October of 1986 is technically a five week month, but I don't seem to have bought anything from the first week. Watchmen was nearing its halfway point, but I only have vague, uncertain visions of seeing those covers while tossing through books at the mall bookstore. If so, Dave Gibbons' 9-panel grids clearly didn't grab me like Keith Giffen's. I can speak similar of the final four issues marking The End of the Justice League of America. I'm more confident about having tossed through late life issues of the series, which seemed dark and cool, but the character selection was off-putting, and I wasn't entirely won over by the art.
Batman #403 was the last and frankly least part of a sequential three-pack, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy it. I like Denys Cowan, just nowhere near the same level as Trevor Von Eeden or Jim Starlin. Plus, the inks of Greg Brooks-- yes, that Greg Brooks-- do the work no favors, occasionally veering into Carmine Infantino territory. This is also the second and final appearance of Tommy Carma, the mass murderer who thought that he was Batman, as we see him break out of a mental asylum in a manner it's not at all comfortable seeing Greg Brooks of all people help render. It feels like Collins was hired to do a fill-in, and then when he was handing it in, was asked if he could do another over the weekend. So it's an immediate, unnecessary sequel to the one he just did, with the added contrivance of the fake Batman actually stumbling upon the Batcave, but it's worth it when the Dynamic Dup rush to a Batmobile that isn't there anymore. Even in the best neighborhoods. Next issue begins "Year One," but I missed three-quarters of that one.
In D.P. 7 #3, the whitest people on the team try to being in the cops to help them with the clinic's headhunters, to entirely predictable results for the racial minorities. Mark Gruenwald gets it. The rest of the issue is dealing with the consequences of the team's decisions and circumstances, a surprisingly mature and organic take on the concept of super-powered individuals spontaneously manifesting. I know this creative team's work on Squadron Supreme is often touted as anticipating Watchmen, but I think that this is the book that fares better in comparison to that lionized piece. Rather than the heavily politicized moral panic of Moore's work, or the romanticized outsiders in the X-Men, this book took a disparate group of people and played out how they would deal with a fantastic circumstance in a believable way that satisfies with each installment.
G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #55 was dubbed "Unmaskings," and it feels like the reveal that the Flint who was captured was actually Snake-Eyes in disguise was added just to validate the kinda lame Zeck cover of him in the process of taking off his mask, alongside Cobra Commander and Destro. The latter two escape from under the Pit, but are on the run, donning new clothes and disguises. The twist is that they're pulled over by a cop who sees a resemblance between the Commander and a kid in a coma that turns out to be his actual son Billy, having survived the drunk driving incident. So there's a tearful reunion on the Commader's part, since his one-eyed kid still hasn't regained consciousness. You forget how much of an X-Men-like melodrama this book was in its heyday. Also, Stalker leads the mission to free Snake-Eyes, who then tears up Cobra troops.
The Marvel Saga, the Official History of the Marvel Universe #14 offers a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants cover, and I don't know if settling on Keith Pollard as the regular artist was an aesthetic choice or a budgetary condition, but these bland, stiff things are killing the title. I bought Marvel Tales with the help of new Kerry Gammill covers, later followed by the likes of Mike Zeck and Todd McFarlane. Classic X-Men was a bonafide hit with its Arthur Adams covers and John Bolton back-ups. Meanwhile, I let my brother buy every lame looking Marvel Saga that I ever read over its two year run, and I suspect at least some of that was X-Men completionism. This is the same kid buying old Werner Roth back issues, after all. Anyway, Green Goblin teaming-up with The Enforcers triggers a flash forward to John Romita stories telling of the psychological descent of Norman Osborne. Likewise, the Brotherhood sequence gets into Scarlet Witch backstory drawn by John Byrne. When we do get back to Kirby, it's for cool baddies like Enchantress and the Executioner. So basically, everything inside the book looks better than the exteriors.
The 'Nam #2 was bought by my half-brother and read by me. This title should maybe come up more as an early influence on Western decompressed, cinematic storytelling. Like the New Universe, this book takes place in real time, jumping a month between issues. Unlike anything at the New U, this is drawn by one of the all time great comics artists at the peak of his powers, so the book doesn't feel the need to be written so densely as to serve as an installment in a novella in order to encourage repeat business. Michael Golden is killing it here like--well, like the Army kills that V.C. patrol, or like Sergeant Polkow would like to kill his superior when he intentionally puts his squad in harm's way as payback for a personal slight. The book looks so good, and is such a fine example of visual storytelling, that Doug Murray refuses to cover much of it with dialogue or captions, meaning you can read the thing in about five minutes.
Uncanny X-Men #213 sold us Sabretooth versus Wolverine by Alan Davis on the cover, but made it a Psylocke proving ground inside, and I wasn't mad at it. I think I'd missed the annual where Captain Britain's telepathic sister was brought into the book, since Phoenix had been written out, and Claremont can't not have a telepath around. This purple haired chick in pink just started showing up, so I for one needed the explainer. I did enjoy the issue, but maybe keeping Phoenix and having Psylocke be part of Excalibre would have made more sense, or having Alan Davis take over X-Men instead of launching its least loved spin-off at the peak of its sales powers?
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