I don't know if he's as good a sculptor as Alicia Masters, but he's faster.

I mentioned I was looking for a new copy of this one some time back, and the dollar bins did provide: from 1992, Superman Special #1, "The Sandman" Story and art by Walt Simonson.

Like we mentioned before, this special was a bit of a speed-run of the Kryptonite Nevermore storyline that ran (intermittently) from 1971's Superman #233 to #242. This version doesn't have I-Ching, but instead post-Crisis had Superman making a memorial statue for the alternate-dimension Phantom Zone criminals Zaora, Zod, and Quex-Ul: Superman had executed them in Superman #22, and still carried that guilt with him. He swears "...that I will forever be the champion of life and never its destroyer." That's pretty much as it should be, although the direct-sales version's UPC box notes "Doomsday is Coming!"

This falls into a relatively thin wedge of continuity now, although it was several years: after Superman's self-imposed exile in space, and after Jimmy Olsen had met the new Newsboy Legion, but before Clark and Lois were a couple...that might be a thinner wedge than I'd thought, since they were dating by Superman #45. If you have time to re-read that run of issues you could probably narrow it down further: Lex is wearing a black glove, so this was after he lost his hand to Kryptonite poisoning but before he 'died' of it. Anyway, exiting a storeroom at the Daily Planet and pretending to be absent-minded, Clark bumps into Lois, who was hot on the heels of a story, investigating the mysterious Cosmography Industries. Which, as luck would have it, was just in the middle of an experiment, that would go awry with a massive explosion. Superman takes off to help, closely followed by the Newsboy Legion (and their flying Whiz Wagon!) who pick up Jimmy, with Lois barging in as well. After getting caught in another massive explosion, that drives him into a pile of rock; while Superman is rescuing trapped scientists, he is interrupted by Lex Luthor arriving via helicopter, who tries to order Supes off of his property. When Supes gives him some sassback, Lex decides to show him what they had been working on there: synthesizing Kryptonite! And, he had a good-sized chunk of the original right handy...what the--?!

The Kryptonite does nothing to Superman, and he even goes so far as to nonchalently eat it. While Lois and the others don't arrive in time to see that, and Lex tells them he had just given Superman "a little snack as a gesture of thanks," Lex is seething as Superman flies away, but then notices him dip, just for a second, as he flew away. Superman shrugs off his momentary weakness, but Lex suspects there might be something there. Later that night, at the rock where Superman had been embedded, a duplicate of Superman forms out of sand, and attacks some guards at Cosmography (which should just be a smoking hole in the ground at that point...) while Clark discovers hey, his super-breath was gone. The sandman later attacks him at his home, seemingly knowing he was Clark Kent, but couldn't fly yet, and smashes itself lunging at Superman and falling out a window. Thinking the creature was pulverized, Superman leaves to investigate further; but the creature re-integrates from a pile of sand, now with heat-vision! (Long-time comics readers would've probably seen Marvel's Sandman do that many times; so it feels weird that Supes thinks it was gone!)

Luthor, after a brief interlude with an Aboriginal tracker he had brought in, sets his armored Team Luthor on the Superman double, who is eventually caught in a box for a chat: the creature wanted Superman, and Lex was more than happy to help it out. The next day, a bank robbery with heavily armed and trained goons draws out Superman, whose flight powers give out midway there! The sandman attacks Superman from an armored car; while Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion arrive: the Newsboys clobber the bank robbers in short order, while Jimmy realizes the sandman was stealing Superman's powers, and tries to run it down with the Whiz Wagon. No sale there, and Jimmy gets grabbed, but Superman then escapes in the Whiz Wagon, drawing the sandman away from Jimmy. Superman does have a plan, and luckily the sandman hadn't taken his super-speed yet, so it couldn't catch him before he got back to the Fortress of Solitude. The sandman recognizes it, as it thinks once he takes everything from Superman, it will no longer be in pain. The pain hit it every time it stole a power, and as it starts beating Supes in the Fortress, it spills how Lex had explained those powers, and it was leaving invulnerability for last, so it could enjoy beating on Supes.

