#damage 1994 comic

[house-on-sand]

WHO AM I?

WHERE DID I COME FROM?

HOW DO I CONTROL MY POWERS?

ask grant emerson what the worst thing about being a teenager is and he'll give you the bottom line: "YOU'VE GOT NO CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN LIFE!"

[saturnsickle]

I've been reading the 1994 Damage comics and had to stop to draw Grant

[ufonaut]

we all know 1994 promotional poster of the ray but this damage #12 cover solicited in dc's april 1995 previews is sending me into orbit

[royboyfanpage]

Hello ! I'm slowly but surely getting into Green Arrow comics and Roy appears fairly often but not much enough yet that I can get his personality that well. So, I wanted to ask - and I know it probably changed throughout the years, but - how would you describe him at his core ? What kind of guy is he ? His values ? (Is he into leftist and ecological ideologies like Ollie ? etc.)

Thank you for your help !

Hi, thanks for the ask friend!

I���m gonna answer the easiest question first which is his politics- yes, he very much is a leftist like Ollie. I’m just gonna show this one panel

And I don’t think I really need to elaborate more. He’s just like his dad.

As for who Roy is as a character, I don’t think it has really changed that much, at least before the New 52 his characterisation was pretty consistent. Roy’s always been someone who is very much fuelled by his relationships with others and his love for those closest to him. Most notably his love for Lian has always been a huge motivator for him since her introduction- a lot of the time she’s very much the thing keeping him alive, with at least two instances where Roy refuses to give up because if he died Lian would be alone. He also has similar love for the rest of the Arrow family- he was snapped out of brainwashing because he refused to kill Ollie, he’s always had an incredibly close relationship with Dinah ever since Snowbirds (I would highly recommend reading Arsenal 1998 and Vixen: Return of the Lion for them), he’s fiercely protective of Mia and yelled at Ollie when he found out she was gonna become Speedy, and he gave Connor what was essentially an ace acceptance speech decades before Connor was canonically asexual, for some examples.

He’s also an incredibly forgiving person, and he wears his heart on his sleeve a lot of the time. It’s something that definitely came about more heavily after Lian was born (which personally I chalk up to his acknowledgement that she was gonna change him + his promise that he’d never lie to her- promising to be honest and open with his child made him a more open and honest person in general), and it’s SUCH a crucial part of his character. When Roy has feelings, he expresses them loudly and immediately and then moves on most of the time- which is why when Roy and the rest of the Fab Five were stuck on an island designed specifically to bring up grudges and resentments Roy was really the only one who wasn’t that affected- all of his grievances were in response to things that were actively happening in the moment while others had let things fester for a while. It also does make the few moments were he does hide his emotions more poignant, particularly in his relationship with Donna in Titans 1999 (which I would very very highly recommend you read, it’s the jackpot for Roy Harper characterisation.)

And I know it’s very cliche to say about a superhero because duh, he’s a hero, but Roy is so good. He tends to get the reputation as the bad boy of the Titans, which I do get, but at his heart Roy is a hero through and through, not just because he saves the day but because he cares so, so much and the best example of that is through his interactions with kids/teenagers. The most notable example that comes to mind is Grant Emerson- Roy was really one of the first adults in Grant’s life who genuinely cared about him and his wellbeing, and… y’know what, I’m just gonna show this page off again because I will never stop talking about it

Again, highly recommend reading Titans 1999 for Roy and Grant because they’re genuinely one of my favourite father/son-adjacent relationships in any media ever- also recommend Roy’s Titans run for them, oh and if you wanna know more about Grant by himself you should read Damage 1994 :)

Oh and also Roy is lame. An absolute loser. He quotes Friends to try and flirt with women. I hate him.

[leoruby-draws]

Decided to add another member to the Training Wheels Outlaw team, Gillian Wahrman aka Wyldheart!

This spirited young girl is a very obscure character seen in Grant Emerson's 1994 book Damage! She's only ever seen in relation to Grant, and Grant's a bit obscure himself, so she has very little appearances in the comics.

From what little we saw of her, she seemed fairly nice and pretty naive, I'm guessing she was pretty sheltered in life. Her adoptive father, Abriam Wahrman , found her in a spacecraft as a baby, so she kinda has a superman style origin (in fact, I thought she could fit the team as the superman expy, but I ended up having other ideas...).

