Have A Super Halloween!!!!

Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! - Round 8: Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots!

Normally in Friday Night Fights, I leave the robot battles to ShadowWing Tronix. But for Round 8, I'm making an exception because this fight features:

1. The art of Neal Adams

2. Sentinels

3. The man who inspired my blog's name, Dr. Henry McCoy aka The Beast.

Tonight's fight comes from Essential Classic X-Men#3, reprinting the late 60's Sentinel saga by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and Tom Palmer. Synopsis: Cyclops, Marvel Girl and the Beast have just liberated Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and the Toad from the Sentinels.

What happens next demonstrates what I love about Scott Summers: When he's not getting all emo or getting messed with by Professor X, Cyclops can be one sneaky bastard.

Case in point: His plan to mess with the Sentinels' sensors by having his team....dress like Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Toad.

How does this work? Pretty well, as it turns out....

Spacebooger knows how "Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots" should be played.

Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury - Round 7 : The Bigger They Are, Part Deux!


For Round 7 of Friday Night Fights: Feet Of Fury!, we demonstrate once again that even a really big man is not invulnerable to a good KO kick.


Even if that really big man is, well, invulnerable.


That's the lesson our Man of Steel learns in Superman#302, "Seven-Foot-Two -- And Still Growing!!", written by Elliott S! Maggin and illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Bob Oksner.Synopsis: Lex Luthor has secretly hit Superman with a ray which causes Supes to grow uncontrollably.


Wait a minute! Here's a guy whose arch-nemesis is the most powerful man on Earth, and his grand master plan is to make that same arch-nemesis bigger and stronger?


But remember, this is Luthor we're talking about here, so naturally there's more to it. Luthor's ray makes Supes' body grow, but keeps his brain size the same. So the bigger Supes gets, the dumber he gets, until he grows so big his brain will actually shut down. (Think of Maul from WildC.A.T.S.)


Tonight we spotlight the climactic showdown between the oversized Man of Tomorrow and Luthor, who has armed himself with a portable whirly-copter and some very special footware...




Spacebooger also knows his way around a whirly-copter.

Repeat after me, James Robinson and Dan DiDio.......


D-List heroes are not cannon fodder.

D-List heroes are not cannon fodder.

D-List heroes are not cannon fodder.

D-LIST HEROES ARE NOT CANNON FODDER!

D-LIST HEROES ARE NOT CANNON FODDER!!

D-LIST HEROES ARE NOT......

...Aw, what's the use?

If Not For A Helmet....

I had an interesting experience with helmets two months ago.

One of them saved my life.

Here's the story: Back in late August, my wife and I were honeymooning in Maui. We had both signed up for the Haleakala downhill bike tour, where we witnessed the morning sunrise and then rode down the side of a mountain. I was the first of my tour group to begin the ride down.

Now, I'm an experienced bicyclist, as is my wife. But I was not fully prepared for how steep the ride would be and the effect on my bike's speed. While the speed of the ride was thrilling at first, I began to have greater difficulty controlling the bike. Then, as I was about to round a sharp turn and I applied my brakes, my bicycle skidded into the opposite lane.

Right into the path of two oncoming cars.

Luckily, I was able to swerve and avoid both vehicles. But in doing so, I lost control of my bike, which ended up flipping over and throwing me into the asphalt.

Hard.

As I pulled myself up, I could feel my upper body aching, my lip was bloody, and my nose was even bloodier. Worse, I felt extremely stupid and mad at myself. So, as one of the drivers I had avoided hitting pulled over to check my condition, he, and unfortunately, his family, got to me just as I was uttering a string of expletives. I quickly caught myself and apologized to them.

Then, my wife came and saw me on the side of the road. I could see the worry in her eyes as she saw me up close. I looked like a mess as the blood flowed freely from my nose and lip. Fortunately, it looked much worse than it was. The tour guide in our group checked me over and, after determining I had no head trauma or broken bones, allowed me to continue the ride with my wife after some breakfast and a few minutes' rest. We finished the tour without incident.

It was only when I was eating breakfast that I began to appreciate how much worse it could have been, had I not been wearing a helmet. I had been wearing several layers of clothing which helped dull the impact of the crash. But the full helmet the tour group had provided me with had kept me from brain damage, head trauma, or even death. The helmet saved my life.

Thanks to that helmet, I had walked away from a potentially life-ending or life-altering bicycle crash with only some bruised ribs and a bloody lip. I was able to enjoy the rest of our honeymoon with little difficulty.

It wasn't completely pain-free. I found out that bruised ribs are nothing to sneeze at --- literally. For two weeks, I had to brace myself for some hurt each time I said "Achoo!" But they healed. Soon, it was like my injuries had never happened. The only lasting effect of my accident was a story I could tell my family and friends.

Now imagine the potential lasting effects had I not been wearing a helmet. Even if I'd survived the crash, there's a good chance I could have sustained head trauma and ended up in a coma. And instead of planning our future and growing old together with my wife, I might have spent the rest of my life in a hospital. All our dreams of starting a family, gone.

