But what do you think?

Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer tpb Vol. 15: What Cost Victory
Marvel Comics
Creators: Nick Spencer, Federico Vicentini, Ze Carlos, Mark Bagley, Carlos Gomez and Alex Sinclair
Release date: November 2021

Got something a little different this time: I want YOU to tell ME what you think of Nick Spencer’s recent run on Amazing Spider-Man.

I like Spider-Man, but I’ve never been a regular reader of his adventures. I read some random issues that I bought as a kid in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but most of them were truly random. The only continuous run I read during that time included some issues with Spidey facing off against Silvermane, Green Goblin and other gangsters. At the time, everyone assumed the Goblin was Harry Osborn again, but it didn’t turn out to be him in the outfit. I borrowed these comics from a friend, and I currently own a trade collecting some of them: Amazing Spider-Man: A New Goblin, reprinting Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 176-180 by Len Wein and Ross Andru.

I bought many of the then-current Spidey titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but I’ve since sold off most of those issues. I kept Amazing Spider-Man No. 267, “When Cometh … the Commuter,” a very amusing stand-alone issue written by Peter David. I had the original six issues that told the story that came to be known as “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” but I’ve since sold them and bought a hardcover of the story instead.

All of this is to say I am no stranger to Spidey stories. I’ve read a lot of them, but I don’t still own most of the stories I’ve read. And I don’t follow the character regularly.

But I do like Spider-Man, and I really like some of his villains. I’ve always been partial to the Green Goblin in his various incarnations. I also like Doc Ock, Kraven, Chameleon and some of the others.

I hadn’t paid much attention to Nick Spencer’s recent run on the title. Nothing against the writer; I haven’t read many Spidey stories in more than a decade by anyone. And I’m not familiar with other things Spencer has written.

But the solicitation image for the trade collection of “The Chameleon Conspiracy,” which was the 14th trade collection of Spencer’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, caught my eye. The cover image shows the Chameleon sitting in a darkened room surrounded by masks of the faces of many of Spider-Man's friends and enemies. There are nearly 30 masks pictured, and the cover brought to mind the first appearance of Chameleon in Amazing Spider-Man No. 1, of which I own a reprint. I don’t know if there is a previous image similar to this trade’s cover, but it made me thing of that initial appearance of Chameleon, and piqued my curiosity.

I pre-ordered the trade and then ordered the next one, Vol. 15, when it was solicited. I don’t think I knew when I ordered Vol. 15, “What Cost Victory?” that it would be Spencer’s last. But it did seem like a resolution he’d been building to, and I thought I might need this trade to complete the story begun in Vol. 14. Turns out I was both right and wrong about that.

Both these two trades very clearly wrap up a lot of plotlines from Spencer’s run and stories from past creators, too, including a story arc I’ve never read but heard a lot about, “Sins Past.” Both of these trades were decent reads, but I got the feeling frequently that I wasn’t getting the entire story. I was very aware I hadn’t read everything that came before. I didn’t feel lost, exactly, but still like I was missing something.

So I’m curious to hear from others who have read all of Spencer’s run, and perhaps even more. What did you Spider-Man fans think of his run on the title? Is it worth it to seek out and buy the earlier Spencer trades? What say you, Spider-fans? I’d like to hear from you for a change.

This series provided a solid wrap-up and more

Lost in Space (1991)
Innovation
Creators: David Campiti, George Broderick Jr., Bill Mumy, Matt Thompson, Mark Goddard, Miguel Ferrer, Kevin Burns, Terry Collins, Karen May, Robert M. Ingersoll, Peter David, Eddy Newell, Mark Jones, Michal Dutkiewicz, Peter Murphey, John Garcia, Barb Kaalberg, Dan and Dave Day, George Perez, Joe Dunn, Shane Glines, Jim Key, Scott Rockwell, Vickie Williams
Release date: July 1, 1991, to June 1, 1993, for issue Nos. 1-12 and two annuals, per Mike’s Amazing World of Comics

Strap in; this is going to be one of my lengthier posts.

Last time, we discussed a pair of Lost in Space hardcovers published about five years ago and adapted from some unfilmed scripts written for the 1960s television series. I wanted to read through those hardcovers before re-visiting this early 1990s comic series because they were chronologically earlier adventures of the Jupiter 2 crew.

I bought and enjoyed the first 11 regular issues and the first annual of the Innovation Lost in Space series when they were released, but the title came out somewhat sporadically. I enjoyed what I’d read of the series and had since purchased the later issues. The plan was to someday re-read this series to see if it still held up and finally read the issues I had missed the first time around.

I was prompted to moved that Lost In Space reading project from sometime to now after a very nice retrospective article in the pages of Back Issue magazine published by TwoMorrows Publishing. The specific issue was No. 128 from July 2021, and the issue focused on a number of Bronze Age TV tie-in comics. The Lost in Space article covered a number of topics, but my interest in this series was rekindled by the excellent coverage Back Issue did on the Innovation title. The article included a lot of quotes and behind the scenes information from David Campiti and Bill Mumy, among others.

