I don’t know about y’all, but this has been an absolutely world-class rotten week. Everything that could go right went wrong, and everything that could go wrong went worse. I’ve got my doubts that the weekend will be much a break, either. And then it’s right back to the office for another five days of world-class rotten. So today, even more than most Fridays, I really need some FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

This week, we’re heading to the insanely brilliant Nextwave #1 from March 2006, by Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen, and Wade von Grawbadger, as Elsa Bloodstone unleashes on the bad guys… with an electric guitar!

Any fight where someone uses a guitar to make a jeep explode… that’s the kind of thing that has a chance of making my weekend feel a little bit better…

Yes, yes, we all love a little violence on our Friday nights, but let’s talk about what’s really important tonight — my 1,001st post! Namely, this one! Yes, I’m going to milk this just as long as I can, so go lump it, haters.

My initial thought was to try to find a fight sequence that would match up thematically with the number 1,001. That’s kinda a tall order. There’s “The Thousand and One Nights” and that’s really about it. “Fables” had a storyarc focusing on characters from Middle Eastern folklore and fiction, but I actually stopped collecting that series a bit before that arc began. There’s the extraordinarily brilliant 50th issue of “Sandman,” with the story titled “Ramadan,” but that one’s entirely free of violence.

So I finally decided, the heck with a theme, I’ll go with something that’s just plain awesome.

From March 2007’s Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #9 by Jeff Parker, Juan SantaCruz, and Raul Fernandez, here are Capdoc, Stormdoc, Spidoc, Hulkdoc, Gi-Doc, Irondoc, and Woldoc, transformed, obviously, into hyperintelligent brain-zapping MODOKs, taking on Attuma and his hapless army:

There is nothing in the world more wonderful than giant-headed superheroes riding around in floaty yellow chairs.

Y’all really wanna give me a “Merry 1,001 Posts on your Comic Book Blog” present, y’all head over to Spacebooger’s place after 10 tonight or any time this weekend, and vote for me.

And y’all have a great weekend…

Hey, man! Friday Night Fights is back in action! Let’s get things started the right way — with monkeys!

Here’s September 2006’s Shadowpact #3 by Bill Willingham and Cory Walker, where we get right into Detective Chimp showing Kid Karnevil why you should never make a chimpanzee mad at you:

Okay, that’s that. Don’t party too hard tonight — I expect y’all all to be at the Lubbock Comic Book Expo tomorrow and Sunday at the Civic Center!

It’s time for the twelfth and final match of the latest round of Friday Night Fights.

Let’s set our stage. It’s The Brave and the Bold #6, from October 2007, by Mark Waid and George Perez. Someone has stolen the Book of Destiny — the magical book owned by Destiny himself. The book shows the complete history of the universe — everything that has or is going to happen. By reading it, you can know your how your enemies are going to move against you and counter them perfectly. It’s fallen into the hands of a guy named Mondath, who plans to use it to become the champion of the planet Rann, and it’s going to get handed over to the evil Luck Lords, who want to use it to conquer the universe. Green Lantern, Supergirl, Adam Strange, and Batman are trying to fight off Rann’s forces, and Batman figures out that the Challengers of the Unknown, because they’ve cheated death, are completely invisible to the Book of Destiny, so Adam Strange uses the Zeta Beam to teleport them from Earth to Rann. Their actions are the only possible counter to the Book of Destiny, and they show immediate success in foiling the plans of Mondath and the Luck Lords.

Or so Supergirl thinks, until she gets a rebuttal from a Giant Shard of Artificial Kryptonite.

Thanks to our pal SpaceBooger for another fun 12 rounds of weekend fightin’, and I’m looking forward to the next 12, too.

Y’all have a merry weekend, and I’ll see y’all back here on Monday.

Listen, man, I’ve had one heck of a week. I had to get out of bed, like, five times since Monday, and I had to go to work, and they didn’t let me play video games at all! What is up with that? Don’t they realize how important it is for me to play video games as often as I can?

Also, speaking of video games, none of y’all bothered to just show up at my door and give me a free Centipede coin-op machine. I give and I give, and no one will donate free Centipede machines to me, except for the ones that dispense actual centipedes, and I don’t want those at all!

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, it’s time for FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight, we’re heading all the way back to the August 10, 1947 edition of “The Spirit Section,” a small tabloid-size comic book that used to be included in newspapers back in the ’40s and ’50s. This is from a story called “Sign of the Octopus” and it was written and drawn by the great Will Eisner. Here, the Spirit wakes up from an impromptu nap, goes off to get some water, and gets a little lullaby, courtesy of Crusher, one of the hired goons of the Octopus.

Mmmm, all that plus spaghetti for supper! Sounds great, Mr. Spirit!

We’re gonna make this short and sweet tonight, just so we can get straight into our old favorite: FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s fight comes from 1999’s JLA: Foreign Bodies by Len Kaminski, Val Semeiks, and Prentis Rollins. Our set-up: It’s Batman vs. Kobra!

But wait, that’s not who our players really are — the Justice League’s minds have gotten swapped around, so actually, that’s Kobra in Batman’s body, and it’s Superman in Kobra’s body. Confusing? Well, yeah, it is a bit mad.

I always enjoyed this story — I’m a sucker for a good mindswap tale. I reckon I’m lucky to have gotten my mitts on this one — I doubt it’ll ever get reprinted…

Wow, has this seemed like a rougher-than-average week. I’ve been feeling like I needed the weekend to start sometime around Tuesday, so this absolutely feels like it’s long overdue. So let’s get right to it — time to get our weekend started right — with FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes from the second volume of 2005’s DC: The New Frontier by the astonishingly awesome Darwyn Cooke with Dave Stewart. Superman heads out to confront the island-sized monstrosity called the Centre and finds an unwelcoming committee just waiting for him to drop his guard…

I’ve recommended this comic to y’all before — and if you don’t have it, you really, really should go get it. It’s fantastically beautiful all the way through.

Hope y’all have a great weekend, and I’ll see y’all Monday…

Well, it’s the end of another week, and that means it’s time to get the weekend started the same way our ancestors have been doing for generations — with a little of the ol’ ultraviolence and… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s fight comes all the way from November 1948’s Plastic Man #14 and the story “A Hard Guy Called Concrete” by the great Jack Cole with Alex Kotzky on inks. This is not an issue I own, but I was able to read the entire story over on the Cole’s Comics blog — mad kudos to Paul Tumey for keeping Cole’s amazing artwork out there in the public eye.

Anyway, tonight’s painfest is all about Eel O’Brien vs. a concrete-skinned mafia boss called Concrete Cargill:

And a short note from SpaceBooger, the guy in charge of every week’s Friday Night Fights — he wants more people to vote for their choices for the best fights of the week. He even made a graphic to help remind you:

So go vote for your favorite fights, and have a wonderful weekend!

If it’s Friday, and it’s anywhere close to evening, then it must be time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Today, we’re getting our stack of brutal brutality from 1995’s Astro City #1 by Kurt Busiek and Brent E. Anderson and the epic battle between the Samaritan and the Living Nightmare:

And that should be enough to get y’all started on an epic and awesome weekend. Everyone have fun, and let’s hope Monday takes its time getting here…

Ya say you’ve had a rough week, and you’re looking for a little old-fashioned comic book violence to get your weekend started right? Well, brothers and sisters, you’ve come to the right place! It’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s fight comes to us from 1999’s Spider-Girl #4 by Tom DeFalco and Pat Olliffe, as little Petey Parker’s alternate-history daughter meets up with a dude called the Dragon King:

Everyone have a great weekend, and I’ll see y’all back here on Monday.