I also hate when they try to do ironic takes on classic characters, though I would point that finger squarely at Robinson, with some of the lines he wrote in Starman and especially the first issue of JSA. Mainly, his take on Madame Fatal, the Quality Comics minor back up strip that featured an actor, who disguised himself as an old woman to find a kidnapped niece. In The Golden Age, Robinson had Paul Smith insert a panel in the last issue, as heroes and villains are lined up to sign loyalty oaths to the government and Mr America, the Fiddler is hitting on Madame Fatal, while two others snigger about it behind them. Then, in JSA #1, when they are burying Wesley Dodd, there is a remark that the only ones who showed up to the funeral of Madame Fatal was the touring company of La Cage. That cemented Robinson's take on Madame Fatal being some kind of drag queen farce, his reinterpretation. It ignores old theatrical traditions that inspired the idea of a man disguised as an old woman to go unnoticed and pushes it straight into a pantomime dame.

I always thought the character had possibilities, if tweaked a bit; a trangendered or transvestite hero, who only feels alive in female superhero attire, but is also afraid of discovery. The idea hit me when I read one of Peter David's But I Digress columns, from the Comic Buyer's Guide. He wrote about an incident at a con he attended. One of the volunteers was also a drag performer and came to the convention dressed as the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman and no one had any idea that she was a biological male, underneath. DC staffers loved the costume and con goers remarked on it and had photos taken with the person. Then, someone at the DC booth found out the truth and suddenly had problems with it. The next thing the person knew, a con organizer said that DC objected to them dressing as a trademarked character and asked them to either leave or change. Now, this person was a convention volunteer and there for free. They didn't want to cause an issue between the con and DC and obliged. David wondered about what the situation would have been, legally, if they turned around and bought a ticket as a guest. DC couldn't exactly object to this cosplay of a trademarked character, without objecting to all cosplay as their characters. He included a phot of the fan in costume and, without his having explaibned who the person was and the circumstances, you would have thought it was a stunning woman in that same latex catsuit.

That put the thought in my head of something like the origin of Barbara Gordon, as Batgirl, where she attends a costume ball, in her Batgirl outfit and foils a crime and likes it and continues. What if a person went out dressed en femme, to a party or whatever and did the same thing and found that they felt truly alive both in female dress and as a superhero? I knew no one would publish such an idea; but, I always thought it would be a perfect concept for a modern version of Madame Fatal.

I used to own the Steranko comic history volumes (he only ever put out the two) and Hillman and Airboy did have a large section (as did Blackhawk). Aviation adventure was a staple of newspaper strips of the era, with Smilin' Jack, Dickie Dare, and the wartime Terry & the Pirates; as well as in comics, with Hop Harrigan, Airboy, Blackhawk and Ghost Patrol. It was part of the pulps, with G-8 and his battle aces, and Captain Midnight, on radio. Steranko grew up in that era. Even the 50s had Steve Canyon and Sky King, plus Tangy et Laverdure and Buck Danny, in Europe.

Thankfully, Truman and Dixon saw the possibilities for doing modern pulp adventure and not irony, with classic characters who were lying there. It started a trend (along with AC using public domain characters) of reviving Golden Age characters from defunct companies.

I haven't seen that one; I'll have to check it out, He did admit, in the Starman Omnibus volumes, that he had developed a deserved reputation for being a jerk, among other criticisms and took responsibility for it.

Just an observation: It's hard to type with a cat trying to perch on your arm and shoulder.


("You have a typo, human!")

In the background, you can see the sketch of Sgt Strike, by the late Tom Lyle and Manhunter, by Doug Rice. The connecting wall has Captain Marvel (the real one) by Joe Staton and Robin Hood, by Mike Grell, plus the Black Terror plate from Gray Morrow's portfolio.


Airboy #7



Paul Gulacy cover, there. He's a bit off on the underside of his F-15s.

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-script, Stan Woch-pencils, Jeff Butler-inks, Tim Harkins-letters, Olyoptics-colors, Tim Truman-editor

There is a notation, beneath the credits on the splash page, that Wolfmark and Victor Heller are copyright 1986 John Ostrander and Tim Truman. I have only read a couple of Grimjacks (I know, I know...); so, I don't know if he is someone who turned up there, was intended to show up there, or was just an idea that Ostrander and Truman thought up somewhere together. I suspect the latter, given the copyright 1986, when this issue was published.

Synopsis: Davy Nelson III is having his meeting in New York, with executives of Nelson Aviation and he addresses his concerns to them...


(Note that the aircraft vaguely suggest aircraft of the period, without specifically using an existing aircraft as a model)

Davy finishes by noting that their main customer seems to be lowlife scum! He gets the usual corporate dodging of responsibility that they only sell to friendly foreign governments, who oppose communism,. How they use the weapons is their business. So we sold chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein; we aren't responsible for him actually using them on someone! Davy ain't buying it and declares that Nelson Aviation is out of the genocide business.

