We don't have a bunch of them this year, but I did luck into one over the weekend: from 1973, the Twilight Zone #53. Cover by George Wilson.

Is historical accuracy important to you? If you answered yes, you're still a poser to "The Expert." John Phipps was a historical consultant, who hired out to movies and TV shows, to neg them about inaccuracies. While he's technically correct, as when he points out ancient Romans wouldn't have had access to pineapples; John is also a pedantic know-it-all. Until he goes on vacation in England, and visiting a castle, is treated with a quick visit to the past. At first thinking they were just actors, he critiques them on their clothes, the decor, and their dance steps; before realizing this was how it really was, regardless of what he 'knew.' Returned to the future, John has learned a lesson and is cooler and a lot more chill, which I worry is going to get him fired. "Did medieval knights wear sunglasses?...eh, historical records are spotty at best on the subject, so why not?" (A rare writer's credit, from the GCD: written by Paul S. Newman, pencils by Adolfo Buylla.)

I swear I haven't been looking for these, but it feels like voodoo has come up on the blog a lot this year? Here's another problematic one, with more problems: "Who's Afraid of the Ju-Ju Man?" After losing at poker, a farmer is coerced into selling his best 'field hand,' Dr. Sam. (Slave. They mean slave.) Bigger plantation owner Clay gets a bit wild-eyed talking about Dr. Sam, who was well-respected by all, possibly because he was a witch doctor: Clay felt he needed to be taken down, to show the others their place. The farmer's wife tries to warn Dr. Sam, who had been making a house call on a local child, and diagnosed appendicitis. (He wasn't going to perform the surgery, saying "only a white doctor's knife" could save the kid...ugh.) Dr. Sam refuses to run, since he knew Clay would take it out on other slaves, but tells them Clay would destroy himself. Clay tries to lay down the law, first by telling him no more 'doctor' talk, then that he had to deny having any special powers. Having special powers, Dr. Sam refuses to lie, and is locked in a wardrobe for days, but still refuses to break. Dying, Dr. Sam curses Clay, with the most powerful curse of all, to become what he hates most...and Clay's color changes, to that of a black man. Clay then spends the rest of his days, as "just another field hand...a prisoner not of stone or steel--but of my own skin!" The farmer and his wife still see Clay as a white man, but think he cracked when Dr. Sam died. Does that mean you should keep letting him work as a slave? I suppose they aren't making him work, exactly; just letting him think he has to...Well, they already owned slaves, so I guess no point splitting hairs on the moral high ground there. (Art by Luis Dominguez.)

The cover feature, "The Isle of the Dead" follows two reporters, visiting said isle near Venice, on All Hallows' Eve. They're looking for proof of the supernatural, and of course get more than they bargained for, as the dead rise up...to dance. (No credits for this one?)

Finally, in "Those Good Ol' Days," (art by Jack Abel) a record shop owner possibly hurts the feelings of his best customer, Herbie, who dressed like a 33-year-old greaser. (So, a typical greaser, then.) Herbie was still living like it was his personal golden age, 1957; but then buys a batch of "Vermillion grooming oil" from a peddler, that had maybe expired, transporting him back to his teenage years. (I had to look up if that was a real product, so far I don't think so!) Herbie quickly discovers, oh yeah, 1957 sucked ass, as he's harassed by his folks, the cops, and the gangs. Returning to the present, Herbie grows up, starting by unloading his record collection, cheap. Forty years later, he sees an article about what those records would be worth now, and immediately dies. OK, I made that last bit up, but still consider it canon...in the Twilight Zone. Read more!

Aw, of course the one time I find one of these...

...the regular artist's out that month! Well, we'll still take a quick look at this one: from 1992, the Fly #14, "Games Evil Plays" Written by Len Strazewski, pencils by Al Bigley, inks by Pablo Marcos. Cover by Mike Parobeck!

