Counting Comics - Part 4

So I started today's video/blog count with

DC 164

Marvel 23

Before starting the video though as I braved balancing on a rickety arm chair to grab the biggest, hardest to reach box so far, I found another long box, hidden between armchair and cupboard and covered in various things that I can't seem to find a more sensible home for. So with the extra 275 - 325 comics that makes my likely boxed comics total to be around 5775 - 6800. Which isn't a bad number, I kind of hoped it would come to more but let's just carry on counting and see how many it turns out to be. I had a comment in Facebook group saying that long boxes don't really hold quite as many as Google told me, but we'll see when I get to the 1st box.

I am surprised I remembered some facts this week, like Crispus Allen did become The Spectre and Earth's sector in the Green Lantern Corps, (read this last word to rhyme with door remember), is 2814. On the negative side I got some stuff all mixed up too, I confused Geo-Force's powers with Terra's I think and there's possibly some more stuff I'll point out here... if I remember!!

Batman And The Outsiders (2007)

1 - 40

Special One Shot (2009)

The Outsiders are a bunch of superheroes outside of the mainstream Justice League grouped together by Batman when he had a falling out with the League. The classic line-up of Batman, Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Katana, Halo and Looker 1st got together in 1983, debuting in their own book in August 1983. It was created and originally written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Jim Aparo.

This bunch of comics is from the 4th Batman and The Outsiders run from 2007 - 2011, that was interrupted by the Batman R.I.P. story so they dropped the "Batman and.." from the title for a while before finally resurrecting it when Batman ended up not being so dead after all!

Green Lantern - Larfleeze

Christmas Special

Larfreeze, aka Agent Orange, is the only wielder of the Orange ring from the emotional spectrum, this is the colour for Avarice and he personifies that trait in quite comical fashion mostly but he is dangerous and shouldn't be underestimated. Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, he 1st appeared in DC Universe #0 in April 2008. Although he is the only true member of the Orange Lanterns he has a host of ring constructs created from souls of those he has killed. He is able to control a small army of these due to his constant proximity to his power battery.

Ion

1 - 12

Created by Judd Winnick and Dale Eaglesham for Green Lantern Vol 3 # 142, the Ion entity lived in the Green Lantern willpower battery along with Parallax the yellow entity of fear. When  crazed Hal Jordan broke the battery it escaped and travelled the cosmos before finally it chooses and fuses with Kyle Rayner imbuing him with tremendous power. He relinquishes the power when he realises the enormity of it is making him lose touch with the people he is trying to protect. He later reacquires the power for this 12 part mini-series by Ron Marz and Glenn Tocchini that ran from June 2006 to May 2007.

He later passes the Ion power onto a fellow Green Lantern Corps member, the Daxamite, Sodam Yat who was originally created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

Tales of The Sinestro Corps (2007)

Superman - Prime - 1

Parallax - 1

Cyborg Superman - 1

Ion - 1

Green Lantern

Sinestro Corps Special 1 (2007)

I read the date wrong in the video!! I read it as 97 and was astounded that it was 21 years ago, still 11 years is pretty long ago too!! Dang where is my life disappearing to?

Green Lantern Sinestro Corps

Secret Files and Origins 1 (2008)

The yellow part of the emotional spectrum controls fear. The entity Parallax, the embodiment of fear was trapped inside the Green Lantern power battery, alongside the Ion entity of willpower. The members of the Corps were originally chosen as they were either fearless or able to overcome great fear. The Green rings were also powerless against the colour yellow thanks to Parallax's evil influence. Sinestro an ex-Green Lantern and their long time enemies manages to harness the Parallax entity to create his Sinestro Corps, able and more than happy, to install great fear.

I don't know about you but they scare me!!

Green Lantern Secret Files & Origins 2005

Guy Gardner - Collateral Damage

G'nort the dog-like runt of the Green Lantern Corps litter is looking for a mediator to help quell the Rann-Thanagar war. Like the hopeless dope he is he chooses hot-headed, bull in a china shop, Guy Gardner!! The only thing worse than his temper is his haircut! Oh dear!!