With the sandman now a full-color dupe of Superman, it thinks it had beaten him unconscious; but Superman surprises it, seemingly giving it something else in a burst of pain. It sees, and then smashes, the statues of Zaora, Zod, and Quex-Ul; but is then stricken with remorse: Superman didn't kill. Panicked, it cries over the body of Superman, repeating his earlier oath.

Later, back at Lexcorp, Lex is feeling pretty smug, up until the moment he finds Superman in his office. Superman explains, while he couldn't prove anything, he didn't need to: the sandman had been feeling the pain of becoming Superman, but when it had everything, it sacrificed itself to save Superman. Which, inadvertently, saved Lex (and the world) from a Superman with no guilt or conscience; although Lex doesn't see it that way. 

This was a 50-page story, but the last couple of pages feel a bit rushed, like they were running out of room. Which in the special is taken up by pin-up pages, from some big names, like Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane! I feel like this issue might be overshadowed by the Death of Superman; but it's still great.

Read more!

"Well, look at that. 'Start Ragnarok, all die.' Even had it underlined."

I watched the last season of What If? over the holidays, and while it didn't knock my socks off, I don't know why it's ending, either: plenty of other stories out there, although I suspect they're limited by what actors are available to use. (Just use voice actors! They usually do a better job anyway.) Here's a recent one, that maybe could've used a Watcher, to ask, what was Loki thinking? From 2023, What If..? Dark: Loki #1, "The Song of Mjolnir...in minor..." Written by Walt Simonson, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Cam Smith and Scott Hannah.

This was "What If...? Dark," not "Dark Loki," and I think there were a few one-shots here that were all downbeat endings. I was flipping through old Journey Into Mystery covers, since I thought this might be based of a story from that era; but it didn't immediately jump out. (Maybe around Thor #138!) While Thor fought Ulik, Loki steals Mjolnir, having used enchantments of his own and from Karnilla so he could lift it. He then stabs Dr. Donald Blake in the back with Mjolnir's walking-stick form, and murders Sif for good measure! Then, he makes a quick trip to Nornheim, to kill Karnilla before she could take back her magic. Three murders so far, and Loki's just getting started! He's mildly annoyed that Mjolnir doesn't return to his hand and he has to dig it out, but as the hammer sparks lightning while he holds it, he thinks Mjolnir is starting to learn who was boss.

Spying on Odin, Loki sees how Ragnarok usually goes down, starting with his torture, then the death of Balder. He opts to move up that timetable, using Mjolnir to force-grow a sprig of mistletoe into a mighty spear, with which he backstabs Balder, right after he got the bad news about Karnilla. Loki then frees Fenris, and rallies his allies: the Frost Giants, Hela, the Midgard Serpent Jormungand, and Surtur. Heimdall gets clobbered by Mjolnir before he can sound the alarm, and Loki's forces storm Asgard almost without a fight. Odin is eaten by Fenris, and Loki is now in charge...for about three seconds, as Surtur was going to light his sword, and burn all of the Nine Realms. Somehow this comes as a surprise to Loki; and he can't throw Mjolnir hard enough to stop him; nor can he turn the lightning on Surtur. Instead, Mjolnir lightnings Loki into ash. Surtur lights his sword and destroys everything; even himself. But, a flash of lightning heralds a new universe.

Feels like Loki should have kinda seen this coming; but gods might be locked in on some of their actions. Still, he had been on a roll; did he really need Surtur? All he does is show up at the end to set everything on fire; maybe leave him on the bench. This issue would've been on the racks just prior to the first episode of the second season of Loki, and feels like a conscious choice, to remind readers when Loki was consistently an amoral monster. Read more!

I suggest reading this, then logging off for the day?

