Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #220
June 1955

The Second Batman and Robin Team!
Script: Bill Finger Pencils: Dick Sprang Inks: Charles Paris

Now relax upon those chairs, and I'll use the hypnotic time-science I've mastered to send you across time! - NOT Carter Nichols!

Both the cover and the splash page set up the mystery nicely: who is the second Batman and Robin team? The answer begins with Roger Bacon, and I think it's brilliant that someone has finally noticed Batman and Robin's time traveling. The story refers to the events of "Peril in Greece" from Batman #38, "It Happened in Rome" from Batman #24, and "Batman and the Vikings" from World's Finest #39. Bacon is convinced that these two individuals who turn up time and time again in ancient texts came from the future, and he is of course right. So we get the second wonderful conceit: Roger does exactly what Carter Nichols always does: time travel via hypnosis, only he sends his two pupils, Marcus and Guy Tiller (who conveniently look a lot like Bruce and Dick) into the future. He has them dress like Batman and Robin, because he's sure that everyone in the future must dress this way!

Marcus and Guy discover pretty quick that everyone in the future does not dress this way, and of course they're mistaken for Batman and Robin. When the Bat-signal flashes, and people direct them to police headquarters, they go to avoid suspicion. The actual Batman and Robin have also answered the call, but when they see the two ersatz figures headed inside, Bruce decides to enter in civilian garb to learn who these impostors are. They get in because they are friends of Commissioner Gordon (a nice touch going all the way back to Detective Comics 27) and observe Marcus and Guy as they play along and figure out more or less what they need to do. Once again the genuine Batman and Robin follow the unwitting impostors down to the docks, where Marcus and Guy use their crossbows to shoot the guns from the hands of some bank robbers. The genuine Batman has to save the two from a bomb, and he follows the crooks out into the fog. I love all the foggy panels on pages 6 and 7. So much detail and so much atmosphere.

Marcus and Guy were stunned, so they're taken back to the Batcave. An examination of their weapons and clothing convinces Batman that these men are from the past. When Marcus and Guy awake, they explain the whole situation. The two people from 1255 and the two from 1955 hit it off, and the time travelers are amazed by all the scientific equipment. Meanwhile Batman has figured out where the bandit are based, and he takes the Batplane out and learns that he's correct, they're hiding in a nearby lighthouse. The bandits shoot down the Batplane, causing it to crash into the sea. Marcus and Guy, still in costume, see it on the television and decide they must avenge their new friends. Batman and Robin are alive of course, they converted the plane into a sub and try to gain access to the lighthouse. With some help from Marcus and Guy's medieval weapons, including a trebuchet and a mantelet, they get into the lighthouse and take on the gang. Batman is temporarily blinded by the lighthouse light, but good aim with the crossbows severs the power cords, dousing the light. The crooks are rounded up thanks to two Batman and Robin teams.

The story ends on a hopeful note, as it's revealed that what Bacon wanted to know was whether or not the world was worth working towards, and Marcus thinks the answer is yes. He and Guy return to the past, and Robin hopes they'll meet again. I really enjoyed the re-visitation of some of the time travel stories, and the perfectly logical idea that Carter Nichols doesn't have to be the only person to have discovered his technique. Only this time we get men from the past traveling into the future rather than Batman and Robin traveling into the past. It's a great variation from the norm when it comes to the recurring time travel plots in the Batman series.

[andersonh1]

Batman #92
June 1955

Fan-Mail of Danger!
Script: Bill Finger Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff Inks: Charles Paris

Once again, only in this era! Modern Batman wouldn't waste his time answering fan-mail, even if he gets it. This really is an absurd premise for a story, and written by Bill Finger no less. This the 573rd Batman story if I've kept my count correctly, so no doubt any idea to write a script and make that month's publication deadline had to do, at least sometimes. I'm not normally too negative on any of these old plots, but this one just does not work at all for me.

To summarize, Batman and Robin have neglected their fan-mail, and it's piling up. They have to rent a truck to carry it off and hire a secretary, Susie, to help answer it. Naturally she's head over heels for Batman and works out that if she can increase the volume of fan-mail, she can turn this temporary gig into a permanent one and be near Batman. We're given the absurd image of Batman, Susie, and Robin, sitting at desks, surrounded by piles of letters, discussing which ones to answer. Naturally some crooks are up to something related to this plot, which is attempting to get the signatures of four men so they can compare them to Batman's signature and find out which one is Batman. Bruce's name is on the list. Long story short, Batman's crime fighting is hampered by all the fan-mail, but he stops it by answering everyone at once via skywriting with the Batplane. And he foils the scheme of the crooks because as Batman he always signs with his left hand to disguise his signature.

