Random Back Issues #161 - The Thing #2

Once an idol of millions, now a janitor. 

We looked at the final issue of this book 4 years ago, but today, Ben's still on the FF, his ultimately disastrous stint on Battleworld yet to come. He's cleaning up after some big fight with Annihilus that also involved the Avengers. Ben finds what at first glance is Annihilus' skull, but it turns out the bug-guy was wearing a mask all along (feel like that's been retconned, but maybe not.)

In a hurry to get to the hospital and check on Alicia and Franklin, Ben crumples 20 tons of wreckage into a beach ball-sized package and dumps it in a waste disposal unit Reed built that will break it into its component molecules, to be used for whatever 'gizmo' Reed decides to build next. Grab a trench coat, hat and some slacks and Ben's out the door, only to run into Willy Lumpkin, who is a little weary hauling all the FF's fan mail. Still, it beats the route that would have him delivering mail to Nixon. There's one letter addressed to "Ben Grimm" and labeled Priority Mail, so Willy hands it over and Ben reads something during the cab ride that bothers him.

At the hospital, Franklin is in stable condition, but there's no timetable for his recovery, so Ben's off to visit Alicia, who has one arm in a cast and a lot of bandages around her head. She can tell something's wrong, and we learn what the letter is about via flashback! To college, where Big Football Star Ben Grimm marches into a science lab and picks up Reed Richards, carrying him off for a night of fun.

Don't get your hopes up, this is '80s Marvel. Shooter's still in charge, so they're meeting some girls. One, Alynn Chambers, is Ben's girlfriend, while the other has heard 'oodles' about Reed from Ben. Reed's not stoked about hitting the student pub, no doubt calculating the number of brain cells it'll kill, but which Ben attributes to Reed thinking of his landlady's niece, that he met last summer (Sue.) Two weeks later, Alynn's waiting outside the locker room as Ben gets ready to take the field. She won't say what's wrong, only promising she loves him, then telling him to pretend she was never in his life at all. Sure, sounds simple. Reed bumps into Alynn and asks if she's going to sit with him to watch the game, but Alynn only cries and bails.

Ben apparently has a great first half, but when he notices Alynn isn't in the crowd as he returns to the locker room, it busts his concentration. They lose, his coach gives him a bunch of crap, which is pretty lousy when Coach admits Ben carried whole games by himself. Let someone else win the damn game once in a while!

Ben throws his helmet so hard it shatters against a locker, and storms out. Reed catches up later and advises Ben to tell Alynn how he feels. Ben tries, even proposes, and she turns him down. Alynn wants to be big in Hollywood, and to make it happen, she'd probably neglect him. Better to break it off now. She leaves, he chucks the ring into a pond, which is kind of a shitty thing to do with his mother's ring.

In the present, we learn Alynn became a huge star, one of the most beautiful women in movies. Alicia figures this is the big kiss-off from Ben, but he assures her that's not it. He's just scared of seeing Alynn again, now that he's the Thing. Not unexpected, but a little limp for all this build-up. That evening, Alynn arrives, revealing she had a stroke eighteen months ago that she's so far hidden from the press. She regained some use of her right side, but the droop in her face and slur in her voice are here to stay. She wants to know how Ben deals with it.

You might think, as I did, she means how does to deal with stares and whispers? Sooner or later her condition will be revealed, and that's what people will do when she passes on the street. Otherwise, his condition of "being a rock guy" is not really the same as her having a stroke. He hasn't lost any function of his body to my knowledge.

Maybe I'm wrong, because the caption on the next page reads, 'Sadness and memories begin the night, but with the Thing's support, Alynn Chambers realizes that even though her beauty has passed away, she will go on.' So she thinks she's ugly now, and wants to know how Ben deals with that? Ooof. Ben really dodged a bullet when she turned him down. Probably a relief to return to the hospital, where Reed's come to a decision. If you just felt a chill down your spine at those words, I don't blame you.

Franklin's powers are closed down, which makes him vulnerable. So Reed, Sue and Franklin will leave the FF, and find a small town where they'll live under assumed identities. The thing to note is Reed says 'I have decided on a course of action,' which strongly implies he didn't bother to discuss this with Sue, Franklin's mother. Her expression is more surprised than anything that says, "I am in firm agreement with this plan I definitely had input on."

The other thing I notice, the editor's note at the start of the issue refers readers to FF #257 for the big fight, and the blurb at the end also refers the reader to FF #257 to see the continuation of half the group packing up and leaving. They really didn't waste any time making things happen in comics back in the day, that's for sure.

{11th longbox, 78th comic. The Thing (vol. 1) #2, by John Byrne (writer/inker), Ron Wilson (penciler), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #181

"Out of Bounds," in Sensational She-Hulk (vol. 1) #5, by John Byrne (writer/penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Jim Novak (letterer)

Having never read Savage She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters' first ongoing series, my impression is it was the classic Hulk formula, but Hulk was a girl. She-Hulk wears a ripped-up outfit, talks in simplified sentences, punches monsters, and gets chased by the authorities (in Jen's case, I think it was her dad, who was a sheriff.)

After that ended, she spent some time on the Avengers, then replaced the Thing on the FF post-Secret Wars, the latter when John Byrne was writing and drawing the book. Byrne turned down the savagery, with Jennifer Walters being in control as She-Hulk and generally loving being a big green lady. He also upped the sexy aspect of the character, which continued to an extent once Sensational She-Hulk started up (preceded a graphic novel of the same name.) Byrne gives She-Hulk a lot of different outfits to wear, for work and play and working out and whatever else, and spends more than few pages on her trying out different stuff or commenting on not wanting a good outfit to get wrecked in a fight. She-Hulk being fun-loving, confident clothes horse is probably what's stuck the most consistently in the 30+ years since this series.

The less consistently applied, but arguably more significant, change Byrne makes is Jennifer becomes aware she's in a comic book. She takes advantage of an issue actually starting to cycle through her wardrobe quickly by changing between panels, or yells at Byrne about using the Toad Men for alien invaders, or (in Byrne's second stint on the book), his propensity for having characters try to marry her. Byrne also adds Louise "Weezi" Mason, the Golden Age Blonde Phantom, to the cast. Weezi ends up being meta-aware as well, and admits she finagled Jennifer a job working in the District Attorney's office (Weezi's boss), because even being just a supporting cast member will get her enough page time to slow her aging any further.

Of course, Byrne later has her fall in a vat of stuff the Mole Man's got laying around, and Weezi gets de-aged (and slimmed down) back to her early 40s. Yes, not long after he de-aged Spitfire in the pages of Namor, and yes, Weezi comments on the fact Byrne's getting obsessed with aging and mortality since he hit 40. Then Weezi starts dating Jennifer's dad (no longer trying to arrest She-Hulk, but still not happy his daughter's 6'10" and bright green), gains a little weight, gets angry about how plump Byrne's drawing her, and goes on strike while Jennifer's in the middle of a fight with Xemnu the Titan in an outer space truck stop.