Her father is part of the organization that gave Grant his powers but are also trying to hunt him down. She and Grant ended up as friends, but are keeping their friendship a secret for now. For now it works, tho I doubt that'll stay the case. She and Grant get along very well, he helps ground her and tries to prevent people from taking advantage of her naivety. In turn she helps him lighten up a bit and have fun!

Anyways, when she learned about Grant hanging out with this strange group, she decided she wanted in! And so she did! Jason is amused if a bit overwhelmed by her positivity, he's not quite sure how to deal with her but at least he has fun with her. The rest of the team likes her cheerfulness, bit of a break from the more serious and 'edgy' members attitudes.

Here's a couple of extra doodles of Gillian meeting the others:

This last one is was a first draft of her, I'll be real her outfit is kinda strange, simultaneously both overly designed and yet super basic. I didn't really like it honestly, but I could see underneath all that there was a way to make it work. I'm not sure if I succeeded, might've oversimplified it but I tried.

Now I'm gonna stop right here and talk about something real quick. If you go over to the DC fandom wiki and go to Gillian's page, here's what you see in the sidebar:

Is this some sort of mistake? I don't know if I missed something, but in none of her appearances was she shown to be a New God or Genesisian. Was she planned to be one but the writers dropped that plot point? Or did they not get the chance since Grant's book got canceled? If not, why did the wiki put that in? I don't know man, but I really do like that idea, like a lot. In fact in my au, she is in fact a New God! Perhaps her parents got in trouble of sorts and maybe sent her away to protect her? I'm kinda wanna make up a story of the parents being on opposite sides and their Romeo/Juliet romance caused an uproar. I'm not too well versed in New God lore, so I don't if that would work but it's one idea at least.

Here's a page of Gillian finding out her heritage:

Everyone looks shocked! (btw that guy in the back is Iron Munro, who helps out Grant sometimes). If Gillian's a new god, what would she be the god of? Maybe something like Harmony or Joy.

Well I hope to draw Gillian some more, she's a pretty fun addition to the team, and I hoped you liked all this!

A correction! Gillian is a New God, it's explained in Damage #8!

This is what happens when you speed 'read' and completely look over the details. Sorry about that, I can be pretty spacey sometimes. Thanks to @isfjmel-phleg for the correction! Still isn't it cool and unique that Gillian's a new god? DC should bring her back!

[fffrost]

I miss him so much i need to reread the damage (1994) comics

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #701 (July 1994)

"THE FALL OF METROPOLIS," Finale! The final (for now) battle between Superman and Lex Luthor! Wait, isn't Luthor practically a vegetable now? Is this just 22 pages of Superman beating up a cripple? No, it's actually a fair fight because Lex is back to his old Pre-Crisis habit of wearing purple robot armors (I guess they're traditionally more green than purple, but still).

As seen last issue, Lex's paralyzed body is being taken to S.T.A.R. Labs in an ambulance so they can administer the cure to the Clone Plague that left him in this state, but he's got other priorities: mainly, punching Superman. Following Lex's programming, a Kryptonian Battle Suit (the same one that Superman just sorta left laying around in Metropolis during "Reign of the Supermen") comes to retrieve him, trashing that poor ambulance in the process.

Now able to see and hear again thanks to the armor's sensors, Lex witnesses the destruction in Metropolis for the first time and is like "I can't believe I accidentally destroyed the city I love... anyway, let's destroy it some more!" More specifically, he wants to destroy the statue of Superman that stands atop what was once his tomb.

Superman comes to stop Lex from causing even more property damage (and prevent him from showing what's inside the tomb and spoiling a storyline that isn't supposed to start yet...). Superman evades the armor's punches and missiles, but Lex is able to club him with the statue itself -- which you already saw on the cover, but I'm showing it to you again because it's such a cool image.

Lex tries stepping on Superman and burning him with ignited rocket fuel (so hot that it turns the armor's hand into a stump), but Superman is Superman, so he ends up ripping the suit open, taking Luthor out... and flying him to S.T.A.R. so they can give him the cure. Because, again, he's Superman. But, unlike Superboy and other Clone Plague victims, Lex doesn't simply go back to normal after getting the cure: he's still paralyzed, probably because his clone body was "grown more quickly" than the others (he should sue that Dabney Donovan fellow for his shoddy rush job).

Of course, Lex blames Superman for the results of his own dumbass choices and swears that one day he'll make him pay...

