Some Of These Groups Are Kinda Like Other Ones...

Comic book geek highlights of the day, before I begin today's post... which like yesterday, comes thanks to John B of the Gentlemen's Guide to Comics group!

1. Having my girlfriend not only watch the latest episode of "The Flash" without rolling her eyes TOO much, along with her asking me questions about the "Reverse Flash" concept. 
2. Starting my reading of the second volume of Ed Piskor's "Hip Hop Family Tree".  Man... If there's ANY comic series that is a MUST-READ for fans of music history, this would be one of those ESSENTIAL reads!  Plus, the style is decidedly vintage-Marvel in artistic charm!  (It also makes me want to pull out my compilation CD of "Sugar Hill Gang VS Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five"!

In an unusual way, today's blog entry offers you a BIT of a sneak-peek for my intentions for postings 99 and 100.  Consider today's writing to be the "lead-in" issue to the anniversary spectacular!  I discussed today's topic... again, WHOLLY suggested by John B... with my girlfriend, trying to process whether the concept is more "homage" than "rip-off", but the argument could be made either way.  What IS undisputed is these concepts helped create some TRULY excellent stories, and even in some cases, left some genuine comic book legacies!  I speak of the "bleeding-over" of certain recognized teams in other comic universes... WITHOUT involving true crossovers.  Today, we speak of the "homage" teams of Marvel and DC!  And what better place to start than with one of the most recognized homage teams in all comics history...

Squadron Supreme: Originating in "Avengers #69" as a creation of the Grandmaster in one of his galactic games, the Squadron was THEN recognized as "Sinister", with the core members consisting of Hyperion, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, and the Whizzer.  Eagle-eyed comics readers may have noticed some... slight "similarities" between another particular super-team in the DC Universe with some of these characters.  I can offer you some of my "theories":

• Hyperion = Superman
• Nighthawk = Batman
• Doctor Spectrum = Green Lantern
• The Whizzer = The Flash

That didn't EXACTLY change when the PROPER Squadron Supreme was introduced in "Avengers #89", and expanded upon later with some other cases of, "Didn't I see this guy/gal somewhere else?"  Such as with:

• Amphibian = Aquaman
• Power Princess = Wonder Woman
• Arcanna = Zatanna
• Blue Eagle = Hawkman
• Golden Archer = Green Arrow
• Lady Lark = Black Canary
• Nuke = Firestorm
• The Shape = A kinda "special" version of Elongated Man
• Tom Thumb = MAYBE a crossover of Atom with Oberon?

One of the main gimmicks of the Squadron's appearances is that they seemed VERY susceptible to mental manipulation, in terms of battling with their oft-opponents, the Avengers.  That was later explained to be caused by the Squadron's main nemesis, the Overmind.  In a battle that nearly destroys their home world... because the Squadron Supreme exist on an ALTERNATE Earth... the Overmind is defeated, along with his influence.  This then launches one of the most MEMORABLE comic mini-series of ALL time, the 12-issue "Squadron Supreme" series written by Mark Gruenwald.  I speak with no small hyperbole in saying this series was essentially "Watchmen", in terms of the exploration of superheroes as fallible human beings, before Alan Moore launched his big legacy piece.  I REFUSE to spoil anything about the "Squadron Supreme" series, because this 12-issue masterpiece is ESSENTIAL reading for any comic book fan!  Seriously, I don't care if you've never read an appearance of the team prior to, or following, this series. YOU. MUST. READ. THIS. STORY. 

After Gruenwald's magnum opus on the team, along with a following graphic novel sequel, the team remained dormant until about the 90's, when they appeared in "Quasar", and was integral to a story for the Kurt Busiek/George Perez "Avengers" run after the HIGHLY faulted "Heroes Reborn" period for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  Another incarnation of note for the team is due to the "Supreme Power" series run for Marvel's "Ultimate" universe, created by J. Michael Straczynski... he who REFUSES to finish any project he starts.  I personally have not read this run, because for the most part, I am personally ambivalent towards anything in association with the Ultimate Marvel Universe... something I SHOULD explore in a future blog entry... but the Squadron Supreme managed to dip their "familiar" toes into another aspect of the Marvel Universe, as well.  Heck, to prove HOW influential the Squadron Supreme concept was, the team earned their own "Marvel Zombies" mini-series!  When you're zombified, you've made it, team that KIND OF resembles another company's "heavy hitters". 

But it's not like the "Distinguished Competition" was above such "homage" creations, as well, because not only did TWO of Marvel's superstar teams get the "tribute album" treatment, but as we'll also explore, they even hosted FANS of the "House of Ideas" in their conflicts, and we start things off with...

 Champions of Angor: Serendipity creates some interesting crossbreeding, because while Roy Thomas gave Marvel the Squadron Supreme, Mike Friedrich introduced in "Justice League of America #87" a team of Champions from another planet called Angor that also seemed to "resemble" another team of heroes for the opposite side of company fencing!  Roll call for this introductory team, along with my "BEST GUESSES" for who they seemed to be modelled after:

• Blue Jay = Yellowjacket
• Silver Sorceress = Scarlet Witch
• Jack B. Quick = Quicksilver
• The Bowman = Hawkeye (Though to be fair, ANY "super archer" is equally sort of a riff on either Hawkeye or Green Arrow.  NO. ONE. was going to riff on Shaft from Youngblood, though.)
• Wandjina = Thor

Later additions to the team, via an issue of "Justice League Quarterly #3" include other "tribute" characters like:

• Tin Man = Iron Man
• Bug = Spider-Man

Unlike the Squadron, the Champions were NEVER influenced by mental manipulation for their clashes.  LIKE most Marvel characters, though, they often clashed with the Justice League, due to simple misunderstanding.  But also LIKE the Squadron Supreme, it was later revealed that the world of Angor was also devastated... but the MAIN difference is that the Champions were unable to regain control of order, when they were ultimately defeated by their opposite number team, the Extremists.

Might the Extremists also look a little bit familiar?  That may be because they KIND OF "resemble" some of Marvel's most infamous villains, such as:

• Lord Havok = Doctor Doom
• Gorgon = Doctor Octopus
• Doctor Diehard = Magneto
• Dreamslayer = Dormammu
• Tracer = Wolverine, with SOME Sabretooth mixed in

What's interesting is that the Extremists seemed to have a MUCH lengthier creative life than the Champions of Angor, but there's no denying that the Champions fulfilled their niche spot as DC's none-too-subtle Marvel analog.  But that's not all, because one of Superman's greatest foes... later to become a thorn in the side of the Green Lantern Corps... began life as a "nod" to Marvel's "First Family"...

Hank Henshaw: I know, I know... "Hank WHO?!?".  I do not aim to mislead you readers, because before Hank entered life as the Cyborg Superman, in "Adventures of Superman #466", himself and his fellow crewmates of the doomed space shuttle Excalibur were affected by solar radiation, before crashing back to Earth.  You could say that this even "four" of a crew's chances of survival after such a crash was "FANTASTIC", but alas, fate was not terribly kind to this foursome.  (Maybe if they were only JUST exposed to garden-variety cosmic rays?)  The pilot of the ship was transformed into a behemoth made up of ship parts and the ground they crashed into, the youngest member of the crew became a living entity of cosmic energy, Hank's wife started phasing out of our reality at intervals... becoming "invisible" in streaks..., and Hank suffered premature white hair, along with an accelerated rate of body decay.  Heck, there was a point in the issue where he was STILL working on curing the crews' conditions, despite being little more than a skeleton with some stray bits of flesh attached to his frame!  So what's the end result of this issue?  The cosmic energy being goes mad from the power, and seeks solace in the depths of space... where he essentially fizzles out of existence.  Our "Thing" of minerals and ship parts decides to commit suicide in a particle dispersal unit.  Hank's wife IS restored to our reality, without phasing out, but is driven insane by the entire experience, and later commits suicide due to being unable to cope with the tragedy of her life.  And Hank Henshaw DID "die" at the conclusion of the issue, but a spark of his existence still lived in in the LexCorp mainframe, where he was able to construct robotic forms to maintain a physicality.  Superman would later give Henshaw the ability to explore the cosmos, after being rejected on Earth, via installing Henshaw's "spark" into the ship that launched Kal-El to Earth.

But the blame game is what Henshaw decides upon with Superman, after travelling the universe, and when Superman dies after his battle with Doomsday, Hank Henshaw decides to undo the legacy of the Man of Steel by turning into the Cyborg Superman!  And to think, all this started with a rather "fantastic" first appearance!

Now, to spice things up, we see "kind of" appearances by the Marvel luminaries in various DC books, and it was all thanks to a Halloween tradition of a famous Rutland, Vermont comics fan, Tom Fagan!

"Batman #237" not only featured the now-classic "Night of the Reaper" story by Dennis O'Neal (who ALSO had a cameo in the issue!) and Neal Adams, it also featured an appearance of the Rutland Halloween Parade, which was started by Tom Fagan in 1965, when he and a group of friends started a parade in mixed Marvel/DC character costumes.  Marvel TECHNICALLY first recognized Fagan's Rutland tradition in an issue of the "Avengers", but the DC books were the first that featured people dressed as characters from the opposing company.  Note this panel, where somehow "Thor" and "Spider-Man" happen to show up!

And in "Justice League of America #103", SOMEHOW,  thanks to the mystical schemes of DC's Sorcerer Sinister, Felix Faust, some of Rutland's costumed partiers end up with magic power enhancements, along with mental manipulations!  So we get to see "Thor", "Captain America", and "Spider-Man" battle with the JLA!  And as all current convention goers know, sometimes imitation really IS the best form of flattery!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub... There Are Villains In My Tub!