Emil Kronenberg remarks, while viewing the whole thing through security cameras, that Dvay is much like his father, who is dead. He notes the rather apathetic response of the day's youth to the plight of foreigners....



Boy, if that doesn't describe the U of I campus in the mid-late 80s.......

Kronenberg basically says kill him, if he becomes a nuisance. We then swap to Valkyrie's party, where we see that her party dresses are rather like her flying blouse, just in the opposite direction...



Just an observation, since this is a 1986 New York party, in a yuppie, high end (Trump-like) building, there should be somebody leaning over a mirror, with a straw. Just sayin'...

Valkyrie walks up to Victor Heller, who smokes cigarettes with a holder, and Val introduces herself and two shoulder-padded and highly rouged ladies walk away and plot Val's death, in their minds. Marlene is in awe.



The pair seem to recognize one another and Heller comments that they are both German and might have met somewhere before (Colditz? Nuremberg?.....what? She did fly for the Nazis!) Val says it isn't possible, as the Heller she knew was a top ace in the Luftwaffe and Heller questions how someone so young could know a Luftwaffe pilot (it's 1986, she is in her 20s or so...do the math, Einstein!) Val changes the subject and Heller says he isn't in town for long and looks up at the moon.

Yeah, he was the naked guy from last issue; so, I think you know where this is going, if the "Wolfmark and Victor Heller copyright 1986 John Ostrander/Tim Truman" wasn't a giveaway.

Davy turns up at the party and Kronenberg's goon is following. He sends two cannon fodder to go tail Davy, who goes up to Val's door, with roses, only to be told by Marlene that she left with Victor. She then says Davy looks like the guy in the picture, which cuess Davy to ask what picture. Marlene says the one Val threw at the wall. Davy leaves the roses for whoever cleans the hallway. Davy takes the elevator down and runs into the two flunkies and says "What're you looking at?" to one of them, blood boiling, and the goon responds, "Watch yer mouth, Nelson!" His partner slaps his forehead and shakes his head. Davy doubles over the moron with a kick to the gut, then delivers an elbow to the embarrassed goon. The doors open on the 14th floor and Davy tosses the nitwits out. He comes out on the first and finds Nelson Aviation uniformed security and tells them he dumped the goons on 14 and didn't know he had guardian angels. The leader, the goon dispatched by Kronenburg, knocks Davy out with a stun gun (which were pretty new, at the time)



We cut to an airport, where Heller and Val have driven and he shows her his very own Junker Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber. He asks if she would like to go flying. (they did have a two-man crew, so there is a rear seat). They take it up and Victor shows Val his dirigible, complete with hanger and arresting gear....



It is called the Wolfmark. He also has a Bf-109 Messerschmitt in the hanger, though Tim Harkins left off a digit, calling it an Me-10 (the Me designation was used by the Allies and some Luftwaffe pilots; but, it was officially the Bf-109, for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) or Bavarian Air Works, the name of the company, until 1938, when it was changed to Messerschmitt, after Willy Messerschmitt, the chief designer, took over the company). Victor drops all pretenses and says the Valkyrie he knew was from the war and she admits it and they lock lips.

Thoughts: Davy presses his newly awakened perspective on his executives and gets push-back. You didn't get a lot of corporate intrigue in comics, though most corporate intrigue doesn't result in brawls in elevators or gun battles with security men. That part is a bit cliched and rather like the then-recent Robocop, minus the social satire. It was a thread carried on in other mass media, as it was the Greed Decade. So far, it isn't that interesting, though Kronenberg seated in front of a bank of tv monitors reminds me of Fritz Lang's The 1,000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse, his last contribution to the series of crime/horror films featuring the villain, which he began with Mabuse the Gambler and continued in The Testament of Dr Mabuse. In 1,000 Eyes, Mabuse is the mind behind the manipulation of a woman to kill herself, at a hotel, who is saved by an American businessman, who is the target of Mabuse's actions. The hotel is fileld with surveillance cameras, which Mabuse uses to spy on every room. The hotel was built and outfitted by the Nazis to keep tabs on foreign diplomats and visitors. It presages the surveillance culture of today, while also showing another side of Orwell's Big Brother, with a Fascist mindset, instead of a Stalinist.

Oh, and Davy has the hots for Val and thinks she is mad at him. Ah, young love...