This wasn't my favorite issue--the book was hitting solid at the time--but there's a moment this issue that stuck with me and might be important today. From 1982, Star Wars #58, "Sundown!" Plot and script by David Michelinie, plot and pencils by Walter Simonson, inks by Tom Palmer.

While Chewbacca, Luke, and Lando head for their adventure on Bazaar, Princess Leia was readying a dangerous plan to hide the Rebel fleet from Imperial patrols, by hiding it in that system's sun! It's a rather Star Trek plan if you ask me, and hey, it uses "Kerts-Bhrg field generators" for the shields--Kurtzberg, after Jack Kirby!

While dramatic, the insertion goes without a hitch, and most of the Rebel personnel make their way to the specialized shuttle to head back to base, leaving a smaller maintenance crew behind. Threepio scolds Artoo to hurry, or if they miss the shuttle, they would be stuck there for a weeklong shift, but Artoo dawdles, checking something, and finding a fault in an absorption circuit, that was about to explode! Oh, and the shuttle just left, and burning circuitry created noxious fumes, knocking out the maintenance crew!

Threepio gets communications out to Leia on the shuttle, which just barely made it through: the force-field protecting the fleet was fluctuating, and TIE Fighters had just entered the system...c'mon, those aren't long-range ships! That's from the first movie! But, Artoo has a plan, and it's a doozy: run a cable from one of the Rebel ships, out to the force-field generators, to keep it going. He and Threepio have to make a spacewalk, with Threepio wearing a jetpack, and Artoo wrapped in a reflective blanket with an eyehole poked in it. (Threepio's gold coating apparently protected him from the heat!) This hits a snag pretty quickly, when the temperature's hot enough to melt the jetpack, and their momentum was going to carry them out of the force field, into the sun!

After the TIE Fighters leave the system, Leia's shuttle had managed to get their heat shields back up for another trip into the sun, but by computer calculations, the fleet would've already been destroyed, thirty seconds ago. (That also feels more Trek than Wars.) For maybe five seconds, it seems like this was going to break Leia: while they wouldn't have lost a lot of people, without those ships, the Rebel Alliance would have largely been whatever they had in their pockets at the time. Well, if that's where we have to start, that's what we'll do...but of course, things weren't as bleak as all that: Artoo had used his fire extinguisher as an emergency propellent, which got them to make the connection in time. But, that scene still sticks with me: even at the absolute worst-case scenario, you still can't quit. Keep fighting until you can't.

Also this issue, along with the start of the fun Bazaar plot, we also see smoking hot Rebel pilot/possible love interest for Luke, Shira Brie, a couple times; and she makes a strangely "oh no! Anyway..." tinged remark at the news of the possible destruction of the fleet. It'll make sense later! Read more!

One more Friday this month after this one, and I know I have more Twilight Zone comics.

From 1973, The Twilight Zone #50, cover by George Wilson.

He's no Howard Hughes, but millionaire pilot Lawes gets laid up after a busted test flight. Turning off his sun lamp, his nurse asks, how did he make his fortune? Crime, of course, silly! The nurse laughs it off, but Lawes was serious: he made his first fortune smuggling, but on his last run, he had seen a lost G.I. in the desert, but couldn't call in to get him help, since he was on an illegal flight. But, with a busted leg, Lawes isn't going anywhere, so the ghost of the G.I. finally catches up to him! Lawes tries to buy his way out of it, but the ghost doesn't need cash, he needs revenge, and has it all plannned out...Should be plenty of water in a hospital room, but Lawes comes up dry again and again. (Art by Adolpho Buylla.)

Another rich bastard comes to a bad end in "Nature's Way," as a billionaire puts reams of money into a cryogenic project, so he can be frozen upon his death and brought back in the future. And it works great!...except there's maybe one thing they can't cure even then. This is a little thin, but it's got Walt Simonson art!