Preamble time, as per usual on Saturday!  And then I PROMISE I'll get to the comic talk for the start of the weekend!  (And before I forget, since I was drawing a blank on what to select for this week, I decided to put the call out for topic suggestions, and the members of the Gentleman's Guide to Comics Facebook group pulled through in a VERY rough spot!  So today's blog, and it's subject, is dedicated to that FINE Gentleman, Todd C.!  By the way, I also recommend the group, because one thing Todd does EVERY day is picks a character for the day.  It generates a LOT of interesting talking points!)

• This week at work was a serious buzzkill.  Aside from working probably WAY too hard... for just minimum wage... since the building has zilch in terms of comfortable private offices, I also was witness to a workplace disagreement that got... out of hand.  Keep crossing those fingers for a better horizon, readers, because...
• ... It feels like this week offered me some peeks at the "sun" of promising employments, but no real solid connections.  Heck, I KNOW one pre-test for a position I bombed out on, because this was the VERY first time I've attempted anything associated with Office 2010.  And this test was MERCILESS about failed attempts at a question.
• Winter arrived in Michigan in a H-A-R-D way.   Just in my neck of the woods, alone, we're already an inch away from having the snowiest November in city history.  And the month isn't even OVER yet!  So dealing with three non-stop days of road slop, snow, and ice doesn't give me the ability to maintain a fully "sunshiny" demeanor.

Hence, why I put the call out for people to help me generate some talking points for this weekends' blog entries.  It was just enough for me to wake up and put one foot in front of the other EACH weekday of this week.  Oh well... At least next week is Thanksgiving, where food, family, and... "spirits"... await to help me unwind!  And another suggestion I received helped form the genesis of my intentions for next weekend.  So stay tuned...

Back to the subject of Todd's suggestion, one of the topics he threw my way was discussing the merits of certain villains that aren't afraid to get their toes wet.  In fact, you could say they're AWASH in their sense of doing harm unto others!  At the risk of dropping one more pun into the bucket, this blog entry is SOAKED with sinister swimmers!  That's right... Today we speak on UNDERWATER VILLAINS!

Before I begin with the actual image-associated posts, I was ITCHING to make one more brief trip into EXTREME territory with this post, because there was a 4-issue arc of Image Comic's "Brigade" regular series that dealt with the universe's return... to "modern times"... of the NOT-Sub Mariner, Roman.  Issues 4-7 of the title detailed the brawl with Roman, then the reveal that the father to Seahawk and Coldsnap was STILL alive, and living with an Atlantean civilization, who are being attacked by a foe named Warlok.  (Yay, poor spelling!)  The only thing really "unique" about Warlok, in comparison to the other entries I'll be mentioning, is how EXTREME his appearance was.  He resembled the standard Liefeld-ian random assembly of over-processed muscles, and carried a face that one his mother could have loved, having resembled a starfish with piranha jaws and teeth.  As with all Extreme Comics villains, his return was "teased"... but the more likely option that would happen in comparison to that "promise" is my waking up, tomorrow morning, looking EXACTLY like Chris Hemsworth.  But again, poor Warlok... The Internet doesn't want to acknowledge your image spread to the masses, but you live on in my memory!

Our quest begins in the depths of the Marvel Universe briny deeps, with...

Attuma: First debuting in "Fantastic Four #33", Attuma comes from a barbarian side-civilization of Atlantis.  (Y'know, Namor's Princely turf...)  Like MANY of Namor's foes... but Attuma originated the trend... Attuma covets the throne Namor possesses, and often attempts to lead rebellions against the Atlantean throne to gain control.  Upon gaining that control, Attuma's other main goal is to not be as "soft" on humanity as Namor tended to be, and make a gambit... with technological assistance to overcome the underwater citizen's limitations on the surface world... to conquer Earth!  You will notice a trend with underwater bred villains in that their powers really DON'T vary all that much; enhanced speed, strength, and reflexes.  (It makes them NO LESS SPECIAL.  I wish people would remember that, more often, when cracking wise about Aquaman!)  But what makes Attuma unique is that he's certainly more of a "brute", compared to Namor.  I'm guessing if you performed the standard "tale of the tape", you would find that Attuma has more of a body mass than Namor, giving him the weight advantage.  Plus, Attuma relies a LOT more on armor and bladed weaponry for his combat excursions.  Attuma may also have the most crossover appeal of many of the Marvel underwater villains, having appeared in multiple video games, cartoons... and I HOPE eventually winter stocking replicas of his signature head gear!  SERIOUSLY!  I have always had a soft spot for Attuma's "bunny ear" helmet!

Tiger Shark: Interesting that a topic suggested by a Todd ends up getting another infamous "Todd" for a mention, with the deadly underwater hybrid previously known as Olympic champion swimmer, Todd Arliss, who first appeared as a Marvel threat in "Namor the Sub Mariner #5".  Todd was a glory-hogging Olympic swimmer, who in a gambit to achieve further fame, sought to rescue a drowning man at sea.  That... doesn't EXACTLY go to plan, as Todd is pushed so forcefully against the nearby ship the rescue was being performed at, his spine is damaged.  Still, there is the miracle of modern science to see him through!  ... Maybe more like the sick designs of MAD SCIENCE, as a deviant scientist named Doctor Dorcas decides to strike at Namor through Todd, by fusing the famed Atlantean's DNA with that of a tiger shark, and infusing that genetic cocktail into Mr. Arliss, transforming him into Tiger Shark.  Tiger Shark's abilities are... you guessed it... enhanced speed, strength, and agility.  He also possesses the "natural aggression" of his genetic kegger mix, along with implanted gills for his underwater survival, and... apparently at some point... Adamantium-coated shark teeth!  What makes Tiger Shark interesting for me is that he was kind of a Wolverine-level "savagery" villain before Logan even stepped foot out of the Canadian wilderness of his comic existence.  And true to my claim, he DID even cross paths with the "Best there is at what he does, Bub"!

Llyra: I know... I know... This last entry for the Marvel Universe only gives you the impression that I HEAVILY stacked the list in favor of Namor/Atlantis foes.  You may notice that BOTH of the two main companies' underwater threats are basically NEVER far removed from their centerpiece aquatic heroes.  So let's just accept that as fact, and say hello to my ONE femme fatale of the fathom depths, that Lemurian lusty lady, Llyra, who first appeared in "Namor the Sub Mariner #32".  Llyra hails from Lemuria, which bears ties to Atlantis, in terms of being a fabled city that was fated to sink beneath the depths.  (Lemuria ALSO achieved side fame for its inclusion into the Conan mythos by Robert E. Howard!)  Llyra was also a bit of a mutant, with a shape-shifting ability.  From what I read, a REALLY weird twist for Llyra was that she was able to shift into a "surface dweller's" pink skin pigment, and when she did, her personality would be subverted by another more "innocent" persona.  Llyra may not carry the name recognition that the previous two Marvel nominations garner, but she DOES hold a few trump cards that make her a special sinister personality:

1. Llyra was responsible for the capture, and murder, of Namor's true love, Dorma!
2. Llyra was the ONLY member of this Marvel underwater cadre that earned membership into the famed "Frightful Four".
3. Llyra was ALSO a key factor to a MAJOR summer-long Annual crossover called "Atlantis Attacks", which dealt with her forming alliances with Attuma, and Ghaur, a priest for a race of mutations known as the Deviants, in the cause of mystically summoning the serpent god, Set, onto Earth.

Whereas Llyra DOES share some of the enhanced strength and speed of your standard underwater villain, she also carries her shape-shifter card, along with a measure of psychic manipulation, AND thanks to her worshiping at the alter of giant cosmic snakes, some ADDED measure of mystic powers.  Not a bad resume, I must say!

We cross the Multiverse to take a dip in the other main ocean of villainy, the DC Universe, with my first nomination...

Black Manta: Aquaman offers up a WEALTH of submersible sneaks and oceanic outlaws, but the MOST well known of that lot has to be a man named David, who carved a niche for himself with the high-tech identity of Black Manta.  In an origin story that was created 40 YEARS after the character first appeared in "Aquaman #35", the boy named David was an autistic orphan, adopted into and "treated" at Arkham Asylum.  His obsession with water began with cold water being able to calm his rages, and after years of mistreatment, after a round of experimental treatments, David unleashed his killer side, and remembered his fixation on Aquaman as a boy, making Arthur Curry his PRIME target for rage.  Black Manta served as a multi-functional villain; as initially a pirate, then as a mercenary, then as a "Black power" advocate for the oceans (For Black Manta is the ONLY African-American nominee for today's list.), and even at one point a LITERAL manta/human hybrid!  But we all best know David for his black armor and signature helmet, which is one of the COOLEST helmets in comic history!  (And if you're anything like me, you're ALREADY hearing in your head the voice of Black Manta from the "Challenge of the Super Friends" animated series.)  And one of Black Manta's most nefarious deeds was the cold-blooded murder of Aquaman and Mera's son, Arthur Curry Jr.  Yep... Gotta be one COLD guy to murder a child!  What makes Black Manta so cool, aside from his appearance... and the fact that in a way, he is KIND of like an underwater Iron Man, due to the many tricks and gadgets he implements... is that unlike the other nominees, David still retains MOST of his humanity, while still being a water-based criminal exclusively!

