Monday, March 18, 2024

Between the Fly, Blue Devil, and this; 1986 was a great year for practical special effects.

I don't think I loved this issue at first glance, but it might be winning me over. From 1986, The Thing #31, "Devil Dinosaur: the Movie!" Written by Mike Carlin, breakdowns by Ron Wilson, finishes by Kim DeMulder.
The Thing's sparring match with bald wrassler/copyright infringer Mr. Clean gets broken up, by an official from the National Safety Commission, who seems like an officious toad but has a point: Ben gets thrown into what would have been the crowd, and probably would've taken out several spectators. Still, the official says there's a workaround; a transparent shell, that they can set up in two weeks; which means Ben might have some time off. Troublingly, Ben has a dizzy spell, while taking some razzing from young Vance Astro (prior to his New Warriors days) as he packs to go visit Sharon Ventura, who was filming a movie out in the Pacific. Even Ben isn't sure what their relationship was, but she is happy to see him, and had several friends, so how bad could it be? Although, he might change his tune, when a dinosaur suddenly appears!
Ben punches out "Devil Dinosaur," and immediately realizes his error: it was a special effect for the movie! Ben is contrite, but Sharon is the one to get yelled at: although the FX guy claims it's like fifty grand worth of work, she brushes it off as a few hours work, whatever. Still, maybe Ben didn't have to leap into action for every little thing...The next day, Sharon is suited up ala "Moon Girl," and picked up by prop pterodactyls; and Ben rushes to save her from a fall--ruining a shot, as she would've hit a hidden airbag. Pouting on the beach, Sharon visits him to let him know it was okay, but Ben is momentarily distracted by something out in the water. Nah, couldn't be!
Later, the sets are mysteriously leveled, forcing the crew to pull an all-nighter to rebuild them: Ben thinks that should maybe be looked into, but his help isn't exactly welcome. The next day, as Sharon prepares for a shot, Ben sequesters himself in a trailer, hits the fridge, and resolves to ignore whatever was going on. Not even Godzilla himself was going to get him out there--hey, wait a minute! This was the Doctor Demonicus mutated Godzilla, that showed up a few times after his Marvel series. While Sharon and the other actresses flee, the FX guy sacrifices Devil, sending him by remote to interrupt the attacking not-Zilla, who loses interest and heads back into the ocean after smashing his foe. Regardless, the producers call it: they were pulling out, and they'll sell the footage to Ripley's to recoup their losses.

Sharon initially tells Ben it was nothing, but has to admit yeah, that was not business as usual today. Still, she isn't quite ready to start seeing Ben; which isn't surprising, since he brought up his fantasy girl Tarianna. "You look exactly like my fantasy girl" is a red flag, Ben!
Read more!

Friday, March 15, 2024

It doesn't seem sporting to put "End of the Line" on part 2 of 3.

From 1993, Punisher War Zone #18, "The Jericho Syndrome, part 2 of 3" Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, pencils by Hugh Haynes, inks by Rodney Ramos.
Frank, Microchip, and Inuit corporate troubleshooter Jack Oonuk are trying to stop blackmailer and saboteur "the Architect," who targets dams and bridges with engineering know-how. He had been targeting the "Pan Allied" corporation, which was caving and going to pay a four billion dollar ransom, to keep him from destroying a suspension bridge: Frank knows they think that will get him out of their hair, but it would only encourage more extortion. While Frank had intended to just plant a tracer and follow the Architect, he's spotted, and the whole thing goes south: Jack gets shot a couple times, albeit saved by Kevlar. The thugs get away with the bearer bonds, while Frank, Micro, and Jack have to stop "vibrational units" from shaking the bridge apart, which is a bit sci-fi for the title but probably the only way to do that thing without a lot of explosives.
While his crew is pleased with their haul, the Architect doesn't give a crap: he really, really wanted to blow that bridge; and takes out his frustration by stabbing one of his own guys with...I thought it was a compass, but it appeared to be pointy on both ends? An architect tool I don't recognize. He quickly finds a new target, that would get back at both Pan Allied and Jack: an oil rig, in the Northwestern Territories. 

