Wolfpack #4 (November 1988)

It's that time again! It's time to join the Wolfpack as they fight to save the South Bronx from the evil known only as The Nine. Last time, Sharon and her father took in a young boy in need, the Pack stopped a gang war that would have turned the South Bronx into a warzone, and Slag's mother unwittingly gave the Nine a way to get their claws on the Pack. So, what happens next, you may ask? Let's find out in Wolfpack #4!

The cover is a Ron Wilson and Kyle Baker piece. It's pretty neat, depicting what looks like a samurai about to take the head of Slippery Sam, and the rest of the Pack trying to save him. My big critique of the cover is the coloring of the samurai man's skin. The colorist used a pale-yellow tone, which was used in the Golden Age to color Asian characters, and is seen as rather offensive. This was a dumb choice, in my opinion.

The story begins at noon in the South Bronx. A mailman is making some deliveries to some PO Boxes, unaware that a group of men are waiting to ambush him. You see, it's the first of the month, and this is the day welfare checks are delivered. The men want the checks because they see it as way to get some easy money.

The mailman is armed with mace, but the men are still able to overpower him and make off with said checks. 

This new form of chiropractic therapy is WEEEEIRD...

The police arrive but have no leads. Inspector Cassidy is especially frustrated by this. You see, this robbery is the fifth such theft on this block. Slippery Sam and Rafael Vega happen to be nearby, and he asks them to have their little "Wolfpack" let him know if they hear anything. 

Rafael heads home and finds his apartment building's mailboxes have been smashed, too. 

Mrs. Vega reveals her welfare check was stolen, too. She's been needing it thanks to her losing her job. And she can't get another one because so many people fake getting their checks stolen. The family needs some extra money, so Rafael considers getting a job.

...wait a minute there. According to the graphic novel, Rafael was working at the Welchmerz family's hardware store before it got busted up. Has it not been repaired yet? There has been nothing indicating that Rafael was fired or even that he was not a good worker. Also, he's friends with Slippery Sam, the son of the owner. I can't imagine why he'd not re-hire Rafael after the store got repaired. 

Anyway, we go from one Wolfpack member's family drama to another. Sharon is drawing a bath for Malcolm, the abused little boy she and her father took in in the last issue. Sharon's dad (seriously, what is this guy's name) got some new clothes for him, but he points out that Malcolm needs a proper home. He helps Malcolm with the faucets when he notices the bruises on the boy's back.

After putting the boy to bed, Sharon tells her father she's going out to get some milk for Malcolm. Her old man thinks she's actually going out to see Rafael. He doesn't like the boy, as he thinks he's a criminal. Malcolm follows Sharon to her Pack meeting. 

At the meeting, Rafael thinks he may know who the welfare check thief is. He once had a friend called "Ice" who did time for this sort of thing. The teenager thought Ice was still in the clink, but he's evidently out...and back to his old tricks. 

At a check-cashing place in the South Bronx, the FBI and Inspector Cassidy are working on a little trap for the check thieves. 

Page 162, Panel 2

Cassidy hopes this works, as he wants these thieves. Wants them bad. While he's trying to trap them, the Wolfpack are playing detective themselves.

"I think these kids are called the Packwolves or something." 

The patrons of this pool hall are not really in the mood to talk. Instead, they want to fight. So, the Wolfpack obliges them, by showing that not only can they fight well, they can do it in the dark. With the lights switched off, the Pack easily beats down the patrons. Rafael ends it with a warning that he's coming for his former friend...while getting a man to try some delicious pool ball.

"Hey, this pool ball doesn't taste like chicken!"

The next day, at Horace Harding High School, two students approach Rafael. They're taking him to meet with this Mr. "Ice".

"Hey, Raf. You got my Funyuns?"

You can tell he thinks he’s…the coolest man in town. 

Sorry. Rafael asks him if he's stealing welfare checks, and Ice outright says, "Yes, I am!" Yeah, he just outright tells him about it. If only all criminal interrogations were that easy. He wants to get a piece of the racket pie. He even gives Rafael back his mother's welfare check, warning him to stay out of the way. Some of Ice's boys go to cash the welfare checks using phony IDs, unaware that Cassidy is watching them.

The money is given to Ice. He puts it in a briefcase with a bunch of other money. He's going to buy some drugs from some dude in Chinatown calling himself "The Overlord." Once Ice makes this deal, he is in with the Nine. Over at a community center in the Bronx, the Wolfpack attend a tenant meeting.

