This was Starlin's last issue, and he made it as Starlin as possible.

It also opens with a quote from Woody Allen, but don't hold that against it: from 1994, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #31, "Abyss" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Pat Olliffe, inks by Bob Almond and Nichols.

We looked at #29 some time back, and saw Warlock and Maya enthralled with each other after drinking from that cool-ass bottle of wine. Presumably Maya gets kidnapped the next issue, since she's missing here and Adam is consulting the "Orb of Eternity" to better know his enemy, Count Abyss. (I suspect Eternity gave him the Orb to keep Adam from barging in whenever.)

The Orb gets surprisingly chatty recapping the history of Milos Abyss, who had been an archaeologist and scientist, but merely one of many. Still, his field of expertise was Zalgodian history, and knew more about that ancient race than any of his people. When a derelict ship is discovered, Abyss could read their star charts, and knew he could use that knowledge to get to "Zalkor, the bestower of unlimited wishes." And all he had to do to start was kill his crewmates. The "murderous academic" made his way to an ancient space station, where he found the Zalkor!

By completing an ancient ritual (and sacrificing his soul) Abyss was able to bargain with the Zalkor for unlimited power, with which the now Count Abyss was able to conquer the universe! His universe, anyway. The Orb points out that the Zalkor's power fades further away from his own dimension. Abyss now wanted Warlock's Infinity Gem, since he now coveted the return of his soul...or maybe a new one. Warlock knows full well what the love potion had done to him, but also thinks Abyss has made a tactical error, since "Adam Warlock never does what is expected of him." Indeed, Adam gathers his Infinity Watch, to invade Abyss's realm: Pip claims he can't teleport somewhere he hasn't been, but Warlock says the Orb gave him "a taste of that reality." But they may be spotted upon arrival...

It's a shame that Starlin had to leave mid-storyline--offhand, I'm not sure if he would receive any credit or left any plot notes for the next writer--but he was busy with his new creator-owned book, 'Breed at Malibu. That would go on to have three mini-series, but I've never read it!
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Reed as much as calls bull on this one, in-story, while it's happening...

Some time back, we mentioned Reed Richards calling out scientific inaccuracy mid-story in Fantastic Four #248 (and come to think of it, he would do the same the very next issue, although there's an in-story explanation for that one too!) and some other time back we mentioned looking for today's book, which we've...got today, I suppose. From 1989, Avengers #307, "Metamorphosis" Written by John Byrne, pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Tom Palmer.

An attack by the Lava Men has left the Avengers' current headquarters, the artificial island Hydrobase, stranded high above the water on a pillar of rock, and it's starting to crumble! Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman are the first to arrive to help, but as Sue points out, the island weighs thousands of tons! Her force field is able to stabilize the tipping Hydrobase until Wonder Man arrives to help...which, as we've mentioned, shouldn't have worked, at all! Reed lets scientific inaccuracy slide, for the moment, although I suspect his teeth are grinding, and has Sue make a force-field spiral around the rocky pillar. Which still wouldn't be resolved this issue...

Looks like a printing plate shifted on that page...Meanwhile, the main team of Avengers (and reservist Sub-Mariner, who came to help and got dragged in) is still fighting Jinku, the witch-doctor of the Lava Men, and his giant lava monster. Their god Cha'sa'dra had been one of the demons that attacked the Avengers around issue #300, an Inferno crossover, and had died in battle; which killed most of his worshipers and left the rest as immobile stone statues. The fight's not going well, since Jinku has turned up the heat far past the point where the team's human members could stand it; although, as was often the case, Quasar probably should've been fine: his bands could protect him in deep space and should have there. The Eternal Forgotten One, Gilgamesh, gets punched out so hard that was pretty much it for his Avengers tenure; then the battle is abruptly ended when the statue Lava Men reveal they had merely been transforming into a new, better form, without the corrupting influence of their "god."

I don't think the new gold Lava Men were ever seen again, were they? I even feel like regular Lava Men were still seen later, too. This issue feels like Byrne was kind of trying to push through this storyline to clear the decks for whatever he actually wanted to do on the book, although most of the rest of his run here was the Acts of Vengeance crossover and then a multi-part Spider-Man guest-spot. His Avengers West Coast run is more memorable.
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I was trying to figure out why I thought I had read all of Jack Kirby's OMAC; and unless I borrowed the collection from somewhere, I think it's because part of it was recapped in the back-up features in Warlord. Or maybe I'm just senile, a problem that probably couldn't be fixed by slapping an old brain into a young body, "the most horrible menace in human history," as posited by today's book! From 1975, OMAC #5, "New Bodies for Old!" Story and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks and letters by D.Bruce Berry.

