Nov. '86 - Elfquest # 16

My wife is just terrific! Not only does she put up with the 7,000 comics occupying space in our house but she actually reads and enjoys some of the titles I buy. Right now she reads Fables, Y The Last Man and Runaways.

Elfquest is one title that I always said she should read. We are both readers of fantasy books so her enjoying Elfquest seemed like a natural. She's never really got into it, though. I think the problem is since it's an older series it's a little overwhelming to see all the back issues to be read. I think she likes the current titles that only take a 20 minute commitment once a month. Which is too bad since Elfquest is a very enjoyable read for someone that enjoys fantasy.

The series starts with a group of elves, the Wolfriders, who are forced to leave their home and after a long journey find another group of elves who have developed a different life than the one they have. This leads the Wolfrider leader, Cutter, to wonder if there are more elves out in the world. He and his friend, Skywise, begin a quest to find these other groups and try and reunite all the tribes.

The world that Wendy and Richard Pini developed for their comic series is incredible. You can tell the series was a labour of love for the pair. The comic felt like a real story because there was always developments and changes. When you're used to reading Superman and Batman where the comic is supposed to go forever and nothing ever really changes this title was definitely different.

Nov. '86 - Electric Warrior # 7

This was a very interesting series written by Doug Moench. He was no longer writing Batman and Detective Comics but still had a full workload with this title, Lords of the Ultra-Realm, and Slash Maraud. The latter two were limited series but this particular one was ongoing; unfortunately it only made it to issue 18.

The idea behind it was a future world where the richest and best of society lived in towers high above the ground. People who failed to contribute enough to society (or lacked enough money to stay in higher levels) would find themselves bumped down levels. The worst of society lived on the world's surface with nothing but what they could scrounge for food and shelter. There was another group who lived primitively but happily away from the cities. They lived in the forests and lived off the land. The set up of society is similar to the one found in David Wingrove's Chung Kuo book series.

Robots were used as security and to perform all labour for peple living in the upper towers. One of these robots gains independence and sentience and breaks from society. Finding himself in the lower levels, the Warrens, he befriends them and begins to question the whole structure of society. Meanwhile, the leaders of the upper society discover a threat to civilization coming from space and begin kidnapping people from the forest to experiment on in hopes of creating something that can combat this threat.

There were characters from all three societies that were focused on. All sides were represented by Moench. At the start of the series, it was assumed that the title character would be Warrior 9-03, the one that had gained independence. However, in this issue he gets 'killed', totally taken apart in a battle. So he was not to be the Electric Warrior for very long. I remember reading an interview with Moench where he said that he wanted this title to always be changing so that every 50 issues or so the focus of the series would be totally different. With the 'death' in this issue of who I thought was the main character he was backing up his statement. Unfortunately, the title wouldn't last long enough to see what other changes he would make.

Nov. '86 - Detective Comics # 568

Just like the Batman that was published in November '86, this issue felt like a fill-in. It had already been announced that Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis would be taking over the title. This was just something to keep the title going until their run could start. I would have much preferred another month or two of Doug Moench writing instead of what we got.

The villain this issue was Penguin. His latest crime was stealing birds that were genetically changed to be huge. He of course fails at the end and was defeated rather easily. This was also a Legends crossover, again dealing with the concept of heroes and whether they were necessary in society or a hindrance, holding people back from developing their own potential.

All in all, a unremarkable issue. The Barr/Davis run was much looked forward to!

Nov. '86 - Daredevil # 236

This issue of Daredevil was written by Ann Nocenti. She would become the regular writer of Daredevil and did a good job, I thought. It couldn't have been easy replacing Frank Miller. The art this issue was done by Barry Windsor-Smith so of course it was incredible!

The story was a follow-up to a previous story from Miller's run about a soldier named Nuke who was sent to Hell's Kitchen to kill Daredevil. In this new story another soldier, with abilities enhanced by the government, has to be stopped before his powers take control of him and endanger others. The agent sent to stop him is Black Widow, who enlists the help of Daredevil.

