ACW #610 – Deadman
Action Comics Weekly #610 (Deadman)
“Catfight”
Writer – Mike Baron
Pencils – Dan Jurgens
Inks – Tony DeZuniga
Letters – Steve Haynie
Colors – Liz Berube
Editor – Barbara Randall
It’s time for Deadman… who is, as you can see, this week’s “cover boy”. Not sure why I haven’t been pointing that out each week when we discuss the feature who also has the cover. Wow, I’m sure I could have worded that better… but, I’ll leave it as is so I can laugh at myself later on.
Last week, this feature was mostly used as a way for Mike Baron to poke fun at the Reagans… let’s hope he got that all out of his system.
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We open with Deadman (as Raisa Gorbacheva) about to blast… uh, Satan (as Nancy Reagan) with that Mayan gun. Wow, talk about sentences I’d never think I’d ever get to write. Mikhail Gorbachev rushes over to settle his “wife” down, at which time, “Nancy” saunters off to chew the fat with a Hollywood exec. I mean… what? Anyhoo, “Raisa” takes aim… and fires… hitting the Producer instead of the Devil.
At this point, Deadman vacates Raisa’s body… and happens across our old friend, Major Kasaba! He decides to possess her and chat up our other old friend, the Director of the C.I.A., Stan Whatshisface! He tells her that the “entity” is at the party… and that they’ll need to brief the President ASAP. “Kasaba” makes an excuse to head home and change clothes before the midnight briefing.
Back at her apartment, Deadman vacates her body… and, check this out… she can feel his presence. She asks for a “sign”, and so he pops back into her body and scribbles a note on the mirror… before vacating once again.
Realizing this “line by line” approach is a bigger pain-in-the-butt than he’d first imagined, Deadman heads out into the hallway and possesses another Peon so they can have an actual discussion. He informs her that “the entity” from the Jar is actually…. Satan! She ain’t really buyin’ it.
But then… Stan enters the room! Well, it’s actually Satan in the body of Stan, but why split hairs? Anyhoo, he confirms Deadman’s story, and introduces himself as the Devil. But then… D.B. Cooper enters the room! Heyyy, the gang’s all here… only one missing is Talaoc! D.B. informs the room that… well, he’s not actually D.B. Cooper.
First, he shrinks Stan down to the size of a “Ken Doll”… and plainly states that the entity is not the Devil… just a devil… a minor one, named Yakin. And the reason he knows this, is because… he’s Yakin’s Boss!
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So… how many more parts is this? Looks like our handy ACW triptych (below) shows this as having two more parts. Okay, then. This is really starting to drag on, innit?
But… at least we’ve finally met our “big bad”. Oh man, at least I hope this is the big bad… not sure I can take another “nyah-ha-ha” reveal. Also, I was pleased that they shuffled the Reagans and Gorbachevs off the stage early this time out… though, naturally, not before making Ron and Nancy look like complete clowns.
The “D.B. Cooper” as Satan reveal does bring up some questions… like, how did so many entities bust out of the Sumerian Jar, when we were told from the start that entities could only leave on a one-to-one exchange? Maybe I read that wrong, but I could’ve sworn that was a part of the deal. Though, I suppose it could all be summed up and wiped away by saying “The Devil is a liar”.
I will say that I did like Major Kasaba and Deadman’s ever-so-brief chat. I thought it was cool that she was able to “sense” his presence… and realize that he might have some of the answers she was looking for. Not sure if Kasaba ever appears outside of this little arc, but she’s definitely been a neat “cast member” throughout.
Overall… the arc’s getting a little long(er) in the tooth, and has (so far) done in ten chapters what it could have done in six. Art’s great though!
Tomorrow: Bow to the S!
