Archie Comics Review: Used backlog Part 1

This has been far too long in coming. I bought these over probably over a year ago. They’ve been sitting in a pile in my living room all this time, mocking me. These digests are all from Coas Books. Their supply of Archie digests ebb and flow and I picked these up when they had a bunch over a couple of trips. I’ve mentioned before that Archie Comics has stopped making traditional digests. (Now they’re sort of miniature magazines.) I haven’t decided what I’ll do with this batch, since they’re likely not going to be around in used bookstores much longer.

Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #242

This is not a “double digest.” This is truly a jumbo-sized digest with maybe 30 more pages. I might not have picked this up but for the size just to get a look at. This one will keep you busy for a while.

It starts off with Archie trying to date Ginger, but her cat keeps getting between them, including getting Archie stuck in a window. Finally, the cat ends up falling for Archie and approves of him. There are then several Betty and Veronica stories, including Veronica doing some matchmaking for her butler, Smithers.

There’s a Sabrina section featuring stories by Holly G. In the first one, she meets Jay and Silent Bob as ghosts in a haunted house. They quickly make nuisances of themselves, just like in the movies. This was an odd crossover for a kid’s book with an R-rated movie, but there was an actual official crossover with Archie a couple of years ago.

Sabrina also twins herself in another story to go out with Harvey and her magic school schoolmate, Shinji, at the same time. This was more a romance story than Sabrina usually is and it has continuity. Holly G. also draws Sabrina’s aunts more pleasant and normal-looking than they ever are elsewhere.

Lots more Betty and Veronica, including a shower scene. Various Archie artists love putting the girls in the shower. There’s a long Veronica story with her researching the Revolutionary War with the aid of a ghost.

There’s section of 50’s Archie. They seem slightly embarrassed by this material for some reason and even put a disclaimer on it. The girls are all-out fighting over Archie in this era. Betty is “Crazy Betty” here, but also sort of Hard Luck Betty, who has trouble getting a date.

The girls are pretty fashionable. In this story, Betty gets knocked on the head and insists she’s actually Veronica. It turns out to be a scam on her part, but Mr. Lodge sets her straight. This material, I guess, could be shocking to someone only familiar with Nice Girl Betty.

There are further stories with Veronica getting help from her cousin Marcy and the computer Geek Patrol, she becomes a glamorous teen detective to solve a mystery at school, and joins the circus as a clown.

Isn’t this a sweet pinup by Dan Parent? This was a pretty good volume. Certainly, it was big enough that some of it had to be good.

Betty and Veronica Halloween Annual #237

This Halloween digest begins with a rather un-Halloween story of Archie on a talk show being confronted by all of girls he’s going out with. That could be horror story, but all of these girls still want him.

This is by no means a complete list. It even includes an out-of-season Noelle, Santa’s daughter. It’s actually not much of a confrontation, as everyone agrees to adore Archie. I’m so jealous, but not angry enough to stop reading his comic books.

This more in spirit with a Halloween party with the gang. Betty manages to scare everyone with an elaborate prank. Who would have suspected her?

There’s a good-sized Sabrina section. There’s a couple of Gravestone Heights era stories, though I wonder if there’s only a couple of stories from this era, since that’s all I’ve ever seen.

Sabrina then introduces a warlock to the concept of love. I’ve seen these Sabrina stories before, though.

It’s an ad from the Good Old Days of 2015, when Archie was publishing a bunch of digests and putting new stories in them.

Ronnie in a tie. So 80’s. So fashionable. Sigh. So cute.

Okay, it’s not Melody from Josie and the Pussycats. She’s Betty’s Fairy Godmother, sort of. She ends up stealing Archie from her and Veronica. We’ll add her to Archie’s girlfriend list. (This does seem to be about as close as Archie has ever gotten to dating Melody. How are these two immune to each other’s attractiveness?)