Have I not blogged any Impact Comics before? This was DC's first attempt at relaunching the Archie Comics/Red Circle superheroes, like the Comet and the Shield. I know I read the Comet at the time, since I was following artist Tom Lyle from Starman; but I should've been buying the Fly, which featured art by the great Mike Parobeck! Still, guest-artist Bigley does a good job with his character designs this issue.

This issue, the Fly has to (lamely) explain to his police contact his role in the brief disappearance of local teen Jason Troy, who of course was the Fly! Then, a fight with avid bowler and sportswoman Domino--altogether now, 'not that one,' although it would be hilarious to see Neena in this one's costume, which seems direct from Batman '66. She had a domino calling-card, to set up a fight in a bowling alley, but has billiard balls all over her outfit; kind of feels like she's all over the place. She puts the Fly through some Arcade-style traps at the bowling alley, then bails; but one of Jason's classmates may be getting too close to her...or trying, anyway; you know what high school guys are like. Domino could've been a mass-murderer that kicked puppies, but in that outfit... Read more!

I opened this one up and swear I could hear the Schmatterhorn music.

Yes, I do have cartoons on an awful lot. From 1982, Unknown Soldier #264, featuring "Hell is a Cold Place!" Written by Bob Haney, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Gerry Talaoc; "Killers of the Sky! Chapter Three: A Coffin for Aces!" Written by Robert Kanigher, art by Dan Spiegle; and "George Washington Died Here!" Written by Bob Haney, pencils by José Delbo, inks by Andy Mushynsky. This is another one from late in the run, and I'm not sure if the back-up features were burning off war stories as DC sunsetted those titles, or if there was the hope that collectively they'd be enough of a draw to continue. In the opener, an Allied plane had crashed in Switzerland, on the treacherous mountain called "the Needle." The plane had been carrying a new, advanced bomb sight; and the Unknown Soldier was in a race with the Nazi "Black Knight" Von Stauffen. (Stauffen? Instead of potatoes--oh, never mind.) But, Stauffen wasn't even aware of the plane; this was more personal: he was lugging the corpse of his father up there, who had previously failed to conquer the mountain, and whose frozen corpsicle had recently been found in a glacier. (Found frozen in a block of ice and he didn't revive? R.I.P. to him but Americans are built different.) An American had beat the elder Von Stauffen to the top and died there; now the younger was going to toss the American's carcass and replace it with dad's, for a propaganda victory. With a little help from Von Stauffen getting tripped up by the American climber's bones, the Unknown Soldier beats him, but is too nice to leave him to die on the mountain. He returns to Switzerland with the bomb sight and the captured Von Stauffen (although I don't think he gets to keep him there!) as well as the American climber's diary, proof of Nazi lies.

"Killers of the Sky!" was a Balloon Buster feature, although his more-popular rival Enemy Ace also appears: they would keep fighting it out until the second-to-last issue. But, to save a young boy's sight, he had turned over a small child to Enemy Ace, to get him treatment in Berlin. The Buster, Steve Savage, had an almost pathological obsession with not being seen as "pore white trash" and is generally looked down upon by his elitist fellow pilots, although he was probably the best of them. He also seemed to get in trouble a lot, as he nearly catches the rope for letting Von Hammer escape after he returned the cured child; but Savage had a general that was pretty much his "guardian angel," keeping his direct C.O. from coming down on him.

Finally, a Tomahawk story--possibly the last Tomahawk story? His series had run from 1950 to 1972, but aside from the requisite Crisis on Infinite Earths cameos and such, he might not have appeared again until his Vertigo Visions in 1998. I think that one tied in more to Native American spiritualism but was still more "realistic" than Tomahawk's book usually ran: it was set during the Revolutionary War, but rather a more out-there version of it? In the vein of the Blackhawk books of the time. Previously, Tomahawk and his crew had been framed by the traitorous Lord Shilling, for the attempted assassination of George Washington; which of course was a ploy for Shilling to kill Washington himself! Tomahawk has to bust him and his boys out of the stockade, take Washington's place for Shilling's murder attempt, and then face Shilling for what could be their final duel. Shilling catches a tomahawk in the forehead and falls over a fortress's wall, but Tomahawk still seems positive he'd be back to hassle him again. Of course, the most unrealistic thing about this one is the notion that George Washington was ever wrong, or needed saving. Read more!

