Saturday, March 29, 2025

DC Secret Files Podcast Vol. I: Golden Age Secret Files and Origins


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The inaugural episode of our DC SECRET FILES podcast — the show that dares to tackle DC Comics’ greatest creations in encyclopedic form! Each episode, Frank will be joined by a special guest, in this case, comics writer David Gallaher, to cover characters and concepts from across DC’s history. Our discussion of the given property will be married to a piece of original art commissioned by DC to spotlight the same. This time around, we chat about 2001’s Golden Age Secret Files and Origins #1, by John Ostrander & Cliff Chiang, as well as a host of other talents on the main and supplemental stories. Plus we read YOUR feedback on the show’s promotion!

  1. D.E.O. Report [0:00:56]
  2. Adventure Heroes of the Pulps [0:05:25]
  3. “The Dawn of the Golden Age” by Ostrander & Chiang [0:13:43]
  4. Crimson Avenger Profile Page art by Michael Lark [0:22:42]
  5. The Golden Age Sandman by Matt Wagner & Gavin Wilson [0:33:33]
  6. Fantom of the Fair Profile Page art by Darrin Wiltshire & Chris Malgrain [0:43:34]
  7. Blue Beetle (Golden Age) Profile Page art by Darrin Wiltshire & Chris Malgrain [0:49:08]
  8. “Scenes from the Class Struggle at J.S.A. Mansion” by Peyer & Grau [0:58:40]
  9. Flash I (Jay Garrick) Profile Page art by John Byrne [1:01:14]
  10. “The Sentinel” by Peter Gross [1:09:27]
  11. Hawkman Profile Page art by Rags Morales [1:10:59]
  12. Johnny Thunder Profile Page art by Mark Props [1:19:30]
  13. Quicksilver (Max Mercury) Profile Page art by Chris Malgrain [1:27:01]
  14. “Show and Tell” by Hernandez-Rosenblatt & Igle [1:33:17]
  15. Justice Society of America Profile Page art by Mike Collins & Bob McLeod [1:34:56]
  16. Injustice Society of the World Profile Page art by Mike Collins & Bob McLeod [1:47:59]
  17. Confidential Communiqués [1:53:35]

Have a question or comment? Looking for more great content? Leave comments on our website: Rolled Spine Podcasts
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E-MAIL: rolledspinepodcasts@gmail.com
Tweet us @rolledspine or skeet host Diabolu Frank on BlueSky
DC Secret Files theme song by Luke Daab

JSApril – Celebrating 85 years of the world’s first and greatest superhero team!

Back in 1940, eight sensational heroes united to create the world’s very first superhero team – the Justice Society of America! Now, 85 years later, we’re gathering podcasters and bloggers from around the globe for a month-long celebration in an event we’re calling… JSApril!

Throughout April 2025, join dozens of podcasters and bloggers as they each share their own unique tributes to the original and greatest superhero team! Every participant in JSApril is doing their own thing, so whether you choose to enjoy just one entry or experience them all, there’s something special for everyone! Get ready for an all-star month of beloved characters, fascinating insights, and incredible stories!

Follow the action on social media with the hashtag #JSApril

Below is a complete list of participating podcasters, bloggers, and what they’re each covering:


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Wednesday, February 5, 2025

DC Special Podcast: DK Encyclopedia Diaries 16

Volume XVI
The Drunken Guide To The Characters Of The DC Universe

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Rolled Spine Podcasts are on iTunes, Spotify, and the Internet Archive.

Coarse Language: Listener Discretion is Advised


A
Adam Strange 1
Alley-Kat-Abra 9

B
Beautiful Dreamer 7
Big Bear (New 52) 12

C
Captain K-Rot 25
Captain Thunder 8

D
DC Graphic Novel 23

F
Five Warriors from Forever 23
Forever People 2

H
Highfather 17
Himon 9

M
Milestone Media 22
Monster World 26

O
Outcasts 24

P
The Patriots 20

R
Rokkin 10

S
Sci-Tech 1
Serafina 11

V
Vykin 11

W
WildStorm Productions 19


We Think You're Special!

DC Comics Encyclopedia, DC Special Podcast, Podcast,
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Sunday, January 26, 2025

2018 Houston Comicpalooza JLA JAM Superman segment by Sanford Greene

Once I finally committed to doing a Justice League of America "Magnificent Seven" commission, the obvious place to start was the Man of Steel. He was the largest figure on the reference piece, and I needed someone who could communicate his "bigness." You needed to be able to tell that it was Kal-El without taking an "L," because most of his costume would be cropped out. I'd enjoyed Sanford Greene's Marvel work, mostly on Luke Cage, but I thought it'd be interested to see if he could bring out the Big Red S's inner farm boy. I think Greene nailed it, capturing both majesty and humble honor scout sweetness. It might have helped that he'd actually had experience drawing Superboy in the animated series adaptation The Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, which had flown under my radar.

Unfortunately, this was something of a "cursed" piece overall, with lackluster contributions and year+ absences in the possession of folks I wasn't always sure that I was ever going to get it back from. I didn't want to start posting portions of the jam until I knew where it would end up, and it wasn't finished until fairly late last year, a better than six year total turnaround. Also, the one scan I had of Greene's portion before the other contributions came in turned all of his lovely shading into something like a water stain, with only the edges showing, so I had to re-scan and clean up a later incarnation. Nice to finally roll this out!

2018 Houston Comicpalooza JLA JAM Segments
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Wednesday, January 1, 2025

DC Special Podcast: DK Encyclopedia Diaries 15

Volume XV
The Drunken Guide To The Characters Of The DC Universe

Download MP3


Rolled Spine Podcasts are on iTunes, Spotify, and the Internet Archive.

Coarse Language: Listener Discretion is Advised


A
Abel 9
Alias the Spider 19
Anti-Monitor 15
Antimatter Universe 16

B
Batman 1
Brightest Day 16

C
Catwoman (Selina Kyle) 1
Challengers of the Unknown 21

F
Firestorm Matrix 16

J
Jezebelle 10

K
Kid Flash (Bar Torr) 25

M
The Monitor 15
The Monitors 17
Mostly Wanted 24
Multiverse 14

N
North 40 9

R
Robo Dojo 24

S
S.T.A.R. Labs 21


We Think You're Special!

