When I was a little kid, other children's comic collections were filthy with Archies and Harveys. I'd dabble in the former, but I wasn't even that big a fan of the cartoons of the latter. I hadn't noticed, but Harvey Comics went on a four year hiatus, and returned with The Friendly Ghost, Casper #225. The cover announced, "Casper is back! You Asked For Him! Special Collector's Issue! Join the fun! With Harvey Comics!" It's the excess of cover hype that Son of Ambush Bug #1 had just made fun of, but I think it worked on me. They were just so excited to bring me more Casper, the dead kid from the genteel cartoon that played before the crack of dawn that I rarely watched. I recall nothing of the contents of that issue, and never bought another one. Heck, they did a cool looking revival a decade or two back that I did order, but they never came in, so even when I tried it clearly wasn't meant to be. Richie Rich #219 also came out that month, and also benefited from my FOMO. I could believe Casper was years departed, but I'd have sworn those Richie Rich digests were still lining the shelves of check-out lines. In animation, Casper hadn't appeared in much new since the early '60s, but that Silver Spoon brat had just come off a four season TV show in 1984, and how I despised his displays of affluence. His swindling me out of 75-cents for his pap did not endear me any further. Despite those two disappointments, I did feel a tinge of regret over skipping Hot Stuff: The Little Devil #165, the least recognizable but most fun looking of the three IPs. In retrospect though, shouldn't it have been Wendy the Good Little Witch in that third spot? Oh, and I only heard today that Marvel was going to take over publishing Harvey before the hiatus, and that the connections they made probably led to the creation of the Star Comics imprint. In fact, Harvey tried to sue Marvel for borrowing their laid off talent and design aesthetic, like that makes a lick of sense. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #11 offers the last John Byrne cover, likely owing to his defecting to DC over his differences with Jim Shooter. As with George Perez on the original Who's Who covers, it's too bad that one of the greatest artists in comics history couldn't complete the assignment of drawing every character in a particular universe's reference book running roughly two years. Also, they were each replaced by... not all-timers. But DC went with wild divergences in style like Paris Cullins, Ernie Colón, Joe Staton, Eduardo Barreto, Kevin Maguire, and yes, John Byrne, with moonlighting editor Dick Giordano not offering the same steadying hand as Josef Rubenstein. I give Marvel the edge on consistency. Appropriately enough, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Sasquatch are on the cover for Richard Rider to Sidewinder, and Byrne does each of their entries. Aside from Mike Mignola on Rocket Raccoon, the first half is blah, but then it kicks into high gear. Mike Zeck goes beyond with Sandman and Scarecrow, Mark Beachum elevates Scorpion, and Art Adams delivers on Sersi and Shadowcat. Paul Gulacy supposedly returns to Shang-Chi, but I think it might be misattributed, because it looks more like period Kyle Baker to my eyes. Son of Ambush Bug #4 likely came off the stand at a 7-11, but my memory gets fuzzy on the back half of this mini-series. Not helping is the fact that the vague semblance of a narrative muchly resolves within this issue. The book opens up with a three page parody of The Comics Journal that also summarizes the mini-series to date. Argh!yle's Plan of Steel is thwarted by John Byrne's first refusal for usage of Superman elements in other books, and so the entire orbiting Bureau satellite is literaly blown up by DC's legal department. The Interferor's origin is revealed, he puts Irwin Schwab through the paces of a cycle of reboots, and then... recedes from the core narrative. This is the last time the Bug's infernal nature as an escapee from Hell is really referenced. Combat Cheeks and his Frontline Medics gets a mock cover and single page strip, but has pretty much run its course. This issue still has humorous intent, the next not so much. I'm sure someone in the family had a copy of G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #52, featuring an awkward Quick Kick versus Storm Shadow cover, and the ninja's reconciliation with Snake-Eyes in the wake of his near-death experience. Also, Serpentor avoids an assassination plot against him to become a folk hero to the Legions of Cobra, and the Joe team's operations are temporarily suspended in the wake of the Battle of Springfield. Adult-me sees a lot going on here, but I think kid-me was bored of all the talky-talky. The Marvel Saga, the Official History of the Marvel Universe #11, once again covered by Keith Pollard, thinks telling the first adventure of "today's X-Factor" is a bigger selling point than it probably was. Likewise, a cover panel devoted to Molecule Man, hoping for a Secret Wars boost? So we get Magneto, a little gold armor Iron Man, Thor vs. Molto, Fantastic Four vs. Rama-Tut, Human Torch vs. the Acrobat as a fake Captain America, Giant Man, Hulk vs. Space Phantom, Hulk quits the Avengers, and Iron Man upgrades to the red & gold Ditko armor. Finally, two major revivals from World War II-- a Nick Fury still capable of enjoying 3-D glasses, and ol' Adolph himself as the Hate Monger, both in Fantastic Four. Ironically, I finally committed to buying Uncanny X-Men with #210, just as the John Romita Jr. run was ending and the Mutant Massacre would serve as a peak before a steady decline in my interest in actually reading the book. But that's a few months off, and this grim cover of battered mutants daring you to "C'mon, mess with us-- make our day!!" was more of a fever pitch moment. The silhouetted Marauders were murdering muties and their allies, beginning with a Hellfire Club security officer and a rainbow-themed Morlock. Beyond those bookends though, it was a pretty standard issue with a lot of set-up. A closeted and incognito Dazzler was positioned to return in an upcoming issue. Rogue faced a bigoted peanut gallery at Macy's. Kitty Pryde had another argument against a prejudiced mob, but managed not to drop an n-bomb this time. Magneto questioned the threat posed by the mutant-busting X-Terminators and a role offered within the Inner Circle while navigating Xavier's legacy as headmaster of the School for Gifted Youngsters. It was very ominous, and I lapped it up. On reflection, it was my brother who got the hot ticket first issue, so I had to settle for Classic X-Men #2 off the newsstand. This was an augmented version of original X-Men #94, and I wonder if these supplemental pages by original inker Bob McLeod ever got reprinted themselves. The Danger Room montage page from the old comic is expanded to two pages of sequential action, then there's a page with Cyclops having a meeting with Professor X, and another page that retcons the New Mutant Rahne Sinclair into a Moira McTaggert sequence. There's also subtle touch-ups, like a crazy-looking Beast being brought back to model. I wasn't wild for this early Len Wein/Dave Cockrum stuff, so it was a good call to sweeten the deal with the Art Adams pieces and the Claremont/Bolton back-ups, this time featuring the early friendship between Jean Grey and Storm, as Ororo attempts to confront her claustrophobia in a subway station. There's a reason why I got the omnibus collecting the supplemental material, but not the actual X-Men issues. I thought I'd learned by lesson with Super Powers, but that poop-stain brown cover on #2 got all over my hands. I'm going to plead out that it featured a bunch of the characters from the third wave of the toy line that I was still curious about, including a fierce representation for Tyr that wasn't supported by very many other comics. Also, there's a skulking Darkseid in a robe who at one point gets iced by Mr. Freeze. Yeah, I'm out. It's like DC is actively avoiding my business. I'm a little fuzzy on X-Factor #9. As a Freedom Force appearance and a sort of prelude to the Mutant Massacre, I'd be really surprised if my brother missed this one. I think I may have bought a copy of #1, but otherwise have not been supporting the title myself. This one was drawn by Terry Shoemaker, an artist that I never had a good bead on. He just seemed to hang out around the X-Offices picking up scraps, and got a bit of Wildstorm work in the '90s. His stuff is fine, but I've yet to meet any actual fans of the guy.
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