The cover story, "Join the Club," features a burglar who lays an oil slick, to waylay a rich old socialite and make off with the fabled Starr Diamond. In the papers the next day, the socialite is just glad to be alive, since death had befallen three previous owners of the diamond; and the burglar nearly joins them when he drops his gun and almost blows his own head off. He then tries to force his superstitious fence to split the diamond, but the fence had been preparing for a bank job, and his works catch fire. The burglar escapes, but runs into the cops, who shoot at him but hit the diamond...but did they? The ending doesn't make a lick of sense; that happens every so often: I'm not sure a few more pages could've helped this one. (Art by Luis Dominguez.)

"Gypsy" is largely considered a slur nowadays; but it's used repeatedly in the last story; "The Vampire of East 29th Street." Anton Magyar may keep to the old ways, but his wife does not, and refuses to let him "fill their boy's head with that nonsense." She burns his "black box," not from an airplane, but Anton's magic supplies; and pawns a family heirloom, a candlestick that was protection against vampires and devils. Said candlestick is immediately bought by a vampire, part of the Evil Ones that had been hunting Anton; and they have a pretty good laugh confronting him. How could he fight without supplies? Could he get mandrake down at the supermarket? The wife is like zero help, and Anton is forced to run to lead the Evil Ones away from his son, but can he find the mystic ingredients he needs in the city? Oh, yeah; you can get everything in NYC, even if he has to run around a lot. Still, I'd be real mad at the wife; and I want to say most kids would also be sore if they missed seeing their dad melt some vampires. Read more!

Any other artist, I would bet Hercules got a simplified costume two issues later.

From 1977, Hercules Unbound #11, "The Dark Side of the Gods" Written by Cary Bates, art by Walter Simonson.

Oof, previous issues of this series had José Luis García-López and Wally Wood, but it barely made it to 12 issues? Also, this is a quarter-bin copy, but I have two reprints of it on the shelves; Showcase Presents the Great Disaster (the Amazon listing doesn't think it's there; I checked, it is!) and the 1989 the Art of Walter Simonson. As you might guess from the former book, this was set during DC's "Great Disaster" period, a vague number of years post-World War III, and the Atomic Knights guest-star here, helping Herc forge his new outfit, before they inadvertently destroy one of Detroit's "Big Three" factories. The GCD mentions, in the previous issue where the Atomic Knights appear there were tie-ins to OMAC continuity, which would lead to Kamandi: men could still talk at this point, so the "Great Disaster" might have actually been yet to come! (Or, this might have gotten bumped to another alternate earth besides that presumably got wiped in Crisis on Infinite Earths, 'cause that's fun.)

At the start of this series, Hercules had been found by the blind boy Kevin, chained to a rock in the Mediterranean for centuries. Herc had gotten free, although wasn't entirely sure how he had done so then, or maybe why he'd been chained up in the first place. Still, he had some adventures with Kevin, his dog Basil, and a young woman named Jennifer; but those appeared to be coming to an end. By the end of this issue, Jennifer was dead, Kevin had some weird power, and the gods in Olympus finally get through with a message, imploring Hercules to "destroy the deadly scourge" while he was able. Kevin tears off at Jennifer's funeral, stealing their flying wing transport, although Herc is able to leap aboard in time to go with him, back to the island he had been chained to; where Kevin is seemingly unmasked--as Ares! Who was planning to release the "Anti-Gods," which doesn't sound great: think "Skin of Evil," there would be more than a bit of exposition in the next, final issue.

I did like the stylised representations of the gods; I don't know if that had been established earlier in the series, or if Simonson just threw that in. Read more!

We mentioned this back in 2021, and we're just getting around to it now; that counts as timely for me! From 2004, DC Comics Presents Hawkman #1, featuring "Visitors Day" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Lary Stucker; and "Love is in the Air" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Walt Simonson, inks by Bob Wiacek. Cover by José Luis García-López and Kevin Nowlan; in homage to Murphy Anderson's cover to Hawkman #6.

