"Stalled."

Let's see here..Nightcrawler was killed off in X-Force #26 in 2010, came back in Amazing X-Men #1 in 2013, and revealed he had to trade his soul to return and stop Azazel in Amazing X-Men #5 in 2014. (Page from "The Quest for Nightcrawler, conclusion" Written by Jason Aaron, pencils by Ed McGuinness, inks by Dexter Vines.)

In X-Men Gold, Nightcrawler still didn't have a soul (and didn't have the Bamfs that had been following him around in his solo book) and on at least two separate occasions is injured to the point he should die, and doesn't. (From 2018, X-Men Gold #18, "The Negative Zone War, part 3" Written by Marc Guggenheim, art by Ken Lashley.) (This issue was from this year? That feels like a hundred years ago!)

Despite being "soulless," Kurt still dated Rachel Grey, and almost proposed to her. But to date, the plotline of his soul and possible unkillable...ness hasn't been resolved. With the X-Men going into another restructuring, I wonder if it ever will. (I would be a million times more excited, if they hadn't gone with "X-Men Disassembled" for a title. Also, I hate the beard, it screams depression to me...)

And our first panel today? Man, we've had a lot of guest-stars in this thing! None of whom are going to take Pool's call!

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Marvel has long employed a "sliding timeline," in which the Marvel Universe as we know it from Fantastic Four #1 began about ten years ago, instead of 1961. So in current continuity, Captain America probably wasn't unfrozen until the Obama administration! But with the traditional heroes being moved closer to the present, it creates openings for new stories in the past. Like today's book! From 2014, Mighty Avengers #11, written by Al Ewing, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Jay Leisten.

This was an Original Sin crossover issue...not unlike Maximum Security the other day, I know I've read some of it, much of which is not sticking in the memory right now. Luke Cage was there with Spider-Man and Thor, when the Orb blew up the Watcher's eye, "a bomb full of secrets." Thor found out he had a sister, Spidey sees he wasn't the only one bitten by the radioactive spider, and Luke gets to see...his dad led his "own @%$# super-team." Luke is, put mildly, steamed: it took a long time to convince his dad that he had been framed, then his dad didn't want to be part of his superhuman life, and this revelation felt like a betrayal.

Back in 1972, James Lucas had been a homicide detective, and caught a case with a body with a torn-out rib cage and a bat-monster head. He's quickly joined by Constance Molina, "reporter on the freak beat," who gets him in touch with Dr. Brashear--the Blue Marvel! Meanwhile, in the morgue, Kaluu hypnotizes and gets rid of the staff so he can examine the body, but is attacked by Blade! Blade assumes Kaluu is a vampire, and the two throw down in classic Marvel misunderstanding fashion, albeit with some great smack talk by Blade. When Lucas, Molina, and Brashear arrive; Kaluu is not particularly impressed, so Brashear zaps him one. Lucas realizes who Brashear was, although he seems a little disappointed that the Blue Marvel had seemingly taken ten years off and let the world think he was dead. Somewhat more amenable after getting zapped, Kaluu explains the bat-thing is a "standard magical familiar," which then leaves the question, who killed it? Enter the Bear: she had killed the familiar to stop the Deathwalkers' ritual to destroy humanity.

In the present, James isn't comfortable talking about what happened next; but Luke tells him the latest Ronin had been Blade, who had said he was hunting the Deathwalkers...and hadn't been seen for months. James tells his son to pour them both a whiskey and sit down...

I hadn't seen the Bear before this issue, and I'm not overly familiar with Kaluu either. Weirdly, I had just read something today that mentioned unseen adventures of Iron Fist's father, so seeing Luke's dad's backstory was good timing. And I like seeing Blade in his seventies outfit; now I'm wondering if anyone has done an eighties version...
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Hey, that one stole Thor's hat!