DC Comics Encyclopedia, DC Special Podcast, Podcast,
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Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé Podcast #29

(December 1986)


Internet Archive ◫ MP3 ◫ Spotify

ré·su·mé [rez-oo-mey, rez-oo-mey] noun 1. a summing up; summary. 2. a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by an applicant for a job.
In Comic Reader Résumé, I use Mike’s Amazing World of Comics to travel back through time via his virtual newsstand to the genesis point of my lifelong collecting of comics. From there, I can offer a “work history” of my fandom through my active purchasing of (relatively) new comic books beginning in January of 1982, when my interest in the medium went from sporadic and unformed to routine on through compulsive accumulation. To streamline the narrative and keep the subjects at least remotely contemporaneous, I will not generally be discussing what we call back issues: books bought long after their publication date. Sometimes, I will cover a book published on a given month that I picked up within a year or so that date, and I give myself an especially wide berth on this aspect in the first couple of “origins” episodes. We’ll get more rigidly on point as my memories crystallize and my “hobby” spirals out of control into the defining characteristic of my life (eventually outpacing squalor and competing neuroses.) It’s part personal biography, part industry history, and admittedly totally self-indulgent on my part.

This episode includes Adventures of Superman #426, Alpha Flight #45, Amazing Spider-Man #286-287, Betty's Diary #6, Captain America #327-328, Classic X-Men #7, Cracked Magazine #226, D.P. 7 #5, Daredevil #241, The Demon #3, Fallen Angels #1, G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #57, Mark Hazzard: Merc #4-6, Marvel Fanfare #31, Marvel Saga #16, Marvel Tales #197, Mephisto Vs... #1, The 'Nam #4, New Mutants #50, Psi-Force #6, Secret Origins #12, Star Trek Movie Special #2, Uncanny X-Men #215, West Coast Avengers #19, X-Factor #14, X-Men Vs. the Avengers #1, and more!

“Transcripts” Alpha Flight, Archie, The Avengers, Captain America, Cracked, DC Comics, Daredevil, G.I. Joe, Marvel Comics, Movies, Music, Mutants, New Universe, Pop Culture, Spider-Man, Superman, Toys, TV, Video Games, X-Factor, X-Men, Comic Reader Résumé
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 1:25 AM 0 comments
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Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Late December, 1986

Alpha Flight #45 had a wicked white Sasquatch cover where Kevin Nowlan inked June Brigman, who was then complimented by Whilce Portacio on the interiors. Brigman is still best known for co-creating Power Pack, and only did five issues of this book, which is too bad, because she was a good fit. For maximum bleakness, the issue starts with the glass casket burials of Snowbird, her husband, and the infant son she herself killed while possessed by the spirit of Pestilence. Top that, Aquaman! Also, Northstar was dying from fairy AIDS, Vindicator had lost confidence as a leader, Puck pined for her in a humiliating way, and Snowbird's corpse in Sasquatch form was resurrected by Pestilence. On the plus slide, the once seemingly dead Walter Langkowski helped defeat Pestilence and reclaim the body, but then he was a bit put out to realize that his human form was now a girl. Convoluted, but I liked it.

My half-brother continued buying the "Gang War" arc into its fourth chapter in Amazing Spider-Man #287, as I more or less continue to recycle that opening sentence verbatim. This one had Daredevil, as was legally required of any major crime stories set in New York in the '80s. I was surprised to see Erik Larsen's name in the credits, and have to assume this was or very near to his introduction to the not-so-friendly neighborhood. I also assume the editor brought in Art Nichols to smother Larsen's eccentricities in drab late Bronze Age advertising art realism, because Larsen was already better than this hash. It's just plain hard to look at, especially when the Man without Fear turns up in a fat suit to trick Spider-Man into fighting him... and the Falcon... for reasons?

Ah jeez-- here comes Captain America #328 and the debut of D-Man, wrestler turned (future) hero of the homeless. Not a champion for the homeless, but an unhoused super-hero. I feel like even in the Marvel Universe, someone who can lift 25 tons could manage gainful employment, but D-Man was a special kinda guy. By the way, this being an audio medium, that's d-apostrophe-man, not like Etrigan or that one guy from the Justice Machine. Short for Demolition Man, probably because Marvel was afraid Sting might sue. Demolition would have been a good gig to stave off homelessness. Anyway, Dennis Dunphy had been introduced a year earlier, during Ben Grimm's per-cancellation trend-chasing wrestling days. Cap was supposedly investigating the Power Broker that had given Super Patriot and his B.U.C.kies their strength & stamina, but was also considering the need to start juicing himself, as if Cap fans hadn't already heard enough steroid jibes. So this random mohawked wrestler dude decides to help Cap by putting on a variation of Dardevil original bumblebee costume with a Wolverine mask, except it was the current Wolverine instead of the old cat-mask, which he might have been able to get away with. And to top it off, Paul Neary gets inked by Vince Colletta, a real Vegemite and sardines combination for me. Change my relationship status back to "it's complicated" and skip the rest of this story arc.

Classic X-Men #7 had a striking cover-- literally the team knocking through a wall-- which has been referenced many times in the years since. As Arthur Adams goes, I found it a bit flat, and preferred the inside cover image of Storm in space gear. The expansion of the reprint story is more obvious this time, as the new pages and panels were drawn by Jim Sherman. Besides smoothing out some of the bad science while sending the X-Men on a space shuttle to battle Sentinels on a satellite, they also insert a subplot that explains why the Hellfire Club would be spearheading a project that would obliterate mutantkind. That leads into the John Bolton back-up, with the artist in his element, drawing salacious elites in Victorian garb, as they betray and murder one another. The back cover is a White Queen pin-up, but the star of the story is the Black King.

Daredevil #241 had the first and last appearance of the Trixter, spelled with an "x," as well as Todd McFarlane, though you can hardly tell once Al Milgrom smothered all the life out of him. Spider-Man and Daredevil have enough in common that you want to shoot for contrast, and McFarlane will become a premiere Spidey artist, so I'm not sure I'd have wanted the full Todd treatment, anyway. That said, Ann Nocenti is her usual weird, bleak self, and I have to wonder why Todd never tapped her for any Spawn material, because she was a natural fit for the kind of material Todd was always trying, and usually failing, to deliver. Look at this story really drive that home, but also reminded me that sometimes Ann Nocenti was too much for my taste with this gonzo grimdark Christmas misery.