The Lost in Space comic Innovation launched in the summer of 1991 begins following the Robinson family — John and Maureen Robinson and their three children, Judy, Penny and Will — Major Don West, Dr. Zachary Smith, and the Robot three years after the end of the television series. That means the ship has been lost for six years by this point. The series involved a number of creators, as evidenced by the lengthy list above, but also featured input by several of the original cast members, most notably the adult Bill Mumy, the actor who portrayed Will Robinson in the three-season television program. Mumy wrote several of the stories in these first 14 issues (12 regular issues and two annuals) and also served as a creative consultant for the overall series.

There had been efforts to either re-launch the show or otherwise continue the adventures of the Robinson family, but many of them were reportedly stymied by none other than series creator Irwin Allen. Bill Mumy himself had created and tried to launch a motion picture that would resolve the Jupiter 2 crew’s story only to be told “no” by Allen, according to a text piece Mumy wrote for one of the Innovation issues.

Then along came David Campiti, a fan of the show and the then-publisher and editor-in-chief at Innovation Comics. Campiti wanted to bring Lost in Space to comics. At the time, Mumy told Campiti the chances were slim that approval would be forthcoming, but that if Campiti could get the go-ahead, Mumy would like to be a part of the process. Obviously, permission was granted, but various difficulties among the initial creative team led to further delays.

Finally, the stars aligned and Innovation’s Lost in Space debuted on July 1, 1991, according to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics. That first issue depicts the Jupiter 2 crew being forced to land on yet another planet for repairs. Once there, they are beset by some plant monsters, the ship is further damaged and Dr. Smith discovers a hidden memory chip buried deep inside the Robot — a chip which has not only recorded his original sabotage of the Jupiter 2 but many other details from before the launch of the Alpha Centauri colonization program.

The first issue cover (and many of the subsequent covers, too) featured a gorgeous painting of Will, Penny and Judy Robinson along with the Robot in peril outside the Jupiter 2. The story presented the familiar characters, and while plant monsters might immediately conjure mental images of some of the sillier television episode plots, the threat is presented in the issue as a serious one, and the crew reacts accordingly.

I very much enjoyed the first issue, and I apparently wasn’t the only one to do so. The series was popular, and the first two sold-out issues were each reprinted in a couple of specials that featured new covers and additional behind-the-scenes materials. The third and fourth issues, a two-part story, were the first to be written by Bill Mumy. Those two issues were also later collected and re-presented as a square-bound comic, again with a new cover and bonus materials.

The Innovation Lost in Space series explored a number of interesting topics. Issue No. 9 of the series, for example, features another tale written by Bill Mumy and sports a George Perez cover. This issue details the environmental and sociological impacts on a planet resulting from one of the Jupiter 2’s many forced landings. Issue Nos. 3-4, that first story written by Mumy, involve the Jupiter 2 landing on an inhabited planet with several warring factions and depicts how the denizens of that planet react to the space travelers. Other issues go more deeply into the various characters’ lives and motivations before the Jupiter 2 mission began. Along the way, readers are even given their first glimpse of the mysterious Aeolus 14 Umbra, the individuals who hired Dr. Zachary Smith to sabotage the Jupiter 2 mission that resulted in the Robinsons — and Smith himself — being lost in space.

Issue No. 5 was another stand-out, helping as it did to reconcile the sillier aspects of the television show with the more realistic presentation of the Jupiter 2 adventures in the comic. This issue presented the story of the Jupiter 2’s accidental encounter with a meteor shower from two very different perspectives. The image at the top of this post is from issue No. 5. The top half of each page is devoted to John Robinson’s log recording and presents the events in a realistic manner in keeping with most of the rest of the Innovation series. The story on the bottom of each page is the same adventure, but told from the perspective of Penny Robinson’s diary, where she details the family’s adventures, but in a more fanciful fashion. The Robot is less logical and more humorous, for example, in Penny’s version of events. And while Dr. Smith’s actions in both narratives are similar, his motivations and the circumstances around the events are very different.

A central theme throughout the Innovation series is the adolescence and resulting loneliness of Penny and Will Robinson. I don’t know that exact ages for these two were ever given in the television series, but I know from interviews that Bill Mumy was 10 when the series began filming. Assuming his character was the same age and Penny was about 12, the pair are 16 and 18, respectively, when the Innovation series begins. They have their family with them, and Judy and Don were always a couple, but there are no other humans with whom Penny or Will can form friendships or romantic attachments.

While this would be a very real issue the Robinsons would have to deal with at some point, the artists involved, especially in the early issues of the Innovation series, took the concept to an extreme with Penny. The familiar diamond pattern on Penny’s uniform tops in the television program became a cut-out emphasizing her cleavage. I’m not opposed to “good girl” art or pretty pictures of pretty women, but things got a bit out of hand when several of the early issues of the comic depict Penny in her underwear or barely-there pajamas. But thankfully that tendency went away as the series continued.

Bill Mumy’s was not the only influence from Hollywood on the Innovation series. Issue No. 7 focuses on Major Don West, and Mark Goddard, the actor who portrayed West in the television show contributed to the plot of the issue. Miguel Ferrer, an actor and friend of Bill Mumy, contributed to the plot of the first Innovation Lost in Space annual, which features a villain who physically resembles Ferrer.

Then, in issue No. 12 of the Innovation series, the Jupiter 2 crew manages to finally find their way to the Alpha Centauri solar system. The events of the comic series to that point have taken another one to two years of the characters’ lives, so they are faced with the prospect of finally touching down at their destination after being lost in space for nearly eight years. Unless the agents of Aeolus 14 Umbra can finally end the Robinson family once and for all, that is.

