(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The Punisher slaughters all of the drug dealers working at a crack house. Both on the same trail, DD stops the Punisher from killing the Aspirin Killer. They engage in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. When the Aspirin Killer gets a hold of the Punisher's loose gun, DD knocks him out with his baton before he can shoot them. While shooting arrows together, Typhoid Mary assures the Kingpin that her plan to ruin Matt emotionally is working. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The paranormals are sent to a special army boot camp. Jeffrey has nightmares of his family strapped to an atomic bomb, & he is unable to save them before it goes off. (This represents his guilt for not saving them before Pittsburgh was destroyed by Star Brand.)

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The Black Knight suffers from the curse of his ebony blade after it was used to slay the leviathan. The female Kang (Nebula) creates an illusion of Dr. Druid defeating the Destructikon to save civilization. Captain Marvel returns to Hydro-Base in an emaciated condition & collapses. Nebula travels to Earth disguised as the woman in Dr. Druid's dreams. Dr. Druid uses his mental powers to have himself elected as the new chairman. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Spidey is hired by Silver Sable to join her & Sandman in bringing down Franz Kraus & his band of Neo-Nazis. Peter decides to stay in NYC to support MJ's career & to go back to school to get a job locally someday.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Vindicator & Box have been summoned to appear before a Canadian Parliament committee to answer questions about their recent activities in Red China (last issue) & their resistance to government control. Hearing that their funding may be cut off, Walter/Wanda finds that he/she can't access his/her wealth due to being in Snowbird's body.

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: A scientist, Jasper Whyte, attracts Thor using multi-colored orbs in the sky then knocks him unconscious with a hypno-stun ray. He uses a device to draw off half of Thor's power then transfers it to his android Crypto-Man. Thor wakes up & realizes that he lacks his full strength. Whyte sends Crypto-Man out into the city on a rampage of destruction. Thor engages the Crypto-Man in battle & is challenged by its level of power. Having watched the battle, Whyte brags to Thor that he is beaten during a lull when the android leaves. Thor & Whyte follow the Crypto-Man to the atomic power plant. When Thor mentions that Whyte's mother, who Dr. Blake knows, might be killed if the nuclear reactor is damaged, Whyte uses a control beam to destroy his Crypto-Man but which also kills him in the process. Thor's full strength then returns. Later, Blake tells Whyte's mother that he died during a scientific experiment. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: SS is woozy after being struck by a meteor & falling into the ocean. When he's back in the city, his board is accidentally struck by Spidey's webline. He refuses to fly lower since he doesn't trust humans. Spidey feels humiliated when SS utilizes a fire hydrant to save him from falling to his death. Angry, he seeks out SS to get even, so, of course, the two get into a scuffle. The fight draws the attention of the army, who distrust SS's actions, & start firing at him. SS recalls his board which has a kid on it. In order to save the kid's life, he leaves himself exposed to the army's fire. The army stops firing when they see the kid & leave. Spidey feels guilty for how he acted toward the Surfer.

Comments: Rolling out a Spidey appearance to boost flagging sales. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: IM sinks the ship that smuggled the Titanium Man into the country & leaves its crew for the authorities. A woman, whose husband was on the smuggler's ship & who had anonymously called Tony about it, tells Tony that the Mercenary is out to kill her. Tony takes her to his lodge in the Adirondacks, while the Mercenary listens to their conversation. The Mercenary enters the lodge shooting, but he finds IM waiting for him, thanks to the car's detectors. They fight until the Mercenary uses a device to drain the current from IM's armor. The Mercenary disguises himself as Tony in order to get the woman to open the bunker that she is in. IM manages to repower himself & hears shots being fired. He finds Sandhurst, who thinks he's killed the real Tony to get vengeance on him for exposing his embezzlement at Cord. Sandhurst falls over dead, after having been previously shot by the Mercenary for interfering in his hit assignment. more

This issue is all place setting but by the end the table is only a third set. It starts with the Joker planning on dumping laughing fish into the reservoir but Bat man shows up, they fight. Nothing we haven’t seen before. But this time the Joker clocks Bats with a crowbar because Bats had his back turned to obvious danger. Bats is tossed into the river and has to be saved by Talia.

Joker is clobbered by a giant henchman and is tied up by Hush. Hush creates slow cuts that will let him bleed out in a couple of hours. We see Babs and Dick talk about finding Bruce and they mention there are like nine Robins and six Batgirls. Bruce deducts where Joker is and J is surrounded by images of J killing Jason, humiliating Gordon and violating Barbara. Meanwhile Hush is taunting Batman and the story is written as if the Devil has returned to Gotham.