I collected Daredevil for quite a while and saw a lot of good issues. Right up past # 300 I thought was a really good run for the title. Once he gets the new costume I started to drift away. I didn't come back again to the Brian Michael Bendis era so I missed a good 10 years. I have a couple of the issues when it was a Marvel Edge title but that's it. Not sure if I'll ever fill in all the holes in the collection or if the stories are even worth having. I don't hear that time period talked about much.

Nov. '86 - Cloak and Dagger # 9

This is a series that I've collected entirely through quarter and fifty cent bins in the last two years (except for the Secret Wars II crossover issue; I bought every crossover issue of the limited series). I have the complete series now - all eleven issues! I started looking for it because I enjoyed the storyline (the heroes trying to elminate the drug trade) and the art always seemed good. This issue was no exception as the artist was Art Adams. Other artists from past issues were Whilce Portacio and Marc Silvestri.

Cloak and Dagger have followed a shipment of drugs from New York to France. It's staggering to think they've gone to this much work to try and track down one shipment of drugs; a drop in the bucket for the drug trade just in their neighbourhood. It was an interesting story and their relationship was interesting as well. Dagger just wanted to go back to a normal like but Cloak, I think, preferred their new life to his old one. He was also dependent on her light power to maintain his sanity so he was always slightly manipulating her to keep her around.

Nov. '86 - Classic X-Men # 3

Classic X-Men reprinted the X-Men from the start of Giant-Sized X-Men #1 when the new group was introduced. Each of these reprints included new material written by Chris Claremont that would add to the original story. In this issue and the previous one this extra material was illustrated by John Bolton who is just incredible.

This issue reprinted #95 where Thunderbird died. His powers were all duplicated by Wolverine so I think that was the reasoning behind him getting killed. This early on, Claremont was getting a good handle on the X-Men giving each of them a different personality. That was something he did very well. I really enjoyed reading the X-Men up to the Secret Wars II crossovers. They really got messy at that point and seemed to lose focus. Before that, X-men was one of my favourite reads each month.

Nov. '86 - The Bozz Chronicles # 6

Bozz Chronicles was published by Epic Comics, a part of Marvel Comics. Epic was a forerunner to Vertigo at DC. A lot of the comics were creator-owned and many of the titles were non-superhero based. They made some good comics but I think I was too young and too interested in superheroes to appreciate what they were doing. I latched on to Vertigo when they started a few years later. If I had been older when Epic started I probably would have bought more of their titles. This was one I did buy when it came out and I was happy I did.

The title character was an alien who crashed on Earth in Victorian Era London. Intellectually years ahead of humans he grew bored on Earth and attempted suicide. He was found by a prostitute who quickly realized there was an opportunity. She opened up a detective agency that kept Bozz's mind active while making money and keeping her off the street. The cases they took were never simple crimes. There was always demons and magic involved.

This was the end of the limited series. If it had continued I would have kept buying it. It was really funny and being set in Victorian London created interesting situations for the characters, especially the prostitute, Amanda Flynn. She was a very independent woman in a time when that wasn't a quality noticed in women. Also, she always had dual motives in keeping Bozz interested in their cases. She didn't want him killing himself because she liked him but she also was enjoying her new lifestyle and didn't want to see it end.

Nov. '86 - Booster Gold # 10

Booster Gold was a new character created by Dan Jurgens who did the writing and artwork on the series. It was an interesting concept. A person who was as much interested in the fame and fortune that came from being a superhero as he was in helping people. It also showed the consequences that came from being a famous hero since the villains all know where your office is and who your friends are.

Booster Gold was an athlete from the 25th century who threw a football game for money and ended up stealing a time machine and equipment to begin a new life in the past. So it could definitely be said that he was a flawed character.

The current storyline involved the criminal group The 1000 who Booster had previous involvement with. This issue began their campaign to remove him as an obstacle to their goals of world domination. They kidnap both Gold's business manager's daughter and his secretary. They also discover his powers are beginning to fade as he uses them.

This series didn't last a long time but Booster lived on in the new Justice League. It looks like he will again be in the spotlight in the new weekly series, 52.