The Innovation comic series didn’t end after these first 14 issues, although it very easily could have. But let’s hold off on exploring issue Nos. 13 onward for next time. Join me back here in two weeks for the epic story titled “Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul.”

The time was ripe for betting on green

Maestro: War & Pax Nos. 1-5
Marvel Comics
Creators: Peter David, Javier Pina and Jesus Aburtov
Release date: January-May 2021

This series was timed just right to grab my attention.

I’ve long been a fan of the Hulk. I like most of the more “monstrous” Marvel characters like Hulk, Thing, Beast after Hank McCoy sprouted his blue fur, and Nightcrawler. They appeal to me visually, I guess, but I’ve also liked the characterizations of Hulk and Thing a great deal.

When I was a kid, my family watched the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno “Incredible Hulk” television program every week. I also read and very much enjoyed a nice run of Incredible Hulk beginning with issue No. 212 while visiting a friend around that same time in the late 1970s. I’d read some other issues of the character from time to time, but never on any consistent basis.

I also enjoy the writing of Peter David, be it in the form of Star Trek and other prose novels or in comics. I like how he makes his stories character-driven and always includes touches of humor. Some of my favorites among David’s comics writing include Young Justice, Fallen Angel and Supergirl. I’ve long been curious about David’s lengthy run on Incredible Hulk. He lasts a good long time on the title, and it’s a character I like, but I’d always been unsure where to start reading.

I decided to do something about that curiosity several years ago by picking up the first couple Hulk Visionaries: Peter David trades, but then they got dropped on my to-be-read-sometime pile. Last year, I decided it was time to finally satisfy that curiosity and make sure I did the big Hulk read-through by tracking down the rest of the Visionaries series of trades and the Marvel Epic trades that picked up Peter David’s run on the title.

I also picked up a number of back issues from before Peter David’s run and settled in for a lengthy but enjoyable reading project that stretched from Incredible Hulk No. 195 through No. 448. There were some gaps, especially early on, but I revisited that run from my youth and read a number of later issues I truly enjoyed for the first time. And Peter David’s run was mostly complete, including every issue from No. 331 through 448. I was not disappointed. In fact, I enjoyed reading these Hulk adventures so much, I began following the new Immortal Hulk title in trade form as well, and I’m also enjoying Al Ewing’s take on Hulk.

Included in those Incredible Hulk Epic Collection trades of Peter David’s run was the two-part Future Imperfect story arc. This prestige format limited series by Peter David and George Perez was originally released in 1992. I bought and read these issues when they were released and enjoyed the tale of the modern-day Hulk being transported to a dystopian future where he has to fight a twisted version of himself named the Maestro.

Re-reading this series as part of David’s collected Hulk run, I was better able to appreciate the context around which Future Imperfect was written. I got to not only read Future Imperfect again for the first time in a long time, but I was able to see the beginnings of the story slowly develop in the regular monthly title and then explore the repercussions of the limited series on the characters going forward in future issues. Then shortly after I finished reading those collected Hulk editions, it was announced that Peter David was going to return to the concept of the Maestro for more tales nearly 20 years after the original story was printed. Now that’s serendipitous timing.

These new series would focus on how the Maestro came to be, and I was excited to try them. The first of the announced trilogy of miniseries was simply titled Maestro and explained how Hulk came to be alive in this future war-torn time. It also showed how he encountered another familiar face, who was then using the title of the Maestro.

This second series, War & Pax, picks up the story after Hulk has assumed the mantle of the Maestro and shows him coming into opposition with Dr. Doom and the members of the Pantheon, Hulk’s former teammates. I’m sure this was a welcome callback for any fans who first read about the Pantheon 20 years ago, but it was also a nice callback for me, who had just discovered the Pantheon members about 20 months ago, give or take a few weeks.

Both of these first two Maestro series were fun codas to Peter David’s earlier run writing Incredible Hulk. I’m looking forward to the third installment to begin in a few months. And I expect it to be just as much fun.

Please Help Peter David

For any of my readers who don't already know him, Peter David is a very prolific writer of not only comics, but also prose novels, television scripts, and I think even a few movie scripts. If you like comics and/or science fiction, odds are you have read or seen something of his. But his work is not limited to those two fields.

Peter David recently suffered a stroke, and while he is recovering, the various medical and recuperation-related bills are mounting. The family continues to update Peter's fans about his condition through his blog at http://www.peterdavid.net/

The family has also suggested a number of ways that Peter's fans can help, either through direct donations or by simply buying his books, most available in either print or e-formats. And they've asked that any of Peter's fans with a blog help spread the word. Hence this extra post.

For more information on how to donate or links to many of Peter's books, just go to this post from Peter's site. If you are looking for some of Peter's comics work, he had a very lengthy run on Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk in the 1980s and '90s and is the current writer of Exiles. Some of my favorites of his are also DC Comics' Aquaman in the 1990s and Young Justice in the early 2000s, as well as Fallen Angel, begun at DC, and later resumed at IDW Publishing.

Thanks for your time and attention for this special announcement.

Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another

Today, I'm going to talk a bit about a series that isn't even being published right now. But there are plenty of trades available, so if what I have to say sparks an interest, rush out and buy some of those, thus maybe signaling to the publishers involved that they should devote some of their budgets to producing more.

The comic in question is Fallen Angel by writer Peter David. This book began its life in 2003 at DC Comics, believe it or not, but it was set apart from the DC Universe proper. We don't get much of the title character's back story at first, but we do know that her "code name" is literal. A former guardian angel, Lee has great strength and a number of other unique abilities. We know a disagreement between her and her former "boss" led to her fall, and that she is basically a good person, but she is not quite happy with life or its circumstances. We see glimpses of Lee's life during the day where she works as a gym instructor for a local girls' school. But most of the stories revolve around Lee's nights in a city know as Bete Noire.

Bete Noire is of vague location and populated by a number of colorful characters. There's Benny, who seems to be a street bum but is in reality the serpent from the original Eden story. There's Dolf, the German bar owner who looks after Lee sometimes and serves as her closest confidant, but also may be one of history's most notorious figures. And there's the Magistrate, the local authority in Bete Noire, who both controls events in the city and is controlled by them.

Lee spends her nights in this desolate city of last resort, often drinking in Dolf's bar. Occasionally, some poor soul will come to Bete Noire seeking the assistance of one called the Fallen Angel. If Lee chooses to listen to the person's story, and if she chooses to care, she might help the person with whatever problem has brought them to Bete Noire.

The existence of superheroes would muddy the waters somewhat in a book like this, where most things are of the real world, with only an occasional intrusion by the spiritual or supernatural. The book was quite a good one but only lasted 20 issues despite the great stories by David and the fantastic art by David Lopez. The problem, I think, was that the book had trouble placing itself. The supernatural aspects of the story line and the more mature themes would have made this an excellent Vertigo title and would have led to the book getting into the hands of more readers who I think would've appreciated it for what it was. Instead, the decision was made to brand this a mainstream DC title instead. But the absence of costumed heroes, even in cameos, killed the book's chances with the superhero crowd. Obviously, I believe there to be overlap between the two audiences, I'm proof of that, but apparently not enough to save this worthwhile title.

Thankfully, when DC canceled the book, it was picked up by IDW Publishing. They relaunched the title under the same name with a new No. 1 in 2005. Wisely, IDW opted not to change much of the format. The book jumped ahead several years in time with the change, but the stories were still in the same vein by the same writer. David Lopez didn't make the switch; if memory serves, he had an exclusive contract with DC at the time. But Peter David and IDW replaced him with J.K. Woodward who provided both painted covers and painted interiors.

This series continued the story of Lee and Bete Noire, adding in a new twist with Lee's adult son, a character who had just been born about the time the DC series ended. We get to see more of Lee's background in this series, including the event which led to her fall. We are also introduced to more characters who have known Lee longer and to whom she is not such a mystery, which helps the reader learn more about her along the way.

This series, too, was canceled, this time after 33 issues, but it didn't go away completely. The final issue promised the series would be back with a new story arc in a limited series. That series, Fallen Angel: Reborn, materialized in 2009. It matched Lee up with a character named Illyria from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television program and comics. I'm not very familiar with either incarnation of Buffy, so the Fallen Angel series was my first exposure to Illyria, but David does an excellent job incorporating what you need to know about the character into the current story. This latest FA series, because of its dual focus, wasn't quite as good as the earlier FA titles, in my humble opinion, but it was still a good story. It gave a tad more character development to Illyria than to Lee, which might be fine for Buffy fans, but left me wanting more Fallen Angel stories.

At this point, I'm not sure if there are more Fallen Angel stories coming or not. I've heard indications that other limited series will continue, but to date, nothing new has been solicited. I truly hope David is not done with the character as there is still a great deal of story potential in Lee. But the stories presented thus far are solid reads well worth your time. And hey, if my hawking the past trades gets someone to take notice and produce more Fallen Angel comics, we all benefit, right?

Make Mine Marvel ... Once In A While

Most of the people I know in and around this part of Oklahoma and Arkansas seem to have grown up with Marvel Comics and much prefer that stable of heroes out of the Big Two comics publishers. A lot of that affinity seems to stem from the time those folks got interested in comics and a number of Marvel characters on television when they were young. I suppose my preferences come from much the same sources, but took the opposite turn.

Somehow, I managed to miss the first, somewhat crude by today’s standards, launch of Marvel superhero cartoons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But I did watch the Batman and Wonder Woman and Superman live-action shows when they were on in first-run or syndication. And I never missed the Superfriends among my Saturday-morning TV viewing. Sure, there was also the live-action Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man shows and Spider-man and His Amazing Friends later on. I’m not ignorant of the Marvel characters, but DC’s group was always the ones I knew and loved just a bit more.

That preference is reflected in my collection, especially during the mid-1980s when I discovered my first-ever Comics Specialty Shop. I had a number of single issues of DC Comics from the grocery store as a small child, things like Superman Family or Batman Family, maybe some World’s Finest and Justice League of America. Even an occasional issue of Spider-man, some based on his appearances on The Electric Company, that PBS series for kids too old for Sesame Street. Sadly, many of those silver-age comics are no longer in my possession because smaller children don’t always take care of things like their parents might wish they would. At this time, besides TV, my only other contact with the world of superheroes were some copies of Superman, Action and Adventure (staring the Legion of Super-Heroes) comics while awaiting my turn at the barber shop. Once in a while, they’d also have some Turok, Son of Stone, too. But it was rare that I owned or read any two issues in consecutive order of any title.