"AND I WANT THOSE BLASTED KIDS OFF MY LAWN!"

A man heading the meeting calls for tenant patrols and pressuring the police to work harder on finding the thieves. The Wolfpack agrees to do something before the tenants get involved. The Pack follow Ice and his men to Mott Street, an actual place in New York City. Ice and his crew make their way to a Chinese restaurant...mmmm, fried shrimp...

Sorry about that. I like fried shrimp. Anyway, hidden underneath the restaurant is a dojo run by said "Overlord".

"Really? You whip off your pants in front of my men?"

Yeah, this dude fashions himself as a Japanese-style shogun...in Chinatown. Pete's sake...

Anyway, he sees Ice as a small-time hoodlum. He is impressed with the money that the man got from the welfare check thefts, but what he is more interested in is Ice's character. You see, the Overlord is the head of an operation that makes around a million dollars a year. He can't just hand that out to some punk from the streets who steals welfare checks. He wants a man who can handle the job...and who would not lead the Wolfpack to his base.

So, yeah. We got the Wolfpack fighting a bunch of ninjas. 

Slippery Sam sees a vent and crawls through it to the Overlord's secret dojo. Sam easily takes down Ice with Boot to the Face, but the Overlord proves to be more of a challenge. Sam grabs a sword to try and even the odds, but the Overlord knocks it out of his hands with his own sword and tries to slash at Sam. Sam is able to dodge it, but he can't do it forever.

Thankfully, the police arrive and the Wolfpack decide that's their cue to exit stage right.

The Overlord also escapes, but it's not a total loss. The Wolfpack retrieve the uncashed welfare checks and get them to their rightful recipients. A young boy calls out Rafael for betraying Ice, and Rafael points out that Ice did not deserve loyalty. After all, one of the checks Ice's boys made off with was meant to go to the kid's family. Think about that if that check is stolen again. 

I enjoyed this issue as a one-shot story. The cover promised that the Nine will strike back, but it seems that instead, the Wolfpack end up doing the striking. I did have a couple of issues with this comic. One I talked about earlier was Rafael not having a job. I do also wish that this issue touched a bit on Slag's mother ending up working for Crenshaw, though. Hopefully, we'll get a little more on that next issue. Still, this issue was enjoyable. I've said this about the art in the past, it does have a nice gritty style that fits the setting and the tone of the story. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Wolfpack: The Complete Collection. Thanks for reading this blog entry!

National Pet Day!

Today is National Pet Day!

This day is about celebrating pets. Pets of all kinds. Dogs, cats, fish, bunnies, even gators. Yes, I would not be surprised if there are people who own pet gators. I can imagine that's a thing in Florida.

National Pet Day was created in 2006 by Colleen Paige. An animal welfare advocate, she came up with this day as a way to celebrate the joy and health benefits of owning pets. It's been shown that owning pets can be good for heart health. 

Paige also used the day to raise awareness of the many pets in shelters looking to be adopted. And there are a lot of them. About 6.5 million pets come to shelters. Lots of animals out there needing a little bit of love. 

So, give your pets a little bit of extra love today!

Joker: Folie a Deux Trailer, My Thoughts

Let's look at the trailer! 

What are you laughing at, Fleck?

Or some of us just enjoy listening to some good tunes.

(good tunes)

"How come I don't get a colorful umbrella?"

(come on, man)

Oh, I get it now. Todd Phillips also wants to rip off William Shatner's famous performance of Elton John's "Rocket Man".

(roll eyes)

"I really want a donut, man. They got no donuts here! I keep asking them to get donuts, but they never get any donuts! Mmmm...donuts..."

(Homer drool)

Artie's been doing LSD again, hasn't he?

Well, it is good to see he's channeling his energies into doing constructive, like training for the Boston Marathon.

"Oh yeah, the Internet loved the dancing steps bit. I'll do it again!" 

Nice to see the film still continuing the pseudo-philosophy. 🙄

"Look, I drew a smile. I'm an artist." 

Solar Eclipse!

Happy Solar Eclipse Day!

On this day, we got to see the moon pass between the Earth and the Sun. This day saw a total solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is when the moon completely obscures the Sun, leaving only a very faint corona visible. This type of eclipse occurs every 18 months on average. This is unlike a lunar eclipse, in which the Earth passes between the sun and moon. 