The Deep Six: I've talked before about my general LOVE for Jack Kirby's "New Gods" creation.  Orion scored his own entry in a blog, and eventually I DO want to write about the Apokalyptean "crew", but we test that entry a LITTLE bit with talking about an ENTIRE TEAM of underwater threats under the employ of Darkseid.   Their first appearance mention is... kinda murky... I DO remember the group was first mentioned in "New Gods #2", and one particular member, Slig, first appeared in "New Gods #5", but the group as a WHOLE didn't show up until "New Gods #6".  Ironic that for a group I enjoy SO much... I ALWAYS seem to forget the names and abilities of each member.  But thank you Wikipedia for filling in some gaps, so time for the roll-call!

1. Gole- Loves his sais as much as his full-face helmet.
2. Jaffar- NOT related to Disney's "Aladdin", he loves the color green for his armor, and has the ability to mutate beings.
3. Kurin- NOT related to "Dragonball Z", loves shiny golden armor, tridents, and long walks on the beach.
4. Shaligo the Flying Fin Back- LOVES rocking a blonde "Prince Valiant", along with being the only member of the team that can remain airborne for extended periods of time.
5. Slig- Loves being able to mutate living beings with one hand, and being able to dissolve their very matter with the other, but REALLY dislikes being pummeled by Orion's helmet to his face.
6. Trok- Loves impractical weaponry, with his use of an axe head attached to the lash end of a whip.

All six of these cuddly critters carry with them the enhanced strength and speed of an underwater citizen, and they ALSO carry the love I have for my FAVORITE part of the Jack Kirby "Fourth World" saga!

The Shark: If I'm going to end today's blog with one last entry, may as well make it the WACKIEST one of the lot!  Science went a long way in establishing some of today's featured villains.  It made a human into an Atlantean/shark hybrid.  It made an average man a technological terror of the seas.  But in "Green Lantern #24", science made a shark into KIND of a man!  As he would later be known as Karshon, the Shark started off life LITERALLY as a tiger shark.  But nearby atomic experimentation evolved his body into first a standard man, and then into a fully realized man-shark hybrid!  (Todd Arliss could've achieved the SAME result if he just hung around atomic weapons testing sites!  ... Or maybe developed some form of fatal cancer...)  As if his origin wasn't crazy enough... or the fact that he's an aquatic villain that DIDN'T originate from Aquaman's universe, his powers... Oh lordy, his power set...  Let's put it this way; if people thought the Silver and Bronze Ages of Superman's existence were ridiculous for his power levels, check out what the Shark was able to achieve at various points in his existence:

• Strength, speed, agility... yadda-yadda for underwater villains
• Fear projection.  That's right, if the Shark THOUGHT about you being scared about him, forcefully enough, you WOULD be scared of him!
• Flight.  ... Because, as we all know, atomic sharks are just SIMPLY ABLE to soar upon the winds.
• Size alteration.  If the Shark wanted to be teeny, then by willing it, he'd be no bigger than a piece of Swedish Fish.  But if he wanted to challenge Godzilla, he'd shoot up faster than Hank Pym popping his growth pills like they were Skittles!

As you can plain see, not ALL fish are all that "fresh" from the sea, in conclusion...

Extreme Weeks Call For EXTREME Weekends Part 2: Brigade-ing My A-Game

Part 2 of my special Image Comics project arrives, today, with an extended look at Rob Liefeld's OTHER main introductory creation to his own side company of the revolutionary comic company, Extreme Comics.  At some point I will ALSO touch on some of the other aspects of the Image Comics founding features.  For example, I own the complete "Shadowhawk" Archive, so I am open to discussing that Jim Valentino creation.  I also STEADILY collected Erik Larsen's "Savage Dragon" into the 50-some issue mark, so that could bear some eventual commentary.  And as of late, I've been DRUDGING my way through Todd McFarlane's "Spawn", so that may be up for a future topic.  (I say "drudging" because man... Just my personal opinion, but that book can be pretty darned self-important and poorly paced at times.  At least it was a book that gave Greg Capullo a major artistic spotlight to develop his skills!)  The opening development I can offer for this introduction is I had a rather interesting library find with the IDW collection of the "Batman" newspaper strip from 1966-67.  I remember reading about this strip in the "Batcave Chronicles" published by TwoMorrows Publishing.  This piqued my interest, because these strips part of the initial wave of Bat-Mania, as product of the "New Look" Batman at DC, and the popularity of the Adam West television series!  Maybe this won't result in a full article for the blog, but I'll at least mention my reading project from time to time!

Rob Liefeld, for ALL of his faults as an artist and storyteller, had one leg up on his other Image Comics forefathers, in that he actively pursued an expanded universe before the others could.  ... REALISTICALLY, you could say that's because he had a knack for creating characters, and that's about it.  But he was TRYING as a creator to stir up a larger corner of his own neck of the Image woods.  And you see this in a lot of early Image titles, when despite different splinter companies in the Image group, they would attempt co-mingling creations between titles.  Examples of this being Savage Dragon and mention of the Youngblood team showing up in Spawn, Badrock of Youngblood showing up to fight Savage Dragon in his own title, and the entire Youngblood team brawling with WildC.A.T.s!  But before any other creator attempted to expand on their creations, Rob Liefeld handed the artistic reins to Marat Michaels for the first issue of his SECOND creative endeavor to be launched on July 1st, 1992...

Brigade #1-  Our intro issue opens with John Stone AKA Battlestone jogging on the beach of Brigade's Malibu, CA base.  With his cute lil' skull widow's peak jewelry and his MASSIVE pigtails trailing behind him, ruminating on being the leader of a untested team of heroes.  He then runs into a beachside argument between the Barrios brothers, best known as Seahawk: Guy who can generically fly, and Coldsnap: NOT-Iceman during his control belt phase in "X-Factor".  Atlas, NOT-Hank Pym or Colossal Lad, is lounging in a beach chair while the fight is being broken up.  Next we meet with Thermal, NOT-Firestar, as she makes a covert phone call to her later-to-be-revealed journalism boss... because she's a MOLE on the team as part of an expose!  Kayo, NOT-Iron Fist or the generic Japanese "kung fu" guy of the team, walks in on her, as she quickly hangs up the phone.  Kayo worries about her PATHETIC excuse for being upset, when the brawl between the brothers carries over into their base, and Battlestone breaks it up.  Just when you think such "delightful" character moments are going to overwhelm the potential action of the book, Battlestone sees a report of a terrorist attack on the Maruko Tower.  Time for Brigade to go-Go-GO!!!  Reporters worry that unless the Youngblood team acts on the terrorist act, then NOTHING will possibly be resolved.  That's when the Brigade group shot makes an appearance, including a member we've NOT EVEN SEEN YET shows up, the young lady that raided Namorita's closet, Stasis.  It's time for the group assault on the terrorists as they crash the Maruko Tower, and beat up lots of guys REAL good!  A wrench is thrown into the sense of Brigade victory when Battlestone tackles one fleeing terrorist, and finds out that the bomb threat they promised was not by way of an external bombing, but one terrorist that serves as THE bomb.  Uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os!  Inexplicably, the team manages to escape the Maruko Tower, to watch the building fall-down-go-boom on top of Battlestone.  Much wailing and gnashing of teeth occur... despite the fact that throughout the book the team seems to THRIVE on snapping at each other... until Battlestone rises from the building's rubble.  Their victory and reunion are witnessed by an extraterrestrial life form who calls himself "Genocide".  ... Yes, it will later be revealed that this IS his birth-name!  I guess with a name like that, you shouldn't expect your child to become a leading figure in charitable organizations.

We didn't see the release of "Youngblood #0" by this issue's release, but we have been given hints of Battlestone's past with Youngblood, along with the team being mentioned by reporters in light of the terrorist attack in the 'Blood's native stomping grounds of Washington D.C.  But the very generic nature of the team has Liefeld's paw prints ALL over them!  What does set this title aside is the fact that it sure is EASIER to follow Marat Michaels' artwork!  He's still an acolyte of Liefeld's style, and during the height of the Liefeld Universe, his artwork would grown to some of Rob's exaggerated sense, but I will give Michaels more credit for being more of a credible storyteller.  And unlike MOST of the issues I discussed during my Youngblood exploration, yesterday, this was a COMPLETE story in one issue!  Conflict started and finished, with just enough threads left to follow in a sequential next issue.  Which just so happens to have fallen into comic readers' laps on August 1st, 1992...

