ACW #621 – Blackhawk
Action Comics Weekly #621 (Blackhawk)
“It’s Not the Heat, it’s the Futility”
Writer – Martin Pasko
Art – Rick Burchett
Letters – Steve Haynie
Colors – Tom Ziuko
Editor – Mike Gold
When last we left Janos and Company, our main man was… uh, knockin’ boots. Well, I don’t think they were wearing boots (or much of anything), but you know what I’m sayin’…
Let’s check back in for the “afterglow”.
—
We open with a trio of Blackhawks (Carlo, Olaf, and Weng) tied up above steaming peppercorn boil pots by Mssr. Van der Houten. He’s hopeful that the intense discomfort they’re about to be in might loosen their lips a bit. They (attempt to) assure him that they’re just hired hands. Leslie Richardson gave them a gig… and they’re here on his behalf. VdH ain’t buyin’ it…
Back at the Ruins, Jan and Alice get dressed. She informs him that Van der Houten has a seismograph that tells him that Chekhov’s Volcano is going to erupt within a matter of days… and the reason he put them in the ruins was to… loosen their lips a bit. This baddie definitely has a gimmick, don’t he? He’s a regular chubby Scarecrow.
Back in the hot house, Weng realizes that if he’s able to swing hard enough, he might just be able to break through a nearby window and give the gang some much-needed relief from the heat. He does just that.
He also manages to catch a shard of glass with his teeth, with which, he cuts through his bindings. This Weng is quite a dude!
Back to the Ruins, where “Leslie” is finally roused. He refers to Alice as “Marcia”… the hell? Well, it turns out that both of these folks aren’t who we thought they were. “Alice” is Marcia Rossiter, and “Leslie” is her brother, Steve Claiborne. They are part of the Central Intelligence Group.
Marcia whispers to Janos that her brother Steve might just beat the crap out of him… which, man… I wanna see him try! I’d like nothing more than seeing Jan put this dude flat on his back!
We jump over to Van der Houten’s mansion, where… for some reason, Andre is resting in a bed. Well, never let it be said that VdH isn’t a fair captor. Andre “wows” a nurse with the size of his member… just as he’s being sentenced to death in another room. Oh well.
We wrap up with Jan, Steve, and Marcia leaving the Ruins. They’re spotted by one of VdH’s men, who calls it in!
—
Alrighty… some questions finally get answered here.
Things are still a little bit nebulous… we’re still a bit unsure about the importance of the Japanese jet… but, I’m assuming we’ll be filled in soon enough. I’m glad we’re finally clearing up the Alice/Leslie deal though.
With that in mind, I’m hopeful that Jan eventually flattens Steve. This dude just rubs me the wrong way… and Marcia’s teasing that her big bro might take exception to Janos really bugged me.
Let’s put a pin in that and look at the rest of the team. These are a fun group of guys! I love Weng being a crazy man, and managing to save their bacon while strung up in a Dozier-esque deathtrap. That was a lot of fun. Also, Andre taking every opportunity to… uh, physically flirt? Very fun stuff.
If our ending blurb is to be believed, it looks like next week Chekhov’s Volcano will finally erupt… which is fitting, as next week is the final chapter of this arc. Boy, that went fast! Really looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out!
Tomorrow: Wrapping up the first half of Action Comics Daily!