This is cute with Betty imagining herself as a flapper with the rest of the gang in the Roaring 20’s. The short hair style doesn’t look good on Veronica here, not like it does in the 60’s. There’s also a story with Betty Cooper, Girl Detective. She gets her man, the criminal, but loses her man, Archie, to Veronica.

Great Rex Lindsey drawn story with Mr. Lodge explaining that he’s spoiled his daughter, but she’s not a bad kid thanks to her relatively normal friends. There’s a Little Betty and Veronica Halloween story and a couple more Halloween stories in the back. It’s a fun digest, but I’ve read a bunch of the material inside in other digests. Archie’s been around for over 80 years, but they’re not drawing on enough older material and keep just recycling the newer stuff.

Betty and Veronica Holiday Annual #248

A couple of stories about decorating start this Christmas digest, including Betty’s grandma reminiscing about falling in love with her husband. Betty then does some shopping for Veronica, who’s out sick. Betty makes the mistake of haggling on the prices of the high-end gifts on Veronica’s list. “Veronica Lodge does not pay ‘reasonable’ prices!” Veronica insists on being billed for the full amount.

Great Dan Decarlo drawing of Veronica unhappy at a party. The Sugar Plum Fairy tries to help her and Betty get time with Archie, but they just ending up fighting each other before finally making up and agreeing to share him. What is it about this redheaded kid?

A holiday section with Sabrina follows, but its 70’s Sabrina. Nothing to get too excited about. Various random Betty and Veronica stories follow. There’s one with Veronica dressed in disguise with a wig. In another, Betty thinks Veronica has had a nose job. Then, Veronica goes snooping in Betty’s room to find her diary.

You just have to love this panel with the chickens. There’s a Little Betty and Veronica Christmas story, along with a Little Sabrina story with a snowman brought to life. More Christmas stories with the girls follow, including a two-part story where Veronica isn’t sure what to get her parents before she goes to Jamaica for the holidays. She decides on canceling her trip to spend it with them.

Unfortunately, I’d read most of these stories before, so I didn’t get much out of this. Still, it’s an Archie Christmas digest and it’s great for the season.

Comics Review: Wonder Girl—Homecoming

 

You’re mine, Yara. Finally, all mine. Sigh. Much like the Legion of Super-Heroes trade, this one is also tinged with regret for the title as a whole. Unlike the Legion, where we regret what was lost, with Wonder Girl, we wonder what might have been.

I fell in love with the character of the Yara Flor/Wonder Girl at first sight. It was Issue #3 of the series (9-16-21) where we first met. I actively searched out for more with Issue #2 of Wonder Woman: Future State (11-11-21) and Issue #4 (11-12-21).  These are collected in this volume. Later, I got an issue of Trial of the Amazons (5-24-22), which is not included here. I could have gotten more issues that were in this volume, but I’d actually passed on a couple of issues when I noticed they weren’t drawn by Yara’s creator, Joelle Jones.

I embarrassingly don’t remember why I thought to look for a Wonder Girl trade. It had never occurred to me before that there would be one. The character seems to have been sort of discarded at the moment. As soon as I saw this was available, I definitively made up my mind what to do with an Amazon gift card without further consideration.

I won’t pretend I know the exact origin of this character. From some Wiki-research, Yara was been created for a CW TV show, but the show fell through. (I seem to vaguely remember a different Amazon DC superhero show did nearly make it on TV, but the pilot failed horribly. I can’t find it.) While the TV project was viable, Yara was rushed out and highly promoted. When it was gone, she faded into relative obscurity just as fast.

Why not do a new Wonder Woman TV show? She’s a movie star now. (Also, they tried that and it didn’t get past the pilot.) What about the other two Wonder Girls? Okay, Donna Troy’s backstory and history is likely not useful as is. (And there’d be the amusing comparisons with the Debra Winger/Wonder Girl from the 70’s Wonder Woman show.) Cassie Sandmark, I think, might be a great choice with her background, but not if you were making the show as part of the Agenda. You’d want to replace the blonde, blue-eyed White girl with someone ethnic and non-American.