As I said, this one's just too absurd, even for the era it was written in. "Batman the celebrity and public figure" is taken to the extreme and it just doesn't work. I'd have thought even late Golden Age Batman would be too serious about his work to waste his time with fan mail, but no. Now every crook in Gotham ought to know exactly how to stop him: deluge him with mail before any big heist, and he'll be too busy answering letters to stop them. We don't get a lot of genuine duds in this series, but I'm close to putting this story in that category.

[andersonh1]

Continuing Batman #92...


Batman's Guilty Neighbor!
Script: Dave Wood Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff Inks: Charles Paris

For a while I was keeping up with descriptions of Bruce Wayne's house in the first couple of Golden Age omnibuses. It was in a neighborhood, but had a very large yard around it, and before too long they added a barn in the back where the secret entrance to the Batcave could be found so the Batmobile and Batplane could come and go without being seen. At one point Alfred was "borrowed" for his services at butler by one of Bruce's neighbors, and Catwoman was robbing Bruce's neighbors in one story. So if we take the splash page as not entirely accurate, as they often are not, there's nothing out of the ordinary with Bruce having a new neighbor come by and introduce himself here. Cal Tremont comes by to introduce himself and borrow the lawn sprinkler. Bruce gives him a tour of the house. After Tremont leaves, the police pay a visit and inform Bruce that there have been a series of burglaries in the neighborhood, and that Tremont is the prime suspect. Naturally Batman and Robin have to investigate crime in their own neighborhood, and they catch a burglar in the act at the Thorndyke residence. The burglar escapes by cutting loose the dog, but the dog knows Bruce, even under the mask. It does delay him however, so the burglar escapes. I had wondered, given the cover, if this was going to be Ace the Bat-hound, but it's not.

Batman and Robin call on Tremont, who is a little winded as though he's been running and has mud on his shoes. He's been working on putting in some French doors and had to go out and turn off the lawn sprinkler, so he has an alibi. Thankfully for Batman, one of the tunnels off the Batcave goes under Tremont's home, so he and Robin dig a little closer so they can spy and set a trap for the burglar in the form of an expensive new piece of art. They spy on Tremont and his wife discussing the situation and conclude that he's probably innocent. There's an alternate plan, which is the luminous sand they filled the statuette with so a trail would be left when it was taken. The plan works like a charm and they catch Temont's gardener in the act of burying the stolen art. I did notice how prominent he was in the doorway in two panels back on the first page, though I didn't really pay much attention the first time I read the story. He only stands out because I'm going through the pages again to write the review, so I knew he was the guilty party. I do like the final exchange of the story, where Tremont says he'd love to have Batman as a neighbor, but he's stuck with that playboy, Bruce Wayne. "Yes, I suppose so," says Batman, with a big grin on his face.

I enjoyed this close to home mystery for Batman to solve. It's fairly low-stakes, but not everything in Batman's life has to be life or death, or a crime with millions of dollars at stake. The tunnel under the Tremont home was never really necessary since the rigged statuette does the job nicely, and feels like filler to make the page count, but I suppose it's harmless enough to have Batman double check via more than one method. I did question whether or not a rich neighborhood like the one Bruce lives in would have that ugly old eyesore of a water tower nearby, and the bright orange and yellow walls are a real eyesore. The houses seem a little small as well. But that's just me reading into relatively unimportant details and wondering about world-building that the writers doubtless weren't concerned with. A fun little story, if not much of a challenge for Batman.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87
December 1971-January 1972

