Second attempt: X-Men Arcade Six-Player!

Get a cup of coffee or a pop and a snack, this is going to be a long one.

About a month ago, I saw on eBay a listing for "X-MEN 1/12 Scale MINI ARCADE MACHINE MODEL," "Brand New, Hand Crafted Artisan Model." Having plunked a lot of quarters into that game back in the day, I sprang for it; and it came last week. (It was an overseas listing.) It's very nice, except for one thing: it's not 1/12 scale.

1/12 (or 1:12) scale would break down as one foot in reality would be one inch in scale. It's the same scale Marvel Legends and DC Universe classics use, where a six-foot tall character would have a six-inch tall action figure. (More or less, putting aside size creep.) A six-player arcade console is seventy-seven inches tall, so not quite six and a half feet.

In-universe, Nightcrawler is 5'9", and Deadpool is 6'2"; and both of the figures of them I have handy are right about six inches even. So, it's not always consistent; but even then this model is too small. Time to take matters into my own hands, then!

Step one, as with the Star Wars model, swipe! With a little searching, I was able to find a papercraft model, created by "AtomicThumbs," with a link: http://members.shaw.ca/jato/x-men.zip. (I scanned that with an anti-virus program before opening it: check it again!) It was for 3.75 inch scale, but we all know 1/12 is the one true scale (I tease, it's merely my preference!) and did some conversion. I am 90% sure the model I bought used the same papercraft template. The marquee piece, with the X-Men title, isn't as high resolution on any version I've seen, but more on that later.

Step two: scale it up! My wife suggested I do it my damn self I try GIMP, which I downloaded and started playing with. And I'll not quite done with it yet: things I print at home came out differently than when I printed them at Kinko's! Let's look at my first attempt:

Not quite there: trying to use the folds like a papercraft model usually would, while trying to bodge together an interior to hold it together. So, for my second attempt, I measured everything out, and bodged together an interior base, out of cardboard, foam, glue, and tape. So much tape.

Still no idea how my first try is bigger, but I do prefer the laminated side panels on it. May have to redo those on the finished one with the joysticks; which are your basic stick-pins.

I'm not 100% sold on my second one, either: I had to use way more tape than I wanted to force the panels to lie flush. I do like the way the screen sets, though, since I might try to swap in alternate screens. I also am still trying to find a better resolution version of that marquee so I could redo it, but haven't seen one yet.


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I've bought these comics at least three times. Don't judge me.

I've been doing last issue reviews (tagged "the end") since 2009, yet I still haven't gotten around to one of my first last issues: Star Wars #107, Marvel's last issue of the original series, from 1986. We won't see it here either, since this one won't fit into the scanner any better than the other reprints I have of it: Dark Horse's Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago volume 5. (I got it on the cheap at Hastings, but sadly didn't see a link for it!)

So, I had the original issues, and the last Dark Horse reprint, but that one only collected from the (super-great!) #96 to the last issue; this smaller-format Omnibus goes from #86 on. I have some other reprint collections of the classic Marvel series, but I don't know if I have a complete collection. Well, I still have my beat-up old issues anyway.

Project time again, so have a good weekend!

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This issue, Vandal Savage talks a big game.

I usually think of Vandal Savage as just a very long-lived caveman, so it's easy to forget he's had other skills over the years. Like super-science, super-will, and super-BS. From 1975, the Flash #235, "Vandal Savage--Wanted Dead and Alive!" Written by Cary Bates, art by Irv Novick and Tex Blaisdell.

Barry Allen, the Flash, races home for a special candlelit dinner with his wife Iris, but finds Vandal Savage there instead! Savage knows Barry's secret identity, and tells him he'll never see Iris again. Flash tries to stop Savage with a super-speed vacuum, but is himself stopped cold when Savage grabs him! His speed rebounded back at him, the Flash ends up ricocheting around his home, destroying the entire building!

But while that was merely a trick, Savage's mental projection, Iris is still missing. As is Carol Ferris in Central City, kidnapped by Savage moments after a date with Hal Jordan! Savage is able to tear through Green Lantern's constructs, even causing GL to get hit by his own power-ring hammer!