Brigade #2- Our second issue wastes NO time in establishing Genocide's interest in "socializing" with Brigade, as his flying saucer lands in Washington.  One member of the innocent crowd mentions a timely reference about moving from L.A. due to the riots, and now THIS!  Hand this comic to a person that was born at least from 1995 on, and I'll EASILY bet $10 that that "current event" reference will just fly right by their radar.  Genocide gesticulates wildly in the middle of the street, as maybe an interpretive dance will grab the attention of Brigade.  ... And it WORKS!  The team and Genocide exchange dialogue worthy of an average professional wrestling promo, and in the words of Michael Buffer... "Lllllet's get ready to RUMBLLLLE!!!".  Genocide showcases prodigious strength, and the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes... and what looks to be on certain panels, from his general HEAD vicinity.  We take a break from the fighting to meet with two Congressmen, discussing the arrival of Brigade, and especially the return to active superheroic duty by Battlestone... whom as we remember from "Youngblood #0", was told to STAY HIDDEN to avoid prosecution for his "fragging" of a fellow U.S. trooper in combat.  Ominous developments, which MAY bear investigation later... But anyways, back to the battlin' Brigade and Genocide!  Battlestone manages to score a solid K.O. punch, until Genocide recovers, with his Universal Translator being disabled.  Still, you would imagine if you can't understand Genocide any further, you can still guess he's spewing forth more, "I am the supreme combatant, and cannot suffer defeat from you miserable rabble!", dialogue.  And apparently he gathers enough strength to blast the ENTIRE TEAM with some kind of concussive blast.  The brawl continues until the point where Genocide upends an ENTIRE BUILDING on his own.  Atlas grows to attempt to stem the collapsing structure, but then Brigade are mysteriously "zapped" away by an energy field.  Genocide seems to DELIGHT in this disappearance, until "Scotty" beams him up in turn.  Turns out Genocide is the Prince of a planet called Taraban, and his daddy isn't too thrilled by his running out on the royal responsibilities to play "bully boy" on another planet.  But hey... Prince Genocide DID manage to bring back some entertainment to Taraban, because they all CONVIENTLY are transported to a coliseum!  End the "Brigade" portion of this issue, because like the Youngblood issues I discussed, this issue has a split feature to talk about, the first of a four-part back-up story introducing the character called "Infiniti".  (No... She's NOT a car!)

I won't detail "Infiniti" too much, because it's only just the first chapter of a four part story, and I REALLY can't remember how the rest of the story plays out.  A walking department store mannequin shows up at a research facility, throws a "Return of the Jedi" thermal detonator, and awakens a 90's Jean Grey cosplayer called Infiniti, who is supposed to be a SUPER-BEING.  As Infiniti awakens, and discovers "awesome power", a group of government armored troopers show up, and cue cliffhanger!  What happens next?!?  You... WON'T be finding out, next issue, because this was one of only TWO split issues that were featured in the first Brigade mini-series!  But also unlike Youngblood, you had no real time gaps to wait for what happens next to Battlestone and buddies, for in September 1st, 1992, we saw the release of...

Brigade #3- Before I begin, I should open with a note I REALLY should have brought up, last issue.  Y'see, "Brigade #2" was one of the FIRST Image Comics I actively owned!  It was part of a 7-comic collection that featured coupons in each issue.  If you mailed in the coupon "proofs of purchase", you could order a copy of "Image #0".  (I should eventually troll eBay to see how much a copy of this comic would set me back... if it was even produced, because I know I at least NEVER saw my copy arrive in the mail, after sending out my coupons!)  But none of this bears any importance on the events of the third documented issue of Brigade!

The Taraban High Council exchange words... probably by way of ACTIVE Universal Translators... with Brigade.  We get the usual "Earth dog" speechifying, and Brigade taking offense to such insults, until the team has enough of "polite discourse" and BLASTS their way out of the arena.  They find themselves on the run in a world they are not familiar with, battling various nameless grunts, until they find escape in the sewers.  Cut back to the High Council, who reassure the concerned Taraban citizens with assurances that if they manage to evade the standard "red shirts", there is always... "THE FACTOR"... waiting for them in the poo-gas tunnels.  I'm guessing the "Factor" the High Council refers to finds Brigade taking up sewer sanctuary, and it's best described as a cross between Killer Croc and elements of Hentai.  (No further explanation needed for that reference; I DO still want to keep this blog mostly "family friendly"!)  But cue MORE battling and brawling, until Brigade escapes the sewers, and REALLY runs into the "Factor"... who appear to hold in their membership a palette-swapped version of Superman, a version of the Marvel villain Equinox... only as a woman with a ridiculous bald head with a LONG topknot, and a guy who looks EXACTLY LIKE GENOCIDE... but really isn't.  Did you order another fight sequence?  Because you got one!  But what appears be a dire situation, with Brigade being up against the ropes of defeat at the hands of the Factor, seems to be a save at the hands of an unnamed intervening team that LOOKS to be made up of Thanagarian social club rejects!  End. Of. Issue.

... But end of story?  I HARDLY think so!  You see, the concluding issue of the initial "Brigade" mini-series is a little bit of something special.  Because not only do we witness the end of the first adventure of Brigade, but it ALSO features the conclusion to a series we explored as of yesterday.  October 1st, 1992 closed the book on the first adventures of BOTH Youngblood and Brigade in the form of...

Brigade #4/Youngblood #5- Since I don't want Battlestone and friends feeling short-changed, I'll focus on the conclusion of their story, first.  It also bears mention that the "Brigade" half of this split-comic is FAR more lengthy than the "Youngblood" half, and for those that waited with baited breath for the ending of the initial Youngblood story to see how Liefeld delivered a panoramic climax... they would be disappointed not ONLY by the brevity of the story, but ALSO by the fact that Liefeld didn't even provide his bizarr-o artwork for the comic that was his creative BABY!  So, what's up with Brigade, as we take on the patented bullet-point approach?

• We find ourselves FINALLY being formally introduced to the Hawkman appreciation society, who go under the collective team name of Birds of Prey.  They serve as the rebellion forces against the brutal Taraban regime.  What IS kind of refreshing is the only introductory hostility we see between the two teams are just some heated words, but that's as FAR as it carries over.  Then cooler heads prevail, after the Birds' leader assures Battlestone that he can get the team back to Earth.  They decide to team up, clobber upon some MORE poor Tarabanian grunts, until just as our collective arrives at a shuttle launch space, they run into Genocide, who is given the offer to regain his honor by means of destruction of the TWO teams that has caused the High Council nothing but embarrassment.  Battlestone and Genocide fight, and fight akin to Itchy and Scratchy, until the leader of the Birds breaks up the fight, and Genocide launches a stray hand blast... RIGHT INTO ATLAS' CHEST!  *Cue the "Mortal Kombat" "Fatality!" sound clip*  Battlestone breaks loose upon the murder of a fellow teammate, and pummels Genocide nearly to death, until the Birds' leader stops him from delivering the killing blow.  (WHY this was the case, when having a member of the tyrannical High Council disposed of in such a brutal fashion would be SATISFACTORY to a freedom-seeking group, is beyond me...)  But anyways, with a heavy heart, the team of Brigade find a shuttle to fly back to Earth.  So it's a bittersweet return home, and things are developing to become yet MORE difficult for the team, when our epilogue brings us back to the earlier mentioned Congressmen, discussing the assigning of the Bloodstrike team to bringing Brigade to justice.  (And if you want to read more about that, please look up my previous article about the "Blood Brothers" crossover!)
• Sigh... Do I HAVE to talk about the Youngblood story?  Okay... okay... Badrock is still possessed by NOT-Darkseid, but at least because of the tag-team approach against the Youngblood teams, the Berzerkers, and Prophet, the Disciples stop arriving on the scene.  We're then "treated" to some of the WORST fight progression sequences in comic's history, as Badrock is knocked out, apparently Prophet is beaten by Darkthornn, the gates of Hell unleash demons to battle the Youngblood team, and some other members try to tackle Darkthornn.  Psi-Fire... who has NOT SHOWED UP since the very first issue of Youngblood is apparently part of the team, again... only with a power-restraining collar attached.  Vogue and Riptide debate on setting Psi-Fire free, but they realize the brown-stuff is hitting the fan in the Darkthornn battle, and release the man from his power-negation manacles.  Apparently Psi-Fire is SO impressive in his showing, Darkthornn just up and turns tail into one of his NOT-Boom Tubes... and the battle is over.  ... Yes, this is REALLY how the long-awaited battle concludes.  The Berzerkers run off into another NOT-Boom Tube in pursuit, Prophet and Kirby decide to wander the Earth like Kain in "Kung Fu", and our issue concludes with Badrock making the HILARIOUS quip about "who will clean up this mess?".  Har-de-har-har...

In conclusion, while BOTH conclusions leave much to be desired in being utterly satisfactory, I WILL give the "Brigade" opening series more credit for sticking through with a sequential story from beginning to weak ending, without losing ANY focus.  As you witnessed in my commentary from yesterday's blog, and exhibited in the last issue of the opening Youngblood story arc, the series reads like it was dictated by an 80's film executive hopped up on straight-line cocaine and Pixie Sticks.  There's no question that BOTH teams are certainly products of their time, but I will give the "cohesion" bonus to "Brigade" as a title.  Of course, as with all things Image Comics, and ESPECIALLY related to Rob Liefeld, this is but just another chapter in a storied book that I shall divulge in later blog entries, so the EXTREME insanity is FAR from over!

Extreme Weeks Call For EXTREME Weekends Part 1: This Blood's For You!

Back to my regular weekend schedule, again.  Despite the fact that an employment interview opportunity came, and went with a rejection e-mail, despite having a TRULY frustrating week at work, despite having Momma Nature decide Winter was PERFECT to start this week, and despite wondering when I'll get my next paycheck... It's FINALLY the weekend.  Time to rest, recoop, and touch base with discussing my daily hope and joy, COMICS!  Before that, a few minor points to bring up:

1. I polished off the first graphic novel collection of "Afterlife With Archie", this past week, and I was VERY impressed by the melding of serious Horror storytelling, and imagery, to that familiar and cozy setting of Riverdale with Archie Andrews and friends.  Not only do I really wish to continue on with this series, but I ALSO want to start exploring more of the recent general "Archie" comics.  Hey, it can't always be about men-and-women-in-tights!
2. This week's "Flash"... WOW!  I can only hope the end episode tease will lead into next week's episode.  And it was a LOT of fun to see a "Firestorm" character feature in the episode's content, along with a "Captain Atom" alumni!
3. Upon viewing the blog's main dashboard page, I am not only proud to say that I am just a FEW WEEKS away from "issue" 100 of the blog, I've also FINALLY surpassed 5,000 blog views!  I cannot thank you readers enough for making this passion project feel like it's truly enjoyed.  In the next week or so, I should come up with plans of how the 100th blog post celebration will occur, but I have a feeling that instead of just having ONE blog reader reap the rewards for the celebration, I may go so far as to create THREE prize packages for three people that wish to throw their names into the "Contest of Champions" I will develop for entry 100.  So stay tuned to this blog for further details.