JLA/Hitman

1 - 2

As I mentioned in the video, Hitman, who 1st appeared in The Demon annual # 2 as part of the Bloodlines alien parasite attack on Earth, was the one character from this series that got some respect from DC. He was one of the very few to get his own humorous book that ran for 61 issues. OK like the rest of the Bloodlines created characters he died but it was in a magnificent blaze of glory not the victim of nasty villain of the week, like the rest of them. Created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, this 2 parter sees the incorrigible anti-hero Hitman team-up with the Justice League.

Justice 1 - 12

This 12 part series was written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, with iconic art also by Ross and Doug Braithwaite. The Justice League of America confront the Legion of Doom who had been drawn together by shared dreams that the JLA will fail to save the Earth so they seek to get rid of them. Heavilly infuenced by the 1970 Superfriends TV series, this comic is outside of normal DC continuity.

JLApe: Gorilla Warfare (1999)

JLA Annual 3

Batman Annual 23

Aquaman Annual 5

Wonder Woman Annual 8

Flash Annual 12

Superman Annual 11

Green Lantern Annual 8

Martian Manhunter Annual 2

The DC Annuals from 1999 crossed over as the Apes of Gorilla City make war on the humans of Earth, using technology to revert humanity back to apes.

Battleaxes (2000)

1 - 4

This sword and sorcery 4-parter from the Vertigo imprint by Terry LeBan and Alex Horley follows a group of all female mercenaries during the Dark Ages

Body Bags (Dark Horse)

1 - 4

Written and illustrated by Jason Pearson as a launch title for Dark Horse's Blanc Noir line of books, this got promoted as the most controversial comic of the 1990's! The blood splattered pages feature an Hispanic father and daughter team of professional hit-people (Body Baggers) which many found to be quite shocking apparently. The fact that the buxom young Panda is billed as being just 14 added to the furor I should imagine but it never stopped her from creating mayhem and slaughter with her dad Clown Face. Kind of makes me think of them as an early prototype of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.

Cruel And Unusual

1 - 4

In this mini from 1999 created by Jamie Delano and Tom Peyer (writers), John McCrea (penciller) and Andrew Chiu (inker) the prison system is overrun and short on money so they take to making it into reality television with live executions!!

Capes (Image)

1 - 3

This is pretty much how I described it in the video, written by Robert Kirkman with art by Mark Englert, superheroes are working shifts like cops, doing it for the paycheck rather than any altruistic reason. It's quite a fun read from the mind of the guy who brought us The Walking Dead and Invincible.

Dead Man - Dead Again

1 - 5

Deadman (2002)

1 - 9

Created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino and 1st appearing in Strange Adventures #205 in 1967, Boston Brand was a Circus acrobat in life before he was shot whilst performing on the trapeze. In his act he used the name Deadman,wearing a red costume and white make-up, now as a ghost he is a real dead man given the power by a Hindu goddess named Rama-Kushna to inhabit/possess the bodies of the living to try and seek out his killer and get justice.

Rose & Thorn (2004)

1 - 6

The original Rose & Thorn is a Golden Age character dating right back to 1947 when she appeared in Flash #89. Rose Canton turned into the criminal Thorn by night using plant powers to menace The Flash Jay Garrick. Eventually seemingly cured she married Green Lantern Alan Scott before Thorn reemerges on their honeymoon so Rose flees letting Alan believe her dead. She was however already pregnant by him and has two children Jennie-Lynn aka Jade & Todd aka Obsidian!! I must admit I know those characters but never knew this about their origins. Obviously being comics it's been retconned and there are alternate Earth versions too. In these books by Gail Simone she is Rhosyn Forrest - one woman but two personalities: the sweet, innocent Rose...and the deadly, dangerous Thorn.

Wanted (Top Cow)

1 - 6

So, just in case there are other people with rubbish brains like mine I will tell you Mark Millar who wrote this book also did Kick-Ass and The Kingsmen comics amongst many others, both of which have been made into films which I assume were slightly closer to the comics in style/tone than the movie version of Wanted was! So this is a pretty cool book, with lots of ultra-violence and an unlovable anti-hero. I will change up what I said in the video, Shithead is more a Clay-face parody, plus there is a character called Fuckwit who is a take on Bizarro.