I bought Fallen Angels #1 because it was a heavily promoted X-Men tie-in with art by Kerry Gammill. Unfortunately, it was really a Sunspot mini-series where he runs away from the X-Mansion and gathers a bunch of misfits into a short-lived grouping, if never really a proper team. My brother would pick this up off and on, but myself and most of fandom washed our hands of it with a swiftness. I continued to read my half-brother's copies of Fantastic Four Vs. X-Men into #3, mostly to see how one of my favorite X-people, Shadowcat, managed to survive her post Mutant Massacre drift into irrevocable immateriality. The drama over whether Mister Fantastic intentionally exposed his family to cosmic rays didn't do much for me. I clearly had Christmas cash from my father's family burning a hole in my pocket if I had the coin to spend on Groo the Wanderer #26. Admittedly though, it was probably the best of the ones I read, as the imbecile gets shrunk by a pair of witches, and dose his own take on Sword of the Atom. It's a novel angle, and Sergio Aragones' detailing was in top form.

Mark Hazzard: Merc #6 I bought new at 7-11, and began a run of Mike Zeck covers that will last most of the rest of the series. However, I don't. I wonder if that Zeck connection made some of my memories of this title bleed into my enthusiasm for G.I. Joe. But what's weird is that I don't end up buying many or maybe any new, and the issues I enjoyed the most have a Mark Beachum association instead. Anyway, this one had Vince Giarrano art, which would normally have been a deal breaker, but this is in his early days when he drew in a more conventional style. Mark's pilot buddy Treetop gets the shop a gig guarding an actual former Nazi up for political office in a German-speaking country. Predictably, Mark almost immediately turns on the guys paying his bills, and seemingly kills one of the guy's guards at one point. There are "Never Forget" types who keep trying to out the politician, and one who had slept with Mark also ended up murdered in plain sight during a demonstration by another guard. Mark goes full Dalton in the last reel of Roadhouse, spending more time avenging the girl than we ever did with her while alive, killing scores with seeming impunity. Ultimately, Hazzard turns the politician over to... the media? Who are more interested in yet another old Nazi that they seemed intent on electing than the 6'4 scarred American running around with an Uzi. There were so many inkers that the credit went to Manny Hands, and I guess veering from a Kubert to a Salmons could have been more schizophrenic than this, but I get why I more or less quit here.

Once again, I paid a buck-fifty for Mephisto Vs... The Fantastic Four #1, purely on the strength of that righteously Satanic cover that, in a rare reversal for me, should be plagiarized more often. I've seen it "homaged" once or twice, but this thing is sick and that sickness should have spread further. The interiors by John Buscema & Bob Wiacek are painfully conventional by comparison, not at all warranting the up-charge. However, Al Milgrom's story has a mean streak, as Mephisto forces appropriately forces Faustian deals on various heroes in pursuit of possessing the purest soul. The narrative leans into the horror, and is sturdy enough that DC ripped off the premise for a months-long intra-company crossover a decade later. One of my favorites, in fact, and that stoutness kept me coming back to this mini-series, as well.

The New Mutants #50 had so much gong on that I didn't even mind the Rick Leonardi cover, or even how that cover got ripped off not long after I bought it. Hey, the Jackson Guice Magik splash page looked better without it. Actually though, this may have been too busy. We start in Limbo, and then Magik teleports to the Shi'ar Empire. That brings in Professor X, Lilandra, the Starjammers, the Micronauts, Grimjack, and Munden's Bar. I obviously wouldn't have caught the First Comics references in 1986, but I'm pleased to see Claremont was a fan, too. The New Mutants were still in the fascist future, which I'm not sure ever gets addressed again, unless that's where Bishop came from? But Magik just picks up her team in a portal from that future, everyone does to Earth, and they fight a version of S'ym corrupted by the transmode virus before the title bout with Warlock's father, Magus. Not my Warlock, and not that Magus, which I confess to being slightly resentful about. I liked this issue fine, but for whatever reason, I was done with this book until getting dragged back for the next crossover, Fall of the Mutants.

I said last month that I was sticking around for Psi-Force #6 and beyond, as long as Mark Texeira was delivering that sweet art. About that... under maybe his best cover of the run was a hideous Christmas story fill-in my Mike Vosburg and Al Milgrom. Six months in, I'm invested in these kids and their sob story holidays, but let's not push it with another lousy fill-in next month.

More evidence of my riches was Star Trek Movie Special #2 at $2.00, I believe bought at the mall bookstore. Despite the issue numbering, it actually adapted the fourth and best of the movies, The Voyage Home. I think the creative team of Barr, Sutton, and Villagran also did the main Trek title, which I readily skipped, but I plucked down the pair of bucks for this here souvenir. Besides, unlike with The Search for Spock, I don't think they offered action figures for this one. I'm thinking the VCR might have finally come into the household around this time, but I could still see value in having the comics adaptation of a favored movie.

West Coast Avengers #19 is a rough read today, what with it centering on the old west Ghost Rider doping up Mockingbird to be his love slave, and both battering Kid Colt andc Two-Gun Kid when they try to do something about it. Also, Wonder Man's idiocy gets Hawkeye injured, and Clint uses a doomed past life of Firebird as a way to each out for help in the present, neglecting to mention to the poor woman the doomed part of the equation. Not a lot of heroism in this super-hero comic.

X-Factor #14 with Cyclops versus the Master Mold, although the true battle was with his burgeoning awareness that he's a sleezeball. Simonson gave the book a distinctive look, and I at least read my brother's copies, unlike when he'd pick up New Mutants.

I once again splurged on a $1.50 comic, maybe because I was having a good Cap month, at least so far, and bought X-Men Vs. the Avengers #1. This was probably Marc Silvestri's audition of Uncanny X-Men, where he had a long run that I struggled with. He's so much better at drawing the Avengers, especially Captain America, although with John Buscema and Tom Palmer still on that title, it didn't seem to need saving. This very month offered the conclusion to the beloved Roger Stern arc "Under Siege," but in a year, that title's prospects become pretty bleak for much of the next decade. As for this Magneto-centric mini-series, well, I could have used Claremont here, because I wasn't entirely up for Roger Stern's serving of mutantkind. It was funny to see a Quinjet parked in front of a K-Mart on the splash page, given how much of my toy buying, including Secret Wars, was centered on one.

