Nov. '86 - The New Mutants # 45

This was a good single issue story by Chris Claremont. The new mutants attend a dance at the local school. There they meet a new student of the high school. He's being teased because he's the new guy. His school-mates anonymously send him a X-Factor phamphlet claiming he's a mutant and they're going to call X-Factor to come get him. The irony is he really is a mutant and thinks his secret has been discovered. To try and hide the fact he's a mutant he tells some mutant jokes which offends the New Mutants. Now he's alienated his potential new friends, too. With no one to turn to he commits suicide.

The New Mutants find out after his death that he was a mutant and reflect on the knowledge that that could have been them if Xavier's school hadn't taken them in.

It was a good, emotional story. Claremont did an excellent job of making us feel for the new student in the space of one issue. The art was good, too - pencilled by Jackson Guice and inked by Kyle Baker. Baker's inks helped maintain the Sienkiewicz look who had really left an imprint on the comic with his distinctive style.

Nov. '86 - The Marvel Saga # 12

This was a series I enjoyed a lot. It's goal was to tell the history of the Marvel universe in chronological order. By showing bits from all the comics being published at a particular time it created a tapestry to show the progression of the universe. It would use panels take right from the original comics and then Peter Sanderson would add narration to bridge the gaps. It was interesting to see the development of Marvel as the characters began appearing in other titles when cross-overs were still something special.

In this issue, #12, it covered around February 1964. The Fantastic Four were fighting the Mole Man, Iron Man took on the Mandarin and the Avengers discovered Captain America frozen in ice.

It's too bad this series didn't last long. It ended at #25. I'm familiar with many of the older Marvel comics since they get reprinted the most frequently. But later times that don't get as much attention would have been fun to take a look at.

Nov. '86 - Man of Steel # 3 & 4

This was the mini-series that re-introduced Superman to the DC Universe. It was the first origin reboot done post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was written and drawn by John Byrne who had been very successful at Marvel. It was published bi-weekly which was unusual for a DC or Marvel comic at the time.

The idea of the reboot was to strip Superman down to the basics, return him to 'Last Son of Krypton' status. Gone were Supergirl, Krypto, Kandor, Phantom Zone villains, etc. Of course, they would all be brought back over the following years (and far quicker than the time it took to introduce them the first time around).

Two good things that Byrne did with this reboot were keeping Clark Kent's parents alive and his redesign of Lex Luthor. With the Kents still alive into Clark's adulthood, he had someone to talk to about his powers which added a lot of humanity to his character. Lex was changed into a wealthy businessman that practically ruled Metropolis before Superman's arrival. In issue 4, Superman's involvement caused Luthor to be arrested like a criminal which started his hatred of Superman. I found that more interesting than being mad at Superman because he made you bald.

Issue 3 had Superman and Batman meeting for the 'first' time. Superman wasn't sure of Batman's methods and Batman was distrustful of Superman. Metropolis and Gotham were portrayed as two totally different cities where Gotham's darker side required a darker hero. They were not the World's Finest team after this first meeting. They would develop a respect for each other in the future.

Nov. '86 - Mark Hazzard: Merc # 1

Another of the New Universe launch titles, this one had no fantastic elements in it at all. Mark Hazzard was a mercenary for hire. He ignored all the people and events in his life except for his job. His mother had disowned him, he was divorced, and his son had gotten used to him never being around. All that mattered to him was his missions.

This comic was written by Peter David and the artist was Gray Morrow. Of the eight New Universe titles I would probably rate it third. I never bought beyond the first issue when it first came out but would be tempted now to pick it up if I saw it in the 50 cent bins at comic shows.

Nov. '86 - Lords of the Ultra-Realm # 6

Lords of the Ultra-Realm was a mini-series written by Doug Moench and drawn by Pat Broderick. The premise was that there was another world that was totally black and white, good and evil. It was ruled by 14 lords, 7 good, 7 bad. Each one represented a different emotion - Bliss, Rage, etc. As these emotions increased and decreased on Earth, the respective lord become more and less powerful. This mini-series focused on a human who becomes one of the lords and his adventures on Earth and the other world as the bad lords attempt to take over their planet.

