Theory About Prez, Supergirl, and Alternate Earths

 Prez: The First Teenage President is a wonder-soaked product of the Bronze Age, created by Captain America co-creator Joe Simon and artist Jerry Grandenetti. While only having four issues, the character did appear in 1973's Supergirl #10 by Cary Bates, Saaf, and Vince Colletta. In this story, the first teenage president interacts with Supergirl after she saves Prez from being assassinated. No other heroes are mentioned, but Prez does relate how Supergirl flew him to the safety of the Fortress of Solitude.

That prompted some speculation about the existence of Supergirl in Prez's world. Were there any other heroes in that world? Superman apparently exists or did exist to give Supergirl her identity, but who else? Is the Sandman story about Prez's fate after leaving office count? If so, then Wildcat is in this alternate Earth as well. However, since Supergirl has access to the Fortress of Solitude, and with no mention of Superman, the thought came that Prez might exist in a world where Superman is dead, and Supergirl took over for him. The world of Superman #149 from 1961 is one such world where Lex Luthor kills Superman.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute Edition puts Prez's story occurring on Earth-72, denoted by the year Prez debuted. Superman #149 is an imaginary story taking place on Earth-149. The tale in Sandman #52 is told as a story, with Dream appearing at the end, claiming jurisdiction of Prez's fate as "the prince of stories." This ending to Prez's journey should likely not be considered canon, but nothing directly contradicts anything. The Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute Edition firmly notes it happening on Earth-72. 

The problem also comes when Supergirl #10 is cited in the Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute Edition as occurring on Earth-12. In re-reading the issue, the second story could easily be the odd placement, but nothing in it has the demented requirements of Earth-12. If the first Supergirl story in the issue is on Earth-12, then that alternate reality has its own version of Prez, where his canceled fifth issue occurred, according to the listing of alternate realities.

If the theory is correct, Earths 12, 72, and 149 are all the same world. This means Prez's world has Bizarro, Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, the Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Legion of Super-Heroes. With Earth-12, there are also the unique characters from The Inferior Five, the youthful Green Team, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Mister Freeze, Captain Cold, Abra Kadabra, and Plastic Man. The only wrinkle comes in Superman's appearance in Adventures of Jerry Lewis #92 and #105. Of course, this can be explained by a parallel world where Superman survived Lex Luthor's plan, or it's a time-traveling Superman from before 1961. Of course, that means Superman knew that he was going to die sometime before he met Jerry Lewis. It's probably better to ignore them if the theory is going to hold.

Then again, Earth-12 might just be it's own thing apart from Earth-72 and Earth-149.

Bouncing Boy Is Awesome

So many people are mistaken in believing that Bouncing Boy is a terrible or silly super-hero with useless powers. In the Silver Age, he served as the morale officer for the Legion of Super-Heroes after proving his worth against an electricity-based criminal. In reboots and Elseworlds, he proves to be more valuable. 

Writers would make it a personal challenge to show Chuck Taine as a valuable part of the Legion. Brian Michael Bendis went so far as to proclaim him as one of the more powerful members of the Legion's latest incarnation. Here's some of what makes him awesome.

The Silver Age

When he first appeared in Action Comics #276 by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, he was a Legion applicant, beaten out by Supergirl and Brainiac 5. He later joined after demonstrating how valuable his powers were before flight rings were invented. Always good-natured, he could be counted on as a morale booster when needed.

His tale encouraged new applicants since he had to prove his worth to the Legion. Bouncing Boy gained his powers after accidentally drinking a scientist's elastic serum. He set out to join the Legion but was rejected. His perseverance gave hope to Legion hopefuls, no matter their powers.

His power enabled him to inflate his girthy form into a spherical shape. He had incredible elasticity, able to bounce with significant force and speed. How he would appear would vary based on the artist. Favorites among fans are a ball with only vestigial hands and feet.

The Bronze Age

Chuck would regularly lose his power in one mishap or another. He also develops a close relationship with Duo Damsel after helping her through feelings of uselessness in the Legion. This would build to their wedding on Mars and the two leaving the Legion. Each would return to help the Legion occasionally and rejoined the Legion for a brief time following Earthwar, the biggest Legion event until The Great Darkness Saga.

Then the two would become instructors at the Legion Academy. There they'd train the next generation of super-heroes. In this capacity, they proved vital to the future of the Legion, producing future Legionnaires Magnetic Kid and Tellus and helping new Legionnaires Dawnstar, White Witch, and Invisible Kid.