Beware My Power!
Script - Denny O'Neil Pencils - Neal Adams Inks - Dick Giordano

John Stewart makes his debut in this issue, giving us our fourth human GL after Charley Vicker and Guy Gardner. John fits into the social issues themed book that O'Neil and Adams have been giving us by once again allowing them to address racism, this time aimed at the black population rather than Indians. An earthquake hits and Hal heads out as GL to see if he can help. He finds a broken bridge and an injured Guy Gardner, in only his second appearance in the series, who had tried to help a little girl caught as the bridge collapsed beneath her. Both would have died in the fall if GL had not been there. Guy is hurt pretty bad, and Hal realizes he has no one to take his place now if something happens to him. I have a bit of a problem with the continuity here, since the original story about Guy was a simulation, a "what if" scenario, and Guy has never had a power ring or been a Green Lantern. So why exactly Hal would have been counting on him is hard to say. No GL story up to this point has stressed any need for any GL to have a successor on standby. When one is killed, the power ring seeks out a new bearer. But this story needs a reason to introduce a new GL, so continuity is "tweaked" to make it happen.

The Guardians contact Hal, aware of the problem, and they've chosen a new successor: unemployed architect John Stewart. Hal observes this young black man giving a policeman's attitude right back to him and wonders if he's a good choice. When the Guardian essentially calls Hal a racist, Hal sets him straight: it's not John's skin color, it's the chip on his shoulder that bothers him. But the decision stands. GL introduces himself to John, explains the job and the requirements, and when John accepts, he takes him out and shows him the basics of the ring and the charging ritual. Hal uses the ring to outfit John with a uniform identical to his, but John immediately removes the mask. "This black man lets it all hang out! I've got nothing to hide!" This is more training than Hal ever got. He pretty much got the ring and a short explanation from Abin Sur, and then had to learn all the ring's capabilities for himself through trial and error.

At the airport a plane arrives, and the crowd waiting out near the runway gets in the way of a fuel truck, which goes out of control as the driver tries to miss them. Hal moves the crowd while John steadies the truck, deliberately splashing the arriving Senator Jeremiah Clutcher with oil. Clutcher is running for President on a racist platform that denigrates black people, and John is rightfully angry. Hal feels that John needs a lesson in duty over personal feelings and assigns him to guard Clutcher. My favorite part of this whole exchange is John being rightfully angry about Clutcher's racism, then turning around and calling Hal "whitey", an act of hypocrisy that Hal calls him out on. As much as O'Neil likes his strawman villains, I was surprised to see him include this particular exchange, so credit where credit's due for allowing John to be flawed as well.

Clutcher is a disgusting piece of work as a sample of his rhetoric makes clear. When there is an assassination attempt and John refuses to chase the shooter, Hal's had enough. But John saves a security guard from being killed and reveals that he had seen the supposed assassin with Clutcher earlier that day. His fake attempt was a diversion while the actual killing happened outside. The man who pretended to shoot at Clutcher was black, so blacks would be blamed and Clutcher would look like a hero and get elected. Hal is disgusted and hopes the publicity will end Clutcher's career. He and John seem to better understand each other by the end of the story, which promises that John will return.

Like all of these issues, the message is heavy-handed, but well-intentioned. And there's a bit more subtlety than I would have expected from O'Neil, with John showing some prejudice himself, and with both white and black men working to carry out Clutcher's scheme. John has definitely got the 70s jive talk and afro going on, but he's off to a good start here as a character, figuring out Clutcher's scheme and exposing it, and holding no grudge over Hal misjudging him. I like the way the relationship between the two of them is portrayed here as they each come in with preconceptions and ideas, come into conflict, and then end with some mutual respect. And O'Neil, though he loves to write Hal as a flawed character, makes sure he's never racist himself. His reservations about John, despite the Guardian's unfair assumption, are fair enough and seem to be borne out up until John explains himself. And Hal doesn't tolerate prejudice from John any more than he does from Clutcher, calling his hateful rhetoric "babbling nonsense" and "stupidity". I like this issue quite a bit. Apart from Clutcher being the usual strawman, there's some subtle character touches and John is a strong character right off the bat. And we're spared Green Arrow's sermonizing!

[andersonh1]

Finishing up GL/GA #87

What Can One Man Do?
Script - Elliot Maggin Pencils - Neal Adams Inks - Dick Giordano

It's nice to see a short history of Green Arrow kick off this backup story, complete with the fact that Oliver Queen used to be wealthy. We even get the beardless GA in his old costume in one panel. But he loses his fortune and learns what it's like to be poor. The narration even calls him "arrogant", a trait he has not lost! The story, by Elliot Maggin rather than Denny O'Neil, asks the question of what such a fallen from grace man might try to do with what little he has left?

