Saturday Splash Page #166

"Rage in the Rags," in Shadowpact #8, by Bill Willingham (writer), Shawn McManus (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer)

In between Max Lord murdering Ted Kord and the start of Infinite Crisis, DC released 4 mini-series related to the various problems that were building. OMAC Project was Batman's arrogance and paranoia coming back to bite everyone in the ass. Except Ted Kord, who was already dead because of Batman's arrogance and paranoia. Rann-Thanagar War was, well it's what it says on the tin, and was some stuff going on in space that never felt particularly connected to the larger event. Villains United was about a small group of villains that brought together by a mysterious person to resist the larger villain society that formed (that eventually became Secret Six, which we'll get to sometime this year.)

Day of Vengeance was the Spectre going bugfuck crazy (again?!) and trying to destroy all magic, and a bunch of relative castoffs - Nightmaster, Enchantress, Nightshade, Ragman, Blue Devil, Detective Chimp - banding together to try and stop him. After Infinite Crisis, the cast got this ongoing series.

This was the first issue I bought, when I was looking for something from DC I as interested in. Batgirl had been canceled earlier in the year. I dropped Robin after that abysmal One Year Later storyline established Cassandra Cain as crazy, evil, and possibly hot for Tim Drake. Teen Titans was a joyless book, whose characters all seemed to hate each other and want to be any where else. As to why this book, specifically, I guess the odd cast of characters I knew little about appealed to me. If I don't have any preconceived notions, I can't be as irritated if Willingham does something stupid with them, right?

I bought it for 9 issues. This issue was the one I liked best, seeing as it's the only one I've kept up to this point. And while the plot of the moment moves in the background, it largely about tweaking Ragman's backstory. Now the ragsuit has existed in different forms for thousands of years, and it's possible for one of the trapped souls to earn release if they help the wearer often enough to atone for their sins. Although the fact the soul we see released was a Roman soldier suggests an unfriendly parole board. But DC's God is always being presented as a capricious dick, so that tracks.

Beyond this issue, Willingham seemed to try and have various smaller plots that occupied 2-3 issues, while a larger story moves in the background, while also trying to delve into or expand the casts' abilities. Blue Devil gets promoted (or demoted, you move down in ranks in Hell) and becomes a rhymer, pissing of Erigan. Nightmaster figures out some stuff about himself. But it always seemed to boil down to this character or that needing to embrace their fate and stop raging against their sacred duty or whatever.

It's also got some of that weird affection for procedure or minutiae Willingham seems to like. The team calls a press conference to essentially explain the rules they intend to operate by, which seems pointless. Willingham even includes a segment where other heroes are asked their opinions and Nightwing basically says, "No shit, that's how all of us operate." So what was the point of that scene?

At any rate, it never quite lived up to what I envisioned. Maybe the stories weren't weird enough given the cast. Maybe Tom Derenick, who drew all the issues after this one that I bought, didn't do anything for me as an artist. Willingham stepped away from the book the same issue I did, replaced by Matt Sturges for the final 10 issues. Maybe I'd have liked his stuff better, although his JSA All-Stars didn't knock my socks off.

Random Back Issues #41 - GrimJack #29

Maybe let's just let Mr. Bullet stay in the barrel.

We've got a standalone issue of GrimJack today, which means I don't have to explain a lot of backstory, but there's still a lot going on. Tim Truman left 10 issues ago, and we're still two issues away from Tom Mandrake stepping in as artist. Shawn McManus is the guest artist, but as I recall, some of the readers were not fond of his version of GrimJack. I think someone described him as looking like a troll. Not like Gaunt was winning any beauty contests before.

Anyway, issue starts with Gaunt getting his new, cybernetic hand put attached. He lost his hand during the Trade Wars storyline, after he was in a giant floating pyramid when it fell from the sky. The first replacement (a big clunky thing more like a multitool than a hand) got busted in a fight with the serial killing cyborg Kalibos. So Gaunt took the guy's hand as a replacement for the replacement. Seems fair.

Now with two hands, Gaunt takes the case of Ann Carpentier. She's a widow, with two sons. Mark's successful, Danny's a junkie. Danny was found murdered in Hogan's Alley the day before. Mark feels responsible for not protecting his brother, and is hunting the killer. Ann wants Gaunt to stop him. He takes the case, but points out you go to Hogan's Alley to get leg-dropped, I mean, to escape Stalag-13, I mean, to hire a killer, so why was Danny there?

The last place Danny was seen alive is a diner that promises "home cooking". Gaunt says that might be true. . . if you lived in a toilet. Not all that different from the Perkins near my last apartment, then.

The cook (seen above) isn't helpful at first, but quickly changes his tune. Shotgun is very persuasive. Danny was with a collector/enforcer named Kaliber, who works for Mac Heath. Heath (a talking shark) says Danny owed him money. Kaliber wasn't supposed to kill him, 'cause the dead can't pay debts. Mac tries to hire Gaunt to find Kaliber, Gaunt refuses, Mac has his boys try to muscle him, Gaunt shoots one. Once there's blood in the water, it's a feeding frenzy and GrimJack bails, although he has to shoot one more fish on the way out the door.

Ann meets him, and says Mark talked to an informant named Flea who promised to take him to Kaliber. He did, he just also told Kaliber they were coming. Gaunt gets the location out of Flea, the shotgun being a solid 3-for-3 in problem-solving this issue, but Kaliber's a little big for Gaunt to tangle with. Kaliber explains he felt bad for Danny, who was suffering. So he ended it for him, even though it's got him in dutch with his boss.

Gaunt warns Mark killing someone will change him, speaking from (considerable) experience. Mark lets it go, and Ann gives Kaliber some money to try and pay Mac, case closed. Except Gaunt admits to Ann he'd have killed Kaliber if it was his son that died, and after she and Mark leave, he wonders if she'd be so merciful if the successful brother was the one murdered.

That GrimJack, always looking sunny side up. He just happens to live under a dumpster.

The Munden's Bar back-up is written and drawn by Fred Hembeck, and involves a guy trying to sell Gordon on a table that will grab people from other dimensions and bring them here for the amusement of the patrons. The bar's mirror is already a dimensional interface, what more do you need? Anyway, the guy grabs Lou Grant and Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, of all things. Is Hembeck from Minnesota?

Ted's pretty freaked out, especially when one of the customers wonders if vanilla Earthlings taste as good as chocolate ones. Lou gets in his face and rallies the whole bar behind him, dismissing it as no big deal because, 'I've dealt with the network guys.' More comfortable, Ted brags about being the best darn anchorman on Earth, leading to the lady confusing him for Walter Cronkite. Ted drives everyone out of the bar with his life story, the salesman sends them home. Gordon chucks the salesman out, and GrimJack comes back to an empty bar in which to do his 'existential brooding.'

If I remember right, someone wrote into the letters page complaining angrily about how disrespectful this story was, because Ted Knight had passed away not long before it came out. He died in August of '86, and the inside cover says this came out December of '86.

[5th longbox, 54th comic. GrimJack #29, "Mercy" by John Ostrander (writer), Shawn McManus (penciler), Hilary Barta (inker), Linda Lessman (colorist), David Cody Weiss (letterer). "The Best Darn Anchorman in Cynosure!" by Fred Hembeck (writer/artist), Linda Lessman (colorist), Steve Haynie (letterer)]