"Sweep."

We've referenced that line from Deadpool #2 before, way back in 2007: "...the nigh-indefensible broadsword of the Black Knight!" Taskmaster says it, while using skills copied from the Knight; but I didn't realize until years later that Deadpool had already faced the Knight himself, in Avengers #366. But we'll discuss the Knight more next time.

Dormammu seems to just pull the Knight out of nowhere to be his champion today; but I suspect while he's fronting for Lord Chaos, Dormy has made plans, contingencies, strategies. Like the Joker in the Dark Knight, he's the anarchist that's planned out everything. Meanwhile, it seems like Odin was two guys short until Pool and Kurt happened by; he may be winging the whole thing for Master Order.
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I really enjoyed the 2015 Omega Men series, but I was not well-versed in their earlier appearances. The only ones I could think of were their turn in Invasion, in which several of them die; and the 2004-2005 Adam Strange, in which at least a few of them die, only because there weren't enough left for a larger bloodbath. Still, there were a lot of them to begin with; as we see today! From 1981, Green Lantern #141, "The Lurkers in the Shadow" Written by Marv Wolfman, art by Joe Staton.

Carl Ferris has returned to take charge of Ferris Aircraft, complaining that his daughter Carol had been running it into the ground and should've been a son anyway. (He's over-the-top awful, even for the time.) Hal nearly quits, but Carol talks him into trying to find another job first, and Hal fails rather miserably: his spotty employment history coupled with a psych profile indicating fearlessness--or recklessness--makes him too risky a hire in a down economy. Frustrated, Carol suggests they take a vacation, which goes pretty well, until they find a small town with no gas, no phone, and two weird citizens--one of whom transports them a hundred miles away!

Hal changes to Green Lantern for the rematch, and Carol refuses to let him leave her behind; and they find more townspeople, now revealed as a variety of aliens! Their leader indicates they should save their strength "to combat the hunters!" but of course it turns into a brawl. When Carol is threatened by the shape-shifting Tigorr, GL rushes to her defense--and gets dropped. In fact, Tigorr figures there must be something to Carol, then, and claims her as his own! Kalista and Primus try to hold for peace, but Demonia claims the humans could be as bad as something called, "the Citadel," and should die!

I think six Omega Men are named this issue, and we don't know their whole deal yet: I don't know if the Citadel or anything had appeared in Hawkman or Teen Titans prior to this. Also this issue: an Adam Strange back-up.

(EDIT: Tomorrow's issue of Supergirl, unless you're snowed in, features the Omega Men! I don't know if it's strictly based on the continuity of the 2015 series, but it mentions the return of some deceased Omega Men. May have to check it!)
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Forget "Must There Be a Superman," Must There Be a Kingpin?

This was from a somewhat famously muddled time in the book's history, but also features a plot point that would drive me insane every single time it came up; neither of which I'm going to lay on the creative team here! From 1987, Amazing Spider-Man #288, "Gang War Rages On!" Written by Jim (Priest) Owlsey, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Jim Fern.

We're up to the fifth part of this non-crossover storyline, and Spidey's yawning on the splash page...that may not be a good sign, or it could be a great dig! With the Kingpin gone, the various criminal factions of the city have been shooting each other up, and "in the midst of the violence and bloodshed, a lone man struggles to contain the fighting...the amazing Spider-Man!" That makes it sound like the rest of NYC was hiding under their beds, and even ignores the guest-stars helping out here, Daredevil, Falcon, and the Black Cat. The Punisher also appeared, but as more of an antagonist, as Spidey was trying to keep him from murdering the hell out of assorted gangsters. Spidey was also surprisingly pissed at Daredevil, who was trying to big picture this gang war, while Spidey just wanted to finally bring Kingpin down. Falcon points out here that DD may have been more than a bit condescending to Spidey, and he's not done yet, either.