At this point in continuity, Vandal Savage was from Earth-2, so GL and Barry go visit Jay Garrick, the Flash of that world, for info. Jay gives a little exposition on how Savage might have survived going up in a fireball in his last appearance, but then uncharacteristically bags out of helping his friends. They wonder why, but figure Jay would have to have a good reason; although Jay thinks Barry would not understand his problem...


Savage then projects images of Iris and Carol, to lure Flash and GL to his trap. The girls are trapped in a fireball like the one that supposedly killed Savage, with their oxygen running out; and Savage laughs at their attempts to extinguish the fireball. GL is knocked out, and Flash is unable to put it out with carbon-dioxide; but Flash's try was just a distraction: without Savage focusing on him, Green Lantern was able to scan through Savage's "super-evolved mental defenses" and find him. Defenseless now against the power ring, GL compels Savage to confess: he planned on using the fireball, Green Lantern's power, and Flash's super-speed aura to make himself immortal. (Immortal again, maybe? Maybe more immortal?) But Savage had also been bluffing before: while he had intended to kidnap Iris, she was already gone when he got there!

Meanwhile, on Earth-2, Jay feels bad for Barry, since he took Iris--and Barry "must never be allowed to see Iris again!" What was that about? Well, I'll have to keep an eye out for the next issue!

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"Deal."

Ah, that file! Why would Kurt's name be on it--and crossed out? Not because he was dead and came back to life, but good guess. It would even fit into Marvel continuity, such as it is anymore. But the file remains an excuse for people to come give Felicia and Satana (and Patsy and Val) the hassle.
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Honestly, it's not his worst showing here.

How much does a writer have to rehabilitate a character before said writer should be upgraded to creator? Gail Simone didn't create Catman...she only created everything good about him. (Except for fighting the Doom Patrol!) Before Gail fixed him up, we've seen Catman flummoxed by the Freedom Fighters and grounded by G'nort; and today he's manhandled by Manhunter, in 1989's Manhunter #13, "Trackdown" Written by Kim Yale, pencils by John Koch, inks by Pablo Marcos.

Current Manhunter and bounty hunter Mark Shaw isn't having a great week: an intrusive TV reporter has been interfering with his training, and Shaw had been looking for both his next case and his old source, Sylvia Kandrey. She had been a warrants officer, but giving info to Shaw may have hurt her career, and their relationship. Shaw does get a new source, though: a friend from Belle Reve Prison puts him in touch with a new name, Oracle...

I was going to mention, even though this was 1989, neither Mark nor Oracle have keyboards that resemble anything in reality; but would fit in on the bridge of the Enterprise or maybe the Hall of Justice. I don't think this was Oracle's first appearance, but there was a little clue there. Shaw works a few more sources, before attending a museum opening with his step-sister Eleanor. Outside, he sees something and makes a quick call, since he knows Cat-Man is going to hit the museum! Shaw mentions usually preferring to do proper surveillance and plan things out, but every once in a while you just have to make it up as you go.

Cat-Man (this issue has the hyphen, although I prefer it without) makes a showy smash-and-grab of an Egyptian cat statue, but tosses his prize at Shaw when he sees the mask. With his claws, he does a number on Shaw and some guards, but his escape is cut short when his car is being towed! Shaw had recognized Cat-Man's vanity plates, GATO-1, as Spanish for cat, and called him in on his parking tickets. Shaw gets Cat-Man with his power baton, and that's that.

Later, after taking another beating during training, Shaw is visited by Sylvia, who may be willing to forgive him...maybe.

This issue didn't have Doug Rice on art...which hurt every issue he wasn't there. (He did do the cover, but still.) Yale and her husband John Ostrander were usually co-writers on this book, and I always thought they were trying to get a real pipeline going between Manhunter and their other title, Suicide Squad: Shaw would catch a bad guy, they'd be immediately sent to Belle Reve to sink or swim there...! Unfortunately, I don't think Cat-Man did any time on the Squad, so my theory may be full of holes.
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My old apartment, I don't think I put anything on the walls the whole time I was there; but since the wife has Command Strips I've been slowly filling up my wall space. Today, we've got a couple metal signs, for Star Wars #14 and Star Trek #55!