The yearning for that to change came about in the early 1980s when I discovered The New Teen Titans annual #2, a story I’ve related here before and won’t bore you with again. But the desire was not matched immediately with access. That wouldn’t come until a few years later when a friend of mine at school introduced me to that all-important comic shop. I was just in time to snatch up every new issue of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Of course, I also followed the Teen Titans titles at the time. I tried some other books which I no longer own like DC Challenge and a Rip Hunter, Time Master re-vamp. From Marvel, I tried some Spider-man and Captain America issues, but my favorite title from them was Squadron Supreme, an alternate version of DC’s Justice League. And forget other titles like Jon Sable or Warlord from the time; I knew nothing about them and didn’t try that much new back then. My passion for those titles is somewhat more recent (Thank God for back-issue sales, right?).

Anyway, this lengthy introduction is not meant to bash Marvel, but rather to explain why there aren’t that many Marvel titles in these retro-reviews posts. That just wasn’t my preference then, and while I really like some of their characters, Marvel is still second in my own personal rankings. So, there really aren’t going to be many Marvel titles this far back in my collection. In an effort to make some small amends for that, here are a few Marvel comics I DO have.

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff tpb (Marvel Comics, 1990) — This collection written by Peter David and illustrated by Rich Buckler was originally published as Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man #107-110 from 1985-86. I’ve never seen or read any of the other stories featuring Jean DeWolff, but this story makes me think of her as an early precursor to Maggie Sawyer over at DC (there I go again, relating it all to DC). DeWolff is a police captain appearing in a number of previous issues of Spider titles apparently. She was created by Peter David according to the forward in this collection, and though she hadn’t been around long, she was gaining fans. This story, obviously, kills her off. Apparently, that caused some furor at the time because of DeWolff’s popularity. Further angering her shocked fans, she doesn’t die at the end of the story in heroic battle or sacrificing herself to save another like so many characters in comics. She dies off-panel at the very beginning of the story. And it takes not just Spidey, but also Daredevil, to help unearth the true identity of her killer, at first only known as the enigmatic Sin-Eater. The story is a compelling one even if you’re not familiar with DeWolff, and features some nods to classic Spider-man history.

The Thing 33-36 (Marvel Comics, 1986) — These are the last four issues of Thing’s solo series, and in all honesty, I was a little disappointed in them, mostly because there is no final resolution. Obviously, Ben continues to be a character in the Marvel Universe. I didn’t expect them to kill him off, or even necessarily reunite him with the Fantastic Four, but this tale just leaves the reader hanging unless you want to go buy other books.

When last we checked in with Ben Grimm, he was wrestling in the newly formed Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, and was only beginning to wonder where all of the extremely powerful brawlers in the UCWF had been coming from. Before this, all of the other wrestlers shown have been male. Issue #33 shows readers that there is, in fact, a female division, and the champion female UCWF wrestler wants to challenge her male counterpart, Thing. Along the way, we learn that Sharon, the woman Ben is currently interested in, is interested in joining the female UCWF and we again hear the mysterious name, the Power Broker, the individual responsible for powering up many of the competitors. Ben is concerned about Sharon’s plans and tries to stop her. Further complicating things is the fact that Sharon does not share Ben’s feelings.

Ben vows to finally check out this Power Broker person, but is side-tracked in Issue #34 by the appearance of the Sphinx, a villain from Marvel Two-In-One, and the re-appearance of the Puppet Master. Ben manages to make peace with the latter and defeats the former, but along the way, the dizzy spells he has been suffering from grow worse. These spells were first introduced a few issues before.

Issue #35 has Sharon going to the Power Broker, now revealed to be Dr. Malus, a villain I’m not familiar with. He augments volunteers for a price, but then manipulates them into doing his bidding. Unless of course, the aumentation process fails. Those poor, mutated souls are locked away in a dungeon. Sharon is successfully augmented, despite a change of heart on her part, and becomes the all-new Ms. Marvel, or at least a version of the character that I don’t remember seeing anywhere else, so I’m assuming hers was short-lived. She also meets a new friend, Army Lt. Michael Lynch, whose rank changes a couple times in the story, and the two instantly have chemistry. That added to the fact that Sharon has already gone to the Power Broker angers Ben, who storms the Power Broker’s lair only to find it abandoned. First, all of the other augmented wrestlers are against Ben and Sharon. But then, they all join forces to hunt Malus down. That is, until Ben starts to change.

The final issue has Sharon take Ben to the hospital, but of course, normal physicians have no clue what to do for the Thing. Ben continues to mutate painfully, a condition reported on in the news and attracting the attention of She-Hulk, Ben’s replacement in the FF. Shulkie travels to California to see what is up only to clash with the new Ms. Marvel, who thinks Ben wouldn’t want to see She-Hulk. Ben, who doesn’t want to see anybody, breaks out of the hospital and disappears. The end. A teaser on the last page says to check out West Coast Avengers #10 for more. Don’t have that book. If anybody knows for sure what happens after this to Thing, feel free to let me know. Most of the illustrations of Ben in this issue are vague, but a few seem to show some points, so I’m thinking maybe this is how he adopts the pointed rocky appearance he had for a while, but it seems like that happened in the 90s. A hint on the letters page also says he will soon be joining a team but doesn’t reveal what team. I wonder if this is when he does, ultimately, rejoin the FF, but again, I don’t know for sure. Little help?