The Kingpin returns here, several steps ahead of everyone else: he makes like he's going to have his various lieutenants killed, but that's both a deal with the feds to take back his throne, and a distraction to give him time to get his ailing wife Vanessa out of the country. Spidey is pissed at getting played again, but a sad Daredevil feels like it was a necessary evil to end the gang war. Also this issue: Mary Jane shows up at Peter's, and isn't thrilled that the Black Cat is there making breakfast. It's perfectly innocent, but Cat still refers to her as "Molly Jo." I don't think that was catty or mean, she legit may not have cared enough to remember...

There's also a veritable fish market of red herrings: Ned Leeds visits Lance Bannon, who seems to have a ton of Hobgoblin photos; then Lance sees Flash Thompson hiding out at Betty Brant's place. (It's not really "hiding out" when you wave out the window!) The Hobgoblin then finds and roughs up Flash, yet still leaves him when Betty arrives. Hobby then crashes Jack O'Lantern's hideout, but their fight is interrupted by Alfredo! Maybe I didn't say it in a dramatic enough voice: Alfredo! The Rose's sidekick or something. Despite his lack of name recognition, Alfredo very nearly takes out the Hobgoblin with an electronic jammer that knocks out his glider and weapons; but Jack saves Hobby because he wants to be the one to kill him. Hobby bails, planning to kill those two later, but the next issue box promised the "No Tricks! No Gimmicks!" reveal of his identity. At least five letter-writers guess Ned Leeds here, and partial credit, I guess? Ned would be killed in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine #1, but in Amazing #289 would be revealed to be the Hobgoblin posthumously. The link there explains some of the boondoggle: Priest was going to go with the Foreigner, but Peter David didn't think that made sense, so they went with Ned Leeds instead: years later, original Hobgoblin writer/co-creator Roger Stern would return for the Hobgoblin Lives mini-series, which revealed-slash-retconned Roderick Kingsley as the original Hobgoblin. (I didn't buy it regularly, but I did have Hobby's first appearance and read most of those, and there was a real menace in his appearances up to maybe #261 or so; before he was 'unmasked' as Flash Thompson. That was a trick; Hobby had dressed Flash up and left him to be captured; but it felt like some wheel-spinning after that. Not unlike the Clone Saga, the Spidey writers may have hit a good thing but not known when or how to wrap it up.)


And it's not even the Hobgoblin stuff that kills me, it's the Kingpin. I hate hate hate the way Marvel kept pushing that Kingpin was "too big to fail," that taking him out (either by arrest or murder) would lead to a crime-apocalypse. Yes, I get that he's too good a villain to just have the Punisher shoot him in the face, but he, DD, and Spidey all had that story where they couldn't bring him down, and it made them all look like powerless tools.

I thought there was a Batman story with that title, but might've been thinking of Superman #247, "Must There Be a Superman?" Oh, look, the Guardians of the Universe being dicks, what a surprise. Well, a surprise they're in Superman, not the dick part.
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A Contest of Champions without the Grandmaster? No, thank you.

From 1999, Contest of Champions II #5, "Victory!" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Oscar Jimenez and Michael Ryan, inks by Eduardo Alpuente and John Livesay.


Urg. I picked this one up, because I was thinking when Captain Marvel comes out, I'll be going into it colder than I ever have for a Marvel movie: I know a fair amount about the character, but I haven't read anywhere near as many comics with her. And I'm more used to her Ms. Marvel look, and she hasn't rocked that look in years. This issue, she gets a smidge of revenge on Rogue, who stole her powers and memories years ago; as Ms. Marvel beats up the mutant possessed by the Broodqueen. Ugh...along with the return of the Brood, this series also featured Claremont's new characters from Fantastic Four, Lockdown and Rosetta Stone. I don't think they've got a lot of play in the years since; but at least they weren't killed off in a crossover like DC characters would be, right?

Also this issue: Hawkeye vs. Gambit! A Deadpool appearance...in which he somehow isn't the chattiest person in the panel. A "Fast Lane" insert! No, never mind that.
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80-Page Thursdays: Robin 80-Page Giant #1!

This is our first 80-page Thursday of the year--and the first since June last year--and now I wonder how many I have left to get from when DC was doing these: from 2000, Robin 80-Page Giant #1, "Nature's Bride: A Tale of Robin and Marital Bliss" Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Diego Barreto.

