Fantastic Four #234 (September 1981)

In the Marvel Universe, superhuman beings are a dime a dozen. Magic, mad science, mutation, radiation, it's not difficult for the ordinary to become extraordinary. Most of the time, when a person gains such power, their lives are upended in ways both small and big. During John Byrne's run on the Fantastic Four comic book in the 1980s, the writer/artist gave us a unique take on the tale. What if a man gained incredible power, the power that could rival a god...and was completely unaware of it? That's the tale we'll look at here in Fantastic Four #234!

The cover is pretty neat. It's a John Byrne, Terry Austin, and Gaspar Salandino piece. It depicts the Fantastic Four recoiling with a blank silhouette of a man. The FF are in yellow and the silhouette of the an is in white, contrasting against the plain red background. The cover asks the questions: "WHO is he? WHAT is he?" Well, we gotta read to find out, I guess. The cover promises that Marvel's First Family will face the Man...with the POWER. It's a bit misleading. You'll see what I mean.

"The Man with the Power!"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: John Byrne
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Jean Simek
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with a look at a man waking up in his bedroom.

Say hello to L. R. "Skip" Collins. At first glance, he may seem like an ordinary man. And he is, in many ways. However, he may be the most powerful man to ever walk God's green earth. Skippy gets ready for another day at his job and he looks around at his messy bedroom. Skip is from a different time, and wishes that his wife Elly would clean the place up. He leaves the room, and the room magically cleans itself up, much to the surprise of his waking wife.

Skip is surprised the house is in a nice state, considering the party he and his neighbors had there last night, but he doesn't think much of it. He finds his youngest son Leroy Jr. in the kitchen, reading a girlie mag at the table. Skip tries to tell Junior to not do that, as it upsets Elly. However, he's basically like "Then she shouldn't look". This depresses Skip. All he wants is his son to make something of himself, or at least get his hair cut.

However, Junior's hair is still long and he's still grumbly. Maybe the power has its limits...or maybe Skip secretly desires not to exert too much control over his kids. Skip then goes to his ordinary garage, gets into his ordinary car, and goes to his ordinary job. For 18 years, he's taken a particular route to his job, and on this day, he runs into a traffic jam. This leads Skip to wish that he has left a half-hour earlier to avoid it. And like magic...it is a half-hour earlier.

Like with the bedroom cleaning itself, Skip doesn't notice. He's just relieved that he'll make it to work on time. You'd think he'd notice the traffic jam clearing itself up. Skip arrives at his job, but he finds that he left the keys to his office at home. He has a spare in the office, but that's not going to help. He laments that he didn't leave the door unlocked. After all, it's not like there's anything really valuable to steal, and the factory is guarded. Unnoticed by Skip, the spare key, as if empowered by magic, flies off its hook and unlocks the door. Skip thinks he left the door open after all.

Later in the day, Skip gets a visit from his boss, a Mr. Wilkins. He has a bit of a favor to ask of him. Wilkins has a business meeting in New York City on Monday morning. However, his daughter has a piano recital that afternoon, and he really does not want to miss it. So, he wants Skip to go in his place. I get the feeling that this is not ethical or legal. But Skip's excited. He gets to see the big city!

It's Saturday morning. Skip Collins is ridin' on a jet plane to New York City!

Skip notices a headline on the newspaper the passenger he's seated next to. The headline states that another GI is sick with leukemia, and the article is talking about a epidemic of illnesses in soldiers that were in nuclear tests. That gets our man's attention as he was one such soldier during his Army days back in 1955.

He was doing maneuvers with his unit in Nevada one fateful day. His troop had been given new orders: head out to the desert. Being good obedient soldiers, they did so. The soldiers were ordered to sit with their backs pointing northward and their hands over their eyes. The soldiers felt silly, but obeyed orders. A nuclear device went off, bathing the men in the radiation.

Over the next few weeks, the men were given every examination under the sun, Skip was no exception. Skip felt fine, but felt a strange buzzing in the back of his skull. He said nothing about that, as he thought it was no big deal. It had been 25 years since that day (remember, this comic is from 1981), and the buzzing is still there. He is long used to it.