A couple of points. Talia is drawn so that we can see her breasts and her ass. A picture worthy of Nightwing. So to show just how dangerous Hush is, we see him easily defeat Bats’ greatest enemy. we see the daughter of his other great enemy, and Bruce learns Hush is back. Hush is presented as the ultimate badass who will test Bruce like he’s never been tested before.

Just one problem with that. We've seen it about 174,806 times in the past few years. Two, this reads like a greatest hits album. The laughing fish, images from Killing Joke and death of Jason. Hush.

And finally, the book mentions all the Bat family but Bruce goes after Joker alone. If this story line has Bruce learning the value of not being a loner - again - I will scream, well not scream, but really roll my eyes.

This issue was written as a gimmick to attract readers and comes off like that. It is not a story that builds on the most previous issues. It is its own separate thing that feels shoehorned into a book.

Not a great start. Or I could be wrong. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: After Reed & Sue leave, an android Johnny stuns Ben into unconsciousness. He is then replaced by an android Ben. At the shopping center, Sue is rendered unconscious by an android Sue. An android Reed abducts Reed from his car & apparently renders him unconscious. The Mad Thinker meets his androids at the Baxter Building. It's the real Reed though, who had overcome his android doppelganger. Reed finds the real Ben nearby, wakes him up, & the two fight against the three androids & the Mad Thinker. After the three androids are neutralized, they find the Thinker's hidden entrance shaft, at the bottom of which they find the sedated Johnny & Sue in capsules & their android guards. Ben throws the Thinker at the guards like a bowling ball to take them out. Sue is revived with a kiss by Reed.

Comments: Maddie has to be the most anal-retentive villain on Earth-616! more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: As DD pursues two movie theater robbers, Nighthawk intervenes to take them down. Unknown to DD, Nighthawk lets them go afterwards. Nighthawk reveals that he gave DD a pinprick that made him dizzy during their encounter. Kyle Richmond recalls how he became Nighthawk due to the Grandmaster. DD finds Nighthawk stopping a robbery. Nighthawk tells him that he is no longer needed. Later, Nighthawk apprehends a jewelry robber, who is actually DD in disguise. When Nighthawk lets him go, DD reveals himself & the microphone he has with him. The two briefly fight, then Nighthawk attempts to escape. When DD pursues him into the subway, Nighthawk escapes on a subway train & vows to return to defeat him. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: Suprema uses her power to make men obey her by taking over several mob gambling operations. After tracking him down through the signal in his badge, Suprema commands Dum Dum Dugan to take her to Nick Fury, who is at a weaponry range with Cap. Suprema puts Fury & his SHIELD agents under her control. Cap fights through them to escape in Suprema's vehicle. Cap does some research on Suprema & returns later in the vehicle. He breaks Suprema's control of the SHIELD agents by generating an electrical field. The field disrupted the control disc worn by her brother, Scarbo. Suprema & Scarbo were formerly professional hypnotists.

Comments: I think Stan had too much on his plate at this point in his career. FF, Spidey & Thor were still good. Cap & Silver Surfer not so much. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: While the Black Panther is being held in chains by the Sons of the Serpent, an imposter has been attacking businesses that support the Sons of the Serpent. The Avengers feel compelled to go find their missing "teammate". The Wasp spots the "Panther" robbing a jewelry store & summons the others. When the Avengers are closing in, the "Panther" is rescued by a craft using gas grenades. The Avengers zero in on the TV studio that the Supreme Serpent is broadcasting from to the nation. The imposter Panther is unmasked & revealed to be a anti-white black man. The real Panther is freed by the Vision & takes a mask off the imposter to reveal he is actually white. It is then revealed that the there are two Supreme Serpents, who are the white host & black guest of the controversial TV talk show. Their plan was to create racial division in order to seize power. After threatening the team with guns, they are both taken out by the Panther. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: After Electro finds out that Spidey will be appearing on a late night talk show, he gets JJJ to agree to pay him for beating & unmasking Spidey during the show. At the TV studio, with JJJ in attendance, Electro attacks Spidey with his electric bolts. Spidey manages to web Electro's hands & feet together, causing him to short-circuit himself. Electro escapes after Spidey is stunned by the resulting feedback. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: After Colossus expresses his concern that Illyana may be in danger, Gateway teleports him to Limbo, where Illyana, as the Darkchilde, is facing off against S'ym & his demon horde. Illyana thinks that Colossus is a necromantic shade of her dead brother. She takes him to rescue the New Mutants, who are being held by characters out of a Russian novel due to some sorcery. Colossus' organic steel banishes the witch-crone, Baba Yaga, along with the others. Illyana saves the New Mutants from Baba Yaga's spell using a counterspell in Limbo. Colossus vanishes after encouraging his sister to strive to be good & to not succumb to evil. S'ym reforms after having been shattered by Colossus & reasserts his control over his horde. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: Infectia meets a policeman who blames X-Factor for the destruction in the city & turns him into an Anti-Body with a kiss. Infectia manipulates Iceman into protecting her from the Anti-Body until it disintegrates. Scott & Jean go to Dallas to find out if Freedom Force knows anything about Scott's son's whereabouts. Infectia asks Bobby to take her to the ship, claiming that she is also a mutant in need of training. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: The mad Quicksilver appears to the group in the Hungarian prison to tell them that he is behind their capture in his continuing quest to seek vengeance upon them. After Hawkeye & Wonder Man break them out of their prison, they fight a horde of giant scarlet beetles, who Hank had fought as Ant-Man. After succumbing the beetles, Hawkeye refuses to talk to Mockingbird, since the Phantom Rider, now in Hungary, has told him that she killed his earlier self. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: Betty Brant Leeds has disappeared & is suspected by Spidey of having joined the "Students of Love" cult. Flash follows the cult member that was seeing Betty into a deadly ambush but is rescued from harm by Spidey. Using a spider-tracer, Spidey follows the cult member to their compound in New Jersey. At night, Spidey comes to take Betty away, but he is given away to the other cult members by Betty's cry for help. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: At the nuclear power plant, Quicksand sabotages its fail-safe devices & sets its nuclear core to explode. Daredevil tries to stop the crazed Hogun's rampage through the city while he looks for Thor. Thor uses his hammer to create a dimensional vortex to send the nuclear power plant to a deserted world, where it explodes. After DD is pinned by a pole thrown by Hogun, Hogun leaves the scene in a tram, which is then shot up by the police. The Vizier's flame tied to Hogun's life is extinguished in Asgard.