"His wildest foe ever!" Uh, it's a woman. Not even a particularly wild one, for that matter.

Also, the splash page makes it look like somebody is trying to horsewhip the train to go faster; but let's take a look anyway: from 1977, Kid Colt Outlaw #224, featuring "The Bounty Hunter and the Bullwhip!" Written by Ron Whyte, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Vince Colletta; and "McClintrock's Guns" Written by Sol Brodsky, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Vince Colletta; both from 1967's Kid Colt Outlaw #137.

Although still wanted himself, in the first story Kid Colt stops a train robbery by "Bullwhip" Bull Mason and his gang--I swear these comics use the name "Bull Mason" every issue for the black hat bad guy. Although, the character is straight out of central casting. The Kid is also trailed by bounty hunter Dude Hawkins, but they end up teaming up against Bull and his gang: it comes down to a fist fight, as these stories often did. Dude offers to team up with the Kid, but until he could clear his name, he had to ride alone.

"McClintrock's Guns!" is another pretty standard western plot, that probably has too much basis in fact, as an old man and his daughter are being muscled by McClintrock to sell their farm. "Muscled" is understating it a bit, the old man's gotten shot already; so Kid Colt rides to head that off, and after the usual getting-jumped-and-fighting-the-hands, he's surprised to find out McClintrock was--gasp!--a woman! Other than that, she's a stock skunk, hiring a new fancy gunman to take Kid Colt, who is deputized by the local citizens. The gunman gets the first shot in the draw, but Kid Colt's shot is straight, and that's about that, as McClintrock seems to get off with a slight scolding.

I'm always surprised when I find something like this, or Tarzan, from 1977, the Year of Star Wars: in fact, despite being a reprint book for some time, Kid Colt Outlaw would run to #229 in 1979.

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I bought this to see him give Crossbones the business, but...

It's weird that Marvel doesn't seem to have any books for younger readers anymore, but they've had a few titles that were basically child endangerment, like Spider-Boy, the most recent Spider-Girl, and this one: from 2023, Red Goblin #8, written by Alex Paknadel, pencils by Chris Campana, inks by Roberto Poggi. Cover by InHyuk Lee.

We did get the Red Goblin action figure, mostly for the Kingpin leg he came with; but this wasn't the same one: instead of Norman Osborn under a symbiote, it was his grandson Normie! Who was having trouble controlling the symbiote he named 'Rascal,' but he might have been wondering, was the symbiote the violent one...or was he? This issue continues his struggle against the Goblin Nation, under Goblin King/former heroic Green Goblin Phil Urich. Phil was basically a mobile corpse at this point, and had set the mercenary Crossbones on one of his own henchmen, to prevent him from maybe turning on him. Miles Morales helps Normie out, delivering a top-shelf knockout to Crossbones: seriously, Miles beat him so bad, he looked like he was melting afterwards.

Normie then pretends to remember a Goblin safehouse, but that's just to send Miles on a wild goose chase: Normie knew Spider-Man wouldn't be okay with him murdering every Goblin goon in his way, to rescue his friend Tim. In the ensuing showdown, Urich nearly convinces Rascal to abandon Normie, comparing him to "keeping a tiger in a cage." Rascal thinks maybe Normie would be happy without him, but Normie knows Rascal would just be used to hurt people: with Normie, at least they'd only be hurting bad people...hopefully. Urich then tries to beg out of getting murdered, in that he was basically dead already, but it doesn't appear to save him. (I don't love Urich going bad, but he's also been repeatedly jobbed over the years.) 