I had to go back and look over War Zone covers, since while this was perfectly cromulent Punisher stuff, I would've fallen off the book just a couple months prior; with the conclusion of the "Psychoville" brainwashing storyline in #16. Even with Mike McKone art, that was five issues and a bit long; but I absolutely loved the Rosalie Carbone/seven hitmen in #7-11, which was mostly Chuck Dixon/John Romita Jr, and I wanna say came out on a six-week schedule? Every time we got a new issue, some friends and I would read it, but had to say "Previously, on Punisher War Zone..." before we started reading. It was fun at the time!
Read more!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Can you really share a Fortress of Solitude?

I actually think that bothered me on occasion, in the CW Supergirl show, where Kara would use her cousin's Fortress of Solitude like she owned the place, especially in episodes where Superman wasn't going to show up. That's probably on me, since I wouldn't be comfortable just letting myself into my sister's house and using her stuff. I certainly wouldn't build my own door to her place, but I would be pissed if she kept a laser gun to destroy me! From 1971, Action Comics #402, "The Feud of the Titans!" Written by Leo Dorfman (credited as Geoff Browne), pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Murphy Anderson.
Superman and Supergirl are destroying U.N. outlawed weapons in the disentegration pit in the Fortress, when they suddenly turn on each other, accusing each other of keeping a weapon to use against them. Supergirl puts her own entrance into the Fortress, and splits the whole place with an impenetratable barrier of super-force. I think I saw that in a episode of I Love Lucy, or maybe Farscape: my side, your side; my side, your side! The fight predictably escalates when Superman starts smashing some of Supergirl's trophies that she left on his side: stop touching my stuff! Make me! Also this issue: the cover story, "This Hostage Must Die!" Written by Leo Dorfman, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Murphy Anderson. Superman is the hostage here, seemingly powerless against a tribe of "Navarro" Indians, who were furious about the government taking a plateau on their land, "Montezuma's Castle," for a rocket base. "Red Hawk" was a top astro-physicist, which might explain how he's able to disable Superman; but there's more going than meets the eye. The depiction of Native Americans is probably a bit dated, but they come across well: I feel like DC had a few covers like that around that time.
Read more!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

"Snitch."

It's entirely possible that everything Blur says is just a high-pitched whine, allruntogetherlikethis; and the Squadron can maybe understand him like 30% of the time. Still, he wasn't the brains of the operation; so most of them probably weren't super interested in anything he had to say. Also, there's apparently a band called "Zip Tang," I thought that was trademarked by the Road Runner! And "Gotta go, big meeting" is from Some Assembly Required, a moderately amusing Netflix kids' show my Youngest liked, set in a toy factory.

Also, today we continue with the notion that the Squadron had certain utility positions they were interested in filling; which of course line up with classic Justice Leaguers. I'm considering now if there's a Marvel character that would be close to Firestorm, as that would kind of be the cut-off...But, we've got the most recent Ant-Man and Namor figures: the Namor seems a bit unnecessary, as I feel like I just got his movie figure.  
Read more!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Back when we checked out the Superman/Radio Shack comic, I mentioned the Captain America and the Campbell Kids giveaway, about energy conservation. Here's another educational/promotional giveaway one with Cap, that I'm not sure I had read before: from 1987 (or thereabouts!) Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster! Written by Louise Simonson, pencils by Alex Saviuk, inks by Fred Fredericks.
A young boy dreams of being a hero like Captain America, but figures with his asthma he would probably spend the rest of his life doing nothing; until he meets another kid who had her asthma under control. Their medications protect them, from the sudden attack of the Asthma Monster; who isn't a figurative monster but a guy in a suit with an "aller gun" making people sick, under the rationale if he couldn't breathe, nobody else should either. They call Cap's hotline, and he was in the neighborhood, so...Cap even explains, he himself had asthma when he was a kid. (Cap had a lotta problems as a kid, many of them probably from living conditions at the time.)
The kids help bring down the Asthma Monster, which is an important message in empathy as well: just because something bad happened to you, doesn't mean you want it to happen to somebody else. Still, the Asthma Monster promises to return, and oddly enough, he does! There would be a sequel in 1989, with Mark Bagley art. These were harmless and helpful little larks, unlike recent promotional comics: I swear there was an Avengers/Halliburton one recently...(OK, maybe not; but I did see this Avengers/Visa one, that probably ends with Peter Parker getting denied a card.) Read more!

