HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2018 hits tomorrow, so as usual it's time to reflect on the past year and look forward to what the next will bring.

After cutting Wednesdays from my regular posting schedule back in mid-2016, I stuck with a Monday-Friday (and occasional Sunday) format in 2017, too. Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL, supplemented by a Black Widow serial from Ralph Macchio and George Pérez, filled Mondays from January through September, at which point the Spider-Man newspaper strip by Stan Lee and John Romita took over for, more or less, the remainder of the year.

Fridays, meanwhile, continued my tradition of starting most years with a manga series by covering the adaptation of BIG O by Hitoshi Ariga. Following that, we jumped to DC Comics for GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, then an Aquaman serial called "Death of a Prince", which took us into May. At that point it was an IDW grab bag consisting of several stories including Dave Stevens' THE ROCKETEER and Darwyn Cooke's adaptations of some of Donald E. Westlake's PARKER novels. Then came this year's summertime project, a look at the FLASH GORDON comic strips by his creator, Alex Raymond. Fridays in the fall and winter switched, as usual (and probably for the last time) to the Transformers, by way of Devil's Due Press's various G.I. JOE VS. THE TRANSFORMERS mini-series.

G.I. JOE VS. THE TRANSFORMERS: BLACK HORIZON #2

Written by Tim Seeley | Art by Andrew Wildman | Letters by Brian Crowley
Colors by Wes Ozioba & Art Lyon | Edits by Mike Sullivan

The Plot: In Tibet, Firewall is captured by a yeti while she and Cosmos explore. Meanwile, G.I. Joe prepares to head for Tibet to help their friends. Meanwhile again, Colton leads Hawk, Flint, and Optimus Prime through the tunnels beneath Cobra-La, but they're ambushed once more by Bludgeon and his Royal Guards. Prime defeats Bludgeon, who chooses death over dishonor, while Colton takes out the guards. Elsewhere, under orders from Golobulus, Pythona awakens Nemesis Enforcer to deal with the group.

Unicron makes his final approach to Earth, while Doctor Mindbender informs Firewall she will be sacrificed upon his arrival. Colton leads Flint and Hawk to a cavern containing Cobra-La's metal-eating spores and the yetis that guard them. Cosmos arrives to help the humans fight off the yetis, and reveals Firewall is missing. Colton interrogates one of the creatures as to her whereabouts. Outside, G.I. Joe arrives in Tibet to be greeted by the Monster Pretenders in their combined form of Monstructor. Back in Cobra-La, Flint boards Cosmos with the spores to go after Unicron, who transforms into robot mode as they approach.

Golobulus holds a ceremony for the citizens of Cobra-La, but Optimus Prime, Hawk, and Colton crash it and attack. Flint and Cosmos enter Unicron, while on Earth, Unicron's appearance disrupts natural weather patterns. In Cobra-La, Colton duels Nemesis Enforcer, Optimus Prime fights the Royal Guards, and Hawk battles Golobulus. On the surface, the Joes defeat Monstructor, while underground, Pythona reveals an unforeseen fondness for Colton by killing Nemesis Enforcer. Inside Unicron, Cosmos is shot down by his "antibodies" and Flint moves out with the spores. In Cobra-La, Hawk frees Firewall, Optimus Prime defeats Golobulus, and G.I. Joe arrives as Colton takes out Mindbender.

Flint uses the spores to destroy Unicron's brain, then he and Cosmos retreat to Earth. With the day saved, everyone returns to the Pit to rest and recover.

THE OLD MASTHEAD CHANGETH...

Merry Christmas, everyone! No review post today. I'm mostly taking this week and next off, aside from finishing up the Devil's Due G.I. JOE/TRANSFORMERS stuff on Friday. Sunday will bring a New Year's post, and next Monday and Friday will feature announcements for what's coming up to begin the year around here.

However, today -- in the spirit of the season -- I've decided to bequeath my blog a gift. But first, because I'm one of the most self-indulgent people you're likely to meet, a brief rundown of the history of the masthead up above. Back in 2013 when I started this thing up, it looked like this:

Pretty sparse and simple. The idea was to have the classic X-Men and Avengers corner boxes, with heads by John Byrne, on either side, with corner boxes from several of my favorite comic book runs in a row beneath -- or, in two cases, boxes from runs I wasn't necessarily huge on, but which were considered pretty important/iconic (those would be the seventies HULK, which I've read none of, and Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, which I've read but have never been blown away by).

G.I. JOE VS. THE TRANSFORMERS: BLACK HORIZON #1

Written by Tim Seeley | Art by Andrew Wildman | Letters by Brian Crowley
Colors by Wes Ozioba & Art Lyon | Edits by Mike Sullivan

The Plot: In the year 1978, as they trek through the Himalayas, adventurer Joe Colton and his team are attacked by mysterious humanoid beings from the lost civilization of Cobra-La, allied with a Decepticon named Bludgeon.

In the present day, Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy struggles to cope with the powers of the Matrix of Leadership he now possesses. When the Autobots summon him, Hawk joins them in stopping an arms deal between Destro and a Cuban nationalist. Destro escapes, but the deal is stopped -- however when a bizarre signal announcing "I return" is intercepted by Hawk's group, he summons Optimus Prime to Earth. The signal is traced to the Himalayas, where Hawk, Prime, and Flint, in response to Hawk's request for backup, travel to investigate. Meanwhile, Unicron jouneys toward the Earth.