Emperor Joker

Emperor Joker - 1

Superman in Action Comics - 770

Superman - 161

The Adventures of Superman - 583

Superman The Man of Steel - 105

I was again basically correct in my video synopsis about this, the Joker steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality-altering capabilities and takes control of the world. Every day he kills Batman and resurrects him to slay him all over again. The story ran through the Superman books in 2 story arcs Superman: Arkham and The Reign of Emperor Joker during September/October 2000.

Deadshot (2005)

1 - 5

Apparently this little run about Floyd Lawton, the assassin well known for losing to Batman and being a capable member of the Suicide Squad, is where he first learns that he has a 4 year old daughter. She is living with her mother in a crime infested part of town and he decides to clean it up to improve her life and chances.

Doctor Mid-Nite (1999)

1 - 3

Here is another Golden Age hero and member of the Justice Society of America. He was created by writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Stanley Josephs Aschmeier, he 1st appeared in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941). He is a legacy hero though with 3 people having assumed the name. Charles Mcnider was the original, followed by Beth Chapel, and Pieter Anton Cross, who features in this mini. All 3 versions have used similar costumes and had pretty much the same abilities being able to see perfectly in pitch darkness whilst being almost blind in daylight. They use blackout smoke bombs to give them advantage over their foes. He is widely regarded to have been the 1st physiacally impaired superhero, pre-dating Daredevil by 20 years. All of them have been legitimate medical doctors specialising in meta-humans as well as normal patients. In fact Charles McNider delivered Pieter as a baby after saving his mother. Matt Wagner who did a sterling job on Sandman Mystery Theatre, (see last week's blog), wrote this series.

Beth Chapel the 2nd Doc Mid-nite was another character who died at the hands of Eclipso.

Unknown Soldier (1997)

1 - 4

I think I said Universal Soldier at one point in the video lol, it's a classic movie with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren but I did mean Unknown Soldier. Named after the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia it's for those who died at war but whose remains were not able to be recognised. That's really grim when you consider it. 

Originally created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, he first appeared with Sgt Rock in Our Army At War #168 (June 1966); the character is symbolic of the nameless soldiers that have fought throughout America's wars. The character proved quite popular running in Star Spangled War stories which was later renamed The Unknown Soldier keeping the numbering from #151 to # 268, 1970 to 1982.

There was a 12 issue series in 88/89 and this 4-parter from 1997 which sees a grittier, darker Soldier with a much less patriotic outlook as told by Garth Ennis with art by Kilian Plunkett. There have been other reimaginings and sightings of the Soldier since this mini.

The Monolith (2004)

1 - 12

Well it seems I remembered correctly that Monolith was a golem, in this book he was created in the 1930's during the depression to protect a group of friends in unsafe and difficult times. Decades later Alice the granddaughter of one of the Monolith's creators, also named Alice, receives a house in their will and discover the golem which assists them with their own present day problems. The comics tell the story of both the 1930's and 2004. It was cancelled due to poor sales and in 2013 the rights reverted to the creators Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmioti with a film by Lionsgate slated to be in the works. Cool, I hope that works out alright.

Ragman (1991)

1, 2, 5 - 8

Ragman Cry of the Dead (1993)

1 - 6

Here's another character created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, Rory Regan The Ragman aka "the Tatterdemalion of Justice" is a Jewish superhero whose continuity is tied to that of the DC comics Golem that is derived from the Golem of Prague of Jewish folklore. He 1st debuted in Ragman #1 in 1976 and was originally Irish Pre-Crisis but was retconned as Jewish after the event. Which explains some of my confusion about the character on the video as I kind of thought he was Irish but then also thought he was Jewish. Originally the Ragman costume was just an ordinary suit but in the 1991 run it was made into a magical costume where each scrap is a soul of an evildoer. 

The Butcher (1990)

1 - 5

Not to be confused with The Butcher, the avatar of The Red Lanterns light of rage born from the first spillage of blood.

The Brave and The Bold

Green Arrow/ The Butcher/ The Question (1991)

1 - 6

The Butcher, real name John Butcher is a native American vigilante created by Mike Baron. He has no super powers but has peak human agility & stamina and proficiency with ax weapons. He never proved that popular but since these books had a few appearances in Green Arrow.