"Fifty years ago," sometime before McCarthyism caused them to disband, the Justice Society faces Ravenna in Rheelasia: where exactly that is isn't clear, but I'm guessing around India because of the tigers she was controlling. With the amulet of "Animha M'nhda" she claimed to control all living things, but before she could throw down with the original Black Canary, she was killed by a volcano. Dr. Fate notes the irony: the villain had accidentally saved a number of people, by chasing them away from the volcano; but Canary wonders if they've seen the last of her...Decades later, amateur archeologist Jack Drake discovers a corpse with a mysterious amulet, that they can't identify as a local relic, so Jack keeps it for his new bride. Meanwhile, unseen by anyone, a turtle watches sinisterly...

In Gotham City, Robin and Spoiler are trying to catch some high-climbing home invaders, and Robin's having some trouble with Steph following orders. When a hostage is taken, the burglar picks the worst hostage ever: Black Canary! Steph is star-struck, and asks if maybe she was looking for a new partner or apprentice. Canary doesn't seem super into it. Still, after getting mad at Robin, Spoiler tries to go back to Canary, and finds her under attack; or so it appears: she interrupts a sparring session with Wildcat, who after the initial kick in the head, is pretty amused by this; since that's how he ended up training Canary. But Wildcat's less amused by a picture in the society pages: Jack Drake's wedding announcement, with a familiar looking amulet.

Tim has to change for the wedding rehearsal, which includes meeting his new cousins, Kitty and Becky, who are giggly around him; but new stepmom Dana rescues him. Although Tim thinks this is where she becomes "the wicked stepmom, she does the opposite, saying she has no intention of replacing his mother. They are interrupted by a "zoobreak," as a stampede hits the rehearsal! Going into "Robin mode," he gets Dana to his car, chased by a panther the whole way; then Dana goes all Zuul with the amulet. Ravenna takes over, attacking Tim and forcing him into the ditch. Spoiler, Canary, and Wildcat find his car; as Tim changes into Robin, trying to keep his secret identity from everyone here. (He mentions having to call Alfred and Harold to tow his car, so no one notices it was more than it seemed.)

Ravenna runs the heroes through a gauntlet of animals, with Wildcat and Spoiler getting separated. Spoiler ends up captured, under an elephant, but manages to be the one to knock out Ravenna in the end. The amulet is taken, presumably for Wildcat to give to Dr. Fate, and Dana remembers nothing suspicious about her stepson. Her wedding is picture-perfect, with one hitch: a black eye, from Spoiler's punch.

Robin ran for about 185 issues, and I'm not sure how much of this one was touched upon later. Not unlike Dixon's Hella in Nightwing, Ravenna has some potential, but did she ever return? Jack Drake would be a meaningless sacrifice--one of too many--in Identity Crisis; I don't know if he was still with Dana at that point. I don't think Spoiler was trained by Canary, or at least not for long, or why not: it would be some time before Batman would acknowledge her. (I've read part of that, and I don't know if Batman being a dick and training Steph to try and leverage Tim back into the job was a retcon, or from the start.) And correct me if I'm wrong, but it almost feels like Dixon doesn't even like Spoiler? Like she's a slightly modernized take on 50's Batwoman/Bat-Girl stories, where the ladies are bumbling caricatures, meddling in serious man's work? Could be wrong, there, but Steph wouldn't get props until she was Batgirl, I don't think.

Anyway, I'm not up on my 2000-era Robin continuity, sorry. Still, with this one I think I have almost all of the 80-pagers DC did around 1999-2000; with maybe two exceptions: the infamously pulped Elseworlds and the third Green Lantern one. The Elseworlds was eventually reprinted; that may be the easier to find...

By the way, Wildcat doesn't get a tag, since every time I see him I think of Gail Simone's "You'll All Be Sorry with him.
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"Hockey."

