"Baddest."

Satana has been a regular cast member in these strips pretty much since I got her, back in October 2013; although my version probably isn't strictly derived from comics. Then again, she appears every so often here or there and can vary wildly between appearances. I love her as a foil, a contrast: she works well as a "straight man" in the comedy sense of the term. Shiklah, though...I may be figuring this one out on the fly. I did flip through Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos, the Battleworlds series she led; but I don't know if it had a lot of great insight into the character. It did have a bit of foreshadowing for Deadpool, who was a ghost for most of that series; that he probably wasn't going to live happily ever after with his new bride.

EDIT: Blogger threw me into their new template/interface/whatever, and the pictures did not come out the way I wanted, so reloaded. That may well have been user error; I probably can't put that all on them.
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I'm assuming the other brother's name is Hugo, of course.

I remember a hunting trip when I was a kid, to a friend of a friend's cabin, where I spent most of the weekend reading old comics there. This maybe might've been one of them...maybe. From 1974, Black Magic #7, reprinting 1952's Black Magic #11, "Freak!" Maybe written by Joe Simon, possibly written and definitely penciled by Jack Kirby, inks maybe by Mort Meskin.

Sylvia Brewster had a date with Dr. Tony Austin, who sounds like a catch: before they can go out, he has to make a house call out in the middle of nowhere. Sylvia tries to put a positive spin on it all, but refuses to be left in the car in the dark, so she comes in to meet the Sheridan family. Ma and Pa seem a bit tightlipped, but son Bart is fed up that they "coddle and coo over that wretched thing." And on cue: horrible screaming!

Tony explains he gave him a sedative; but before he and Sylvia can get out of there, the storm has washed out the road. Since they weren't married, of course Tony gets the couch while Sylvia is set up in a spare bedroom; but she hears crying from the attic. With her fear momentarily overcome by her curiosity, she heads up to the attic and finds--the family freak!

The freak had grabbed Sylvia, but Bart says it thought she was him. Deciding he'd be better off dead, Bart moves to kill his brother, who jumps him, knocking over a lamp and setting the place on fire. Tony manages to get Sylvia out of the house, as the screams of the trapped brothers fade. Some time later, Sylvia tries to tell her story to the authorities, but the only piece of evidence she has is the freak's collar and chain, which the inspector writes off as probably for a dog. Tony, abiding by HIPAA...about 50 years early...declines to confirm the story, since Ma and Pa Spencer were still alive and he couldn't break confidence with them, and the case is closed.

This seems familiar, but I'm not positive this is the one I remember: I swear the freak was freakier; and there may have been a couple people fleeing in pants-crapping terror from it. I've been flipping through pre-Comics Code horror for a while, but maybe haven't found what I'm looking for yet.
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As often happens around here, we saw the previous issue a couple months back, and we randomly found this one recently: From 2016, the Uncanny Inhumans #9, written by Charles Soule, pencils by Kev Walker, inks by Scott Hanna.

Having just discovered her sister was seeing her ex-boyfriend, Crystal is understandably upset; and learning Black Bolt and Gorgon knew before her isn't helping. Rather than the usual super-powered scuffle, Crystal tries to choke back her rage, but she, Johnny, and Medusa are suddenly teleported away by "the Tourneyman," an alien they had never met before but Johnny recognizes as a Grandmaster-type. Somewhat anticlimactically, the Tourneyman maybe shouldn't have given his villain spiel with his mouth full, as he chokes to death on a "buzzbug." His guards make for the escape teleporter, since the Tourneyman set his massive ship to fly into a star if he died; Johnny stops them before they can flee, and they begin transporting the captives out.

