Jack of Hearts 3

Jack of Hearts 3
Mar 1984

Heartbreak!
By Bill Mantlo, George Freeman

Jack, Marcy, Vargas and his followers arrive on Contraxia. Jack is overwhelmed by his mother’s homeworld. He agrees to do what he can to help save Contraxia’s sun. They run all sorts of tests on him but they can’t figure out how to siphon energy from him. The Contraxian sun priestesses and their scientists are ready to throw in the towel and accept defeat. They suggest that maybe he could save the sun himself but he might be killed in the process. They don’t pressure him to do it but he accepts the risk and agrees to give it a try.

Vargas and Smythe aren’t satisfied. They launch a plan to force Jack to do what he has already pledged to do. It isn’t enough for Contraxia to be saved. They want the credit for saving their world. Vargas seems reluctant but Smythe has no such scruples. He murders the Sun Priestesses and blames it on Jack, thus ratcheting up the stakes.

Vargas feels as if he has been pushed into a course of action by Smythe but he goes along with it. The Survivalists (Vargas’ faction) capture Jack and attach him to a rocket which then blasts off on a course for the sun.

Jack learns that Marcy’s real name is Kaina. On several occasions after learning her true name he starts to call her Marcy and then corrects himself.

Smythe is referred to almost exclusively as Spy. This seemed a little weird. Does nobody know his real name?

Contraxia reminds me of post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Krypton. Well, not really, but it's what I thought of when I saw the images. The Jack of Hearts limited series preceded CoIE.

I love the art by George Freeman in this chapter. The cityscapes are breathtaking. I also like the angles and panel arrangements. It is like nothing else from Marvel Comics of this era.

The story itself is simplistic but I don’t have a problem with it. I do have a problem with the scripting. It is much too wordy. Maybe I should be surprised confirming the era.

Overall I like thus chapter a lot but mostly for the art.

Bullpen Bulletins

Tom DeFalco interviews Mark Gruenwald and Eliot R. Brown about working on the recently completed first series of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Mighty Marvel Checklist

Part 1 - Issues I have

• Alpha Flight 6 - I talked about this one on DTC 53
• Dreadstar 8  - need to read this series again or at least the first 10-20 issues of it
• Marvel Fanfare 13 - this issue includes the final chapter of Black Widow: Web of Intrigue which I talked about on DTC 2
• Micronauts Special Edition 4 - I read this a few years ago and talked about it on DTC 69
• Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 14 - second volume of the Book of the Dead and Inactive

Part 2 - Issues I'm pretty sure that I used to have

• Magik 3 - I want to read this series again and see how it holds up
• Spider-Man and Daredevil Special Edition - I used to have one of the issues included in this collection, the one that featured the first Daredevil story drawn by Frank Miller. I've got no idea what happened to it. I would like to read it again.
• X-Men 179 - Kitty marries Caliban? I don't remember much about this one
• X-Men/Micronauts 3 - this mini-series is probably a bit dated but I would like to read it again

Part 3 - Never had it

• Captain America Special Edition 2
• Cosmic Champions - This was the original title for Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars
• Dr. Strange Special Edition 1 - I have the next two issues in this reprint series but not this one
• Fantastic Four 264 - I have the issues before and following this issue but I am missing this one
• Hercules 1 - I've read the first Hercules mini-series but not this one.
• The Official Marvel Try-Out Book
• Phoenix: The Untold Story
• Thor 241 - I've read the first arc of Simonson's run on Thor but that ended with the issue before this one