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Monday, December 16, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Early December, 1986



This must have been the one Christmas when my younger stepsister from my mother's marriage gave me some comics as a present. I don't think that I ever gave her anything, ever, and we had a mildly antagonistic relationship in those years. It was a really sweet gesture, and I don't know what possessed her. I haven't seen her in something like twenty years at this point, when she occasionally shopped at the adult boutique where I worked. You might find that a bit too candid, but unless she got born again in the meantime, I don't think she'd care about the mention. Anyway, I hope she's doing well, and I hope her father isn't. I never thought I'd be able to identify a specific Archie comic, but sure enough, she gave me Betty's Diary #6, in which the young lady explores multiple potential careers. I'm a known girl's guy, but this was clearly a bowling ball with Homer's name on it. Which again, is better than literally the nothing I had to offer. Betty tries her hand at creative writing, a teenage hobby of my older stepsister, and there's a panel of fairy tale versions of the Archie gang that stuck with me. The next story had Betty crying at a nativity scene, and I surely rolled my eyes at the Spire of it all even then. The third story was about Betty failing to find some quiet alone time, because she was just too popular. Oh-- I can totally relate. F'sure.

Even I don't understand what my relationship status with Captain America comic books was up to in this period, but we were back on-again for #327. "Clashing Symbols" was about Johnny Walker trying to make Cap look bad by having his 'roided-up buddies wear his mask and call themselves Buckies. Yes, even the Black one. Lemar Hoskins. Had to look it up. If you didn't know, "Big Black Buck" or abbreviated versions of same was a racist term applied to young men of African descent that supposedly embodied all of the worst stereotypes you'd expect from friends of the Klan. The murderers of Emmett Till got off by framing the 14 year old as a Buck, if that helps you with context. Mark Gruenwald was clearly just riffing off the name of Cap's boy sidekick when he developed the Bold Urban Commandos, or B.U.C.s, and nobody minded until grown ass Lemar Hoskins took on the actual Bucky name and costume. Given who he was a sidekick to, they could have leaned into the political commentary, and kept his legs exposed besides. Instead, within a year, Bucky was given a new name and monicker, Battlestar, and he was eventually shuffled off to Silver Sable's Wild Pack. Part of the irony is that Lemar Hoskins is himself a racist, or at least played one while assaulting Middle Eastern students while slinging related epithets that you couldn't print in a modern comic. When you misspell the word that you're burning into someone's lawn, your redemption arc is short and bends toward obscurity. Most of the rest of the issue was Paul Neary making Bernie Rosenthal as visually unappealing as Gruenwald was assassinating her character. I cop to the bias of DeMatteis/Zeck being the best Cap, followed by Byrne/Stern, so Bernie is my one true pairing with Steve. Her getting done dirty like this was not endearing. From there, Cap and Super Patriot brawled in a parking lot outside a Springsteen concert for an hour with no clear victor, but Rogers was left demoralized by his inability to win, both in person and against a popular rise of far right extremism. Now that, I can relate to. As with Flag Smasher, I love how Super Patriot embodies an ideological divide with our hero, wielding a flaming sword instead of a shield, the prominence of red in his costume contrasting against the blues of Cap. It clearly impressed Denny O'Neil, who stole whole cloth from this run for Azrael and Knightfall.

D.P. 7 #5 picks up where their Kickers Incorporated appearance left off. One story was about their banding together against an external threat, where here their personal difference divide them. Specifically, Glitter is so desperate to be relieved of the powers that separate her from her children that she helps talk the group into seeking an exorcism. Meanwhile, Scuzz willfully rejects the group from the combination of not feeling valued, and because he fears the emotional investment after a lifetime of abandonment. There are brawls and other theatrics, but ultimately the creators interest is in the domestic soap opera within a found family. I like it, but by being a proximal Marvel title, commercial expectations and narrative conventions clearly compromise the effort. It wants to be Concrete and settles for Midwestern X-Men.

The third issue of Matt Wagner's The Demon mini-series was probably the first time I saw Etrigan outside of the one issue of Who's Who that I bought new. It wasn't by choice, as this was another Christmas comic from my stepsister. This was the penultimate issue, basically one long Satanic incantation story, and I wasn't a horror fan yet. I halfway think it was just something that she ended up with, because it was such an odd choice, although that choice was the most memorable thing about the book. I never have read the rest of the series, so I have no idea what was even going on here.

I was back for G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #57, with a nifty cover of Destro teaming up with Flint and Lady Jaye. There's a whole "Man in the Iron Mask" thing where Major Bludd has assumed Destro's identity and taken over his Scottish Estate, and I guess because he's temporarily on the outs with Cobra, the Joes help him reclaim it. By the way, this issue has circulation numbers, and the book was averaging half a million reader, with the most recent issue up another 35K. I think you could have a top book with just the 35k today.

With Mark Hazzard: Merc #5, I think I bought it new, but I'm not absolutely certain of that. The 'Nam's Doug Murray takes over as writer, and Mark Beachum provides layouts for Alan Smithee-- er, "Jack Fury," even though Morrow outs himself on the cover. Most of the time, enough Beachum shines through, especially on the sexy ladies, to make up for the Alan Kupperberg issues. Other panels have a Kyle Baker quality, which I'm also not mad at. But then other pages, maybe too many of them, just look like the more amateurish Blackthorne stuff. But the main problem is that the story is a rip-off of Streets of Fire, with a line pilfered from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and it's just badly done. The humor is gone, and in its place is an Andy Sidaris martial arts tart and a hard lean into straight-to-video action cheese. It's readable, but much diminished from its initial promise.

I picked up Marvel Fanfare #31 at the same neighborhood 7-11 that I got most of my comics, and that shouldn't have happened. A friend of mine had some early issues of Fanfare, and my brother had some others, but this was a book made for direct market only sale to comic shops, on all-cover stock at a hefty $1.50. So it was never supposed to be on a newstand, and I wouldn't normally pay twice the standard cover price. But this was a Captain America story by J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Kerry Gammill, the only person that I could ever approve of replacing Mike Zeck. Admittedly, unfortunately, it's also a team-up story with Frog-Man, quite a step down from when this same creative team had Spider-Man in that slot. But Gammill's art was so gorgeous that he rated the high production values, and I love when S.H.I.E.L.D. material seeps into Cap's world. The mystery baddie is the Yellow Claw, a rare titular villain from his own comic in the 1950s, who'd fought Nick Fury during the Steranko run. This was a two-parter, and it took me probably a decade or more to finally finish this story. I literally had the comic in bed with me before I decided that I had to say "no" to any more reading ifg I'm going to get this thing done while it's still 2024.