Speaking of which, I guess I'd better start writing this entry, eh?

On February 1st of 1992, I imagine I was probably not even entertaining the thought of an impending Valentine's Day.  (Or maybe I was... I mean, I WAS still in Grade School by that point, when Valentine's Day celebrations was a mandatory class participation kind of thing.  It wasn't until Junior High that I started learning how cruel that holiday could occasionally be!)  And I'm fairly certain, by this point, the music phenomenon of the 90's, Grunge, was starting to show its unwashed head in the popular culture with the explosion of Nirvana.  BUT there was another revolution taking place under a partial banner of the Malibu Comics company.  It was, on simple glimpse, a side-branding, maybe akin to Vertigo Comics for DC.  But it was the start of a brand new company, built upon a "brave rebellion" of artists that longed for "creative freedom" and "artist rights", and laid the foundation for what would be commonly known as Image Comics.  (I use all quotation marks, because the REAL way to read that statement would probably be more along the lines of a company "built upon the money-grubbers of artists that longed for not being told what to do by editors, and MAYBE artists rights, as long as they can snag it for themselves.")  And the opening salvo for the company was a project originally teased as a side title for "Teen Titans", and later "X-Force", then upon that rejection, taken over to Malibu under a suspicious X-Title heading.  Then the artist company split from Marvel, and Rob Liefeld "gifted the masses" with "Youngblood #1" on the very date I quoted.

Youngblood #1- Rob Liefeld is an artist that can INSANELY divide people.  Some argue that despite a lack of ANY recognizable anatomy to his characters, and changings of a given character between a page's panel layout, and an amnesiac's ability to tell stories with illustrations, there is STILL an energy to his artwork.  Others argue that that "energy" is akin to the same "energy" it takes to pass gas from your system, and that latter example is more pleasant than a Rob Liefeld comic.  I cannot deny that, being a child of the 90's, I was WHOLLY pulled into the hype that was Rob Liefeld!  His art was so DIFFERENT to standard comic art, along with most of the founding fathers of the Image Comics line.  So his labour of love with the "Youngblood" concept was the book to launch Image Comics as a household name!  As you will see for this weekend's entries, outside of ONE issue I'll discuss, today, all of the "Youngblood" issues serve as a flip-book comic, containing two stories.  This first issue covers the adventures of the two separate branches of the government-sponsored Youngblood teams: Home and Away teams.  I may just tackle this on different bullet points, not just to cover the two teams, but just to discuss the separate features of the issues.  So, what's our "Home" team up to?

• The Home team's story opens up with Shaft (NOT-Hawkeye or Speedy) taking his girlfriend out to a mall, and foils a purse snatching... then an assassination attempt.  (Against who is STILL a mystery.)  He does so by throwing a pen at LETHAL TRAJECTORY at the assassin, making Shaft also NOT-Bullseye.  Reporters go nuts.  Cut to NOT-Ben Grimm/The Thing member, Badrock, as he eats lunch his Mom made for him.  Because the gimmick about Badrock is he's a TEENAGER!  WHOH!  AWESOME!  Cut to Die Hard, NOT-Captain America with Vision, who awakens from some kind of cryo-chamber.  Cut to Chapel, our token cynical womanizing African-American member of the team, as he ends another "date" to answer the call for team action.  Cut to NOT-Black Widow, Vogue... who must love Prince because she LOVES Purple, leaping on roofs to make the group meeting.  Cut to Photon, NOT-Human Torch by way of Alf, manning the emergency console of Youngblood HQ to detail a prison break by the Four.  (I won't even describe the Four, because they only appear TWICE in an initial series run of SIX issues, and even those appearances probably don't number 10 total pages.)  Youngblood arrives on the scene, Die Hard a generic strong guy, and freeze-frame end on a Youngblood group action shot, with Shaft aiming his bow... that has NO STRING... Chapel flying in on an Anime-esque motor cycle with guns in both his hands, Die Hard just flying in, and Badrock just running around like a dope.  That's it, we don't even get to see the main fight between the Four and Youngblood! 
• What's our Away team up to?  Well, according to the news networks, they're in Iraq for a military action against a character that may as WELL have been called Saddam Hussein, BECAUSE THAT'S WHO HE REALLY IS!  Flying out of the helicopters with tons of "red shirt" soldiers, we have Sentinel, who is NOT-Iron Man, Cougar, who is NOT-Wolverine, Riptide, who is NOT Storm with Anime blue hair, Brahma, who is NOT-generic musclehead with a neck as big as his head, Combat, who is NOT a Klingon, and Psi-Fire, who is NOT a psychotic Charles Xavier.  We then proceed to witness the Youngblood Away team wiping the floor with "Kussein's" grunt soldiers, until "Hassan Kussein" disables some of the Youngblood members with giant robots with neural disrupters.  Cougar and Combat are apparently WAY far away from the disrupters, because they are still fighting the giant robots.  (They also share the stupidiest "tough guy" cliché dialogue this side of 90's "Direct-To-Video" Action movie releases.)  Psi-Fire... He doesn't jibe with mental attacks, because he's a LIVING mental attack, and he proves that by disabling the giant robot soldiers, and ending the battle by blowing up "Kussein's" head with a psy-attack.  The press relates this finale as "Kussein" committing suicide upon the defeat of his forces in Iraq.

So... For a whole $2.50 of 1992 currency, you got two stories that BARELY would have made one story in one book!  I will give the advantage to the Away team story, because that one actually FEATURED a conclusion and some sense of forward action.  But it also features PLENTY of the artistic traits that would fuel Liefeld detractors for years to come.  And even though I'm one of the casual defender's of the man's energy, this issue also showcases why Liefeld should NEVER write his own comics.  Shockingly, Rob would end up being ON-TIME to release the second issue right on the first of March, 1992!  (You'll see a difference in that trend, soon enough...)

Youngblood #2- This issue starts the differing trend I mentioned, in that while the title is still a split-book, it's no longer a divide between Home and Away Youngblood team stories, but it serves as a portion of a Youngblood story, and a preview feature for a coming Image Comics title.  That's a differing factor in this book, but we're still taking the same approach as issue one!

• Our Youngblood Away story opens with a group called the Berzerkers battling against the robotic Disciple hordes of Darkseid... er, I mean Darkthornn.  The only member of the Berzerkers worth mentioning is Kirby, who is BASICALLY Jack Kirby, only Liefeld-ized.  (Namely that he has the weird body proportions, and carries a lot of pouches and guns to look "KEWL" with!)  Cut to Germany, where the Away team are looking into John Prophet, better known by his self-titled comic name of Prophet.  Before the character concept became a REALLY unique trippy Sci-Fi series, John Prophet began his life as a Bible-passage quoting NOT-Captain America with swords.  And to showcase how "different" Image Comics were from their former Marvel home... when Prophet is awoken from his cryo-sleep, he immediately begins a hero-VS-hero fight against Youngblood, until a group of Disciples show up to break up the party, and remind our heroes who they should be fighting AGAINST! 
• The previewed character for this issue is Jim Valentino's "Shadowhawk".  I often think out of all the Image Comics founding fathers, Jim Valentino is the one that falls below the recognition radar the MOST.  In a way, he's almost the REAL founder of the current Image Comics, because outside of "Shadowhawk", with his Shadowline imprint, he began publishing comics that were of a more genuine "creator centered" spirit.  One day I should REALLY take a look at Shadowhawk more in detail!  But the gist of this preview involves the character, who started off as a NOT-subtle Batman riff with some Bane spinal trauma fixations, brutalizing a group of street thugs.  Not especially special, but it did herald the arrival of a new Image character!

So, at least with issue two, we had a fight start, and reach a SEMI-logical conclusion.  But we also begin to see another criticism of Liefeld; he just LOVES throwing in characters to his books with ZILCH background, so they really offer up no solid impact or impressions.  I didn't even bother detailing the Berzerkers to you because there IS nothing to detail!  They're just a generic as generic can be!  But by now you're wondering, "Say... When do we get to hear about the Home Youngblood team?".  Shockingly... because it was OBVIOUSLY linked to April Fool's Day, on April 1st of 1992, you only had to wait until the release of...

Youngblood #3- In a way, this is ALSO another unusual issue, in that the Youngblood story is a SPLIT STORY in and of itself, where we switch from the developments of the Away team from the previous issue, leading into the Home team's adventures.  And we have ANOTHER character intro for a split issue preview.  So, off and away we go!