Things Get Just A Little More Normal — Linearally Speaking

The Crisis is over. So are all of the revamps (at least the ones in my collection) which changed something about the status quo in the DC Universe without using a contemporary framing sequence. But there are still a few of these older comics I managed to read through before my latest batch of new comics arrived. So, getting back to our various story lines from before the Crisis ...

The Warlord 99-100 (DC Comics, 1985) — We talked a bit about issue 98 last time and how it made a couple veiled references to the coming Crisis, but how there was a natural break between issues 97 and 98. And the references to the Crisis were vague enough that I think the issue can stand and “refer” to some other big event. These two issues wrap up the story line from before Crisis where New Atlantean invaders have captured the kingdom of Shamballah and most of Skartaris. The magical nature of the ruler of New Atlantis is revealed in issue 98 and 99. Morgan, his daughter, Jennifer, and his companion, Krys, devise a plan to defeat both wizard-king and his minions. The epic battle takes place in issue #100, of course, and involves Morgan taking on the wizard-king directly. As Morgan is protected by Jennifer’s mystical spells, the wizard is taxed more than he expected to be by the battle. In his efforts to defeat Morgan, he draws psychic strength from his people, thus weaking them to the point that the rag-tag Shamballan army can conquer the invaders. Once that is accomplished, there is no more psychic energy for the wizard to draw on, and he is finally defeated, as well. Overall, not too bad an ending to this tale, except that the wizard king’s name changes throughout issue #100 from Cykroth to Cycroth, but that’s a minor quibble.

The Thing 28-32 (Marvel Comics, 1985-86) — Before the Crisis, the Thing was wandering the country on his own after quitting the Fantastic Four. Most recently, he’d decided to join the Thunderiders motorcycle stunt group in an effort to get closer to one of its members, Sharon, only to learn that she was leaving the group. Issue #28 picks up with Ben deciding that his heart just isn’t in the motorcycle thing since Sharon left. He decides to leave the group and pursue a career in wrestling, specifically the new unlimited class wrestling league being formed. Ben quickly becomes the star attraction and proven champion of the class, which doesn’t mean there is a shortage of people showing up to challenge him. The first major challenger, the Gator in issue 29, was a former champion looking to reclaim his lost glory and willing to go to any lengths to achieve it. Issue 30 pits Thing against the Beyonder in a crossover portion of Secret Wars II. In this story, the otherworldly Beyonder makes himself human and tries to experience life as one of us. Hearing of the unlimited class wrestling, the Beyonder thinks to try his hand at it. Ben sees this as his opportunity for revenge as he begins to blame the Beyonder for all of the troubles in his life since the first Secret Wars series. Ben beats the Beyonder viciously, almost killing the omnipotent being. Unbeknownst to Ben, Sharon, the woman of his dreams, has been coming to see all of his fights. She is horrified by what she sees when Ben nearly kills the Beyonder. She reveals her presence to Ben and invites him to take a vacation, ease his stress, and accompany her to her new job as a stuntwoman in a movie. Issue 31 takes Ben and Sharon to the set where a movie version of Devil Dinosaur is being filmed. Predictably, Ben mistakes the first couple of scenes he sees being shot as real peril for someone and ends up ruining the shots trying to save actors. It gets so bad, Ben is banished from the set, then fails to respond when — you guessed it — a real monster shows up. Everything works out OK, though, and Ben returns to the ring in issue 32, where he begins to suspect something foul in the way the wrestling league’s promoter keeps coming up with strong men. For the most part, these are some fun issues of a fun comic, although I think writer Mike Carlin went a little far showing Ben’s rage in the battle with the Beyonder. Thing is not normally depicted as a berserker-type fighter like Wolverine, and I believe he crosses the line and ceases to be a hero when the only reason he doesn’t kill the Beyonder is because he can’t kill an immortal opponent.

The Amazing Spider-Man 267 (Marvel Comics, 1985) — Now this is a fun comic. Spider-Man is at his best when he is the typical hard-luck hero. This issue starts out with the wall-crawler feeling somewhat under the weather anyway, but when a non-powered thief manages to escape him, Spidey is furious with himself. The one saving grace is the fact that our hero manages to flip a spider-tracer on the criminal before he makes good his escape. After regrouping, Spider-Man tracks his foe to the suburbs where all sorts of out-of-his-element hilarity ensues. First, the absence of tall buildings means nothing from which to slings his webs. So Spidey hops on the roof of a transit bus which promptly stops as the driver demands fare or he’ll toss Spidey to the curb. When he tries to climb a tree to gain a higher vantage, the tree breaks and a self-important neighborhood watch tries to make a citizen’s arrest. Of course, Spider-Man ends up catching the thief in the end, but not before he vows never to visit suburbia again. Peter David and Bob McLeod remind a person how fun comics can be with this issue.