The rest of Hawk's team is attacked by Decepticon Monster Pretenders, while in the Himalayas, Optimus, Hawk, and Flint are assaulted by Bludgeon and the forces of Cobra-La. Meanwhile, Autobot Cosmos rescues Hawk's associate, Firewall, from the Pretender attack and ferries her to the Himalayas, while inside Cobra-La's citadel, Joe Colton -- prisoner for decades -- frees himself upon learning Hawk is in the vicinity. While Firewall contacts Duke and G.I. Joe for aid, Hawk, Flint, and Prime learn that Cobra-La met Unicron when he visited Earth millennia ago, and convinced him to space the planet while they prepared it for his second coming. Then, as Bludgeon and his forces close in on them, the trio is approached by Colton, who instructs them to follow him.

THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN #1 - 3

If it's not too presumptuous, I'd like to dedicate this post to the memory of Len Wein.

"IN THE BEGINNING" | "WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE..." | "THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK!"
Writer: Len Wein
Artists: John Byrne & Jim Aparo (issue 1) & Jim Aparo (issues 2-3)
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterers: John Costanza (issue 1) & Jim Aparo (issues 2-3)
Editor: Paul Levitz

As discussed briefly when I unboxed TALES OF THE BATMAN: LEN WEIN about three years ago (!!), I owned THE UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN as a child, in the form of a black-and-white, paperback novel-sized reprint which collected all three issues, edited together into a single story. I don't recall how many times I read it, but it must have been more than once, because the story is still crystal clear in my head even after all these years. Though it helps that many of the key moments this tale covers via flashback are perennial Batman classics, nearly all of them appearing in some form or another in THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD, which I also had as a youngster (and which I know for a fact that I read, re-read, and read again many times over until it was on the verge of falling apart).

UNTOLD LEGEND presents itself as a mystery story in three issues, but the mystery itself is really merely a vehicle for Len Wein, at the time the writer of the monthly BATMAN series, to tie together and codify numerous bits and pieces of the Batman's past which had been trickled out over the character's then-forty year history.

(Also, being a Marvel kid, and knowing that the Marvel Universe was less than twenty years old when I was born in late 1978, it's kind of crazy for me to realize that Batman and Superman were already forty at this point! Spider-Man didn't have his fortieth anniversary until after I finished college!)

The story begins when Batman receives, in the mail, the mangled remains of the costume his father wore as the "original" Batman, along with a note from some mysterious party threatening a long-term plot to destroy him. The Darknight Detective then sets out into a relentless search for his mystery foe. Along the way he reminisces about several of the key moments in his life and career, visits with Alfred, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon, and eventually makes his way to Wayne Manor, where it's revealed that the man out to get him is... himself! Thanks to a recent explosion in the pages of Wein's contemporaneous BATMAN issues, our hero has become schizophrenic and, as Bruce Wayne, blames Batman for robbing him of a normal life. Of course he snaps out of it in the end (with Robin's help), returns to his old self, and that's that.

THE UNBOXING - DECEMBER 2017

What's this? After a four-month dry spell, a new Unboxing at last?! Believe it, True-- uh... Believers. Due to back orders and other issues out of my control, three Omnibuses and a trade paperback arrived this month, two books apiece from each of the Big Two. A couple of these actually should've shown up last month, but what're you gonna do?

DC comes at us first with the BATMAN AND ROBIN ADVENTURES volume 2 trade paperback, continuing their reprints of the classic BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES tie-in comics. One more book should wrap up this series, and then hopefully DC will continue full steam ahead into BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES, which was far and away the longest-running of all three ADVENTURES series.

Next up is the JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL OMNIBUS volume 1. I've read precious little of the famous Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire JLI, but it's a run I've known of peripherally since -- well, I guess since it was being published. I know I owned at least one issue, and I distinctly recall flipping through some issue or another featuring G'nort and Manga Khan at the local Safeway when I was a kid. At the time, nothing I saw of the series impressed me, but I suspect I'll find it more appealing as an adult. At least, I hope I will!

G.I. JOE VS. THE TRANSFORMERS: THE ART OF WAR #5

Written by Tim Seeley | Pencils by Joe Ng, James Raiz, & Alex Milne
Inks by Rob Ross, M3th, & Alan Tam | Letters by Brian Crowley
Colors by Kevin Yan, Rob Ruffalo, & Tom Liu | Edits by Mike Sullivan

The Plot: Optimus Prime battles Serpentor, who suffers confusing bouts of pain from the back of his neck. Meanwhile, Hot Rod leads a combined Autobot/G.I. Joe assault on Serpentor's fortress. Inside, Hawk, Grimlock, and the rest search for Optimus Prime. Elsewhere, Optimus is defeated by Serpentor's right-hand men, Motormaster and Razorclaw. Serpentor opens the Matrix of Leadership within Prime.

Outside, the battle continues while within, Serpentor is transformed into a full-size Decepticon -- but the Matrix has seemingly changed him, removing his warlike nature -- until his body is remotely hijacked by Cobra Commander from Earth. Hawk and company burst in and attack, and Hawk grabs the Matrix after Arcee rips off Serpentor's chestplate. Serpentor is deactivated while, outside, the Autobots and Joes rout the Decepticons. On Earth, Cobra Commander is rendered apparently catatonic.

Later, peace has returned to Cybertron. The Autobots mourn Bumblebee while Hawk comes to terms with his new Matrix-enhanced consciousness.

Continuity Notes: The pain from Serpentor's neck comes from a device planted there by Zartan in issue 1, which subsequently allows Cobra Commander to take control of the robot.

The final page gives us glimpses of threats yet to come, including Doctor Mindbender and Cobra-La, the villains of the next mini-series, as well as latter day Joe characters Sergeant Savage and Iron Klaw, plus city-scale Transformers Trypticon and Metroplex, hinting at a possible fifth series which was likely aborted by Devil's Due losing the G.I. Joe license.