Saturday Splash Page #214

"Delusions of Grandeur," in Revenge of the Living Monolith, by David Michelinie (writer), Marc Silvestri (penciler), Geof Isherwood (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)

Real talk, I don't know if Sharen and Rosen were colorist and letterer for this specific page, but the credits list 9 different colorists and 5 letterers (plus 6 people credited with 'additional background inks'), with no breakdown of who did what. I'm not listing all that. Sharen and Rosen are listed first, so it seems a safe bet they handled the very first page.

Anyway, part of the same Marvel Graphic Novel series as Starlin's Death of Captain Marvel, or The Aladdin Effect, Revenge of the Living Monolith apparently came out because Jim Owsley wanted to do something like a '50s, giant monster movie. He and Michelinie hammered out this plot about Ahmet Abdol, the old X-Men foe The Living Pharaoh, regaining access to the cosmic rays that make him the Living Monolith and rampaging through New York.

(Although he gets the cosmic rays by trapping three-quarters of the FF, because they constantly absorb cosmic radiation, so he has machines draw it off and feed it to him. Which is not a way I've ever heard the FF's powers described. I thought they got hit once and that was it. If they still absorb cosmic rays constantly while on Earth, why can't Abdol?) 

The conflict is basically an outer expression of all the crap in Abdol's heart, where he's always been convinced he was descended from royalty or divinity, then got pissy when people didn't bow and scrape and kiss his ass. Which causes him to lash out, then blame everyone else for it, that people are awful and so they deserve it. This is not a guy I'm inclined to pity. One of his prison guards is an old childhood bully. When Abdol escapes, he brings the bully along, essentially to go, "neener-neener, bet you feel stupid for doubting me now." The bully is unimpressed, and later goads Abdol in killing his own daughter, though we never see Hassan after that scene. No idea what happened to him.

(Abdol's daughter chose to be the one who sets the trap for the FF, but finds herself cornered when it turns out you can't break a window in the Baxter Building just by chucking a chair at it. It's almost funny, except, you know, the part where Abdol allows his own fear of betrayal or looking weak to make him him remote-electrocute his own kid. But he won't just kill Hassan to shut the guy up.)

The three heroes opposing the Monolith end up being She-Hulk, Captain America, and Spider-Man. She-Hulk was excluded from Abdol's trap because her power isn't cosmic ray based, and she calls Cap. Since the other Avengers are on the West Coast, he uses a computer program to pull up someone with a science background to help, and gets Spidey. The way it's framed feels less like Cap searched a database for an answer, and more like he typed requirements and the computer just spat a random name at him.

And Spidey ends up feeling useless against the Monolith (who somehow travels to NYC in a Concorde, despite being ginormous enough his head looks taller than the jet, let alone the rest of him), leaving most of the fighting to Cap and Shulkie. Spider-Man does free the FF, but by then the Monolith is so large he's again able to absorb the rays on his own. Freeing the FF isn't crucial to finding a solution to the issue of the Monolith, so Spider-Man is basically irrelevant. They could have picked Hank Pym, or Curt Conners, or any comic book scientist and it would have made about as much difference.

Random Back Issues #125 - Suicide Squad #41

Now we know Captain Boomerang buys his gear from Acme.

Alright, Amanda Waller was released from prison last issue, because the U.S. government needs someone to deal with the Soviets getting involved in suppressing a revolution in Vlatava. Batman's involved, too, after investigating the murder of a cargo hauler on the Gotham docks led him right into the Steel Wolf, Stalnoivolk. Batsy's not too happy about working with Waller, but he's never happy, so whatever.

By now, Stalnoivolk's in Vlatava, watching the incumbent leader's forces get trounced by the Vlatavan rebels, led by a manic Count Vertigo. The Russian super-speedsters Blue Trinity are there in plainclothes, but they aren't doing any better against Vertigo, and his power even messes with missile guidance systems, so forget using those.

So the Steel Wolf picks up Molotov, and chucks the Russian with the exploding power at Vertigo. Doesn't kill him, does knock him flat, putting the rebels in retreat. Stalnoivolk's more concerned with the notion someone tried to double-cross him in Gotham, but Zastrow (essentially Waller's Soviet counterpart) is more concerned with General Kaligari, current ruler of Vlatava. The general wants more overt support from the USSR. Tanks and soldiers and such. Zastrow points out the Red Shadows are meant to counter Vertigo, while keeping Soviet involvement under the radar, but recognizes Kaligari could out their presence to make Gorbachev look bad, on the chance it gets him replaced with a more hardline leader. Which is something Stalnoivolk might appreciate as well. So maybe he blew his own cover?

With thought processes like this, it would be a miracle if every real-world intelligence agency didn't decimate itself.

While all that's going on, Waller's getting the team back together. First to Paris, where Vixen's showing off one of her own designs on the catwalk. She's not keen on rejoining the Squad, until Waller mentions she knows where Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger, is. Ben flipped out (or was induced into a breakdown) courtesy of Sarge Steel around the time the Squad fell apart, then vanished. Mari's concerned, so she's in.

Ben's not doing well, or even thinking of himself as "Ben." The two start fighting, to the amusement of some dipshit Great White Hunter. But Alan Buck-and-a-Quartermain catches a bottle in the face from Waller and she uses his machine gun to end the lover's spat. Ben doesn't want to wipe the paint he regards as his face away, but Waller ain't having any of it, and what the Wall wants, she gets.

Meanwhile, Batman's in Puerto Azul's capital, where General Vaca's reign is going down the toilet, to his indifference, and a conniving Poison Ivy's fury. But it's fine, she's drained the treasury and she's got her own guards to help her escape. Oh, wait, Batman's here to tell her that her accounts are frozen, and her guards. . .

Yep, the inevitable result of combining "Batman" and "goons." If Ivy wants out, it'll be with him, and she'll have to work to earn her escape. From there, Bats travels to London, where Ravan set up shop, killing people as part of his beliefs that he delays the arrival of Kali by doing so. Batman blows up the church and walks out with Ravan slung over his shoulder. 

That's four. Who's Waller picking for her fifth? Why none other than Ol' Boomerbutt, looking much the worse for wear after a year on the island where she stranded him after his exposure as the Mystery Pie Thrower. In fact, Boomerang's about to launch himself off the island - and to his death - on a giant boomerang he's constructed out of - actually, I don't know what he made it out of. Palm fronds? Either way, Vixen launches it prematurely and once Digger sees it smashed to pieces on the rocks, agrees to join up.

Well, the team's assembled, what can go wrong? Maybe a shadowy figure who is aware of all this, and tells Deadshot to kill Waller?

{10th longbox, 280th comic. Suicide Squad #41, by Kim Yale and John Ostrander (writers), Geof Isherwood (artist), Carl Gafford (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)}