The Rebooted Legion

Chuck Taine had no superpowers in the first reboot of the Legion. Instead, he was responsible for repairing the headquarters whenever it was damaged. It quickly became a full-time job. He was a constant fixture in the comics, demonstrating a deft ability to calculate angles and ricochet when Proteans invaded the headquarters.

When the Legion disbanded, Chuck helped bring the team back together with the ovoid ship he dubbed "the Bouncing Boy." When the new headquarters, Legion World, was damaged, Chuck and the mechanical being Gear worked together to repair it. When Earth-247 collapsed, Chuck Taine was among the Legionnaires that escaped in the Teen Titans/Legion Special and was seen when they left to travel the multiverse.

Legion of Superheroes Animated Series

Bouncing Boy was among the core Legionnaires in the first season of the 2006-2008 animated series. Throughout the series, he was very relatable and funny. He encouraged new applicants with his story of trying out for the Legion four times before being accepted. At the end of the first season, Bouncing Boy is the surprise winner of the election for Legion leader. In the second season, he grew close to Triplicate Girl after one of her three bodies was killed.

Superboy's Legion

In Alan Davis and Mark Farmer's Elseworlds series Superboy's Legion, Kal-El is raised in the 31st century. He forms the Legion of Super-Heroes with Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl. One of the recruits from the first tryouts is Bouncing Boy, who didn't expect to be accepted when his friends Karate Kid and Ferro Lad were rejected.

Even after a disastrous loss to the Fatal Five, Bouncing Boy goes with a group of Legionnaires to Colu to rescue Brainiac 5. When the ship is damaged and falls to Colu, Bouncing Boy uses his inflatable body to cushion the crash and save the Legionnaires trapped in the wreckage. During the final battle with Lex Luthor, he rescues Superboy from a bombardment of red solar radiation.

The Bendis Era

This is where Bouncing Boy really showed his potential. When interviewing with the Legion founders, Bouncing Boy revealed that his power made him invulnerable. He also had a doctorate in metaphysical gateway science. In Future State, he was shown defeating an entire armada of ships scavenging Colu.

In Conclusion

Bouncing Boy is not a useless hero. His tale proves that everyone has worth and everyone has valuable gifts. For decades, he's been the personification of the lesson of the Legion of Super-Heroes. No one is useless, and no one is instantly rejected for failing to meet nigh-unachievable standards. Just remember that the next time someone puts out a list of useless characters.

Reviews Of Old Comics: Prez #4 (Updated)

PREZ #4

March 1974 - DC Comics

Writer: Joe Simon

Penciller: Jerry Grandenetti
Inker: Creig Flessel

Letterer: Joe Rosen

SYNOPSIS:

After returning from a state trip to the European nation of Moravia, where Prez's administration has helped build a billion-dollar canal for irrigation, Prez and Eagle Free (head of the CIA) remark on the Moravians' strange custom of wearing garlic wreaths. That night, a bat-shaped helicopter unexpectedly visits the White House, carrying the Transylvanian Ambassador, the Wolfman. The Moravian canal has drained the lakes of Transylvania. Prez refuses to destroy the project, and the Wolfman delivers a formal declaration of war on behalf of his country's leader, Count Dracula. Wolfman storms out, with no one realizing that he has left his coffin-shaped briefcase behind.

Prez calls a cabinet meeting only to be frustrated by a lack of intelligence on the area other than the superstitions of legend. The next night sees Wolfman's briefcase open to reveal a vampire with no legs strapped to a small cart for mobility, wearing blocks on his hands to ease his propulsion. Dracula's attempt to turn the sleeping Prez into one of the living dead is thwarted by Eagle Free, who fights off the vampire with an Indian hooked cross resembling a swastika.

The Monrovian Ambassador reveals that Dracula plans to release thousands of rabid bats over America. Prez goes before Congress for a declaration of War against Transylvania, but Congress doesn't believe him and launches an investigation. Eagle Free concocts a final solution against the Transylvanian plane (their only plane), using birds on a suicide mission to dive into the plane's jet engines and cause it to crash, apparently killing Wolfman and Dracula, who were at the controls of the jet.

