On the Road Again

As usual, is method of delivery is a little gruff, but Sluggy is pretty spot-on with his observation. 

You Again?

Looks like this guy got a new job.  Good for him, times are tough.

Not so New Comic Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (1991) #53

                It’s an all out brawl between Drax the Destroyer and Cuchulain the Irish Wolfhound, and Kevin West took this issue off!  The art is brought to you by Scott Eaton who is more realistic and more exaggerated than Kevin West in terms of his characters, bringing a decidedly different (and welcome) feel to the book.  It’s almost Texeira-esque but not as exaggerated.

                Gallagher, and to an extent Eaton, provide an interesting setup to this issue.  To show that everything is happening simultaneously, between the Drax/Cuchulain brawl and the machinations of the rest of the Guardians, they present everything together.  The top half of the page is the rest of the Guardians and what they are doing throughout the issue while the bottom is the continuing battle between Drax and Cuchulain.  This is an interesting way of doing things and something that was attempted with less success by Jim Valentino during his run as well.

                The battle between Drax and Cuchulain is a back and forth affair for the majority of the book without much in the way of events to report, so I’ll focus on what is going on on the top half of the page.  Vance escapes the prison guards and hides out, trying to find Charlie in the process.  Unfortunately tOrk finds him first and is about to finish the beatdown that he started last issue when he realizes that Charlie is all healed thanks to Diablo’s special serum.  I assume he makes it like most concoctions in prison, in the toilet with a mixture of spit and things bought from the commissary.  Charlie surprises him and knocks him out, and even in a small space, Eaton does a great job making the action as big as possible.  Just as Charlie puts the finishing touches on Tork, Vance shows up as well. 

We then cut to Nikki and Yellowjacket who have skirted around the “no girls allowed” rule and come down to bust some heads and break Charlie out.  What the warden and the prison guards don’t realize is that they have brought Talon with them.  Yellowjacket increases his size and sics him on the prison guards.  At this point the storylines merge into one as Cuchulain and Drax have damaged a nuclear reactor, causing it to blow a hole in Stockade. 

The Guardians take the warden back to their ship and continue to prove Charlie’s innocence, which is when Nikki pipes up with “think about the scar”.  The scar that Charlie received from the Spirit of Vengeance was not present on the video that the warden had as evidence of Charlie’s guilt.  The real culprit was a clone of Charlie, the one that we saw for one page a few issues ago that Rancor sliced up.  The warden begrudgingly agrees to not pursue any further action against Charlie and the Guardians and we cut to stockade as Yondu and Talon look for Cuchulain amid the rubble.  He comes out completely unscathed and they teleport to the ship.  Drax then emerges from the rubble and sits in front of a television screen playing the alien equivalent of the “emergency alert broadcast”.

 

After the Guardians send Cuchulain on his way back to Earth, with their gratitude (and a little something “extra” from Yellowjacket, or so it’s eluded to) they turn their attention to Mars, which is apparently the base of operations of Ripjak as well as a quarantined planet ever since the War of the Worlds.

Next Issue: More War of the Worlds talk!?  And you thought they were done with that…

Convenience

Generally, "just keep walking" is good overall advice when you meet a guy dressed in a bunny suit 

in the woods of New Jersey. 

Album Review: AC/DC – Back in Black (1980)

Overview: 

What does AC/DC do after their singer dies?  They put out the best album of their careers, that’s all.  This album is loaded with hits.  Hell, every track is instantly recognizable and rarely does anyone change the channel to get away from them.  Brian Johnson fit seamlessly into the band and delivered a phenomenal performance to start his era. 

Tracks you may know: 

"Hells Bells", "Back in Black", "Shoot to Thrill", "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Have a Drink on Me", "Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution" – I could probably name every song on this album.  We all know them, we all love them.  Everything that was great about Highway to Hell got even better.

Tracks you should know:

There are not too many you probably don’t know, but “What do you Do for Money Honey” is a great song that epitomizes the fast guitars, high pitched growl that has become AC/DC’s trademark sound.

My personal favorite:

I’d like to say it’s something besides “You Shook Me All Night Long” but I can’t.  I've heard it hundreds if not thousands of times, and I could keep listening to it forever.  That’s why it’s a classic.

Album rating: 

The best album deserves the best rating. 

10/10

Million Dollar Question

Trust me, Shrimpy feels dumb enough about running out of gas without a guy in a bunny suit bringing it up.

Scary

We take a slight detour today to bring you this year's Halloween Sunday strip.

Have no fear, we'll get back to the "Weird New Jersey" storyline on Monday.