The Heller and Valkyrie story is the intriguing one. Both are people out of their time: he a werewolf, she having been kept in cryo- (and crypto-) suspension. Val is lost in this world and turns to the charismatic Heller because she feels a connection to the world she knows. That's not likely to turn out well, especially every 29+ days. The dude does impress, with his Stukas and Messerschmitts, not to mention a private dirigible. Wonder how and where he lands it, given that there aren't exactly docking towers spread all over the world, let alone trained ground crews. Also, you do have to replenish the lifting gasses, not to mention the fuel for the engines. You also need a trained crew and most of them worked either for the Zeppelin company or the US Navy, circa the 1930s and 40s. Goodyear and Fuji had blimp pilots, but not dirigible riggers and engineers. You have to consider logistics with your villain's aerial fortress, you know! One hopes he also has a private island, with decor by Ken Adams.

There were three dirigibles that could launch and recover aircraft, in the real world: The USS Los Angeles, the USS Akron and the USS Macon. The Akron and the Macon went down at sea, with only 3 surviving the Akron, but only two were killed in the Macon disaster, thanks to the lessons learned from the loss of the Akron. The Loss Angeles was decomissioned in 1932, as a cost savings, but reactivated after the loss of the Akron. It was then decommissioned again and remained in its hanger, until it was dismantled, in 1939. The Navy did continue to develop blimps and used them through World War 2 for convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol, as they could remain on station longer than aircraft. The need was lost after the developments of seaborne helicopters. The three airships did not have a hanger suspended beneath the hull, as indicated in Stan Woch's drawing, which suggests the Graf Zeppelin, whose passenger area was in such an arrangement, below the skin of the ship and aft of the control car. Like the Hindenburg, the Navy dirigibles had all quarters and facilities within the skin of the ship, including the hangers for the F9C Sparrowhawk aircraft. The Los Angeles was the test platform for the idea and could carry up to 3 aircraft, while the Akron and Macon carried 5. They were launched and recovered by a trapeze mechanism, that was lowered below the hull. The aircraft would be winched down on the mechanism, start it's engine, then unhook when it had enough power. To recover, it flew an approach below the airship and hooked onto the trapeze and immediately cut its engines. It was then winched into the hull of the ship and moved by crane to it's resting point. The crew became so good at it that the landing gear were removed while onboard the airship, only being reattached when the planes would be flown off to land at airfields.



That is an earlier N2Y aircraft, used for testing. This is a Sparrowhawk, minus the landing undercarriage...



Notice the hook structure on top of the upper wing.

The letters page features comments on issue #2, from the Right, including one "last Eclipse comic I will buy" and one from David Malcolm Porta, who was notorious for writing ultra-conservative letters to indie comics and getting into arguments with editors, especially Diana Schutz, at Comico, on the Grendel letters page. The guy was a sanctimonious and pompous jerk, though he was usually flame-sprayed back by cat or Diana, which is what he wanted. Yes, children, this is what a troll looked like before the days of the internet.

This prompts responses from all involved, as they have been broadly labeled either liberal Democrats or pinko subversives, or liberal fantacists. Chuck Dixon, who is on the Conservative side, by his own admission, tells of writing a longer response, then tossing it away and pointed out that support of repressive regimes in the face of communism goes back to Wilson, that he doesn't care for the Reagan Administration's policies that focus so much on communism that it turns a blind eye to the actions of said friendly governments and quotes Nixon's criticism of the Reagan policy. Truman speaks as editor and says he despises totalitarian communism (emphasis on totalitarian), fascism, and hypocrisy and notes that it isn't a black & white world and that it is an adventure comic, not a political manifesto. Tom Yeates takes responsibility for inserting the phot of Reagan and says he will stop taking cheap shots (as described in one of the letters) when "Ronnie stops hanging out with creeps, like the Contras!" Cat responds to Porta with criticism of his grammar and choice of words, then responds with the definition of "liberal" (open-handed and generous) and "democrat" (advocate of government by the people) and says that means what it says. She further invites Porta to respond what he believes are America's best interests, since he said lberal-democrats betray America's best interests in their foreign policy. In other words, put up or shut up, David. Also included is a 1937 quote from Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes II, where he notes the crimes committed while crying that the perpetrator is "stamping out communism" and how it is cried by political candidates with no real view on specific issues. He further notes that communism was becoming a "wooden horse within the bowels of which ruthless Fascism may enter the shrine of Liberty." He further notes that the Fascist-minded are the real enemy, as they the are "...seizing more power and greater riches for themselves and ability and willingness to to turn the concentrated wealth of America against the welfare of America." The last quote is from Dr Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech: "I have a dream that one day the capitalists and the communists will live together in peace."

Pretty heavy stuff for a pulp adventure comic. Elsewhere, Airboy would receive criticism for promoting anti-Communist adventurism, when Airboy fights the Soviets, in Afghanistan, not to mention for gun violence and such.

The discussion continued for a letter page or two (or three), then died down, as those who were offended left and everyone else commented on the actual events in the issue, rather than geo-politics.