Over time, I thought I had put together most of the issues of Thor just prior to when Walt Simonson reinvigorated the book with Thor #337. But I didn't recognize today's book, since I would've remembered a Bill Sienkiewicz cover! From 1983, Thor #332, "Blood of a Goddess!" Written by Alan Zelenetz, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Vince Colletta.

As Dr. Donald Blake, Thor has returned to New York City, to get ambushed with questions about Jane Foster's murder! The cops didn't have a body, or even much motive besides jealousy; but Blake may have been one of the last to see her; and the story of what actually happened to her is pretty impenetrable for the reader, so it probably wouldn't go over great with the cops, either. After Jane failed her trial against the Unknown, she had been returned to earth and set up with Blake-lookalike Dr. Kincaid, who's understandably curious what happened to his fiancé, but Thor doesn't think he can say anything without torpedoing his secret identity.

Blake's questioning makes headlines...somehow, possibly because this story was before the constant hellstorm of today's news churn. Sif sees the papers and rushes to join her beloved, while Thor is giving word to try and find the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn, which had been used to fuse Jane and Sif together, or whatever it did. Meanwhile: Dracula! Flying by, he notices Thor and Sif (and seems to notice Sif more than the preoccupied Thor does...) then proceeds to turn three hapless teens into vampires. Dr. Blake gives a second opinion on their bodies in the morgue, then offers the lead detective assistance as Thor, so he's there the next night when another body rises as a vampire. Thor makes short work of that one, then has to fly to the cemetery figuring the teens would turn as well. Also a short fight, but at Sif's place, a half-asleep Sif hears a tapping at the window, and dreamingly thinks it's Thor...when it's actually Dracula!

The Dracula story would only run one more issue, then the Jane Foster plotline would be wrapped up--for some time--in #334-335. I feel like I have most of those, but it probably wouldn't stop me from buying them out of the quarterbin again.
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Some Walgreens exclusives are a bit more desirable than others.

When you complete a team, it can be even better than finishing a Build-a-Figure: it can elevate prior purchases, and it can feel like getting them all at once as you rediscover the earlier members. That's how it felt getting the Walgreens exclusive Thing the other day: I had him out for a bit, then got the rest of the Fantastic Four (and Namor!) out. They look great together.

I did have to pop off the Thing's arm and freeze it a bit, since the elbow stuck a bit. (I had to do the same for the Laura Wolverine figure as well, recently.) He was the only one I found, although I've seen pictures that more should be turning up.
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I went to Seattle a couple weeks back, and hit a ton of comic shops; all of which were very nice, but didn't have the big bins of quarter books that I had my black little heart set on. I did get a pretty good stack of trades on the cheap, sure, but they don't fit in the scanner; and neither does one of the few cheap singles I found: from 1991, Excalibur: Air Apparent, written by Scott Lobdell, with art by Ron Lim, Dwayne Turner, Brian Stelfreeze, Jackson Guice, Rick Leonardi, Erik Larsen, and James Fry; inks by Al Gordon, Karl Story, Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Joe Rubinstein, Erik Larsen, and Don Hudson. And a Walt Simonson cover!

That's a pretty good roster of artists!...for a completely throwaway story. We've seen some specials that I thought were structured to be serials in Marvel Comics Presents, but this particular one was set up with seven-page chapters; MCP would've been eight. So this seems to have been meant to be like this. Huh. Lobdell wrote another one, 1992's Excalibur: XX Crossing, which was a newsstand book, not a prestige format like Air Apparent, but with a similar split-the-team set-up.

Anyway, from a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, the Weird Happenings Organization's Brigadier Stewart (wow, I knew that was a Dr. Who homage, but it's a double one!) gives Excalibur a mission: stop a mad scientist, who among other things, had a Life Model Decoy with a nuke in it running around, and had salvaged a piece of the destroyed Air-Walker android to make a duplicate one. The team splits up to stop various threats, and while Nightcrawler shoots up the LMD with an M-60, and Kitty fights an Alien-styled robot over lava; my favorite is actually Meggan vs. Coldblood! I kinda like him as the Player-2 version of Deathlok, only he's suave and smooth while poor Deathlok is more coarse. Coldblood's like the James Bond of Marvel cyborgs...I'd mention I would like a Coldblood Marvel Legend, but poor Meggan hasn't even got one yet.