Nov. '86 - Blue Devil # 30

When this comic started it was advertised as a return to fun comics. And it was fun in the beginning. Somewhere along the way it lost the focus and went from fun to just silly. I kept buying it out of habit (I must have had more disposable income back then than I do now) but it certainly wasn't the same comic it started out like. Other people must have agreed since the next month it was cancelled.

This issue had Blue Devil taking on Flash's rogues. The rogues are interesting since some of them had actually turned good at this point. The comic opened with them at a memorial service for Flash, the Top, and Mirror Master. That part was good. It quickly dropped from there as they decide to create a tour at a movie studio to make some cash. Then they decide to rob the studio. There's a fight between good rogues, bad rogues and Blue Devil. End of issue.

When I'm buying an ongoing series I expect there to be some development and some progression with the story and the characters. If that kind of series in some months gives me just a story but it's still entertaining I'm okay with that. But with this comic, every month was just a story and they weren't that entertaining. The development and progression had stopped a long time ago.

Nov. '86 - Blue Beetle # 6

One thing you notice when you go back and read comics from the 80's is how much things have changed in 20 years. This comics is full of captions describing what it is you're looking at on the page, something you never see now. In this comic if there's no dialogue in a panel then there is three or four captions. The other is thought balloons. You never see those any more in comics but this one is full of them. I don't know why things changed. Maybe to be more like movies since they don't have thought ballons or captions. I know I've heard people say why do you need a caption to tell you the sun is setting when you can see in the picture that the sun is setting. But sometimes it's good to hear how the writer described it. A good writer should be able to add to the picture rather than just repeating the picture verbally.

Blue Beetle was the first of the Charlton characters purchased by DC to get his own comic. The Question was soon to follow, as was Captain Atom. I don't think the rest got their own series. Peacemaker had a miniseries and Nightshade was a regular in Suicide Squad.

Blue Beetle was a fun comic. The writing and artwork both reflected this. Len Wein was the writer and I never thought of this as a really strong comic but it was enjoyable. Some comics I was reading at the time would leave me thinking about it when I was done. Ones like Watchmen, Daredevil and Swamp Thing. This wasn't one of those comics. I'm not saying it wasn't good because it was but it was fun adventure not a thought-provoking comic. The art was done by Paris Cullins who had previously done Blue Devil. He really added to the comic. He made it look fun, if that makes any sense, with people's facial expressions.

This issue had an appearance by the Question as the two of them faced the Muse, someone trying to organize Chicago's gangs under him. It was obvious who the Muse was if you read the comic. I'm not sure if the writer thought that would be a big mystery or not. Again, it was fun but not heavy on the thinking part.

Nov. '86 - Batman # 401

This was the start of a new era for Batman. Denny O'Neil had returned to DC after a stay at Marvel and was the new editor on Batman. It wasn't a great start as this issue was not very good. It seemed like a very weak fill-in issue. The assistant editor wrote it which supports that idea. It's like they were just filling time until Batman: Year One could get started in #404. The art was good though, done by Trevor Von Eeden.

Doug Moench had been writing both Batman and Detective Comics for the three years prior to this and I thought he did a great job. He kept things fresh and interesting for three years. After reading this issue I was really worried about still buying Batman because it didn't come close to comparing to Moench's run.

This was the first crossover with the Legends mini-series. All of the crossovers dealt with the idea of heroes and whether it was good or bad to have them around. It was all a plan by Darkseid to eliminate heroes by turning the public against them. You got some interesting discussion from characters wondering if the existence of heroes caused regular people to not be heroic and whether heroes caused as much trouble as they tried to fix. Sort of sounds like what Marvel is doing now with Civil War but Marvel is doing it on a much bigger scale. Legends didn't have any lasting effects at DC. It was nothing like Crisis. It did lead into the new Justice League, the new Flash and Suicide Squad so for that I am thankful.

So this issue was just a regular adventure with Batman and Robin, nothing exciting, nothing new. In the letter column the writer talked about how much she wanted to use the Magpie character because of her potential (she had previously appeared in the Man of Steel miniseries). I just saw a crook with wacky hair who liked jewels. The fact that she's never appeared again that I can remember shows how much potential she had.