Funny thing, nobody apparently told Joelle not to make Yara beautiful and charming, which she did. Yara is based on a real Brazilian Indian model. From looking at the pictures, I can only tell you that Yara is the most idealized-looking version of this woman imaginable. (Model? Really?) I think the impetus to create this character was to piss off comic book fans. They weren’t supposed to like her, but it was awfully hard not to. This might have been the downfall of the character with the company. When they found out that fans liked the character, she had to be scuttled in favor of Nubia, an angry black Amazon, or that precious trans-Amazon character.

This volume isn’t the entire corpus of Yara Flor in comic book literature, but it’s likely most of it where she was the starring character. I was very intrigued by what I originally bought, if kind of confused by the story. I thought getting the rest of the Wonder Girl series and the other issue of Future State would explain things. No, it was made worse. As well as the character was designed and as fully formed as her personality was, the story is there, but just not well developed. Yara’s story has the appearance of being rushed out. Either that, or Joelle isn’t much of a writer.

From Issue #1, Yara is very much a normal girl, but with an exotic background. Yara’s Amazon mother was executed in front of her by unidentified supernatural entities. Sent away to the US, Yara was determined to return, but only as a tourist. Her foster relatives are introduced and dismissed without any further mention. Yara’s American upbringing does give her a pretty good sense of humor and an independent attitude.

Meanwhile, the other Amazon tribes and the gods on Mount Olympus sense Yara’s return and are disturbed by it. Indeed, many other superheroes sense something important is about to happen. Yara is blissfully unaware of all of it. She befriends her tour bus driver, who is obviously smitten with her (like the readers). I’m sure Joao is modeled after somebody, but I don’t know who. Recap stops for a moment. This whole thing bit with the eyes of the world (and beyond) on Yara doesn’t pay off and is not explained. Lower your expectations.

At a tour destination, Yara is pulled underwater and encounters a river goddess, who gifts her a magical bolo. Aren’t there pictures beautiful? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an underwater scene so well drawn. Also in Issue #2, Artemis and Cassie Sandsmark are sent to find Yara by their respective Amazon tribes. Yara is attacked while on an airliner by a couple of Amazon assassins, which brings the plane down into a crash landing.

Issue #3 I reviewed before without understanding what was going on. I’m still kind of clueless. A Brazilian crocodile goddess, who’s not explained until the annual issue later, tries to seduce Yara into her service, but Greek god Eros, is the one who ends up claiming her by stabbing her with one of his love arrows. Meanwhile, Cassie and Artemis meet and reluctantly work together. It’s a fairly amusing contrast in personalities. In Issue #4, Yara is trained as a warrior on Olympus and meets her Pegasus. Hera then offers her immortality.

Issue #5 was not drawn by Joelle, though Adriana Melo does a very good job. I probably shouldn’t have just turned up my nose at buying this. Melo does draw Yara pretty thick, though. Storywise, Yara refuses Hera’s offer and has to fight her way out of Olympus. I’d like to explain all of the complicated motivations here, but there aren’t any. Yara just doesn’t want to work for Hera, who likely should have worked out that deal before having her trained.

Cassie meets Potira of Brazilian Amazon tribe and is taken to the tribe’s home for a visit and they find Donna Troy already there. The Brazilians plan on getting Yara back and marching on Themyscira, as they feel that tribe has abandoned their duties.

Cassie is kind of ditzy in this series. Not dumb, but a bit silly. This was not experience with her in the Teen Titans. She was anything but that. (Annoyingly, I never reviewed the trades or issues I had of that version of the team led by the Tim Drake/Robin with Connor Kent/Superboy, but trust me, bro.) On the other hand, she was kind of spacey in an origin recap issue (5-9-24), so I’m not sure which is the real thing.