Next, Airboy #8

Airboy #8



Cover by Flint Henry and Tim Truman.

By the way, who names their kid after a rock?

Well, besides Rock Hudson and Dwayne Johnson's parents...

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-story, Stan Woch-pencils, Will Blyberg-inks, Tim Harkins-letters, Air Rescue-colors, Tim Truman-editor

Don't know if that is Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard or commercial Air Rescue; might be Lassie and her Rescue Rangers...



In the Penumbra, cat remarks about her and Dean attending a Woody Allen film festival, with seven films for $4.00 Yo can't buy the theater's popcorn for $4.00 now. Well, you can't go to a theater; but, if you could, you couldn't buy popcorn for $4.00, let alone a movie, let alone 7! Well, maybe; I haven't been to a movie theater in over a decade. Can't stand modern theaters, sound levels in theaters (does it need to scream out at you from all 347 speakers?), theater prices, and the overall crap quality of a large swath of modern movies. Anyway, she uses that to chastise a comic book writer who quit the medium to work in another for a better paycheck and continues because it is fun and easy, but hasn't written anything that moves cat. Quite frankly, she sounds rather pompous, as she uses Allen's films as an example and how less they would be if done out of commercial value that her inferred artistic reasons. If comics didn't pay so poorly and treat creative talent with such disdain (and Eclipse wasn't exactly leading the way on that, according to some who worked for them), they might have stuck around. In the real world, you sometimes have to earn a living to support your artistic expression. I notice that Eclipse published quite a few indexes to DC comic series, which were hardly artistic endeavors; or their use of Dave Stevens cheesecake covers to help sell titles like Crossfire and Rainbow. Lots of artistic integrity is exploiting the female form to boost sales of a superhero comic, which although well done, wasn't exactly making the definitive statement on the human condition (though it did explore the philosophical implications of genetically engineered and artificially created lifeforms, within the DNAgents regular series).

I think cat's high horse is about to buck her off.

Synopsis: Davy Nelson wakes up, in an oubliette...



Kronenberg is trying to program him to play ball. Davy tells him where to go: Walmart! Well, it always feels like hell to me.

Meanwhile, Valkyrie has a nightmare of Misery and runs to a shadowy person's arms, but it is a wolfman, not Airboy...



Victor wakes her from her sleep, in his bed, on his airship. She notices he is dressed and he says the man he came to see is leaving for the West Coast. He promises to take Val back to her apartment. She jumps into the pilot's seat of the Stuka and says she is flying and asks Victor if he is afraid? They launch and Val treats him to some aerobatics, to torture him for treating her like a floozie and to pusgh him on how he is the same as in 1943, but then tells him off for being a snooty Prussian aristocrat jerk.



Val leaves Victor at the airfield and returns home, where she finds a hug over Marlene talking to Hirota, who is looking for the missing Airboy. he fills her in on the enemies he made at his meeting and his concerns.



Earlier, Kronenberg asked Davy who would come for him; I think he is about to find out and I think they will be well armed, judging by Val's personal effects she unboxed, while moving into her apartment.

Kronenberg continues to use psychological conditioning on Davy, through sleep deprivation, auditory stress and similar methods. Watch The IPCRESS File, for further examples (good movie!).

At an industrial park, near Bakersfield, CA, a pair of security guards find a dead deer, that looks like a coyote got to it, or something (there are Acme products spread all over the ground! ) One asks if they should turn it in, just as he sees his partner torn apart by the wolfman from Val's dream.

Three guesses, no conferring.

The wolfman asks about Kronenberg...



The next morning, the president of Nelson Aviation, Elliot James, gets a visitor in his office and leaves a stain on the carpet...



Elliot throws Kronenberg under a bus and shows his picture to Val & Hirota, on his computer. Val recognizes him and asks where he can be found. Elliot says he will be waiting for them. Val replies that she hopes he is.

Kronenberg observes Davy through monitors, as his mutton-chopped goon questions whether he will bend Airboy to his will or kill him. he then tells him they lost two men last night and something like an animal chewed on them. Kronenberg asks about the phase of the moon.

Turns out, the moon is full and the wolfman is out hunting. So are Hirota and Valkyrie. She has an Ingram M-10 and he has a Heckler & Koch G-3 main battle rifle. They cut through the hurricane fencing to exercise their Second Amendment rights, all over Kronenberg's @$$!

Thoughts: So, Val isn't fond of hairy men. Well, not all over hair, anyway, especially if they are Prussian jerkwads. See, I think they are being a bit stereotyped here, as no line of dialogue from Victor was really that arrogant. Oh, maybe a little flashy, with his Stuka and private airship; but hardly Prussian militarist stereotype. That begs the question, what part of Germany was Val from? Bavaria? Granted, the Prussians were pretty militaristic and its aristocracy was known for its arrogant privilege (then again, what aristocracy wasn't?) Anyway, seems a little abrupt, like they wanted Val ticked off at him quickly, which suggests he won't be a long term character.