Gunfire (1994)

1 - 13

So here's another Bloodlines character who got a bit of a run before meeting an unfortunate fate, not dead just lost his hands poor thing. Venev one of the parasite aliens from Bloodlines fed off Andrew Van Horn's spinal fluid and triggered his metagene, (not muta-gene as I think I called it in the video oops). This gave him the power to agitate the molecules of objects he holds and focus blasts through them. This happened in Deathstroke Annual #2 in 1993. His book ran from 1 - 13 but has 14 issues as there was a 0 book in there too, which annoyingly I don't seem to have for some reason. I collected the book when it came out so I am wondering if it is elsewhere in my collection! Maybe a bunch of 0's hiding somewhere.

Mister E (1991)

1 - 4

This run was after The Books of Magic it turns out. Mister E was created by Bob Rozakis and Jack C. Harris and appeared 1st in Secrets of Haunted House #31, Dec 1980 but was radically redesigned by Neil Gaiman for Books of Magic. Despite having his eyes scooped out with a spoon by his father he has the ability to see evil. He started off fighting supernatural foes but later thought Tim Hunter was destined to be a cause of great danger to the world so tries to kill him. In the New 52 he was an enemy of John Constantine who described him as one of the most cruel and insane mages in the world.

Angel and the Ape (1991)

1 - 4

These guys debuted in 1968 in Showcase #77 created by E.Nelson Bridwell and then ran in their own book for 7 issues. This unlikely duo are private detectives, Angel O'Day and Sam Simeon he's a talking gorilla and also a comic book artist when he isn't working cases. The book has had a couple of 4 part revivals, this one from 1991 by Phil Foglio and a Vertigo take in 2001.

Peacemaker (1988)

1 - 4

I spoke about Creeper and Wild Cat (Yolanda Montez) getting killed fighting Eclipso, I totally forgot that Peacemaker met his fate there too. The original Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 (Nov. 1966) from Charlton Comics, and was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette. He was acquired by DC in the mid-80's and they put him in this 4 parter. He goes from using violence to fight wars using non-lethal weapons to becoming a deadly vigilante who kills at the slightest notice and starts believing that the ghosts of the dead inhabit his helmet. He was the basis for The Comedian in Alan Moore's Watchmen, I messed up in the video and said Owl Man instead of Niteowl I think, silly me!

Challengers of The Unknown

Unknown comic (cover and 1st page missing)

8 part mini-series (1991)

1 - 8

Who created these characters is uncertain, it's generally agreed that Jack Kirby had a hand in them but it's not sure if he created them alone or in collaboration with either Dave Wood or Joe Simon. They first appeared in Showcase #6 in 1957 and ran there for a while before getting it's own book that ran till 1971. The story is that after surviving a plane crash "Ace", "Red", "Rocky" & "Prof" decide that they are "living on borrowed time" so they band together to go on hazardous adventures. This 8 parter from 1991 shows them older and semi-retired when a disaster strikes that ruins their reputation and lives, they have to pull themselves together and find out the cause of the disaster.

 The team has been rehashed a number of times in the DC universe.

Night Force (1996)

1 - 5,  7 - 12

There have been 3 runs of this book in DC comics over the years, all of them with Baron Winters manipulating and managing people in missions to battle supernatural menaces. He can not leave his home Wintersgate Manor in Washington D.C. The mansion is located in a special juncture of time and space, allowing him to send his team to different places and times. Created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan they debuted in Teen Titans #21 in 1982. The books I have are from the 2nd Night Force run, which was one of 4 books in what was called the Weirdoverse alongside The Books of Fate, Scare Tactics & a later run of Challengers of the Unknown which had a different line-up to the '91 books I mentioned above. The Convergence crossover I mentioned in the video was with these 3 other books.

So that's a pretty bumper set of books there, here's the count
DC comics = 209
Others = 13
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Making the running totals
DC Comics = 373
Marvel = 23
Others = 13

Come back next week for more comic counting folks

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I managed to recover some of the lost footage of this counting and thought I'd put it up for people to check out if they want to.

      

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