This panel made me laugh. There’s a couple of women at work that are obsessed with capybaras, a giant, gentle rodent. They have a bunch of stuffed ones (stuffed animals, not actual rodents) at their desks.

In Issue #6, Yara ends up in Greek Heck. Her and Eros have a heart-to-heart. He’s hurt that she refused to stay with him, but she didn’t want to be used by Hera. She escapes and makes it to the Gates of Olympus. On the other side, the Brazilians are ready to storm the gates. Yara’s mother’s killers arrive to confront her. Leila Del Duca does a good job on the art here and the next issue. (It’s still not Joelle.)

In the last issue, The Amazons storm the gate and a large fight ensues. Yara unmasks one of the killers and it’s Eros. In their talk, Eros declares his love. He says he was ordered kill her mom and seems to imply that he’s also her dad. I think they walk, if not run, away from this revelation in a future issue. It’s problematical to say the least. Zeus intervenes and attacks, but Cassie talks him into letting Yara go. Eros, for his part, releases Yara from his love spell.

Umm. . . the end? Okay, all that for this. I don’t know if this was the planned end of the series or if they cut it off here, which is what it looks like.

Next is an annual. The crocodile goddess comes back and steals Yara’s boyfriend, Joao. The Brazilian Amazon’s home is also under attack at the same time. Yara defeats her. The end. The art is still not by Joelle and only okay.

Future State actually came out before the Wonder Girl series, which is very confusing. Yara Flor is shown as the future Wonder Woman, before her origin story. Like I said, this felt rushed. DC wanted this character to be seen as legit as soon as possible. These two issues are drawn by Joelle.

Yara is trying to get into Hades to rescue her lost friend, Potira. She gains an impish guide in Caipora. The imp takes her the entrance, which looks like an airport terminal.

Yara ends up having to fight it out with a Sumo wrestler to get the fee to give to Charon to carry her over. The first issue is basically filler. The second issue is the bulk of the story that I’d read and been impressed with before. Yara makes a deal with Hades and is able to find Potira, but isn’t able to bring her out. It’s a very brave attempt, though, and heartbreaking for her.

The other issue I have, which isn’t in this trade, is the issue of Trial of the Amazons starring Yara. It’s written and drawn by Joelle and sets up a good murder mystery, but it’s mostly with Cassie doing the work. Yara is just sort of in it. I’m kind of sorry I don’t have any other issues of this, though. It looks interesting. As far as I know, Yara is just a guest star character in other comics after this. She’s basically been discarded.

Sigh. Given how much I like Dani Moonstar, it’s obvious I have a thing for pretty girls with long, dark hair, who ride a Pegasus. Suddenly, I wonder if Joelle likes Moonstar, too. Dani is Cheyenne and Yara is Amazonian, but they are both American Indian. Dani’s Pegasus is named Brightwind, while Yara’s is named after me.

Do I recommend this? Yeah. Even with the questionable story, even though Joelle doesn’t do most of the art, even though the character has no future, it’s still stunning, if not hypnotic, for the artwork. Wonder Woman does not need replacing. There were already two Wonder Girls. But, this was an original and interesting premise with a charismatic new character. What might have been . . .

Comics Review: Legion of Super-Heroes—The Great Darkness Saga

Bittersweet. The Legion of Super-Heroes hurts like no other comic book. It’s not because it’s bad, but because it was so good. The Legion has been around since the 50’s as a foil for Superboy to have adventures in the far-off 30-th Century. Crisis on Infinite Earths eliminated that version of Superboy, but the Legion had been a strong enough concept to carry the title by themselves before that happened.

The LSH really came into its own in the 80’s under writer Paul Levitz teamed up with artist Keith Giffen.  Levitz had been a former comic fanzine editor before becoming their writer. Giffen imprinted a distinctive style on the setting. The Great Darkness Saga really put the group on the radar of many comic book fans with a signature storyline. The Legion then became a deluxe title along with the best-selling Teen Titans and was even reprinted monthly for the newsstand.