It was a good story for a mini-series but I don't think it ever would have lasted as a ongoing series. There was one Special that came out the following year. The art was really good by Pat Broderick who had previously done Firestorm and would later do Captain Atom.

Nov. '86 - Legion of Super-Heroes # 28

I am a big Legion fan; have been for a long time. 'The Great Darkness Saga' was the first storyline I read that I thought was truly an epic. I like the Paul Levitz run on the title and enjoyed the '5 Year Later' title done by Keith Giffen. It's a shame that the Legion has had to go through so many reboots in the last few years. I'm not sure they've ever gained anything by doing the reboots. I don't think it got DC any more readers to the title. It probably cost them some of the long-time readers who found it tougher and tougher to like the title. I am enjoying the current run by Mark Waid although I wonder where he's going with Supergirl showing up.

One of the great things about the Legion during the 80's was the letter column. Since the fans were so dedicated, the letters column was intelligent and Paul Levitzs always answered the letters with honesty. This issue he admitted creating new villains wasn't his strong suit. It was refreshing to see that kind of response - sort of behind the scenes info.

This issue was a trip to Star Boy's home world. We find out that his world has a planetary champion - one hero who is given anything he wants to serve his world. It was interesting because the reader was used to Earth which had over 30 heroes on it with the Legion; rarely did we see what other planets did to keep heroes at home.

So Atmos, the current champion, had disappeared. The Legion was called in to try and find out what happened to him. Unable to locate him, Star Boy was drafted to replace Atmos and become his planet's new champion. Adding to the situation was his relationship with Dream Girl which was having its difficulties. These difficulties were added to when he decided to stay on his planet.

Nov. '86 - Legends # 1

DC has stated that they did this mini-series to open up their universe after Crisis reduced the size of it by eliminating the multiverse. I think it was more a case of them seeing how successful their first company wide crossover was and deciding another one would do well, too. This one certainly didn't have the lasting effects that Crisis did. The story began and ended and nothing changed. Some good did come from it - Justice League, Suicide Squad, Flash but no deaths or reboots.

The villain was Darkseid and he decides that if he can discredit the heroes in the eyes of the population the Earth will be easier to take over because others won't be inspired to greatness. The plan didn't make a lot of sense. I think if the Earth was in danger heroes would fight whether they were accepted by the people or not. That's why their heroes. They don't do it for public acclaim.

The heroes featured in this were a group you wouldn't normally see together - Flash, Changeling, Firestorm, Captain Marvel and Cosmic Boy (on vacation from the 30th century). The Justice League (Detroit version) also appeared.

The comic was drawn by John Byrne, new to DC from Marvel. It made sense to put him on the big crossover considering his popularity at the time and his recent switch in companies.

In this first issue, Captain Marvel's lightning causes the death of a villain and he vows never to use his powers again, giving Darkseid some opening success.

Nov. '86 - Kickers, Inc. # 1

Another of the New Universe titles launched by Marvel, this was written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Ron Frenz. I have a great fondness for their run on Amazing Spider-Man but this title never made it passed the first issue with me.

The star of the comic is Jack Magniconte, a quarterback on a pro football team. His brother owns a company called Sports Power Plus which sells nutritional programs to sports teams. The brother has developed a machine which artificially grows muscle mass just like using steroids. Jack decides to use the machine before it has to be submitted for testing and without knowing the side effects. It works on him, too well, and he finds himself with super speed, strength and reflexes. Football is no longer a challenge for him and they easily win the championship game. Later on his team-mates find out what has happened to him and they all use the machine and so does his wife. To provide a challenge in his life, Jack decides to form a company with his team-mates to help people with unusual problems and creates Kickers, Inc.