This was one of eight tribute issues to DC editor Julius Schwartz, and the last one to blog here! In "Visitors Day," extra-dimensional aliens visit Julius on his subway ride to work, to tell him about alternate realities, and that his cover story--Hawkman vs. a flying gorilla--could poke a hole in the multiverse, if it isn't resolved. Hey, that's the creative team's problem! Schwarz hashes out a plot with (I presume) Gardner Fox to resolve the problem.

But, I liked the second story better: "Love is in the Air." Hawkgirl is interested in the quaint earth "rituals" surrounding Valentine's Day, but Katar's mind is occupied with both museum work and Hawkman stuff, since both the Shadow-Thief and Matter Master were at large. (There's a brief appearance from Mavis Trent, a supporting character I just love: she's basically stalking Carter Hall, with Shiera right there!) Shiera feels slighted that Carter's all business and stomps off, and Carter has a talk with Commissioner Emmett, who asks how they got together, prompting a tale involving a savage winged gorilla! No spoilers, but it reminds Carter how important Shiera is, and he takes the time to Valentine it up right. (Shadow-Thief and Matter Master killed dozens and stole the Declaration of Independence--I'm joking, they were caught later.)

There's a Julie Schwartz tag for all of them, but you can check out the other tribute issues with the Atom, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Superman, Adam Strange, and the Justice League of America. Read more!

An odd-shaped little freebie, but a Simonson cover? Nothing wrong with that!

From 2013, AAFES 16th Edition [Thor] #16, "Deep Freeze" Written by William Harms, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Cory Hamscher.

Hmm, the GCD says 'standard dimensions,' but my copy was slightly smaller; as you can see there. This looked like a promo for the US military--there are ads inside for "ShopMyExchange.com." On Christmas Eve, Thor tells Big Daddy Odin he's not going to make it for the festival of Yule dinner, he has to protect earth while his teammates are gone. Still, Jarvis fixes him a solid dinner; which Thor won't get to enjoy as a blizzard hits the city. More than that, it's an attack by Ymir and his Frost Giants! Of varying sizes. Some of them don't seem that big; I blame climate change.

A mom and daughter flee the Frost Giants, and are saved by Jarvis, who takes them on a little tour of the Avengers' Tower. Jarvis eventually holds off the Giants with some leftover Tony Stark gear, until Thor can banish Ymir and the rest back to Jotenheim, which, honestly, might be what they wanted in the first place? I don't know the continuity, but Ymir mentions being imprisoned on earth; and I could see him not loving that. Read more!

"The End" Week: Battlestar Galactica #23!

Even though I watched the show, and was already deeply hooked on comics by Star Wars, I honestly can't recall if I so much as flipped through an issue of this series when it was on the racks! This is an issue I'd been looking to find for "The End" for years now, and finally: from 1981, Battlestar Galactica #23, "The Last Hiding Place" Story and pencils by Walt Simonson, inks by Klaus Janson.

No Cylons this issue, as the Colonial Warriors are working the case of some food pirates, which might be related to the seeming disappearance of 47 of the 50 richest surviving colonists. Duh, of course they're hoarding goods, and willing to commit murder to cover it up. The parasites don't quite get what's coming to them (a trip out an airlock) but they do get brought down: charmingly, semi-regular lug Jolly gets a heroic turn and the girl in the end! And, a pathway to earth might have been discovered, and the Galactica sets out for it...

Marvel was of course chasing that Star Wars high, and aside from maybe a bump at the beginning, I'm not sure this series ever got close. It ran longer than Marvel's first Star Trek, though. Read more!

"The End" Week: Marvel Fanfare #60!

Hmm, I don't know if I'd ever known that this had been a bimonthly title, for a ten year run! But I would've been buying mostly from newsstands--well, grocery or convenience stores--so I never saw any of them new! From 1991, Marvel Fanfare #60, featuring "Big Applesauce!" Written and inked by Walt Simonson, pencils by Denys Cowan; "the Mission" Written by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Dave Ross, inks by Josef Rubinstein; and "the Monkey Never Dies" Story and art by Paul Smith.

