Longbox Junk - Combo Man

 Welcome to Longbox Junk, the blog absolutely STUFFED with cheesy goodness and surrounded by a crunchy shell of delicious criticism!

And speaking of cheesy goodness, this time out we're taking a look at the single issue of a comic starring a hero that is canonically one of the most powerful individuals in the Marvel Universe!  It's nacho average hero, it's COMBO MAN!

Wait.  What's that? Who the hell is Combo Man, you ask? 

Well, then. Let's take a moment to bite into some background, shall we?

 WE SHALL!

Combo Man was the result of a tasty advertising deal between Marvel Comics and Eagle Snacks, the producers of Combos™ Baked Snacks.  For those of you who haven't tried them, Combos™ are basically soft filling surrounded by crunch.

The filling in a wide variety from nacho and cheddar cheese to pepperoni pizza and buffalo ranch.  The crunch is either cracker, tortilla, or pretzel.  My personal favorite is nacho cheese and pretzel. . .BUT I DIGRESS!

The promotion lasted about a year, between 1995 - 1996.  It involved a massive blast of advertising in pretty much every Marvel title.  There was also plenty of Combo Man merchandise to be had including:

Trading Cards

Pre-Paid Phone Cards (Remember them? No? God, I'm old)

Hats

Shirts (This one from Ebay for ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLAS!!)

And what I consider the BEST Combo Man swag. . .this awesome leather jacket!

And then there's the Combos™ themselves.  Because Combos™ are awesome.

Seriously.  I LOVE these things.

And then, of course, there's the comic at hand.  A free giveaway that they must have made a LOT of because I regularly spot them in bargain bins when I go Longbox Junkin' and dollar box spelunkin'.

One of the major components of the promotion was a contest that went along with the comic ads where the comic readers could guess what 14 Marvel characters made up Combo Man.  They sent in the attached form and had a chance to win some of that SWEET swag above!

I got into the spirit of writing this review and decided to try and take the Combo Man challenge myself.  I guessed 12 of the 14 heroes before I got salty and headed to the internet.  In case you're wondering (and I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here), the 14 Marvel characters Combo Man is made up of ARE:

Hulk, Cyclops, Iron Man, Magneto, Punisher, Captain America, Sabretooth, Carnage, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Century, Human Torch, Silver Surfer, and Gambit. 

I missed Daredevil (because it was his new at the time 90s armored costume) and Century (Because, who?).  ANYWAY. . .

Combo Man.   An advertising gimmick that got his own comic book. 

Let's check it out!

COMBO MAN

(Marvel - 1996)

COVER: John Statema

THE COVER:

This cover is actually pretty great!  It's colorful and eye-catching.  It's nicely-drawn, with the hero front and center.  It's not the greatest comic cover I've ever seen, but if I were taking a class on comic book illustration, I'd think that something like this would be presented as one of the "baseline" type of superhero comic covers.  Very nice!  

Let's check out the story!

THE STORY:

The Incredible Origin of. . .Combo Man

SCRIPT:  Mark Gruenwald

PENCILS:  Hector Collazo

INKS:  Greg Adams

Jumping right into the action, we're introduced to a brightly-colored superhero being shot at by A.I.M.  His inner monologue gives us a bit of the old, classic  "You might be wondering who I am and how I got into this mess."  And also tells us his name is Rick Wilder.

We rewind back in time about ten minutes.  It's night time outside of Danmark Laboratories.  Rick is being pressured by a group of boys to break into the lab (where their High School Chemistry teacher works nights) and steal a copy of the midterm exam from their teacher's desk.

Rick reluctantly agrees, hoping that if he does what they want, the other boys will stop bullying him at school.  After climbing in through an open window, Rick tries to calm his nerves by enjoying some delicious Combos™!

When Rick hears voices and sees lights on in Professor Boyd's office, he takes a peek.  The Professor is being interrogated by some creeps in yellow costumes.  They're demanding to know where his device for expanding human potential is at.  He insists it's experimental and not ready to be used.  

Rick makes some noise and gives away his hiding place!  He's pursued through the halls of the lab by the costumed men until he's cornered at a door CLEARLY marked with warning signs to keep out.   He goes in and is immediately hit with some sort of mysterious energy!

When the smoke clears, we see that Rick has been transformed!  Where once stood weak and bullied teenager Rick Wilder, now stands a strange and powerful figure called. . .COMBO MAN!

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN!!!

We now pause the exciting origin of Combo Man to bring you a message from our sponsors, Combos™ Baked Snacks!  The OFFICIAL cheese-filled snack of NASCAR! (No, really.  According to the Combos™ information page and Wikipedia, they're the official cheese-filled snack of NASCAR.  Accept no substitutes)

And NOW, back to our program!

Returning to the present, Rick/Combo Man finds himself under fire from the A.I.M. thugs.