REVIEW:

This comic is just goofy fun. For the time it exists, it's wacky enough to make the various elements work in the genre of the story. As a reader, you cannot take this comic seriously. The absolute best part of this particular issue is its timelessness. If a young cartoonist produced something like this today, without DC having already done Prez, we'd all be talking about it. The fact that this was written by one of the co-creators of Captain America is a testament to the talent behind that creation and the range that is possible in comics, even with just one creator.

The art conveys the story very well, and for its weaknesses, it's still strong enough to add to the story's bizarre nature without distracting from it. Nothing about this comic goes into an overly wacky area that would be so easy with this issue. The creators play it completely straight.

This series should be on the reading list for alternative comic creators. It reads like something that could have been published by any independent publisher or even self-published.

FINAL RATING: 8 (out of a possible 10)

NOTES:

This issue was part of 2016's collection Prez: The First Teen President. Finding a copy of the individual issue may prove tricky, given that demand escalated after the character's appearance in Sandman. Now everybody that wants a copy most likely has one. You won't find a Near-Mint condition copy in any dollar bins, but you should be able to get a reading copy for not much more than the price of a new comic today. Graded copies in high condition can cost hundreds of dollars.

Digitally, it is available on DC Universe Unlimited. It's included in the initial subscription price as of this writing. The entire series is there, as well as Supergirl #10, which features Supergirl helping Prez.

Reviews Of Old Comics: Batman And The Outsiders #22

 

 

It's not necessarily out of place when Batman goes into cosmic or science fiction stories because sometimes the adventure is entertaining. It shows the strengths of the character. In the Justice League, we often see the Dark Knight in situations he should not be suited for. Batman always manages to show himself to be very adaptable.

With Batman and the Outsiders, Batman gave up the more fantastic adventures for those more grounded. There were still threats that should have been outside of his skill set. Writer Mike W. Barr proved how adaptable Batman is. Even in the more grounded 1980s, Batman could be taken into space and fight other-dimensional beings. With Batman and the Outsiders #22, Alan Davis joined as an artist who excelled at telling these stories, Alan Davis. In that issue, readers saw more than the team facing a cosmic threat illustrated by a new artist. We saw the beginnings of the rift between Batman and the Outsiders.

Batman And The Outsiders #22

June 1985 - DC Comics

Writer: Mike W. Barr
Artist: Alan Davis
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Workman

Synopsis:

Batman and the Outsiders teleport onto the abandoned and wrecked Justice League satellite. Batman is disgusted and reminiscent of the fall of the Justice League of America. He calls the Outsiders his weapon to bring justice to the world, which unnerves Metamorpho and Black Lightning. They move to use the equipment still on the satellite to get answers to Halo's origins.

Halo was Violet Harper, a criminal killer murdered in Markovia by the assassin Syonide. She still has no memory of that former life. Black Lightning charges the generators on the satellite. Dr. Jace uses the equipment in the JLA laboratory to stimulate her repressed memories.

Halo tells the Outsiders she was one of the Aurakles, energy beings almost as old as the universe. She came to be interested in life, and while witnessing the killing of Violet Harper, she found herself possessing the human body but losing all memory of what she was. The Outsiders find it hard to believe, but the Aurakles use the restored memories to locate Halo and emerge in the satellite. 

The Aurakles want to Halo back to their realm and restore their unity. Batman refuses, and a battle commences. Dr. Jace activates the vertigo rays in the satellite. Seeing that the Aurakles can't handle the energy attack well, Black Lightning electrifies Katana's sword. When she throws it through one of the Aurakles, it destroys the energy being. This angers the Aurakles, who disable the vertigo ray device and then attack the Outsiders directly, with mixed results. They then deal with the Outsiders by blowing a hole in the satellite.

Everyone but Batman and Metamorpho is blown out into space. Batman orders Metamorpho to seal the breach, so Geo-Force can bring the others back to the safety of the satellite. Geo-Force uses the few seconds a person can survive in the vacuum of space and gets his teammates to the hole that Metamorpho is plugging. Metamorpho acts as an airlock, allowing them to return to a breathable atmosphere. The Aurakles disappear with Halo, and the Outsiders swear to find Halo but wonder how they will do so.

Review:

Batman stories are sometimes the best when he's out of his element. A prime example is Batman's role in JLA: New World Order, where he recognizes the White Martians. When placed against foes beyond his power level, Batman is forced to rely upon his intelligence and cunning. In this story, Batman is shown to be very adaptable. He also knows the abilities of his team very well. This makes Batman a good team leader. It also makes Batman a more compelling character because of what bizarre situations a writer can put him in to get himself out of. 