Victor is after Kronenberg and Val recognizes him and also wants to fight him. Given his delight at torture, his methods and Davy's remark at his accent (he claimed he was Dutch, but the accent is different than most German ones, except around the border regions), I suspect he was a Nazi, probably SS (either German, or if the Dutch is legit, then the Dutch SS).

This is shaping up nicely to showcase Val's abilities as a fighter, after being the damsel in the previous storyline. Valkyrie was pretty much a Dragon Lady clone, in the Hillman comics; but, as such, she was a feared fighter pilot and pretty handy with firearms. Sister's are doing it for themselves, and this sister is armed! In many ways, this storyline will set up future Valkyrie stories, with her two mini-series spinoffs and the Airmaidens special, not to mention her role in Airboy's own adventures. I think a lot of cosplayers would enjoy the character, if they had any idea of her existence. Not hard to do, either, as you just need jodhpurs, riding boots, and a green blouse, open to the waist. Oh, and an Uzi. Might be on the expensive side, though. (riding gear ain't cheap)

The letters page includes one from Jeff Gelb, who enjoyed the early issues, though chastises Eclipse for the Marvel ad copy exaggeration. He also asks if they will be seeing Dark Angel, one of the back-up strips in Air Fighters and asks for Dave Stevens to do the cover. She will turn up, not with Dave, though. Nelson Jimenez would like to see a Kirby cover and remarks about the timing, with Top Gun a hit in theaters. Someone has that loving feeling! Matt Parker can't read the indicia to see who publishes Airboy ,though how big a company they are is a valid question, though the answer is they were, essentially, a two-person operation, with a revolving door of part-timers and freelancers. 4 Winds was its own entity. Pierre Comtois likes Skywolf, doesn't like Hirota, then takes them to task for the Reagan image, calling him a "real hero" and remarking that they would be better served to present pro-Patriotic stories and "not worry much about liberal hangups over the right or wrong of US foreign policy." He further says that a few toes may be stepped on and that working with these repressive governments is the only way to coerce them to act better. Amusingly, he mentions the governments of Chile, Guatemala and South America, missing that South America is a continent, not a country. As for Chile and Guatemala, both those repressive governments were put into power with US backing, against democratic opponents, especially Guatemala, where Jacob Arbenz was democratically elected. Problem was, he then pushed to nationalize lands that were held by the United Fruit Company, which they had used force to obtain, who then turned to the US government to once again intervene in their economic interests and the CIA helped overthrow the Arbenz government. I have news for Pierre; his favorite he-man hero, Skywolf, is going to be visiting Guatemala in a future back-up story, set during the CIA's coup. I don't think he is going to be very happy.

Chuck is tired of the controversy and is ready to move on and cat throws in her two cents about "Not worrying much about Liberal hangups over the right and wrong of US foreign policy" and remarks that is what liberal and conservative citizens should be doing and to exercise their opinions when they vote. Of course, she says that last bit after remarking about stockpiling atomic weapons. She has a point but is a bit ham-fisted in delivering it. That was one of her problems, sometimes, when she was editorializing.

A house ad alerts us that each issue, moving forward, will be full sized, with Skywolf back-up stories...



Interesting mix of a Thompson M1 submachine gun and the nose of a B-17, from WW2, with the Vietnam-era hand grenades, on Skywolf's tunic. The back-ups will start with the end of WW2 and will advance his adventures forward in time. There will be a rationale for the mask, too.  We will also get an adventure with his father, as he flies for Pancho Villa. Wait until you meet his mother!  

Scout #13



Interesting choice of weapons, by Truman, there. The Ingram was ubiquitous on tv and in movies (along with Uzis); but, a 12 ga. autoloader shotgun is a little unusual. Usually, everyone goes for a pump action or a double barrel.

Creative Team: Tim Truman-story & art, Tim Harkins-letters, Sam Parsons-colors, cat yronwode-editor

Monday: Tim Truman-story, Flint Henry-pencil, Bob Hardin-inks, Tim Harkins-letters, Sam Parsons-colors, cat-editor

Also from Eclipse: ARBBH #4, Airboy #9 & 10, Champions #6, Destroy #1, Elf-Thing #1, ESPers #3, New DNAgents #15, New Wave #10, Official Hawkman Index #1, Official JL:A Index #6, PJ Warlock #1, Spaced #11, Tales from the Plague #1, Tales of Terror #9, Three Stooges 3-D #2.