• John Prophet brawls with the Disciples, as he keeps talking to SOME kind of omniscient computer, while members of Youngblood and the Berzerkers are reenacting the Drowning Pool song, "Bodies on the Floor", with standard Liefeld agony faces and bloody mouths.  Cut to Shaft and Badrock chatting with a PR guy about hairstyles and action figures.  This is done while off to an interrogation of Strongarm, a member of the Four.  Cut to outer space, where members of the alien races that Combat and Photon belong to exchange REAL pointless veiled threats against Earth.  (You won't be seeing developments from them, again, until about 1997 or 1998, so don't get TOO excited.)  Cut to the EXCITEMENT... of a press conference helmed by Shaft.  Said press conference DOES feature a Clark Kent cameo, if that counts for anything.  But also aforementioned press conference is interrupted by the news of ANOTHER jailbreak involving the Four, instigated by a mysterious woman in purple and green armor, with a V-Shaped mask-visor.  Want to know who she is?  SORRY!  You don't get a name!  Shaft, Chapel, and Badrock show up for the fight, because the mystery lady brings ninjas to help her out in the fight.  Ninjas... who in the case of a jailbreak... wear BRIGHT-WHITE costumes.  Maybe to showcase all of the blood spatters that show up when the Youngblood team basically massacre them?  (And Badrock utters his supposed "catchphrase", "Yabba-Dabba-DOOM!"  More like "Yabba-Dabba-DEUCE!".)  The escape only snags Strongarm, because the NOT-Gizmo member of the Four is obviously SHOT IN THE HEAD by Chapel... but he still lives to utter threats to the team, until Die Hard shows up at the jail to notify the Home team about the events in Germany with the Away team.
• Our character preview features a Liefeld creation in Supreme.  Even under the latter WONDERFUL series run by Alan Moore, Supreme still could not shake the image of being a PALE Not-Superman with an "attitude".  The hilarious thing about Supreme's first comic's "appearance" is he does NOTHING in his story, aside from flying to Earth from the depths of outer space.  Rather, this story is a showcase for the team Supreme would be temporarily hitched to for his initial first few series issues, the IMMINENTLY forgettable Heavy Mettle.  (Just... don't waste your time looking up these losers.)

So, we had ONE WHOLE... ish... story with the Home team for a change!  It's still rather muddled and confusing, but a fight sequence FINALLY starts and ENDS for Shaft and crew within one issue, and it looks like we're FINALLY starting to see the two team halves begin to merge for one important mission!  ... That you have to wait until August to see the beginnings of!  But before that, we have a bit of Youngblood "history" to cover, for in August 1st of 1992, we SPIT in the face of traditional comic book numbering, and release...

Youngblood #0- Ah... the 90's... the period that saw the genesis of the "Zero" issue, which was meant to be a background-filler issue for any given title.  Part semi origin story, part way of fleshing out concepts that saw creation in the regularly numbered series.  Does this issue even REMOTELY succeed in either goal?  ... We'll talk about that in a moment.  But one thing that DOES need to be mentioned for this issue is it's the ONLY issue of "Youngblood" I'll be talking about that, from cover to cover, is NOT a split issue.  It's all Youngblood, all the time, for issue numero cero!

Our story begins in 1988, where we apparently are dealing with "Kussein's" incursion into Kuwait, and the insertion of a Youngblood team to combat that incursion.  The team members for this mission include Chapel, Die Hard, Riptide... and a character you will hear a LOT more about, tomorrow, Battlestone.  Y'see, before his semi-living corpse past was revealed in the "Blood Brothers" saga I've talked about in a previous blog entry, he was just the super-strong leader of the rogue hero team known as Brigade.  Again, more on that, TOMORROW!  Brawls ensue against the Iraqi forces, and a team of U.S. Army "tunnel rats" investigate a bunker, of which is booby trapped and explodes.  A solider wants to try a rescue attempt for his fallen comrades, Battlestone disagrees, they argue, and Battlestone settles the argument... by punching the soldier so hard he clean snaps his NECK.  Die Hard is NOT a fan of such disciplinary actions, and cue the in-team fighting!  Chapel... of ALL people... breaks up the fight.  (Maybe because it's cutting in on his time to mack with the Iraqi ladies...)  Battlestone is transported back to the U.S. to undergo a military trial.  Instead of, y'know, undergoing an actual PUNISHMENT for killing a fellow officer in the field of battle, the government just tells Battlestone if he "disappears", they'll forget the whole thing ever happened.  Ah... Sense of responsibility... But that's BORING, says Mister Liefeld!  So we end the issue with Shaft being introduced as team leader to the Youngblood Home program, with such highlights as Badrock reading an issue of "Wizard Magazine", and Combat greeting Shaft with a salutary, "Ugh!", and our meeting a character named Link... who we won't see in ANY comic until about 1997, so enjoy his two pages of existence until he shows up again in about 6 years!

The thing that REALLY derails the zero issue of "Youngblood" is that this story is told via a MAJORITY of double-page spreads.  Seriously, I think there may only be about 3 pages of single page layouts.  The rest... no matter how much they DIDN'T need the "widescreen" approach... of the issue details double-page spreads.  So while we got somewhat of a complete story, along with a bit of Brigade background, the overall brevity of the issue serves to further muddy up the already muddled waters of the Youngblood pool.  But will a change of paper stock, along with coloring techniques, save the day with the August 15th release of...

Youngblood #4- This issue returns us to the tried-and-true formula of the split-book approach.  Sure, the Home and Away teams see a bit of blending in their main story, but we STILL have to take time to give loyal Image acolytes another taste of a forthcoming "masterpiece" creation!  So, with the "concentrated" nature of issue zero covered, it's time to return to those ever-lovin' bullet points to talk about the two stories!

• The Home team is on the MOVE in their Quinjet!  (All copyrights reserved for Tony Stark and the Avengers.)  They've an emergency to respond to in Germany that involves the Away team, along with the unknown factors of Prophet and the Berzerkers.  No way to find out until Die Hard and Badrock leap into the fray.  (And Badrock... That "Yabba-Dabba-Doom" catchphrase is NEVER going to catch on, so please refrain from forcing the issue.)  Badrock and Die Hard brawl with some Disciples, meet with Prophet, are caught up to speed about the whole killer robot thing, then they all team up for another extended brawl.  (Die Hard ALSO showcases his SUPA-DUPA energy shield that he's NEVER USED before in the comic, but maybe is of ceremonial significance when dealing with homicidal machines.)  Chapel and Shaft show up after the battle concludes, and they have a group meeting to update themselves on the situation.  Then Vogue strikes a pose... actually, she shows up with a BADLY beat-up Sentinel.  (Y'know, in the last issue, Sentinel was only just unconscious on the ground with a bloody mouth, but in this current issue, he apparently lost an eye?)  Badrock and Die Hard investigate a NOT-"Boom Tube", and run into Darkthornn, who punches Die Hard so violently, he sprays blood from his FULLY COVERED BY A MASK MOUTH!  The team watches with baited breath as Darkthornn emerges from the dimensional gate with a possessed Badrock in tow! 
• Dale Keown would end up being another Image Comics recruit, after a VERY successful run with Peter David on Marvel's "Incredible Hulk".  So, what did he want to bring to the Image table?  How about the HIGHLY muddled, and not very interesting story, of an alien living weapon that seeks release from his wicked war-mongering masters on Earth, where he forms a bond with a little boy after a subway mugging attempt?  If that's your bag, then you will LOVE the adventures of the coming title "Pitt"!  But don't expect to be seeing too much of "Pitt"; if people thought Rob Liefeld was rather infamous for his comic book delivery delays, they had not seen NOTHING until Dale Keown decided to become his own boss!  I think it's one of the VERY few "ongoing" Image Comics titles that has not even reached double-digits to this very day!

This issue was an all-battle issue, which unless you want actual STORY to follow, isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.  I mean, we started off this book's life with a half of a story that didn't even feature a promised fight to BEGIN with!  And we had a fight that had a semi logical stopping point for this issue.  But I'm sure you have observed that this leaves our story on a cliffhanger.  Ah, but that's what makes me rather clever for this weekend's entry, because part 2 of my coverage not only will conclude the adventures of the Youngblood teams, but we'll ALSO conclude the adventures of another Liefeld creation's first conflict... all in the SAME split-issue! 

Legends of the Dark Knight... That Aren't Often Discussed

No real preamble for this particular blog entry, aside from one quick mention; I've yet to catch up with another episode or two, but my BIGGEST television surprise is how genuinely entertaining CW's "The Flash" is!  I probably should've mentioned this more for yesterday's entry, detailing the media infusion of comics into television and films, but I had to rediscover my "blog voice" for that entry above all else.  For the current television offerings that are comic-based, "The Flash" feels the MOST genuine in its love and appreciation for it's comic-bookiness.  Super-villains, a hero that BRAZENLY wears his costume, lots of fun tidbits thrown out to long-time DC fans, and a cast that seems to really "get" the comic book tone equals a true highlight for me!  It has me curious about wanting to check out the back catalog of "Arrow" episodes, even!  (Brief notes on the other offerings: I'm STILL not 100% sold on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D", but I'll give the Agent Carter series a shot when that launches.  I've given a pass on "Gotham" after the first two episodes.  And I've not dipped my toes into "Constantine" as of yet.)