Alan Davis is a great artist. This is relatively early in his career, so the figures are stiffer than in his later work. The characters seem bloated at times, but overall, they're solid. The storytelling is solid, too. A fun, cartoony element is added when Metamorpho becomes the airlock for the JLA Satellite. The action scene with the Aurakles is a little sparse in the scenery, but when the characters fight glowing circles, the scarcity is understandable. The drawback is the wrecked and abandoned JLA Satellite isn't fully explored.

The colors don't make full use of possibility, with broad spaces of flat color, only given variation by Alan Davis's line work. It works well with the Aurakles, and the abstract swirls and patches of color make Halo's Aurakle self stand out as unique, helping the story.

Final Rating: 8.0 (out of 10)

Notes:

This comic was collected in 2017's Batman and the Outsiders, Vol. 2. This comic is available digitally on DC Universe Infinite and for purchase on Amazon Kindle. The DC Universe version is better, as it is browsable panel by panel and is included in the subscription price. Currently, a physical copy fetches a few dollars for a near-mint copy.

Reviews Of Old Comics: Sensational She-Hulk #31 (updated)

This is the ongoing story of recapturing that feeling by reading unread comics. Perhaps they live in some long-neglected long box in the spare room. Maybe they are discovered at the bottom of that last box unpacked since that last move two years ago, and perhaps they're just waiting in some comic shop's back stock waiting for someone to discover them the next time they're dragged to some mini-convention in a hotel ballroom looking to score some quick cash with cheap back issues. Sometimes they'll be gems, and sometimes the memory is fonder than the reality, but the goal is to share spoiler-ridden Reviews Of Old Comics.

She-Hulk got her own title again in 1989, done by John Byrne, the writer/artist that brought new life to her character in Fantastic Four. Within a year, however, Byrne had left the book in a dispute over his artwork being redrawn. Story quality suffered until he was brought back to continue her adventures in the same vein he used when he started the book. Namely, She-Hulk knew she was in a comic book, faced heroes and villains largely forgotten because "serious" writers thought they were too stupid to be resurrected, and never took any of it too seriously.

Sensational She-Hulk #31

September 1991 - Marvel Comics

Writer/Penciller: John Byrne

Inker: Keith Williams
Color: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Jim Novak

SYNOPSIS:

She-Hulk wakes up from the bad dream of issues 9-30 and, realizing how late it is by reading the legal text at the bottom of the first page, rushes to get ready, with a convenient white box provided by Byrne to keep the book approved by the Comics Code. She also asks him to give her the "fake McFarlane layouts" he's using in Namor and flies off to pick up Louise Mason in her flying green car for a trip to sunny Florida.

Meanwhile, a jet transporting a disgraced rock star is caught in a bad storm and tries to avoid crashing into a mountain but fails when it seems that the mountain moves to intercept them. She-Hulk and Louise hear the report and detour to investigate the mysterious moving mountain, which has vanished from the crash site. A scientist on the scene named Bob Robertson claims that it was the work of Spragg, the Living Hill.

He relates how he came across Spragg many years ago in Transylvania after he had enslaved a small village to build a machine to increase his mental powers. Spragg was an evil member of a race of alien spores that had become trapped in the forming Earth and developed the psychic abilities they used to create earthquakes. Bob Robertson was immune to Spragg's powers because of the mining helmet he was wearing and turned the machine into a rocket which sent Spragg into space. He discovered that Spragg had vaporized upon reentry into the atmosphere and became a force responsible for unexplained natural disasters.

Using a small device, Bob Robertson triggers the Spragg effect, inadvertently causing a ridge of rock to endanger a nearby town. She-Hulk drops from her flying car onto the front of the moving outcrop and places a device to stop it in its tracks. However, the sudden stop sends her plummeting into a hole in the Earth that opened up where the front of the ridge had been.

REVIEW:

There was a time when comic publishers could put out a tongue-in-cheek book. This is just after Giffen and DeMatteis's Justice League International, which returned humorous comics to the mainstream. John Byrne had fun with the tropes of the comic book medium and the superhero genre in general. In this issue alone, he pokes fun at the all-encompassing aptitude of comic-book scientists, such as an entomologist building robots, the ego of creators, and the ever-looming presence of the Comics Code Authority.