The comic had several excellent artists under Levitz’s writing, but eventually he moved on to become DC’s publisher.  The title was rebooted for the first time in the 90’s with “5 Years Later” setting. It started out still in continuity, but DC’s overall editorial changes forced some drastic and innovative changes that basically reset the title.

Giffen came back for the new title, but had radically changed his artstyle. The main problem, however, was that a couple of fans were given the writing reins. They weren’t as respectful as Levitz, as they proceeded to make every wild fan theory canon. It was bad enough that they had to create a second title with a clone Legion (which was another theory brought to life) to make adventures that still looked like classic Legion stories.

From there, I don’t even know. Every time DC made a continuity change for the overall line, the Legion suffered the most. They kept handing the title off to people who had some weird take on the simple notion of superheroes in the far future. I’ve sampled a couple of them (I can only find a review of one, 6-2-20).

Usually, the new takes wanted to fix the Legion’s intrinsic issue: most of the characters’ superhero names are kind of dippy with names ending in “Boy,” “Lad,” and “Lass,” to fit in with teenage Superboy. (Their actual names weren’t much better, if not worse.) This issue tied into the editorial decision to allow the Legion characters to age somewhat normally, which made the names even worse, but the changes never stopped there. The writers always wanted to stick in their personal take on the far future, which was usually terrible.

The Legion’s mis-continuity even became something of a company in-joke. Levitz even came back at one point to restart his continuity. He created a new character named “Earth Man,” for the project and I couldn’t take it seriously. The last Legion thing I saw was from DC’s 100-Page Giant line that included a classic-looking story (7-30-20).

Legion #303 wasn’t the first time I’d read a Legion story. (I think it was a story in Best of DC Digest.) My mom bought the issue for me at a 7-11 when I was sick, so it’s special and my favorite Legion comic. (It’s also great just by itself.) I still have a few random issues and a big black and white Showcase book from the 70’s. (I never reviewed it. It’s kind of great and kind of hokey.) I used to have a whole bunch of newsstand issues, some deluxe issues, and, regrettably, a lot of the 5 Years Later run.

The new CEO at my workplace invited my department to lunch and gave everyone a $20 Amazon giftcard. (He also gave everyone a free day off every month. He’s getting on people’s good side.) I decided to not sit on the card and to use it quickly. I still had the wish list from the last time I had a card, and I still couldn’t find anything on it. I got a Wonder Girl trade that I didn’t know existed until I suddenly thought to look for it. To finish the balance, I basically settled on getting this Legion trade.

There was a larger trade version of this story, about double the size, but I decided on just getting the core story. Even then, this trade adds in a prologue excerpt from another issue and a Legion annual that ties in the end of the story. (I think there was another annual that also tied back to the story.) Even with a double-sized final issue, just the four issues of the “saga” weren’t enough for a trade. I guessing the larger version adds in the 5 Years Later coda for The Great Darkness Saga, which was The Quiet Darkness. (Given that that story actually kills off Darkseid, you’d think it’d be more famous.)

I had a dog-eared used copy of the final issue of the saga, which I loved, but I don’t know what happened to it. I also had the included annual. I think I’d read the other issues somewhere, but I don’t remember if I owned them. (Have I owned another different version of this trade before? How embarrassing.)

When this came out at the time, the big deal was the identity of the villain. It’s not revealed until the end of the third issue. There’s plenty of easy clues, but maybe a lot of readers then weren’t familiar with Jack Kirby’s New Gods from the 70’s.  Darkseid hasn’t always been the big villain he is currently. Since Darkseid is on the cover of this, it’s not much of a mystery now.