He's always wanted to visit the City that Never Sleeps, and thanks to this business meeting, he finally gets to visit. Skip goes to see the sights, and like many tourists in the Marvel Universe, he makes his way to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four. Oh yeah, this was a Fantastic Four comic, huh? And speaking of the FF, our unknowing reality warper spots two of the comic's titular team out on the town.

A starstruck Skip follows them around until they happen upon a scene. A young girl was dared to go inside a condemned building due to be brought down today. She ended up on a ledge that is rather high up, and is too frightened to jump to the fireman. Reed Richards, using his stretching powers, is able to grab the girl as the ledge she is standing on collapses. The building itself goes a-tumbling down, but Sue Richards is able to keep it from crushing anyone with her forcefields.

Reed hurriedly orders her to clear the debris. Sue does so, but she wonders why Reed is so worried. He asks her if she felt a bit of vertigo before the building collapsed. She admits she did. The street starts to crumble and rumble. They see every building in the city is starting to come down. Skip was hoping to see the FF in action, but not like this!

We next head to Clancy's Irish Pub. The owner, Mick Clancy, is an old friend of Ben Grimm's. They were test pilots together. And speaking of the Thing, the Idol o' Million himself is enjoying a little drink at said pub. Like every other building in the city, the pub starts a-crumbling down on Ben and Mick's heads. Luckily, the Thing's rocky body ensures he and Mick make it through okay. Ben is horrified by the scene.

Where is Johnny at, you ask? Well, he was at the apartment of his then-main squeeze: One Frankie Raye. She had been part of the Fantastic Four's supporting cast for several years at this point, having first appeared in Fantastic Four #164 (November 1975), co-created by Roy Thomas and George Perez. Frankie and Johnny's (Heh) relationship has been on the rocks, and Johnny is trying to win her back. When they're about to kiss, the building starts to crumble to dust. Johnny flames on and manages to save her and the other tenants of the building. He then heads back to the Baxter Building, the only building that seemingly survived the destruction. Unnoticed by the Human Torch is Skip Collins, who laments the situation.

At the Baxter Building, the FF learn that this phenomenon is far from local. It's hit everywhere. Washington, DC got hit. Paris and London are in flames. Moscow is now just a big pile of rubble.
Even the West Coast of the US has gone silent. It's like some sinister force is attacking the planet all at once.

Reed already has some ideas as to what's caused this, and sends the rest of the Four to help out where they can.

Skip watches Sue, Ben, and Johnny fly off and it makes him feel helpless. Skip is a good man, and he wishes he could help out. Almost as if the cosmos heard his wish, the man vanishes.

The FF go where they can to help. At the Brooklyn Bridge, the Thing is trying to keep the landmark from utterly collapsing. It's not that easy as there's a freighter snagged in it, and the riverbed has appeared to have given way. Ben is the only thing keeping the bridge up. He then notices Skip on the bridge. At this moment, the freighter is able to get clear of the bridge. A piece of the bridge's stone framework breaks away, and smashes into Skip.

Yup, that'll hurt.

Ben dives into the water. He finds the piece of bridge that pulverized Skip...but Skip's body is missing. The Thing is forced to surface, but sees a flare in the shape of a "4" in the sky. Reed's a-calling. Reed has discovered that the destruction was caused by something out in space using waves of gravity as a probe. New York City was hit the hardest because the probe was focused on him. It could be a possible prelude to an attack from outer space.

A somehow-hale and hearty Skip watches the Fantastic Four's rocket take off from the Baxter Building. This breaks the man's heart, as he believes the Earth is doomed. If the FF couldn't save them, what hope is there? This disaster...should never have happened. And Skip's power...grants his wish.

Skip's strange power not just fixes the damage, but brings things back the way they were before the gravity waves wrecked everything. In a now-restored New York, a confused Skip finds himself standing on a dock, wondering how he got there. He looks at his watch, and gasps at the time. He's got tickets to a Broadway show, and he's going to be late! He's gotta find a taxi! Skip heads out to hail a cab, the strange buzzing in his head now gone. Although he doesn't really notice.

Out in space, the Fantastic Four are flying out to the source of the gravity waves. They pass into a field full of remnants of destroyed planets. The group discover a gigantic cloud of gas. Reed believes that cloud is the source, so the group head into it.