He discovers to his astonishment that he can now fly, shoot webbing from his hand, and "sense" the gunmen behind him.

He ALSO realizes he can use the powers of magnetism, and yoinks their guns from their hands, crushing the weapons with his newfound amazing strength!  The A.I.M. thugs are no match for his new powers!  He tells the professor to call the police while he cleans things up.

But a strange, metallic voice interrupts!

It's the SUPER-ADAPTOID!  An evil android that duplicates super powers!  Combo Man suddenly realizes that it would NOT be a good thing if Super-Adaptoid were able to absorb all the powers of the heroes he's become a composite of.  He needs to take the android down before it's too late!

But it's at THAT very desperate moment Combo Man suddenly reverts back to Rick Wilder!  Professor Boyd is astounded to see that the strange superhero is actually one of his students.  

Rick quickly explains that he was hit by some sort of energy in the experiment chamber.  The professor doubts that his process could have made such drastic changes.  But then Rick remembers the Combos™ he had eaten!

THAT must be the key!  As the Super-Adaptoid moves in to attack, Rick desperately eats some Combos™ and transforms back into COMBO MAN! 

Back at full strength, Combo Man blasts Super-Adaptoid with all of his new powers!  After the evil android vanishes and his henchmen are webbed for the police, Professor Boyd asks what Rick was doing there in the first place.

Rick says that he was there learning a lesson.  As he transforms back into Combo Man and blasts into the night sky, he lets the reader know what that lesson was:

If you've got to pretend to be something you're not to fit in, maybe you're trying to fit in with the wrong crowd.   And with those words of wisdom, Combo Man flies into the night.  A new hero has been born!

The End.  Oh, wait. Hold on.  Before you go, here's some awesome Combo Man merchandise you can send in for!  

NOW it's The End.

THE REVIEW:

Okay then.  Combo Man.  Let's break it on down!

Being a promotional giveaway, this was a pretty short comic, just twelve pages.  Three of them full page ads for Combos™.  The images I scanned and posted above are literally the entire comic book.  So it's a short comic.  But is it a good one?

Well. . .it's okay.  

Mark Gruenwald must have lost some sort of bet, or maybe they drew straws to see who would be the writer on this and he pulled the short one.  In any case, he gives this little comic story some serious Bronze Age Mighty Marvel Bombast, and that's a good thing for what it is.  

This is from the middle of the grim-n-gritty 90s, but it reads like something written in 1978.  I kind of like that.  Don't get me wrong.  This isn't a great story by any means.  I'd say ANY competent comic book writer could script this out in about 30 minutes. It's a tried and true "Accidental Superhero" origin story.  But its simplicity and throwback nature give it some charm.

On the other hand, it's a little TOO simple.  It's rushed, with an abrupt start and finish.  There's almost no filling in this pretzel.  I guess Gruenwald did the best he could with only 9 pages to work with, but it just feels like a bit of a waste of time.  Beyond the character design, there's just not anything memorable about this story.  It's just another "Mysterious Rays Give A Dude Some Powers" comic story.

On the art side of things, it's solid.  Like the story, not great. . .not bad.  It does the job, but doesn't try to do anything special.  The character design is interesting, but the interiors don't manage to capture the same kind of attention as the cover.  The art here is just okay.  The colors don't help much.  They're a little brighter and more garish than they need to be.

So that's the story and the art.  Before we wrap this up, let's talk a bit about Combo Man himself.  The design of a combined character is actually a pretty cool idea, but when you take a closer look, it's sort of sketchy.  The main thing that lifts MY eyebrow of questioning is where The Punisher comes into all of this.  Is Organized Crime about to have a REAL problem?

I understand that Punisher was one of Marvel's hottest characters in 1995, but when you have the powers of Silver Surfer and Hulk (not to mention Spider-Man, Magneto, etc. . .) what are Punisher and Captain America bringing to the table?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the character choices for Combo Man are a little weird.  I mean, putting Punisher aside for a moment, who even knows Century?  I'm not even sure there were that many comic fans at the time that knew who Century was.    And then there's Carnage, who you would THINK would just take over the whole thing. When Combo Man is calm, does the Hulk hair go away? So on and so forth. There's a lot of questionable stuff going on with Combo Man.

But let's wrap this up before the review becomes longer than the comic itself (although I think it might be way too late for that).

CONCLUSION

When I threw out Combo Man as a suggestion for my small Reddit contest, I got comments from people who remembered the ads without being aware there WAS a comic along with them.  If you were buying Marvel  comics in 1995 - 1996 or have picked up any Marvel back issues during a bargain bin dive from that time, you have 100% seen a Combo Man ad.

The character is memorable.  While writing this review and doing a bit of research (which is one of my favorite parts of doing Longbox Junk reviews), I discovered that not only is Combo Man canon to Marvel's main comic "Universe" (Or Universe 616 for the REAL comic nerds out there), but based on the characters he's made up of, Combo Man is actually one of the MOST powerful individuals in Marvel History.