Before this year ends, I REALLY want to come up with an appropriate 75th anniversary set of postings about this particular character.  But this will require still a bit of study, so expect an in-depth two-part pro and con posting on today's character to come in December, more likely than not.  BUT for a sneak peek, I wanted to do a lil' something special as a sampler platter for this year's comic book birthday boy.  Y'see, in 2013 we celebrated Superman's 75th birthday... or at least those of us that LOVE the character did.  I'm STILL not sure if the company that even HOSTS Superman as part of their universe, DC, gave much of a rip about Kal-El's milestone.  But of COURSE their second major company success gets the "red carpet" approach.  (I don't mean to sound grouchy about it, but geez... It sometimes feels like today's character has a birthday EVERY year, based on how much love he receives from fans and creators, alike.)  But whereas we all know about the contributions of such artists to his legacy like Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Frank Miller, Greg Capullo, and EVEN Jim Lee, I wanted to provide you readers with a spotlight on artists that don't OFTEN get enough positive word-of-mouth for their visits to the alleyways of Gotham City.  Artists that seem to be neglected for their criminal profiles they provided for Commissioner James Gordon.  Artists we shall look at today, for their highlight runs on the Dark Knight Detective... the Batman!

Don Newton- This mention is a BIT of a cheat, because Newton's legacy on Batman is not as "forgotten" as others may think.  Recently DC published a hardcover collection of Don Newton's contributions to both the "Batman" and "Detective Comics" titles.  Heck, I even recently read an issue of "The Brave and the Bold" that was graced by Newton's artwork!  What made his Batman so memorable was that he carried over the dynamics of the 70's feel of the character, and gave Batman a definitive polish.  Newton's Batman was a certifiable lean, mean, detective-and-fighting machine!  And Batman wasn't the ONLY beneficiary of the Newton touch!  Outside of the creative genius of Jim Aparo, Don Newton was the OTHER great artist on Aquaman for the late 70's, and Captain Marvel received the signature Newton touch in the early 80's.  Such touchstones of Newton's time on the Batman titles was the creation of Maxie Zeus, the death of the Kathy Kane Batwoman, and the first appearance of Jason Todd... who would become the SECOND person to wear the mantle of Robin.  The true sorrow of the legacy of Don Newton was how short his time on Earth was, when he died a few months shy of becoming 50 years old in 1984.  I'd HIGHLY recommend people that appreciate clean and kinetic storytelling to check out the aforementioned Don Newton collection of Batman stories.  And speaking of artists that have JUST RECENTLY received collected volumes...

Alan Davis- Yes, Alan Davis' Batman work is ALSO collected in a handsome hardback edition.  No, no need to worry, because Alan Davis is still among the living, unlike the tragically gone-too-soon Don Newton.  And yes, you probably know Alan Davis from MANY other projects, such as an extended run on Marvel's "Excalibur", and having a hand in co-creating the revised "Captain Britain".  But even Alan Davis had a hand in the legend of the Batman.  Another student of the "clean and dynamic" style of artwork that portrayed Batman as a lean... but STILL believable beater of butts... Alan cut his teeth on the character via "Batman and the Outsiders".  (Heck, if he can make such lame characters like Looker and Geo-Force look good, the man is a MIRACLE!)  And for a brief stretch of time, Alan Davis was a MAIN creative driver on "Detective Comics", where in his run as an artist, he helped revert Catwoman back to her villainous ways, gave us a truly interesting take on the Scarecrow, and gave a truly lunatic polish to the Joker.  Editorial differences caused Alan to vacate "Detective" in the opening stretch of the "Year Two" event storyline, but he DID later return for a graphic novel sequel, "Batman: Full Circle", and in two of my favorite original series, gave us ANOTHER shot at Batman via "JLA: The Nail" and "JLA: Another Nail".  (Both of which are some of the BEST "Elseworlds" titles that DC published, and it would be awesome if they were given the omnibus/Absolute treatment!)  But while his overall time on Batman wasn't an extended run, Alan Davis' run on Batman helped establish a truly engaging legacy on the character!

Irv Novick- It's kind of unheard of for artists to have a NEARLY 50-year career in comics, and to be so instrumental in so many varied titles for a given company, but Irv Novick accomplished JUST that for DC comics for the 60's until about the 90's.  Irv was present for the latter phases of the "new look" Batman phase that arose in the wake of Julius Schwartz' editorial run with the character.  Irv also DRAMATICALLY evolved his artwork to match the "Dark Knight" return to form at the cusp of the 70's, and proved to be a nearly seamless transition of styles from what Neal Adams contributed to the title!  (I also may be so bold as to suggest that the ladies of Gotham city NEVER had it so good under Irv's pencils!  YOWZA!)  Irv may be BEST known for his LLLOOONNNGGG 70's stretch on "The Flash", but he also had extended runs on "Batman" and "Detective Comics".  Notice how I seem to give notice to a lot of artists that keep Batman in more of a trim fighting shape.  (Against my admiration of Greg Capullo, I REALLY am not a huge fan of a "bulky" Batman.  To me, he's a character that's best served to be more of an athletic build.)  But Irv Novick has a true legacy in the DC Universe, not only having gifted his talents to adventures of the Dark Knight, along with his strong Flash... pardon the pun... "run", but he ALSO contributed to the stories of Superman and Wonder Woman during his time as a regular DC artist.  Such key moments for Irv's run on the Batman titles include being the artist behind "One Bullet Too Many", the story that served as a splitting between Batman and Robin for the onset of the 70's solo "Creature of the Night" Batman, AND he was the launch artist for the truly unusual experimental title of the 70's, "The Joker" solo series!  In my eyes, Irv Novick is one of the artists that has left an undeniable stamp on the DC Universe as a whole!

Dick Dillin- Admittedly his time on the solo Batman titles was rather limited, but there's one artist that is often forgotten for his LENGTHY portrayals of the Batman in comics... and who also had an unfortunately short life... it was Dick Dillin.  People may recognize a bulk of his portrayals of the darker ego of Bruce Wayne in a nearly-continuous 12-YEAR RUN on "Justice League of America", along with participating in one of the most unique sagas in the pages of "World's Finest Comics", the "Super Sons Saga".  Another acolyte in the lean-and-mean Batman artistic style, Dick's portrayal of Batman is probably the one that stuck with me the longest of time in my collecting life.  It was due to the JLA DC Digests that I REALLY started reading about the DC Universe in more detail, and I appreciated the figure work that Dick Dillin gave in portraying the key heroes of the Universe, Batman included.  A lot of people tend to criticize his work as being "stiff", but I still feel there's an energy to his style that it just takes the right mind-set to connect to.  And anyone that devotes nearly 12 years of their life to one given character is SURELY worthy of note.  Major developments that Dillin contributed to the team-work aspect of the Batman's life include an apparent "son" that would carry the legacy of Bruce Wayne's crime-fighting career, the departure of the Martian Manhunter from the JLA, the introduction of the android Red Tornado to the team, the first DC appearances of the acquired Fawcett characters... and Batman TOTALLY macking on Green Arrow's steady lady, Black Canary!

No Forgetting The Blog, Or Forgotten Saturday Comic Cartoons!

I cannot state this enough: I am REALLY sorry for no entries, this past weekend.  Here's the short story behind my sabbatical; I had an utter week from HELL at my job... of which still carried over a little bit into this week... and the potential career highlights I was looking towards as an escape from my general menial working existence were denied even before I could step into the door for an interview.  Such an epic sense of self-failure caused me to want to retreat into myself, and it even killed off my drive to indulge EVEN in discussing comic-related matters.  So to the people that read this blog, I do sincerely apologize for leaving you hanging, this past weekend.  But the ironic piece of this entire period is I HAD topics already selected for the two entries of the first weekend of November!  So... why waste them, when I still feel like I have something to offer on my talking points?  Let's play some catch-up!

These past few weeks have offered up some VERY interesting developments in the realm of the Marvel and DC film universes.  It's become a world where the characters and stories we, as "comic book nerds", have grown to willingly share with the world as a whole... and have THEM enjoy the kind of storytelling we've already known has been exciting for YEARS!  (The only bummer about that media transition is when fans of the movie franchises ACTUALLY decide to sample the current comics the companies are publishing.  ... Yeah, even I REALLY don't seek out that kind of sadomasochism.)  But once upon a time, media related to comics was relatively limited.  Sure, we had the popularity of George Reeves in "The Adventures of Superman", the PHENOMENON of Adam West in "Batman", and the first real depth explorations of the possibilities of film-making with comic characters in Richard Donner's "Superman the Movie", and Tim Burton's "Batman".  In those in-between years when the glory of the Christopher Reeves "Superman" series had faded, where the shadow of the "Batman" was really starting to rise, and Marvel only had to offer faltering efforts of television and silver screen cinema efforts with latter "Incredible Hulk" tele-movies and well intentioned... but "questionable"... translations of "Captain America" and "Punisher", we found our haven for comic book media in the rise of the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini collaboration piece, "Batman: The Animated Series". 

The success of "Batman: The Animated Series" COULD be discussed, at length, in a blog entry of it's own... but that animated series is almost a GIVEN of how excellently a comic book character can thrive in the hands of talented creators.  But the success of that given series gave birth to OTHER successes, like "Spider-Man", "X-Men", and the later Timm/Dini collaborations like "Superman: The Animated Series" and "Justice League".  We're not talking about ANY of those successes, though!  Today, I wanted to pay tribute to the animated series that were based off comic books that lie neglected on their island of animation cel "Misfit Toys".  The efforts to expand on then-"HOT" books.  The forgotten Saturday morning comic book cartoons!