Crystal and Medusa have a moment to talk: while she had moved on from Johnny, she felt like Medusa took him just to show she could. (Crystal seems less hurt about Johnny, alternatingly seeing him as "a child," or "lost.") Medusa responds, even Crystal sees her as a queen before anything else, just like most everyone else, except Johnny. The moment is interrupted by the last of the guards, trying to fight their way out; and Medusa sends Crystal back first. Crystal is furious that they sent the guards back before themselves, and Medusa is cut off by the flames until Crystal sends cold water back through the portal so she could get through. (The transporter seemed like a Star Trek styled one before, then a two-way Boom Tube kind of set-up after!) Holding each other, Johnny and Medusa barely make it back, and Crystal hugs them both: everything might not be forgiven yet, but she still loved them both.

The Tourneyman was very much out of nowhere; but has Marvel used the Grandmaster lately? I know there was another, similar Elder, the Profiteer, used instead recently in Fantastic Four: Empyre. Well, I think they needed something to bring everyone together here; and the Grandmaster might've been a whole thing.
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I swear I just saw somebody on Twitter bitching about this; a stretch of Peter Parker with Frank Miller covers and somebody else drawing the issue. But I wasn't expecting--Jim Shooter?! From 1981, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #57, "These Wings Enslaved!" Written by Roger Stern, layouts by Jim Shooter, finishes by Jim Mooney.

The art isn't as exciting as Frank Miller's cover, but I wanted to see the scene from it where J.Jonah Jameson is about to throw down with Killer Shrike! Instead, Peter has to rent a tux to take pictures at a party JJJ was throwing for research scientist Marla Madison--who would later marry JJJ--on the occasion of her taking a new job with the Brand Corporation. Among the guests, one Roderick Kingsley--oh, he's a nobody, sure we won't see him again.

In typical Spider-Man tradition, Marla is kidnapped from her party, by Killer Shrike. An unwilling Killer Shrike: his battlesuit was possessed by occasional antagonist Will O'the Wisp, who takes them to a secret Brand lab and asks Marla for help pulling his molecules back together. Spidey trails them and helps out against Brand's security and later the freed Shrike. Once Will O'the Wisp reforms, he hypnotizes Marla a bit, then commences to wrecking the crap out of the building, knowing Spidey would have to get her and everyone else to safety.

Outside the burning facility, Marla can only recall Spider-Man was somehow involved, and that she sure as hell wouldn't be taking a job with Brand. Jameson, to his credit, backs her up immediately, suggesting maybe the Bugle should investigate the company a bit; which is met with a barely-veiled threat invoking Brand's corporate daddy, Roxxon. Spidey is left to wonder if Will O'the Wisp will be a threat in the future, and intermittently, yeah. He's pretty far down the list, though.
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Tough to read comics about a dystopian future now; it's like got that, got that, that's probably next, got that...

I read the first two issues of this series back in 1988, when I was living in Montana and it would've been probably an 80-mile drive for them. It's probably best remembered for early appearances of Death's Head, yes? But not without its charms. From 1988, Dragon's Claws #7, "The Quality of Mercy!" Written by Simon Furman, art by Geoff Senior. Cover by Dave Gibbons!

Mercy was the girl member of Dragon's team, a former rich girl-turned-vigilante who joined the 'Game' to follow leads on the supposedly accidental death of her father. The Game was squad-versus-squad gladiator-like battles, no holds barred; and apparently occasionally bled over into civilian areas with commonplace bystander deaths. I don't think the Game was necessarily deathmatches, though: it may have involved reaching a goal or capturing a flag. While it had long been a popular spectator sport, once shut down the violent squads were left to get into all kinds of trouble on their own; and Dragon's Claws were brought back in to stop them, although they may have been unaware of the political maneuvering behind-the-scenes, a larger conspiracy. Mercy had eventually got her father's killers, but gave up the vigilantism after killing an innocent. Today's mission, guarding a government official who had been cleared of murder charges, didn't sit well with her even before a new vigilante comes for him: Scourge. Scourge had even been inspired by Mercy, but now sees her as a sellout; while Mercy wonders how much blood is on her hands now.