A fight which Byrne initially illustrates as a "fromage" (his word) of Siryn fighting Juggernaut in X-Force #3. I mean, he mimics the postures exactly (She-Hulk standing in for Siryn, Xemnu for Juggy) and shifts his art style to a more Liefeldian look for 4 pages, until his editor Renee Witterstaetter marches into the book (dressed like she stepped out of the night club from the opening scene of Temple of Doom) and tells him to knock it off and start over.

That's the kind of book it is under Byrne. Kind of goofy, full of jokes about issue 3 being the obligatory, sales-boosting Spider-Man guest appearance, or doing a cover referencing the magazine cover of pregnant Demi Moore (She-Hulk holding a beach ball in place of being pregnant.) Byrne was writer/artist for the first 8 issues, left for almost 2 years, then returned on issue 31, with a cover showing She-Hulk and Renee stopping him from renumbering the book back to #9. Even if he's stymied there, Byrne does treat everything in between his runs as a lengthy dream sequence for Jennifer.

Byrne sticks to stories that are 1-3 issues long, fitting with the book's policy of only using "lame" villains. Byrne includes Xemnu and the Headmen in that category, along with Gamecock, Stilt-Man, and Spragg, the Living Hill. I feel like not all those characters deserve being lumped under that umbrella, but so it goes. But all the weak villains and focus on jokes or on drawing She-Hulk in various sexy outfits, means it doesn't feel like Byrne's got an overarching story of theme he's working towards. Maybe "draw a giant sexy green lady" was the overarching theme.

I think Byrne's first 8 issue stretch is stronger, maybe because his second stint feels more gimmick based. The Liefeld homage, the "naked jump rope" bit (which I was afraid ran for the whole issue, but thankfully does not), everybody trying to marry She-Hulk. The artwork's very nice throughout; Byrne at least seems to be having fun drawing She-Hulk fighting goofy villains or spending a few pages letting her fall through a pitch-black tunnel. He's usually being inked by Bob Wiacek, though partway through the second stint She-Hulk gets Byrne to use the duotone paper he'd been using on Namor (until Wiacek starts inking him there) for her book instead. I'm not sure the rougher texture it gives his art works as well here, though Jennifer describes it as feeling like she's wearing corduroy.

Byrne's second run ends at #50, which is mostly an excuse to get other artists - Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, and Walt Simonson among them - to do 2-page gags about their version of a She-Hulk book. But the book ran for 60 issues total, and Byrne was only responsible for 27 of those, so we'll look at the other half of the series next week.

Sunday Splash Page #376

"Heads of the Board," in Namor the Sub-Mariner #8, by John Byrne (writer/artist/letterer), Glynis Oliver (colorist)

In 1990, when the first issue of Namor the Sub-Mariner shipped, Namor hadn't had his own ongoing series since Sub-Mariner wrapped back in 1974. There was a 4-issue mini-series in 1984 about Namor trying to make peace between Atlantis and the surface world, and in '88, Roy Thomas wrote Saga of the Sub-Mariner, a 12-issue continuity recap. But no ongoing series until John Byrne took this shot. I'm a little surprised, since it apparently meant Byrne left Sensational She-Hulk, which seemed like a passion project for him. Plus, Namor had been presumed dead following the Atlantis Attacks! summer event.

First thing Byrne does is try to explain why Namor swings between being reasonable and aggressive, which he pins on Namor's hybrid nature. Basically, the ocean deep has too little oxygen for him, and the surface world has too much, so he either suffers oxygen deprivation or, essentially, is oxygen drunk. Feels like it would be easier to just say Namor can be a reasonable, level-headed guy, but he's also very proud and tends to overreact to perceived slights to him or his people. Or, he knows some surface-worlders are good, honorable people and tries to work with them, but when he watches how casually we dump toxic waste on his territories, he tends to get a little pissed off.

Anyway, Byrne adds a father-daughter pair to Namor's supporting cast, Caleb and Carrie Alexander. Namor apparently saved Caleb from drowning when he was a boy, and Caleb has been a fan ever since. It's he who puts forth the oxygen imbalance idea, and constructed a machine to treat Namor's blood to address it. Namor flirts a bit with Carrie, but she's not ready for that kind of thing. Still, she stays around, being suspicious of the other women who show interest in Namor for at least the first two years of the book.

Byrne doesn't spend time on Namor as monarch, opting instead for Namor as businessman. Namor uses salvaged treasure from sunken galleons to buy out a company and build Oracle Inc. into something more eco-friendly. Byrne also adds the Marrs siblings, Desmond and Phoebe, as rivals, with Phoebe trying to seduce Namor before actually falling for him. Desmond, well, I covered what happened with him earlier this month in Random Back Issues #151. 

Maybe Byrne just wanted a book to do continuity "fixes." Besides the thing about Namor's mood swings, he's also the one who establishes Namorita is a clone of her mother, and that Iron Fist didn't really die. A throwdown with the Super-Skrull ultimately leads to K'un-Lun, where it turns out Danny Rand was captured and replaced by the plant-people H'ylthri when he returned home for help dealing with radiation poisoning. It was one of the H'ylthri, impersonating Iron Fist, who got killed years ago. Namor saving Iron Fist puts him in the crosshairs of Master Khan, who wipes Namor's memories and teleports him somewhere.

Which is as far as my collection goes. Byrne returned to Sensational She-Hulk as writer/artist about 9 months earlier. I imagine writing and drawing two books was too much, and Jae Lee came on as artist after that, and I haven't dug the look of the issues I've seen over the years. Byrne left entirely after issue 34, though the book continued up to issue 62. Namor was apparently tricked into sleeping with Lyrra (disguised as Sue Richards) in issue 50, and they conceived a child. Strange how the writers didn't apply Byrne's, "hybrids can't conceive" thing to the Avenging Son.

I run hot and cold on the fixes. I'm fine with bringing Iron Fist back, but the blood oxygen level thing feels over-complicated, and making Namorita as a clone resulted in people shifting her appearance and abilities all over the place for at least the next 15 years, which didn't do the character any favors. Plus, with Namor being the star, Namorita gets played as deferring to him, and is more of a "plucky sidekick" he has to protect from herself. I definitely prefer Niceza's Namorita to Byrne's. Byrne also took Namor's ankle wings and flight capability in issue 7, which, whatever man. Namor wasn't doing a lot of aerial combat up to that point anyway, it just meant he had to use elevators sometimes and couldn't always chase after enemies.

I picked up Byrne's run as writer/artist up in the early years of this blog. One of the other comics bloggers at the time, Zombie Mallet, was doing a lot of posts about it. Mostly about how Namor fought better when he didn't wear a shirt. Shirt on, Namor gets knocked out by one punch to the back of the skull. Shirt off, he's immediately busting loose. I'd read a couple of issues when they first came out, so when Marvels and Legends had a back issues sale, I pounced.