Monday, March 11, 2024

You might not get every little nuance with a random issue of this, but it looks good doing it.

We saw Reuben lamenting low voter turn-out a couple election cycles back, and we've mentioned the Hard Times trade a few times; but I just liked this cover from a quarter bin: from 1985, American Flagg! #26, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen, conclusion" Story and art by Howard Chaykin, letters by Ken Bruzenak, colors by Alex Wald.
This was wrapping up a four-parter with Reuben visiting England, part of a goodwill tour promoting a cease-fire in their war with Ireland. Several conspiracies of varying degrees of complexity seem to conflict with each other, ranging from robot replacements to garden-variety xenophobia and racism. Reuben eventually breaks the case, but loses the girl in the end, at least for now, as he gets on a plane back to Chicago...
...where, somewhat unusually, the back-up feature tied-in, and had a surprising name as well! "The People's Choice" Written by Alan Moore, art by Don Lomax. This was chapter six of a serial that would wrap up with the main story next month, as some kind of unexplained sexual disaster has refugees fleeing Kansas...and the curious later rushing there to see! Amanda "Mandy" Krieger spends most of this chapter trying to rehearse what she was going to say to Reuben when he got back: that this totally wasn't her fault, it isn't even as bad as they're saying, that's taken out of context, everything's fine...how are you? 

Loose Collector has an American Flagg!--and Raul the Cat!--action figure coming; and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. Trying to pay down my cards, though; and I just got hit for a spendy Mezco One: 12 just now...
Read more!

Friday, March 08, 2024

I know he'd seen all the horrors of war, but I still think Rock would've screamed opening that thing.

So I stayed up entirely too late the other night reading a bunch of Garth Ennis's War Stories, but I don't have scans of those, and for some this would be more terrifying anyway. From 1983, Sgt. Rock #376, "The Dummy, part 2" Written by Bob Kanigher, art by Frank Redondo.
Sgt. Rock didn't traditionally have a lot of continuity or two-parters, and the first part of this one was in #349, over two years prior! A replacement in Easy Company, a young "B.A.R. man" as Rock describes him, never spoke, except through his ventriloquist dummy. This was novel, and probably not super, super creepy. Only like moderately creepy. When cut off, Easy couldn't get to him, but with the Dummy seemingly coaching him, he held his position against a Nazi advance--"the river was choked with enemy dead"--before dying. Rock left the Dummy on his soldier's grave, even as it silently implores the Sarge to take him with them. Some time later, a couple new recruits have a package that had been forwarded for Rock: the returning Dummy!
The two new guys flip for him, and the lucky Carrot Top wins. He is then immediately killed, but the Dummy hadn't been too thrilled with his shave, so wasn't too broken up about that. The other new guy takes him, then gets killed by a boobytrap. Rock intended to leave the Dummy, as every guy that's carried it has "bought it," but the voice of the Dummy appears to haunt him: hey, it wasn't his fault...right? Rock relents and takes the Dummy, and they immediately get ambushed, and Rock goes under the ice of a frozen lake. Rock manages to break through the ice--apparently with his fists, not smashing the Dummy's head on the ice--then is slammed back by an explosion, dropping the Dummy, who may or may not scream as it falls to a watery grave. Rock is pulled out by Bulldozer, and the war goes on...
This one doesn't make a helluva lot of sense: Rock acts like he had to take the Dummy, until he doesn't, and it just kinda ends; but it's got a great vibe. It was also reprinted in Best of DC #52 digest, so you may have seen it there. Read more!