Running Riot

1985 #3

It’s 1985 in a completely metahuman-free universe, and the dimension-hopping Marvel supervillains who’ve been hiding out in the old mansion outside of town are tired of hiding. As the police investigate last issue’s murders by Sandman and Electro, MODOK starts mind-controlling people to drown themselves in a lake, the Mole Man kidnaps a bunch of children, Ultron just starts slaughtering people, and none other than Fin Fang Foom lays seige to the town. Is there any hope for anyone? Not unless a bunch of superheroes start showing up soon…

Verdict: Thumbs up. I was actually getting a bit bored with this one, but it’s gotten a heck of a lot more interesting with the bad guys running wild. And I love the way they’re not being portrayed as comic-book villains — these are complete psychos with powers that no one on Earth has any way to counter. They’re not mere villains — they’re figures of absolute terror.

Birds of Prey #120

Continuing the confrontation from last issue, Manhunter thinks she’s got the stuff to take down Black Canary… but really, it’s not even close. Once Dinah has Kate dropped off back at Oracle’s HQ in Platinum Flats, she warns Barbara to back off of her, Green Arrow, and Speedy. Meanwhile, a character I’m not real familiar with, Infinity, uses her ghostlike powers to infiltrate the Visionary’s Silicon Syndicate. She discovers a very high-tech R&D lab which includes the corpse of the midget gadgeteer Gizmo… but it turns out he’s still fairly ambulatory. Babs scrambles Huntress to get Infinity to safety, while the Visionary and his goons get introduced to a nasty new competitor…

Verdict: Thumbs up. The entire issue is pretty enjoyable, but the bad guy who gets the brief walk-on part at the end is really gonna throw a spanner into the works.