One thing a quick scan of covers and issue summaries for the whole series drives home is Byrne avoided Namor's typical enemies, something later writers didn't. Byrne leaves and here comes Tiger Shark, here comes Attuma, here comes Lyrra. Is it better to have Namor contending with eco-terrorists who sabotage his company's new oil tanker, or Headhunter (a businesswoman with hypnotic eyes), or old Iron Fist enemies? I don't know.

It feels like Byrne trying to emphasize his new direction for the character, now making inroads in the surface world via business instead of politics. But, again, he didn't necessarily do a lot with that. Namor is either too impatient or too honorable to resort to boardroom skullduggery to triumph. Not when he can punch things instead. So Byrne has Namor initially try to remain in the shadows, letting the world think he's dead, and certainly not connected to Oracle Inc. That falls apart by issue 3, when Namor rides the Griffin through Roxxon's boardroom skylight because he thinks they sent it to attack him.

Likewise, Namor doesn't spend much time actually running his company, always giving someone else "temporary" control. Caleb Alexander, Desmond Marrs, Jacqueline Crichton (aka Spitfire, who Byrne de-ages from a 60+ year old to probably early 20s. Another attractive woman for him to draw, what a harsh fate.) I think it's mostly just a means to confront him with different threats.

For part of his run as writer/artist, Byrne inks himself, through the magic of duotone paper. Later, other people take over inking (Bob Wiacek in issue #23, for example.) The duotone gives the art a different texture. Rough, but not in a way that muddies Byrne's lines, as the inking tends to fade near the edges. The art, or the characters at least, don't look as busy when Byrne's handling it all, versus having a separate inker.

Either way, he keeps his layouts straightforward here. Mostly 4-6 panels a page, sometimes laid out in rows, other times stacked vertically. There's no joke issues about fighting in a snowstorm, or people breaking the 4th wall by stepping out of the panel. That kind of stuff doesn't fit the character. Namor's pretty straightforward, handling things in a manner that's quick and to the point.

Random Back Issues #151 - Namor the Sub-Mariner #19

Did some of Byrne's Sensational She-Hulk scripts get mixed in by accident?

We open on Byrne doing a version of racist WWII Namor comics. Weird place to start. Even stranger, it's Jacqueline Crichton (aka the former Invader Spitfire), reading the comics, which Namor apparently has sitting around his skyscraper apartment. No explanation for that is forthcoming. Jacqueline muses on the war before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She got de-aged thanks to a blood transfusion from the original Human Torch, and recalls Namorita's been on her to update her look.

We get a page or her trying on some of Nita's clothes before she's called to deal with a problem in Namor's private office. Not more racist caricatures. Namor's friend Caleb Alexander went in there to confront Desmond Marrs, the corporate shitbag who hoodwinked Namor into giving him control of his company while Namor was away. Jacqueline finds Caleb bleeding and unconscious on the floor.

The news is relayed to Namor, Namorita, Caleb's daughter Carrie, and Desmond's sister. Phoebe insists Caleb must have attacked her brother, which just about gets her a knuckle sandwich (that she'd deserve) from Carrie. They're in the Savage Land, where Super-Skrull was posing as a resurrected Danny Rand and hypnotized Ka-Zar into giving Rand-Meachum rights to strip mine the Savage Land. Super Skrull's gone, but Ka-Zar and Joy Meachum are going forward with the plan.

Namor appoints Jacqueline head of Oracle and tells her to buy up Rand-Meachum. Shanna hitches a ride with Carrie and Phoebe to New York to get her husband, but Namor and Namorita need to stop in Atlantis. Namor's dead wife, Dorma, turned up alive, but mindless. Worse, her tomb is empty.

After a two-page interlude about a "Mr. Smith" buying a secluded house to begin his work of subjugating the animal kingdom (starting with the poor realtor he kills), we return to New York, where Desmond Marrs is running from. . .the Punisher?! Desmond tried to take over Stark Enterprises (I think that during Armor Wars II), and Stark flattened him. Marrs turned to drugs for raising cash, and we all know how Frank Castle feels about drug dealers.

Give Desmond credit, the guy shoots Frank three times in the chest. For some reason, Frank doesn't immediately kill him, instead letting Desmond, well, you can see. If I remember right, Desmond somehow isn't dead, which doesn't seem like the sort of trick you could pull on the Punisher, but oh well.

Back under the sea, Namor and Nita find the cave where Dorma was discovered. It's full of equipment Namor finds familiar, equipment that belongs to Vyrra the Banished. Vyrra actually made more than one clone of Dorma, but none have the woman's mind or personality (though one of them develops some sort of will by the time Jae Lee's drawing the book.) Vyrra was banished by Namor's grandfather for his work, but hoped by giving Namor his wife back, he might be allowed to be buried in Atlantis, as he could only extend his life so far.

Namor's only interested in Dorma's remains, which Vyrra explains have been reduced to several jars of mushy crunchberries. Perhaps reading the room and expecting Namor's about to snap his neck, Vyrra remarks he's glad to see his skills hadn't diminished in the decades since he last used them. Namorita doesn't get it, but when Namor tries to end the conversation, she demands to know. Yep, it's Byrne's, "Nita is a clone of her mother, because hybrids are sterile," explanation on us. Thanks, John.

{7th longbox, 135th comic. Namor the Sub-Mariner #19, by John Byrne (writer/artist/letterer), Glynis Oliver (colorist)}

Saturday Splash Page #83

"Contemplate the Void," in The Thing (vol. 1) #11, by John Byrne (writer), Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott (artists), George Roussos (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)

Ben Grimm, always the best of the FF, had his ongoing in all but name for 100 issues with Marvel Two-in-One, but Marvel eventually canceled that and gave him a book his with name in big letters on the cover. The Thing ran for 36 issues in the mid-80s, so not nearly the lifespan of his team-up book, but better than any of his teammates have ever managed as solo stars.

John Byrne and Ron Wilson were the initial writer/artist team, although Mike Carlin ended up writing roughly half the issues, mostly in the back half. The first 10 issues revolve around various one or two-part adventures. Ben and Lockjaw trying to protect Crystal's daughter Luna, from her maniac of a dad. Ben trying to talk sense into some angry teens from Yancy Street. I don't know if the backstory Ben provides here, about his brother dying in a gang fight and Ben being a ne'er-do-well for years after was something Byrne created here, or if that was already established.

Then Secret Wars happened, and Ben found out that on Battleworld, he could shift between the Thing and Ben Grimm at will. When Reed and Johnny return home (with their new teammate She-Hulk), Ben stays behind. The next year of the book is Ben wandering a Battleworld that is both increasingly bizarre and troublingly familiar. What appears to be Dr. Doom shows up at one point, Ben spends an issue being harassed by some punk kids in some cross between Yancy Street and the cantina from Star Wars. Despite his stated wishes, Ben keeps finding himself in situations where he has to change back into the Thing.