A Peace Agent of the Global Peace Agency (who concealed his face and racial features with a cosmetic spray, leaving him looking not unlike the Question) brings OMAC evidence of a mob's newest, and possibly most dangerous racket: computerized brain transplant surgery, where old criminals can buy new, young bodies. The mob nearly rubs out the agent after his briefing, but Brother Eye had shielded them, and leaves fake bodies to throw off the trail. OMAC then has to work the case to find the "transplant terminal" before the first batch of young people is surgically harvested! But his only lead is a punk who might be convinced to let the mob harvest his girl, if the price is right...

A surprisingly dark book! Although, I think the next issue continues this story but veers off into fighting monsters in the subways. Really should check my bookshelves, maybe I do have the trade...
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Don't "Lay Down and Die!" for anyone, but especially not this guy.

The worst hangover I ever had in my life was like Blastaar the Living Bomb-Burst farting in my skull, and I remember it because I was trying to think of this cover while trying to keep myself together: if Thor could stand up, I thought maybe I could to. In fact, that's all I recall now: not the party or the aftermath, just this classic: from 1978, Thor #270, "Minute of Madness--Dark Day of Doom!" Written and edited by Len Wein, breakdowns by Walt Simonson, finishes by Tony DeZuniga.

Blastaar is giving Thor the business from page one of this sucker, with Thor already separated from Mjolnir after a fight with Stilt-Man: Blastaar may not have known about the sixty-second countdown until Thor would turn back into Dr. Donald Blake, but he saw what that hammer had done to Stilt-Man and wanted no part of that. Thor sprays Blastaar down with a water main, but then gets blasted into an alley, where he changes, then tells Blastaar Thor took off out the back. Blastaar doesn't give chase, instead leaving to "fulfill the master's mission," leaving Donald to have to retrieve his walking stick from a street gang.

Thor questions Stilt-Man, then heads over to see Tony Stark: Stilt-Man had stolen a chest full of radioactive isotopes, which Blastaar then took, for his "master," who apparently had a lair in upstate New York, an abandoned factory made out of adamantium alloy? Curiouser and curiouser...especially since Blastaar is at said factory now, which he had tried to destroy before, but was now working for? This tied-into a Hulk/Human Torch issue of Marvel Team-Up, but the factory's computer, code-named F.A.U.S.T, had promised Blastaar a triumphant return to the Negative Zone.

When Thor approaches, though, Blastaar is distracted by the prospect of revenge; leaving F.A.U.S.T. clear to move its own scheme forward. As they fight, the computer's core launches itself into space; but it does leave Blastaar a portal...

...that seemingly dooms Blastaar to death in the Negative Zone! Thor is left to wonder, what the mysterious, and possibly indestructible, F.A.U.S.T. has planned next; but while I've had this comic since I was a kid, it would be years before I read the next issue! Well, maybe we'll get to it sooner. I've mentioned before that Thor's sixty-second timer would become woefully overused, although sometimes it worked; and that Simonson would get rid of it early on his next run on the title, as writer and artist!

More comics would probably sell better, with little heads imploring you to "Be here!" for the next issue...
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"Proposal."

Way, WAY back; actually the second Pool & Kurt strip, the guys complain about Kate Hudson. I'm sure she's nice and everything, but every one of her movies that I've seen has hurt me, badly. Has Katherine Heigel done that many rom-coms?...Are there even rom-coms anymore? It seemed like they had been replaced by young adult-lit adaptations. Anyway.

Also way, way back, in actual Marvel continuity, Black Cat used to have legit bad luck powers, given to her by the Kingpin. Or his scientists...somehow. This is one of those things where they didn't even try to give a comic book science explanation; it was that far out there. When Cat only acted defensively, she was virtually unstoppable, as bad luck would take out her attackers in far-fetched and often amusing ways. Attacking negated her power, though; and for good measure it was having an adverse affect on her then-boyfriend, Spider-Man. I like the idea of Felicia being unbeatable on D, though...
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I guess it's HIS headquarters now.

About a year ago, I got the Ultimate Batcave, which is still taking up a lot of space in my room. Then last week, I got the palette-swap version, the Justice League Ultimate Justice Battleground playset! For even cheaper than the Batcave--I can be really cheap sometimes.

Still, I hadn't bought any of the Justice League movie figures, since I already had recent Mattel versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and even Aquaman. Neither Flash nor Cyborg really jumped out at me, and the Collect-n-Connect of Steppenwolf was on the bland side. I did get Mera for cheap on Amazon, though; then uncharacteristically sprung full price for this fellow, the Parademon! Both Mera and the Parademon have interesting textures, decent if somewhat monochromatic paint (lot of green!) and fair-to-middling articulation.