"Wait a second!" You may be asking yourself. "If this kind of eclipse happens every 18 months, why is it such a big deal?" Well, that's because of the orbits of the Moon 🌑 around the Earth 🌎 and the Earth around the Sun 🌞. You see, the Moon's orbit around the Earth, just like the Earth's around the sun, is not perfectly circular. It's elliptical. The Moon's orbit is also tilted at about 5 degrees to the Earth's. This is the reason why the Sun and Moon can appear to be different sizes in the sky. The elliptical orbits cause differences in distances between the three celestial bodies. As a result, the Moon's shadow often misses Earth. In fact, if the Moon's orbit was circular, and shared an orbital plane with Earth's, total solar eclipses would occur once a month with every new moon.

The reason why this eclipse is such a big deal is because people seeing such a solar eclipse is a bit of a rarity. It's not often that the moon's shadow passes over the Earth like this. This eclipse passed over North America, allowing it be seen in Mexico, Canada, and the United States at one time. This will be the only time in the 21st century that this will happen. Which I found annoying.

Let me explain. You see, I live in Upstate New York. I was in an area that would get a great view of the eclipse. I did get to see part of the eclipse, but the clouds conspired to prevent viewing the moon completely covering the sun. I did try to get some pictures of it, but it didn't work out. A shame, really. Maybe I'll go see the stream of it on Disney+.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! if you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

New Defenders #130 (April 1984)

Much like in our world, the 1980s of the Marvel Universe had the specter of the Cold War hanging over it. And there were plenty of supervillains who wanted to use that to achieve their own goals. One villain wanted to not only heat up said Cold War, but ignite it to the point it would destroy the Earth. And only one team of heroes could stop it. Not the Avengers, not the Fantastic Four, not the X-Men. The ragtag bunch of heroes known as the New Defenders. Can they succeed? Let's find out in New Defenders #130!

The cover is a Frank Cirocco piece. It focuses on Valkyrie herself, depicting her holding a sword in the background while a smaller version of her is shown flying on Aragorn. It's well-drawn, but it's not a very dynamic cover, in my opinion. Would make a great poster, though. I'd love to have this as a poster.

"And in the End!"
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Penciler: Mike Zeck
Inker: Kim DeMulder
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editors: Carl Potts, Ann Nocenti
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with New Defenders Valkyrie and Moondragon on a rocket as it's taking off. 

Ladies, that is not how you ride a rocket!

Sheesh, can't they just go inside the rocket like normal astronauts? 😖

The rocket is part of a plan by a resurgent Secret Empire led by a villain named Professor Anthony Power to start World War III. Valkyrie is able to damage the rocket's guidance systems with her sword Dragonfang. The rocket starts to fall...only to go back upwards towards space. Evidently the Secret Empire put a backup system. Unfortunate for the Defenders.

Back on the ground, it's revealed the Empire operative known as Mad Dog was able to get the rocket back on course. The young metahuman and future New Defender known as Cloud blasts the control panel the villain used to fix the rocket's trajectory...which somehow blows up the rocket.

Uh yeah, they were aware Val and Moondragon were on the rocket, right? 

Thankfully, the two heroines were able to get off in time. Angel and Gargoyle grab them out of the air, and Iceman ensures they have a safe landing. 

And then they get ambushed by Mad Dog and the Mutant Force.

"Surprise, mothatruckas!"

This leads to a big ol' fight.

Nick Fury and some SHIELD agents run up (accompanied by Colonel Razumihin, Fury's Soviet ally), thinking they may need some back up.

"Yo, Fury! Where's the pizza?!"

I think they got it handled, Nicky. Between SHIELD and the New Defenders, most of the Empire has been captured. The head of the new Empire and his immediate advisers have escaped, but they're scattered and we'll likely never hear from them again.

Angel points out that they won today, but things are still rather tense between the USA and the Soviet Union. Remember, this comic is from the 1980s. There's still a chance that the war Professor Power wants can still happen. Razumihin sadly agrees, hoping the leaders of both superpowers can find some sanity before it's too late. He heads out with the Soviet superagent Sonya "Seraph" Tolsky (she was working undercover in the Empire), but Cloud wants a word with her.

Seraph was there when Cloud was kidnapped and their parents were killed in New Defenders #128. Yeah, it was believed at first that Cloud was a superhuman, but later it would be revealed that they're actually a living nebula.  