Eventually, everything falls to pieces, including the planet, as the Thing returns to Earth. Only to find Alicia and Johnny are living together, and Reed Richards had certain knowledge of Ben's subconscious condition that sure woulda been helpful for Ben to know sooner. Which kicks off the final year of the book, where Carlin writes most of it, as Ben leaves the FF and New York entirely, and just wanders. It's a bit like the first year, except instead of people coming to the Thing with problems, he stumbles into them as he goes.

It's most notable for being the time period where he joins the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, something a number of wrestling-obsessed comic writers have returned to over the years. Carlin adds the teenage version of Vance Astro, who in one timeline becomes the 30th Century Guardians of the Galaxy's Major Victory, but here will become the New Warrior Marvel Boy. It's also when Sharon Ventura meets Ben. She'd eventually gain super-strength from the Power Broker and join the women's division of the UCWF as Ms. Marvel (Danvers I think being out in space as Binary at this time), and eventually joining the FF with Ben during the Englehart run.

Ron Wilson is the penciler until the final three issues, at which point Paul Neary takes over. Most of the first year's adventures on Earth are inked by Hilary Barta, while Joe Sinnott takes that responsibility for most of the Battleworld issues. Sinnott's shadows are heavier, but he seems to soften and round the Thing out more. The Thing is shorter, broader, smoother. Wilson and Barta's version is rougher, rocky plates not uniform in height, the eyes ringed by darkness, the brow ridge more prominent.

Could be that on Battleworld, with Ben reluctant to become the Thing, he's trying to retain some of the fleshy softness of Ben Grimm even when he transforms. During the Barta issues, Ben's clearly still struggling to accept himself as the Thing, and eventually pushes Alicia away. He's not at home in his skin, angry and frustrated and rough to the touch. That might not hold up, but it does get harder for Ben to make the switch the longer he stays on Battleworld. He's not finding any sort of balance or peace between the parts of himself. Instead, he's in a situation where the two sides can actively war against each other.

Lockjaw Makes Talking Tough

I've been re-reading the John Byrne/Ron Wilson 1980s Thing series, as a bit of a precursor to its Saturday Splash Page entry in a couple of months. In issue 3, Crystal and Lockjaw come looking for Ben, because Quicksilver is determined to expose he and Crystal's daughter to the Terrigen Mists, even though there's no telling what that'll do to a half-mutant/half-Inhuman child.

Crystal's opposed, but Inhuman society, among its other fucked-up policies, puts full control of that decision in the hands of the father. Even when the mother's a member of the royal family, and the dad's just some jackass that married into the society.

Ben and Lockjaw both step in, but what ultimately convinces Pietro to stop is when Lockjaw speaks, revealing that he's not just some mutated dog, but that his form is what the Mists did to him.

What I remembered recently was, in his first issue on X-Factor, Peter David had a scene where Jamie Madrox tries to talk with Lockjaw, because he heard from Ben Grimm about Lockjaw being able to talk. Pietro laughs and explains that was just Karnak and Gorgon using a microphone to have fun with Grimm, by making him think he found a kindred soul.

That's a weird way to reverse that. I get Byrne retconned Lockjaw in the first place, and Marvel certainly seems to prefer Lockjaw just be a mutated dog. But in-story, that's not the time where you play that sort of practical joke. A child's life is potentially on the line, and given Crystal's power, if Luna dies because of this, there's a decent chance a volcano erupts right under Attilian and kills everyone.

Doylist explanation #1: Peter David decided the Inhumans had enough dodgy shit in their society, with the Alpha Primitives and all, so dog-man was a step too far.

Doylist explanation #2: Peter David was just being kind of a petty dick. Not a stretch for the guy who put Rocket Raccoon in his Captain Marvel run as a throw rug, or who dismissed an appearance by Hulk and Doc Samson in Amazing Spider-Man (first part reviewed here) that did not appear to contradict his run in any way as a "dream".

Watsonian approach #1, Pietro's lying his ass off because that whole circumstance was him being wildly wrong and he doesn't want to cop to it. Karnak and Gorgon did it to trick Pietro, not Ben, as a last-ditch move to make him stop. Obviously Pietro isn't going to admit he endangered his only daughter's life because he couldn't bear the thought of her being "merely" human. Even if he likes to pretend he doesn't care what others think of him, it would probably help if his new teammates aren't all looking at him like something they'd scrape off their shoes.

Watsonian approach #2: Lockjaw can talk, but as Thing surmised in the first story, it hurts. He's sure as hell not going to spare any words for a dick like Pietro (who he's likely only too happy to get far away from everyone he cares about). Or simply to prove that he can to a slack-jawed gawker like Madrox.

Of course, as the kicker, Pietro would forcibly expose Luna to the Terrigen Mists years later. She survived, so I guess he had that going for her, but he lied baldly to cover his ass and wound up with his daughter hating his guts and his now ex-wife married to Ronan the Accuser and seemingly fairly happy. Ha, ha.

Sunday Splash Page #264

 

"Subway Night Fights," in Iron Fist #8, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne and Dan Adkins (artists), Bonnie Wilford (colorists), Joe Rosen (letterer)

Iron Spring rolls into April like a thing unto. . .aw, well, you know.

After a 10-issue stint in Marvel Premiere, Iron Fist got his own ongoing series, written and drawn by the Claremont/Byrne team that handled the last few issues of said Marvel Premiere run. They pick up where that story left off, with Daniel Rand trying to figure out who hired Angar the Screamer to abduct his friend Colleen Wing and put her father in a coma.

Danny does rescue Colleen, through what I'm assuming was one of Claremont's earlier uses of one character essentially merging their mind/spirit with another, so that the two know each other completely. Byrne's art is dynamic and fluid, and then colorist Karen Mantlo goes to town with lava lamp looking backgrounds to emphasize the disorientating effect of Angar's powers.

Claremont also uses that arc to take some of the shine off K'un-Lun, as we see in flashback two friends of Danny's who ventured into the wilds beyond the city because Miranda had learned to fight from Conal, and the women of K'un-Lun aren't supposed to fight. Master Khan also reveals to Danny it's the leader of K'un-Lun, Yu-Ti, who's responsible for his mother being torn apart by wolves and for driving his father from K'un-Lun in the first place.

(Fraction and Brubaker would expand on Yu-Ti being a corrupt piece of shit in Immortal Iron Fist, as well as have Lei Kung secretly override the "no women fighting" rule, but they changed why Wendell Rand left.)

After that, Danny, Colleen, and Misty Knight would return to New York, and Danny would end up in the crosshairs of a crazy gang leader who frames him for murder. One thing that seems to come up frequently in Iron Fist is Danny having to be on the move almost constantly because he's being hunted. That first arc had him moving across Europe dodging assassins, and this story spent a couple issues on him being hounded by gang members and the cops, once he's framed for murder.