And, despite just having this one issue, Combo Man is still out there!  He still makes occasional appearances in Marvel comics through background cameos and easter eggs.  Not bad for a character made to help sell delicious baked snacks while Marvel was going through a rough time financially.

The prices for Combo Man merch are surprisingly stout. If you scroll up, you'll see a shirt I found online for over a hundred bucks.  And that's not even the highest-priced Combo Man item to be found. People REMEMBER Combo Man is what I'm saying.  

The comic itself is a bit of fluff.  Not bad for what it is, but not really that good, either.  It has heavy Mighty Marvel Bronze Age Bombast going on, which is sort of cool, but other than that there's really not much more to it.  There's not really a reason for me to recommend reading it.  

BUT. . .

If you (like me) are the kind of comic collector that likes having weird little artifacts in their collection, then Combo Man is something you should definitely hunt down.  

It's basically has no collector "value" to those who just place a dollar sign on comics, but if Longbox Junk is what you love, then you'll love this comic!  Personally, I think it's cool that I have one in my collection.  THIS comic is what Longbox Junkin' and bargain bin spelunkin' is all about.

Until next time, thanks for reading and remember. . .comics are worth more than money!

Longbox Junk - Ghost Rider, Wolverine & Punisher: Hearts of Darkness

 Welcome to Longbox Junk, the place to find all the comic reviews you never asked for!

If you've been a reader of this blog, then you know that of all the different kinds of comics out there, I have a special love for the One Shot.  A story in ONE issue.  Nowhere to hide.  The creative team has just one. . .well. . .shot to tell their story.  That it.  In MY humble opinion, it's the perfect kind of comic to not only read but also to review.  

And if you're a new reader, then welcome! Glad to have you! Did I mention I love One Shots?

So I decided to do a few one shot reviews because. . .why not?  

A special shout out to the fine and friendly folk on Reddit at 80s90s Comics They gave me a warm welcome, so I ran a little contest to let THEM decide what the next few Longbox Junk reviews would be.

And here's our first winner!

We're heading back to the 90s, when popular Marvel characters Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and Punisher were EVERYWHERE.  They were guest-starring or teaming up in almost every Marvel title.  People couldn't get enough of them!  I think the only other Marvel character that had as many guest appearances and team-ups was Spider-Man.  

So somebody at Marvel came up with a brilliant idea.  Since they were already separately appearing just about everywhere, why not make a comic starring Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and Punisher TOGETHER?

But no Spider-Man.  I guess he had better things to do.  BUT I DIGRESS!

Three. . .Count 'em. . .THREE of 1990s Marvel's most insanely popular characters in ONE story!  This just HAS to be good, right?  How can it NOT be?  Well, we're about to find out.  Ready? Let's do this!

Ghost Rider, Wolverine & Punisher:

 Hearts of Darkness

Marvel (1991)

COVER: John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson

And here's the cover in all its DOUBLE Gatefold four panel 90s gimmick glory!

Click on the pic for FULL 90s-Tastic effect!

THE COVER:

There's a LOT going on here!  It's a four. . .count 'em. . .FOUR panel gatefold. This cover is about two feet wide when you unfold it to fully behold the whole thing!  It's full of action, the colors are great, and it's 90s-Tastic in all the right ways!

Well. . .except that Punisher sort of got the short straw.  If you were to see this cover folded on the rack (or bagged and boarded in the bargain bin, which is more likely now) like in the first image above, then all you're going to see of Punisher is a bit of his gun on the right edge.  To be fair, he DID get the entire inner right panel pretty much to himself, so there's that.

ANYWAY. . .Cool cover.  Let's get inside!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT: Howard Mackie

PENCILS: John Romita Jr.

INKS: Klaus Janson

We begin our tale atop a hill outside of the town of Christ's Crown.  We witness a robed group engaged in a ceremony.  They are making an offering of a human life.  As her blood spills, it summons forth a dark creature, it is Blackheart, son of Mephisto!

Blackheart rages at his summoning, killing the entire group.  His anger at his father seethes.  Mephisto has placed him in a position that he can be summoned by even the weakest humans.  He sees it as below his station to be a mere tempter of mankind instead of being in his rightful place beside his father.

Blackheart decides that he will take his inheritance by force, enlisting the aid of powerful humans that he can tempt into darkness to help destroy Mephisto.  Blackheart sets his dark plan into motion!

We shift scene to a few days later and the town of Christ's Crown itself, where Dan Ketch (AKA the 90s version of Ghost Rider) arrives after receiving a mysterious invitation to meet someone claiming to have information on the true nature of the Ghost Rider and something called "The Soul Crystal".