Since I read The Marvel Saga: the Official History of the Marvel Universe #16, I was convinced that the obscure X-Men villain Lucifer, who dressed like Magneto and crippled Professor X, would prove to be the notorious '90s archfoe Onslaught. Decades on, what did Onslaught even do? Send a bunch of classic Marvel heroes on a vacation to Image Comics? What also sucked was that Onslaught was wholly from the X-office, but all he did of real note impacted the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Hulk. Would a villain like Lucifer, who fought the X-Men and Avengers in their first meeting, have been a more legit option? Certainly better than Professor X turning evil, again. Anyway, most of the rest of this issue just continued or resolved ongoing story arcs. Dormammu's origin is covered with then-recent Paul Smith art, mingled with older Ditko and Colan material involving Clea.

Marvel Tales Starring Spider-Man #197 got me back by combining the Chris Claremont/John Byrne team with Iron Fist, the character with whom their collaboration had begun. I mean, I didn't know that back then-- I just thought Byrne drew Iron Fist better than anyone else, which was true if the other name in the hat wasn't Kerry Gammill. Plus, this one featured Steel Serpent, at a time when dark mirrors were still wired instead of tired. Since '70s comics ran short, there was a new Bob Layton Hercules 5-pager with his trans-curious Skrull sidekick. Same 7-11 as the Marvel Fanfare, though probably not in the same week.

Pepe Moreno doesn't just happen to ink The 'Nam #4. It's a choice, and I'd argue a bad one. The story is solid-- another instance of Top Kick putting men in harm's way in service to his own agenda, and the consequences of that decision in the presence of a news crew. Michael Golden has clearly put everything down on the page, but Moreno's style is simply incompatible, and his embellishments dilute rather than enhance. I liked the story fine, but every turn of the page was a reminder of that compromise.

I really wasn't into Uncanny X-Men #215 at the time. I didn't care about a two-part solo Storm story versus some dorky fake World War II-era super-heroes drawn by Alan Davis. I didn't realize that the X-Men were peaking for the time being, and that as I gained a political consciousness, their "law and order" murder games would prove more relevant and timeless than I could have feared in that period. But also, it's still weird that they tried to do anything with the Crimson Commando after this. These characters are too disturbing.
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 2:31 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé Podcast #28

(November 1986)


Internet Archive ◫ MP3 ◫ Spotify

ré·su·mé [rez-oo-mey, rez-oo-mey] noun 1. a summing up; summary. 2. a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by an applicant for a job.
In Comic Reader Résumé, I use Mike’s Amazing World of Comics to travel back through time via his virtual newsstand to the genesis point of my lifelong collecting of comics. From there, I can offer a “work history” of my fandom through my active purchasing of (relatively) new comic books beginning in January of 1982, when my interest in the medium went from sporadic and unformed to routine on through compulsive accumulation. To streamline the narrative and keep the subjects at least remotely contemporaneous, I will not generally be discussing what we call back issues: books bought long after their publication date. Sometimes, I will cover a book published on a given month that I picked up within a year or so that date, and I give myself an especially wide berth on this aspect in the first couple of “origins” episodes. We’ll get more rigidly on point as my memories crystallize and my “hobby” spirals out of control into the defining characteristic of my life (eventually outpacing squalor and competing neuroses.) It’s part personal biography, part industry history, and admittedly totally self-indulgent on my part.

This episode includes Classic X-Men #6, D.P. 7 #3, Daredevil #240, Marvel Saga #15, The 'Nam #3, New Mutants #49, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #15, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters #5, Strikeforce: Morituri #4, Uncanny X-Men #214, West Coast Avengers #18, X-Factor #13, and more!

“Transcripts” The Avengers, DC Comics, Daredevil, Marvel Comics, New Universe, Strikeforce: Morituri, Wolverine, X-Factor, X-Men, Movies, Music, Comic Reader Résumé
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Monday, November 4, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Late November, 1986



Classic X-Men #6 reprinted The All-New, All-Different X-Men from 1976, moving a barely visible Cockrum Wolverine from deep in the background to an Arthur Adams cover sharing the spotlight with Jean Grey well into the foreground. I'm pretty sure Elfquest was boring the pants off me by #19, but I think I was still hanging on.

I always think The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition ran longer than twenty issues, but as with the original version, it effectively ends with #15. Also like the first edition though, when the core coverage resolves, the book moves into addendum with the books of the dead and inactive. There's no need for a paraphernalia issue since that was all incorporated into the individual enties in the Deluxe Edition, but Marvel couldn't miss the chance to out-morbid itself with five issues of spectral heroes and villains rising from the grave. But those arrive bi-monthly sometime next year, so we'll stop Wonder Man to Zzzax, Plus Appendix to Alien Races. Aside from an undeservedly good JLGL Wonder Man in his worst of many bad costumes, plus a good Kerry Gammill Yellow Claw, this volume swiftly nosedives into X-team group entries and all of the aliens. So, so many aliens in their Underoos.

Among the many random things that most boys like but I'm not into is mechanized suits of armor. I know that's highly specific in most areas, but like archers, comic books are absolutely filthy with them. I think that there's just some disconnect in my brain where I question who the pilots are without the suit. We see Ellen Ripley survive against an exceedingly lethal alien species, while her peers and supposed superiors perish, before she levels up to the power loader that still sees her as the underdog in a fight with the alien queen. She's not defined by the power loader-- it's just another tool for the heroine to employ. But in the comics, the powered armor always comes first, and there's usually a whole pool of people who get to wear a given armor type. You can pick your favorite Iron Man, but there's only one-- well, there used to be one of a kind for a lot of heroes, but now everybody has an understudy or successor or whatever that never goes away. It's part of what turned me away from Marvel Comics in the '90s, and it's part of why I abandoned DC in the 21st Century. How many Green Arrow variations does the world need? Which is a really long way to say that I easily skipped Spitfire and the Troubleshooters for most of its brief run, because right there in the name, the book was about Armor and the Operators. And yet I believe that I bought the fifth issue, guest-starring the one & only (for now) Star Brand. I had not previously bought either title, so I can't say for sure what possessed me, although the issue had an involved human story that was well rendered by Tony DeZuniga. Herb Trimpe was the penciller, which likely kept the storytelling clear and bright. but DeZuniga's embellishment buries most any trace of his style. The story by Conway & Thomas was about the main operator of the armor being imprisoned for a justifiable homicide that she was nonetheless innocent of, the skewed dynamic ofg her romantic relationship with her lawyer, the unwanted advances of a fellow inmate, and the plot of the terrorists responsible for her plight. It was also about her students' misguided efforts to rescue her by recovering the faulty armor from a police impound, their own interpersonal dynamics, and the peril of one pilot when the power pack threatens to blow him and a chunk of the city to smithereens. But on top of that, you've got a guest star with true superpowers inserting himself into that scenario in a way that's far more satisfying and narratively important than the usual intracompany punch-outs. So of course I never bought another issue again, to this day. In my defense, I don't think it was even on the newsstand for much longer, but I could have dug it out of quarter bins like I did other New Universe titles.

