ACW #612 – Green Lantern

Action Comics Weekly #612 (Green Lantern)
“Mind Over Matter”
Writer – Peter David
Art – Tod Smith
Colors – Anthony Tollin
Letters – Albert DeGuzman
Assistant Editor – Dan Raspler
Editor – Denny O’Neil

Welcome to Week 12… where, the times, they will be a’changing!  We’ll be bidding adieu to a couple of our ACW stalwarts… so, watch this space next week for a more eclectic collection!


In other news…


Y’all ever hear of HeroClix?  I remember them first coming out sometime around the turn of the century… and I also remember buying the first “pack” of em.  It’s probably still in my garage somewhere.  Anyhoo, it’s basically a game where you pit miniatures against one another… least as far as I can tell, I’ve never actually played it.  I don’t think there’s a solitaire version, and I don’t have all that many friends.  Heck, the very few I do would probably run for the hills if I tried handing them a miniature Spider-Man on a spinning dial!


So, yeah… I bought this “starter box”, it was probably $20 or so, and it was guaranteed to come with a Spider-Man.  It was only Marvel at the start.  Along with Spidey, you’d (or I’d) get a few more wildly vital characters in the Marvel Universe… a Hydra Soldier, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent… ooh boy!  Guess ya gotta sell them Booster packs by any means necessary!


Anyhoo, that was my only toe-dip into the HeroClix universe… until last week.  Picture it, I’m walking through a shop, minding my own business… when, what to my wondering eyes should appear:

… a Vartox Week Miracle, no matter what time of the year!


If you’re wondering what #VartoxWeek is… you can find links to it all over this site, including… right here:

The quick and short of it is, I took a month-long “week” to celebrate the Bronze Age character, Vartox.  What started as sort of a “funny, ha-ha” turned into gaining a real affection and respect for the guy.  If you find yourself with a free hour or two, you can work your way through the pieces and see just who and what this character is!


Speaking of #VartoxWeek, I did save a few of his “lesser” appearances out of last year’s celebration… so, perhaps if I play my scheduling cards right… we might find ourselves with a Return to Vartox Week at some point in 2019!


As for the ‘Clix… I bought the bugger, probably paid too much… and he’s at home, comfortably stood next to a………… Manhunter.

—

Picking up where we left off, Hal has been zapped by that “Mind Games” satellite, just as Lt. Rensaleer finds the “Mind Games” note!  A maddened Hal lunges at the Lieutenant, and pins him to the ground.  Rensaleer strikes back with an ear-clap, that puts a bit of space between them.  Hal points his ring in his direction… emerald energy pouring off of it.

Back at the station, that modelling agent is still trying to sell Arisia on signing on with her agency.  In order to “seal the deal”, she suggests Arisia could become the next Cory Anders.  Hey, we know her!

Back in the alley, Hal goes to blast the Lieutenant… but his ring doesn’t seem to want to cooperate!  He’s certain that it’s charged, but for whatever reason, it refuses to fire.  Hal then freaks out, and begins flapping his arms… as though he’s trying to fly, and forgotten how!

Rensaleer chases Hal out of the alley, tackling him.  A stray dog wanders over to the Mind Games note… and, uh, lifts his leg over it.  At this point Hal goes back to normal, and hasn’t the foggiest clue what’s been going on.

After cooling their jets for a bit, Hal and the Lt. catch the evening news broadcast.  Some nutjob busts in on the station, and demands $500,000 on behalf of… Mind Games.  To prove his power, he claims that, for a two-minute period, Mind Games will turn one-tenth of Chicago’s population insane.  I feel like there’s a real easy joke to be made there, but we’ll let it go.

Those two-minutes begin, and one of the “crazies” turns out to be, Cynthia Whatsherface, the modeling agent!  While out to dinner discussing the finer details of a potential modelling contract, she lunges across the table at Arisia, and attempts to stab her with… a spoon.  Well, that was a lucky break!

At this point, Hal realizes that he could just use his ring to track where the crazy beams are emanating from… and follows them to a large satellite dish, which he destroys.  He enters a nearby building, and runs into a man… who we can only assume is Mind Games.  Ol’ Emm-Gee hammers Hal with a mind-blast!

—

I’m going to give y’all a peek behind the curtain here.  I’ve had this synopsis written for like a week… and have just been dragging my feet in writing up my thoughts and “review”.  There’s just nothing really to say, is there?  It was my hope that something would come to mind… some sort of discussion thread would reveal itself… buuuuut, nope.


I mean, we’re building to something… and next week’s installment will be a ton more interesting than this… but for now?  It’s just kinda “there”.  I suppose we could wonder why Hal never thought to follow the psycho-waves before now?  Why the ring didn’t pick up on a “disturbance in the force”… but, yawn, why?


It is what it is… and what it is, is kinda weak.  Don’t worry though, next week we will kick things up a notch, and have quite a bit of fun digging around in Hal’s dome!


Tomorrow: The Senses-Shattering, Scintillating, Shocking, Satisfying final installment of the Secret Six!  Boy, hope I didn’t oversell that…