There was also the final "Editori-Al" strip from editor Al Milgrom: the final here, anyway; I can't recall if he used that gimmick elsewhere? Or, I might be confusing it with the strips Archie Goodwin did for Dreadstar...Anyway, Al explains why the title was wrapping up: low sales, mostly; but it wasn't really needed anymore and he didn't have time to maintain it with his freelance work. Not a bad way to go out, though: Cowan and Simonson on a Black Panther vs. aliens story, then an inventory Rogue story that had been meant for Classic X-Men before they did away with the back-ups. It's an interesting one: the very young Rogue has realized, if she touches someone for just a second, she can steal just moments of memories. But, she's flighty and wild, which doesn't stop Mystique from trying to break her in with a mission for the Brotherhood. This feels like it should've been a bigger deal in continuity; but with the back-ups ending probably wasn't touched back on.

Lastly, Paul Smith returns to the book he first started in, with a sequel to the Daredevil story from Marvel Fanfare #1. It was Smith's first writing credit as well. Not too bad of an issue; but then again, nothing to make you clamor for them to keep it going, either. Read more!

I probably read this when it came out, and probably read the title for some time after this; partially on goodwill for the Simonsons, partly because comics were cheap then. From 1988, X-Factor #26, "Casualties" Written by Louise Simonson, pencils by Walter Simonson, inks by Bob Wiacek. 

This has the "Fall of the Mutants" crossover banner on the cover, but the bulk of it was over: this issue would be largely about reabilitating X-Factor's reputation, in-universe and metatextually. They had defeated Apocalypse, or at least driven him and his Horsemen away, returning Archangel to their side; but when Beast disabled the colossal Ship it had done a lot of damage before crashing in the Hudson River. This was that stretch where the human-looking Beast had super-strength, but using it made him stupider. Or more stupid? There is a great panel in What The--?! #3 lampooning his problem there...(Written by Kurt Busiek, art by Kyle Baker.)

As the team helps rescue efforts across the city, Beast was eaten up by guilt, Archangel was consumed with rage, Cyclops mistakes an endangered bystander for his presumed-dead and long-abandoned wife Maddie and confesses how he failed her, and Marvel Girl gets exhausted telekinetically carrying everybody around. Still, their efforts seem to prove their goodwill to humanity, who hails them as heroes with a bona-fide parade. (Meanwhile, unnoticed by the team, the X-Men were about to fight their final battle in Dallas, and Maddie tells Scott to find their son.)

One of the cops tailing X-Factor through the story suggests they could stay on the downed Ship, since it wasn't going anywhere (yet) and humans were electrically barred from entering it. Jean takes Scott to bed, no longer willing to "let anybody's ghost stand between us." Later, the team gets new costumes, from a grateful tailor they rescued earlier. (How he got their measurements, who knows? Maybe he was a mutant.) And Apocalypse watches, thinking the power would corrupt X-Factor soon enough...which seemingly leads back to the cover, as the team seems to be giants, towering over the Statue of Liberty and the city. Was their real fall to come?

Love the Simonsons, and see what they're trying to do here, putting to bed some of the book's problems: no more mutant-hunter cover-story, no more will-they won't-they with Scott and Jean, trying to make them unequivocally heroes. I'm not 100% sure it worked, though; I'm still mad at Cyclops, but he's had to do like three image-rehab tours since then.

Read more!

"Hedge against senility," huh?

Supposedly, that was one of the reasons for me doing this blog, so of course I hate it when I misremember something, even if it's only a little something, because I really specifically misremembered it! From 1991, Fantastic Four #350, "The More Things Change...or, It's the Real Thing..." Story and pencils by Walt Simonson, inks by Allen Milgrom. (We briefly blogged a piece of this issue years back, but it deserves a bigger post!) 