Ruby-Spears' Superman- Technically, this series PREDATES the success of B:TAS, originally seeing broadcast for ONE SEASON in 1988.  And it's not as difficult to find as the latter mentions of this blog, having been officially collected on DVD by Warner Bros., to probably DIRT-CHEAP prices by this point.  But I feel this series still deserves some tender loving mention for blog expansion, because of just how FUN it was!  The series operates with some foundations of the John Byrne post-Crisis reboot of the character, with Lex Luthor being a multimillionaire illicit businessman... voiced by the SAME GUY who voiced Duke in "G.I. Joe"!... and with Clark Kent's parents still being alive.  But the bizarre thing is the series STILL clung to a lot of the Bronze Age comic tropes, like Clark Kent being a timid "act", and a lot of the villains of the series being semi-ridiculous one-offs.  But the animation quality of the series was TOP-NOTCH, and one particular episode highlight involved a crossover between Superman and Wonder Woman.  I remember when I first saw that episode in syndication, it BLEW MY MIND.  Wonder Woman... in a cartoon... WITH SUPERMAN?!?  If this series was given a better time-slot for broadcast, I think it would have been FAR more successful, and could have been given a longer lease on life.  The possibilities that this series contained for an earlier integrated DC Animated Universe never occurred, but I still HIGHLY recommend you readers give this show a shot, since as I mentioned, it's not difficult to find... along with not difficult to part with the pocket change you need for buying this!

WildC.A.T.s- The first of the "HOT" property comics to see animated life was Jim Lee's Image Comics creation.  (And if you remember this series at all, then I apologize for the fact that you're probably already thinking about that AWFUL Rap theme for the show.  "We're heroes, not zeroes, we've got, what they need..."  B.A.R.F.)  We also have the first example of a challenging conundrum for animated series based off of the "Independent" comics characters: how to make them Saturday morning "safe".  Sure, Batman and the X-Men had "mature" themes in their storylines, but they were still generally "kid-safe" material.  In the case of WildC.A.T.s, we had a team that KILLED people OFTEN in the comics, and one of their members was a former STRIPPER!  Um... Time to grab that bowl of Trix, and enjoy watching a former stripper help in the slaughter of an evil alien race?  So a lot of the initial comic's impact was "softened" for animated purposes.  No longer did the Daemonite hordes get filled with lead: they were mere "excised" from people by said former-stripper Voodoo... who is NO LONGER an "exotic dancer", and is dressed far more modestly.  No longer did Grifter use live-ammunition in his battles against evil: he was given REALLY weird looking laser guns to use in fights.  And the REALLY weird thing is the series chose Warblade, the not-Wolverine-Meets-T1000, as our "entry point" character.  And purportedly, "WildC.A.T.s" was created as competition against the MASSIVELY popular FOX series, "X-Men".  But doing the math, 5 seasons of "X-Men" versus 2-ish seasons of "WildC.A.T.s"... Yeah, guess who won that broadcast brawl.  The interesting thing about "WildC.A.T.s" is it WAS officially released onto DVD, but in a VERY limited run by A.D.V Video.  I remember at a HorrorHound Weekend convention, one night, spotting the set with my buddy Jake McLargeHuge, and was about to commit... when I noticed even a USED copy of this series collection costed nearly ONE.  HUNDRED.  DOLLARS.  Yeah... This isn't even nearly worth 90% of that price, but it was an interesting curiosity.

Savage Dragon- Erik Larsen was the next man up with his Image creation, the Savage Dragon, seeing animated life in a REALLY weird block of cartoons on the USA Network.  (If memory serves me right, it was sandwiched between the unintentionally HILARIOUS animated series of "Street Fighter 2" and "Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm".  Seriously, look up clips on YouTube if you want some quick chuckles.)  "Savage Dragon", like in the case of "WildC.A.T.s", had to undergo some sanitization for network standards.  For example, gone was his complicated relationship backstories with his executed neighbor, and later a former hooker-turned-superhero named Rapture.  Also gone was the fact that Officer Dragon beat the LIVING SNOT out of the Super Freaks he battled in Chicago.  I remember more than a few issues involving bloody... and FATAL... battles.  But thankfully, being a figure like a police officer, and working in a police department, meant that the Dragon's essential M.O. remained unchanged.  As did the Super Freak... now you've probably got that Rick James song stuck in your head... criminal gang controlled by Overlord.  (No longer a failed human Mafioso who used power armor to make a grab on the "mutated" legions of crime... and ESPECIALLY not killed by a gun-shot into his mouth by Savage Dragon.)  I remember being disappointed by how "tame" the series was in comparison to the outrageous antics the amnesiac Chicago P.D. officer got himself into in the comics, but I still give this series points for somewhat retaining more of the originating spirit than "WildC.A.T.s" did.  In retrospect, if Erik Larsen could have grabbed a deal like Todd McFarlane had with "Spawn" and HBO, and had been granted a MATURE "Savage Dragon" animated series... Oh, the possibilities...

UltraForce- The Malibu Universe is somewhat like the forgotten stepchild of 90's comics in current times.  I mean, a cross section of Image properties still exist... and even if they don't, people STILL remember how much of a splash the company made in its initial impact.  And Valiant properties are becoming popular AGAIN, thanks to a successful relaunch.  But Malibu is like the "one left behind" of the companies that were once experiencing a blazing moment of popularity in the 1990's comic boom.  Which is a shame, because they DID have a lot of nifty concepts... even if they were STILL riffs on existing material.  (Sorry, Malibu fans, but you CANNOT convince me that Prime wasn't another version of the Captain Marvel story, or that Prototype had MORE than a little Iron Man in his diet.  Heck, even the Ghoul had VERY strong creative ties to Deadman!)  So it's kind of surprising that Malibu... for their flicker moment in the 90's... managed to produce ONE animated series based on their premiere super group, "UltraForce".  I've only read about the first 3 issues of the series, proper... and I DID enjoy it, because how can you NOT enjoy George Perez artwork?  But the characters never seemed to light a comic book reading fire under me.  The odd thing was I STILL watched pretty much every episode of the animated series, which detailed... for one season... the Force's battles against such Malibu villains like Lord Pumpkin, Rune, Boneyard, NME... and Sludge.  (I could have SWORN that Sludge was a "hero" character.  Eh... Go figure.)  I remember the animation quality was decent, and the stories were entertaining in a generic cartoon superhero show fashion, but this is obviously a series that is going to be a hard sell to anyone NOT familiar with the comic universe it originated from.  Heck, even DURING the time of UltraForce's animated life, I felt like I was the ONLY kid that even knew of its EXISTENCE!

Spider-Man Unlimited- It sucked.  Big-time.  NEXT?!?  Sigh... Okay.  FOX Kids KNEW they had a success in their "Spider-Man" series, so after that show ran its course, they launched a new series featuring Peter Parker inadvertently taking a trip into the future via a space shuttle accident.  (Why am I now thinking about "Buck Rogers in the 25th. Century"?)  And in said future, humanity is having a rough time of things, being under the heel of human-animal hybrids.  Venom and Carnage show up, there's a lot of unlikable characters that interact with Spider-Man, the war with humanity against the mutants is boring, Spidey's "future costume" looks like something Ben Reilly and Miguel O'Hara came up with after getting massively wasted on "magic mushrooms".  But the WORST part about this series is, thanks to Netflix Instant, you can HANDILY watch it any time!  I only recommend to those with a VASTLY morbid sense of curiosity.

Avengers: United They Stand- Now THIS is an odd duck of a series!  I would have honestly expected Marvel Studios to try and re-release this single season show after the popularity of the "Avengers" film.  But I get the feeling this show is kind of like Marvel's version of the "Star Wars Holiday Special"; they prefer it to be lost to history.  Which is a shame, because outside of the REALLY stupid "power armor" transformation gimmicks, and the SHEER early 2000's feel of the series... it WASN'T THAT BAD.  In a way, the series was almost an adaptation of the general "Avengers West Coast" concept.  The "big three" of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor aren't running members of the team, with it featuring Ant Man and Wasp as the established figureheads.  A lot of the series centered around the integration of the Vision into the team, along with repeat battles against Ultron.  You also witnessed tussles against Kang the Conqueror, the Zodiac team, and I BELIEVE even the Masters of Evil got an episode to shine... that ALSO guest-starred Captain America!  I wouldn't exactly rank this as a "missing classic" of the animated superhero cartoons, but it was competently put together, and I feel it deserves a legitimate reissuing to capitalize on the current popularity of anything and EVERYTHING Avengers!

Youngblood- *Cue record scratching noise*  What's that, you say?  "Why did I EVER decide to end this article on a comic book animated series that NEVER EVEN SAW A FULL EPISODE?!?".  Because y'all know me, and you KNOW I just can't pass up a mention of a Rob Liefeld creation in a given blog entry.  This animated series was LONG talked about in issues of Wizard Magazine around 1992-4, with it also being the subject of heated creative right battles between Liefeld and animation studios.  The ONLY existing animation you will ever see of this project are both available on YouTube: 1. A promotional reel created for convention showcasing, and potential network syndication interest. 2. A test reel of an extended battle sequence... that also includes a KINDA CREEPY split-second insert of a mannequin head having its hair combed.  I would have been REAL curious to see how this comic book would have existed as an animated series, because while "WildC.A.T.s" and "Savage Dragon" suffered some content blunting, "Youngblood" probably would have had to been PUMMELED down because of it's "Adult" content.  (I say "Adult" instead of "Mature", because there's a fine line between telling a story that goes above an average child's sensibilities... and a story that features gratuitous butt-shots and heads exploding.)  But the animation that DOES exist for this series actually isn't too bad in quality.  I guess if anyone can make Rob Liefeld's creations assume realistic proportions, it would HAVE to be Korean animation studios.  It's honestly worth your few minutes doing a brief curiosity viewing!