Inside the cloud, they find massive vine-like tendrils...and they look like they're decaying. Reed states they are inside a bio-verse. A clearly dying one. The rocket is pulled by gravity towards something, and they'll be clear of the cloud. However, when they do get clear...the FF discover where they are.

You may know of Ego the Living Planet if you ever watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, portrayed by Kurt Russell. That's right, he's come to Earth to pursue an unknown enemy of his, and he's willing to destroy Earth to get them!

This comic was really good. We have seen many a story of regular people gaining superpowers and dealing with the changes in their lives as a result. The idea of someone gaining godlike power and not even being aware of it is a great twist on the concept. It's neat seeing Skip go through his life not realizing that he has the power of a god, and being a man who unknowingly helped save the world. I can imagine this may happen in the Marvel Universe more than people realize.

The only thing that I could regard as having any real criticism is that Skip seems a bit too oblivious. I do get that Byrne is trying to show that he's not an imaginative man who desires anonymity and to just live like a regular Joe, but you'd think that he would notice some of the odd stuff going on around him, especially since he lives in a world like the Marvel Universe. Also, I would have liked to have seen some other superheroes react to the utter destruction of New York. After all, the City that Never Sleeps has many superheroes active in it.

John Byrne turns in some very fine artwork for this story. The layouts, in my opinion, help give the comic a bit of a cinematic feel to it, which fits a story about the utter destruction of an entire city. Byrne uses panel size to great effect for this. The narration in the comic does feel a bit Claremont-esque, but that's likely an influence from his and Chris Claremont's work on X-Men together.

This comic, early in the run, is a preview of the imagination that John Byrne would bring to the story. If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2009 trade paperback Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, where we join the Justice League as they deal with a group of anti-nuke superheroes from another world...

Wonder Woman #214 (November 1974)

It's that time again! It's time to join the Amazing Amazon known as Wonder Woman as she undergoes her Twelve Trials to rejoin the Justice League! Back in January, Superman regaled us of her first trial, where she battled the Batman villain Cavalier and his army of hypnotized women. In February, the Flash told the tale of her second trial, in which she joined forces with an anti-war protestor and a gangster to battle a robot that ended all conflict.

These two were...pretty stupid. They felt like first drafts to me. But hey, let's be optimistic. There's still ten other trials left. Maybe things will improve. So, let's join the Emerald Gladiator, the Green Lantern, as he tells the tale of Wonder Woman's third trial. Appropriate that we look at this comic in March, considering this month has St. Patrick's Day, and well...Green Lantern. Let's take a look at Wonder Woman #214!

The cover is rather interesting. It's a Bob Oksner piece, and it depicts Green Lantern standing in front of an image of Wonder Woman trying to lasso a bomb-dropping plane. Can she prevent it from blowing Moscow into borscht? We also see two smaller images. One is of a Golden Age-styled Wonder Woman standing in front of a wanted poster of her that's being shot at. There's Sotrmtrooper aiming, and then there's this. The second image shows Wondy trying to strangle a dragon with a tree. That dragon was peeking in on her while changing. It deserves what it gets.

The comic promises 100 pages for only 60 cents! However, most of these stories are reprints of older Wonder Woman tales. The trial is the only "new" story in this comic, and it's the one we're going to look at here. Also, it's the only tale in the trade collection. So there's that.

"Wish Upon a Star!"
Writer: Elliot S! Maggin
Penciler: Curt Swan
Inker: Frank Giacola
Letterer: Unknown
Colorist: Unknown
Editor: Unknown

The story begins with Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, flying to the Justice League Satellite. He's come to report in on Wonder Woman's third labor. Hal had been charging his ring when his power battery flashed like it had shorted out. This worries Hal, as he needs the battery to keep his ring working. However, the Power Battery is an advanced piece of technology, and it would take something really extraordinary to mess with it.

Using his ring, Hal tracks the source of the strange disturbance to New York City. Wonder Woman's been working there as part of the United Nations' Crisis Bureau. It's there he finds the Amazing Amazon taking to a man named Lord Rosewater. She's recommending this new restaurant to him called Hank's Pub. It's an English-style restaurant with a Henry VIII-theme. The owner is even named Henry Tudor. I imagine that wasn't his birth surname.