Comments: This issue has a very Lee/Kirby feel to it. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: The team is sent to Washington, DC, to deal with a brutal attack on the populace. They find that some of the Horde are surgically modified humans with bombs planted inside them. The Horde leave with DC in ruins. Having given birth, Aline passes away, again subject to the Morituri Process. Dr. Tuolema uses a stolen Horde technology to send out a call for help. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

C&D = 7.5
DS = 7.0

C&D Summary: As part of their bargain when he restored Cloak's powers, Mr. Jip tells Cloak to bring Dagger to him. Cloak takes Dagger to what he believes is a safe place, only to find that he took her where Jip wanted her to be. Dagger finds herself surrounded by shadow beings.

DS Summary: Kaluu, Rintrah & Enitharmon take Strange to his boyhood home in the midwest. They create illusions to try to attach him back to his reality. When the illusions don't work, they let Strange take himself to med school where he saw a woman named Alice that he was infatuated with but never knew. This does the trick.
more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: While Spidey is questioning some tough guys in a bar about who hired the hitman (last issue), one of the tough guys is shot in the back by an unknown assailant when he is about to shoot Spidey. Tombstone tells the Arranger that the unknown assailant at the bar is looking for him, as planned. Peter receives a call to meet someone at the Statue of Liberty. When he comes as Spidey instead, he gets shot at to scare him off. He catches up with the Punisher, who wants Robbie's cassette tape regarding Tombstone. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

HE = 7.0
DP = 7.0

HE Summary: Hawkeye & Mockingbird encounter Blind Justice when he wants to kill the local florist, who just happens to be the ringleader of an extortion gang.

DP Summary: Hank is a suspect in a series of burglaries that fit his previous powers as an Avenger. Hank suspects who is behind the burglaries & where he will strike next. Hank finds his old foe, Dr. Nemesis, & manages to overcome him using his technology & ability to shrink objects. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: The Star Child seeks knowledge from his father, who has become mad & believes he is the Messiah due to the power granted to him. The Star Child offers him the choice of "nonexistence" or the removal of the Star Brand, which would further his madness.

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: Kree Supreme Leader Nenora charges Ronan the Accuser with terminating SS due to his doppelganger wreaking havoc on Kree border worlds. SS defeats Ronan after a brief skirmish. SS & Nova then track down & find the doppelganger who has destroyed his reputation with the Kree.

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: The team gets back the stuffed animals stolen by three girl bullies from Julie & her friends by discreetly using their powers at the bullies' hideout.

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: After Illyana talks her reluctant teammates into going with her to find Forge, they find that he is being protected by Freedom Force. After the team is defeated by Freedom Force, Destiny warns both teams that the Darkchilde (Illyana) will bring disaster to the world (a demon invasion from Limbo) due to her current course of action.

(Cover Date: June, 1985)

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: In a nightmare, Tony Stark/Iron Man battles a monstrous version of himself that represents the guilt he feels for the people who suffered due to his stolen technology.

Comments: Great interior & cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith!

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: After the Leader plants the stolen gamma bomb in the small town of Middletown, the Hulk has to fight through Rock, Redeemer & the Leader to try to deactivate it before it explodes in 2 hours.