 Tim somehow gets to Norman Osborn, who was currently the Gold Goblin, and maybe not a bad guy--eh, he was still an industrialist 1-percenter, he probably still wasn't great. But, can he help his grandson? Does he need help? There were two more issues, so who knows? We saw Normie and Rascal in Adam Warren's stellar Venom Wars: Fantastic Four, but I'm not sure I knew about this series until stumbling across this issue. Not having the rest of it in front of me, I don't know all the backstory: Normie's mom Liz appeared to be working for a competitor to Osborn (Alchemax, one of the legacies of Spider-Man 2099!) and had her own Goblin thing going? And how old is Normie, anyway? Marvel time does weird things. Try to put, say, Franklin Richards, Kitty Pryde, Kamala Khan, the Power Pack kids, Molly Hayes from Runaways, and Normie and the aforementioned Spider-Kids in some kind of order based on how old they appear to be now, versus when each debuted. Actually, maybe don't; you'd never get an answer everyone liked. I do like how Marvel made a big deal a couple years ago about certain younger heroes being outlawed, so now there's even younger ones: the law is an ass!

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I have to wonder if these all came from the same collection, or same collector.

If so, I hope they're doing alright. From 2010, AAFES 10th Edition [New Avengers: X Exchange] #10. The GCD notes, no credits, but at least three art teams.

This actually makes the fourth of these oddly-sized AAFES military exchange comics that I've gotten from my local comic shops dollar bins: previously we've seen Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America issues. But, as you might expect, all three appear this time around, although not until near the end. Captain America saves a kid from being held hostage by Whiplash, while Thor fights the Abomination in Indonesia. When Thor picks up the Abomination and starts flying up with him, Abommy thinks Thor's trying to freeze him out, but that won't work. Nah, he just wanted to get him in the air to lightning the crap out of him.

Iron Man battles a recently-awakened, confused and cranky Fin Fang Foom; who may have been the victim of somebody trying to weaponize the dragon. Were these three events related...? Yes, but who cares, the Avengers were on their way to the opening of a new exchange, to honor the troops. 

 This particular copy wasn't in as good of shape as the others I've picked up, but it wasn't as good of an issue either; it kind of just trails off. Maybe bit off more than they had the page count for! But, at a glance, it looks like AAFES did maybe 17 little Marvel books, between 2005 and 2013.

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Here's another one I had been looking for, and again, the quarter bins provide! (Almost literally this time, it was a fifty-cent buy!) From 1996, Guy Gardner: Warrior #41, "Guys & Babes in Toyland" Written by Beau Smith, pencils by Marc Campos and Mike Parobeck, inks by Dan Davis.

I'd mentioned this before, as featuring animation-style art by the great Mike Parobeck: he had done something similar for Superboy #4, and we do see a thought balloon in the animated version as G'nort wishes he had got that job with Superboy! Here, two versions of the same story run simultaneously: the 'real' events of Guy's visit to Toy Fair '96; and a cleaner, TV-friendly cartoon version. Guy's there to promote his uncle Buck Fargo's planned toy line and tie-in cartoon for him. This version of Guy was way more chill than his JLI days, as well as more respectful to women: one of his sidekicks was jungle-girl Veronna, who was willing to do anything for Guy, but the idea of taking advantage of her seems too much for even him. Toy sales rep Olivia does think Veronna's action figure was going to sell well, though!

This being a comic book, of course some bad guys show up; and hey, why not get a team-up in there? A really, really awkward one, with guest-star Fire! With Ice currently dead, they had both been in mourning, but may have been drifting closer together in spite of themselves. In the animated version, the bad guy is "the Debt" and gets shut down by Olivia; but in real life it was goons from Quorum, who don't appear to have accomplished anything...except their true purpose, getting cell samples from Guy!

Later, Guy manages to catch his show, and is dismayed to see how G-rated/"Captain Marvel" he was portrayed; but too late to change it now. And Fire plans, to maybe see Guy again. 

 I'm actually a little sad I wasn't reading this one when it was released: it's good-natured fun, with Guy far more sympathetic than he'd ever been. I would've still remembered him as a grade-A jerk, though; and he's probably back there now. Also, is it going back to the well to have Parobeck do another animated-show riff? Maybe, but there was still water there! I feel like Wonder Woman deserved an issue of that: Diana, frustrated with executives, "...what, exactly, is a 'Star Rider'?" Parobeck was of course the best, but Campos does a great job here too. Dig it up!