The New Teen Titans 15 (DC Comics, 1985) — Despite the cover which shows four different puzzle pieces representing the overall Titans mosaic at this point, only three of the vignettes are actually featured in this issue. Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Changling, shown charging determinedly toward something on the cover, do not appear in this issue. However, we do spend a brief time following Arella’s quest to find her daughter, Raven, following rumors of her appearance in a small, southern community. In flashbacks, we hear that Raven was indeed in the town for a while, but once the people there learned of her healing abilities, they took Raven prisoner and forced her to heal more people than she could handle until she escaped. The bulk of this issue pics up with Nightwing, Jericho and Starfire bound for Tamaran on a spaceship. We learn that the political climate on the planet is once again in turmoil, this time, as before, with the trouble being stirred up by Starfire’s sister, Blackfire. The difference is, Blackfire is leading a rather successful rebellion. The Tameranean people have grown tired of the weakness they perceive in their ruler, Myand’r, Starfire’s father. Instead, many of them have embraced Blackfire’s call for open revolt. This, we learn, is the real reason behind Starfire being summoned back home. She is to be wed to the prince of a southern kingdom in an effort to re-unite the Tamaranean people and prevent a civil war. Of course, Starfire is not very happy about this, and neither is her lover, Nightwing.

The Omega Men 34 (DC Comics, 1986) — The tale begun in New Teen Titans 15 picks up again in this title. The Omega Men are a space-faring super team, and one of their members is Ryand’r, Starfire’s younger brother. They are returning to Tamaran after an adventure in their own title. At first, Ryand’r is happy to be reunited with his sister, who has been away on earth for quite some time. But, once the Omegans land and discover the political strife, a traitor is revealed in their midst, and this team, too, is thrown into the middle of the brewing battle.

The New Teen Titans 16-17 (DC Comics, 1986) — These two issues deal with the actual conflict breaking out among the Tamaraneans. First, Blackfire uses the Omegans to battle the Titans for her. We also get some insight into Blackfire’s motivations and learn that while she can be barbaric and cruel, she really does want what is best for her people. Ultimately, Blackfire wins control of the planet because the people are on her side — they are tired of Myand’r seemingly always making concessions to their enemies. This is a warrior race, and they want a warrior to lead them. Unfortunately for the relationship between Nightwing and Starfire, Blackfire does not win until after Starfire is wed to the southern prince according to her father’s wishes. In the end, Starfire, her brother, her mother and her father are exiled by Blackfire. And the starship carrying them to the nearby planet Okaara is destroyed in space. Neither of these issues looks at the other members of the cast during the duration of this conflict.

Jon Sable, Freelance 31-33 (First Comics, 1985-86) — Issues 31 and 32 take Jon on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua. He is asked by an old friend to be part of a team which will sneak into the country, verify rumors of a munitions storage depot, and if they find the rumors to be false, call off the planned airstrike to destroy the munitions. We meet the various members of the team and follow them into Nicaragua where they find the munitions, but not the ones they expected. Instead of ordinary arms, the weapons they discover are of nuclear strength. An airstrike would be far more destructive than intended, but the team feels they cannot call off the strike and do nothing. So they must find a way to safely destroy the stockpile on their own, and the clock is ticking.

Issue 33 is a more light-hearted tale. In a previous issue, mention is made of turning Jon’s leprechaun children’s books into an animated cartoon. Jon, Eden and Myke go to meet the animator and preview the animation. The illustrator in the story is based on Sergio Aragones, who illustrates the portion of the comic devoted to the leprechauns.

Detective Comics 559 (DC Comics, 1986) — This issue features Batman and Catwoman teaming up with Green Arrow and Black Canary. At this point, Catwoman Selina Kyle knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, the two are romantically involved, and the former thief is the Dark Knight’s sometime ally. Green Arrow and Black Canary come to Gotham trailing a man committing crimes, but for a morally higher purpose, to help bring down a corrupt corporation poisoning unwitting people. The Star City pair stop Batman from catching the thief, and the two male heroes must settle their ideological differences long enough to work together. This tale is by Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Bob Smith.

The Warlord 101-2 (DC Comics, 1986) — A new creative team takes over with issue 101, writer Michael Fleisher and artist Andy Kubert, and I have to say, I’m not so sure about it so far. At the end of issue 100, Morgan returns from his battle with Cykroth to find that Jennifer’s magic spell has taken a toll, Morgan’s daughter is now old and near death. This issue begins the quest to find a cure for Jennifer’s mysterious aging before she dies. First Morgan seeks out the greatest wizard in Skartaris, who agrees to help if Morgan will secure an artifact for him. Once the task is complete, the wizard’s help turns out to be merely pointing the way to look for someone else who might be able to help. In issue 102, Morgan comes across a group of clerics about to perform a human sacrifice. Naturally, Morgan defeats the cleric and frees the damsel who turns out to be an Amazon queen, and the two share an adventure among her people. I don’t know what it is about these issues that has changed for me, and maybe I’ll warm up to them in a few more, but right now, I’m losing interest in The Warlord since Shamballah has been regained.