Lord Rosewater is excited, as he is hoping to enjoy some good British food. Eh, I like a good bacon butty myself. Hal follows them to the restaurant.

Mr. Tudor himself is wearing an amulet, and it's emitting a slight glow in Diana's presence. He tells Diana that she is his millionth guest. Now I know what you're thinking: "Wait a minute, isn't this a new restaurant? How could he have had a million guests already?" Well, it's simple: he can't count. Tudor invites Diana and Lord Rosewater to a feast as his guests. Meanwhile, Hal sneaks in and poses as a waiter.

In his report, Hal reveals that the amulet around Henry's neck was actually a magical Celtic trinket. He bought it off of an Roma woman in Coney Island a year earlier. He opened up Hank's Pub a short time later. However, despite the unique theme, the bar was not doing so well. He ended up in debt, and he needed cash. He remembers that the Roma woman told him that when his trinket is in the presence of a "sister amulet", the wishes of the amulet holders will come true...a fat lot of good that does him right now.

Henry's luck changed when Diana arrived. She had complimented him on the duck roast and said she wished he had some ducks...for some reason. Henry sees the landlord of his pub coming and wishes that he could be delayed. And as if fate had granted his desire, the landlord got hit by a truck...a truck carrying a duck order. It was also at that moment that Hal's Power Battery had acted up. Wonder Woman grabbed the landlord and took his to the hospital. This surprises Tudor and gets him to thinking. Maybe the old Roma woman wasn't talking nonsense. After all, it is the DC Universe.

This weird turn of events convinces him that Diana may have the "sister amulet" to his. Back in the present, Tudor presents a cake to Diana and Lord Rosewater to a celebratory cake, where he invites her to blow out the candle and make a wish. To test out his theory, he makes a wish of his own: To be King of the World. Wow, jumping into the whole "world domination" thing already, Hank?

It makes Hal's ring act up, forcing him to remove it and put it in his pocket. Lord Rosewater gets a message from his...beeper. Yeah, he has a pager. In 1974. I'm not kidding! I thought pagers were a thing in the 90s! Well, to be fair, pagers were developed in the 1950s and 60s, but it blows my mind that someone in 1974 would have a pager like we think of them. At that moment, some events occurred all over Earth.

In Omaha, Nebraska, the US military loses contact with a bomber. The plane flies into the borders of the Soviet Union. The JLA is unaware of this thinks to their satellite's systems being messed with it. Green Arrow, who was on monitor duty at the time, grumbles that alien gadgetry shouldn't be trusted. Lord Rosewater and Diana head back to the Crisis Bureau, with Diana taking her Invisible Jet there.

At the UN, Diana listens in the crisis. A bomber with two nuclear warheads in it is on its way to Moscow, there's no way to stop it. If those warheads hit, the USSR has an automatic system for retaliation...and there's no way to stop that. Did...did Diana just stumble into Dr. Strangelove?!

Diana, if a man named General Ripper asks about your "precious bodily fluids", run. Run as a fast as you can. He is not a well man. So, what's going on with Mr. Tudor? Well, he's on his way to the bank to get some money to pay his rent. He's taken to the bank's new safety deposit box vault. A vault that is bomb-proof. A tremor erupts that traps him inside the vault. The vault has a time-lock system, so he's trapped for the next seven hours.

Wondy's invisible plane races through the sky, trying to reach the bomber. She catches the plane with her magic lasso, and decides now is a good time to practice her tightrope act.

The crew of the bomber spot the Amazing Amazon, and the gunner opens fire on her. Uh, fellas? If Wonder Woman is walking towards your plane using her lasso as a tightrope, she may be trying to tell you something!

She's able to sneak onto the plane, but Diana finds herself caught in the plane's...unique security system.

Wait, was this plane's security system specially designed for her in mind? Wonder Woman fears she has lost her powers, as back in the Silver Age, if she is shackled by a man, she loses her powers. Thing is...were the people of this plane expecting her? She explains to the crew the big situation, and they agree to not drop the bombs...until the bombs are dropped. Whoops. Welp, World War III is here, it was nice knowing y'all! Try not to get mutated too badly out there!