The Gold Key Star Trek original cover proclaims "Spock versus Slott in: A World Against Itself!" Who the hell was Slott? Was that supposed to be Scott? Was this issue ever reprinted anywhere? Why does it feel like I've read that one, and it wasn't great? Why were Gold Key's covers always so much better than the interiors? All valid questions! I have no idea. We did take a glance at Star Wars #14 some time back, where Luke just friggin' clocks Han one. I noticed the sign does skimp on the background detail of the original cover, though.

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Deep into Blackhawk continuity, so good luck with that.

It's like everyone remembers the Listener for mocking purposes, but that's about it. From 2010, Batman Confidential #37, "Blackhawk Down, part two" Written by Royal McGraw, pencils by Marcos Marz, inks by Luciana Del Negro.


This was the second of a four-part story, guest-starring Zinda, Lady Blackhawk--who had been brought to the future during Zero Hour--and the original Blackhawk, who was pretty darn old by this point. Jan alludes later that he's in better shape than someone his age should be, but he's not holding up as well as Nick Fury or anything. Together, they face the menace of former Blackhawk team member Ted Gaynor, who stole tech from Blackhawk Industries for his secret army, and the mutated Nazi the Killer Shark. (Who shouldn't be confused with any of the multiple shark-guys tearing about the DCU.)


Although this story does tie into her past appearances, it's not the best one for Zinda: she's brainwashed, treated like a prize, and referred to by Gaynor as a "leather-clad victory girl." The art isn't bad, but if her skirt was any shorter it'd be a belt, and she's inexplicably drawn with her mouth open a lot. For his part, Batman is somewhat dismayed that he's gotten too used to fighting lunatics that leave riddles and clues, but a wanna-be Napoleon probably isn't too far removed.

Until Comics Alliance brought it up the other day, I had forgotten there was a New 52 Blackhawk update. Sight unseen, I can't say if it was better than this, but this wasn't bad.
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Side note: those black covers take a thumbprint like nobody's business.

We close out the week with some books that won't fit in the scanner, but that I waited about twenty-five years to read! From 1991, OMAC #1-4, by John Byrne. It's prestige format, yet black-and-white. (Except for the inside covers.)

This is very much in tribute to Jack Kirby's OMAC, taking place both following and around his series: after 20 years fighting through the wartorn, post-apocalypse world, the One-Man Army Corps has finally caught up with one of the primary causes of said apocalypse, Mr. Big. Who's now a withered old man, but OMAC still snaps his neck. And then things get weird, when time-travelling agents of the facemasked Global Peace Agency come from out of time to get him--and OMAC recognizes them as having died before!

Byrne draws an assload of rubble in this series, which reminded me of his work on Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor; but he also hits on some of Kirby's OMAC highlights like Lila, the Build-a-Friend. And it may be the only comic you'll read where the hero kills Hitler, just to derail his villain's plan!

Even though I'd seen this series here and there over the years, last weekend I found the whole series at once, for a buck an issue! Almost cheaper than a single issue new in 1991.
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80-Page Thursdays: Countdown Special: the Atom #1!

I love it when I mention I'm looking for a book, then find it! Which inevitably leads to needing another book! From 2008, Countdown Special: the Atom #1, featuring stories written by Gerry Conway, with art by Arvell Jones and Bill Draut, and Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein. The Atom actually gets a bump here, because his billing was "Plus: the Atom!" on the old Super-Team Family covers.

This was another reprint collection tying into Countdown, which featured the Atom's ex-wife Jean Loring turning into the new Eclipso. Did that make any sense at all? Maybe post-Identity Crisis. Maybe. These issues were from Super-Team Family almost three decades prior (1977!) and also feature Jean Loring losing her mind in a nonsensical fashion; after being abducted by perennial JLA baddie T.O. Morrow. He also abducts Flash's wife Iris and Supergirl; but they're troopers and just shake it off.