...but, for now, he better get comfy in that bed, because he's gonna be there for a good while. THE END!

Plotline-Watch:

That closes the actual "Fall of Metropolis" storyline, but Metropolis will remain fallen for a little while longer.

This is also the end of the Clone Plague storyline, since Lex was the last surviving clone to get the cure. If you're wondering what happened to the Underworlders: at S.T.A.R., Dr. Kitty Faulkner says they all "seem to have perished." Damn, even the babies? That's brutal. Considering they never appeared again except in flashbacks, Kitty is probably right, but I prefer to believe they simply retreated even deeper underground and never had to deal with the surface world's bullshit ever again.

Lex wearing a green/purple armor finally fulfills the tease seen on the first page of 1986's The Man of Steel #5, when we're made to think a random goon in a proto-Lex-Men suit is Lex. Then we see businessman Lex himself and it's like "Ha! You thought this Lex Luthor would ever be caught dead inside something so corny? Dream on, nerds!"

This issue is written by Karl Kesel (plot) and Louise Simonson (dialogue) since Roger Stern left in Action #700 and the new guy hasn't arrived yet. Speaking of Stern, that blurb at the end saying that hopefully both he and Lex will return one day is exactly what's gonna happen, but it won't be in Action or any of the existing Super-Titles...

Shout Outs-Watch:

Awesome Kryptonian Battle Robot-sized shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Dave Shevlin! Join them (and get extra articles) via Patreon or our newsletter’s “pay what you want” mode!

And now, keep reading for the great Don Sparrow's take on this issue, Roger Stern's run in general, and what does Clone Lex have between his legs...?

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s appropriate for a title like Action—Superman’s Kryptonian warsuit duking it out with the Man of Steel at his own memorial.  Great sense of motion from the rubble flying off, without motion lines, which is a real feat.  It also reveals that the Superman statue in Metropolis Memorial Park is in fact stone or concrete.  This whole time I was imagining it was bronze (we don’t have many stone sculptures in my neck of the woods in Northern Canada, as they tend to crack with the wild temperature differentials). 

Inside we’re treated to back to back splash pages to open the story, both with a great look at the rogue warsuit in action.  The image of the suit plucking a stark naked Lex Luthor is a pretty memorable one. And if you’re a fan of nude Lex, this issue doesn’t disappoint.  I hesitate to even mention such a thing, but is this is the first canonical appearance of Luthor’s pubic hair? Moving on…

[Max: I always took that as a shadow. That panel did make me wonder if Lex's clone body had everything, or if perhaps he asked Dabney Donovan to forget certain parts and just focus on making sure his pecs and abs remain rock hard even if a plague turns him into an old person.]

The image of Superman flying in to combat the Lex-driven warsuit is an all-timer, and would have made a great sticker.

The battle in this issue is reminiscent of the "Doomsday" storyline, in that we’re treated to super-sized panels, with only one or two images per page.  This is a treat, as the artwork really gets to breathe, but it has the unfortunate effect of making the issue a pretty quick read, as there’s a lot less text than in a normal issue. It also makes my job of picking the standout panels a little harder, as they’re all pretty stunning throughout the book.  The image of a raging Superman, having just thrown some missiles back at Lex is a good one, and very en vogue in this era, the peak of Image Comics grim & gritty style.  The image of the warsuit brought to one knee was another standout, as I really appreciate the difference in textures, the sold lugubrious brushline on the warsuit denoting its shininess, against the greasepencil looking streaks in the sky illustrating tendrils of smoke.

We get another intense Superman image on page 19, where Superman marches out of the flame undaunted (visually recalling the utterly badass house ad for the Super titles in 1990).  One of the final images we see is Superman carrying the limp, near-dead body of Luthor into flight.  Again, I think decency dictated this pose—surely carrying him in both arms, pieta style would have been safer for the passenger, but then we’d get an eyeful. Is there a reason Lex couldn’t just be wearing underwear throughout? [Max: Lex hates Superman so much that he refuses to wear undies on the inside OR the outside.]

SPEEDING BULLETS:

Well, at least Superman also acknowledged that leaving the warsuit on the docks was stupid.

This issue seems to reveal that Kryptonian metal isn’t all that much more durable than regular metal, as Superman shatters the leg of the warsuit pretty easily.  In the silver age, it was unscientifically explained that Kryptonian metal was also super-charged by Earth’s yellow sun and lessened gravity, making it way stronger than conventional metal. 