Shortly after arriving in town, Dan finds lodging at a boarding house.  We are introduced to the innkeeper, Flo Crumm and her daughter, Lucy.  Both of them take an immediate liking to Dan.  While talking to Flo, Dan discovers that she's also boarding two other travelers recently in town who arrived separately and are named Logan and Frank (You see where this is going, right?  RIGHT?).

A short while later, Dan meets Logan (Wolverine) and Frank (Punisher) over an awkward dinner.  At this point, Dan hasn't been Ghost Rider for long, so neither Logan or Frank recognize Ketch as Ghost Rider and likewise, Dan doesn't recognize either of them, although he does find something familiar about both of them.

After dinner, Wolverine pays a visit to Punisher's room, where the two of them exchange notes on how they ended up in the same place at the same time.  They each received a mysterious letter asking them to meet a contact in Christ's Crown. 

Wolverine's offered information on his adamantium skeleton.  This was before Weapon X or Origin, at a time when Marvel was keeping Wolverine's origin in the shadows and readers hungry for every little scrap of information on their most popular mutant's origin story.  Wolverine claims to not care about the information.  He's just there to find out who thinks he does care.

Punisher's offered information claiming to be able to lead him to someone involved with the killing of his family.  Punisher knows the offer is bogus.  He already knew who was behind the murders and had already put them all in the ground.  But what he WAS concerned with is that someone knew how to find him to deliver the message in the first place.  He wanted to know who and how.

They both wonder what Dan Ketch has to do with it.

Later that night, Blackheart finally makes his move.  He appears before the three heroes and makes them an offer. . .join him in taking down Mephisto.  They're already on the edge, skirting the grey area between light and dark.  He can help them tap into the darkness and become unstoppable!

All three heroes immediately reject Blackheart's offer.  He is NOT happy.

Our three heroes hear the panicked cries of little Lucy and rush to investigate.  Her mother is in some sort of trance and the little girl begs Frank, Logan, and Dan to help her.  It seems the entire town except for Lucy and the three heroes has fallen into the same trance and are walking in a zombie-like way  toward the center of town.

Lucy vanishes and Wolverine and Punisher run toward her cries for help.  Dan decides it's time for Ghost Rider to appear, but discovers that his bike has been stolen.  Unable to transform into Ghost Rider, Dan joins the crowd in the town center, where he sees Blackheart has both his bike and Lucy. 

 Blackheart taunts Dan and once again demands the heroes join him.  

The crowd of entranced townfolk are blocking the way to Blackheart.  Wolverine, Punisher, and Dan try to push their way through while Blackheart taunts the three of them, telling them to cut, shoot, and kill their way to him through the innocents.   

When they refuse to harm the townfolk to get to Blackheart, he threatens to kill Lucy, which brings out the rage in Punisher and Wolverine.  Punisher attacks, but his bullets do nothing to Blackheart, who gets on Ghost Rider's bike and heads out of town toward Thorn Hill, mocking the heroes and daring them to follow.

Wolverine and Punisher jump into Punisher's Battle Van nearby and pursue Blackheart while Dan desperately tries to find a way to transform into Ghost Rider. 

 He spots a motorcycle shop and steals a bike. Finally, he's able to bring forth the Ghost Rider!  The demonic spirit within Dan swears vengeance on Blackheart and rides toward Thorn Hill to join the others.

Punisher and Wolverine arrive at Thorn Hill first.  After confirming with each other that they're doing this for the girl and not for anything Blackheart may offer, they head in, but are stopped by a wall of razor-sharp thorns surrounding the hill.  They are unable to cut their way through, but then, to their surprise, Ghost Rider appears and burns a path through for them.

Their path to the top of Thorn Hill now cleared, our heroes confront Blackheart there.  The evil creature once again tries tempting the heroes.  He promises to restore Punisher's family to him.  He promises Wolverine to reveal the secrets of his past.  He promises to restore Zarathos (The name of the Ghost Rider spirit) to his former power and demonic glory through the Spirit Stone in Mephisto's possession.

Once again, all three heroes decline Blackheart's offer, and together they attack!

Blackheart opens a dark portal and tormented souls pull Lucy into it, with Blackheart following her.  Ghost Rider holds the portal so that the three heroes can pursue Blackheart into his hellish realm and try to rescue the innocent girl.

In Blackheart's evil domain, the heroes resume their attack on the vile creature.  The three of them together finally manage to take Blackheart down!  

Ghost Rider tells Wolverine and Punisher to return through the rapidly-closing portal with Lucy.  He will stay behind to make sure Blackheart doesn't follow.  

Even though it means leaving Ghost Rider behind with no escape from Blackheart's realm, the other two heroes do what he says and make their escape with Lucy before it's too late for them as well.