Anyway, not an essential book, but fun enough. Especially since you could probably find a copy for cheaper than the $4.95 cover now.
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"Nova."

I think in regular Marvel continuity, Frankie Raye may have returned; seemingly without memory of being Nova? Based on her other return, though, I don't know if I'd trust that...
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This ties into continuity, that I'm not sure was ever mentioned again.

Another issue of this ninety-nine cent book, from 1996, Over the Edge #7, "Breathless Nights" Written by John Rozum, pencils by Stephen B. Jones, inks by Mike Witherby and Ralph Cabrera.

I know I had a friend reading it at the time, but I've never read the 1994 Nightmare limited series. It was written by Ann Nocenti and I think it might've been like Druid or Hellstorm, Marvel attempting to get into Vertigo's territory. There's a bit of a recap of it here, after Dr. Strange follows a lead in the case of a woman whose last three dates have all died in their sleep, to Nightmare. (This was before the term 'ghosted,' came into vogue, but I don't think that's quite what it means...)

Nightmare had taken a mortal form, "Edvard Haberdash," because he fell in love with a girl named Roxanne: she had loved him until realizing his true nature, and now seemed to be with him to protect others. He's trying to win her back, but is also furious a mortal and one of his lackeys would dare use his realm without his knowledge, and seemingly destroys Doggerel, a little dog-like demon that had been left in charge. Strange and Nightmare find the killer and his demon in the nightmare dimension, but the killer takes off to kill Strange's body, sending the demon to kill the woman. Because Strange didn't want Nightmare to get the killer, he has to trust Nightmare to save him; which he does, somewhat grudgingly. Strange stops the killer and wipes his mystic books, but isn't quite convinced Nightmare is trustworthy yet. And later, the killer struggles to stay awake, since Nightmare is waiting for him...

Hmm, this copy wasn't the ninety-nine cent version: this was a split book with Professor Xavier and the X-Men #7.
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Quasar just lost his earth privileges, but no, let's make it all about you, USAgent...

I didn't buy this in 2001, but I suppose it would've just made me mad then: Maximum Security #3, "Whatever the Cost!" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Jerry Ordway, inks by Will Blyberg, Paul Ryan, and Mark McKenna.

This wasn't as big a crossover as some: after the Dangerous Planet one-shot, it was three issues and sixteen tie-ins. Offhand, I only recall one of the X-Men ones, featuring the return of Cerise from Alan Davis's Excalibur; except it was set in the middle of that stretch where Nightcrawler was going to be a priest and blech. Ooh, wait: the Marvel Knights tie-in was the Punisher vs. an alien, that was a bit of all right. Anyway, the gist was, the various races of the universe decide maybe earth is too dangerous to just leave alone, and they opt to turn the planet into a prison, dumping all sorts of past alien bad guys on earth!

The whole thing is revealed to be a plot by the believed-dead Supreme Intelligence, involving trapping Ego the Living Planet on earth and draining his power to give to Ronan the Accuser. Actually, at least part of that plan seems to work, with the Kree seemingly moving against several worlds to return to power; but that plot is left open as the Avengers in space are recalled home by the current team leader...USAgent?

It's the riot-cop costume, not my favorite. He mentions federal authority there, but that only seems to apply like every other time for the team...USAgent was actually the viewpoint character for most of this series, having found some of the first alien prisoners; and Busiek walks a line between making him sympathetic (it's his case, after all) and as much of a dick as usual. He defends Quasar until he's able to absorb the essence of Ego and de-power Ronan; but instead of shaking Cap's hand in the end, he throws a little hissy fit about the silent majority that pisses any goodwill away.

