Sunday Soliloquy

Oh, I've got a good one for you tonight, folks!

A few years after he was introduced, and eventually deposed, the Batman creative teams brought back corrupt councilman Rupert Thorne. However, where the original story had Thorne's downfall happen off-panel (while Batman was fighting the Joker and losing one of his great loves), the sequel features this face-to-face encounter.


In the original Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers story, Thorne snapped after thinking he was being haunted by the ghost of Professor Hugo Strange, who he'd had beaten to death. Here, Strange's "hauntings" have been debunked (by no less than Dr. Terry Thirteen) -- but Thorne must now face a revenant Batman, miraculously recovered from the sniper fire he took earlier in the issue.


Anyway, before Thorne can curl into a fetal position, he accidentally starts a fire, gets away from Batman, and ends up making a spectacle of himself to finish off his political career. Therefore, for five minutes' worth of fill-in work, Dick should feel pretty good about himself--!

[From "Showdown," in Batman #354, December 1982. Written by Gerry Conway, pencilled by Don Newton, inked by Alfredo Alcala, colored by Adrienne Roy, inked by Ben Oda.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

On Father's Day, a posthumous present for Dr. Thomas Wayne:


(Batman doesn't usually beat up aging gunmen, does he? "And here's a little something for yer arthritis, grampa!" I guess he's entitled in this case....)



Note that Batman says "his wife died from the shock." In this version of the story, Martha Wayne had a weak heart. That still didn't let Chill off the hook, though: an earlier caption says "that single bullet really killed two people...!"

Of course, Martha is killed outright in most other accounts, but that detail would've made this harder to use on, say, Mother's Day.

[From "The Origin Of The Batman!" in Batman #47, June-July 1948. Written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Bob Kane, inked by Charles Paris, lettered by Ira Schnapp. Reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (1988), with color reconstruction by Adrienne Roy.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Today, an experiment.

"I know what you're thinking: 'did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.

"But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky?

"Well, do ya, punk?"

Let's take that little monologue, stretch it out, and reword it for someone who doesn't have the most powerful handgun in the world:



Now, if you're Marvel Comics at the start of the 1980s, try to estimate how much money you'll make from a lot more scenes like that.

[From "Wolverine: Alone!" in The Uncanny X-Men #143, May 1980. Co-plotted by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, script by Claremont, pencils by Byrne, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Doom had a few good speeches in the classic "Trapped In Latveria" storyline, but this one stuck out. Not only does it have this great splash panel ...



... it hints at another of his dark secrets --



-- namely, that he had Earth-Marvel's Stan Lee roughed up by Doombots for misspelling "soliloquy."

[From "The Name Is Doom!" in Fantastic Four vol. 1 #84, March 1969. Written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, pencilled by Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott, lettered by Sam Rosen. Color reconstruction by Tom Smith. Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four #9 (2005).]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

It's Mother's Day -- how about a little Celestial Madonna?


According to reliable sources, after leaving the Avengers, Mantis next "appeared" during Steve Englehart's Justice League run (in an issue which was one of Young Tom's favorites) and went on to have her baby in Englehart's Scorpio Rose.

However, we like to think that her particular phraseology inspired a certain Paul McCartney song....

[From "The Reality Problem!" in The Avengers vol. 1 #130, December 1974. Written by Steve Englehart, pencilled by Sal Buscema, inked by Joe Staton, colored by Bill Mantlo, lettered by Joe Rosen.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

I didn't know Zak Kebron had become Excalibur's Counselor (as well as security chief), but that probably made this scene funnier:



[From "Turnaround, Part II," in Star Trek: New Frontier #2, April 2008. Written by Peter David, drawn by Stephen Thompson, colored by Leonard O'Grady, lettered by Neil Uyetake.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

In honor of finishing up our taxes, I was going to look for some speech from one of the "Wally West, IRS Agent" issues of Bill Messner-Loebs' Flash ... but a) I'm not sure there is such a thing; and b) I still haven't gotten the long boxes in a searchable state.

Accordingly, here's Zibarro, emoting:


The smartest man on a planet of idiots -- we've all been there, am I right?

[From "Us Do Opposite," in All Star Superman #8, August 2007. Written by Grant Morrison, pencilled by Frank Quitely, digitally inked and colored by Jamie Grant, lettered by Phil Balsman.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

We all know about the original Hourman -- take a Miraclo pill and get an hour's worth of super-powers. What happens, though, when it turns out to be a false alarm?



The solution involves some odd jobs, pickup basketball, and (thank goodness!) a burning building -- but that's not a soliloquy, so maybe some other time.

[From "An Hour With Hourman," in Solo #7, December 2005. Written by Mike Allred and Laura Allred, drawn by Mr. Allred, colored by Ms. Allred, lettered by Nate Piekos.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

This week's soliloquy is a preview of the next Titans recap -- but really, how could I have gone so long without featuring this guy...?



I get the feeling that Chris Claremont read this and muttered, "Eeesh, too much." In other words:



[From "The Origin Of Lilith!" in The New Teen Titans Vol. 2 #7. Written by Marv Wolfman, pencilled by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, inked by Romeo Tanghal, lettered by Phil Felix, colored by Adrienne Roy.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Vic just wants to unburden himself to his friends, so why does Dan Jurgens have him directing traffic?



ACTING!, I guess....

[From The New Teen Titans vol. 2 #6, March 1985. Plot by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, script by Wolfman, layouts by Jurgens, finishes by Romeo Tanghal, letters by John Costanza, colors by Adrienne Roy.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Sure, it's fun to see Spider-Man wrestle a giant snake (not a euphemism, I rush to point out).



Still, don't you want to see how Princess Python's moods must have changed, as she listened to Spidey's monologue and realized her pet was losing?

