Combo Platter

OK, we’ve covered several months’ worth of all the regular titles I have from 1986. Today we’re gonna look at a few “odds ‘n’ ends” books I have mixed in here, such as ...

Batman annual 10 (DC Comics, 1986) — This story is a classic Hugo Strange tale, at least for me. The evil genius sets about not so much defeating Batman nor Bruce Wayne, but almost erasing them from existence as he slowly takes everything away from the Wayne Foundation to the manor to freezing all bank accounts and assets, making Batman realize how much he depends on the wealth of Bruce Wayne to function. Then things get even more personal when Strange takes away Alfred and Jason.

Aquaman 1-4 (DC Comics, 1986) — Now this story is a little bit different. I was a little disappointed with this miniseries when it first came out in 1986. At that time, I liked Aquaman, but wasn’t as familiar with the character. I didn’t know about his fiery temper as that wasn’t how he was depicted on the Superfriends or in the issues of Justice League of America which I’d read. And I didn’t much care for the new blue camouflage costume. And I didn’t know who these other underwater races were. I didn’t even know who Ocean Master was at that time. So, I just didn’t care for this series much initially. In fact, I even committed the horrible sin of parting with my original copies of this series at some point, only to have to hunt down the back issues when I decided to give the series another try a few years later.

Series writer Neal Pozner takes some factual information about Atlantis, combines it with supposition and various other fictional depictions of Atlantis and combines them all into the back story that forms the basis for this series. Then he uses that tapestry of information and previous story-telling to completly destroy Aquaman’s current status quo. New Venice is destroyed. Aquaman is despised in Poseidonis. And his half-brother, Orm, is collecting mystical artifacts in an effort to finally best Arthur. In trying to hunt down Ocean Master, Aquaman comes across some savage underwater races, some mystical ones, and even learns some new things himself along the way. How could I do any less? This still isn’t my favorite Aquaman story, but it is an important part of the history of both Atlantis and the King of the Seven Seas.

And that brings us to the fall of 1986 with our retro-reviews, but in case you haven’t noticed, in the real world, we’re almost halfway through the month of November. Most recent batch of new comics has arrived, and I have started digging into those, although not as far as I’d like to be. So, here’s a few quick thoughts on some more timely books:

52 Week Twenty-Two (DC Comics) — OK, I just gotta ask: Who the hell is Super-Chief? I remember an Apache Chief from the Super Friends show, but no Super-Chief or any other American Indian super characters, not in DC’s stable, anyway. The evil versions of the Metal Men were kinda interesting. Has that been done before? All the evil genius robotics experts, seems like someone would’ve thought of it before ...

Jalila 5 (AK Comics) — Overall, I was a little disappointed in the AK Comics this month after giving them some hype last time around. The writing seemed slightly more disjointed in this title compared to last month.

Rakan 5 (AK Comics) — This title still holds a little promise. This was the first of a two-part story where the lone warrior joins a gang of thieves. It isn’t explicitly stated, but I assume he infiltrated them to break the ring up.

Zein 5 (AK Comics) — The writing in this title also suffered somewhat, which makes sense since the writer of this title and Jalila are the same. But Zein is even worse than Jalila was. Early in the book, a villain previously captured escapes. Zein is there in his secret identity, but spends almost 4 1/2 pages doing little other than talking to himself. Part way through the fight, he makes the decision to not change to Zein but let the villain escape and follow him. Two panels later, he thinks to himself, “If I could just change into Zein, I’d stop him!” So, why can’t he change, other than his own decision not to. I hear that this line of books is going to graphic novel form in a few months. Maybe bigger will be better, but this month was not a good showing for AK.

Mystery In Space 2 (DC Comics) — Or maybe I’m just being overly critical, because the first issue of this series was good, but this one just left me feeling ... I don’t know what, but not much of it.

Outsiders 41 (DC Comics) — This book was a little better. We’re still moving veeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyy slowly, but we do seem to be moving toward some resolutions to how and why the Outsiders were believed dead? how this book interacts with the rest of the DCU? just what is Grace’s secret that they keep alluding to? how and why Sivana has been manipulating the group since Day 1? just what Winick is thinking?

Agents of Atlas 3 (Marvel Comics) — And finally, we end on a high note. This comic remains fun. Maybe I’d feel differently if I was familiar with any of these characters from before, but I’m not. So I don’t care as some history is likely rewritten. I’m just enjoying the modern story of a group of one-time heroes re-uniting to save the world once again.

That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by, and see ya next time, kiddie-cops.