However, the story itself is still very compelling. There’s an ominous buildup, then a sudden dramatic escalation, and followed by a desperate final assault. The story moves along pretty quick from Mon-El and Shadow Lass encountering a dark world with advanced weapons. A mysterious entity awakens and creates servant creatures to collect various magical items, which are drained by their master. The escalation reaches a new level, as two of the Legion’s most powerful foes, Mordru and the Time Trapper, are drained of their power.

The Legion is running a step behind all of these developments, but manage to get to the Sorcerer’s World before the servants arrive. The Legion holds them off, until the Teachers on the world manage to summon a baby, which will somehow be the key to defeating the enemy.

Things then become much worse. After his encounter with Mon-El, the enemy is made aware of planet Daxam. He promptly enslaves all three billion inhabitants and then moves the entire world into orbit of a yellow sun. This creates a world with three billion people with the power of Mon-El and all under his control.

By this point, Mon-El and Superboy, the Legion’s heaviest hitters, have been knocked out. Brainiac 5 finally deduces their enemy is Darkseid, while his super-army is assaulting the entire United Planets. Every superpowered hero is called in on defense.

Darkseid is able to abduct the child from the Legion’s custody, but they are able to find him now. The child turns out to be Darkseid’s eternal foe, the Highfather. He summons Superman and Supergirl from the past and turns one of Darkseid’s creations into Orion, Darkseid’s son and enemy. Darkseid triumphs over them all.

The Legion finally directly confronts Darkseid, at which point the near-deity has a terrible revelation: he’s lost control of the Daxamites and they’re coming back with a vengeance. With that, he concedes defeat and disappears, but leaves the Legion with a curse.

In the annual two years later, Saturn Girl gives birth while a magical, dark cloud forms over the space station during an attempt to reawaken Mordru by his disciples. The baby is fine, but Imra thought she detected two babies. There were. Darkseid takes the other, changes him, and renames him Validus and sends him backward in time. Validus is a well-known Legion foe. Finally, we have an explanation of the strange giant creature’s odd power of projecting mental lightning. It’s a combination of his parents’ powers. (In a later annual, Darkseid returns Validus to human form and he rejoins his parents.) The annual is illustrated by Superman artist, Curt Swan, so it’s a bit of a jarring change in style over Giffen.

Reading this all at once (well, over multiple nights), the pacing really jumps out at you. If this were put out today, it’d be a year-long event. I’m kind of torn. The first three issues are almost perfect in their setup. The finale, though, was just too big for one issue, even double-sized, to tell. Moreover, the issue has a large number splash pages and pages with only a few panels.

Maybe it doesn’t truly convey the full scope and danger. Maybe at least one issue just dealing with the Daxamite invasion would have been warranted. On the other hand, Darkseid wasn’t messing around and the sheer panicked response make this a page-turner.

There are some bits of questionable story logic. I thought maybe I just wasn’t getting it from only having read the finale initially, but it is a bit squirrelly, which is one reason I wasn’t doing a detailed synopsis. Darkseid’s powers seem truly deity-like in this and you wonder how he apparently lost against the 20-th century heroes. The 30-th century didn’t seem to have any technological edge on him or better superheroes. The only thing stopping Darkseid was that he couldn’t handle multiple serious threats at oncem, because he kept wanting to torture his foes instead of finishing them. It is a great ending in that Darkseid’s own creation of a super-powered army is what ultimately defeats him.

So, it’s great. This edition isn’t really necessary if you’ve already read it. If you haven’t read any Legion of Super-Heroes (or worse, only the more recent versions), you’ll enjoy it, but will likely find it mostly incomprehensible. What would really be great would be something like an Epic Collection showcasing the Levtiz/Giffen era and then volumes featuring some of the other great artists that followed. And still, a lot of it would reference back to the mountain of continuity from preceding issues. No wonder there was such a dedicated fan community.

I’m not sure I should have gotten this over getting something I’d never read before. Even with the gift card, I had to fork out another $15 to get the two trades. Regardless, I don’t think I could have gotten anything more entertaining.