Instead of completely assembling the Ultimate Justice Battleground, this time I put together some of the floors to use as backgrounds by swapping them in and out. By the way, if you put the stickers on before assembling it, that'll be a lot easier.

There's also a cage and a good chunk of a building, that we may see somewhere else later. I know I've shot one strip with one of these as the background already, so it's pretty much paid for itself already!

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Like I said, nothing but respect for MY president.

I mentioned this issue on Twitter the other day, but wasn't going to blog it right away, even though I love it and had a hard time finding a copy in the quarter bin. (I totally still have my old one, but still!) But let's jump in anyway: from 1984, Warlord #84, "Hail to the Chief" Written by Cary Burkett, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Dan Adkins.

I was going to hold off a bit since this was towards the end of a multi-issue time-travel storyline, ranging from the present New Atlantean war in Skartaris, to a post-nuclear war America in 2303, to ancient Atlantis. But we're getting ahead of things there: in 2303, after the suicide of the president, who had been the pawn of a traitor trying to consolidate power, Congress proclaims Travis Morgan the new President of the United States! A surprisingly sheepish Travis asks "Why me?" and is told post-nuke communications make an election unfeasible, but his leadership had been proven. Travis balks at accepting, but Shakira tells him he's the only man for the job. (His tantrum and her ensuing pep-talk are the second and third pages of the issue, pushing the title's traditional double-splash pages back to four and five!) Travis is immediately swamped with duties (and a tailor pushing a new wardrobe!) and has to chase them out of the Oval Office at swordpoint...

After a visit to the present to check in with Jennifer Morgan and Tinder, we cut back to several weeks into Travis's presidency, and it's not going well: the nuclear war had damaged earth's ecology behind any repair. Frustrated at having to manage it, Travis has the idea to stop the nuclear war before it occurred, and checks with his friend Dr. Reno. Reno explains maybe, in theory, the timeline could be altered, but there's no guarantee of a better tomorrow. Still, it was more doable than Travis could have guessed, since they already had time-travelling ships, in a cavern deep below a mountain in Utah...that sounds very familiar to Travis. Reno realizes the time-travel experiments there may have caused a "time-stasis field," cutting the mountain off from regular time, or else those ships would have been used during the nuclear war.

Reno, Travis, and his companions Shakira and Krystovar head to the mountain; where Reno explains the situation to the scientists that had only lived two years while centuries passed on the surface. Below the mountain is the cavern, which Travis had first seen at the start of the storyline in Warlord Annual #2. They plan to use the flying-saucer style time ships, to change history...!

Also this issue: another chapter of the Barren Earth, in which Jinal and her friends are taken to visit the embassy of the Old Ones, which has technology far beyond what she had expected. Indeed, the Old Ones may have been responsible for the earth's most recent inhabitants, the lizard people and the "mushroom folk" the Mulge. Jinal petitions the Old Ones' speaker for them to help her unify the planet against the alien Qlov, but as the speaker shows her images of some Qlov stranded like she was, he asks why they should side with her? To Jinal, they're obviously the bad guys, since their war had gone on for years; but the speaker tasks her with capturing one of the Qlov for questioning...(Story by Gary Cohn, art by Ron Randall.)

Although I would pick up most if not all the back issues eventually, this was the second issue of Warlord that I know I bought: I had #66 first, but can't remember how I got it exactly; but I read Warlord off the racks from #83 to the end.




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Who knew time-travel rules were so complicated?

I was thinking of DC's old rule, that you couldn't go back in time to a period where you already were, as seen in Brave and the Bold #192: Superboy is brought to the present, which launches Superman back to dinosaur times. I think it was the universe's defense mechanism, to keep you from running into your past self and causing a paradox. But there was another rule where time-travelling to when you already were turned you into a phantom...huh. From 1982, DC Comics Presents #51, "Rendezvous with Death" Written by Dan Mishkin, pencils by Alex Saviuk, inks by Frank McLaughlin. There's a nice cover with the Atom on Superman's grave, swearing vengeance, although it would be hilarious if his word balloon was really tiny...

The Atom had long had access to his friend Professor Hyatt's invention, the time pool: it opened a portal through time, but only one small enough for Hyatt to "fish" through with a magnet, or for the Tiny Titan to use. What I didn't realize, is that Atom had been using it without permission all this time! He catches an earful later, but there are bigger problems: Hyatt had pulled a piece of technology from the old west that shouldn't have been there. When Atom went to investigate, he became an immaterial phantom, which had never happened to him before on these trips. Worse, he thus can't help Superman fight a group of aliens, who proceed to vaporize the Man of Steel! Barely getting back to the present, Atom heads to the JLA satellite, where he finds Superman alive and well.