Once Lucy, Wolverine, and Punisher are gone and the portal closes behind them, Mephisto himself appears!  He mocks Blackheart's failure to tempt the heroes and tells his son that his punishment has only just begun.  As for Ghost Rider, Mephisto shows admiration and curiosity toward the demonic hero.  

He tells Ghost Rider that their day to meet will come again, but for his part in helping teach Blackheart a needed lesson in humility, he will allow Ghost Rider to return.

Back on Earth, Lucy is reunited with her mother, the townfolk are back to normal, and the three heroes reflect on what happened.  Ghost Rider says that even if they ARE on the edge, or even occasionally cross over it, no matter what happens, as long as the innocent are protected their cause is just.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

And there we go.  Hearts of Darkness.  Let's break it on down!

Overall, this was a pretty good story.  Not a masterpiece by any means, but just a good read.  As far as One Shots go, it does a good job of telling a satisfying story in one complete issue.  

The reader needs to know who the characters are and what they're about coming into the story.  Otherwise the whole narrative about the heroes being on the edge of darkness won't make sense, but (as I said in the introduction) Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider were pretty much three of the four hottest individual characters Marvel had going at the time.  If a comic reader didn't know what was going on with these guys already, they probably wouldn't be buying this book in the first place.

So this one shot DOES lean on the reader knowing the characters enough to make sense of the story, but that doesn't really hold it back from being a good read. . .unlike other one shots I've read where you need to have detailed knowledge of ongoing continuity.  For this one, some general Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider knowledge is all that's needed.

The story itself is quick and simple:  Three heroes on the edge are summoned together by an evil being who makes them an offer to join him.  All three refuse and fighting commences.  At the end of it all, the heroes prevail and understand that being on the edge doesn't make them the bad guys everyone thinks they are. 

That's it.  That's the story. Temptation. . .Refusal. . .Redemption.  Howard Mackie does a great job in boiling a fairly heavy concept down to a nice tasty broth.

To be fair, this isn't a PERFECT story.  I'm not sure a perfect comic story exists.  The story basically exists as a flimsy framework to hang an unlikely triple team up on.  It sort of HAS to be simple to accommodate its ONE job. . .having Punisher, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider in the same story.  

The team up itself is questionable.  The narrative is actually more of a Ghost Rider story because Ghost Rider is really the only character of the three heroes that fits well into the framework.  Wolverine and Punisher aren't exactly known for fighting supernatural enemies.

Wolverine. . .maybe.  I'm not sure if it's been established that his claws can affect supernatural beings or not, but I guess in comic book world, adamantium can do whatever needs to be done for the story, so I'll give you Wolverine.

But Punisher?  He's just shooting guns.  If a creature like Blackheart can be injured by plain old bullets (fired with 90s manly RAGE of course) then was he really that much of a threat in the first place?  Punisher in this story is cool,  but it doesn't make a bit of sense.

Doctor Strange and maybe Moon Knight would have fit the story better.  But then again, Doctor Strange and Moon Knight weren't Wolverine and Punisher.  They were both a little more low key in the early 90s.  A team up of Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and Moon Knight would have been cool, but not NEARLY as "hot" as Ghost Rider, Punisher, and Wolverine.

So the story is pretty good, but not perfect.  Let's talk about the art.

John Romita Jr.  He's one of those artists with a unique and immediately recognizable style.  He's ALSO one of those artists that many comic fans either love or hate, and there's usually not much in between.  

To ME, my love/hate relationship with JRJ's art depends entirely on the project.  There are some JRJ comics that I really like. There are also some that I absolutely do NOT like.  Like I said, not really much in between.  To be fair, the only piece of original comic art I own is a Romita Jr. Daredevil splash page, so there's THAT.

So where does this story fall on the love/hate spectrum?  I'd say on the good side.  Romita Jr. can put out some absolutely horrendous art, but this isn't one of those times.  There are some VERY nice full page and double page spreads in here, and overall this is a pretty good-looking comic.

Probably not his BEST work, but this is a good example of Romita Jr. at his 90s peak.   I have a lot more tolerance for JRJ's style during this era of his career than some of his later work (Kick-Ass, All Star Batman, Avengers, etc. . .), but that's just MY humble opinion.

CONCLUSION

A decent, self-contained story backed up by some good 90s art.  What more could you ask for in a one shot?  Not much.  It's not perfect.  The whole setup is somewhat questionable, and if you don't know what these characters are about coming into it, then you're going to have trouble caring what happens.

Those couple of small things aside, I enjoyed this comic.  It's like a time capsule of the 90s.  For those of us who were there, it's a nice little trip back.  For those readers who weren't, this is a decent example of what was good about 90s comics.  Over the top and with a lot of style, even if the stories were sometimes a bit of a flimsy framework to hang that style on.

