Kato of the Green Hornet # 3

Writer: Mike Baron
Artist: Todd Fox
Publisher: NOW Comics
Published: January 1992

As far as I can tell, the Kato comic series is a mishmash of different Bruce Lee movie plots and images taken from his films and works. Kato # 3 has Kato directing the "Great Glory" which is soon put on halt as a group of Communist militants invade his set. Kato is then forced to justify his film to a panel of Communist Party Officials. Later at a socialist gathering Kato attempts to free some of his film crew who were taken prisoner by the state. He is apphrended and caged away. He escapes, kicks some communist soldier ass, but is soon returned to prison as two deadly female body guards slam their knees into his face. Ouch.

The issue ends with Kato released to film a scene in "Greater Glory" where he has to take on a head Party Official.

Fun stuff, huh?Baby don't hate the playa - hate the game!
I've had this comic at least 17 years now and this is the first time I've actually read it. Much like a fine wine, this comic needed the time to age into a good read. If I had read it back in '92 I wouldn't have picked up on the Bruce Lee inspired images, (see below), because I wouldn't have seen all the Lee films or read any Bruce Lee books. I needed the 17 years to allow myself just to become versed in the world of Bruce Lee-mania. Todd Fox and Mike Baron are definitely Bruce Lee fans and their dedication to developing a story filled with Lee inspired plots is a real treat to a fellow Bruce Lee fan.

Deadman # 4

Writer: Steve Vance
Artist: Josef Beroy
Cover: Mike Mignola
Publisher: DC
Published: May 2002

Boston Brand is a dead man.

Nope, that's not a line out of the Sopranos. It's an introduction to DC's favorite ghost. Boston Brand worked at a circus as a trapeze artist and would dress up in a red outfit with white makeup. His moniker was Deadman. Brand ended up getting murdered, and in the afterlife Rama Kushna gave him the power to possess living souls to find his murderer. Pretty cool, right?

Well it is cool.

Issue # 4 has Brand on a mission to find some baddies. He ends up possessing the body of a local convict and is able to get some info on a group of terrorists who plan to nuke Glad City via a submarine unless some cash is coughed up. Brand infiltrates the submarine, possesses a few of the terrorists and saves the day, much to the displeasure of the bad guys, as the sub takes on a bit too much water and they all drown.

One of the best sequences in this issue is when Deadman is contemplating possessing the body of Clark Kent. He visits Clark and Lois who are about to eat dinner. As the two sit down to eat, Deadman watches Kent burst back and fourth from the table. Each time Clark comes back he mentions what catastrophe he had to avert, all the while Deadman stares on flabbergasted. By this point, Deadman leaves, not bothering to possess Superman as he already has a full plate.

Get it - Lois and him are trying to eat dinner! On plates! Clark's is full 'cause he is too busy rescuing folks! I wonder: Does Superman need to eat? I don't think he needs to, because he is pretty much a solar battery; and if he did need to eat, then technically he could suffer from starvation, which could lead to a lame way for the mightiest of heroes to exit stage left.

Wildcats # 3.7

Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Dustin Nguyen
Publisher: Wildstorm
Published: April 2003

I only picked up this issue because of the ludicrous cover (that and it was 25 cents). The story follows a guy named Wax, who is spying on two other guys. Wax works for (I think) some sort of covert unit, and one of the guys he was spying on ends up getting attacked by the two leather daddies on the cover. There is also a subplot involving an interview of a company big wig, and Wax being a giant evil asshole to his bosses wife.

You know I never understood the appeal of the S&M culture. It's not so much the submissive/dominant ideology that I don't get, but the obsession with leather. What's the deal with that?

When I was in school, the Matrix had just been released and this caused leather to be the 'in' thing. I liked the movie, quite a bit, and I thought the costumes looked great, but I always found leather in real life never looked as polished. It was disillusioning. Also, at my old job, a lot of the supervisors wore big leather jackets, and since I didn't like a lot of the supervisors there, I associated leather clothing with my distaste of management.

So because of my natural inclination to dislike leather bound individuals I'll never be a S&M devotee...but if plaid flannel shirts chained to ass-less corduroy pants existed, well that's a whole new ball game.

Spidey Super Stories # 33

Writer: Jim Salicrup
Artists: Win Mortimer, Don Perlin, Mike Esposito
Publisher: Marvel & The Electric Company
Published: April 1978

Today's issue has The Friendly Neighbor Hood Spider-Man battling it out with Hulk, The Kangaroo, and the Schemer.