Who needs the first installment of Batman: Year One, a Dark Knight trade, or Watchmen, when you can get Elf-Thing! I get a JLA Index; but, a Hawkman Index? I like the character; but, I have to wonder how these things sold. They were good references; but, still seems odd. PJ Warlock was newspaper cartoonist Bill Schorr doing his imitation of Vaughn Bode. Tales from the Plague sounds prescient. Destroy was the most awesome comic, ever! Scott McCloud wrote and drew what was supposed to be a parody of mainstream superhero comics, where two guys gust punch each other across splash pages. Who knew that Image would make that an industry standard?

In the Penumbra, cat gives tips about being a letterhack. First, get a really cool name and/or catch phrase. Then, write 50,000. Actually, her points are pretty good, as she uses a letter to Eclipse, which covers multiple titles, has no unifying thread, and don't expect a response. Personally, I had two letters printed: one in Mike Grell's Bar Sinister and the other in Tales from the Bog. Other than that, I had a couple in CBG and a couple in Comic Book Artist, and a couple letters to the editor of the local paper (defending Calvin & Hobbes on one and I forget the other).

Synopsis: Scout-Doody and his flock have captured Rosa Winter, Avner Glanzman and Scout. Doody says Scout walks with two shadows and that Rosa will rule in shadow. Avner introduces himself and Doody speaks of seeing the Wailing Wall in visions. Avner tries to talk sense to him, drawing parallels to the plight of the Jews, and Doody reminds him of a place, called Masada.



This will not end well.



Scout enlightens Rosa as to the history of the Jewish fortress, Masada, where the Zealots held out against the Romans, until the end was near and the entire populace took their own lives.

In Houston, Laura Carver confronts Bill Loper with the truth of his attempt to create an emergency to push the New America agenda. He dares her to prove it. He also leaves her with temptation...



In Las Vegas, Savage Henry learns that his business is way down, thanks to the New Disciples becoming the house band for Show Dog. He tells a flunkie to get him a blues band.

Back at Fire Mountain, Rosa, Avner and Scout confer and they talk about how Doody has changed. They also discover the third CIA agent, who wasn't under Doody's mental influence. Doody returns and claims the other two acted of their own accord. Scout attacks him and Rosa and Avner grab weapons; but two of Doody's followers put Scout down for the count. Rosa tells Avner come on, so they can call in her Rangers.



Doody tells the unconscious Santana that he is sorry and is attacked by the CIA agent captive. Rosa & Avner open the gates to the underground base and the Rangers come roaring in, on ATVs. Doody does a Scanners on the CIA guy...



The Rangers clear out chambers, then Doody turns up and everything goes red. Scout struggles to his feet and sees the carnage. One of Doody's followers shoots him in the back, with an arrow.

Monday-Monday gets a 2nd person narration that suggests he learned from the thugee and that he spent many lives, learning ways to kill. He throws a line across buildings to sneak into an office, through a window, several stories up. He moves through the building killing security people, before the Wachowski siblings ever thought of it. He finally reaches the office of the big boss and they have a chat...



His security company was hired by government men to kill the other squad members but only provided the weapons for the people who came after Shorty. He gives up the name of a General Peters and something about a cache and Monday asks about The Legion of Man, which the guy confirms...



The General is not knowingly working for the Legion. Monday lets him live, after snapping his arm. The Legion is aware and they confer.



Thoughts: Scout seems headed for the climax, as Doody has just Scannered a whole detachment of Rangers and Scout may be dead (not likely, since this isn't the last issue). Laura Carver confronts the corrupt Vice President, but can't remove him from office. Seems like I've seen that before. He tempts her with pills and she is weak, without Rosa.

Truman has Scout give the basic details of the mass suicide, at Masada, in 74 CE (or AD, if you prefer). It was relatively recently dramatized in a tv mini-series, with Peter O'Toole, Barbara Carrera, and Peter Strauss. The only real historical record of the event was by Flavius Josephus and modern archeologists dispute the descriptions of events in his writing, noting that there was more than one site and his description of events doesn't match up with normal Roman siege procedures, as Josephus describes a speech from Elazar ben Yair, but it is unlikely the Roman's would pause long enough for such a thing to occur, as described. Like most things of that era, the symbolism has grown to be greater than the "truth" of history. Masada is considered a sacred place, in Israel, though it is also a major tourist site. Moshe Dayan began a tradition of swearing in IDF soldiers there, after they complete their training, to emphasize their fighting traditions.