Yeah, I love this title, but it can be weird at times. Anyway, Cloud is furious with Seraph for not stopping it. Seraph does give her an apology and tries to soothe the metahuman by saying that she did not order that, nor did she directly do the deed. Not to mention that if she could have stopped it, she would have. The thing was, she had a mission to infiltrate the Secret Empire, trying to save Cloud's parents would have compromised it. Needs of the many, and all of that. Cloud rears to attack the pink-and-white-haired superagent, but she gets comfort from a surprise source: Moondragon.

The other New Defenders are understandably shocked. Moondragon had shown herself to be a cold and arrogant sort in the past. She was so far up her own butt that she even proclaimed herself a goddess! In fact, Odin put that metal headband on her head to limit her powers so she could learn humility. Valkyrie is especially shocked. She should be happy about this. The cold Moondragon showing warmth and caring towards the young Cloud? That's a good thing. But instead...she feels a strange terror. 

That will have to be tabled for now, though. "Why's that", you may ask. Well, when the heroes head back to their headquarters in New Mexico, and they find the place wrecked. Warren's girlfriend Candy Southern is injured, and their housekeeper Dolly Donahue missing. 

"Who threw a party in here?! And why were we not invited?!"

The perpetrator didn't leave the scene of the crime. In fact, he was waiting for our heroes.

They can destroy his satellite. It's not a problem to him. It's not a big deal. Because of the New Defenders, Power lost his castle home. It's not a problem to him. It's just a material thing, and material things don't matter to him. They wrecked his rebuilt Secret Empire. It's not a problem to him. Life has setbacks. He's overcome them before, and he'll do so again. No, what enrages him is that thanks to them, his son Matthew won't get any vengeance. Thanks to his high-tech armor, Power is shown to be quite a match for the New Defenders. And keep in mind, this group includes a couple powerhouses in Iceman, Gargoyle, and Valkyrie. 

Moondragon reminds Beast there is one way to stop him. Beast gets what she means...and he does not like it. You see, part of Power's desire for vengeance is because he believes that Charles Xavier destroyed his son Matthew's mind back in Marvel Team-Up #118. Afterwards, Anthony Power had his son's body put in that suit and transferred his own consciousness into Matthew's body. 

Moondragon reveals that contrary to what Anthony Power believes, Matthew's own consciousness is still in their now-shared brain. Moondragon wants to use her telepathy to guide Matthew's mind back into control, while pushing Anthony down. Beast warns her that she's not at full strength thanks to her headband. And even if she was, her plan could end up truly destroying Matthew's consciousness and killing Anthony. The self-proclaimed "Goddess of the Mind" ignores Beast's warning and proceeds with her plan. After all, as far as she's concerned, she has a divine right to do this.

The plan...sort of works. Moondragon leaves Power alive, but a gibbering wreck. A few days later, the New Defenders are enjoying some well-deserved R&R. The story ends with the Beast making an announcement...well, two. He's got his first college lecture booked (which means he's going to get a fat check), and the New Defenders have official government clearance, meaning they are now a legit superhero team.

Everyone is happy about this...except for a certain bald telepath...

I enjoyed this issue, even though it did have a couple flaws. The big fight with the Mutant Force could have been expanded on, but I can imagine that the limit was due to page count. I also felt a bit more with Cloud and Seraph could be done. It's a shame Seraph never reappeared in the book again. I think it would have been nice to show the spy having some remorse over what happened to Cloud. Speaking of Cloud, I liked the scene with her and Moondragon. It's nice to see that even the self-proclaimed goddess has a heart.

If you want to read the story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Defenders Epic Collection Vol. 8: The New Defenders or the 2011 trade paperback The New Defenders Vol. 1.  

10th Anniversary!

Welcome to the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Random Rockin' Blog!

Ten years ago on this day, I started this blog. It was my 30th birthday, and I admit, I started this blog out of a bit of boredom. Yeah. But that one day of boredom has allowed me to create this. It's amazing how much time has passed by since then. Ten years of writing about the nerdy stuff I like. I want to thank everyone who has ever read this blog in that time, and I hope to continue working on it for many more years! 

Happy (Belated) April Fools' Day

Happy (Belated) April Fools' Day, everyone!

April Fools' Day is the day of jokes and pranks. The exact origin of this holiday is unknown, but one theory is that it may be linked to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. One of these tales is of a rooster that got tricked by a fox. It was believed the fox tricked the rooster on April 1.