Titles like Star Brand, for instance. I'm not sure when I started, but I know that I kept flipping through the book on the stand for the John Romita Jr. art, which the idiots at Marvel kept hiding under bland covers by lesser lights that the Grand Comics Database can't even identify. I'd guess Ron Wilson and Alex Saviuk were in the mix, and #5 was signed by Vince Giarrano & José Marzán Jr. My best guess at how it worked was that my brother bought one or more issues that I read, but I want to say specifically the previous issue, which had a detailed recap of the series to date. I think I finally recognized Romita as the guy that I used to really like on X-Men, and the story got way more into protagonist Ken Connell's personal life than most books. This exposure probably intrigued me, leading to my purchase of the fifth issues of Spitfire and Star Brand. That, or I made all this up, and I got all the aforementioned comics out of the Marauder Books quarter bin. Given Ken's moralizing to the Spitfire crew in their title, his hypocrisy in his own is delicious. Besides being a womanizer who sleeps with three women in just this issue, proposing to one after a freak-out when she so much as dates another guy, he's also really bad at super-heroing. The guy launches an assault on a Libyan military compound, assuming he read the map right, and in a previous issue was involved in the detonation of a nuke. This guy is in no position to lecture, and given that Ken is broadly regarded as a writer insert of Jim Shooter, a controversial figure who's no stranger to his own professional and narrative conflicts, just makes it all that much sweeter. Despite arriving late, I'd stick with this one for a bit. Maybe. I've acknowledged that I may also be an unreliable narrator on this matter.

In the time between Jean Grey's seeming death in the Dark Phoenix Saga and her supposed resurrection last year, Scott Summers married her doppelganger and had a child. Madelyn Pryor and little Nate were mostly forgotten after the first issue, and Jean even seemed to develop a romance with Angel, so it was weird how hard that 180'd in X-Factor #13. I suspect that even more than fighting Storm for X-Men leadership in #201, this issue was the start of Cyclops' long, torturous heel turn. His returning to his abandoned family, only to find them gone and losing his mind, really underlined how unheroic his actions leading up to this point had been. Claremont had started this whole boondoggle when Jean was considered definitively and eternally dead as a way to write out Cyclops. Digging back into it certainly helped deepen ties between X-Factor and X-Men that made the former feel relevant to the latter, but at the cost of making Cyclops a cad in a way that stuck longer and harder than any of Jean's other deaths and revivals. I literally don't know if she's currently alive, or her alternate future daughter has her title, or her teen self is active in the present, or what. I clearly do not care, either.

I re-read the two part Rotgut story arc at the same time last month, so I'm a little disappointed in my past self for not doing present me the solid of doing a write up on Daredevil #240 while it was still fresh in my mind. I'm also frankly re-reading too many of the 1986 comics, leading to production delays and excessively long coverage, so maybe I should lean into any loss that gap entails. "The Face You Deserve" is both the title and a line of dialogue that has stuck with me, about how at twenty you have the face you were born with, and by forty, yadda yadda. We're getting a lot of preservatives these days, so I'd say that these days, the toll really doesn't come due until age 60. My glasses hide my crows feet, and natural highlights conceal the white steaks in my hair, but my soul feels older and more tired than my features betray. Anyway, Louis Williams continues to depict New York City life in an uncommonly realistic way while being nimble enough to convey the insanity and surreality dictate by Ann Nocenti's serial killer script. I mean, most of Nocenti's stuff is like that, and I'd argue that it gets away from her after Williams leaves, but they were a perfect pairing on their few issues together.

I dipped back into New Mutants #49 for the catnip of dystopic futures, this time a fascist mutant society run by an evil Suspot. They were always making Sunspot a bad guy in these things, so that when he eventually made a proper heel turn, no one cared. And then he did a face turn, and no one cared. I think Sunspot died at some point, and still no one cared. But for this issue, guest penciller Bret Blevins was inked by Val Mayerik, a fascinating combination. There was a lot of jubilant detailing that recalled Art Adams, but then it was also rough-hewn with impressionistic flourishes, recalling Bill Sienkiewicz. Those two names are often bandied about among the best comic artists of the '80s, if not ever, but not with regard to the same drawings. So yeah, that was a wild variation on the increasingly old Days of Future Past saw, plus it featured one of the bleakest and most disturbing takes on Magneto's Holocaust origins, and I suspect my first exposure to same. No wonder I came back for the big anniversary issue.

For some reason I skipped Psi-Force #4, a Kathy Ling spotlight story where she tries to run back home, which I fished out of the quarter bin in 1989. But I was there for the Psi-Stalker in Psi-Force #5. Continuing to riff on movies like The Fury, the C.I.A. had there own pet psychic psycho that they sent to infiltrate the runaway shelter and kidnap his fellow gifted youngsters. And he would have gotten away with it too, if not for the power of Anastasia Inyushin's love. See, she made this empathic loop with her healing powers that shorted him out, or something. Don't expect cogent answers from pseudo-scientific principles. Tex was still doing breakdowns that were well realized in the inks, so I'm showing up so long as the stories stay passable and the art this pretty.