This one shot is easily found in the bargain bin.  I see it often.  It seems like they printed a LOT of these because of how often I see them.  If you haven't read this yet, then I would definitely suggest you pick one up and check it out. . .especially if you're one of those readers who weren't around in the 90s and want to go beyond the memes about how bad it was to actually see something good from that era.  

Up Next. . .

How about the second place winnah of my little Reddit contest?

He's Nacho average superhero! He's COMBO MAN!

Be there or be square.

Longbox Junk - One-Shots (Part 3)

Welcome to Longbox Junk, where the comics are cheap and the reviews are free!

Let's cut the introduction short this time and take a look at another handful of one-shot comics from my collection.  If you're a regular reader of Longbox Junk, then you know that these are my all-time favorite kind of comic book.  One issue. . .one story.  Nowhere for a creative team to hide.

This time out I've got a half and half mix of superhero and science fiction comics. Let's do it!

ONE-SHOTS (Part 3)

STAR TREK:

OPERATION ASSIMILATION

Marvel (1997)

OPERATION ASSIMILATION

SCRIPT: Paul Jenkins

PENCILS: Steve Erwin

COVER: Hajime Sorayama

THE COVER:

For some reason, this cover seems to be trying a little TOO hard.  The main figure seems stiff and the "Collector's Item Issue" spatch on the left oversells the comic a bit and just dates this to the 90's more than anything.  That said, it's not a BAD cover.  It's nicely-drawn and I like the muted colors.  A Romulan Borg is also an intriguing promise, so let's get inside!

THE STORY:

Moliok, Proud Daughter of the Seat of Tarek, patrols a backwater sector of Romulan Space near the Neutral Zone. . .in command of an outdated ship and tasked with putting down petty rebellions against Romulan Rule, far from the action and excitement of those preparing for the inevitable confrontation with The Federation, thanks to her political misfortune.

Suddenly, Moliok's luck changes when an unidentified ship intruding in Romulan space offers her a break from the grinding routine of frontier patrol.  She moves in to confront the giant cube-shaped ship as it destroys a scientific outpost.  Moliok quickly discovers that her attacks are incapable of harming the unidentified intruder, which is capable of repairing itself.

Caught in a tractor beam, Moliok is commanded to surrender her ship.  She refuses and decides to ram the cube after setting the self-destruct, but before she can do so, strange cybernetic beings transport aboard her ship.  A brutal and desperate hand to hand battle breaks out, but Moliok is unable to defeat the invaders.

She is taken aboard the cube and subjected to agonizing surgery, forcing her to join the collective of the alien "Borg".  When we next see Moliok, she is serving as a Borg emissary as the cube continues to destroy Romulan outposts.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

This one-shot serves as a prequel to the late first season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone", which re-introduces the Romulans as a Federation foe to be reckoned with as outposts in the Neutral Zone are destroyed by an unknown enemy (revealed later to be the first off-screen appearance of The Borg).

The story itself is pretty straightforward and honestly a bit light.  It feels more like the first issue of an unfinished mini-series than a complete standalone story.  It's well-written and the character of Moliok is interesting, but it just feels like there should be more to it.

On the art side of things, it's not bad, but it's not particularly great either.  It's the kind of art that just tells the story and doesn't try to do anything other than that.  In other words, pretty average.

Overall, the most interesting thing about this story is seeing the Borg from another point of view that we didn't get from the T.V. show. . .which is one of the things I love about comic books!  And for that alone, I can recommend this story to any Star Trek fans (like me) out there who want just a LITTLE more background to the Borg arrival in Star Trek: The Next Generation.  If you're NOT a Star Trek fan, you'll probably just wonder where the rest of the story is.

So not a bad start.  Let's see what else we've got. 

NEXT!

FLASHPOINT:

GREEN ARROW INDUSTRIES

DC (2011)

GREEN ARROW INDUSTRIES

SCRIPT: Pornsak Pichetshote

PENCILS: Marco Castiello (Pgs. 1-5); Ig Guara (Pgs. 6-20)

COVER: Viktor Kalvachev

THE COVER:

The Flashpoint stories were all pretty much "Elseworlds" tales, and that's what this cover promises. . .a gun-toting Green Arrow with a fiendish grin who might or might not be a hero at all in the twisted world of Flashpoint.  It really makes me want to jump right in and see what's going on!  I also really like the green tone of the cover.  Very nicely-done.

THE STORY:

Billionaire Oliver Queen has made a fortune through Green Arrow Industries by using paramilitary teams to take down supervillains and transform their high-tech weaponry into military equipment for sale to the highest bidder.

When Queen's top secret testing facility comes under attack and his best friend, Roy Harper, is killed (along with a group of visiting U.S. Generals), Oliver equips himself with some of his retro-fitted villain weaponry and sets off in pursuit of the leader of the attack.

During a brutal battle in the jungle outside of the island facility with a strange woman armed with a bow, Oliver learns that the attack is to draw attention to the secret facility.  Green Arrow's weapons have caused death and destruction throughout the world and their inhumane corporate testing methods must be stopped.