Examining the tech Hyatt found, Superman recognizes it from another time-travel case (and one that was mentioned in passing in the Krypton Chronicles) as belonging to his great-grandfather, Var-El! He had been a scientist, and had gone to earth to conduct experiments illegal on Krypton: that sounds ominous today, but every so often the planet seemed to turn on science a bit. Var-El had been believed to have been killed in a lab accident, but maybe not. With Professor Hyatt--who's thrilled to finally get to travel through time himself--Superman and Atom go back into the past; and the Atom doesn't ghost out this time.

In the past, after some scuffles with the natives and the aliens, Hyatt is saved from a bear by Var-El, who had been chilling on earth since being saved from that lab accident by the aliens. The aliens were big on execution but short on ideas: they wanted to advance their own science, but couldn't really come up with the breakthroughs to move forward. The aliens had been looking for Var-El, who now had super-powers; but also wasn't up to a life of adventure. Worse, Hyatt tells him the entire publicly known history of Superman, including Krypton's destruction; but Var-El might be more freaked out considering a future where he was dead. Still, Hyatt's able to talk him into helping his great-grandson.

In the energy trap Atom had seen him before, Superman tells him "history can't be changed--but I never try to second-guess it!" He had a plan to save himself, but still gets vaporized. The Atom attempts a suicide run to avenge Supes, possibly because he was his ride back to the present and he doesn't want to live in the 18th century. Still, Superman wasn't dead: he had saved himself with the Atom's shrinking trick, then saves the Atom from destroying the aliens' satellite like a human bullet. The aliens are stopped, although Var-El is killed in the battle...seemingly. After everyone returns to the future, he meets with Hyatt, who had told him how Superman traveled through time: Var-El wanted to come to a future where he wouldn't just be "a lost footnote in history!" Which made me doubt if he would appear again pre-Crisis, but he did! Maybe we'll see it someday.
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I'm more excited to see Black Panther than Solo, but don't feel bad.

And all my Black Panther comics are in my garage, but for today we've got 2016's Han Solo #1, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Mark Brooks.

This was a fun little mini-series, set before Empire, with Han not quite a rebel, but seemingly not ready to go back to the smuggling life either. Then comes a mission from Princess Leia, to run a space race called the Dragon Void, as a cover to pick up some Rebel agents. But will the challenge of the race be more than Han can resist?

As happens sometimes, I have only a vague idea how I got the whole series here. Comic show maybe? Still, I'm glad I ended up with it, and am looking forward to Solo: A Star Wars Story...

...now cut that out! Actually, is there even a Solo trailer yet? Seems like there should've been one, yet honestly, I'm not really watching the BP one either, 'cause I like to avoid all the spoilers I can!

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"Singularity."

It occurs to me that there's no way Amy would've known if DH II had stunk or not...
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Is it weird a guy so into blades is unshaven, or is that my hang-up?

It's tough coming up with Batman villains: not every one is going to be the Joker or Two-Face...or even in the top twenty there. Sometimes you need a filler for crowd scenes, which is where I first saw today's baddie, but here's his first appearance from 1982, Batman #343, "A Dagger So Deadly..." Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Klaus Janson.

Batman has other problems today, like the disappearance of Man-Bat, and that Bruce Wayne and the board of directors of the Wayne Foundation have collectively been hypnotized by Poison Ivy into signing over the foundation's assets! Still, when on patrol he comes across a motorcyclist attacking a truck, with a knife, he meets Dagger, who seems to have elevated the protection racket game. To further sell him, really hype him up, Dagger then takes out the Batmobile--with a knife!

Bats has to ditch the Batmobile in the river since he was worried it would explode and endanger bystanders, but goes back later for the knife to examine it. It's a quality weapon, from a Rennington Steel, and Batman visits the factory to check the sales records and maybe see who bought it. Instead, he meets a bitter David Rennington, who, since blade sales were down, decided to expand into crime and became Dagger! With his knives and on his home turf, he gives Bats a hard time for about five pages, which is probably the best turn-out Dagger's ever going to have. Batman even has a laugh that Dagger "just couldn't cut it!" and I have a feeling he kind of needed the win.

I know the first time I saw Dagger was in the classic--and never reprinted in the U.S?--Batman #400, where I think he's one of the many villains that escape from prison or Arkham, but one that opts to not face Batman again right then!

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