Monday continues to be relatively cliched and now we have introduced the Legion of Man, a group we know nothing about, but Monday does and they know him. He have more hints about Monday being hard to kill and having lived many lives. This would be a good time to discuss Barry Sadler's Casca, the Eternal mercenary. The chaarcter is the hero of a series of Men's Adventure pulp paperbacks, initiated by Barry Sadler, the former Special Forces soldiers and writer of The Ballad of the Green Berets



The series features Casca Rufio Longinus, a soldier of the Roman Legions, serving in Judea. It is he who pierces Jesus' body with his spear, to relieve his suffering. He is told by Jesus that he is condemned to remain a soldier until the Second Coming and the series deals with Casca's many lives, across the centuries, including in the German Army, in WW2. Casca can feel the pain of his wounds, but he cannot die, until he is relieved from his curse, by Jesus. Meanwhile, a fanatical religious sect, The Brotherhood of the Lamb, watches in works in opposition to Casca. They watch him, as they see him as leading to Christ, but they also hate Casca for stabbing Jesus. They possess the spear and it is their holiest relic. Their agents have passed through the ages, and have included Heinrich Himmler and Hassan al-Sabah, founder of the Order of Assassins. Later, a family called the Longini arises to help protect Casca from the Brotherhood.

Sadler is believed to have written the first 12 or so books, but it is a matter of conjecture. They were continued with ghost writers and there is argument about how much of it was his. Robin Moore, author of the book, The Green Berets, helped him write the lyrics to The Ballad of the Green Berets. Sadler's other songs were not as successful. The series began in 1979 and it was not unusual for such series to have multiple ghost writers, while still crediting the original author or creator of the concept. Still, only his publisher and Sadler, who died of complications from gunshot wounds. Sadler's names helped sell the series, though sales were never quite at the level of The Executioner or Destroyer series.

The parallel is quite apparent, as Monday appears to be immortal, or is reincarnated again and again. That, in an of itself, was nothing unique to Casca, as there is the legend of The Wandering Jew, plus the characters of The Immortal Man and Vandal Savage, at DC Comics. The Brotherhood appears inspired by martial orders, like the Knights Templar. It can be assumed that the Legion of Man is a similar secret order, matching conspiracy theories about the Templars, Rosicrucians and/or Freemasons. If so, you have an interesting concept behind this story, but the execution could use some work. We will learn more about the Legion of Man. One interesting facet we do see is Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Da Vinci is another favorite of conspiracies and people who write fiction, based on conspiracy theories (including the conspiracy version of SHIELD, relating it to an ancient Egyptian group, in recent era marvel series). Of course, we all know he was actually the fairy godfather to Danielle de Barbac, who inspired Cinderella, according to Drew Barrymore.

Airboy #10



Here boy, get the stick...get the stick!

Creative Team: Chuck Dixon-story, Stan Woch-pencils, John Nyberg-inks, Tim Harkins-letters, Olyoptics-colors, Tim Truman-editor

Skywolf-Chuck Dixon-story, Larry Elmore-art, Tim Harkins-letters, Steve Oliff-colors, Tim Truman-editor.

Forgot to introduce Larry Elmore, for those who don't recognize the name. He was an artist with TSR, who worked extensively on their line of publications and also did the comic SnarfQuest, for their Dragon Magazine. He ended up leaving TSR to freelance, providing some illustrations for Magic the Gathering and others.

Synopsis: Airboy-Hirota & Valkyrie face Wolfmark, aka Victor Heller. Val aks what happened and mentions curse, but Heller likes being a werewolf, well, apart from the flea collars. He wants Kronenberg and Val points to a monitor, showing him fleeing in a jeep and Heller etars after him. Val starts to follow; but, Hirota reminds her they are there to rescue Davy. They haul him out and he and Val stare at each other for a moment and then Hirota tells them they have to go. Davy grabs Mutton Chop's M-60 and they head after Kronenberg.



They fight their way through Kronenberg's hired goons, which Val remarks he recruited from the ranks of killers and psychos around the world. Sounds like Zotar and Spectre, in Battle of the Planets (well, Berg Katse and Galactor, in the original Gatchaman). Heller is on the trail and the Air Fighters have to make up ground. Hirota grabs a truck for them and they pile in. They get out before the explosives they set go off. Hirota says they need to get back to the monastery and Val mentions his "unfinished business," as we cut to the deactivated robot on the floor, still listening to Sinatra, on loop.

Heller catches up with Kronenberg and we get a flashback of what happened, as he guts Kronenberg...



Apparently, Zyklon-B can't kill a werewolf.

The Air Fighters arrive at their Hughes helicopter and hear Heller howl in celebration.. They take off and Davy thanks Val & Hirota and vows to set right Nelson Aviation. Val sees Heller's Stuka take off.\

Meanwhile, some other helos turn up at Skywolf's private island airfield. They turn the place into an even bigger junkyard then it was before...