Suddenly, Oliver realizes that HE'S become the villain!  He promises to end dealing in weapons and to use the technology for other purposes, but the mysterious woman just laughs at Queen's new pledge of "responsibility" before revealing that she's his daughter from the supervillain now known as Vixen and that he's been paying child support since she was born but has never seen her face before now.

Chastised, Oliver tries to allow his daughter to escape, but his security forces arrive on the scene and gun her down. . .devastating him as he resolves to change his life over her dead body.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Hmmmm. . .interesting.  Like I said above, all the Flashpoint stories are basically "Elseworlds" tales.  This one gives us Oliver Queen as. . .well. . .pretty much a Tony Stark clone.  I'd have to say that this was an interesting little slice of the overall Flashpoint "universe", but it's very derivative and feels incomplete, like it was meant to be the first issue of a 3 issue mini.  It's not BAD, but to be perfectly honest, the cover is the best part of this comic.

As far as the art goes, this is another comic with art that just tells the story and doesn't really try anything harder than that.  There's a few places that the art manages to elevate itself to just above "Pretty Good", but there's not many.

Overall, as a small slice of the short-lived Flashpoint "Universe", this is an interesting look at a decidedly unheroic Oliver Queen being forced to face his part in the suffering of the world.  As a one shot "Elseworlds" story, it feels incomplete and has an abrupt ending.  Like the Star Trek story above, it feels more like the first issue in an unfinished mini.  

I don't think I can recommend this to anybody except Green Arrow or Flashpoint completionists.  It just sort of feels like a fragment of an unfinished story.  It's interesting, but ultimately forgettable. 

NEXT!

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA:

PEGASUS

Dynamite (2007)

PEGASUS

SCRIPT: Brandon Jerwa

PENCILS: Jonathan Lau

COVER: Photo

THE COVER:

A very nice photo cover of actress Michelle Forbes as Admiral Helena Cain, Commander of the only other remaining Battlestar, from Battlestar Galactica's second season.  If you're a big fan of the "re-imagined" BSG like I am, then this photo alone promises a chilling look at the dark places the fight for survival can take a story.  The "Pegasus" storyline was one of the best of the whole series and getting even a bit more of it is an exciting proposition that makes me want to jump right in!

THE STORY:

Set about a year before the events of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica SyFy mini-series, we begin our tale aboard the Battlestar Pegasus in spacedock undergoing maintenance and a refit of her Viper attack ships.  

Her commander, Admiral Cain, is given an emergency mission to travel to the Cylon/ Human armistice line to investigate the disappearance of the Battlestar Chronos. . .which vanished while responding to a distress signal believed to have been from a stealth ship lost on a previous secret mission across the border between Cylon and Human space.

Setting out with severely-depleted fighter forces, Admiral Cain is taken by surprise when Cylon ships attack as the Pegasus approaches the wreckage of the Chronos.  After being severely damaged, the Pegasus flees the battle and follows a distress signal coming from a Colonial supply depot.

After a brutal battle between Cylon forces waiting in ambush near the depot and Pegasus' outnumbered Viper pilots, Admiral Cain sends a ground team to investigate the distress signal.  The ground team discover a scene of carnage and are themselves attacked by Cylon troopers laying in wait.  After narrowly escaping the ambush, they discover the lone human survivor, Admiral Tong, commander of the destroyed Battlestar Chronos.

Back aboard the Pegasus, Admiral Cain attempts to gain information from Admiral Tong, but he suffers a mental breakdown and commits suicide in front of her.  Seeing the amount of death and suffering from this single encounter with the Cylons, Cain realizes that the threat waiting for mankind is far greater than anyone has imagined.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Okay. . .not bad.  This is a nice, solid little piece of hard military sci-fi action.  Like the Star Trek comic above, it ties into the T.V. show (The 3rd season episode "Hero", which expands on the failed stealth ship mission mentioned in this comic). Existing Battlestar Galactica fans will get more out of this because, also like the Star Trek comic above, if you aren't a BSG fan, you'll just end up wondering where the rest of this story is at.

That said, if you ARE part of the target audience, then this comic reads like a lost episode of the series!  We get to see Admiral Cain in action before she became the hard and empty shell of a person we are introduced to during the "Pegasus" storyline on the show.  Here, she's shown simply as a strong, confident commander and it really sort of drives home how far into the darkness she went after the Pegasus escaped the Cylon destruction of the Colonies.  But like I said above, if you aren't a BSG fan, all that won't mean much to you.

On the art side of things. . .I'm a fan of Jonathan Lau's dynamic art style from his work on Dynamite's Green Hornet and Bionic Man series.  Unfortunately, this is not his best work.  It's not BAD, and his signature style is definitely on display for the more action-packed scenes, but for some reason a lot of the non-action scenes look sketchy and rough.  That and he never manages to capture the likeness of Michelle Forbes (the actress who plays Cain on the show).

