Blackblood, master interrogater

Just picked up 2000AD #1551. A new ABC Warriors story started up last issue, so I'm back to paying $7 every week for about 5 pages of story I'm interested in reading, but hey. It was worth it this week, with a brilliant exchange between the robot Blackblood, and a captured human soldier.

So, Blackblood is going through the captives gear, and finds his journal...


Can you guess what's coming next?



Yes! That's so obvious and probably quite silly, but I love it. Blackblood is always such a nasty piece of work, it's so funny to see him being a complete moron. Interrogation time!




ooh, scary!

"This is hilarious". Well yes, it is for us (well, me anyway), but not really when there's a massive war robot ready to kill you.

I say again. "massive war robot ready to kill you."

Not so funny now, is it.

Silver Surfer: The Avengers #116

I've previously talked about the final issue of this arc, but what the hell. I'm going through my Surfer appearaces in alphabetical order, so this was next on the list. Plus, as will become clear, it had to be covered. I give you, The Avengers #116...

...in which the Vision and Silver Surfer have a major throwdown. I'm going to skip the first 14 pages of actual plot, and just get to the important stuff:

The Silver Surfer has been dispatched to an island by Dr Strange to find an artifact. Much like C3PO, he finds himself with unwanted attention from some simple villagers.

Annoying villagers are not without their uses though. Having searched everywhere for the artifact, the chief mentions the volcano.

Clearly the massive volcano right next to the village was too insignificant to search in the first place. So, he flies off to investigate, trying to swim through the lava, which turns out not to work since it's actually, y'know, molten rock, not water.

Meanwhile, the Vision (should that be The Vision? Or just Vision? Damn you and your character names, Stan Lee *waves fist*) and Scarlet Witch (The Scarlet Witch?...) fly in, because two heroes can't have a fight if they aren't both there (unless you're Prof X or something I guess).
Back to the Surfer. Having given up trying to swim through it, he decides to start blasting the lava with his cosmic energy. Surely no harm can come from that, right?

"By the head of my father"!!!

WTF?

Ok, so the volcano erupts. The Avengers jet takes a major hit and is destroyed, leaving Wanda to fall to her death! *gasp*
Which is basically what Vision says as he floats there watching her. He wakes up though

Who'd have thought, a hero actually figures out they should stop talking and actually act. Maybe he should've let her fall, think of all the hassle he would've saved himself years later...
What does he think of the Surfer's actions?

It's safe to say he's pissed. And there we have it, the reason for Robot and Herald to throwdown. Game on.


"..because war is-- HELL"!

The Surfer really should learn some fighting techniques, he's always getting saved by that board of his. Except when he uses it to fly into walls, like now

It's a case of villagers to the rescue though. Thinking the volcano god is angry, they decide they need a sacrafice. Who better than the strange woman, conveniently lying unconcious nearby?

Quick guys, better wrap things up fast!

The Surfer makes a dash for the artifact, and The Vision chooses his woman, since he notices she's not employing the duck and cover method, and is in serious danger.

Hmmm, looks like the Avengers and the Defenders are going to have words...

Batmobile for sale

Stumbled across this in a magazine. The best part didn't come out in the scan, the sticker on the windscreen says "One Careful Owner". That cracks me up.

Guest Appearances - Silver Surfer in Amazing Spider-Man #431

Picking up from the previous installment, it's part two of The Silver Surfer's battle with Spider-Man and Carnage, in a tale that has come to be known as "The Amazing Spider-Man #431".

When last we left things, the Surfer had just been bonded with the Carnage symbiote, and become "The Carnage Cosmic", a name that's still as bad as it was 3 months ago when I started this thing...

Realising that basically everyone is screwed if he's taken over by Carnage, SS takes off in to space.

The Carnage Cosmic (ugh) in space actually looks pretty cool.

And here we find out why Carnage has such a mad-on for Chrome Dome: While he was still Herald for Galactus, he found a planet full of the (marauding!) symbiotes.
Poor emo-symbiotes. All they wanted was some love. What did he give them?

Galactus.

This of course pissed the symbiote species off, as genocide of your species tends to do. Never mind that they had already taken over the original inhabitants of the planet, and should basically be the last ones to point fingers. Their hate was so strong, it was burned in to racial memory. That's some serious hate.

A psycological battle ensues, where we see what a black void Kassady (the regular Carnage host) has for a soul, compared with the compassion the Surfer tries to offer his foe. I suppose Carnage decides that being bonded to a big silver pussy isn't much of a career move for a killing machine, so it's back to earth to rejoin the old host.

Spider-Man isn't thrilled with the prospect of his old foe returning, clearly not having thought through how much worse The Carnage Cosmic (ugh) would be. More hitting follows, while the Surfer tries to reason with him.

Peter eventually sees the logic, and allows the change to take place, much to the delight of Carnage, who decides the best way to thank them would be to kill lots and lots of people. Always the thoughtful symbiote.

He's about to get owned though, because, like the Cylons, the Surfer has a plan.

He basically freezes Carnage.

Which, when you consider how much the Silver Surfer is against killing, is actually a pretty brutal solution. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but something like, I dunno, banishment to the Negative Zone, would be much more humane than rendering someone unable to move for the rest of their life.

But what do I know.

How Not To Treat Girls, Featuring Firestorm

Yes, you'd think Ronnie Raymond would've learned by now that it's a bad idea, but he just can't help laying the smackdown on Cliff.

Doreen is suitably unimpressed

Fireworks ensue.


*gasp*
Maybe this'll drive Doreen off for good? (one can only hope, for her sake)

Yeah, we all know that's not going to happen. Ronnie and Cliff square off at lunchtime:

Something has managed to penetrate Ronald's thick skull though, and he comes up with the bright idea to not fight back. Will Doreen be impressed with him taking the moral high-ground, or will she be repulsed by the sight of her boyfriend's mashed face?

Oooh, she gets there just in time for the speech.

And what do you know, in blatant disregard of a previous lesson, sometimes getting your ass kicked will get you the girl.

Women. Go figure.

Song Of The Week: Gypsies and Thieves

Ok, so this is in no way comics related, but sometimes I'm just more in the mood to talk music. I'll kick this thing off with the excellent:

Leatherwolf - Gypsies and Thieves

Leatherwolf being a little-known 80's metal band. Their main claim to fame was having 3 guitarists, all of whom were shit-hot. They disbanded after the excellent "Street Ready" album (1989), though oddly enough got back together for a new album last year.

'Gypsies and Thieves' starts off with a really nice atmospheric intro, showing off their approach to harmony that made them so cool. The backing vocals borrow from the Def Leppard formula, though a bit more manly than Leppard's approach. I've always loved the lead vocalist. He can hit the high notes for sure, but for the most part keeps things in a less-dating mid register. His delivery is a bit gravely in places, giving things a really interesting tone.

The song rocks along in a mid-paced groove up until 3:38, which then sees things kick into high gear with a blistering solo section, building up the tension nicely for an almost desperate final rendition of the chorus. A nice little guitar touch rounds out the ending, for an almost 5 minute song that doesn't feel anywhere near that long.

Listen. Buy their albums. Tell your friends.
Comic nonsense resumes shortly.