The Doom vs. Kristoff war had been running since Steve Englehart's Fantastic Four Annual #20 in 1987: when Doom had been believed dead, his fail-safe Kristoff was activated and programmed with Doom's personality and memories. (Up to around FF #6, when Kristoff-Doom decided launching the Baxter Building into space would've worked if not for the Sub-Mariner's interference.) When the Beyonder returned the original Doom, Kristoff and his Doombots refused to accept him, and had most of Doom's resources to use against him. Today, with a small unit of reprogrammed Doombots, Doom makes his final push against Kristoff...which is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a third Doctor Doom? Another impostor? Unlikely, this silver armored Doom speaks as though he had just returned from "an extended leave of absence" to find the kid and the babysitter trying to shank each other to death...Although impressed with the "greatest of my Doombots," nu-Doom still shreds the one we thought was the real one, saving the head for later inspection. (Just now, I wonder: did the Beyonder bring back a robot Doom? Is that all he had ever seen?) The trigger word "Ouroboros!" deactivates Kristoff, making him a loyal subject again, and Doom also deactivates his other Doombots. But, bigger fish, as Doom intended to catch up on events, saying he had "made the occasional sojourn home" but again, seemed to have been gone for some time. A plan quickly forms...

Back at Four Freedoms Plaza, Ben reads an account of Doom's return in the paper. Sue wonders why he has his feet on the table (and smashes a chair to underline her point!) but also why he was wearing his Thing exo-suit: he was trying to make Sharon Ventura feel better, since she had recently briefly returned to human, and missed it. Sharon is not swayed by Ben's attempt, and wonders why Reed hasn't cured her: Reed admits it's difficult, and that he wasn't even sure Ben was permanently cured. She stomps off, much as Ben used to, but is immediately picked up by a limo offering assistance, which brings her to a masked man in a dressing gown: casual-wear Doctor Doom! He offers to cure her, not out of the goodness of his heart, but for money: ostensibly, to get Latveria's economy back in gear after its recent troubles. That is of course a lie, something Doom needed to sugarcoat his offer; but he cures Sharon quickly and apparently easily. Kristoff asks how he managed to do something Reed never could; Doom advises he was on thin ice there, but explains he had science and magic to work with. (This may be the first hint of it, but it becomes readily apparent Doom does not see Kristoff as an equal, he barely sees him as an asset.)

Of course, in the best tragic romance Marvel tradition, Ben decides he can't let Sharon be a Thing alone, and secretly opts to blast himself with cosmic rays. Reed is furious, but Sue immediately realizes why Ben did it, and Reed apologizes. Ben was weakened, but not completely changed, when a robot messenger from Doom arrives to tell them Sharon was safe at Castle Doom, and would remain so for the next four hours. "After that...who can say?" Doom doesn't have any grudge against Sharon; that almost feels like a non-threat, he just wanted the Four. Then again, he would doubtless kill her in an instant if it would benefit him, wouldn't he?

Arriving at the castle and facing some Doombots, Ben is quickly revealed as the Thing again, then they are faced with four passageways. With only fifteen minutes left on the countdown, they are forced to split up, and are hit with four specifically-created traps. (How Doom knew which door each would take...they had to be moveable somehow.) Johnny is trapped underwater, with a breathing device, but stuck; similarly Sue fights off a number of robots but not an invisible gas. Reed's trap closes doors behind him, then lowers, leaving him squozen flat. Ben finds Sharon, but also Doom, who wants revenge for his "humiliating defeat at the battle of the Baxter Building!" That was FF #40, which Ben rightly points out, "wuz a zillion years ago!" (I thought Ben said it was "a hunnerd years ago," I'm getting forgetful in my old age!) Doom has "an anti-matter extrapolator" to take out Ben, but Ben had an unexpected ace up his sleeve, mutating from his traditional Thing look to the spiky armadillo one! "The worse I look, the tougher I get!" Ben has Doom on the ropes, until Sharon hits him from behind with a "thermo-lance" and about "a million mega-volts," giving Doom time to recover and zap him. He barely has a moment to gloat over the possibly-dead Ben, before Reed arrives, somehow freed from his stone trap, and seemingly more than willing to kill Doom if Ben was dead.