Compare the top and middle panels to the cover to see what I mean

Overall, this is a comic that was definitely written for a specific audience. For existing Battlestar Galactica fans, this is a great little prequel story that reads exactly like a missing episode of the series.  So being a big BSG fan myself, this comic is a winner!  Unfortunately, if you aren't a BSG fan, the connections will mean nothing and what you'll end up with is a fragment of a decent hard military sci-fi story that (in its favor) MIGHT be good enough to make you want to check out the source material. 

AND FINALLY. . .

GREEN LANTERN PLUS

DC (1996)

MAGNETIC PERSONALITIES

SCRIPT: Ron Marz

PENCILS: Scott Kolins

COVER: Scott Kolins

THE COVER:

Meh.  This one's just not doing much for me.  It seems a bit cluttered and messy.  I do like the brilliant colors of the main characters, but other than that, there's not much to write home about here, in my extremely humble opinion.  Let's hope what's inside is better.

THE STORY:

We begin our tale as an isolated magnetic research station at the North Pole is attacked by a mysterious figure.  We then switch scenes to New York City, where Kyle Rayner (AKA Green Lantern) finds himself needing to rush an art assignment to Japan after missing a deadline.  

In the meantime, at a Philadelphia park, we find Ray Terrill (AKA The Ray) in an argument with his girlfriend over his never being around when she needs him.  The argument is interrupted by a strange magnetic event and Ray once again leaves his girl to follow the magnetic trail to its source.

After destroying a small island with a tidal wave, the mysterious figure from the North Pole heads to Tokyo, where he proceeds to wreak havoc before confronting and easily defeating Japan's newest hero, Arashi.  Green Lantern saves Arashi and then joins in the battle after recognizing his foe, Doctor Polaris.

As the battle rages through Tokyo, The Ray arrives on the scene to help Green Lantern and there's the team-up!  Leaving The Ray to fight Polaris, Green Lantern saves Tokyo from another tidal wave.  After Green Lantern returns, the two heroes compare notes from their solo battles against Polaris and attack him together, forcing Polaris' multiple personalities to fight themselves.

After Polaris falls victim to his inner battle, Green Lantern leaves him in the hands of The Ray as he finishes his own errand and recognizes the woman he was delivering his assignment to as Arashi, the Japanese superhero he rescued earlier.  We end the story knowing that Arashi also recognizes Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Hmmmm. . .okay.  What we have here is a pretty straightforward and extremely well-worn story path of "Heroes team up to fight a common enemy".  I'm actually surprised to find the "Heroes fight until they realize they're on the same side" team-up trope missing. . .so extra points there, I guess?  

What I'm trying to say is that this is a decent enough story, but one that's been told over and over and over and over and over and over and. . .well, you get the idea.  Most of the book is taken up with fight scenes, and at the end of the day nothing has changed for either hero.  It's a story you've read many times.

The only REAL interesting part of this was the Japanese hero, Arashi.  She's got a cool look and it seems like there was some potential there for her to be an interesting high-tech hero. . .unfortunately, when I searched for more stories with her in them, I discovered that this was her first, last, and only appearance.  DC sort of hit a foul ball there. Check her out. . .

As far as the art goes, I'd say it's probably the best part of this one-shot.  There's a lot of detail and interesting, cinematic angles that give things a great sense of motion.  The only thing I didn't like much art-wise was that the artist gives the youthful Kyle Rayner a grizzled look that makes him appear about forty years old.  Other than that, this comic has some great art and very nice colors.

Overall, this is a pretty by the numbers superhero team-up.  It's the sort of thing you read and forget about not long afterward.  It does have some very nice art, it's a sort of unusual team-up, and it's pretty fun, but it's basically comic book junk food.  If you're a big Green Lantern or Ray fan, then definitely keep your eye out for this one.  For anyone else. . .don't pay more than a buck if you REALLY want to check it out.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it.  Another handful of Longbox Junk one-shots.  Overall, I'd have to say that this bunch didn't fare as well as the last couple of batches I went through (Read HERE and HERE ).  There aren't any BAD ones, it's just that the only one that doesn't feel like an unfinished mini-series is the Green Lantern/Ray team-up.  The rest read like unfinished story fragments.

Granted, if you're a big Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica fan like myself, you'll get significantly more mileage out of those two one-shots. . .but not everybody is going to know where and how those stories connect with their television counterparts, so it's not fair for me to judge them any differently as one-shots needing to tell a complete story in a single issue.

Up Next. . .

I think I'm done with one-shots for now.

It's been a while since I dug into a mini-series.  But which one?

So many to choose from! I'll figure it out, though.

Be there or be square!