[From "The Clown and his Masters of Menace!" in The Amazing Spider-Man #22, March 1965. Script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko, letters by Artie Simek, color restoration by Andy Yanchus. Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks Volume 10, 1989.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

It's not really a soliloquy, but I couldn't resist posting this page of Lex Luthor delivering exposition in flashback, while at the same time narrating the flashback.



That's some weird nested recursive monologuing, is what that is.

[From "The Man Who Murdered The Earth!" in Superman vol. 1 #248, February 1972. Written by Len Wein, pencilled by Curt Swan, inked by Murphy Anderson, lettered by Ben Oda. Reprinted in Superman in the Seventies.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

... or, "Orion Talks The Smack."



I like this sequence for the unrestrained glee that Orion brings to both the verbal and physical beatdowns. It's not quite anti-heroic, but it's not exactly good sportsmanship, either.



Of course, laughing about the Mother Box's sacrifice is just cold, especially since Fourth World readers would already have seen DeSaad torture a "good" Mother Box in Forever People. Still, I get the feeling Orion would have said much the same things about Slig's real mother....

[From "Spawn," in New Gods #5, October 1971. Written and drawn by Jack Kirby, inked and lettered by Mike Royer, color reconstruction by Drew R. Moore and Dave Tanguay. Scans from Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 2, which my own mother and dad gave me for Christmas.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

I didn't get to use the Thing/Doom beatdown from this week's FF for this week's Friday Night Fights. Good thing, then, that Future Doom is just as mouthy as Present Doom.



[From "Epilogue, Chapter 2: The Middle Of The End," Fantastic Four #552, February 2008. Written by Dwayne McDuffie, pencilled by Paul Pelletier, inked by Rick Magyar, colored by Wil Quintana, lettered by VC's Russ Wooton.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Doctor Manhattan learns the true meaning of Christmas:



... Okay, not exactly, but it is a kind of "goodwill towards men" ("and women," as Batman Returns reminds us) moment.

[From "The Darkness Of Mere Being" in, duh, Watchmen #9, May 1987. Written by Alan Moore, drawn and lettered by Dave Gibbons, colored by John Higgins.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

I have a good chunk of Cerebus phone books, but not all of 'em. Sometimes I don't know which would be more rewarding -- reading Cerebus from start to finish or trying to make sense out of The Silmarillion. Still, as far as I know, there are no superhero parodies in Tolkien.

Here's the Moon Roach all dressed for the Sacred Wars in his "Black Spidey" costume:


I had forgotten about his henchmen, themselves parodies of the hillbillies from old Warner Bros. cartoons.



There was also a three-headed swamp monster (Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, and Alan Moore) and MIck Jagger and Keith Richards, but maybe another Sunday.

[From "Becoming Synonymous With Something Indescribable" in Cerebus #81, December 1985, which itself was a tiny little part of Church & State II. Written, drawn, and lettered by Dave Sim, with Gerhard on backgrounds.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

Had a great Thanksgiving with my wife and parents; thanks for asking. Sorry that meant no blogging for the past week. Still, back in the swing of things now, so let's get movin'.

* * *

Back at Thanksgiving 2002, the Justice League and Justice Society had to fight not only tryptophan, but a couple of uninvited guests....



... with bad table manners to boot! Hey, Despero, we put out the good napkins so people will use 'em!

[From JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice (2002), written by Geoff Johns and David Goyer, pencilled by Carlos Pacheco, inked by Jesus Merino, colored by Guy Major, lettered by Ken Lopez.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

This was going to be my Friday Night Fights entry, and I guess it would fit the current theme. After all, Batman's been sucka-punched by love...!



The best part of this page isn't the ghostly images of Bruce and Silver, or the cool efficiency with which Batman takes out his frustrations. No, for me it's that closeup of one almost-wild eye in panel 3. You see that look in Batman's eyes and you know someone's getting a beating.

[From "The Coming Of ... Clayface III!" in Detective Comics #478, July-August 1978. Written by Len Wein, pencilled by Marshall Rogers, inked by Dick Giordano, lettered by Ben Oda. Recolored by Rogers for this reprint.]

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

And now, a villain who desperately needs the sartorial touch of Blockade Boy:



Yes, it was the '70s, but bell-bottoms and platform shoes? For an ancient mystical creature who allegedly brought down civilizations? Really?!? Maybe the clothes are meant to keep his victims awake during his speeches....

(sigh) "A place where nobody dared to go," indeed.

[From "When Fall The Mighty," All-Star Comics #62, September-October 1976. Plotted by Gerry Conway, scripted by Paul Levitz, pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Wally Wood, colored by Carl Gafford, lettered by Ben Oda.]

P.S. Zanadu is also the name of a fine chain of Seattle comics shops which I am sure have nothing to do with this ill-dressed bad guy.

Full Post

Sunday Soliloquy

The New Teen Titans kicked off its second year with a three-issue "Search For The Doom Patrol's Killers" arc. (Yes, there was a time, not all that long ago, when the Doom Patrol was most famous for being dead.) Of course, all the Titans had parental issues, so this gave Gar the chance to explore his.



Gar spends most of the arc out for the blood of General Zahl and Madame Rouge, the DP's old enemies. He even gets what he wants, after a fashion; and so learns a valuable lesson. Take it away, Raven:



"Bloodthirsty Gar" would show up again, most notably right after the events of "The Judas Contract." For a while, though, he coped pretty well.

[Scans from, respectively, "Revolution!" in The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #14, December 1981, and "The Brotherhood Of Evil Lives Again!" in issue #15, January 1982. Written by Marv Wolfman, pencilled by George Perez, inked by Romeo Tanghal, colored by Adrienne Roy, and lettered by Ben Oda (#14) and John Costanza (#15).]

Full Post