The whole experience reminded me of the story of Bill Mantlo. Mantlo is most famous for his stint as a Marvel writer in the 70's and 80's, writing such titles as Incredible Hulk, Rom, Marvel Team-Up, and Micronauts. In 1992, Mantlo was struck by a hit-and-run driver while rollerblading. Unlike me, he was not wearing a helmet at the time of his accident, and he suffered a severe head trauma. He spent two weeks in a coma following the accident, and he's been under 24-hour institutional care ever since, long past the time his health insurance ran out. From the time I'd first heard about it, I'd always considered Mantlo's story a terrible tragedy. But now I have an added realization: It could have been me.

Even before learning about Mantlo, though, I'd had yet another first-hand lesson on the value of bike helmets. Years ago, my brother and I were taking his kids to the local playground near their home. They were riding their bicycles while we watched. My niece, who was 5 or 6 at the time and just off training wheels, was going too fast on her bike and it fell down with her on it. I saw her heading toward the ground face-first but was too far away to grab her. The next thing I saw was the 3-inch lip of her helmet hitting the ground before her face had a chance to. She was shaken up and crying, but, except for a skinned knee, she was unhurt. I doubt that would have been the case if my brother hadn't made her wear her helmet.

So if you ride a bike, a motorcycle, or even a pair of rollerblades, and somebody gives you a helmet for your birthday, I have one piece of advice:

Wear it.

Please.

(Thanks to Googum at Random Happenstance for providing the strip above. And a special thanks to Saranga for helping me find it.)

Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! - Round 6: Double Hit!


For Round 6 of Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! , we're going back to the debut appearance of Prince T'Challa, aka the Black Panther, in Fantastic Four#52, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby and "Joltin' Joe" Sinnott. Our setting for tonight's fight is the lovely nation of Wakanda, where Prince T'Challa has invited the Fantastic Four as his guests.


Here, T'Challa demonstrates why he's the Worst. Host. Ever.




Luckily, Spacebooger knows how to show his guests a good time. For more furious kicking, link here, take your shoes off, and stay a spell. (And make sure to vote on tonight's fight.)


Special thanks to Gavok at The 4th Letter. (Who knew that Deadshot used to wear a tophat?)

Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! - Round 5: Drunken Master!


Tonight's entry for Round 5 of Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! comes from Iron Man#125, "The Monaco Prelude", by the legendary Iron Man team of writer David Michelinie and artists John Romita, Jr. and Bob Layton.


Their run was most famous for chronicling Tony Stark's slow descent into alcoholism (I'm having G7 flashbacks!), but it also introduced a new arch-nemesis: Justin Hammer, a shady tycoon who funded other Iron Man foes and began overriding Shellhead's armor controls at inopportune moments.


The worst of those moments came when Iron Man was posing with the Carnelian ambassador and Hammer triggered his repulsor ray to go off, killing the ambassador on live TV.


After a night of drowning his sorrows with Napoleon brandy, Stark got down to business tracking down Hammer's office in Monaco and, after downing some "liquid courage" on the plane ride, proceeded to pay the office a visit accompanied by his pal Jim Rhodes. This prompted the office manager to summon a squad of armed goons to attack the two men.


Fortunately, Tony had just taken a crash course in self-defense from Captain America himself, and.....

Spacebooger knows when to say when.

A Special Request For Sally, Pai, And Sea


I'm trying to find some specific scans on the Web:


1. A scan of a comic strip (it may have been a drawing or live using action figures, I forget) where the JLA is celebrating Hal Jordan's aboard the Justice League Satellite, and it turns out each Leaguer, without exception, has given Hal the same type of birthday present: A helmet. ( I believe there's an exchange where Hal says "Et tu, Superman?" and Supes responds with something like "It's from Krypton. It's indestructible.") I need this one to accompany a deeply personal post about something that happened to me on my honeymoon. Anyone remember the link to the site with that scan? (Sally and Sea, you're my experts when it comes to all things Hal on the Web.)


2. A scan of the panel from Green Arrow#20 with Hal yelling "What makes you so goddamned special??" Why?
It would be a great thing to accompany a post about someone, like a celebrity, politician, or other public figure, or even an annoying blogger, for whom you want to order a tall glass of "Get Over Yourself". (Pai, I think you've got this comic.)

Friday Night Fights: Feet Of Fury! - Round 4: The Bigger They Are....


After my Round 3 victory in Friday Night Fights: Feet of Fury! , I bet you think I'm feeling like a really big man now. But even a really big man is not immune to a well-placed KO kick, as tonight's entry for Round 4 will demonstrate.


Tonight's featured fracas comes from Karate Kid#13 from back in March 1978, written by Bob "The Answer Man" Rozakis and illustrated by Juan Ortiz and Bob McLeod. Karate Kid, aka Val Armorr, has been yanked back in time by Major Disaster and the Lord of Time to the Smallville of Superboy's era , where he encounters both Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. The catch is that it's a Superboy and Legion from before Karate Kid joined the group (it's a time paradox, just roll with it). Due to this and an initial misunderstanding, the Kid finds himself battling the Legion. He's just taken out most of them when:

It's the Kid's future teammate, Colossal Boy, attempting to stop Val all by himself. This proves to be....

.... a COLOSSAL MISTAKE!!!!


Spacebooger knows size doesn't matter.