Byrne's art in this issue is probably at his peak, with very few blank backgrounds and a very believable rendering of a pre-Silver Age character like "The Living Hill." His Bob Robertson isn't as consistent as his She-Hulk or Louise Mason. Given the low number of characters with significant roles in this issue, it's not confusing. In his writing, he tends to be very verbose but doesn't fall into the trap of describing things that can be seen.

The story is a refreshing pallet cleanser after the grimmer fare of most modern comics, but a better switch between comedy and serious drama is needed. It actually detracts from a jet full of people being killed. Those distractions are probably more from Byrne's sense of storytelling, which is very fast, benefiting his art style of using large panels.

The colors, as appropriate to the time, are flat, which works very well with John Byrne's style. For an example of how bad modern colors can look on this art, just look at the cover of  Sensational She-Hulk, Vol.1 collection, which collects the issues just before this one. Modern coloring over this would still need to retain the flatness to not take away from the visuals of She-Hulk among normal-sized people. I just don't see how it could improve very much to have heavily rendered colors on this artwork.

FINAL RATING: 8 (out of a possible 10)

NOTES:

This issue was collected in 2019's Sensational She-Hulk by John Byrne Omnibus. In back issue bins, you should be able to find copies at a very reasonable price, perhaps even a bargain. For immediate satisfaction, it's available digitally as part of Marvel Unlimited. The rest of Byrne's run is also there.

Reviews Of Old Comics: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #230

This review is inspired by an article coming up based on a rejected pitch to CBR. This issue has two stories inside, each from some of the best creators the Legion of Super-Heroes ever had. 

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #239

August 1977 - DC Comics

Writer: Paul Levitz
Pencillers: James Sherman and Mike Netzer (as Mike Nasser)
Inker: Jack Abel
Colorist: Liz Berube
Letterer: Bill Morse
Cover Art: Neal Adams

This was when Superboy's solo title became a team book featuring adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes. At this point, it had been for around three years. Much of this was based on the strength of artists like Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell. The quality would be mixed for some time, but part of the high points would be the writing of Paul Levitz and artists like Mike Nasser and Jim Sherman.

SYNOPSIS:

"The Creature Who Conned The Legion"

The planet Remor is honoring five Legionnaires when quakes endanger the population. An alien named Sden appears and promises the quakes will return. When questioned by the Legion, he explains that a magic crystal is causing destruction to empower itself. The Legion agrees to retrieve the crystal.

After finding the crystal in a volcano, Dream Girl is skeptical that it's the cause of the quakes. The Legionnaires put the crystal in a chest. When Sden gets the chest, he causes more tremors and reveals himself as a villain. The crystal increases magical abilities, and Sden opens the container to destroy the Legionnaires.

However, when opened, flames shoot out, weakening Sden. Element Lad put a phosphorus coating around the crystal, causing the fire. Dream Girl foresaw that Sden would have used the crystal to defeat the Legion and then the sorcerer Mordru. She also noticed him avoiding Sun Boy and his fire-generating power. Sden is taken to Takron-Galtos, and Superboy takes the crystal to the 20th century.

"The Day Bouncing Boy Bounced Back"

While the Legion is burying Chemical King on Shanghalla, Bouncing Boy watches the headquarters. Since he lost his powers, he's been relegated to the Legion reserves. The intruder alarm goes off and Bouncing Boy rushes to catch the intruder. The intruder turns out to be Science Police officer Roon Dvron. While he and the former Legionnaire fight, gas and energy spheres capture both combatants. 

After waking up, Dvron says he was tasked with watching Legion headquarters while everyone was away. The Science Police didn't know the Legion reserve would have that duty. Dvron even damaged the security controls in a way that didn't recognize Bouncing Boy. Frustrated, the former Legionnaire hits the energy shield and finds that it inflates his hand like when he had his powers. Throwing himself into the energy sphere, his powers return in full, allowing him to break out. He and Dvron keep the return of Bouncing Boy a secret, and the Legion returns, none the wiser.

REVIEW:

Both stories are excellent, taking only as much space as they need to tell the stories. Paul Levitz knew how to write the Legion, breaking the team into smaller squads for specific missions. Every Legionnaire has a purpose, keeping Superboy from dominating the story.