Doom scoffs at Reed's unexpected arrival, claiming he would have freed him for their final confrontation anyway: a battle to the death, with "null-time sequencers," moving back and forwards through time! A battle, the next issue box promises, "...so titanic, so overwhelming, so difficult to capture on paper (!) that it won't be ready next issue!" FF #351 would be a fill-in...which I'm not positive I've ever read? And I may have had a subscription at the time! #352 would be the Doom/Reed fight, and it's a good one. Simonson's run on Fantastic Four is an all-time favorite of mine; with my only complaint that it was all too short. That and his new status quo and look for Doom was so good, yet completely ignored going forward! (I could argue it makes maybe one other appearance, but that's iffy.)

Read more!

It's probably rainy now, but it was nice enough to go out to my garage and dig for comics today. Did I find what I was looking for? Well, close enough? From 1986, Thor #373, "The Gift of Death" Written by Walt Simonson, art by Sal Buscema.

On his way from Asgard to Midgard (Earth!) Thor is suddenly stricken by a momentary weakness, but shrugs it off: once he arrives in New York, he immediately attempts to use Mjolnir to get to Muspelheim. Odin and Surtur had seemingly fallen into a rift to the fire giant's realm, but Thor finds "the way to Muspelheim is closed!" Not with signs, but some sort of barrier. Glumly, Thor returns to the apartment of his civilian identity, Sigurd Jarlson; which is basically a mattress in the middle of an otherwise empty room. He's regretting not putting in the effort to flesh out his civilian life, and can't bring himself to stay there or visit the Avengers' mansion. The next day, as Sigurd, he visits his old construction boss Jerry, who's thrilled to see him even if it's been like twenty-some issues. After hearing he had just lost his dad, Jerry invites Sigurd home for dinner.

Later, to repay his friend's kindness, Sigurd takes Jerry's kids out for a day in the park, and tells him a story of Thor, getting hoodwinked by his dad for an object lesson about self-reliance. Or a laugh. Tough to say with Odin. But, another story is interrupted by an old friend--Puddlegulp! After a warning from the frog, Thor tries to tell the kids he's an undercover cop: for someone who had Loki for a brother, he's really so bad at lying. The kids don't let him keep digging, though: they know he's Thor! Jerry had thought 'Sigurd' had been Spider-Man at one point, but he's too big, and the kids had snuck a peek at his bag and found Mjolnir. (If one had accidentally kicked his bag, they wouldn't have been able to move that, would they?)

Thor sends the kids home, assuring one that he wasn't going to be killed by the Midgard Serpent...probably. He heads to the sewers, where Puddlegulp said he had heard screaming: Thor had previously met the Morlock Piper, and knew there were others living there. After a bit of ominous foreshadowing from Hela, Thor finds multiple bodies, then X-Factor's Angel, nailed to the wall by the Marauders! Although Thor drives them off, before he can help Angel, he can hear someone coming...

A dark turn there! I had forgotten this was the "Mutant Massacre" crossover, since this was the Marvel 25th anniversary covers month. I dug this issue out for the back cover, which was surprisingly not forthcoming online. I was making another spinner rack that was going to be all of those covers, and there were less than I would've thought. Sure, Spider-Man had four books, but only 29 books had the anniversary border. Limited series, annuals, indexes, creator-owned Epic titles, and the debuting New Universe books did not. But the kids' line Star Comics did, and some of those are the rarest ones today! In fact, a high-end copy of Muppet Babies #10, is possibly worth more than a complete set of New Universe comics. (G.I. Joe Special Missions and Droids were bi-monthly at the time, or they would've had one!)
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