The "Great Game" is a Chris Claremont invention, from Thor Annual #9 from 1981, which we blogged originally in 2006. Although Thor and Sif are worried about the next year's contest, and the years after that; I'm not sure it ever came up again. Odin and Dormammu played for Master Order and Lord Chaos, respectively: created by Jim Starlin, they were floating heads that served as manifestations of the balancing forces of the universe. Recent stories may have painted them as more opportunistic, but I don't think they were usually shown as antagonistic to each other: they worked together in the classic Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, against the threat of the "Still One," Death; and Thanos.

During the Great Game, Lord Chaos and Master Order's floating heads waxed or waned depending on who was winning. I had thought about making some copies to serve as stand-ins for them, but the scene was already kind of crowded. LC and MO haven't had any action figures--since they're not super toyetic--but there is a Heroclix version. The Lord Chaos head looks nice; Order looks like an unkempt Professor X...
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I wish I knew exactly what the Legion's sales were before and after this storyline. Of course, any readers willing to stay after this one, they were fans, damnit. Hardcore. From 1981, Legion of Super-Heroes #282, "If Answers There Be..." Plot by Roy Thomas, script by Paul Levitz, pencils by Jimmy Janes, inks by Bruce Patterson. And a Jim Aparo cover!

This was the conclusion of a storyline that had been running since at least #274, under previous writer Gerry Conway. Ultra Boy had been believed dead, then returned with amnesia under the sway of some space pirates, and was seemingly killed again. Then Reflecto appeared, saving Phantom Girl: he had previously been seen in Adventure Comics #354, as a memorial statue in the future. PG suspected something about Reflecto, that he reminded her of her beloved Ultra Boy; but he was later unmasked...as Superboy? With Ultra Boy's memory? Then the Legion went back to the 20th century to try to sort out the mystery, and end up at an A-bomb test, then get attacked by the Time Trapper, who destroys their time bubble! The Legion defeats the Trapper's robot, a returning Molecule Master, but are then captured and imprisoned by the army!

Evading capture, Phantom Girl brings Superboy and Dawnstar to her trans-dimensional world, Bgztl. After a brief fight with the forces of the "Dirigible Dictator" of her world's history (a thousand years before her time) Phantom Girl helps Dawnstar track through trans-dimensional space, to find Ultra Boy! He explains what happened to him: his invulnerability had protected him from a massive explosion, but by making him an intangible phantom, going backwards in time! Thinking maybe Superboy could help him, Ultra Boy went back to 20th century Smallville, but Supes couldn't see him either. Panicked, Ultra Boy screamed, and either through the telepathic plug the team used for communication, or some freak accident, accidentally switched bodies with Superboy. Confused, he then messed up the atomic test--which the army was still mad about--then when he got back to the 30th century, Saturn Girl's post-hypnotic suggestion keeping Superboy (from Legion #259) in the past confused things further. Now unsure if the Legion were friends or foes, Ultra Boy-in-Superboy's body created the Reflecto disguise. Superboy's still not sure what's up, but by causing a nuclear explosion, he's able to free Ultra Boy. Somehow.

Meanwhile, back in Smallville, honorary Legionnaire Lana Lang redons her Insect Queen costume to try and free the team. She doesn't get very far, but Superboy and others are able to get them out. Returning to the future, the Legion confronts the Time Trapper, and defeat him in about two-thirds of a page. Saturn Girl removes the memory of his parents' death from Superboy, leaving him free to stay on the team. (Although, I'm not sure he would much longer.) Supes also isn't sure how he'll clear his name in his own time; presidential pardon maybe? It's not important. Finally, the memorial statue of Ultra Boy is changed to Reflecto, as he and Phantom Girl opt to take a little time for themselves.


Although there's a much later story with Ultra Boy getting thrown back in time, his powers didn't and never worked like this again. I'm not sure Phantom Girl or Dawnstar's powers did, either. This wasn't a great start--possibly because the story had gone through three writers--but I thought this was the start of Paul Levitz's long stint on Legion. Well, yeah, besides all those issues of Superboy & the Legion he did. I think the Legion's sales were usually pretty good for that time, but I think they would get even stronger going forward with Keith Giffen on art.
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I don't think I have all of Thor #301-336, but I do keep picking away at them: from 1981, Thor #307, "Wings in the Night!" Written by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio, layouts by Alan Kupperberg, finishes by Chic Stone. (And that's a surprisingly popular title at Marvel, used in Conan, Spidey, and Solomon Kane stories!)

