Random Longbox

I know that I mentioned yesterday how I was looking forward to reading The Defenders #51 for some good, old-fashioned Hulk action. Well don't hold your breath, as Hulk was barely in the issue, although he does have one rather riveting scene with an ice cream cone vendor. You Nighthawk fans, however, will be quite pleased.

One thing I did notice in this book was how different in tone it felt from today's comics...and I mean really different. I know it was the swingin' seventies, but come on.

We'll start out with the tame one first.

Comic book characters have been smoking cigarettes and cigars for decades, so this one really isn't that big of a deal. Maybe more so for some readers who have only started reading comics since the turn of the century, but back in the old days there were a certain group of characters who would've seemed out of place without a stogie...Nick Fury first among them.

Still, it's not something that you see much of anymore so it definitely stands out. Check out this post over at Silver Age Comics for an even older example that is too funny to believe.

And since this book is drawn by Keith Giffen, we're even treated to panels drawn from Fury's second hand smoke!

That wasn't that bad, but they only get worse from here.

You know what would go really good with that stogie?

Why an ice cold Schlitz Beer! And here's Moon Knight to tell you all about it.

This panel kinda makes the whole brouhaha about Superman holding a bottle of beer on a recent cover of Action Comics seem kinda silly.

Unless all of the underage drinking that has been ravaging our vulnerable American teenage population can be blamed on this one Moon Knight panel. Then I guess I can kinda see DC's concern.

And since this book is drawn by Keith Giffen, we're even treated to a panel drawn in the shape of a beer can!

So now that Marvel has subconsciously suggested that we should all be smoking and drinking our way through life, what are they going to try to sell us in their advertisements?

Guns and ammunition, of course! It seems perfectly safe and reasonable to me.

Finally, after a hard day of reading comics, smoking stogies, drinking beer, and shooting squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional neighbor kid...how's a boy supposed to wind down and relax?

With your very own movie projector. That's right, now you too can kick back in the privacy of your own home and watch home movies.

Although somehow I don't recall my home movies being as sexy as the ones in this advertisement. Wait a minute...they're not subtly suggesting that we watch something else on this, are they?

Nah, these books are for kids. They wouldn't do that.

UPDATE: So while I was helping the wife sell her photos on the campus of Michigan State University over the weekend, a new and previously unkown bit of her history came into the light.

She used to belong to the local chapter of the Daisy Air Rifle Gun Club when she was a girl!

I truly don't know what is more amazing...the fact that she can shoot an apple off of my head at fifty paces, or that there are still untold stories about her past that I'm discovering after 15 years of being together.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any of her old home movies either.

TITLE: SuperPatriot #4

PUBLISHER: Image

COVER DATE: November 1993

COVER PRICE: $1.95

24 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I actually don't remember a whole lot about this title, other than it had some killer artwork by Dave Johnson (which I touched upon here already), and that it was more fun than I thought it would be going into it.

Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon was a fun book, and was definitely the most put together of the initial Image titles. Because of the quality of that title, I tended to give his other series at least an initial read. Of those, I remember enjoying two...SuperPatriot and Vanguard.

SuperPatriot

• Creator/Scripter: Erik Larsen
• Plotter/Storyteller: Keith Giffen
• Penciller/Inker: Dave Johnson
• Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
• Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
• Color Separation: Digital Chameleon
• Editor: Jannie Wong

The first page is a nice splash page that reminds me instantly why I like Dave Johnson's artwork.

In the foreground is one of the Youngblood guys, whose name I can't remember. I'm sure it's Death-something or Blood-something...We'll just call him DeathBlood for now.

The visuals on DeathBlood are all right, as Johnson does the best he can with the design he's been given. The real highlights are the U.S. Soldiers in the background. I like the way he draws tech, as it's pretty unique and looks usable and used at the same time.

It seems that DeathBlood has been called in to put a stop to SuperPatriot's rampage. He's apparently an old friend, and it's up to him to talk him down. The first thing DeathBlood does is give us his name. It's Diehard. I was close.

SuperPatriot doesn't seem to remember or care about his name either, as he proceeds to blast Diehard in half. This causes one of Diehard's other android bodies to activate, this one being a prototype model, to try again.

Two pages later and the battle still rages, with neither android getting the upper hand. Diehard is not the only member of Youngblood present, as Shaft is on scene too. We find out that the reason that SuperPatriot is out of control is that he's been reprogrammed by the Covenant of the Sword. Shaft tells the suits on scene that this is Diehard's play, and no one moves until he either succeeds or fails.

Diehard succeeds in momentary getting the upper hand, and presses the advantage by ripping off SuperPatriot's weaponized arm.

It's a good thing he has two of them however, as he uses the other one to plaster Diehard with a flurry of gunfire. He leaves him for dead and begins to walk away. Diehard was playing possum, and strikes SuperPatriot from behind with his severed arm.

After Shaft gets the government suits to back down, he has to work on the other members of his own team as Badrock is also itching to get in there and do some damage.

Back to the fighting, and it looks like Diehard is beginning to realize that he can't stop him by force alone. He starts to play on their history together as WWII teammates in The Allies. He rips off his mask and forces him to confront his human side, which is still buried beneath all of his circuitry.

That's eventually enough, as SuperPatriot is finally able to overcome the reprogramming and come to his senses. His link to the Covenant of the Sword is broken.

Back at their secret base, the member in charge of controlling SuperPatriot is demoted in a rather permanent way.

Later, at a government hospital, SuperPatriot is getting fixed up with a new arm and a shiny new, bullet hole free body. He's approached by one of the government agents from earlier, who seems to think that SuperPatriot should be grateful to the U.S. Government for the fact that he is back in one piece. SuperPatriot doesn't see it that way and leaves without saying a word.

SuperPatriot heads to a diner to figure out where to go next, over coffee and pie, when he is approached by an old teammate. It seems Mighty Man is getting the old band back together from the 60's and is looking to do it right this time.

Intrigued by the idea of being able to do some good, outside of government intervention, he agrees.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

...that not all of the early Image stuff isn't worth the million-plus pages of paper it's printed on.

This series was a lot of fun, and even reading just the last issue some 15 years later, it hasn't missed a beat. It doesn't pretend to take itself desperately serious, so if you're looking for a good rip-roaring yarn, you should check out this mini-series.

You'll be more than aptly rewarded with just the artwork alone, as Dave Johnson is truly an original talent.