Ollie still wants to use what little money he has left to help causes he cares about, but he ends up suiting up and heading out into Star City. Meanwhile the mayor is retiring, unwilling to run for another term at his age. "I have no use for smog, dirty water, garbage collection and dope running rampant" he says. His aides discuss who they might run in his place. After a list of names, they bring up Oliver Queen. The aide calls in a "playboy" despite his loss of status and fortune, but the mayor insists he's a philanthropist. He wants him to run for mayor. Ollie is even getting tired of the super-hero gig when he gets the call asking him to run. In a nice sequence of panels he calls various friends for their advice. Dinah Lance, Bruce Wayne (who we're reminded was once a senator, temporarily) Hal, and Clark Kent... all of whom advise him not to run. It's a good page, and Maggin clearly knows these characters and their history.

Ollie had snapped at Dinah and decides that he owes her an apology. He heads over using an old rocket arrow, made in the days when he had money. I like that this story is constantly contrasting Ollie's past and present circumstances, showing us just how much he has changed, something other characters are also aware of. The arrow goes off course so he drops to the ground, planning to walk the rest of the way, and runs into what looks like a race riot between a bunch of black men and the police. He ends up hit in the head and falling, exchanges some words with a black boy asking what's going on, when the kid is shot in the back right in front of him. Horrified, GA picks the boy up and carries him to a nearby ambulance. He rides to the hospital with him, follows the paramedics inside, and waits until he gets the bad news, not spelled out in the two pages of dialogue free art, but clear from the art. All this to a quote from Ernest Hemingway that sets the grim tone very well. That panel of Ollie with angry tears has stuck with me ever since I first read this story years ago. This is a man who cares deeply. In 13 pages, Maggin has done what O'Neil has constantly failed to do: made Green Arrow a sympathetic figure. He still has his temper and his attitude, but Maggin reminds us why he is this way, and how much he cares and wants to help in whatever way he can.

In the end, the experience makes Ollie decide that he will run for mayor, a decision he shares with Dinah. It's entirely in character for him. The man who wants to help is going to take the opportunity that a run for office allows him to do things that Green Arrow simply cannot do. It's a good story, easily the best Green Arrow story and characterization we've had since he was made co-star of the series. It makes me wish Maggin wrote more of the series, because he clearly gets the character in a way that O'Neil does not.

[andersonh1]

Batman #92 concluded...

Ace the Bat-Hound!
Script: Bill Finger Pencils: Lew Sayre Schwartz, Bob Kane Inks: Stan Kaye, Bob Kane

That Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin, suddenly become a part of a trio when a new member joins their terrific team!

We have regular characters in the Batman series, and then recurring characters who aren't really part of the main cast. Alfred was the last main character added to the book, though by this point I'd argue that he's become a rarely seen recurring character who only shows up from time to time. Commissioner Gordon is in the reverse situation, having started out as someone who wasn't around all that often, but who began appearing far more regularly in the 1950s than he did in the 1940s. We might put Professor Carter Nichols in this list, even though he appears only once or twice a year for the time travel stories. So it's a big deal that we get a new cast member this issue, Ace the Bat-hound, rescued from drowning as Batman and Robin are driving along the river. They help him recover and put an ad in the paper to let his owner know he's been found. When he follows them out of the Batcave one day, Batman is worried it could be a problem with their secret identities due to a distinctive mark on his forehead. So Robin makes him a mask. As a dog owner, I have to say the drawings of the dog sitting there with his tongue hanging out looking happy just made me smile. I'm trying to picture my dog in a bat-mask. He'd paw it off and chew on it!

Batman and Robin go after Bert Bowers, escaped convict, hiding in a warehouse full of circus props. Bowers almost kills Batman by pushing a giant clown prop over on top of him. The dog grabs Bowers long enough for Batman and Robin to capture him. They're impressed, but on returning home there's been an answer to their want ad. The dog belongs to John Wilker who lives in the same suburb as Bruce. When Bruce and Dick go to return the dog, they find the house is a mess and Wilker is missing. Some investigation shows that he works for Gotham Printing and Engraving. I can see where this is going...