Wait, there's still hope! Diana leaps out of the plane after the bombs. She coils her magic lasso around the giant bringers of nuclear destruction, and then squeezes the bombs with the lasso until they blow.

"Now she's radioactive! That can't be good!"

With that crisis over, Hal's ring is working again. As well as all the communications equipment. He also was able to find King Henry Tudor. Tudor's wish to be king of the world accidentally became true. In that vault, he would have survived an apocalypse. What did Diana wish for? Well, Hal doesn't know. He imagines she wished to return to the League. As far as the Emerald Gladiator is concerned, she's earned it. The story ends with him flying out of the League satellite.

This issue was...well, like the others, kind of stupid. The story felt like a first draft in places. Particularly with Tudor's amulet. The whole thing with the amulet requiring a "sister" amulet felt needless, just a pointless addition. I felt that there was some missed opportunity to pay homage to Dr. Strangelove with this story. The film did come out a few years before this comic, after all. There could have been a real opportunity to do some commentary on the Cold War, but it was missed. Diana doing the tightrope walk was pretty awesome, though.

Tudor isn't really much of a supervillain, though. I think it would have been better if he was portrayed as just a man who went in over his head. Would fit Wonder Woman. His dressing up as the English king was pretty funny. Curt Swan again turns in some fine art. It's neat seeing him on a non-Superman DC book, as he has considered THE Superman artist at the time. His art is really one of the few good things about this comic.

If you want to read this for yourself, I do recommend hunting down the 2012 trade paperback Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time, where we look at the tale of a man...with the POWER...

Quantum League Announcement Trailer, My Thoughts

Time travel is a funny thing. It has many potential uses. One could use it to solve some of history's greatest mysteries. One could use it to help prevent disasters. Or, you could use it to team up with your past and future selves for some first-person shooter action. That's the premise of Quantum League, and let's look at the trailer for it!

BOOM!

"Yeah, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got in this situation."

Let's hit the rewind button on this, shall we?

Looks-wise, this game reminds me of Overwatch. Heck, you could consider these two games in the same universe... if they were developed by the same people. This is an indie game. It's not made by Blizzard.

I wonder how in this world this whole "Quantum League" thing works. How do you avoid time paradoxes and the like?

I wonder if these two will be the only characters we play as. Will there be others? Will we see these characters be given names, backstories, and lore like the characters in Overwatch? These characters seem like they should be actual characters, not just avatars.

Speaking of avatars, I wonder if you can create your own playable character and customize them? That would be cool, too.

Blond glasses dude makes me think of Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat for some reason.

"Bang, you dead."

I have to admit, the game looks like a ton of fun, although it does raise some questions. Mainly, how does this work? How do you team up with your past and suture selves? How do you prevent timeline contamination? You can tell I grew up watching Back to the Future, right? I admit, my experience with first-person shooters is...limited. I only ever really played Doom and Chex Quest. Yes, Chex Quest, that game rocked. I may give this a try.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello to all my readers! I want to wish you all a happy St. Patrick's Day today!

This day is about Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The day celebrates Christianity coming to Ireland (which St. Patrick was credited for), and has also become a celebration of Irish culture in general. Basically, St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to people there, which is why the shamrock is used as a symbol of this day.

In Ireland, the day is a public holiday. It's celebrated in other countries with Irish populations as well, mainly in the form of parades and wearing green. You can read more about the day here, and you can read more about the man himself here.

Have a happy day, and don't forget to wear something green! See you next time, and please remember to wash your hands often, and stay home if you feel sick.

Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Launch Trailer, My Thoughts

At E3 in 2019, it was announced that En Masse Entertainment and onus XP would be making a game based on the Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which was a prequel to the 1982 film The Dark Crystal. And now the launch trailer is here! Let's take a look!

In the game, you play as a Gelfing, naturally. Yeah, Age of Resistance was about the Gelfings trying to fight off the Skeksis. Naturally, if you watched The Dark Crystal, then you know how that went.

I have to admit, normally tactics games are not my cup of tea. However, there was this one I did play on Xbox Live Arcade years ago that I enjoyed...I wish I could remember the name of it.

One of the things The Dark Crystal is known for is its designs and world, designed by Brian Froud. He helped make the world of the movie look truly unique. It's really cool we see some of that here.