Nov. '86 - Avengers # 273

This was a great series written by Roger Stern. He had an ability to create menaces big enough that it took a group like the Avengers to defeat them. I was disappointed when he was removed from this series (in 1988 or '89?). He added a lot of character to the series. The Avengers didn't all get along and there was real emotions displayed by all of them. Black Knight was attracted to the Wasp and got jealous. Hercules hated taking orders from the Wasp who he saw as totally ineffectual.

The membership changed a lot during Stern's run but it never seemed forced. You'd read the comic for six months and then realize there were two new members but you had to think when it happened. It never seemed forced, more of a natural evolution.

The art was stellar too, done by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. Characters looked great and they did a great job with facial expressions. Also, they took the time to complete the panels. I notice with a lot of artists that they spend so much time drawing characters that the background gets left blank. But with these artists you always know where the characters are and what they were doing. I've read that John Buscema didn't like doing superhero comics but you couldn't tell it from reading this.

During this time, the Masters of Evil were reforming. Their membership was huge, easily outnumbering the Avengers. This issue is when their plan was put into action. They took over Avengers mansion, capturing Jarvis the butler in the process. This began a great storyline with a lot of action and drama.

Nov. '86 - West Coast Avengers # 14

This series was just goofy fun! It had wacky villains, bad costumes and weird situations. One villain was Master Pandemonium. He had a hole in his chest that he was trying to fill by finding demons who had pieces of him (or something like that). When he was threatened his legs and arms would change into demons and leave his body to fight for him. So you'd have him floating in the sky, his costume flapping in the breeze since his arms and legs were gone!

Wonder Man had the worst costume I have ever seen on a character. It was a red and green bodysuit with the jet packs on the back and a big W on the front. It was just awful. Hank Pym hung around as their butler!?! He'd answer the phone, run errands, etc. Which was an odd situation for someone who was a founding member of the Avengers.

The comic was entirely different from the regular Avengers title which was serious super-hero adventure. But I kept buying it because you had to see what they would do next. Steve Englehart wrote this. In the 70's he was really big. His run on Justice League of America (I think it was a year long) was incredible. Real character development which was a change from most issues of that series back then. Here the feel was totally different. It was similar to his Vision and Scarlet Witch limited series which had just finished. Much more light-heartened, visits from many characters, very hopeful. You never felt like things were ever that dangerous.

Nov. '86 - Alpha Flight # 40

This was a series that I started buying around # 19, enjoyed it and picked up all the back issues to get caught up. I'm Canadian and it took place in Canada so that definitely added to the enjoyment. John Byrne had an interesting approach with this comic. It was a team book but the team only got together about once a year. The rest of the time they were each off on their own adventures. Then early in the series (# 12) he killed off their leader, Guardian. That was certainly different.

Byrne left this comic after # 28 to do Incredible Hulk and the team from Hulk came to this comic. I kept buying it to give the new creative team a chance and because I enjoyed the characters. I wasn't as impressed with the new team as I was with Byrne. The characters 'sounded' different. It seemed they had made changes in their personalities and it didn't click with me.

I've often wondered what would have been different if Byrne had kept doing the book:
-would Heather have assumed the identity of Vindicator and wore the costume like the new creative team had her do or would she have stayed as the leader but not been in the battles?
-what was his take on the origin of Puck? The new team showed him as a normal sized human who was possessed by a demon which caused his short stature and long life. Byrne showed Puck endured a lot of bodily pain but never said why.
-would he have kept given subtle hints about Northstar's sexual orientation? When would Byrne have finally revealed the truth or would he ever have come right out and said that Northstar was gay?

This issue was the conclusion from last issue's crossover with Avengers. The Avengers and Alpha Flight had attacked Atlantis to rescue Marrina, a former Alphan and the love of the Sub-Mariner. They did successfully rescue her but Sub-Mariner had to give up his rule of Atlantis. This issue ended with the marriage of Sub-Mariner and Marrina which I thought would have been a bigger deal but I don't remember too much being done with it.