shot would also include most of my living room! It's something that comics could do easily, but in movies I believe it would be considered breaking the 180˚ Rule. (Stephen King mentions breaking the rule when he was directing Maximum Overdrive, out of ignorance; that's an interesting read there.) Long story short, I ran out of interesting angles or shots for Satana and Dazzler to talk over Longshot.

I wanted to get at the idea that Longshot might be as guilty of toxic masculinity as most superguys; that he decided to forget his wife and kid, under the notion that he'd be better able to protect them. I think this is technically accurate: Longshot leaping into action to protect strangers, would be a noble act, and his luck powers would kick in. Protecting his family, however, would somehow be considered a selfish act, and his luck would not only not work, it may backfire completely. This may make Longshot a more tragic character, or more of a dumbass. Or both? 

In the words of the great Evan Dorkin, "Don't drink Zima! It zucks! And it's made by Coors!" That said, I'm positive I've had it at least once; but I think I drank wine coolers for a ridiculous amount of time, so as usual, my taste is questionable.

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"Venue."

Sadly, I didn't go all-out on set design this week, but I'm not sure what a proper green room at a bigger venue would look like nowadays. Probably kind of plain? Of course, now that I'm done it occurs to me I could've maybe googled that, if searches worked for anything anymore. Are artists going to have to go back to keeping morgues of reference material?  (By the way, if you haven't seen the movie Green Room, you probably should.) 

 Hmm, we've actually seen Paladin before twice; but I think Dazzler has only appeared in background shots? If even that? Although her name has been dropped on more than one occasion.

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"Gun4Hire."

By the time bounty-hunter Paladin appeared in Daredevil #150 in 1978, I don't know that kids would've recognized the name from the old western TV show Have Gun--Will Travel, even though it ran for like six seasons and 225 episodes or so. I only started watching it recently, in reruns in the morning. It's kind of refreshing: a lot of shows lately have season-long arcs, on this one the bad guy is usually shot up inside of 22 minutes. Anyway, Marvel-Paladin wishes he was as cool as TV Paladin: I remember his appearances in Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America, both of which he was only successful because the hero had to be set back. A couple years back, we saw him get his legs broke by U.S.Agent in Punisher: No Escape.
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"Randoms."

Let's see: Paladin was largely purchased for a Sasquatch part, since I think I like the idea of the character more than any comics he's actually appeared in. I think Hasbro's gotten a lot of reuse out of that mold, in colors other than purple. Per OAFE's review, it's a reuse of Blade! I didn't plan using them both in the same strip for that reason, just a happy accident. But that mold has been used since in the A.I.M. two-pack.


The Thing, of course, is a unique sculpt, and so great. (EDIT: And Mark Waid and Dan Slott both established the Thing really shouldn't be tooling about in Dr. Doom's time machine. Reed had left signs all over it like "NO!" and "Remember the Alamo!" and implored him and Johnny to leave poor Davy Crockett alone. Or was it Daniel Boone? Well, either way.)

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