It’s a rare thing that a cover image comes to pass but we really do see Lex knocking Superman through his own memorial in a great splash on pages 10-11.

For such a knock-down drag out fight, taking the suit apart seems pretty easily for Superman on page 20—the very next panel, Lex is out of the suit, and in Superman’s arms.

A side by side comparison reveals that they really did redraw Lex on the last panel, despite similarities to how he is shown on page 12.

We are left with a small farewell caption to the great Roger Stern, with a hint that he—and Lex—could return to the super-books in the future.  “When we least expect it” would prove to be a little over a year later, but we’ll drive off that bridge when we come to it.  Perhaps because he’s not a writer/artist like John Byrne, Dan Jurgens or Jerry Ordway, it took a little while for me to recognize Stern’s greatness on these books.  But his Action Comics title consistently had some of the very best characterization and consistency in all these stories.  So many of my favourite moments (Lois finding out Superman’s secret identity, Batman getting Luthor’s Kryptonite ring, the return of Amanda McCoy, the introduction of Maxima) were all Stern scripts, and that’s saying something.  While in retrospect, I don’t love Supergirl being a protoplasmic synthetic entity, or Lex Jr. being a secret Aussie clone of Lex Sr. (storylines that mainly featured in Action) those were interesting options for their time, and certainly don’t stand in the way of Stern being among the all-time greats when it comes to Superman writers.  And, from my own weird personal point of view, much of the spiritual stuff I’ve collected over the years in our now-famous Godwatch feature has come from Stern.  So, God bless you, Roger Stern!

In an interesting sidenote that has no better place than here to mention—were you aware that in the Law and Order franchise, there have been dozens of characters with the last name Stern, which originated as a shout-out to Roger Stern from fellow comics writer turned Law and Order writer Gerry Conway (creator of no less than Firestorm, Power Girl and Killer Croc)?  There’s even a particularly creepy episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent where a perp has that exact name.  Conway also frequently used Hudson University in his episodes, which comics fans know is the alma mater of one Dick Grayson—which essentially means Law and Order is set in the DC Universe.  Cha-chunk! [Max: Wait, does that mean all of the DC Universe takes place inside some kid's snow globe?]

[isfjmel-phleg]

Character development in solo comics

Tim

Robin 1993 #1: analytical, ready to abandon his heroic role now that he's working with someone unstable, struggling to balance the two parts of his life, chronically telling lies and half-truths, manages to disappoint or offend his best friend and his girlfriend, strategic about everything--including relationships, detached

Robin 1993 #183: grim and determined, confident in his deductions, has lots of friends/allies and a full life but feels empty inside, supressing a lot of resentment, has to hurt the people closest to him and hates doing it, deals with impending doom by avoidance and detachment and shutting off emotions, is emulating Batman despite his intentions never to do so, ruthlessly outwits an enemy, resigned to circumstances but eager for his next adventure

Kon

Superboy 1994 #1: overconfident, smug, sarcastic, attention-seeking, flirtatious, reckless, unable to take anything seriously, seemingly unaware that he is being exploited, petulant about petty things like his jacket and his codename

Superboy 1994 #100: presents an overconfident and quippy front, protective of and almost parental with children, actively encourages others to do the right thing even if they've made mistakes, responsible, prioritizes saving lives, angry about a perceived betrayal but ready to forgive, heartbroken over a death that seems like the culmination of everything he's had to lose, disillusioned with being a hero and blames himself for ruining so many lives, but ultimately grateful for a chance to finally have a family and wants to be worthy of it

Grant

Damage #1: frustrated over a lack of control in his life, lives his life according to a rigid "system," desperate for connection, has trouble managing his anger, cannot control his new powers and accidentally destroys his school, distraught, sure that no one can ever come near him again

Damage #20: uses his latent telepathic powers to fight the virus controlling him, manages to will it out of his body and free himself, absorbs and controls more energy than he's ever had to by himself, in enough control of his powers to deflect the energy without an explosion, will be given the chance to redeem his public image, updates his appearance, connects with his biological father's godson and gets to learn about his heritage

Ray

The Ray 1994 #1: futilely looking for connection from someone who doesn't care about him, self-doubting, struggling with adult responsibilities, miserable and self-pitying, using his powers for frivolous things and feeling guilty about it, pettily squabbling with a sixteen-year-old

