ACW #606 – Blackhawk

Action Comics Weekly #606 (Blackhawk)
“Another Fine War, Part 6”
Writer – Mike Grell
Pencils – Rick Burchett
Inks – Pablo Marcos
Letters – Steve Haynie
Colors – Tom Ziuko
Editor – Mike Gold

When last we left Blackhawk, the gang was getting ready to dine…


… and, wow, that’s a lousy pre-ramble, innit?  Like I’ve said a few times already, the Action Comics Daily format doesn’t really jive with the “old style” of Pre-rambling.


In the interest of putting… well, anything at all up here… I’ll share what I had for dinner last night.  I mean, it’s only fair… Janos and Cynthia are eatin’!

That there’s a Parmesan Chicken Burger… and it’s one of the go-to meals in the Sheehan house.  Since I am a bored and boring specimen, I’ll throw a quick and dirty recipe for the burgers down below all the stuff I figure most of you came here for.


Speaking of which…


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We rejoin Janos and the gang as they dine.  He’s pleading the case for Red Dragon to close up shop at this remote jungle palace, and maybe head back into the real world.  She isn’t all that keen to the idea, and doesn’t believe for a moment that Blackhawk and Cynthia just “happened” upon her location.  To which, Janos suggests… if that were true, things are a lot worse for her than she thinks.  See, if Cynthia and Janos know about this place… Lord only knows who else does as well!  He’s definitely got a point!  He then mocks Massie for being a little too “low class” for Sheah… which prompts a brief skirmish between the two fellas.

Janos manages to hurt his hand… on Massie’s jaw, and so, Sheah takes him off to treat it.  Cynthia takes this opportunity to retire to the guest quarters to sulk.  Soon, she is joined by Massie… who informs her that now that Blackhawk and Red Dragon are getting all chummy-chummy, the two of them are about to become expendable.

We shift scenes to Sheah and Janos, as the former wraps the hand of the latter.  They flirt a little bit, with Sheah revealing that Robert Massie is only a “diversion” for now.  Then, they start making out… and, well, we cut away… so, we can probably just assume what happens next.

Back in Cynthia’s room, Massie continues to plead his case.  Heck, he even offers to join Cynthia in whatever escape plan she and Janos might have!  Ya see, he’s really starting to freak out… because he’s already seen what the Red Dragon does with her “castoffs”.

We wrap up… in the afterglow.  It looks like ol’ Janos was able to, uh, convince Sheah to head back into civilization with all of her riches.  The thing of it is, though… she’s not 100% sure she can trust him… so, there will be strings attached.  For one thing, Cynthia Hastings will have to stay behind!

—

Fan-tas-tic!


This was a great chapter.  I know I wasn’t as hot on last week’s outing… but, as I’d said, I respect it for “putting in the work”.  Actually taking the time to introduce some foundational elements and setting the stage for the next “act” is something that I feel is missing from many “current year” comics.  People these days just want to write/draw the pivotal scenes they’ve got in their head… without devoting the proper amount of effort (that is to say, any) to allow the reader to properly “invest”… which, in a way, torpedoes the desired impact of the scene they’re dying to write in the first place.  Does that make sense?  I swear it does in my head… but seeing it written out like that, I must come off like a loon.


Anyhoo… let’s get out last week, and into this one!  I’m not sure what I was expecting the first time I set to read this Blackhawk feature, but it certainly wasn’t this complex story, complete with such smart dialogue.


Just looking at the first page… Red Dragon is sure that Janos and Cynthia didn’t just “stumble” upon her palace… and attempts to use that against them.  To which, Janos is all “Well, you’d best hope we just stumbled upon ya… otherwise, there are a lot of folks who know about this place!”  Such an awesome little exchange!  It’s no-nonsense, and absolutely makes its point.


Janos takes it a step further, comparing Massie to an old pick-up truck… and himself as a Rolls Royce.  I thought it was pretty funny how, just that simple line got under Massie’s skin enough for him to… ya know, pull a knife and lunge across the table!  Grell does justify that extreme behavior later on… Massie’s seen what happens to Sheah’s “castoffs” when she’s done with them… and, he’s likely not keen on becoming one of them.


I’m tellin’ ya… this whole thing is so well done.


The cliffhanger is as strong as ever.  There’s another thing Grell has done exceptionally well throughout this arc.  Janos thinks he’s got it all figured out… and he’s found a way to get the treasure… and, maybe the girl too… and then, that other shoe drops!  Sheah tells him that Cynthia Hastings has to remain.  Such good stuff!


Overall, I’m gonna be honest with ya… I’m definitely going to miss this feature when it’s “on hiatus”.  We’ve only got two more chapters… after which, the Action Comics Weekly experience might just become a whole lot poorer.


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Recipe:


I’ve never written a recipe before, and I’ve never been accused of being all that great at explaining things… so, we’ll give this a try together:

First, grab a bowl… crack an egg, and scramble it with a small splash of water.  Then, add 1/3 cup of Parmesan Cheese… I’m using the packaged “dust” style… though, you could probably grate your own.  Next, add 1/2 cup of Breadcrumbs.  I used Panko… I’ve only ever used Panko for this recipe, so I can’t say how well regular crumbs might work.

Next, grab an onion… and a grater.  We’re going to sorta-kinda “milk” the onion… as foul as that might sound.  I usually take about 1/2 or 1/3 of a medium-sized onion… and grate until my eyes water.  That’s when I know it’s enough.

Toss that onion juice to the bowl (or better yet, just grate the thing over the bowl), add some garlic.  I didn’t have any fresh, so I used some minced garlic from the squeeze bottle.  Then, I add about a half-palmful of Basil.  I very seldom measure spices “the right way”… but, it’s probably around a tablespoon.  Hit it with Salt and Pepper, then…

Ground Chicken.  You could probably toss a couple of chicken breasts into a food processor, or just use the pre-ground stuff.  That’s what we’re doing here.

Mix everything together until it gets nice and gross-looking.  Your fingers will be pretty nasty too.  A lot of times, I’ll get up to this step earlier in the day, wrap it in saran wrap, and just toss it in the refrigerator until I’m ready to use it…

… but last night I made it right before dinner.  The recipe makes four patties… though, if you’re making sliders, you could probably get eight.

From here, you can throw ’em on your hot grill… or, if you’re a hermit like me, who doesn’t even want to venture into his backyard… toss ’em on a heated grill-pan.  I usually sear ’em for a minute or two… then turn them 90-degrees to get nice grill marks.  Cover the pan, let’em cook for about 4-5 minutes… then flip.

They look far less gross at this point… and a bit more like actual food.  Let ’em cook for a few minutes longer, and that’s all she wrote.

I’ll usually throw some French-Fried Onions and Chipotle BBQ Sauce on it, but you do you.  If anyone reading ever gives this a shot, lemme know how it came out!


Tomorrow: The big ol’ #606 Post-n-Poll!