Dream Girl really shines. At this point in Legion history, she was still discounted as mostly eye candy, with many writers not knowing how to treat her precognitive powers. Suspicious based on her visions, she takes command of the situation and proves strategic and intelligent. Within a few years, she would become an effective leader for the Legion. Looking at this story, one can see why.

James Sherman and Jack Abel's art in the first story has moments where it is sparse in the details. There are moments, especially a close-up of Dream Girl, where it becomes technically perfect. Liz Berube's colors are a fine compliment in both stories, using unconventional colors like a near-perfect cyan and straight magenta. 

Mike Netzer shows a mastery of form and likeness. Bouncing Boy is consistent, looking like a young adult carrying extra pounds. Netzer's work on Superboy and the Legion remains some of the best ever on the title from a technical point of view.

RATING: 7.0 (out of 10)

NOTES: 

Currently available online on DC Universe Infinite. It has been reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13. A brief search online shows that a physical copy should run a few dollars. Someone can find a lower-grade copy in a bargain box, but something of this era may not be readily available in such a situation. There is a variant containing an insert for a Mark Jeweler advertisement. This is slightly more valuable than the regular edition of this issue. Completists should also know about this variation.

Reviews Of Old Comics: New Mutants #18 (Updated)

New Mutants #18 debuted a new artist on the mutant books, Bill Sienkiewicz, who had made a mark on Moon Knight and a few other books. This was a real turn, as Marvel's style was far from artsy, and the comics industry was still recovering from the heavy influence of Neal Adams. Sienkiewicz developed an art style based on illustration techniques. It showed in page layouts that set the stage for the modern age method of irregular panel shapes, overlapping images, and borderless panels.

New Mutants #18

August 1984

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz

Colorist: Glynis Wein

Letter: Tom Orzechowski

SYNOPSIS:

We open on New Mutant team leader Dani Moonstar having a terrible nightmare of the Demon Bear that killed her parents. We then see the X-Mansion under attack by the military as a young, red-haired girl uses her powers to shield herself as she makes her way to Professor X, trying to reason with the troops telepathically only to be killed. It's revealed that these are the memories of a young woman from the future, the girl from the before, just older and looking much more ragged.

The New Mutants, except Dani and Illyana Rasputin, train in the Danger Room and prove successful, albeit with some difficulty. Illyana answers the front door to find the red-haired young woman who runs off in tears since she remembers seeing Illyana die.

In space, an alien named Warlock is on the run from his brutal father. This Interlude leads to Dani training in the Danger Room against holographic bears to the confusion of Illyana. That night Dani sets out in the snow to confront her Demon Bear, as she knows it's close. She uses her mutant power on the bear to find its deepest fear is her and finds the strength to apparently slay it with surprising ease. It's then she realizes that she made a terrible error.

Rahne wakes screaming from the rapport she shares with Dani and leads the New Mutants to the woods, where they find Dani unconscious and lying in a pool of blood.

REVIEW:

This is a beautifully drawn comic. Glynis Wein must've had a helluva time doing the coloring on this issue. Sienkiewicz made good use of black areas. Each character is unique in their depiction. Illyana is cute as a button. Cannonball is lanky and awkward, a quality no other artist since has been able to capture like Sienkiewicz did. Previously in this series, Dani was sexualized, which is disturbing, given that the character is still in her teens. Sienkiewicz managed to make her attractive and exotic without being sexual about it. The only drawback is the technology of the time, as I sit and think of what this comic would've looked like if it had been printed with today's technology and paper quality. Heck, thinking about what kind of work he's doing now, what would this book look like if today's Sienkiewicz had drawn this book.

The script is Chris Claremont at his peak, as he foreshadowed a subplot in a way that was intriguing and made time travel seem not quite so hokey as the previous times he used it. While cliché, Dani's motivation is written well enough to be believable.

FINAL RATING: 9.0 (out of a possible 10)

NOTES:

This issue has been collected twice, first in 1990, 2006, and 2018. Prices vary, but the most recent collection is 2020's New Mutants Omnibus, for those who like spending money on thick, comprehensive collections. Finding a physical copy will cost a few dollars, but twenty dollars for a raw, unslabbed copy would be too much. Fortunately, the book is available digitally on Marvel Unlimited. 

Those inspired to look for more Sienkiewicz, look for Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters, and even some art books collecting Sienkiewicz's work.