Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 12

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 12

Apr 1984

Darkness Falls

by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Ernie Colón, John Costanza, Tom Ziuko, Karen Berger

Sardonyx turns the tables on the Varn and escapes back to the Gemworld. He returns to Opal Keep looking for revenge against Dark Opal.

The battle of Amethyst and friends versus Dark Opal continues. Citrina channels all their power through herself at Dark Opal. Citrina gets injured and Amethyst steps in to take her place. 

Sardonyx’ attempt to strike Dark Opal down is unsuccessful. He joins forces with the others that are led by Amethyst. 

The Varn return once again. They try to take Dark Opal with them but he is too strong for them to subdue. Carnellian stabs Dark Opal and then Opal Keep collapses on Dark Opal, Carnellian, and the emissaries of the Varn. 

The land begins to heal now that Dark Opal has been killed. The other lords and ladies ask Amethyst to be the new Queen of the Gemworld. She declines and returns to Earth, to her life as Amy Winston. 

Fantastic Four 211

Fantastic Four 211

Oct 1979

If this Be Terrax

by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Joe Rosen, Ben Sean

Galactus transports the Fantastic Four, plus HERBIE, down to the planet Terran. Reed, Sue, and Ben look noticeably older than they did in the previous issue. They try to help some people fight off some robotic knights but they are captured. 

The Fantastic Four are taken to Tyros the Terrible, the local bigwig. He toys with them a bit and then decides to execute them, himself. They break free and humble him, as Galactus told them to do. The big planet eater transports all six of them back to his ship.

Galactus transforms Tyros the Terrible into Terrax the Tamer, changing his appearance and imbuing him with cosmic powers in the process. Terrax tries to turn his new powers on Galactus but his new boss shows Terrax that he is not to be taken lightly. Galactus’ new herald sings a different tune after the Big G takes him down a notch. 

Galactus and the Fantastic Four depart for Earth in his spheroid space ship. 

The issue ends with the Watcher observing Earth from the Moon, aware that Galactus is coming and that a battle with the Sphinx will soon occur.

Criminal (2008) 6

Criminal (2008) 6

Oct 2008

Bad Night - Part Three

by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Val Staples

Jake and Iris dispose of Danny’s body. They burn Jake’s car and they go back to his place. They get into a fight but they wind up in bed together afterwards. Jake can’t stop thinking about the people that might come after them. 

Jake and Iris separate the next day, temporarily. Jake has a dream in which Frank Kafka, the character from his comic strip, comes after them and guns them down. 

Jake gets a visit from a police detective named Starr. Jake senses that something doesn’t smell right about the visit. He starts to wonder if Iris had something to do with it. He tries calling her but she doesn’t pickup the phone. 

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 11

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 11

Mar 1984

The Last Battle!

by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Ernie Colón, John Costanza, Tom Ziuko, Karen Berger

Carnelian doesn’t tell Dark Opal that he got his hands on the shard of amethyst. Dark Opal finds out and takes it from him. The Varn come for their pound of flesh. This time Dark Opal doesn’t have the time or bandwidth to deal with them so he lets them consume Sardonyx. 

Amethyst and her pals continue their assault on Dark Opal’s fortress. Prince Topaz convinces Lady Sapphire and Lady Topaz, his sister, to join the fight against Dark Opal. Lady Emerald’s vizier poisons her. She dies and her magic passes on to her eldest daughter.

Fantastic Four 210

Fantastic Four 210

Sep 1979

In Search of Galactus

by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Tom Orzechowski, Ben Sean

The Fantastic Four move on from the Sargasso of Space and find Galactus, who ignores them at first. It isn’t until they break open the cages in the zoo he has amassed and free all the critters that he pays them any attention. 

Reed explains the situation but Galactus remains uninterested in helping them deal with the Sphinx. Galactus changes his mind after Reed offers to rescind the deal they made after Galactus first attempted to consume the Earth. Galactus agrees but only on condition that they fetch him Terrax, whom Galactus intends to be his next herald. 

Criminal (2008) 5

Criminal (2008) 5

Sep 2008

Bad Night - Part Two

by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Val Staples

Iris seduces Jake for the second time. Danny firms up his plane while Jake is working on forging him FBI credentials. Danny insists that Jake take part in the job he is planning. Jake doesn’t want to but it’s that or Danny shoots him. 

Jake drives. Danny goes in with the forged FBI credentials and picks up a bag with $100K in unmarked bills from a mobster. Iris tries talking Jake into killing Danny, when he comes back. Jake says no. Iris shoots Danny, killing him. Danny shoots Jake as Iris is shooting him but Jake, unlike Danny, survives. 

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 10

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 10

Feb 1984

…and into the Arms of Death!

by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Ernie Colón, John Costanza, Tom Ziuko, Karen Berger

Dark Opal makes plans for how to deal with Amethyst and her allies. Carnelian sets his own plan in motion to deal with Amethyst. 

Prince Topaz tells Amethyst of his plan to get get his sister to leave Dark Opal’s alliance and join their own. Amethyst plans a mission with the younger Emerald Princess to locate and retrieve the shard of amethyst that Granch lost. 

Dark Opal ejects the emissaries of the Varn from his castle. 

Lady Emerald has gone mad. 

Carnelian and Princess Amethyst cross paths. They fight but Carnelian runs off once he has recovered the shard of Amethyst from the giant lizard. 

Prince Topaz returns to Topaz Keep and is placed under arrest by his sister’s guards

Fantastic Four 209

Fantastic Four 209

Aug 1979

Trapped in the Sargasso of Space!

by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Tom Orzechowski, Glynis Wein

Mister Fantastic builds himself a robot to help them out, HERBIE. It helps them to plot their trip to find Galactus. Queen Adora gives them Xandar's fastest spaceship. The Fantastic Four leave Xandar in search of Galactus. 