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But this storyline wraps up this issue, how is...oh, it's literal.

Also this issue: some nuclear safety tips that sound reasonable; maybe double-check that. From 1984, Jon Sable, Freelance #9, "Cliffhanger!" Story and art by Mike Grell.

Sable had been hired by a woman, Trina Cole, believed to have stolen $100,000 from her employer's safe; but after some research and running around, he and another young woman are confronted by said employer, and his squad of paramilitary--and foreign--goons. The employer, Sherman, had been ex-US military brass and made himself "General" of his little army: while he was thrilled Sable had recovered his documents, of course he now knew too much. (Sable deadpans, "If you thought my fee was too high, why didn't you just say so?") Fortunately, before he can be murdered, Sable pulls a hidden knife to kill two guards, then escapes with the woman through a window. It's a relatively short sequence and Sable makes it seem easy, getting away after tying his shirt to a rock and throwing it down a hill, to give the dogs a false trail! (Would that actually work? Maybe, since they had gotten to the water.)

Finding a secret base underneath the resort, Sable confronts the woman, who reveals herself as Angela Ryder, Air Force Office of Special Investigations. She had been keeping tabs on Sherman, who probably read as disgruntled long before. Sherman's safe had been robbed by an Air Force major, who had also tried to kill Sable because he thought he was working for him. But, Sherman now had a nuke! Worse, four of them! Still, Angela matter-of-factly explains they could be dealt with, either by blowing them up or burning them. "You can't 'cook off' a nuclear explosion," although I do wonder what your cancer risk is being around a bonfire of fissionable material...

Sable rigs a simple 'detonator' with a cigarette, a matchbook, and a box of ammo; before he and Angela are cornered by Sherman. Which is mostly so he can explain his game: he'd cheated his terrorist partners, with a live nuke, headed for New York City! (The terrorists had intended to park the first nuke, unarmed, at the UN; to show what they could do and as a 'gotcha' to the US military.) With an inside man at NORAD, it would look like a first strike; and the US would retaliate: he was convinced by actually making the first strike, the US could win a nuclear war before lunch. Sable isn't terribly impressed, since a large stack of wooden ammo boxes was already catching fire; he then throws a knife into a guard, who knocks Sherman off a rock bridge, leaving him paralyzed, presumably to be killed in the usual massive explosion. Sable and Angela escape, although Sable ditches her to go after the nuke: he didn't feel like he could trust her. One truck explosion later, and Sable is able to go home, and find out why Trina had been able to get past his security system, and had been desperate to prove her innocence: prior to taking a job with Sherman, she had been a burglar! 

 This feels like the tailend of a Bond movie, and the base is even lampshaded as such by Angela. Still, a fun read that just flies. I know I have a fair amount of Jon Sable, Freelance from the cheap bins, and you could probably find some yourself; I think it was a pretty good seller at the time. (EDIT: Hey, I didn't plan this, but I guess it's Mike Grell's birthday! He's done a ton of books I've liked.)

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Back then I don't think you were supposed to refer to a woman as "Queen-Size," yet here we are.

"Chili Special"? What, does that come with cornbread or somethin--oh. The GCD calls this one an annual, but the indica doesn't, so split the difference and call it a "Queen-Size Special" like the cover! From 1971, Chili Special #1, cover by Stan Goldberg. All stories written by Stan Lee, pencils by Stan Goldberg.

Millie also had a Mad About Millie Queen-Size Special, as did My Love; but I don't think Marvel had any female superheroines big enough to get one at the time! Chili is described as "Millie's Red-Headed Rival" on the cover, which feels reductive; but yeah, she was basically the Reggie to Millie's Archie, or maybe the Goofus to her Gallant. This issue has several stories reprinted from Chili's first two issues from 1969, which also were later reprinted again in 1973: they are very much in the style of Archie comics, and the thought may have been, how many of them do you need, before the readers grow out of them and you can just run them again to new kids?