The Warlord annual 5 (DC Comics, 1986) — This annual is by Michael Fleisher and Adam Kubert. It depicts Morgan on a quest, presumably still the one trying to find a cure for Jennifer, but he is traveling with Shakira, someone who hasn’t been seen in the regular book in a couple issues, so maybe this book takes place a little more into the quest. The focus of this story, however, is not Morgan or his travels, but on outer world events. A group of vacationers is exploring Incan ruins when one of them disappears. Unbeknownst to the others, the man is kidnapped by a secret group of Incans who still live on the edge of Skartaris and travel back and forth between their old home and their new one. Morgan just happens to stumble onto the Incans, tries to help free their captive and seal up their secret entrance to Skartaris. This tale is a bit different from the usual Warlord fare, and just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid. As always, your mileage may vary somewhat as it’s not a bad story.

Whew! That’s was really a bunch of stuff, so I’ll call it a day for now. And again, next time we’ll go back to some truly current comics including a few really good Civil War tie-ins.

Sometimes A Little Crazy Helps ... And Sometimes Not

Light reading week so far this week, but that’s OK as I’ve only got a little time for posting right now, too. So, here’s a few quick lightning reviews and a bit of a rant and then I’ll let you get back to your day.

52 Week Thirteen (DC Comics) — I’ve complained the last couple times about recent issues of this title focusing on some stories to the exclusion of others. I still maintain that there has to be something going on with the heroes we aren’t seeing each time, but I will agree with the recent online comments I have read where others cite this as a good thing, allowing the writers to give the readers a solid chunk of whatever story they follow this week.

And Week 13 is no exception to good storytelling. Ralph has been invited to the attempt to resurrect Sue by the Cult of Conner. He covertly brings along Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Metamorpho and Zauriel to help him determine if the ritual is a fraud. They convince him it must be and chaos ensues until the proxy Sue shows some small signs of life. I’m not sure if that little bit of drama was all in Ralph’s head or not, but he believes it was real, and seems to be so much the worse for that belief. Hasn’t this man suffered enough?

The All New Atom 2 (DC Comics) — Not much to say on this one. Maybe it’s just taking its time setting things up, but this one is moving slowly. That’s OK if the story and characters are building my interest, but this book hasn’t grabbed my interest like I thought it would. I’m not giving up yet, but this title is becoming iffy.

OMAC 2 (DC Comics) — I feel much the same way about OMAC, but since it’s a limited series with a definite ending, I have more patience in letting it grow. If this book lets me down, I may have to just face the facts that I don’t care for Bruce Jones’ writing. Note, I didn’t say he’s a bad writer; just that his writing isn’t in tune with what I like. That’s a distinction most fanboys miss when ranting about creators they don’t like.

Outsiders 39 (DC Comics) — I’m not sure what was worse, psychologically: the image of Monsieur Mallah and The Brain in bed together discussing philosophy or the fact that they seem to have collected enough superhero DNA from such a variety of sources that they’ve built a veritable super army (yet they still can’t clone Brain a new body?!?). This issue was just disturbing.

Fallen Angel 7 (IDW Publishing) — This was the best of this bunch of books. We are seeing Lee’s first adventure after her fall. Lee being the titular angel who has been cast out of Heaven for disobeying God. The previous arc showed us what her transgression was, confirming it was an act we could all relate to.

This book is both funny and tragic. I think writer Peter David has a bit more freedom since the title moved to IDW from DC, even though the events of the first run were not set in the DC Universe proper. But the publisher switch has only made the title better. If you aren’t reading this book, you should give it a try.

And finally, no Marvel Comics in this batch of reviews and very few of them in this most recent month’s shipment of comics. I usually order more DCs anyway, but most of the Marvel Comics I ordered for this month are tied up in the Civil War event, which Marvel recently announced was running late.

First let me say that the Civil War storyline has been pretty good so far and I’m willing to wait for it rather than have it be rushed and suffer in quality. I’m paying good money for these books, and I want that quality. Let me also say that I’m familiar with publishing, and there are a lot of things that can, and sometimes do, go wrong which are out of the creators’ control. But increasingly, we are seeing late books because creators can’t make a deadline, and that I have little sympathy for.

I work in an industry with a daily publishing deadline; most jobs have some form of deadlines; work has to be done by a specific point or problems result. Are the creators involved taking on too many projects? Are they missing deadlines because of commitments to other industries? I imagine there are many reasons in each and every instance. But whenever a creator misses a deadline consistently, it is a slap in the face to those who make their assigned deadlines month in and month out.

It was just announced that Wonder Woman is becoming a bi-monthly title — one issue every other month — because writer Allan Heinberg needs the extra time. The book he wrote before this, Young Avengers, was consistently late and is now on hiatus because of deadline problems. Not low sales, Heinberg just can’t meet the monthly deadline with all of his other comic and television commitments. He’s a great writer, and I will buy his wok when he can do it, but if he can’t meet a monthly deadline, find someone else who can for the monthly books. Or, if he wants to write a monthly book, commit to doing that, on-time, for a fixed timeframe and then go back to the other projects.

This is similar to Brad Meltzer’s arrangement on Justice League. He will be the writer for 12 issues — one year — then, no matter how popular his run, he will leave the title to write his next novel. That’s his next commitment, and he is doing what needs to be done to meet both. He can always come back after the novel and write more comics if he, the industry and the fans are agreeable. Most likely they will be.

I guess my point is this: Don’t agree to do what you are unable to do, and when you have agreed to do something, you had better be doing everything in your power to get it done as promised. Unfortunately, that ideal doesn’t seem to be quite so universal anymore.