I like that the game looks colorful. Hopefully there will also be a variety of places we can have our party fight in. Would help show that Thra is a world that is very diverse and is more than just forests and the Skeksis' castle.

There really was not a whole lot to say about this trailer, as it was very short. But I did like what I saw. This game reminded me of the tactics game I enjoyed on my Xbox 360 all those years ago. I wish I could remember its name. I enjoyed The Dark Crystal and the prequel series on Netflix was pretty good, too. I think I'll give this game a try!

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!

Superboy #1 (February 1994)

For decades, Superboy has been a part of the Superman mythos. The original Superboy was actually a teenage Clark Kent himself, first appearing in More Fun Comics #101 (January-February 1945). For about 40 years, DC would chronicle the adventures of the teenage Clark Kent's adventures before he became Superman. It was during his time as Superboy that other characters important to the Superman mythos would be introduced, including Lana Lang and Pete Ross. It also gave an origin to the enmity between the Man of Steel and Lex Luthor.

When the Crisis on Infinite Earths hit, one of the changes to the DCU's history that resulted from that event was that Clark Kent's adventures during the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics as Superboy was removed from canon. In the post-Crisis DCU, Clark Kent started the superhero gig when he was already an adult. However, the idea of a teenage Superman never really went away.

The Death of Superman storyline in 1993 saw an opportunity for the creatives of the Superman books at the time to introduce a new take on the Boy of Steel. In Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993), writer Karl Kesel and artist Tom Grummett introduced the Modern Age Superboy, a metahuman clone created by cloning experts Project Cadmus. The lone would literally be just known as "Superboy" due to his not getting a proper name for a time. Eventually, he would be given the Earth name Conner Kent, and the Kryptonian name Kon-El.

This Superboy would eventually go on to join Young Justice and the Teen Titans. Conner would survive the New 52 reboot, albeit with a new origin (created by the organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E., first introduced in the Doom Patrol book). Then DC Rebirth hit, and his history became a whole confusing mess.

Conner would go on to appear in media outside of comics. He would appear in Smallville portrayed by Jakob Davies, Connor Stanhope, and Lucas Grabeel. He would also appear in the live-action Titans series portrayed by Joshua Orbin. The character would also appear in cartoons. Conner was one of the main characters of the Young Justice series, voiced by Nolan North. He also appeared in the Reign of the Supermen animated film, voiced by Cameron Monaghan. While Conner did not appear in the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, he was one of the inspirations for the character of Superman X, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.

The comic I'm looking at here was actually the third Superboy title DC had published. The first one went from 1949 to 1977, which then got followed up by The New Adventures of Superboy which went from 1980-1984. The second Superboy series had lasted from 1989 to 1991, and it was a comic tie-in to the Superboy live-action TV series. All these series focused on the Clark Kent Superboy. This 1994 Superboy series was the first to focus on the future Kon-El. It would last until 2002. And with that out of the way, let's take a look at Superboy #1!

The cover is pretty good, albeit a bit basic. A Tom Grummett piece, it depicts our hero flying over Hawaii with the sun rising behind him. It's a very well-drawn piece, but there's not much I can say about it. It's just Superboy flying. That's it.

"Trouble in Paradise"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciler: Tom Grummett
Inker: Doug Hazelwood
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Editor: Frank Pittarese
Executive Editor: Jenette Khan

The story begins with Superboy flying over the skies of Hawaii.

"Wheeeeeeeee!"

A villain named Sidearm is wreaking havoc on a beach, and he's got a girl hostage. He's holding a girl hostage, and is able to use his robotic arm to knock back the Boy of Steel in the form of a Mighty Backhand.

Superboy is able to use his "tactile telekinesis" (He has the power to telekinetically manipulate anything he touches) to give Sidearm some Mighty Sand to the Face, allowing the girl (named Roxy) to escape. She's there with her father Rex Leech and Dubbilex. Dubbilex is an artificial lifeform, created by the same people who created Superboy.

Sidearm tries to use his robotic weapon system to slice her open like a stuck pig, but Superboy is able to stop it, and use his power to disassemble the arm. The two continue to fight, but Sidearm is able to use his robotic arm to choke Superboy. The young metahuman takes to the air as the police arrive.