This is a pretty standard number, with Thor vs. a dream-monster accidentally created by a psychiatrist's research machine. There are a couple interesting scenes, though: when Dr. Blake gets called to the hospital, a peckish Thor checks the fridge and finds "little here to satisfy the hunger of a god." Did Blake just not have any food, or do he and Thor eat differently? If Blake eats, is that enough to hold Thor over, or would he still be hungry? And is Thor able to find...wait, what do Asgardians eat? Boar or something? What did Vikings eat? My grandparents were Norwegian, maybe Thor digs lutefisk.

Later, when the dream-demon attacks a sleeping Blake, we see his nightmares--or Thor's, or both? A co-worker saying he doesn't like him, and a boss waiting to fire him? Well, that's relatable. Also this issue: a Tales of Asgard back-up, "The Chains that Bind!" Written by Gruenwald and Macchio, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Chic Stone.

It looks like Loki almost spiked his helmet hard enough to bounce it off a wall and onto his head, which would be pretty impressive...no, Loki is pitching a fit, since he's been chained to his wife Sigyn since Thor #275. (And we've seen that before, way back in Thor Annual #9!) Somehow, everyone seems to act like this was more of a punishment for him than for her. Finally feeling sorry for him, Odin releases Loki, and banishes him to the farthest border of Asgard. Sigyn, being the goddess of fidelity, or doormats, thanks Odin for his mercy, but he can't even look at her: not out of shame, but because he feels like he lost his son. Boo-hoo, jerk.
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Every time Hasbro doesn't announce him is just trolling me personally now.

Ah, I had a post scheduled for today and accidentally posted it last week. Nice work there. But we still have a few things going. Here's that variant I mentioned when we were talking about Uncanny X-Men:

Cover by John Tyler Christopher, and I'll upload that on the GCD later. I also got his cover for the new Conan the Barbarian; and I might read the first two issues of that tonight. I've also been hitting up my local comic shop--which just opened a new branch in the valley, closer to my home--for dollar Conan back issues. Which we'll probably see more of, at some point. We've got a new 80-pager coming up--new to me, I should say; I couldn't bring myself to drop ten bucks for Mysteries of Love in Space. Yet, anyway.

I did get Age of X-Man: Alpha; and it was a surprisingly strong issue! It wasn't as knockoff-y of Age of Apocalypse as I thought it was going to be. I don't know if I'm going to be all-in on the multiple spin-offs, but somehow, Apocalypse and the X-Tracts looks interesting. Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are. (EDIT: Seriously, the glimpse I've seen of that cover looks like he's about to launch into "Incense and Peppermints." Since he's still Apocalypse, he'll probably go straight Manson by the end of the series...)

In the meantime, this is the busy season at my work, so I've been putting in overtime, and working on a side project. And I have a bigger side project coming later this year; that I don't want to talk about yet. But this stupid blog has been five days a week or better for I don't even know how long; and I'm mentioning it now in case I get locked up later. Ah, I say that but I enjoy this stupid thing too much...
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Continuing our tradition of buying video game figures for games I don't play: Destiny 2!

Admittedly, I don't play a lot of games lately, but not unlike the Evolve Funko figures we've seen here; today we've got a batch of discounted action figures that we'll figure out something for. It's McFarlane's Color Tops #43-46 for Destiny 2: #43 Cayde-6, #44 Zavala, #45 Ikora Rey, and #46 Titan.

I'm not going to research the characters, but I did look up the voice cast for Destiny 2, since I thought I remembered seeing an ad for it. I also thought Patton Oswalt was involved; but the voice of Cayde-6 was Nathan Fillion. (Or, alternately, Nolan North for some of it.) That seems like I'm more way off than usual...This game was also from Bungie, the studio that made Halo; and I did check because I wasn't sure if it did well, but apparently Destiny 2 did all right. Maybe not Fortnite good, but still.