The Ray 1994 #28: standing up to his father, taking responsibility for the welfare of his brother and mother, realizing how far he has strayed from his principles, finds out that his gradual attachment to Savage is severely misplaced, self-critical but brave enough to do the right thing, takes in his brother, gives up his luxurious condo, finally gets to reconnect with his mother in his actual identity, has lost his job and still doesn't have a refrigerator but is thrilled to be loved and accepted

Bart

Impulse #1: naive, unaware of the difference between real and imaginary danger, struggling to function and socialize in school, resentful of Wally and Max, impatient and frustrated, reckless and heedless

Impulse #89: motivated by concern for others, using his powers in more intricate ways, responds to a mentor's out-of-control rage by reminding him of moral boundaries and the need to set him a good example, nevertheless unleashes some rage of his own, yet choose to calm himself and take a well-thought-out course of action, keeps in mind what Max has taught him, agrees to take things slowly in his relationship with Carol, has lost a lot of people he loves but is willing to love and be happy with those whom he still has

[megamind2010]

WHO IS DAMAGE?

damage, aka grant emerson, was created by bill kaplan, tom joyner, and bill marimon and first appeared in his self-titled 1994 series. he has been part of two incarnations of the titans, as well as the justice society of america. he is related to al pratt, the first atom; due to his unique heritage and genetics, grant possesses metahuman abilities that allow him to absorb and build up energy which he can use in various ways - most famously exploding like a bomb (hence the name).

WHAT IS THIS?

this is a catalogue of every single one of grant's comic appearances, organised chronologically and categorised by what i would consider 'essential' damage reading. grant is one of my favourite characters in dc, so hopefully this can help anyone who's interested in getting to know him!

CHECK IT OUT

[woodbrook-wanderer]

Hear ye!

In an interview hosted by Comic Book Club at NYCC 2024, we finally have our first gleanings of Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite Of Spring from Patrick Horvath himself! Interview transcript's over here if you'd prefer to read.

Here's all we know so far:

Timeskip to 1994: Rite Of Spring takes place eight years after the events of Book 1. We'll be catching up to speed with the survivors and the whole town years after the murders. We're also going to feel the effect of those 8 years. From land redevelopment to the advent of the internet.

2. Reassessing, again (and probably just regressing): More backstory, more key players, more damage. More of the same, maybe? Don't get your hopes too high for changes.

3. Transitionary Period: The thematic thread for Book 2! I'll be discussing how Nature is a key character in Beneath The Trees and the allegorical implications such changes have and may have in Book 2. One more major theme though...

4. Sacrifice: Rite Of Spring as a title holds TONS of implications but it's based on Stravinsky's ballet, The Rite Of Spring. This is also meant as a direct contrast to Autumn in Part 1 as Life transitions from Death and Bears come out of hibernation.

5. We're still getting 6 Issues but they'll be double the fun size! So hooray to more time to flesh out the world especially with these changes!

No dates or key art is out yet but the logo. Keep your eyes peeled and doors locked, everyone!

[deepdreamnights]

Wally Manmoth

Once Walbert W. Manheim, human friend of TyrannoMax, Wally sacrificed himself saving the lives of both TyrannoMax and Dr. Underfang. Unwilling to countenance owing a debt to the youth, Dr. Underfang used the geneincarnation process to tether the boy's spirit back to a cloned body, though one very unlike his original.

As a "Manmoth" Wally possesses superhuman strength, endurance and resistance to damage, as well almost complete immunity to cold temperatures and enhanced mammoth-senses.

Wally and DeinoSteve in the 1994 live action film.

Prompt and process under the fold.

Wally's lines were generated in Dall-E 3, with edits, digital inks, colors, and aging effects added in post.

A young man who resembles Seth Green, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, bell bottoms, and tennis shoes, with a feathered 70s haircut, standing in a sarcastic posture. The image is a full body shot on a white background, drawn in the style of a comic panel by Jack Kirby and John Buscema from 1968, as seen in the official handbook of the Marvel Universe.