I have a problem with the story when Jack uses the machine to give himself an edge in football and it works with no side effects. I know it's a fantasy but the fact that he knew he had too much of an advantage and still went out and played the championship game and crushed the competition sends a bad message to young readers. And then he lets his team-mates use the machine and his wife! It's like supplying steroids to his team-mates! If there had been some consequences to their actions I might have felt differently about the comic. This one took the exact opposite approach. It shows the players doing product endorsements, music videos, commercials and basically living a great life because he used this machine.

This comic isn't staying in the collection. It's heading to the trade-in pile. The used bookstore downtown will do 2-for-1 trades on comics. As I re-read the collection I'm pulling out the ones I don't want to keep and trading them in for ones I do want to read.

Nov. '86 - Justice # 1

This was another of the New Universe titles launched by Marvel to celebrate their 25th anniversary. This line was intended to be the 'world outside your window' with only a few extraordinary things added. The main character of this comic was one of those extraordinary things added.

Tensen was transported to Earth from another world. Where he came from he was their version of a police officer. The difference was, on his world, he was judge, jury and executioner. He was able to read the auras of people and if someone had a bad aura he would kill them. In this issue he manages to kill 7 people. Their aura announced them as bad so they got blasted!

This was written by Archie Goodwin and held enough interest for me to buy a few more issues. This, along with D.P. 7, were the only New Universe comics that I bought past the first issue. The first issue had some mystery indicating that Tensen may not be the only one from his world on Earth. Also, I thought his seeing every one as good or evil, no grey, might lead to some interesting conflicts.

Nov. '86 - Infinity Inc. # 32

Much like All-Star Squadron, this title had a tough time because of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This comic dealt so much with what it would be like to be the children of heroes that when the parents were removed from continuity the series lost something. The characters were certainly interesting on their own but it was the only title I can think of that dealt so much with two generations of heroes. The first storyline was even called "Generations".

There was one character, Fury, who was the daughter of Earth-2 Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman was totally removed from continuity - she never existed! So how does Fury exist? Roy Thomas had to deal with questions like these. Instead of being an unique group on Earth-2, they were now on Earth-DC. Located in Los Angeles, they shared space with the Outsiders and the Green Lantern Corps.

The title was still very enjoyable. I own the entire run. But as a big fan of All-Star Squadron, Earth 2, and what Roy Thomas was creating I was disappointed to see this title have to adjust so much.

Todd McFarlane was the artist of Infinity Inc. at this time. He was pretty new at this point but it's hard to mistake those capes. His page layouts were really good too with character drawings outside the panels. There was a lot of enthusiasm displayed in the art.

Nov. '86 - The Incredible Hulk # 325

I started buying this title when John Byrne took over. His time on it was very short - 6 months- before leaving to do Superman at DC. I remember Byrne talking at one time about his 100,000 (or was it 10,000?). This was the number of fans that would follow him to each project that he did, thus increasing the circulation. I guess I was one of those number. I bought Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, Hulk, Superman and Next Men (from Dark Horse) because he was doing them. I stopped buying this title very soon after he left and have only recently been picking up issues from the 50 cent bins. That's where I got this one.

Al Milgrom took over as writer/artist when Byrne left. I enjoyed Milgrom's art on Avengers but on this title I thought it was awful. My guess is that he was rushed to do it with Byrne's departure. The art on this issue was by Steve Geiger and it was much better than the previous issues done by Milgrom. I did think Milgrom was telling a good story and I am going to continue to hunt for more of these back issues.

Bruce Banner and Hulk had recently been rejoined after being physically separated in Byrne's run. No one is sure if the Hulk is gone for good. Milgrom began introducing subplots with the Hulk-Busters, Doc Samson, Rick Jones, SHIELD, Betty Ross, and Thunderbolt Ross plus a mysterious green creature on the loose. Not having a lot of the later issues I'm not sure where he went with all this but I was intrigued by what I read in this issue.