I don't know if that was Claremont and Byrne trying to adapt the "wandering martial artist" style to the character, but it does seem to establish the long-honored trend of Danny paying very little attention to the money or company he inherited.

There's a team-up with Captain America against the Wrecking Crew, which also seems to help Misty and Danny realize their feelings for each other. Any progress on that front is immediately blown apart in the next story, where Misty is reluctant to help Danny's former IRA bomber friend Alan Cavanaugh, and Danny draws a line in the sand over it. Sabretooth makes his first appearance soon after, and then Danny ends up in a fight with the X-Men (where Danny wonders if there's a connection between Wolverine and Sabretooth based on how feral they act) that trashes Jean Grey and Misty's apartment.

Through the entire run, there's a mysterious man with a scar over one eye who keeps popping up, showing an interest in Iron Fist. Sometimes he's drawn with a red glow around his fist, which probably shouldn't be there, but oh well. He doesn't make an actual move until the last two issues, where's he's somehow able to drain the chi of Shou-Lao out of Danny. Since the book got canceled after the X-Men issue, that had to wait to be resolved in a two-part Marvel Team-Up story Claremont and Byrne did. That established another precedent, one also followed to this day, of people stealing the Iron Fist from Danny, when he isn't just giving it up for some reason.

At only 15 issues (or 25 if you want to count Marvel Premiere), Iron Fist didn't have nearly as much success cashing in on the kung-fu craze as Shang-Chi did with Master of Kung Fu. Danny Rand would find a second wind as part of a duo, which I will get to one of these days.

Sunday Splash Page #186

 

"Looks Like More of a Stumble, Really," in Fantastic Four #243, by John Byrne (writer/artist), Glynis Wein (colorist), Jim Novak (letterer)

Most of the issues of Fantastic Four I own are concentrated in two specific runs - one about a year long, the other less than two years - which we'll get to in the next two weeks. This is from one of the few other issues I own.

Which is appropriate, sort of. This isn't the first Fantastic Four issue I owned - that's not for another 30 issues - but there are things that happen hear that pay off down that line. Mostly that Terrax gets his Power Cosmic stripped away for being a shitty herald. Eventually, Doom tries to help him get the power back, which backfires on Doom, forcing him to jump bodies, which you find out in the first FF comic I read.

The nice thing about reading a comic like that when you're five is that, even if you don't really understand why or how Dr. Doom would switch his mind into some poor random guy's body, you can just roll with it. You don't know any better. 

Of course, it also probably didn't have the impact on me it would someone who'd been reading for years, but that's just one of those things. Even with the edict to write as though each comic was someone's first, you can't manufacture that history in someone. Even if Byrne's doing a good job explaining it all, he can't magically make it like I read those earlier issues in real-time, where I've lived through all the Fantastic Four's past battles with Doom. The best that can be managed is to make the reader want to go track that stuff down, or keep following from the their entry point forward.

Fantastic Four's never quite been able to do that for me. I'm usually at least aware of what's going on with the book, in a general sense. Is someone subbing in for one of them, who's scarred or acting crazy, how much of a dick Reed Richards is being at the moment. It's like a comforting background noise, the fan that helps you go to sleep. I'd never want to just sit there and listen intently to the fan, but I like having it running. 

Maybe not the best comparison. Certainly not a flattering one, given the wild adventures the characters frequently embark upon, but they're kind of the foundation the Marvel Universe was built upon, since they were the first. Foundations aren't flashy, they're solid and hopefully reliable.

Random Back Issues #25 - Avengers West Coast #55

I just had to go and open my fat yap about Byrne and his weird interest in who can and can't have kids last week. Now look where it's gotten me. Stupid dice.

We are one issue away from the "Darker than Scarlet" storyline, where the Scarlet Witch goes entirely off the rails. She spends most of this issue in a comatose state in their "Whackos" compound/mansion. Which is in low-Earth orbit because Magneto thought that would snap her out of it. Explains a lot about Mags' parenting style, right there.

That gets Immortus' attention, fresh off erasing a timeline where Lincoln gives John Wilkes Booth a taste of the back of his hand. Wonder Man and U.S. Agent (ugh) track the house into space, but something blows up, and then the house is back where it's supposed to be by the time Wasp swings by.

OK, whatever, that's more time than that deserved. Relevant to my interests, this is the end of the line for Acts of Vengeance, minus Loki magically fusing three Sentinels in one and sending them at a nuclear plant. The Avengers caught the Wizard after he and a few others tried to attacking the East Coast Avengers, but he can activate the dimensional door the "lackey" gave all the baddies to reach their secret meeting room. He gets back, learns Doom may have been a Doombot the whole time, and Magneto has bailed (for reasons detailed above). The "lackey" isn't too happy Wizard used the door in the Avengers HQ, since Thor could track it and reveals he's actually Loki, who's been manipulating them this whole time.

Or maybe he just took offense to the Wizard, of all villains, trying to boss him around. I will never get over how out of place that schmuck looks next to Doom, Magneto, and the Red Skull.

Thor does lead a bunch of Avengers there, except "there" is the Isle of Silence, where Thor fought Loki after the crap he pulled that brought the Avengers together in the first place. Every hero other than Thor is basically useless, to the point Byrne doesn't even bother drawing what Hank Pym (cargo suit version), the Vision (albino, emotionless version), or Hawkeye (just Hawkeye) are doing after bothering to have them there.

Thor and Loki fight in their usual way. Thor asks Loki to try, please, to not be such a dick. Loki yells a bunch of crap about Odin and hatred, and tries to use magic attacks against Thor. Thor yells "I say thee nay!" and smashes crap with his hammer. You know how it goes. Skull, the Mandarin, and the Wizard escape during all the fighting. Which is good, because it enables Magneto to find the Skull later and throw him in a pit to die slowly. (He does not die.)

Then Thor explains Loki was mad about inadvertently creating the Avengers, so he tried to create a Bad Guy Avengers of his own. Earth's Vilest Villains, or something. I'm not sure how the part where they farmed out destroying each other's villains to other bad guys who weren't on the team factors in, but it's Loki. He's a few crackers short of full pack.

{12th longbox, 126th comic. West Coast Avengers #55, by John Byrne (writer/penciler), Paul Ryan (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Bill Oakley (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #102

"The New Figurehead is Awful Mouthy", in Captain America #252, by Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), John Costanza (letterer)

The Roger Stern/John Byrne Captain America run seems pretty well-regarded, although it's extremely brief at only 9 issues. And the last of those is an updated retelling of Captain America's origin.

Beyond that, there's a three issue fight with Machinesmith (which is when I think it's established he transferred his mind into a robotic body) that Stern also uses to retcon some reveal 20 issues earlier about Steve Rogers' early life. The issue where Cap debates whether to run for President. This two-parter where Batroc gets Cap called in to stop a crazy scheme of Mr. Hyde's, which highlights Batroc as having some sense of honor and respect for Captain America. Then a three-parter where he and the current Union Jack tangle with the vampire Baron Blood.