A wooly mammoth-anthro, wearing a hawaiian shirt and bermuda shorts, standing on a city street, full body, straight to camera, comic panel by jack kirby and alex toth 1968, in the style of 1968 marvel comics

[house-on-sand]

you pull the trigger just for fun forgetting i'm a loaded gun! so hate me for the things i've done and not for what i've now become

— a playlist for damage

panic by sm6

unperson by nothing but thieves

machine gun by badflower

so numb by tx2

reliable narrator by chase petra

reincarnate by motionless in white

up the wolves by the mountain goats

that's okay by the hush sound

sleepwalk by forrest day

what i never learned in study hall by ice nine kills

i don't get sleep by naethan apollo

body terror song by ajj

nowhere to go by bad omens

freak me out by pigeon pit

identity by grandson

it's ok, i wouldn't remember me either by crywank

father by the front bottoms

how i survived bobby mackey's personal hell by lincoln

(top template by @jessource & playlist template by @unholymilf)

[thebestestbat]

i was thinking and talking about what counts as a retcon earlier, in the context of dc comics. specifically with grant emerson's backstory. and how basically neither what devin did (introducing csa into his backstory) or what johns did (more or less ignore the csa and introduce intense physical abuse) is really a retcon? just kind of exploring the same backstory.

and in specific with geoff johns--that is the one that i see most often called a retcon, AND. TO BE CLEAR. i haven't finished reading jsa. so it might be that grant goes "btw x thing did NOT happen to me." which would directly contradict titans 1999 and therefore annoy me and i'd have to take back this post. but anyway, my thought is that i would rather a writer such as johns go "i dont want to write about that topic" and not do it, rather than try to write about it and do it badly

ive only one time seen someone talk about devin's decision as a retcon or even talk about it negatively. i think partially this is due to grant emerson not being a popular character askjf. if anyone does have any thoughts though i'm interested to hear.

anyway also i believe most grant fans i come across merge the continuities and consider both backstories canon. they don't contradict each other, and both build on what was established of that broken ass family in damage (1994). imo

[ufonaut]

Don't ever forget you've got choices, Grant. Your life is what you decide it is. Don't buy into anybody's idea of who you are. Live your own.

Alan Scott in Damage (1994) #7

(Tom Joyner, Bill Marimon)

[greenlantern94to04]

Green Lantern #54 (August 1994)

Ah, this one. Everything's coming up Kyle Rayner! He's getting the hang of this "Green Lantern" thing, just defeated a Superman villain (with Superman's help, but still), and is finally back together with his smart, sexy, and responsible girlfriend Alex (who honestly seems better suited for being a superhero than him). The first pages of this issue go out of their way to make it clear to us that they are definitely having sex and it is very hot.

The next morning, as Kyle lays on Alex's bed (because they had sex), he sees something on TV about weird stuff like dinosaurs, conquistadors, and Elvis being sighted around LA. Alex convinces him to suit up (he's currently nude, on account of the sex) and go check it out. She declines to tag along and take pictures this time because it's her day off, but she promises she'll have a "surprise" for him when he gets back (I'm gonna go ahead and guess the surprise is more sex).

As Kyle flies off, he sees that a bunch of futuristic buildings have for some reason materialized right in the middle of the city, along with some very confused future pedestrians. Apparently, safety regulations are a lot more lax in the year 2088, because the buildings start crumbling when one of LA's customary earthquakes happens to hit. Kyle realizes pretty fast that he can't stop a quake with his ring, but he can brace the structures against it to minimize the damage.

Then, the future buildings and future people fade away. Another disaster averted by the New Green Lantern! The end.

Wait, there are still 9 more pages left in the comic? Huh. While all of that was happening with Kyle, Alex received a visit from a flower delivery guy. She figured they must be from Kyle (to thank her for all the sex), but when she looks at the card, she sees that it says "I'm going to kill you." Turns out the flower delivery guy is supervillain Major Force, who has been commissioned by a shady government agency to kill Kyle and steal his ring, in no particular order.

MF grabs Alex (who tries to resist with a kitchen knife, but he's invulnerable) and tells her to give up information about her superhero boyfriend. She pretends not to know what he's talking about, and without even giving her another chance to squeal, he just chokes her until she loses consciousness in her kitchen, then says "I'm hungry."

Later, Kyle comes back to Alex's home all giddy and eager to collect his surprise. He finds a note from her that says "Surprise for you in the fridge," although he notices that her handwriting looks funny (almost like some big goon with quantum-powered metal skin wrote it). Then he looks there and finds... the origin of the term "fridging."