The first tale has Peter Parker and Mary Jane attending the local carnival. Hulk is nearby and he hears laughing. Thinking he is getting laughed at, he storms the carnival. Good thing Spidey is there to take care of things! He ends up dousing Hulk in laughing gas as Hulk looks at himself in a fun house mirror, which causes Hulk to think he is laughing at himself. Once he realizes 'the joke' the Hulk bounds off.

The second tale has Peter Parker getting his ass handed to him by The Kangaroo. The Kangaroo is an Ozzy who hated life in normal civilization, so he intergrated himself in the Kangaroo society. He ate what they ate, jumped like they jump, and so on...The story ends with the Kangaroo knocking out Spidey, then mentioning that all his life he has been a loser, and then getting knocked out by a guitar being smashed over his head. He ends up living in the Zoo with other kangaroos...he's still a loser, but he's happy. There's a moral there...

Finally the last tale has Peter Parker and Aunt May on vacation in the Grand Canyon. Only problem is that the Grand Canyon has been turned into a trash dump, and giant postcards are hiding the trash. The Schemer is the cause of this dastardly, (dare I say) scheme. Spidey has to clean things up by knocking the Schemer's giant sized fly shaped helicopter out of the sky with a giant fly swatter.

Good times.

Batman: Harley Quinn

Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Yvel Guichet
Publisher: DC
Published: 1999

Harley Quinn is one of the few characters that can hold a candle to Joker. She doesn't try to outwit him, out-crazy him, or out-murder him. She just tries to love him, and it's this crazy love that, well, makes her crazy. How can one love someone who can never know what love is? Harley knows....

This issue picks up during Cataclysm. Poison Ivy is on 'farm patrol' and is in charge with helping to feed the citizens of Gotham. During one of her trips of harvesting, she happens upon a beat up Harley Quinn. After rescuing her, Ivy finds out that Joker tried to kill Harley (imagine that: the crazy killer clown guilty of attempted murder). Harley doesn't take too kindly to this act, and after some healing and powering up thanks to Ivy's anti-plant poison serum, Harley starts her most diabolical plan: to kill the Joker!

Now, I don't want to give away the ending of this one, but if you've paid attention to the first paragraph, it's pretty much spelled out for ya.


Crazy In Love

Joker's Asylum: Dark Knight of the Scarecrow

Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Juan Doe
Publisher: DC
Published: July 2008

When the Dark Knight hit theaters, so did Joker's Asylum, and just like theater patrons got caught up in Ledgers Joker, so did I get caught in DC Joker's Asylum. My favorite so far has been Scarecrow's story.

The story is like a teenage horror slasher film, with a group of teenage kids planning to play a evil trick on the 'unpopular' kid. The unpopular kid just so happens to visit a psychiatrist, who also just so happens to be Dr. Jonathan Crane (aka The Scarecrow). The story unfolds like a bad nightmare, with the popular kids getting more than their just desserts.

What a liked most about this issue was the fact that though Jonathan Crane is an evil man, on the surface, he was doing a kind thing by helping out his patient. We've all been to high school, and have been unwittingly caught up in the popularity game. At one point or another, we've all been on the shitty end of the school popularity spectrum, so to see some vengeance exacted out on the popular kids does bring some ounce of joy, but at the same time, what Crane does is still wrong. This feeling is the same feeling I get every time I watch Dexter.

Here's a guy who is a serial killer, but because he kills evil people, is what he does justified?
Short answer: no.
Long and complicated answer that satisfies our human need for vengeance and revenge: yes.

So I can't justify what Crane does in this issue, but I can certainly enjoy the hell out of it from a base level.

Patsy Walker # 78

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Al Hartley
Publisher: Atlas Comics
Published: August 1958

Following up on yesterdays comic, here's the original Patsy Walker, before she was powered up by Marvel. This issue has a series of short tales which mostly involve harmless hi-jinks, teenage romance, and one page gags, and a 2 page word only romance story. The stories are pretty similar to Archie Comics (which Hartley would later go on to illustrate).

What I found most interesting about this comic was the fashion credits. In certain panels, a fashion design of one the characters would be given credit to a fan. For instance, on page one, Hedy's outfit is credited to Cheryl Branham of Tyson, Florida and on the same page, Patsy's outfit is credited to Norma Arsenault of Port Dalhousie, Ontario. I don't know why, but this intrigues me. I wonder what Norma and Cheryl are up to these days? Do they still own this issue? Was it a point of pride in their lives, or did it disappear from memory over the years? This comic was published in 1958, so if they were, say 14 when they designed Pasty and Hedy's clothes, they'd be 65 years old now. Holy Moly!