Having only bought these comics in the last few years, I'm not sure what's new exactly. Maybe this more morally grey Batroc? This is when future love interest Bernie Rosenthal is introduced as one of Steve's new neighbors. Steve gets a job at an ad agency utilizing his art skills, that might be new. By the time I started reading comics, he was drawing Captain America comics for Marvel Comics. Maybe a little too cute, there.

For the most part, they're just solid adventure stories for Captain America. Byrne's art is still in the style of his I like the most. Really sells Cap as the upright, square-jawed defender of good. Stern writes Cap as someone who hasn't exactly caught up to the times in popular culture (Bernie remarks his record collection is more like her father's), but still has a wry sense of humor when he needs it. He clearly enjoys getting the last laugh on Batroc at the end of this story.

Random back Issue #11 - Uncanny X-Men #140

Yeah, you might want a different plan than "agility and martial arts" against Furry Hulk, Kurt.

This is the second half of "Kurt and Logan's Excellent Canadian Adventure". Logan went north to try and bury the hatchet with Guardian (still James Hudson and not Heather), and got roped into bringing down the Wendigo. Naturally Kurt found him first. Lucky guy.

Logan ends up tracking the Wendigo, and temporarily stops him, but gets caught off-guard while escorting a woman and her baby, and soundly beaten. Shaman can't get the job done, and neither can Guardian, so it falls to Snowbird to take care of business. By transforming into an actual wolverine and ripping the Wendigo up. She almost loses herself to the creature's nature, but Logan manages to talk her down.

(Many years later, during Frank Tieri's run on Wolverine, she'd just go ahead and transform into an actual Wendigo, since it also qualifies as a Beast of the North.)

After all that, the Wendigo is turned back to human, and promptly arrested, since he became the Wendigo willingly, he's responsible for its crimes. Alpha Flight gets disbanded, and Kurt questions Logan on whether he should be held responsible for all the people he killed. Logan's response is essentially those were sanctioned kills, and that he never killed anyone who didn't attack him with a deadly weapon first, so it's OK. Of course, once he gets his own book, he'd start killing more people than some small wars, but que sera, sera, right?

In other developments, Angel doesn't think Wolverine should be on the X-Men because he's too much of a loose cannon. Just wait until someone mutilates you by giving you blade wings, and see how pleasant you are to be around, Warren.

There's also a subplot about Storm not liking Kitty's dance instructor, Stevie Hunter. I have no recollection of how that plays out, so I'm guessing Stevie's a Hellfire Club plant. We do get to see Storm dismiss this poor sap, so her day wasn't all bad.

The first letter is from the President of the New York City Council, reminding people that they should get vaccinated, because the Marvel heroes' powers are no match for polio or the measles. I feel like the angry Canadian with the healing factor would disagree. The issue after this is the start of the barely-remembered "Days of Future Past" storyline, which would have no lasting repercussions on the X-Men lore, and definitely would not spawn decades of homage comic covers and storylines.

[12th longbox, 14th issue. Uncanny X-Men #140, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (plotter/penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Glynis Wein (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #45

"No One Can Resist. . . The WINDMILL!", in Avengers #165, by Jim Shooter (writer), John Byrne (penciler), Pablo Marcos (inker), Phil Rache (colorist), Denise Wohl (letterer)

Last year, or maybe the year before that, I went hunting for some older Avengers stuff. Specific stories that I knew of, or just looked kind of interesting. This three-parter that turns Count Nefaria into a powerhouse. The lead-up to the big showdown with Korvac with Avengers disappearing, leading to Hawkeye taking down the Collector. I don't have the actual issues with Korvac, because I have never cared about him at all. A couple of random issues where they fight the Absorbing Man. That issue where Hawkeye has to fight Deathbird while working security for some company. Tigra's brief stint, that coincides with Hank Pym's complete nervous breakdown.

It's kind of interesting to see what crops up. John Byrne at artist quite a bit, with George Perez occasionally. Wonder Man trying to find some confidence, or at least stop being so worried about dying (again). Peter Gyrich is in here being a pain in the ass throughout. Ms. Marvel pops up off and on, eventually joining the team (which led to that disastrous Marcus storyline, sorry Carol). Beast getting frustrated no one takes his scientific expertise, which seems to encourage his "party animal" approach.

The Nefaria storyline has an interesting subplot where the Avengers with their own books (Iron Man and Thor) are proving unreliable and pissing off all the other Avengers. Cap and Wanda both chew out Tony, Wanda tells Thor to cram it with his usual smack talk and just fight when he shows up. Thor's big arrival at the end of this issue, is revealed at the start of the next issue to be as big a surprise to him as it is to everyone else, which is kind of hilarious. As though he has no idea how he is suddenly there, but what the hell, might as well throw his hammer as this dude in the cape. I guess Nefaria said his name three times in front of the bathroom mirror with the lights off.

This Armor Wars Has A Lot Less Armor In It Than I Expected

I picked up a trade of the Iron Man: Armor Wars II trade, by John Byrne (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Paul Becton and Joe Rosas (colorists), and Michael Heisler and Chris Eliopoulos (letterers) because I remembered owning issue #259 as a kid. Which involved Iron Man fighting the apparent ghost of Titanium Man, and also struggling with losing entire days he couldn't account for.

As it turns out, the "ghost" is actually the Living Laser, trying to prove this was the original Iron Man, so it would mean something when he killed him*. The lost time, meanwhile, is the result of A Alexander DeWitt, who took advantage of Stark suffering spinal damage sometime earlier to "repair" Syark's nervous system by actually replacing it with a parasite of sorts. One that enables him to remotely control or shut down Stark's body whenever he chooses. He's also doing this with the funding of Desmond and Phoebe Marrs, who were prominent adversaries in Byrne's Namor run for awhile, until I think the Punisher killed Desmond for being connected to coke dealers. But DeWitt hates Stark anyway, though Tony doesn't seem to have any idea who he is.

Stark gets around his body being hacked with a system to remotely control his armors through his thoughts. So even when his body is being controlled, if he's in the armor, he can still moving by controlling it mentally (since the suit is much stronger than his body), but this is putting a considerable strain on his body, and may end up killing him before he can deal with it. There's also a build-up to the Mandarin regaining his full power and unleashing Fin Fang Foom to help him conquer China, and James Rhodes trying to help Tony out, while struggling with his own fears about getting back in the armors again. That's a lot of stuff for 9 issues, at least it would be by today's standards.

The Marrs don't seem particularly important to the story, except maybe as an explanation for how DeWitt has the resources to manage this, but still not be someone Stark would be aware of. Answer: he's being bankrolled by someone else with the financial resources. But otherwise, they're largely irrelevant and only notable to me because I've read Byrne's Namor run (the first two years of it, anyway, when he was drawing it, too).

