I probably could've read the prior issues, but...

I actually did pull most of this series out of a quarter bin, but mainly because this cover featured my 'bot, the Sentry! He's almost recognizable on it, but if this series was hoping Giant-Man was a big sales draw, um...from 1994, Blackwulf #5, "Sale of the Sentry" Written by Glenn Herdling, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Sandu Florea. 

Not that I could have pulled Blackwulf the character out of a line-up, I knew Blackwulf the comic was a short-lived 90's title, from around the same time as Nightwatch. It's an original title...for some values of "original," because like a lot of Image books from the time, it's a team of characters whose names are all random or phonetically spelled words against their equally generic opposite numbers. Honestly, I'm not sure a lot of Blackwulf's crew was referred to by name all issue. For some reason, I had thought Blackwulf was an Eternal or something; but he and his merry band were operating "as a top-secret, government-sponsored strike force."

Giant-Man gets called in to help out, but not so much for his giantness, but as a roboticist; on the trail of the missing Sentry 459. That's burying the lede, though, since Ultron is the bad guy this issue, dressed up as a priest! He's taken over a small town in Pennsylvania with cybernetic implants, and I don't think he did it by force; Ultron may have just convinced them that's how you get on the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, Blackwulf and his guys were there in search of a missing teammate, Sparrow, who's quit their team and shacked up with "an old flame," Michael Rossi. (If that name rings a bell, it's probably from Uncanny X-Men #182, he had known Carol Danvers pre-Rogue. How or why he ended up there, I couldn't say; it's also a weirdly specific minor character to use.) One of her teammates gets her to blow her stack, pointing out the new Blackwulf, Lucien, was responsible for the death of the old one, and took his code-name to boot! Why? Look, you'd have to find those first four issues or something. I also have no idea how or why the Sentry/Ultron plot and the Sparrow plot are in the same town, and I sincerely doubt reading prior issues is gonna help me out on that one.

Ultron just kind of walks off in this one, giving the freed Sparrow a "control box" for her autonomic body functions. It looked like it had two buttons, so I don't know exactly how much control he was talking there. On-off? Up-down? Whatever Ultron did to the townspeople did a number on their nervous systems, but Hank has a fix, a computer program "that allowed them to simulate their daily routine." Blackwulf notes he programmed them to think they had free will; which he finds disturbing--it's downright hellish, isn't it? So there's a small town in the Marvel universe where the locals walk and talk and maybe even interact with you, but are probably about as alive as a wax museum. I wonder if Hank has to update them, or if they're still running OS94...

I don't even think that's uncommon, I think that happens every now and again in comics: "Everyone in this town is dead, their brains eaten by planarian worms/computer virus/alien consciousnesses/etc. But, they still mostly act like they used to, so...no harm done?" This is what New Yorkers think of the flyover states, isn't it...

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Standing on a beach with a stick in his hand...

When was the last time Daredevil went to the beach? Well, he doesn't this issue either, despite the cover. From 1995, Daredevil #337, "Fathoms of Humanity, part five: Heart of the Fire" Written by Gregory Wright, pencils by Tom Grindberg, inks by Don Hudson.

Oof, I think there's more words on that page, than in this post...This was an extended fill-in arc, as D. G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel had gone to work on Elektra: Root of Evil: McDaniel would not return, and Chichester would only for four issues as 'Alan Smithee.' Midway through his armored stint as "Jack Batlin," DD was trying to help a community of homeless people living below New York City--not the Morlocks. (It's apparently not uncommon to this day.) Two of their number had been fingered for a bombing, and Daredevil was struggling to bring the real bomber to justice. There is a page this issue of the cops sweating two black men for a confession, then grudgingly releasing them when new evidence cleared them: the cops are not shown in a particularly favorable lot this whole arc, really; although of course DD still maintains his almost Pollyanna-esque faith in the law.

Of course, since this was a Marvel comic, this whole mess also involved the Kingpin, his underground lookalike King and his CHUD-types, Bushwacker, the former Deathlok now going by Demolisher, Blackwulf, and Joshua, the man that used to be Peacekeeper. Peacekeeper appeared to have been made up, whole-cloth, possibly on the spot: Marvel already had another former mystery-man turned homeless hero, the Angel; but the continuity may have gone sideways on him.

Daredevil does find himself in a pickle towards the end, as he has to disarm a bomb, and of course can't see the wires. But, his contacts as Jack Batlin help win the day for a change, as the corporate bad guy is blackmailed then exposed. (Since he's too pure, DD won't allow himself or his contacts keep the millions they extorted: maybe they shouldn't, but hear me out, maybe they should?) And all of this of course plays into Wilson Fisk's hands, as even in a reduced state, he continues to play the long game. This wasn't a must-read arc, but not as bad as I'd been expecting. And I thought Grindberg did an OK job on the much-maligned armor suit.   Read more!