Meet Sam Makoa. Federal agent, Native Hawaiian, and not a fan of superheroes. It's here we learn that Rex Leech was here with Superboy as part of a "Supertour"...and the man is not the best with money, considering his history of debts. Hawaii was the last stop of the American leg of the tour. Rex sells Superboy merchandise, and he also stages a rescue for Superboy.

Sidearm happened to be in the area, and that's how we got here. And it's that this point Superboy and Sidearm crash into the ground.

"That'll hurt!"

They crash into a Navy base at Pearl Harbor, where Superboy is able to take down Sidearm. The Navy want to arrest the two, but Makoa takes custody of them. He points out to Superboy that Hawaii has no need for superheroes. I dunno, I think Sidearm showed that Hawaii having one wouldn't hurt. 100 feet below the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, the battle caused some havoc at an underground chamber.

We next shift scene to a bar in Honolulu's Chinatown. At a bar, a rather stunning redhead is enjoying a drink and watching Superboy layeth the smackethdown on Sidearm. She thinks Superboy is kind of cute...in a jailbait-y way. Yeah, keep in mind here, this Superboy looked a teenager, but was actually only about a few months old. He is a clone of Superman, after all.

A sailor who has had a few hundred too many asks the redhead to dance. The lady, named "Kay", gives him her duffel bag to hold...which ends up making him fall to the ground. What is in that bag? Oh, just the usual girl stuff: Clothes, beauty items, couple hundred pounds of weights. You know, the essentials for any lady. Kay shows that she is eager to meet the Boy of Steel.

We next look in at a police station in Honolulu. A mysterious item has arrived for Sam Makoa: a green cube. I would say that it's a bootleg Cosmic Cube, but this is the DC Universe. The Hawaiian G-Man knows exactly what this is: A calling card from a group called the Silicon Dragons.

When the Dragons send a message, they do it in style!

Makoa had been fighting the Dragons for a long time. Heck, the group developed a bit of respect for the man. But with Superboy now in town, they're going to escalate things. After all, he's was believed to be a Kryptonian. That's nothing to sneeze at, even in the post-Crisis DCU.

After the battle, Superboy is being interviewed by some media folks, who are wondering if he's going to be sticking around. He admits that he likes the islands, but he's going to be leaving soon. However, he may be finding himself staying around a while longer when an old friend of his reveals herself.

Superboy had last crossed paths with Miss Tana Moon back in Metropolis during the events of Action Comics #693 (November 1993), and the two had met in Adventures of Superman #501 (June 1993). She had just taken up a reporting job for KONA-TV, and she lives in Hawaii now.

This comic was pretty good. What it did very well was set up Superboy's new status quo for his series. He's going to operate out of Hawaii, we meet the supporting cast, we get some storylines set up, it does everything a first issue should do. We get a very good idea of Superboy's personality: confident, cocky, a bit girl-crazy, but no less a hero in his own way. It's a well-written first issue. Tom Grummett in my opinion is a criminally-underrated artist. He always turns in some very fine work. His characters are expressive, and he's a great storyteller. His work is always a joy to look at, and I think he deserves to be regarded as a great artist.

I know people like to bash the 90s when it comes to comics, and there are understandable reasons why. *coughRobLiefeldcough* But there were some good things going on comics-wise, you just had to look around a bit. And Superman's little corner of the DCU at the time was actually very good. Superboy's title was no exception. Early-90s Superman was enjoyable, and as I have said in the past, deserves a lot more love in my opinion.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Superboy Book 1: Trouble in Paradise. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time as we join the Amazing Amazon, Wonder Woman, as she undertakes her third labor...

Happy Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th is a day that is associated with bad luck. The idea of it being bad luck can be traced back to the Middle Ages, tying back to the tale of the Last Supper. There were thirteen people at it (Jesus and his Twelve Apostles) and he was crucified on Good Friday. You can read more about it here.

In more popular culture, it's associated with this guy.

Hope you all managed to avoid him, as he tends to...not be a friendly dude. Got some weird thing about machetes and his mother and Mortal Kombat and yada yada yada. Hope your Friday the 13th was not a bad day. See you around!