I think Romita Jr. came to this book immediately after leaving his run on Daredevil with Ann Nocenti. Bob Wiacek seems to go easier on the inks than Al Williamson did on that book, which gives the art a slicker feel. Not as heavy with the shadows, characters don't feel as thick, as weighed down. Which is appropriate for Iron Man, it probably should be a little glossier. Romita hasn't progressed to that point of making everyone really big and bulky that he would get to in a few years, although he seemed to make the boots of the Iron Man armor enormous, compared to how Mark Bright drew them when this model of the armor was originally introduced.

Byrne wisely gives Romita Jr. multiple either full-page or double page splashes for Fin Fang Foom, and Romita Jr. typically fills them with the dragon, to the point where any other figures are not much more than small, vague outlines of people. And the dragon still usually doesn't fit all in the panel, an excellent way to convey how enormous and powerful it is. Heisler and Eliopoulous also add the effect that Foom's speech bubbles don't have a little tail connecting them to his mouth. So it functions as almost a disembodied presence that is everywhere, a voice so large it seems to come from all sides.

The Living Laser design is mostly a featureless human shape. There's some Kirby crackle-like dots, and some shading that suggests the shape of the mouth or where the eyes are, things like that. But Rosas and Becton help by making it a very colorful battle. There are dozen or bright pinkish lines going all over most panels as the Laser goes all out trying to kill Iron Man (though at one point when Stark loses control of his body, the Laser lets him live because he doesn't want an "easy" win, which felt pretty weak). But the longer the fight went, the less distinct, the more blurred the Laser's features gets. There's more crackle, like he isn't maintaining as coherent a structure as he gets more pissed and pours more into the battle. It's a nice touch.

There's a bit in here where Stark hires a bunch of professionals to figure out what's wrong with him, and when they all pronounce him fit, is positive they're wrong. Not simply because of the strange paralysis, but because, as he puts it, he was an alcoholic for years, and that had done all sorts of damage to his body. Damage which couldn't have all simply vanished. Which isn't something I feel like is addressed much in Iron man comics. There's frequently references to Tony's drinking, how it cost him his company, how he struggles against temptation, the "will he/won't he" in moments of stress. Don't usually see a lot about the physical toll that I can recall, which is curious given how long the comics relied on Tony's heart condition as a way to generate jeopardy. Maybe Byrne was trying to bring that back in a new form, or maybe he was annoyed Micheline had Tony shot and put in a wheelchair, then gave him some super-science escape clause 5 issues later. So he turned the cure into a trap.

Or maybe the two of them had that planned all along. I don't know.

The subplot about Rhodey struggling with whether he could get back in the armor didn't work quite as well as I'd hope. Maybe because I came into this knowing Rhodey is going to don armors a lot in the future. But part of it was that when he does come to Tony's rescue, the suit he's wearing looks so similar to Tony's, I thought at first Stark was remote controlling another suit while mentally controlling the one he was in. Granted there's dialogue coming from the rescuing suit, which should have been a big tip off, but it just didn't land as well as I think it was meant to.

Also, reading this story arc, I found out James Rhodes is meant to be smaller than Tony Stark. Which is not how I've ever pictured them. Go figure. Also, I think the armor design Romita comes up with for the suit DeWitt ultimately fights Tony with, got cribbed/homaged/stolen by whoever was drawing Bloodstrike. There was a giant robot/cyborg guy called Shogun that looked a lot like the design here (especially the lack of feet, just big, round cylinders for legs). Oh, it was Rob Liefeld, what a surprise, he said completely insincerely. At least the head regions on the two designs are different.

Overall, not exactly what I was expecting, and certainly not as much armor warring as you'd expect with the title, but not bad. I appreciate that the Laser trashing Stark Industries is independent of the other problems, rather than it all being interconnected. Sometimes a lot of random bad shit can happen all at once.

*This was back when they were still maintaining the old line about Iron Man being Stark's bodyguard, and that the Iron Man at the time of this story was a new guy, replacing the one who supposedly went rogue and was killed in the first Armor Wars story.

Batman Adventures Volume 3

I've been buying the collections of The Batman Adventures series of comics based on the '90s cartoon over the last year or so. They've been hit-or-miss. There'll be some really good issues interspersed among the merely OK or forgettable ones. But for the price, it's solid value.

Volume 4 just came out early last month, but I haven't gotten that yet, so I'm looking at Volume 3 instead, since it's the only one I have handy. It covers issues 21-27 of the series, plus an Annual. The Annual leads things off, with a series of short stories mostly related to the question of whether any of Batman's foes will ever be rehabilitated, with each story illustrated by a different artist (including Dan DeCarlo drawing a nearly silent one about Harley Quinn, a page from which is there on the right). The Ventriloquist story by Mike Parobeck and Matt Wagner is sad, but I find most Ventriloquist stories to be sad, just because Wesker seems such a pitiable figure.. This is a well done sad story, though. Still, the "Froggy" persona he uses as an expression of his good side is touching. Part of me wishes Bats had stomped Scarface to pieces the moment he started calling for the "Dummy" again, but I guess Wesker has to make the choice himself.

I said mostly related because the Joker story, drawn by John Byrne and inked by Rich Burchett doesn't look at the Joker attempting to go straight at all. Rather, it looks at what he does when he's not on some big scheme (as it starts with Mistah J falling out of a blimp after failing to clock Batman with a wrench), and the Joker making a meandering path through the Gotham streets, causing chaos and death casually as he goes. If it's dealing with the possibility of whether there's hope for the Joker - and it may not be, it's after the conclusion of the framing sequence for the other stories, which dealt with whether Roxie Rocket was genuine in her claims of going straight - the answer it gives is "NO". Which is maybe not the best answer to give in that case, since then there's the question of, "Well maybe someone needs to go ahead and kill him, if he's never going to turn back from this," and that's a pretty tired discussion none of us really wants to go through again, right? The body language Byrne and Burchett give him in the story is excellent, though. The bored expression as he munches on a donut and explains to the guy behind the counter that his sweat is activating the Joker toxin in the funny money Joker handed him is great work, and chilling for how casual it makes the whole thing for him. It's as largely irrelevant to him as someone stopping you on the street to ask the time. Really, the whole way the Joker goes about that sequence is kind of an encapsulation of why I like Animated Series Joker. He goes out of his way to act as though he's just foolin' around, don't worry about him. He even pays the guy, and then stands there and watches him die before strolling out the door. The charm and the casual murder, and how hilarious he finds the whole thing is terrifying.