Batman and Robin suit up and take the dog to locate his master, despite Alfred (in a one panel cameo) worrying about their secret identities being exposed. Gordon calls them in to tell them about a burglary at a paper company. Paper + engraving = counterfeit money, or that's what I thought. I was close, it turns out to be counterfeit bonds, and Ace is crucial in tracking down the counterfeiters at Eastern Printing. The crooks are able to use Ace as a hostage by threatening to shoot him. They capture Batman and Robin and take them to where Wilker is being held. The crooks had left the stunned Ace behind, so when Batman and Robin create a makeshift bat-signal and shine it out the chimney, Ace finds them and chews the ropes tying them up. Good dog! They surprise the crooks and take them out quickly. Batman shows Wilker a photo of him "borrowing" the dog from "Bruce Wayne" to keep his identity safe, not revealing of course that it was Alfred in the Batman costume. That of course is why Alfred ends up in this story, solely because the writer needed someone to pretend to be Batman. They forget the poor fellow so often! In the end, Ace stays with his master, but the door is left open for future adventures.

I'm a easy mark for cute dogs, so yeah, this story roped me in. It does make an already tame Batman even more friendly if he has a dog, but that's the era we're in with these stories, so I don't mind. I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

[andersonh1]

DC's Finest: Aquaman: King of Atlantis - which is an odd title, since I don't think he's ever actually king of Atlantis in this book. Maybe he'll get there before I hit the last few stories. The book opens with some 1956 issues of Adventure Comics and runs about 600 pages, so there's a lot of Silver Age Aquaman in this book. I think the coloring is not all accurate, because I distinctly remember some of the issues which are in the Aquaman Archive edition showed him with yellow gloves, and I think every issue in this book gives him green gloves. He alternated for a while in the 50s as they transitioned from the Golden Age look to the Silver Age. The few I've read are simple, fun stories, six pages long, with art by Ramona Fradon. It's good stuff, and I'm glad to see material from this era getting reprints from DC.

The character is much more light-hearted and spends a lot of his time talking to sea animals and using their help to solve problems. He's such a different character from the 90s and modern Aquaman who is serious and conflicted and torn between the land and the sea. And of course, there's no supporting cast, not until Aqualad shows up much later in the book. No Mera, no Black Manta, no Ocean Master, none of the familiar characters that I associate with the character today. Interesting to see this early version who has already been around for what, 15 years in the earliest stories? He's just enjoying his life, fighting crime and hanging out with sealife.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #221
July 1955

The Thousand-and-One Escapes of Batman and Robin
Script: Bill Finger Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff Inks: Stan Kaye

If you've ever seen the animated "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" series, there's a musical episode called "The Music Meister", and one of the songs in it is "Death Trap" where Batman and Black Canary try to escape a death trap with every killer element in the book, all while Black Canary sings about it. We even get a Dick Sprang reference with "springs spranging" as part of the lyrics. It's great, find it here if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzPM9TnBFHU

I thought about that when I got to this story, all about Batman and Robin escaping from various death traps. Those traps are an old staple of the series as part of a larger story, but here we get a story that revolves around them. Batman and Robin are captured and taken to the hideout of a gang led by Paul King, public enemy number one, who boasts that he will finish off Batman and Robin in "an escape proof trap". With Batman unconscious it's up to Robin to play for time. He says he and Batman have escaped from a thousand traps, and that no trap is escape proof. King makes a bet: if Robin can describe four instances and King can't guess how Batman and Robin escaped, they can go free.

Robin tells his stories. Trap one: they escape being sliced up by a fan blade in a wind tunnel by letting the wind suck in their boots which meant pieces went into the motor and shorted it out, stopping the blades. Trap two: stranded in the desert in an old car with no gas, no belts and no canteens. Good thing this car didn't have antifreeze... Batman takes the water out of the radiator and puts it in the balloon tires, so they have enough water to escape the desert. There's a drawing error here: the art still shows them with their belts, even though the script says the belts were taken. Trap three: Batman, Robin and Vicki Vale are tied and suspended over a vat of water. When the ropes are corroded clean through they'll fall in the water and drown. Once again, the dialogue indicates the utility belts are gone while the art shows them present, so the editor was off his game on this one. Batman breaks the heel off of one of Vicki's shoes and uses the nail that held it on to cut his ropes, saving everyone. Trap four: Batman and Robin are in a boat which is capsized by Captain Shark and his larger boat. Shark and his gang are ready to shoot them when they have to come up for air. But Batman and Robin surface beneath their capsized boat, untie themselves, and survive once again.