That said, these are kinda fun, as Stan usually writes Chili as 100% that bitch, who most often receives immediate karmic retribution for her misdeeds; as when she thinks Millie is planning a party without her, so she goes around and tells everyone it was cancelled, only to find out it was a surprise party for her birthday. Still, some of the cutdown lines are just brutal: you might not think Stan would've had that in him, but you can see a bit of it in the Spidey/JJJ repartee. (One of my favorites there was Spidey taunting "anybody that pays a dime for your rag of a paper oughta get eleven cents change!") And Millie isn't above serving some back herself!

I don't think I'd read either Millie or Chili before, but you find something like this in the dollar books; you pretty much have to, right? Read more!

This is a quarter-bin copy, of a book I know I've had since it came out, but hadn't read in years: it was just prior to a big change, although there were signs. That and it's got one of my favorite bits, from a character who has not fared well in the years since. From 1987, Captain America #329, "Movers and Monsters" Written by Mark Gruenwald, breakdowns by Paul Neary, finishes by Vince Colletta. "To Live and Die--Under L.A.!" cover by Mike Zeck! (It's a riff on the 1985 movie To Live and Die in L.A., which to the best of my knowledge doesn't feature literal monsters.)

Following up from plot points in the Thing, this was the second of four issues, with Captain America on the trail of the Power Broker: after a second clash with the super-strong Super-Patriot, Cap had recognized his fighting style as wrestling-trained. Meeting up with the Thing's friend Dennis Dunphy of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, Cap wanted to figure out how the Power Broker gave many of those wrestlers super-strength, and to maybe find something in their files on Super-Patriot, but he had been drugged by Dr. Malus, who tried to kill Cap in the strength-enhancing machine, but was saved by Dennis, in his new identity of "Demolition Man," or D-Man for short. D-Man then offered to make Malus give Cap strength equal to Super-Patriot, but Cap passes...and wonders if he was making the right choice. (Cap seemed somewhat pensive around this stretch, and appeared to be questioning a lot of his calls.) He then questions his decision again, as the goons of the Sweat Shop arrive: the Power Broker's super-strong...moving men? Maybe they had other skills, they all had matching jumpsuits and toolbelts. (The GCD notes, all the goons were named after SCTV actors or characters!)

D-Man had left to pick up lunch, and was dismayed to find trucks in front of the building when he returned. Passing himself off as "Deliveryman," he tests a theory by giving the goon on guard a flick, that would've sent a normal guy flying; and realizes these guys were augmented as well. The Sweat Shop guys seemed to have no fighting training, though: while D-Man kayos the guard, then smashes a truck into the building, Cap was able to avoid them but was having trouble knocking them out. After Cap knocks one off a pipe in the boiler room, the goons decide to work smarter rather than harder, and just put a big lump of machinery in front of the door: "He likes the boiler room so much, he can have have it." Those goons then find D-Man had beat maybe five of them already, but jumped and outnumbered, he gets knocked out. Loading up what they could before the cops show, the Sweat Shop takes D-Man with them.

In the boiler room, Cap was stuck with Malus, and a gas leak: even if the cops showed, Cap wasn't sure they'd be able to hear him or move that machinery, so he was going to have to figure a way out. Finding a hollow-sounding point, Cap smashes his way through a drain covering, so they could escape through the sewers. Malus seems reluctant to do so, eventually admitting he--er, the Power Broker, that is--had dumped the deformed, brain-damaged failures of the augmentation process down there. (I remember an old gaming module recapping this, it wasn't a 100% certainty to get powers!) Meanwhile, across the country at Avengers' Mansion, two familiar-looking feds (Jake and Elwood? Hmm.) get trapped by the security system, but are freed by Miss Captain Marvel. They tell her Cap needed to contact them, on a matter of national security; a phrase still trotted out by the government to do whatever they wanted to do, to this day.