Maybe teased by my half-brother's purchases or intrigued by a team-up with Marvel's Old West heroes, I picked up West Coast Avengers #18 at the 7-11. It started with the Born Again Evangelical Firebird stopping Hank Pym from shooting himself in the head, so I maybe had questions about that, as well? Plus there's the factor of my odd fixation on Al Milgrom on Spectacular Spider-Man, which never transferred to the hated Incredible Hulk, and the draw was maybe diminished by the heavy polish of Joe Sinnott. But also, Ghost Rider went full creeper, punching out and kidnapping Mockingbird while her husband and teammates continued on their time-lost way. There was a lot going on, and I guess I had to read it properly to parse it all out.
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Monday, October 21, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Early November, 1986

In a rare bout of consideration for others, I found Blackthorne 3-D Series #11 at Marauder Comics around 1989 and bought it for my mother. She was in a firm Betty Boop phase that included a variety of merch, possibly including a rolling tray, but the one of those I remember most had Elvis' painted face on it. So probably a hash tin, instead? Also, in a credit deduction, I can't say whether it was a proper back issue or a quarter bin find, but I lean toward the latter. Lil' Bro picked up Captain America #326, a haunted house tale with visions of established rogues, and Doctor Strange #81, the final issue of the Master of the Mystic Arts volume. I'm not sure which of us got Fantastic Four Vs. X-Men #1, but only he would continue with it. I completely missed G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #56 for some reason. The Tom Palmer cover sparks no memory. I don't really remember G.I. Joe Yearbook #3 either, another silent Snake-Eyes story by the series' creative team, along with a Serpentor story by Mike Zeck, who also contributes covers and an extensive pin-up gallery. I don't know what happened with all that. My brother might have gotten Justice #4, where the anti-hero deals with the consequences of losing his hand while pursuing the other-dimensional crime lord. It certainly looks better having Geoff Isherwood finish Joe Staton rather than be finished by Vinnie Colletta. It's vaguely familar, and I don't think I ever got a copy myself, discounted or otherwise. Gladstone's re-release of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #516 stories that featured stories related to the simultaneous return of Song of the South was well played, since I must have been old enough to have pangs of nostalgia for that property, and very randomly purchased this.

My half-brother continued buying the "Gang War" arc into the Amazing Spider-Man #285, which had a Mike Zeck cover featuring the Punisher wielding a bazooka. It wasn't too unfortunate that Bob McLeod inked it, but that will be a problem for me in the future. The interiors were by DeFalco, Owsley, and Kupperberg, so I figure the proto-Christopher Priest element probably helped carry it for me. This one was about the mafia heads trying to smooth out their differences while Frank Castle tried to rub them out, with ol' Web-Head getting in the way. At a whopping $2.50, I was perfectly content to let lil'bro buy the up-format Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine one-shot. Mark Bright's rendition of Logan was not pleasing to my eye, and I already got a summary of this in that month's Amazing. At a time when kids like myself bought all things Wolveine, I was like "ehhh, not that one."

The 'Nam #3 continues to be the antidote when I get bogged down by long, arguably overwritten late Bronze Age comics. This one was a relatively light affair, with three Joes getting a three day pass into Saigon, only to be beset by terror attacks and grift. I got excite for a second that I might spot someplace familiar in the comic, but then I remembered that we never went to Ho Chi Minh City on our vacation. Too westernized. We did Hanoi and Da Nang, and the latter was mostly spent at Sun World Ba Na Hills, because I wanted to visit the Golden Hands Bridge, which was built in 2018. So no, I didn't get the 'Nam #3 experience, probably to the good.

D.P. 7 #4 was still a good book, but more Hardy Boys than Alan Moore. When Dave gets mistaken for a Bigfoot-type creature killing cattle in the sticks, it's up to his fellow freak friends to clear his name. I'd have more patience with it if I wasn't a middle aged man trying to canvass dozens of books on a tight schedule to get out a monthly podcast. But as it is, this was a wordy, corny, mystery of the week episode of a period TV show. It's also hard to miss that the New Universe has two series about groups with superhuman powers on the run from nefarious agencies seeking to exploit or exterminate them, and that each team book was among the longest lasting titles in the run. The main difference is that D.P. 7 are adults who do more actual running than the teenage runaways of Psi-Force. It was wise of Jim Shooter to distill the best of both books into the Valiant Comic Harbinger, which outlived each series in a more hostile industry landscape, though. But then again, if you combined the runs of the two New Universe titles and all the volumes of Harbinger, you'd more or less have a parity of total output. Maybe that's all the gas off-brand X-Men can give you?

The Marvel Saga: the Official History of the Marvel Universe #15 maybe learned a lesson from the Dardevil issue and allowed Keith Pollard to draw Hawkeye & Wonder Man in modern West Coast Avengers-style to sweeten their connection to the reprints within. We get their origin stories, plus the debut of noted failure Diablo. Speaking of Daredevil, the yellow-garbed one meets Spider-Man. On the move are Kang the Conqueror and the Scorpion, plus I should probably mention that Doctor Doom is rarely far from these Marvel Saga issues.

Secret Origins #11 offered another instance of my tossing through this title at the mall bookstore, based on the inviting premise, attractive cover, and characters I had little to no experience with getting a key spotlight. Power Girl had been appearing in house ads with sharp Kerry Gammill art, and Hawkman I knew from Super Friends, Super Powers, and team-ups with Batman. But as was the case in most of these occurrences, under the Jerry Ordway cover was tepid art and unengaging stories, such that I only ever bought a single issue of its fifty issue run new off the shelf. This could have been a great book to introduce me to the greater DC Universe, but it failed to induce me to buy, and even having picked up most of the run well after the fact, I keep them more for the reference than any true affection. Superman #2 was another toss through at the mall bookstore, lured in by the premise that Lex Luthor now knew the Man of Steel's secret identity, then put off by how they handwaved it away. Back on the rack, Byrne.

I don't know if we appreciated how good when had it in the '80s, when Barry Windsor-Smith would pop by for a random fill-in issue involving the Disco Dazzler, as I don't know if we appreciated how good when had it in the '80s, when Barry Windsor-Smith would pop by for a random fill-in issue involving the Disco Dazzler, as he did in Uncanny X-Men #214. This isn't Lifedeath-- there's nothing special about this book, except that it was drawn exceptionally well for the largest audience available in comics at the time. And I guess also that Wolverine is continuing to act like a nutjob, but we were still too high on the Mutant Massacre to care.
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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé Podcast #27

(October 1986)


Internet Archive ◫ MP3 ◫ Spotify

ré·su·mé [rez-oo-mey, rez-oo-mey] noun 1. a summing up; summary. 2. a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by an applicant for a job.
In Comic Reader Résumé, I use Mike’s Amazing World of Comics to travel back through time via his virtual newsstand to the genesis point of my lifelong collecting of comics. From there, I can offer a “work history” of my fandom through my active purchasing of (relatively) new comic books beginning in January of 1982, when my interest in the medium went from sporadic and unformed to routine on through compulsive accumulation. To streamline the narrative and keep the subjects at least remotely contemporaneous, I will not generally be discussing what we call back issues: books bought long after their publication date. Sometimes, I will cover a book published on a given month that I picked up within a year or so that date, and I give myself an especially wide berth on this aspect in the first couple of “origins” episodes. We’ll get more rigidly on point as my memories crystallize and my “hobby” spirals out of control into the defining characteristic of my life (eventually outpacing squalor and competing neuroses.) It’s part personal biography, part industry history, and admittedly totally self-indulgent on my part.