Outside of that, most of the other issues are in that "merely OK to forgettable" range I mentioned. There's one with the Man-Bat and that scientist who turned Catwoman into an actual catlady once. One where Batman needs Poison Ivy's help deriving an antidote to save a poisoned foreign president. Batman teams up with Mullet Superman in one issue, and Robin and Batgirl team up in the next. Again, none of them are bad, but none of them are great. I liked issue 22, where Batman thinks he understands Two-Face's compulsion to flip the coin and puts it to the test, but Two-Face's plan doesn't really make much sense. He breaks some guys out of one prison to start building a gang, then uses them to break into another prison to free some more guys he wants in the gang. Except it gets all his guys pinched. I'm sure he wasn't banking on the cops waiting for him, but it's hard to see what his endgame was. He wants to get Rupert Thorne, well the longer he waits, the better prepared Thorne will be.

My personal favorite was issue 27, where Batman tries to help a former Olympic athlete turned Batman cope with the loss of his wife in a mob hit. Batman understands the anger driving the man, of course, but tries to help him find something other than fighting crime to give his life meaning. Which suggests Batman recognizes his life is not something other people should try to copy (which then brings up the question of his sidekicks, but I guess Bruce Wayne is also providing them with a surrogate family that he didn't have, Alfred's best efforts aside). But the killer is called back to Gotham from where he's hiding in South America (that part I wasn't clear on, because I had thought Batman arranged to get him brought back through a false note. Except Bats told Alfred he was going to South America to get the guy, which means Rupert Thorne really did just happen to ask him to return just then?), and Dalton catches sight of him on the street, and winds up captured.

Parobeck and Burchett really sell Dalton's anguish with the art, because anytime we see him around the killer, he's in the fury, teeth clenched, eyes burning, and if he's not lunging for them man's throat, he's snapping ropes or throwing off whoever if trying to hold him back. It seems almost too much, but at the end, there's a moment where Dalton is holding onto a pipe in this crumbling building. It's all that's keeping him from going splat on the ground below, but the killer is holding desperately to Dalton's legs. And he lets go with one hand, and you know he's about to let go with the second. And Parobeck and Burchett at first give him this scowling expression, brow is furrowed, bit of a frown, but mostly just determined to see this done. It's really the first panel on the next page that catches my eye. When Batman calls to him and says not to do it, because Dalton seems completely calm in that one. Not angry, not joyful or sad, but possibly at peace with however this turns out. It's an extremely understated expression after all the larger ones he had up to then, so it always stands out. This is one of those times I really needed a scanner, because I'm not doing this justice.

So I don't know if I would recommend getting the entire trade, if you could just find the Annual and issue #27 separately, but the collection isn't a bad route to go if you find it for a reasonable price. Parobeck and Burchett are good enough artists to probably be worth the price on their own, and most of Puckett's stories at least have the core of a good idea, even if they don't always seem enough to fill the whole issue.

I also want to mention that Siskoid's doing reviews of each issue of The Batman Adventures as part of his current series looking at DC's Animated side of things, and he just went over each of the issues in this collection individually a couple of weeks ago.

31 Days of Scans - Day 22

Favorite Villain. If I ever get around to those supplementary entries to my favorite characters list, there is one villain who would jump ahead of today’s selection on the list. But one of the things about Dr. Doom – spoiler alert! – I like is he doesn’t always have to be the antagonist. He usually is, but there are enough times where his interests coincide with the heroes they can be uneasy allies. This guy, though, is always a bad guy.

I know I said I was going to try and avoid doing too many that would just be a rehash of the Favorite Character posts, even if they were a viable option, but there’s no better choice. I was trying to think of a possible manga/anime option, but all the ones I can think of were effective villains because I found them really annoying and easily hateable. I really wanted to see someone kill Gendo Ikari for example, or Vegeta (even after he wasn't the villain), or Legato Bluesummers. I think a favorite villain ought to be one I'm excited to see, not one that produces a response of, "Oh Christ, this guy again. Well, maybe he'll die this time." So, Arcade it is, then.

Everything I said last summer still applies. He’s still great at hitting people’s buttons, and making them practically throw themselves into his traps. However cavalier his attitude might seem, he clearly takes his work seriously enough to do his research on his targets.

He still loves to win, but loves to enjoy himself even more. And he's savvy enough to recognize being Captain Britain's arch-foe really doesn't have much future to it, so better to angle for a rematch with Spider-Man.

And in spite of his general code of kinda-sorta fair play, where there are ways out of his traps, if you can find them, he's still a bad guy. He won't bat an eye at inflicting pain on someone, including a bunch of teen heroes, if he thinks it's worth the time.

I still think you can use him as an adversary against practically any character, and someone could get some mileage out of his excellent track record of capturing heroes.

Arcade puts Braddock through the wringer, and bounces back from an inevitable defeat by preparing for another inevitable defeat in Marvel Team-Up #66, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (artist), Dave Hunt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). Arcade gets the drop on Anya Corazon and Reptil with complete indifference in Avengers Academy Giant-Size, by Paul Tobin (writer), David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), and Dave Lanphear (letterer).

So Why Go There?

I was reading through Byrne's first two years* on Namor the Sub-Mariner this last weekend, and I get to around #18, and we're at the point where Namor's first dead wife, the Lady Dorma, has mysteriously returned from the grave, but in a basically mindles state. Turns out some exiled Atlantean created a clone (well several clones) of her, to try and win Namor's favor, so he could be buried in Atlantis. Great, except he can't recreate her mind, and basically destroyed her body breaking it down for raw materials. Oops.

Anyway, the big reveal comes when the eldery fishman reveals that Namorita is a clone of her mother, slightly altered so it wasn't too obvious**. It's further revealed, Namor knew for quite some time, and just never got around to bringing it up. Proof that even half-Atlantean men run when it comes time to discuss important emotional stuff. Anyway, Nita kind of freaks, what with her worried she's a soulless creation***, and takes off for awhile. Namor searches for, and finds her, and we have one of those touching moments, as Namor insists that he has observed her bravery and loyalty, and concern for others, and knows that regardless of how she came to be, she has a soul. Well, that's great. Really, I'm happy, except I can't shake the feeling that the whole sequence was unnecessary. Namor already knew, so it isn't a case where we watch him come to grips with this new information. And with Namora gone, it wasn't like she and Nita could have a mother/daughter talk about it, and Byrne made it pretty clear that it wasn't supposed to affect how we viewed her, so why bother?

Then, I thought of something else. The whole reason Namora went the clone route was because, as a hybrid, she's sterile. So, as another hybrid, Namor should be sterile too, right? Except that last mini-series he had showed he had at least one kid. Crap, Namor got cloned offspring too! Great, there could be dozens of Namor's running around now (instead of just the two Avengers/Invaders gave us).

* Well, 25 issues, the point where he stopped doing the art.

** The alterations included giving Nita full wings, were her mother apparently just had undeveloped wing buds. So, apparently Namora couldn't fly. Which means. . . the Namora in Agents of Atlas is a Skrull! Nah, Agents of Atlas is too cool to be infiltrated by Skrulls.

*** Conner Kent could relate to those feelings, if he wasn't busy being dead, while his girlfriend and best friend make out. Poor dead Connor. Or did they break up? I can't keep track.