Beaten up some more to keep him down, D-Man is brought before the shadowy Power Broker and unmasked: PB recognizes him, but doesn't want to waste the investment by just killing him. After all, research and development could always "use another expendable." Back in the sewers, the aforementioned augment failures attack, jumping Cap: Malus takes the opportunity to flee, squeezing through a grate they wouldn't be able to follow him though. One waves Cap's shield around, while another tries to strangle him in the sewer waters...to be continued! 

D-Man is legitimately a cool guy and one of Cap's bravest sidekicks, but after a stretch where he had been amnesiac and stuck in the arctic, he was reduced to the default characteristic of "stinky." It didn't help that he got sent to live in the sewers with the Morlocks--actually, that would've improved his street credibility, he was sent to live in the sewers and take care of the Zero People. Although his stench was an admittedly kind of funny joke around Busiek and Perez's Avengers #1, Cap still checks in on him there. Go look at D-Man on the Marvel Database, and just about every plotline or appearance he had after that was just dumping on the guy. I mean, winning a pie-eating contest was a highlight for him. He served in Iraq, was denied as Luke Cage's nanny, was a "Revenger" with Wonder Man, turned into the new Scourge (which technically got him an action figure, even if it's not recognizable as either D-Man or Scourge) and was maybe killed and brought back but is a vampire now. Sigh. Look, if you don't like a character, maybe just don't use him?

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This guy was afraid he couldn't take a bleeding, unconscious Tarzan: it's good to be aware of your limitations.

We saw the previous issue some time back, but I'm mostly just randomly grabbing these to see Big John Buscema go to town. From 1977, Tarzan #5, "La Seeks Vengeance!" From the original story "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, adapted and edited by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

This was part 5 of the "Jewels of Opar" adaptation, which seems long but wasn't done here, either. At this point, deserter and murderer Albert Werper was just about to stab the unconscious--and amnesiac and savage--Tarzan, before he starts to fret that if he doesn't one-shot the ape man, he'd get torn to shreds. Werper decides to skip out with the jewels: later, Tarzan notices the "white man" took his "pretty stones," and plans to find and murder him; right after a little nap. Werper continues weaseling through the plot: he meets up with the slavers that had captured Jane, but then has to flee when the slavers realize he had the jewels.

The injured Mugambi finally catches up to try and rescue Jane, but she was already gone: the head slaver thinks Werper had taken her, but she might have just escaped herself. You'll have to wait for the next issue...which I don't have. Meanwhile, Tarzan gets into a standoff with a pride of lions, that is broken up by a rhino: I don't know if this is a Burroughs line or Thomas's, but the narration points out that fight was super-cool and most people would rattle on about it the rest of their lives, while Tarzan's already about forgotten it. But, Tarzan is then jumped by the Sacred Apes, who bring him before the steamingly furious La of Opal, who wants the sacrificial dagger back: even if he had his memory, Tarzan might not have even known about that being gone, Werper might have stolen the dagger behind his back. Tarzan does maybe get the gist from the tone of her voice, though.

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I do enjoy how the quarter bin can still surprise me: even though we've seen other issues from this series, I hadn't seen this one! Even the cover didn't ring any bells. From 1995, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #37, "Body..." Written by John Arcudi, pencils by Patrick Olliffe, inks by Keith Williams.

On a distant alien planet, Harkort, a young boy with an unfortunate name (that's fun to yell!) is scolded by his mother, for goofing off with an unusual staff he had found...found next to a body; that of Firelord! Who looks appropriately sad, with his fire out. Meanwhile, back on earth, it had been, what, four issues now since Warlock defeated Count Abyss but lost his potion-caused love Maya, and Warlock was still moping? He had enough willpower, to keep from torturing himself by using the Orb of Eternity to see what Maya was up to; but then at first doubts he's really seeing the appearance of Firelord's soul, who had followed his murderer to earth.