In fact, Fortnite might be the reason these are being cleared out: locally the Cuddle Team Leader sold out pretty quickly, maybe even the Raptor as well. I'm not sure how long these Destiny figures were on the pegs, but the character design isn't as...lively as Fortnite. Or Evolve, really. But then, without looking I'm not sure any of these four are player characters; they might be NPC's doling out missions or exposition.

Not so much in the armor, but Zavala's head has a very Kree feel; particularly if you watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. These are all fairly decently articulated--not Marvel Legends good, maybe not as good as McFarlane's own Fortnite, but not bad for the designs.

None of the characters have holsters; not even Cayde-6 who seems like he should. Instead, the guns all have pegs that I (stupidly) thought were for a two-hand grip; they're for stowing them on their back or Cayde's leg. It looks okay on the bigger weapons, but not as good on his revolver-like pistol. The Titan comes with two guns, one that's bigger and more ornate and may mean something in the context of the game; and a little orange...thing, that looks like it's supposed to float around following the character, but there's no attachment or anything. Cayde and Titan also have sculpted, non-removable knives; and they all came with bases. Titan's base is larger, the others are nice and unobtrusive.

Without having any attachment to the characters, these still aren't bad. Definitely five bucks worth, anyway!
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"Meridian."

If you've read a zillion Marvel comics--or at least, some damn good ones--you might recognize Wilamean: it's from the classic Bob Layton Hercules mini-series!

In Solo: a Star Wars story, L3-37 would not be thrilled to be seen as a typical, obedient, slave droid; but she makes a nice fill-in here.

I don't know, yet; if there's any particular reason Darkhawk thought he couldn't go back to earth; and yes, Pool, the FX team did halfass that one.

But, if you've read this blog for a long, long time; we have brought up the Great Game before! I think I've brought it up more often than Marvel has, honestly.
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I mentioned one-and-done issues yesterday, which was part of why I liked Marvel and DC's "kid" books, like Marvel Adventures or DC's animated tie-ins. But I didn't buy them consistently off the racks, usually depending on the cover or a guest-star. Or in this case, getting several on sale...from 2007, Justice League Unlimited #37, "Hard Spirits" Written by Matt Wayne, pencils by Min S. Ku, inks by Jeff Albrecht.

Particularly in Unlimited, they had the freedom to add some characters that didn't get to the cartoon, like Jay Garrick, Blue Beetle, or today, the Spectre! Who is acting more like a villain today, smashing up a prison on his way to deliver some old-school, old-testament, old-Wrath of the Spectre style justice. Turning criminals into fish, punching out Superman's literal "glass jaw," and turning Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter into candles when they try to stop him.

In Jim Corrigan's body, Deadman goes to Batman and Hawkgirl: Corrigan explains usually he's able to contain the Spectre before he goes ape. Batman tries to call Dr. Fate (literally, just by shouting for him) but he and Zatanna were both unavailable, so Deadman takes them to see Rama Kushna, who will help...after examining Batman's soul, by forcibly rewatching his parents' murder! Batman is visibly shaken but recovers quickly, as Rama explains she had to see what moved him: justice, not vengeance. She gives an exception to her laws, allowing this once for a spirit to possess a spirit. Deadman understands, as he is then able to possess the Spectre and undo his damage; although Batman is a bit peeved. Dr. Fate arrives to explain what set the Spectre off: Talia, causing trouble in the spirit realm. (Which would set this after the episode "Alive!")

Hawkgirl tries to console Batman, praising his toughness at being forced to relive the most traumatic experience of his life. Batman shrugs it off: "It's nothing...I do it all the time." That's a bit of a gut-punch for a kid's book, there.

I was thinking I needed to see a Spectre cartoon with him melting criminals, and I might have! Per Wikipedia, there was one with the DVD of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths; which I've watched multiple times but I'm not sure the Spectre short is included with the bare-bones DVD or just the Blu-Ray. Better dig it up!
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