Living Legends 25 Notes

I am going to remain mostly mum for this one. But we do finally meet the villains of our first volume in the flesh and I think I should go in to more detail on the members of the Cabal.

Dominique is, of course, the Sorceress of Zoom, an adventure of whom can be found on Tales of the Living Legends. A villain turned Nazi fighting anti-hero, she seemed perfect for the story.

American Crusader has popped up repeatedly over the course of the series, and we can clearly see here that his goals go well beyond just apprehending Atoman. His motivations still remain vague however.

Manowar (or Man Of War) in his original incarnation was a warrior literally created by Mars to fight during World War II.

The Face makes his first appearance in Living Legends here. Reporter Anthony Trent hated crime and donned a fright mask to fight against it. We will quickly learn over the course of this and the next chapter that it is far more than a simple mask. In a team of corrupted heroes, he is clearly the worst. He revels in causing pain and misery now.

And Lash Lightning’s true intentions finally come clear.

Next month, we hit our big climax as the heroes and the Cabal finally face off once and for all!

The Complete Clone Saga 7: Smoke & Mirror

“Smoke & Mirror” brings the separate stories back together as the deadly Jackal begins to show he is just as alive as Ben Reilly! During a terrible snowstorm, Scarlet Spider comes under attack by the Jackal’s genetically engineered minions and is left unconscious.

Part two in Amazing-Spider-Man 399 opens with a brief scene expanding the mystery of Kaine as the killer vigilante speaks with the mysterious Scrier. Spider-Man finds the downed Scarlet Spider and helps him get his wits about him. The Jackal finally appears and claims that both men are in fact clones. Any fight gets broken down as Jackal takes another figure out of suspended animation: a woman he claims is the original Gwen Stacy!

Part three erases the erasure of the Clone Saga in an earlier “Evolutionary War” annual. The High Evolutionary’s revelations were all fabrications, but to what purpose we do not learn. Peter hugs Gwen, but she quickly suffers a case of clone degeneration. Jackal escapes and leaves the two Spiders with still more questions about their own identities.

Up Next: “Players & Pawns”.

Super-Powered Comics: Batman Private Casebook

Batman Private Casebook goes back and picks up the stories that DC skipped when they rushed “Heart of Hush”; to the stands. Like most of Paul Dini’s run, this is made up of mostly done-in-ones, with the exception of a 2 part Zatanna guest shot.

The book opens with an epilogue to the recently completed “Resolution of Ra’s Al Ghul” that turned out better than that entire crossover combined. Batman’s way of disabling Al Ghul is sheer genius in this one.

“The Wonderland Gang” follows. It features a long necessary but never used team-up between the Mad Hatter and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They recurit an entire gang of Wonderland inspired characters. Once again it comes with a great twist ending.

Peter Milligan takes over for a one-shot prequel to the new Azrael book detailing the abilities of the Suit of Sorrows. Meh.

The two-parter follows and it not only introduces Zatanna back in to Bruce’s life, but also gives us the origin of the new Ventriloquist. I am still not a big fan of the original Ventriloquist, but the story works as what it tries to do.

“The Riddle Unanswered” closes the book with another story of the detective rivalry between Riddler and Batman.

A short Zatanna Halloween story does little more than fill pages at the end of the book. Still, it is an exercise in solid story, and I would argue the first two tales are well worth it to all comic fans. The trade is reasonably priced and worth it to anyone looking for some fun Bat-tales. Recommended.

Out For Vengeance 8 Notes

Honestly, this is a transitional chapter. It is all about getting from the first part of our story with Vengeance reestablishing ties to his past and in to the second part, where we start learning the mysteries of what exactly happened to him over the last several decades.

We have a few big clues building this month, but more will revealed in the next few months!

Be back next month as Vengeance and Rancor head to Brazil and meet a certain (and somewhat obscure) literary figure of the early twentieth century!

Tales of the Living Legends returns!

Hey folks! Today is the big day for the return of my golden age webcomic Tales of the Living Legends! We have started a whole new collection of stories that will play out over the next few weeks with the “Many Lives of Sally Lincoln!”. This will give us more details in to the identities that Ghost Woman has put on over the years to mask her presence over the decades.

And with that we will fall silent for the next few days as I take a brief reprieve from the internet. Please keep an eye out for more news and reviews at the end of the week.