The rest of the Watch is not particularly sensitive or supportive of Warlock in his troubled time--Maxam accuses Gamora of still being hung up on him, but Adam doesn't appear to return her attention, as he has Pip teleport them all--to Pittsburgh? (Having a weird Mandela effect/flash of senility here, because I think I usually spell it wrong, with no 'h' at the end!) In a tough bar, an out-of-place looking man is buying the beer, and acts like he has no idea when Warlock accuses him of murder. The toughs, to their credit, ask if the guy murdered a woman or a kid or something; Warlock, completely missing the point, says no, he killed a brave and mighty warrior. Which clears the way for a brawl...a remarkably ill-advised brawl. Gamora could easily beat up everyone in the building, up to and including her teammates; but both Drax and Maxam were Hulk-sized characters and nobody should be in a rush to punch it up with them.

A subplot continues, as within the Soul Gem, Kray-Tor had been traumatized back in the Count Abyss storyline, and may have been plotting to leave the peaceful world within the Gem. On the alien planet, the locals had decided Firelord must have been some kind of king, and begin preparing his funeral as such. (I'm betting cremation, to re-ignite him!) And the bad guy reveals himself, after trying to befriend and beguile Drax: it's Zakaius! Who announces himself like his name should mean something to us, but this was his first appearance! It's a traditional mystic-style look, very un-90's: no pouches or straps or anything. The fight, and the issue, end as a gas tanker explodes: the driver had the sense to hightail it when he saw the fight headed towards him. 

Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting Firelord to be dead (or, 'dead') right out of the gate here. It took a long time for this to occur to me, but did Firelord even know Warlock? Have we ever seen them together? Because that makes it weird that Firelord would go to him all "Avenge me" to Warlock. Unless it wasn't personal, and Firelord just came to him based on the Infinity Gems and/or Warlock's general rep of cosmic busybody.

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We're shooting at this guy's face, in space...I think it's symbolic, but I'm not sure.

Because I'm old, I remember the days when TV was pre-cable, limited to what you could get by antenna--which, in my town, wasn't a lot! I might've been able to get more Canadian TV than American...no, but it was close. And of course, this was pre-VCR, so if you missed something, that was probably it. But, sometimes I would visit my grandparents, and have access to, if not better, at least different TV. I have a very strong memory of the tailend of some episode of what we called "Japanimation" back then, with a crew struggling to keep their ship from falling into the sun: I to date still have no idea what that show actually was! I'm thinking Star Blazers but I'm not positive; I've still never been able to sit down and watch that. (I probably could on YouTube or something, but, yuck.) That half-remembered show, and the Ken Steacy cover, got me to pick this one out of the cheap bin: from 1989, Star Blazers #4, "A Blast from the Past" Plot by Phil Foglio, Doug Rice, and Markalan Joplin; script by Phil Foglio, art by Harrison Fong and Bill Anderson. (Also, the letters page was put together by future Vertigo editor Shelly Bond!)

I feel like Star Blazers was on syndication in America around '83-84? Roughly the same time as Voltron, at least near me--and not that near! The Wikipedia entry does mention this comic series...namely, as weaker than the first series. Well, I can kind of see that, Doug Rice did the art for the first one, and he would later do fun giant robot comic Dynamo Joe for First Comics, as well as my favorite Manhunter! (The Mark Shaw version with the cool blue mask!) Anyway, this series involves the Star Force against a exiled Earth general, who had found some alien allies, tech, and a mercenary fleet. Said general was trying to get revenge on another, for taking the fall for war crimes; which I don't think necessarily had anything to do with the rest of the series. Also, at this point everybody seems to have the "wave-motion gun," so maybe two different fleets get straight-up smoked in the space of a few panels, seemingly leaving it the big alien ship against the Argo.

Somehow, I have a model/figure of IQ-9, the little robot from this show: I want to say he was usually the comic relief/R2-D2 type. This was a Comico book, which we've seen barely a fistful of here over the years: for starters, we've seen surprisingly little of Sam & Max Freelance Police Special, one of my absolute favorite comics ever. Steve Rude's Space Ghost was a memorable one. We've also seen Gene Colan's Bloodscent and a random issue of Robotech, the latter in a post where I complain about Star Blazers being on at maybe four in the morning, weekends, two towns over. Although, shoot, I think I have another Comico book right handy! Wouldn't have bet on that one. Read more!