Jean, however, is somehow charged with some kind of energy, which is going to launch her across the universe in subsequent issues. She'll be mostly catatonic, though; she has maybe five lines the first issue here. And oddly, the second issue here switches heroes, which is pretty traditional for a super-hero team-up book, but considering the Atom's fiance was missing, you'd think Flash and Supergirl would stick out the case. Instead, we get Green Lantern and Hawkman tagging in, but Jean disappears again before the Atom can save her.


I thought this issue was going to have the Secret Society of Super-Villains appearance I mentioned a while back, but they didn't turn up until the concluding chapter! Don't worry, it's on order, so we'll see how Jean gets back sometime. I actually do have the next chapter--guest-starring Aquaman and Captain Comet!--and when the Atom gets your-princess-is-in-another-castle'd again, I think he has a panel of "Arrgh!" like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls away the football.

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"Meanwhile, in space..."

I know I've seen Barbarella, but have absolutely no recollection of it. Probably because I was in my twenties when I did; if I had been younger I'm sure I'd remember it more fondly...
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Long-time comics readers are used to the spectacle of characters being killed, only to be brought back a few years later. But what I find even less productive and more annoying than that, is a redemption arc for a major super-villain. (I added major there, since you might be able to get away with it with a smaller name, but even those get rolled back!) If Two-Face gets his face fixed, it's a safe bet that it'll be wrecked again soon enough. If Dr. Doom sees the error of his ways, you don't have to be a genius like Reed Richards to realize that's not going to stick. Even if the writer manages to sell it, it can be walked back no matter how well it's sewn up--which may be mixing a couple metaphors, so let's just hit today's issue: from 2004, Batman: Gotham Knights #49, "Veritas Liberat, chapter three of three: the Redeemer" Written by Scott Beatty, pencils by Charlie Adlard, inks by John Floyd.

Even though this says part three of three, I think this storyline had been running a little past that: Bane had been searching for both redemption and the identity of his father. A red herring had indicated Thomas Wayne might have been it; instead, Bane's dad was the blind villain King Snake. (King Snake was also created by Chuck Dixon, although I don't know if Dixon intended to connect the two.) King Snake was usually a bit more robust, and I thought he had a snake tattoo on his chest as well; but he's a bit malnourished here since he had been stuck on a mountain for some time. He had infiltrated Kobra, and currently working on taking over the remnants of that cult, or at least their giant robot. (Which wasn't even that giant, all things considered.)

Batman has a full crew in on this one, with Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl. (The Cassandra one.) King Snake is a little pissed, especially since Robin had actually foiled him a couple of times already; but Bane had not betrayed Batman, and wanted to keep the robot's battery away from the Snake. Snake shoots Bane (no easy feat for a blind man, but he can hear just fine) but then falls into a chasm as Bane hits him with the battery and a Kobra goon tackles him in. Batman saves the mortally wounded Bane by putting him in a supposedly-depleted Lazarus Pit. Bane asks Batman to tell Leslie Thompson that Bane was gone, that he had found the truth and was better for it.

Of course, Bane's next appearance would be in Infinite Crisis #7, breaking Judomaster's back. No explanation for his return to villainy, other than "I finally know who I am. I am 'Bane'. I 'break' people."

This issue also features a Black & White story, "Fear is the Key" Written by Geoff Johns, pencils by Tommy Castillo, inks by Rodney Ramos. The Scarecrow murders some cops while lecturing about fear, and his own battle with pantophobia...here described as the "fear of fearlessness," when it's actually the fear of everything. A few quick checks online didn't find fear of fearlessness either, so you may have to give Johns that one. Maybe not though, since Lucy describes pantophobia correctly in A Charlie Brown Christmas, so I kind of have to figure Professor Crane would know better. Anyway, Johns portrays the Scarecrow as a junkie for fear, but he's so attenuated to even his fear toxins, that only Batman can give him that sweet, sweet fix.