King gloats that he never would have set them free. He has his men take all their equipment and locks them in a room filled with a robot machine gun, gas, flame, and water. He laughs at having killed them both, only for Batman and Robin to show up with the police and round up the gang. They were never in the trapped room. Batman had only pretended to be out so long, and had used a telephone wire to send a coded message to the police while Robin stalled by telling his stories. "You tricked me!" says King, summing up the plot for us. "All the time I was listening to Robin, you were working on your escape!"

I figured Robin was stalling for time, but it was still fun to read all the different traps and how they escaped from them. Feels like the days where escaping a trap as part of most stories is a little behind the series at this point. The old formula of "three crimes/crooks catch Batman and Robin after the second one/death trap/they escape/wrap up crook on third crime" was used frequently in the 1940s, but not nearly as often in these 1950s stories. So it's nice to revisit the idea. It definitely makes Batman look like someone who is constantly using his wits and his memory to out-think the opposition. Good story. We just needed Black Canary to sing about it.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #222
August 1955

The Great Batman Swindle!
Script: Bill Finger Pencils: Dick Sprang Inks: Charles Paris

I love the cover with all the "Batmen" sitting around the table, led by the one in the suit and tie, with the genuine article up on the balcony with Robin. The "Brotherhood of Batmen" is a great idea for a con, though I wonder how this might have worked if they'd kept some mystery about the situation. I love the opening where "wealthy yachtsman" Ned Judson heads to an old castle outside Gotham where he meets with a man in a suit and tie and a Batman cowl, as seen on the cover, who claims to be the original Batman, retired because of injuries. I almost feel like Bill Finger is applying a little realism to the concept here with the idea that one man could not continue to operate as Batman for years with all the injuries and all the dangers Batman faces. But not too much realism, because anyone who actually tried to play Batman would end up crippled, arrested or dead pretty fast. "Original Batman" introduces three other men who also play the role, with the story being that they all work together to pretend there is just one Batman. They want Judson to join "the Brotherhood of Batmen"! Judson is thrilled to be asked and takes the oath. He's to report for "training", but as soon as he's gone the crooks pulling this scam remove their masks and cowls and laugh at how he's been taken in.

So Judson gets training and gets to tackle a case and capture a crook. Unknown to him, he's observed in action by the real Batman and Robin, who trail him to the castle and listen in. Judson is praised by Batman number 1, who says he needs to provide $20,000 to build him his own Batmobile. At last the scam becomes clear... he'll have to pay for his own Batplane, Batmarine and Batcave as well. Robin is ready to bust up this gang, but Batman does not want to humiliate Judson, who is sincere. So he decides to play along and pretend to be Batman #1, and train Judson himself. He lets Judson capture a genuine crook, which suprises the Brotherhood when Judson reports in. But the boss thinks it's great, and will make it easier to get all that money out of Judson. A second trial run with Robin goes well, but the Brotherhood turn on Judson when he mentions working with Robin, who had not figured into their scheme. Batman and Robin show up and together with Judson take out the group of Batman con-men. Judson thinks he'll be laughed at for falling for the con, but Batman assures him he'll get credit for breaking up the racket. And Judson gets congratulations for being a great stand-in for Batman from Batman and Robin themselves, something he'll remember with pride.

I enjoyed everything about this story, from the usual great art by Dick Sprang, to the idea of the Batman con, to Batman's concern for the reputation of Judson, so much so that he genuinely trains him and enlists his help in taking out the crooks. He's a selfless hero here, taking the time to look after the victim rather than simply bust the crooks, which he could easily have done. The visuals of a group of Batmen around a round table in an old castle work very well, and even the boss in his purple suit and Batman cowl fits the scene. I like Judson too, he's not written as a stupid man doing foolish things. Batman Number 1's story is plausible within the comic book world that Batman inhabits. Judson means well, and he ends up being fairly capable with the right training from the genuine article.

[Ursus mellifera]

So, I decided to embark on the lengthy project of reading X-Men from the beginning. Like 1963 beginning. I'm on issue #18 right now. I really like Kirby's art. The intro for Juggernaut was fantastic.