Nov. '86 - Hawkman # 4

In the 1980's, DC published mini-series featuring the lesser known characters from the Justice League. Sort of tryouts to see if there was interest in an ongoing series. Atom had one and so did Aquaman, Green Arrow and Red Tornado. Hawkman also had his chance to shine, in The Shadow War of Hawkman. Written by Tony Isabella, he created a new mission for Hawkman and Hawkwoman. The people of their home planet, Thanagar, were secretly taking over the Earth by assuming positions of power. The Thanagarians possessed a device called the Absorbascan which enabled them to read the minds of Earthlings. Because they had this device, the Hawks were unable to tell their fellow humans about the invasion because, as soon as they could make any plans, the Thanagarians would know about it.

This gave the Hawks a new purpose. They were forced to stop this invasion without any help. There was enough interest in the mini-series for them to graduate to a regular ongoing series that lasted 17 issues. The ongoing picked up where the mini-series left off. They were trying to stop the invasion while their opponents fought dirty. They blackmailed humans, hired the Hawks' enemies and revealed the Hawks' secret identities. It was a good concept for a series. Something that made Hawkman different from the other superhero comics out there.

Nov. '86 - Grendel # 2

I'm a big fan of Matt Wagner's work. He wrote what is my favourite comic series, Sandman Mystery Theatre. A piece of his original art from Batman/Grendel is hanging on the wall in front of me. I have a tattoo of Batman on my arm that is based on a Wagner drawing of the character. So when I saw the first 10 issues of Grendel at a comic show last year on sale as a set, I was quick to pick them up. I had bought the first two when they came out originally in 1986 but never saw any issues after that.

This series started out focusing on Christine Spar as the newest Grendel. I don't have a lot of the later issues but I know it changes in focus later on. I've only read the first two issues so far and they have been great. Matt Wagner didn't do the art in these first issues. It was done by the Pander Brothers who were very stylish. I remember when I was reading these issues back in '86, how different it was from the normal DC/Marvel fare.

Spar's son has been kidnapped by a Kabuki actor. She realizes many boys have been kidnapped by him but she doesn't know why. The actor, Tujiro XIV, was very strange. When she breaks into his hotel room and finds a briefcase full of eyeballs, we begin to wonder how strange. Definitely different from Batman!

Nov. '86 - Green Lantern Corps # 206

This series changed a great deal after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Guardians had stepped down as mentors for the Green Lanterns. The Lanterns were told that they no longer needed to patrol a certain section of the universe; they could now go wherever they wanted. As a result, 7 Green Lanterns set up shop on Earth, only two of them native to the planet. Having 7 Lanterns on one planet created an instant super-team!

Steve Englehart was the writer of this with Joe Staton on art. I think of this comic as similar to Englehart's West Coast Avengers - an enjoyable comic but not ultra serious. Staton's artwork allowed for very expressive faces and gave the comic a slightly cartoony look. The alien Lanterns were good as they tried to adjust to life on Earth. There was no way for them to adopt secret identities since they looked definitely alien so they were Lanterns all the time. A headquarters was set up for them to live at and where people could find them for help.

The villain of this issue was Black Hand who had the power to absorb the Green Lanterns' power. He was defeated by Kilowog who beat him with his bare hands, showing he didn't need the ring to be effective.

Nov. '86 - D.P. 7 # 1

To celebrate the 25th annivesary of the birth of the Marvel Universe, Marvel decided to create a new universe. It would reflect the real world with only a few fantastic elements. They launched eight titles, most of which didn't last very long and weren't very good. Jim Shooter, then head of Marvel, blamed it on budget cutbacks that limited the money spent on creative people.

I bought all the New Universe first issues when they came out to see what the fuss was about. This and Justice were the only ones I bought past that first issue. D.P. 7 had a concept similar to mutants in the regular Marvel universe. Certain people started developing weird abilities and some of them went to a clinic seeking help. The seven main characters were in a therapy group together. Finding out the head of the clinic wanted them for his own purposes, the 7 escape and live on the run.

The seven characters were very different from each other in backgrounds and personality. It was an enjoyable comic seeing them trying to survive together. Mark Gruenwald was the writer who did an excellent job on the Squadron Supreme limited series. The art was by Paul Ryan who wasn't a fancy artist but did good work.