While Dragon first wants to go looking for Mercy, the computer-brained Digit suggests they have a job to do, and Scourge would certainly come to them, and Mercy would have to live or die with her choices. Dragon reluctantly agrees; but Scavenger finds Digit's decision cold, and sends his dog Scratch to help Mercy. Mercy finally has a final showdown, gunning down Scourge: Steel understands why she did what she did...but also notes Mercy could have shot to wound.

Later, back in England, an ambulance crew is waylaid by Dragon's Claws' former rivals and recurring foes, the Evil Dead!

The Wikipedia article for Dragon's Claws mentions the UK market wasn't big enough to support the book, which was also oddly sized in relation to other British comics. And probably a bit too violent for the Thundercats or Transformers crowd.
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"Denny's."

Yes, neither Daredevil nor Wolverine could tell that Typhoid Mary and Mary Walker were the same person, but Face ID can. Do they both have the same fingerprints? I suppose unless she was fingerprinted while unconscious, Typhoid would burn hers...

Does the Kingpin know Matt's Daredevil in the current continuity? I'm a bit behind.
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This is probably a throwback to when I was first buying comics off the spinner rack, but I'm not adverse to buying a random issue of a mini-series: I had X-Men and the Micronauts #4 for years before I was able to get the rest of the series. Hopefully, this one won't take me that long. From 2018, Rom and the Micronauts #3, "Entropy" Written by Christos Gage, art by Paolo Villanelli.

Rom and the Micronauts never got a team-up back in the Marvel runs, so this was a long time coming; but you have to make do with the reimagined versions rather than the 'classic.' Still, a lot to like here, including nice modernizations of classic Micronauts toys/characters like Membros, Ampzilla, Lobros, and Antron! The Dire Wraiths and Baron Karza have teamed up, forcing Rom and the Micros to team up against them. This issue was midway through the miniseries, so it's mostly a fight issue, and not a bad one at that.

I've mentioned before how Rom, the Micronauts, and other Hasbro properties were in a shared universe at IDW, but added somewhat late in the game to their long-running Transformers continuity, which just got a reboot a couple years back. Rom at least may still have some books coming, with a Dire Wraiths book due in July. (Check the link, it mentions a Sal Buscema back-up feature!)
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"The Wolverine serial prior to Weapon X" would be a Jeopardy answer nobody gets.

Partly because the title is better known for something else, partly because it's not very good. From 1991, Marvel Comics Presents #69.

Ghost Rider shares the lead with Wolvie in "Acts of Vengeance, part 6: Brass Tactics" Written by Howard Mackie, pencils by Mark Texeira, inks by Harry Candelario. But this is the origin of Brass: Navy SEAL, ninja, badass, Poochie. His girlfriend was killed during the Acts of Vengeance crossover (off-panel, until now at least) and he swore well, vengeance, on the Mandarin, and the rest of his conspirators; the Red Skull, the Kingpin, and Magneto. Ooh, don't forget the Wizard! And Loki!...you sap. That sounds like a really good way to commit suicide, but so far this seems to be played straight, like Brass thinks he could do it. Wolvie and Ghost Rider aren't the type to laugh in his face, or talk somebody out of killing themselves either, I guess.

This issue also has another Shanna the She-Devil chapter that we won't go into, but she barely appears in it. Next, the first of a four-part Daredevil serial, "Redemption Song, part 1 of 4: Hot in the City" Story and layouts by Sandy Plunkett, pencils by Dwayne Turner, inks by Chris Ivy. Pirate radio, mad dogs, and possibly a mad scientist all bother DD.

I liked the next one better, the Silver Surfer in "A Howling in the Void" Written by Len Wein, pencils by Hugh Hayes--that's Hugh Haynes, he had been the artist for the last First issues of Nexus! He draws a nice little Surfer vs. alien zombies story.

Am I buying Marvel Comics Presents issues whenever I find cheap ones, so I have a quick book to blog? That may be too much planning to give me credit for.
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