The Skrull Empress murders her husband and takes over the Skrull Empire. 

The next stop on the Fantastic Four's voyage is the Sargasso of Space where they find lots of abandoned spaceships. They investigate and find bug-like aliens. The aliens attempt to take their spaceship but the Fantastic Four prevent that from happening and then continue on their way. 

Criminal (2008) 4

Criminal (2008) 4

Jul 2008

Bad Night - Part One

by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Val Staples

Jake, a cartoonist who draws a detective strip called a Frank Kafka, suffers from insomnia. He is still recovering from serious injuries when he meets Iris. They were both in the Blue Fly Diner. She was with Danny, her boyfriend, who got into a fight with the cook. Jake was by himself, sitting at the counter.

He tried to give her a ride home but she fell asleep in his car. He took her back to his place. She got into bed with him when she woke up. He told her about how he used to be counterfeiter and about his wife who was killed in a car accident. 

Iris disappeared the next morning but later that day Danny showed up at Jake’s home. He wanted Jake to make him some FBI credentials. Danny didn’t give Jake much of a choice in the matter. 

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 9

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 9

Jan 1984

Broken Homes

by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Ernie Colón, John Costanza, Tom Ziuko, Karen Berger

Princess Amethyst and her allies fight with the three emissaries of the Varn. They succeed in driving the Varn back to their own dimension. They also save Lord Moonstone who was still alive but trapped in another dimension. The Diamond priest and Lord Ruby are killed during the fight. 

The elder and younger surviving Emerald princesses take off on foot for the kingdom of Amethyst. They get some help faeries crossing a river but they are captured by malevolent spirits. Lord Aquamarine rescues them and together they travel to Castle Amethyst. Citrina is very happy to see them.

Wolverine, Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection OGN

Wolverine, Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection OGN

1989

The Scorpio Connection

by Archie Goodwin, Howard Chaykin, Richard Ory, Barbara Rausch, Ken Bruzenak

62 pages

Someone kills SHIELD Agent David Nanjiwara and his team of agents while they are on a mission near Machu Picchu. Scorpio is that someone but Scorpio is dead. Behind the mask was Jake Fury, brother of Nick Fury. Who is wearing the Scorpio uniform now?

Nick Fury heads out on his own, with little to no help from SHIELD, in search of the new Scorpio. Wolverine enters the picture because David Nanjiwara was a friend of his. Wolverine investigates the area around Machu Picchu and finds traces of an arms smuggling operation known as Swift Sword. 

Terry and the Pirates (31.B)

Vol. 5: 1943-1944

By Milton Caniff 

 

Infiltrator

Aug 28, 1943 - Feb 7, 1944

This is the fifth of twelve stories in what Carl Horak, author of the Terry and the Pirates Companion, considers to be the fourth era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era began in late Jan 1942 and ran through early Nov 1945 and is called The War Years in the companion book. 

The Wikipedia article on Terry and the Pirates breaks the entire series down into 60 arcs. It breaks this arc down into the following arcs:

44 - "On the Wing" (8/30/43 to 10/29/43)

45 - "Jungle Rescue" (10/30/43 to 12/17/43)

46 - "The Fair Sex Revealed" (12/18/43 to 2/4/44)

09/20/23

Oct 30, 1943 - a fighter plane is lost in unfriendly territory somewhere south of the base where Terry is stationed. 

Queen & Country 4

Queen & Country 4

Sep 2001

Operation: Broken Ground - Part 4

by Greg Rucka, Steve Rolston

The minders deal with the Russian would-be assassins without sustaining any serious injuries. Two of the Russians are killed, one by Edward Kittering and one by another Russian who shot at Tara Chace and missed. David Kinny goes through the roof when he finds out that the Minders engaged with the Russians. He only wanted them to draw them out. Chace let’s Kinny knows what she thinks of his opinion.

Crocker wants the surviving Russians dead. He tries to get an op authorized to do just that. His proposal gets shot down, first by Weldon and then, when he goes behind Weldon’s back, by C. He tries through other means to get at the Russians but finds out too late that they are being handed over to the CIA.

Secret Origins (1986) 9 (2)

Secret Origins (1986) 9

Dec 1986

The Secret Origin of the Golden Age Flash

by Roy Thomas, George Tuska, Jerry Acerno, David Cody Weiss, Carl Gafford, Bob Greenberger

22 pages

Jay Garrick was an average college football player (at best) when he was injured in a laboratory accident. He woke up after the accident to discover that he could now move extremely fast. He shares this discovery with Joan Williams, a fellow student at Midwestern University. Joan wasn’t terribly interested in Jay until he developed superpowers but she promises to keep his secret. 

Jay starts to use his super speed to fight crime. Joan’s father is kidnapped by a gang of thugs known as the Faultless Four. Jay comes up with his superhero name while rescuing his future father-in-law. 

The Flash went on to become one of the founding members of the Justice Society and the team’s first chairman. 

Uncanny X-Men 150

Uncanny X-Men 150

Oct 1981

I, Magneto…

by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Josef Rubinstein, Bob Wiacek, Tom Orzechowski, Jean Simek, Glynis Wein, Louise Jones

39 pages

Magneto demands that the world’s nuclear powers start disarming their nuclear weapons immediately. The Russians respond by launching nuclear missiles at Magneto’s island in the Bermuda Triangle. Magneto destroys the missiles before they can cause any harm. He also destroys the submarine from which the nuclear missiles were launched and a city in Russia, in retribution for the attempt to derail his plans.

Cyclops and Lee Forrester, his girlfriend, both Magneto’s unwilling guests, are unable to stop Magneto. Cyclops’ mutant eye blasts are non-functional due to some of the technology that Magneto has running on his island.