You Say It's Your Birthday . . .

Why yes, yes I do say. I was going to do a post about how Dazzler keeps coming back to life in New Excalibur, but I don't have much in the way of theories, and I'd rather do a post that talks about Grimjack anyway. And I'm sure you'd rather read that too.

The story in question, which shares it's title with this post, was in Grimjack #24. This was a 2nd anniversary issue, but pretty light on actual story. It was mostly a reprint of the first Grimjack story (an awesome 2-part backup in Starslayer) and this little "Munden's Bar" story. I loved that Grimjack would frequently have 14 pages of John Gaunt killing people, then switch to an 8 page Munden's Bar story drawn by Fred Hembreck starring the cast of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. I'm not joking about that.

That's not the case here. Gaunt is alone in his bar, after closing time, having a drink. Alone. Except he's joined by the a large bird person named Krupp, who remarks that it's John's birthday. The Big Five-Oh. Gaunt talks about how years of fighting have caught up with him, how easy it is to hurt himself just by turning wrong as he gets out of bed. This would seem pretty standard except, Krupp's dead. Killed in Grimjack #1. He's a specter, even has the hole in his head from where Gaunt through the javelin through it. And throughout this little conversation, the bar fills with specters, as Krupp says 'Pretty soon, you'll be one of us.' Gaunt's response? 'Ha! I guess I will at that!' Then he (and all the ghosts) start laughing. Enter Spook.

Spook, as the name might suggest, is a ghost, and is stuck on that plane of existence with unfinished business. She was also the closest thing to a romantic interest Gaunt had at that point. Honestly, she was well-suited for that, as John's track record with the ladies is even worse than Kyle Rayner's. That is not a misprint, I said WORSE than Kyle Rayner's. I'll go over it in detail some day.

Anyway, Spook, is somewhat perturbed by John sitting here with all these ghosts. Of course, John isn't bothered, and introduces Spook to the cast, including his former buddy/informant Feetus, his brothers, and some other characters we've met previously. Spook tells him he's manifesting these spirits. John retorts that an old wizard mentor of his told him he didn't have the calm soul needed for that. Spook, who appears to be on the verge of being assaulted by the rowdy spirits, counters by saying he lacks the calm soul neccessary to control his power, but not to use it (this is an important factor in later stories). At which point John sees the ghost of Katar (more on him another time) menacing the bar's mascot, Bob, the gatorlizard.

That helps John get his shit together, and he banishes the spirits, leaving the bar a huge mess, which Gordon will naturally have to clean up. Grimjack gets escorted to his bed by Spook, so it wouldn't seem to be all bad, but Bob gets to come along too, so maybe no birthday gift for Mr. Gaunt.

The important lesson of the comic is this: spend your birthday in positive ways, rather than moping around by yourself, reflecting on your approaching death. That means no drinking alone in closed bars, or in the case of my birthday last year, no sitting in a McDonald's in Piedmont being depressed about spending your birthday sitting in a McDonald's in Piedmont. Which is why I spent a couple of hours today going through the archive of Dave's Long Box, because laughter is important, even if it's just because Kobra once kicked Batman's ass. Man, that's a sappy paragraph, innit?

So what's your favorite birthday themed issue of a comic?