That's about the most abrupt tonal change I can remember in a comic; Kyle is so distraught, even the art style changes (okay, that's because this issue has multiple artists). So, yes, Major Force killed Alex and stuffed her body in the fridge, and now he expects Kyle to just give up his ring and lay down as he gets killed too. Instead, Kyle throws the MFer through the wall and they start fighting in Alex's front yard. MF is amused to find out that the green energy from Kyle's ring can actually hurt him, but the amusement doesn't last when he's being bludgeoned by a green mallet.

Kyle is going to kill MF (we know because he says "I'm going to kill you now"), but then the mallet his ring created suddenly evaporates. After several issues of usage, Kyle's ring picked this moment to run out of energy (we know because he says "I'm... running out of energy"). We end the issue with Kyle saying "it's dead" as a pissed-off MF is about to hit him with a quantum punch. TO BE CONTINUED!

Character-Watch:

So long, Alex! You were too good for this comic, or at least this particular issue. Unlike 90% of recurring characters who die in superhero comics, she'll never be brought back to life. From now on, she'll only appear in flashbacks or when someone wants to mess with Kyle's head, like with that nasty "Black Lantern" zombie business. An alternate version of her will briefly appear in a sort of "Spider-Gwen" type situation, a scenario that I'm surprised hasn't been explored more given how much DC has embraced alternate timelines over the past decade. But hey, at least her death served to teach Kyle an important lesson: buy a fridge lock.

Plotline-Watch:

The time-related chaos is, of course, caused by the events of the Zero Hour crossover, which hasn't even started yet, but that's time travel for you.

Incidentally, I wonder how many readers assumed Alex would be brought back via time-related shenanigans at the end of the storyline, which would have been a cop-out but also made the whole thing a little less distasteful (then again, if that was the case I might be here saying how cool and transgressive it would have been if they'd just left Alex dead...).

It has always bugged me that the handwriting in the ridiculous "I'm going to kill you" note is very different from the one in the infamous "fridge" one. Did Major Force have one of the agents write it? Did he buy it pre-written at Hallmark? Also: how did he know Kyle had been promised a "surprise"? I guess we're meant to assume that's a coincidence, but it's possible Alex muttered "But... I promised Kyle... a surp--" off-panel before dying.

The shady government agent who flies Major Force to LA tells him to extract whatever information he can about that glowing green rock that was found in the alley where Kyle got his ring, but MF didn't even ask her about it. The guy is pretty bad at his job.

It's too bad that the nice future girl Kyle saved from the earthquake, who seemed very grateful to him before she faded back to the future, won't appear again when Kyle visits the 2090's. Maybe she could have given him that surprise he's still owed.

This was one heck of a time to find out that Kyle's ring does need to be recharged from time to time. We'll find out how next issue.

Did I mention Kyle and Alex were having sex? Because they were for sure having sex.

NEXT: Guest-starring Green Lantern (a different one)! Also, Zero Hour!

[matt0044]

So… I just saw Nimona (spoilers).

Something something something. It won.

So I remember coming across a tweet that was the usual, “Ugh, cartoons were so much better back then,” drivel when taking about Spider Man 1994 and Batman Beyond (because they gotta drag them into this).

The bigger takeaway was how cartoons like Steven Universe and the like are made by emotional stunted adults who care more about indulging their “fee-fees” as opposed to creating actual entertainment.

This came to mind now because Nimona exudes the raw emotion that the comics had. The emotions ND Stevenson felt while growing up as an artist. The emotional anger aimed at the systems keeping this status quo in place and screwing us over.

I mean, the Director aiming the cannons inside the walls to kill Nimona at the cost of countless civilians?

That wasn't just to show her being "evil" but how even cis, white, straight people will be considered collateral damages when their rights are in the blast radius of queer rights being destroyed.

That's anger. And it is sooooooo amazingly raw. Nimona is a shapeshifter who damns the torpedoes and flexes her powers because, well, why bother hiding when they'll hate her for it.

Back to the main point (because I could go on about Balistar, lemme tell you), if ND Stevenson had decided to "just make entertainment" that was inpersonal and inoffensive, Nimona would probably be something Disney would've sanitized had they not canned the movie.

And I don't want just another Disney movie. I want a film that feels like it came from a place of passion first, profit waaaaaaaay second. I wanted Nimona and, well, didn't even know it.

And lets not act like superheroes on any level haven't come from a place of passion either. MCU or not, a lot of them are dreams of people who do good for goodness's sake. Or was Uncle Ben's death always suppose to be some humdrum event?