Non-GA Spotlight: Doctor Who #1

Issue: Doctor Who #1

Title: "Doctor Who and the Star Beasts" (main) "Return of the Daleks" (back-up)

Credits: Mills and Wagner (scripts) Dave Gibbons (art)

Cover Date: October, 1984

Synopsis: This first issue finds the Doctor on his way to Spain for vacation. Unfortunately, the TARDIS is up to its usual tricks, and ends up putting him inside an alien space ship.

The aliens quickly subdue both the Doctor and K-9, moving the Doctor into an operating theater. We find out that they plan to implant a deadly bomb in his stomach. The Doctor is allowed to escape, but with a pair of alien spys on board the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, in England, two teenagers stumble across a truly adorable blue, fuzzy alien that they name Meep. They take it home and try to nurse it back to health, all the while passing it off as an exotic pet to the boy's mother.

The Doctor hears a news report about the crash of the Meep's UFO, and decides to investigate. He arrives just in time to help the two kids fight off an attack by the very same aliens that previously captured the Doctor. It turns out they they're hunting the Meep. They fear and hate it for reasons that remain unclear.

The Doctor quickly realizes that the attack was beaten off far too easily, and suddenly remembers the pain in his stomach. He suddenly figures out what the aliens have done to him, and warns the children to run... THE END!

The back-up feature is a fun little tale about an alien planet which films a movie about Daleks. The fantasy turns to reality when one of their less reputable citizens uses a mysterious crystal to make the Daleks real. Her plan turns against her after the Daleks, being Daleks, inevitably betray her. She teams up with the planet's military to use the crystal to return the Daleks to their fantasy world, eliminating the threat and leaving the movie studio with tons of absolutely amazing footage...

Thoughts: This issue was a ton of fun. The writers managed to capture what really makes the Doctor fun and translate it into comic book form. I thought the Dalek story (surprisingly) was the less compelling of the two stories. It just didn't click with me for some reason. The Star Beast story continues with the next issue, so I'll make sure to review that as well so you'll all know what happened...

Non-GA Spotlight:: Justice League Europe #2

Issue: Justice League Europe #2

Title: Somebody Up There Hates Us

Credits: Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis (writing) Bart Sears (pencils) Gene D'Angelo (colors) Pablo Marcos (inks)

Cover Date: May, 1989

Overview: The JLE begin the issue by looking into the incident that occured in the last issue by having Sue Dibney (who has volunteered for permanent monitor duty) use the JLE computer to cross reference Nazi and meta-human activity. The computer spits out 3 results, one in Frankfurt, Germany, one in Dover, England, and one in Santa Cruz, CA.

The team decides to split up and investigate each site. Animal Man and Captain Atom head to California, where they find the Neo-Nazi camp in ruins. Just as they land, they're attacked by a super powered Viking, who accuses them of being in cahoots with the Nazis. They scuffle for a bit, but Cap. Atom eventually tires of the game and stuns the man with a bolt of energy. The only trouble is, it seems to have done more than stun him, the Viking is in a coma!

Power Girl and Rocket Red fly to Frankfurt, where they find their building in ruins as well. Suddenly, they're accosted by a meta-human with light based powers. After another fight, Power Girl knocks him out, but "Rising Sun" ends up in a coma as well!

Finally, Metamorpho, Flash, and Ralph Dibney take a ferry to Dover (the London teleporters were broken) only to be ambushed by yet another superhuman, Tuatara. This guy has a nautical theme, and nearly drowns our heroes before being subdued, and falling into a coma!

The coda lets us know that all the previous events have been part of a scheme by an outfit called the Dome. Story continues in the next issue.

Thoughts: Another fun issue. Again, we have Captain Atom unsure of his command, but we also have lighter moments, like Sue Dibney's apparent crush on the dashing Captain (and Ralph's obvious reaction!). We also have a very serious moment as Power Girl and Rocket Red discuss the Nazis. After lamenting the loss of life at the Frankfurt facility, Kara accuses Dmitri of sympathizing with the Nazis. Dmitri counters that he's just upset at the death toll and reminds Power Girl that his country suffered under the Nazis to a much greater degree than the US. Sufficiently chastised, PG apologizes. I like when comics throw in bits of history like that. We'll see how the storyline plays out in the next issue. Until then folks, good day!

R.I.P. Gary Gygax

Thanks for the good times...

Non-GA:: Salvation Run #4

So, I just read Salvation Run #4. I'm not actually following the series, but I was in the comic shop over my lunch break and saw the cover. As you can plainly see, this is quite possibly the most awesome cover ever createdby man.

Inside the comic, things were even more awesome. The very frist scene featured dinosaurs that shot laser beams out of their mouths.

Then we come to the fight portrayed on the cover, where a talking ape beats another talking ape to death with a disembodied brain that is also the other ape's significant other.

I have no idea what's actually going on in this issue, and I honestly don't care!

Justice League Europe #1

I recieved an interesting non-GA gift from my brother, and thought I would share it with you, my lovely readers.

Justice League Europe is sort of an odd duck. It lasted quite a long time (68 issues, I believe) but very few people actually remember the team or any of its exploits. With a mixed bag of big-name heavy-hitters (Flash, Wonder Woman) long time, but little known Leaguers (Ralph Dibny), newer characters (Captain Atom, Rocket Red) and esablished but under-used heroes (Animal Man, Metaporpho, Power Girl) the team made for an interesting, if decidely unusual read.

The first issue revolves mostly around estabishing the team's base, including an hilarious incident where the League teleporters disintegrate Animal Man's luggage, including his one and only uniform! This type of humor runs throughout this issue, and the title in general. That's not entirely surprising, when you consider the comedians that fill out the team's roster (The Dibneys, Animal Man and Wally West, all on the same team!)

One of the major establishing points is Captain Atom's unease at being in command. One would think that an Air Force officer would be used to it, but I guess we've got to cut the guy some slack. I mean, he WAS just catapulted 20 years into his future, after all. Plus he's placed in charge of people who are used to following orders from Superman or Martian Manhunter, not exactly an easy act to follow.

I particularly liked the Blue Beetle/Booster Gold buddy-buddy relationship that Rocket Red and Animal Man share thourghout this first story. They work well together, swapping literary puns and grousing about their respective governments (including the obligatory "In USSR, blank blanks YOU!). Dmitri and Buddy seem like the kind of folks you'd love to go have a beer with sometime, and I appreciate that.

Of course, what would a superhero boook be without a drama and some mystery, and we get those in spades over the course of a few pages. First, a mysterious gentleman runs to the JLE for help, only to end up murdered in the lobby. To add to the problem, a crazed mob assaults the brand new embassy. With the French cops giving Captain Atom serious attitude and a picket line forming outside the embassy, the issues concludes with its final twist: The murder victim was a former Nazi. And quite understandably, the French are not thrilled with the idea that the League is harboring a Nazi.

And of course, on that note, the issue ends. I don't have the second issue, so I don't know how the story plays out. Maybe if I come across it in a discount bin I'll pick it up and let you guys know. :)

Rob Liefeld must die

In non-GA news, the Progressive Boink brings us 40 more reasons to hate Rob Liefeld and everything he stands for.