Quasar had to leave earth to keep Ego in check, and I'm not sure if that was ever explained before he was killed off in Annihilation. Professor X also returned here, he had only been in space with the mutant Skrulls since Uncanny #379, not even a year.

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Maybe I should have a tag for books I buy out of the quarter bin, even though I know damn well I have them lying around somewhere. Like today's book! From 1993, Captain America #419, "Television Blind" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Rik Levins, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

The Red Skull had been willing to give Viper a chance--"a person, I thought, whose evil was within striking distance of my own!" But has come to realize their partnership might not have the same goals: the Skull wants to create a new world order, Viper just wants everything to burn. Forced to stop her schemes from wrecking his, the Skull hires Silver Sable to bring her in. While Sable didn't know who hired her, Captain America does, and has his eyes on the bigger picture.

With former sidekick Battlestar, Sable agrees to a compromise with Cap: dropping Viper off on a butte in the southwest, as agreed by her unseen employer; but bugging Viper's uniform. The Red Skull doesn't go in person, of course, and why should he, since he's got some goon in the old Iron Monger armor for that! Teleconferencing in, the Skull is mildly annoyed that Viper has wasted ten million dollars of his, but she claims to have something really big going. What it is, she won't say, until the Iron Monger breaks her leg! Even then, she won't give up all the details; but she is then rescued by her crew, the Fangs! One of whom, the mutant Slither, I think Viper had been keeping as a pet since #344 or so, and that's an issue we really still need to get to! Another appears to be another new goon in an old armor: Razorblade looks a lot like the old Porcupine suit...

The Fangs take out faux-Iron Monger, and Silver Sable asks Cap if they want to check if IM is still alive, or maybe go on with saving the country. I think she's mocking him a bit. With Battlestar, they make fairly short work of the Fangs at their base, with Cap taking out their transmitter tower with one of their own bazookas. Viper has a somewhat sad moment when she thinks she's finally won, before her power goes out.

Gruenwald had a ten-year run on Captain America, and this was around year eight. It's not bad, but it's not his peak work, either. Levins wasn't my favorite of the pencilers during that run, but he may have done a solid batch of issues. (Man, I miss Kieron Dwyer…)

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I almost considered giving DC's Convergence a tag, then I got pissed off at it again, it'll stay under the tag "crossover debris." Was there a point to that whole thing, besides buying time for DC's move to California? I know they maybe tried a spinoff or two, but Telos only ran six issues, less than the crossover itself! And there were no consequences to anything--even less so than usual for comics. I bitched and bitched about Travis Morgan dying in Convergence #5, and the Warlord returned in Trinity #18 this year! (Wait, I'm not complaining about him coming back.) And all the fights between Elseworlds or old continuity versions of characters, seemed utterly pointless. Even if, say, the Gotham by Gaslight or Red Rain Batmen lost, do you seriously think we're never going to see them again? Or a book like today's, with two continuities I'd like to see return, that haven't been seen since! From 2015, Convergence: Blue Beetle #2, "Legion of Doom!" Written by Scott Lobdell, art by Yishan Li.

(By the way, I rarely like variant covers, but I absolutely hate the "design variants" for this event. They not only seem really pretentious, but also meant like 80 covers to order and sort through!)

This was the pre-Crisis, classic Charlton versions of Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and the Question; defending their Hub City...against the post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes. That's a tough draw, not just because they're seriously outnumbered, but only Atom actually had any powers. Still, they have one advantage: even fighting to defend their future Metropolis, the Legion wasn't by nature killers. While the Question and Atom scuffle with the team, Beetle--having already hacked the Legions' rings for info--works out a plan: Sensor, Saturn Girl, and Kid Quantum create the illusion that Hub City is destroyed, giving Telos a 'winner.'

I don't know if anyone here showed up for the last issue of Convergence--38 covers for 9 issues, including a #0. Ugh...But I do like that somewhere out there in the Multiverse, these guys are all still out there. Pity Beetle is too old to talk his way onto the Legion, though...
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"Prophecy."