Comics Review Moonstar and Rocketeer

Moonstar #4

I learned my lesson from last time (6-12-26), where I went to Zia Comics to find Issue #3 of this series, but went on a Friday and didn’t find it and ended up with a $50 hardback instead. (But, it was a cool hardback.) This time, I went on Wednesday, New Comic Book Day (in 100-degree heat, not a nice walk). They had one copy on the rack. I’m not sure if that was all they’d ordered for the rack or if the others had all sold. Mission accomplished whether I was just lucky or not.

I read Issues 1 and 2 (5-14-26), so I won’t rehash the intro to the series or the character of Moonstar. I read Issue #3 on an “archive” site. I was more than happy to pay for a comic book I enjoyed and wanted to support, but that wasn’t an option. In the issue, Dani is dead. She’s in a dreamscape fighting for her life against the spirit inside the soul-stealing sword. Dani is able to learn her enemy’s, Kyron’s, future plans in the encounter, but he’s able to learn the location of Dani’s parents. Dani’s ally, Kian, helps her return to life. They rush to her parent’s house, but they’re gone.

In this issue, Dani is determined to save her parents and stop Kyron’s plan, which involves finding a stone tablet. There’s an unnecessary and long argument about which goal to pursue. They find the tablet and Kyron finds them and brings Dani’s parents with him. So, this was filler to make five issues for the trade (which I’m doubting is actually going to be produced). I’m disappointed. The only worthwhile thing that happens is Kian finally tries to make a play for Dani, but their moment is interrupted.

The next issue is supposed to be final one. If I’m able to go on that Wednesday when it comes out, I’ll try to get it. I still like the character and the next issue should be better (and I’m going to have to stop buying new floppies).

The Rockeeter: The Island #4

I thought about getting another Captain America trade paperback that was available, but I wanted to look at some reviews before plunking down another $40. I instead picked up this Rocketeer issue. I did recently buy a Rocketeer trade (6-11-26) and I’ve previously bought another Rocketeer limited series (5-24-22).  I will not rehash the background of the character here.

I wasn’t sure if the art on the cover would be the same as inside (I hoped not), but the image of the Rocketeer with King Kong on Skull Island was more than enough to sell me. I was also curious about creator Dave Stevens being listed on the cover credits. He’s not around anymore.

The art on the inside is the same as the cover. It looks like a young kid’s comic, which the Rocketeer generally isn’t. The story is based on one written by Stevens before he passed. I did read that he had a bunch of other story ideas, but doing comics didn’t pay as well as the commercial art he was doing. This is a final issue of the limited series, so I’m coming in late, as well.

This was fun. It was really fun. I don’t how Cliff and Betty got stranded on the island, or how Betty got captured by Kong, who has, of course, fallen for her. Somehow, it all seems normal for these two. What surprised me was the co-stars. Cliff is hiding from a Tyrannosaurs Rex with Amelia Earhart, who had crashed on the island a while back.

The dinosaur, Bloodscale, comes after Betty, which prompts a fight with Kong. Cliff rescues her and then fights the dinosaur as the Rocketeer. Earhart joins the fight. Peevy arrives with Popeye the Sailor Man to attack Bloodscale. Adventurer and journalist, Tintin, arrives with a group of natives. They all manage to put the dinosaur down. Earhart stays behind to protect the island, but the rest are able to leave.

Okay, Earhart I wasn’t entirely surprised by, but Popeye and Tintin? They are named, along with Kong, though not called King Kong. Yes, they look like them, too. I didn’t know that these characters were somehow in the public domain. There’s nothing in here that says the characters are on loan. Who else might show up? You think the Rocketeer might crossover with Betty Boop next? (That might be awkward with Cliff’s Betty there.)

Just for the fun and surprise guest stars, this one is a good time. There is an advertisement for another Rocketeer series this summer. It’s a rare time that I’m pleased buying an Indy comic. Yay, my 100-degree walk wasn’t a complete waste.