This would be the last issue of Gotham Knights with the Black & White feature, the next issue would begin a Hush storyline. Yay...





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This seems a fairly typical day for Bill:

Over the weekend, I had the chance to hit a Hastings sale and a comic shop the next town over; so I was able to replenish my stock of comics for blogging. Like this issue! From 2009, Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill--the Green of Eden #1, written by Kieron Gillen, pencils by Dan Brereton, inks by Stefano Gaudiano, Mark Pennington, and Scott Hanna.

As the title implies, this was set just after Secret Invasion and just before the next Bill series, Godhunter. Bill saves the space station of some friendly robots, then meets a religious group in need of help. They were trying to set up a new faith, after their civilization and old religion failed, and Bill realizes they are actually Skrulls. Moreover, they had actually seen Bill in action before, fighting the Skrull invasion force; and they had thought maybe he would be a good new god to worship. Especially since Bill didn't have any people to take care of: the Korbinites had settled a new homeworld, only to be eaten by Galactus.

Meanwhile, Skrull hard-liners are still after the would-be Bill-worshipers, and attack with an irregular Super-Skrull, a cobbled-together copy of the Warriors Three-in-one. Bill defeats him, but refuses to kill him, and the Bill-worshipers take the Super in as their own, saying Bill may not be their god, but their god works through him. Somewhat confused, and heartsick, Bill heads back to earth in search of peace.

It occurs to me I'm not really sure what Bill's current status is. This isn't a bad issue, although Brereton's pencils are usually a little stronger than this one; and I can't say if that was on him, the multiple inkers, or the colors.
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Instead of just writing this week off as a loss, a reminder:

Walter Simonson's Ragnarök is so great. Need to add it to my pull list instead of just randomly picking it up; especially since I don't seem to have issue #4 but may have bought #3 three times...

Scans from Ragnarök #1-3, story and art by Walter Simonson, with color by Laura Martin and letters by John Workman.
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Ah, scenic, friendly Winzeldorf...

It has to be kind of hurtful that the Marvel Wikia entry for Winzeldorf comes up before any entries for the actual Winzeldorf. Then again, the Marvel Universe's Winzeldorf probably isn't anything like the real one, but it's not ever consistently portrayed either.

Anyway, I don't usually blog about brand spanking new comics, especially comics I kind of hate, but since this was another issue of Nightcrawler being chased by the angry torch-welding villagers, here we are: Extraordinary X-Men #7, written by Jeff Lemire, art by Victor Ibanez, color by Jay David Ramos.

This month, while Old Man Logan, Iceman, Colossus and Magik deal with some nonsense in Weirdworld; young Jean Grey and Storm go into Nightcrawler's mind to try and see why he's so messed up. Which turns out to be unrelated to the first six issues of this series and whatever Mr. Sinister was up to. On Weirdworld, Sunfire has been protecting mutants, but Magik is still pissed about whatever he did with Cyclops to turn humanity against mutants. (Really against mutants. Like they were beloved before...) At this point, I don't know if whatever Cyclops did has been revealed, but maybe now it shouldn't be, because there's no way it could live up to the expectation. Cyclops is on Nightcrawler's mind as well, because Cyclops is like Poochie: whenever Cyclops is not on screen, everyone should be asking, "Where's Cyclops?"

Spoiler alert: Nightcrawler was traumatized by the discovery of a mass mutant grave in Germany. Which seems kind of insensitive, considering it's Germany. I really, really prefer fun, happy Nightcrawler to crying Nightcrawler--and his new costume and long hair don't look great, either. Someone give me a head's up if the next crossover improves things any...
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"Fileshield."

I actually looked that up: there was a Patsy Walker #1 in 1945. I had almost assumed like a lot of comics back then, it didn't have a first issue, and just started off some other numbering. Maybe that wasn't as common as I thought, I don't know.

Hellcat is right, Valkyrie has a grudge against Piledriver, as seen in Valkyrie #1. I don't think that was Val's first, or last, one-shot. She is right, though, the Wrecking Crew are jerks. I'd hate them even if I didn't only have one, Bulldozer.
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