The Silver Surfer's 1998 Fox animated series only lasted one season, but had three series of Toy Biz figures! Two of which were five-inch figures, not unlike their usual pre-Marvel Legends offerings; while one was a six-inch scale. The Surfer from that was very nice for the time, and I also immediately bought the original classic Beta Ray Bill! (Who I say is 1997 in that link, which might be wrong?) I wouldn't get the other two six-inchers for some years, the Meegan Alien, and just recently Nova! Who, between the vac-metallizing and the outdated articulation, might not be the most expressive character we've ever had here; but we'll see.

I just recently got the brand new Walgreens exclusive Silver Surfer, and he's easily the best of the what, four Marvel Legends he's received to date! There was the Toy Biz series 5 that came with Howard the Duck; the 2007 Ronan/Fantastic Four series; and the 2008 Silver Savage/Red Hulk series. And I got another of the old 1998 Surfers on eBay with this Nova! I should see about hanging him from the ceiling or something.
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If anybody asks, Spidey always had a tail. Or boobs. Or wore six layers of costume...

From 2008, Spider-Man: Brand New Day--Extra #1, "The Spartacus Gambit" Written by Marc Guggenheim, art by Marcos Martin.

Set "Several weeks from now," the story opens in a courtroom, as Spider-Man, his arm in a sling, is charged with murder in the second and multiple counts of assault and obstruction! Since I think this was released before whatever Spidey allegedly did, I don't know what it is, but it's looking bad. Luckily, Spidey's got Matt Murdock on the case, but things are complicated further by a lawyer filing regarding a civil case against Spidey, a motion to have him unmasked!

The legal arguments sound reasonably close to realistic, or at least Law and Order; but the civil suit lawyer makes an analogy comparing a masked vigilante to a car: if you got hit by a car, you'd have the right to run the plates and see who owned it, so if you get hit by a vigilante...Surprisingly, Matt agrees, at least to the analogy, and requests a recess. The next day, Matt hands Spidey a law book, suggesting he may have to study up; but that he might be able to take care of the civil suit. Inside the courtroom, the judge is more than a little steamed at Matt's latest stunt: a courtroom full of Spider-Men, some swinging and climbing about!

The multiple Spideys let Matt argue, the burden of proof in the civil suit would be on the plaintiff, and they would have to show who was in the suit on the day of the incident. Unmasking the Spider-Man on trial here would prove nothing. The civil suit is dismissed, but without prejudice; the judge leaving it open if they could prove what Spidey did it. But she goes on to deny bail for the defendant here. Spidey isn't thrilled, but is grateful for what Matt has already done, as well as curious where the other Spider-Men came from. He's really, really hoping it wasn't clones; and hey, they weren't!

I see Ronin there, who I guess might've been Hawkeye then? Looks like he's wearing a Spidey-suit over his own stupid outfit. The Black Cat was another of the faux-Spideys, and had also broken into an evidence locker to get his web-shooters. Iron Fist had used one during the courtroom demonstration, while the other is inside the cut-out law book. It's not really clear who each Spidey was, but only Arana and Nightcrawler could actually crawl on walls. Actually, I'm assuming Arana could, and maybe the Cat? Which probably works, since they may be less convincing up close! Meanwhile, this story arc, "Character Assassination," would begin in Spider-Man #584: the next issue box says #582, but that was the conclusion of a Molten Man story; the next issue was the Obama cover. Just reading a recap of Character Assassination it sounds pretty complicated, though.
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Getting their money's worth out of that sword mold.

Some recent pick-ups: Marvel Legends Psylocke, Typhoid Mary, and Lady Deadpool. All of whom come with the same sword, which isn't new to any of them, it's been used for more than a couple Deadpool figures.

Also, we should acknowledge Hasbro rectified a long-standing injustice, with the release of Spider-Ham!

I know some were bitching about the lack of articulation below the waist for Spider-Ham, but there is precedent.
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