They land and the leader gets out, some merc, who looks like he stepped out of a New Wave music video. His name is Manic and he works for the cocaine cartel whose operations he interrupted, back in issue #2. Skywolf wasn't at home. Manic kills one of the grunts who ticked him off and leaves him as a calling card. Someone is going to get a Hellfire or some 20 mm rounds up the jaxie!

letters pages gush about the wrap up to the initial storyline, though one writer says Tim & Chuck are "gun nuts." Chuck says his dad was a gunsmith and he grew up around them and likes to shoot on the range; but, his truck is not "Protected by Smith & Wesson" and they will not "Pry his gun from his cold, dead fingers." So much for stereotypes.

Skywolf-we open with propaganda newsreel footage of the "Red Raid Rescues Air Pirate!"



What actually happens is Skywolf, Judge, Cocky and Turtle dive into their strafing runs and clear a path for Riot O'Hara to land her B-25 Mitchell. Link sees them and is joyous and Riot yells for him to get the lead out. He tells her that Wing Ding is being held in the infirmary and to throw down a gun. Riot mutters that she knew he always loved her, but hides it and gives Link a Thompson M-1. Link shoots his way in and Wing hobbles into his arms,. He carries her outside. Judge spots an armored car being moved in and goes to attack it, but takes shots through his canopy and is killed...



Judge steers his plane directly into the car and destroys it. Cocky calls to Skywolf to flatten the camp and he agrees and radios Turtle to attack all targets of opportunity. Link gets Wing loaded and hops into the co-pilot seat and Riot guns it and they take off like Jimmy Doolittle and his boys. Skywolf and his wingmen continue their attack runs and blow a hole in the fence for prisoners to escape, they head off to join Riot. They radio in and then she heads for Shanghai. Turtle flashes "Bandits!" and they see fighters diving out of the sun. The planes are American P-51 Mustangs and they attack the trio. They pounce on them, outnumbering them and Turtle goes down, followed by Cocky...



Skywolf's engines are crippled and his radio is dead. He puts his Thunderbolt down into the water and makes a belly landing, though his wings are torn off and the plane sinks into the China Sea. One of the pilots notes that the downed planes had American markings and the leader says it was as they were briefed, that the reds would use American planes. The first pilot doesn't feel right about this.

The propaganda footage continues, with a story about mercenary adventurer Skywolf going down at sea, which presents him as flying in support of Kai-Shek who praises him and the commitment of the American Government. We then see that someone is in deep doo-doo...



Thoughts: So, all's well that ends well for Airboy, as his friends rescue him and Kronenberg gets his karma for his past, via Heller, who he tried to kill once before. It isn't explained why Heller, a top ace, is a prisoner in a concentration camp, as Val says he was a Prussian, and not a Jew and he doesn't seem to be a political, gypsy or homosexual. Kronenberg seems unaware of his lycanthropy until after he arises from the dead bodies. Need some explanation here. Meanwhile, the next storyline is set up nicely, as Manic leaves Skywolf a little present and Skywolf is going to go after him for the receipt, so he can return it.

All in all, not a bad ending; but, I don't care for the dangling motivation for Heller being a prisoner. It seems out of left field. Also, the art in the flashback gets really wonky and cartoonish. I know it is a memory, which should be a bit unreal; but, this is jarring.

Skywolf's conclusion to China Hands demonstrates why I preferred the Skywolf back-up to the main Airboy story and why I really wanted to review this series. They are richer and filled with better villains, motivations and characters. Airboy is pulpy fun, with the supernatural touches on top of the 80s action movie plots, which is cool and well done. Skywolf is pure classic adventure, the stuff of Caniff, Manly Wade Wellman & Reed Crandall (Blackhawk), Buck Danny (the Franco-Belgian aviation strip), William Wellman movies, John Wayne brawls, Ring Lardner politics and some good old post-war history, presented to a generation that was being spoon fed patriotic propaganda, that glossed over a pretty grey past. As Santayana said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and the hard and messy lessons of the past are as important in shaping the future as the glorious moments. Also, it delivers a lot more intrigue than Airboy does, and a bit more mature storytelling. The artists on this will be a parade of adventure stylists, which will add to the weight of it.

Link Thorne, The Flying Fool was a post-war feature in Airboy, which featured Link as a Steve Canyon stand-in, a hapless pilot running an air service, in China, where he usually ended up in a total mess. Whenever things seem to go his way, his bad luck would rear its ugly head and disaster would follow. Wing Ding was his secretary, based on Feeta Feeta, Steve Canyon's secretary at his Horizons Unlimited charter air service. Riot O'Hara was a rival pilot and head of another air service and was based on Maureen O'Hara/ In the next issue, Chuck has an info piece that brings up the history of the strip, including some work from Simon & Kirby, and says it is one of his favorites, with snappy Warner Bros-style dialogue. It does seem like something that would of featured Maureen O'Hara and maybe Jimmy Stewart (not John Wayne, as he couldn't do hapless).

Next, Scout #14