This episode includes Batman #403, Classic X-Men #5, D.P. 7 #3, Daredevil #239, Elfquest #18, G.I. Joe a Real American Hero #55, The History of Electronics, Justice #3, Marvel Saga #14, The 'Nam #2, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #14, Strikeforce: Morituri #3, Tandy Computer Whiz Kids, Uncanny X-Men #213, X-Factor #12, and more!

“Transcripts” ALF, Batman, Bloom County, DC Comics, Daredevil, G.I. Joe, Ghostbusters, Inhumanoids, Marvel Comics, New Universe, Radio Shack, Rambo, SilverHawks, Strikeforce: Morituri, Wolverine, X-Factor, X-Men, Movies, Music, Comic Reader Résumé
Posted by Diabolu Frank at 2:56 AM 1 comments
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Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Late October, 1986

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I've been rereading Classic X-Men via my omnibus edition, which I've been very happy with. For each reprint, there's an orange page with black text that offers the original cover and a synopsis for the 1970s X-Men issue. As I've gotten older, my tolerance for the quirks and excesses of Bronze Age comics has worn thin, so I don't anticipate ever revisiting that material in full. I much prefer being given the plot and a gallery of all the revisions made to the material in 1986, then enjoy the new character-focused short story by a more mature and confident Chris Claremont. I favor that to suffering through a monster of the month plot last issue, where Cyclops accidentally unleashed demons that Storm has to put away, or this issue's revival of Eric the Red. I do feel bad for Havok and Polaris though, a reasonably normal and loving couple constantly sucked into the dark vortex that was Scott Summers' drama. Alex feels bad about getting adopted and leaving Scott behind at the orphanage, but like, wouldn't you have, too? The back-up involves Colossus' very brief romance with a defecting Russian ballerina, and how despite twice saving her from thugs, he's rejected for being a mutant. Piotr comes off as both soulful and dense for wasting a day on the beach, contemplating whether a man of steel like himself has a heart worthy of love. It was still a good one, and also, the negative space on the back cover finally allowed me to notice that Bolton has been numbering each cover as part of his signature. #5 in an ongoing series!

Elfquest #18 was full of palace intrigue, and I'm struck by the Tolkien of it all. Yeah, they're all more or less elves, but there's the shorter Wolfriders pitted against the taller telepathic ones on winged mounts, and then there's the ones that are part bat, and only one can still produce children, melting the heart of the king of the other ones, and yadda yadda. Look, it was sexy half-naked slender myth creatures in a fantasy soap opera. X-Men wasn't all that different.

Unicorn to Wolverine in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #14 pretty much marks the last proper issue of the Deluxe Edition. The other six issues are more specialized interests, where this one still looks at the breadth of the MCU. We got your Art Adams, Mike Zeck, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Byrne, Kerry Gammill, Bob Layton, and Paul Smith. The ones hitting it out of the park are Jerry Ordway's Vision, and if you can believe it, Sandy Plunkett's Will O' The Wisp.

X-Factor #12 seemed to be a try-out issue for Marc Silvestri, given that he would soon take over X-Men from the departing John Romita Jr. after a slew of high quality fill-ins. It inhabits an interesting space as a Mutant Massacre aftermath, that reintroduces Boom Boom post Secret Wars II, and makes a point at picking at the flaws of the mutant exterminators cover that would soon be abandoned. You've also got Apocalypse developing his Four Horsemen, and the progression of the crippled Angel subplot that will play into next year's mutant crossover.

Louis Williams did not have much of a career. On a quick search, I couldn't find any information on him, beyond a single issue's work on about three comics, an incomplete Speedy serial in Action Comics Weekly, a two-issue mini-series devoted to The Punisher's I.T. guy, and his five issue run on Daredevil. He did the Klaw fill-in with Steve Englehart, and then a pair of two-parters with Ann Nocenti that had to be separated by two fill-in stories by other artists. I have to assume the dude was not up to speed for monthly comics, and he was likely hired for bearing a passing resemblance to David Mazzucchelli. A shame then, because his work hit me just right, and he's kind of my defining Daredevil artist. He makes Matthew Murdock just pretty and delicate enough for me to believe that her could pull the kind of ladies that he does who are willing to put up with his nonsense, but also sell the violence inherent in his alter ego. His work is perfectly grounded and realistic, and yet he can also delve into the surreal and the outright horrific demanded from him in a script like "Bad Plumbing" from Daredevil #239. Though the cover advertises a Jack the Ripper type with the bloody scrawl "Rotgut was Here," Williams renders the serial killer a disturbing, pathetic creep driven to murder by various mental pathologies. Rotgut appears to be an African-American Albino, and in my experience, most comic artists struggle with an accurate representation of a regular Black person, but Williams excels at rendering such a tricky racial nuance. Rotgut isn't meant to be a credible or recurring threat to our hero, but as the centerpiece for Nocenti's exploration of a particular type of zealot that has only proven more of a concern for society today than he was nearly forty years ago. As I've mentioned, I didn't delve into the more highly regarded Daredevil material for a few years yet, so this was the interpretation that finally drew me onto the title, and which I still compare other runs against.

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.

After two exceptional issues of Strikeforce: Morituri, the third was a shockingly basic super-team comic. Purple prose, arch dialogue, straining to work in both real and code names while summarizing each character's power. This could have been any period X-Men knock-off, though the science fiction elements lend more towards Levitz Legion of Super-Heroes, aside from a horror element that sets it apart somewhat. It's a perfectly fine example in that class, with nifty costume designs on display and variations on fastball specials executed, but it's hardly transcending standard Marvel fare in the way it was previously
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Monday, October 7, 2024

Comic Reader Résumé: Early October, 1986



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.

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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