Random Back Issues #96 - El Diablo #5

Yeah, we don't have time for sustained mob beatings in the U.S., so we just shoot people.

We looked at the issue prior to this back in May, so let's jump into part 2 of "The Storm"!

The issue opens on a funeral, and El Diablo being a little snippy with the pastor he visited last issue. The situation of the missing children has only gotten worse. It doesn't start that way, as Rafe describes the city's initial reaction to word of a serial killer as 'pulling together', but that doesn't last. 

Rafe tries to organize a local neighborhood watch with local activist Olga Zamora, but it gets hung up in concerns about funding with the city government being on break through the holidays. So El Diablo turns to the "Los Diablos", a group of teenagers that helped him out before. He wants them to ask people in the neighborhoods if they've seen anything. Problem being, people in those neighborhoods don't like talking to cops, or anyone. The fact the Hispanic segment of the city's population doesn't trust the cops (who could have guessed) comes up more than once in the issue.

Rafe's cop buddy in charge of the investigation, Austin, is pushing himself to solve the case, while Zamora asks him to his face if there would be more progress if it was white kids being killed rather than brown. Which only makes Austin more determined, as he's already worried about his kids, who are mixed-race. Rafe tries to get funding for the neighborhood watch at a council meeting, but gets sideswiped by the corporate bagman, Councilman Thorn, and the matter is knocked down the agenda. The mayor's aide, Virginia, doesn't help by criticizing Rafe for getting adversarial with Thorn. Right, where's Rafe's bipartisan spirit? He should reach across the aisle so Thorn can really land a good punch on his nose.

Then one of the missing kids is found buried in an abandoned lot. The crime scene gets messed up by a bunch of people, Austin makes a dumb comment about it, the father of one of the victims takes a swing at him, the other cops respond with their typical restraint, everybody's angry. The neighborhood watch idea falls apart. Zamora tells Rafe families are moving back to Mexico where it's safer, theorizing this is all a plan to get these folks out so their low-income housing can be razed in favor of that commercial development. Boy, it'd almost be nice if that was the case. Then El Diablo could punch Thorn, and the Mayor, who is too busy meeting with developers to listen to Rafe's warning that this theory is gaining strength in parts of the city.

The Los Diablos are frustrated, too, but Artemio gets a lead on a guy. Lonnie March, the 'perfect suspect.' El Diablo convinces them to call it in as an anonymous tip, and March gets arrested. The crowd waits outside the police station for official word, getting angrier the longer they wait. But the victim had skin under their fingernails, and the DNA doesn't match. March even has good alibis, so Austin has to go out and explain that yep, they let the guy go.

The grieving father leads a mob back to March's place, including Artemio and another of Los Diablos. Zamora is outside the station, demanding answers and implying there's a cover-up, then is stunned when the crowd opts for mob violence. She even asks Austin if this is what he wanted, so I can't tell if she's disingenuous or a fucking idiot. I think Jones is just trying to write her as someone always seeing conspiracies, so we aren't supposed to take her seriously, but I don't know.

March tries to run and is seconds from getting beat to death when, first El Diablo and then the cops show up. A couple of the crowd get arrested, the killer is still unknown, and everybody is really pissed now. El Diablo's frustrated with himself for disappearing so the cops couldn't question him, and fears all that's been accomplished is make the situation worse. He's not wrong!

{4th longbox, 52nd comic, El Diablo #5, by Gerard Jones (writer), Mike Parobeck (penciler), John Nyberg (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), Tim Harkins (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #85 - El Diablo #4

Don't ascribe to moral paralysis what could easily just be shitty refereeing. Also, because I'm a nerd, I looked it up. The Oilers beat the Steelers both times they faced them in the regular season in 1989 (though the closest game to Christmas was December 3rd), but naturally lost in OT in the playoffs. The Run n' Shoot always crapped out when it really mattered.

It's a none-too-happy Christmas in the town of Dos Rios, and not just because the Houston Oilers are getting hosed in their game against the damn Steelers. The fellas' bonding time is interrupted by a group of children performing the La Posada, which is apparently kids pretending to be Joseph and Mary looking for shelter for 9 nights, only to be turned away. Seems weird anyone who would participate would want to be the ones who refuse to offer shelter to the parents of Jesus, but I'm not religious, what do I know?

Before anyone can hardly get back in their seats, there's another interruption, this time because the kids found a dead child. Yeesh. Hector and the others would love to contact El Diablo, but it's been weeks since the end of issue 3, and nobody's seen him since.

Meanwhile, in the Mayor's office, a heated argument between Councilman Thorn, and Ms. Zamora, leader of a citizens' group. There's a proposal to tear down some low-income housing near the river and turn it into a commercial development. Mayor Tommy's folksy, homespun approach fails to cool tempers, so he dumps the responsible of forming an advisory committee on the issue on Rafael Sandoval (El Diablo's) shoulders. Fun. 

Tommy frames it as a chance for Rafe to build a coalition of his own. Rafe points out whichever way it goes, Tommy won't take heat for either kicking poor people out of their homes or costing the city income. Really, Tommy thinks having Rafe do him a favor will actually make Rafe feel indebted to him, which is the sort of logic I'd expect from a politician.

Rafe's visit to his parents' home is cut short when he sees the news bulletin about the murder. He's got a friend on the force who is feeling frustrated over this whole thing and reveals there have been three disappearances lately. So the dead kid doesn't bode well. He also doesn't trust El Diablo, or think they should put any faith in him.

While Rafe's busy meeting with Ms. Zamora and the tenants of the riverwalk section, another child gets abducted outside a convenience store. Rafe finds out while almost getting kissed by Tommy's aide, Virginia (or "Dixie"). He goes, in costume, to speak with the head of the parish. Turns out he's got a bit of performance anxiety. Is being a vigilante is the best way to achieve results, or should he stick to being a politician? Diablo feels the needs to fight the horror in the world with, 'something more than budgets and zoning ordinances.' Well yeah, you don't fight horror with other horrors. Either way, kind of unusual to see a superhero who takes a break for reasons like that. Normally the breaks are necessary convalescence from being badly injured.

By issue's end, El Diablo's on the case, but the situation is going to get more heated before it gets better. Violence, panic, angry mobs, accusations of police corruption. To be fair, those aren't things you can fight with zoning ordinances, either.

[4th longbox, 51st comic. El Diablo #4, by Gerard Jones (writer), Mike Parobeck and John Nyberg (artists), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), Tim Harkins (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #178

 

"Those Puns Are the Wurst," in Elongated Man #4, by Gerard Jones (writer), Mike Parobeck (penciler), Ty Templeton (inker), Rick Taylor (colorist), Bob Pinaha (letterer)

I think this might be the one of only two titles in my entire comic collection written by Gerard Jones, and it comes up two weeks after the other one. Well, same warnings apply as mentioned in Sunday Splash Page #176 regarding Jones.

Set during Ralph's time on Justice League Europe, the story involves some mysterious party trying to disrupt a big European Unity conference, through the magic of nation-specific super-villains. Like the sausage-wielding German guys up above. Ralph loves a mystery, leaving Sue increasingly annoyed as he ignores her to, from her perspective, chase phantoms. Which grants an opening for the ruler of Modora, who seems to have a lot of the same weapons as the villain Sonar, to try and woo her.

I've heard Ralph and Sue compared to William Powell and Myrna Loy from the Thin Man movies, and I can sort of see it. Although I think Sue is Powell, where she doesn't really want any part of this crime-solving stuff but keeps finding herself in the middle of it. Ralph, who is ready to jump into action at the hint of anything suspicious, seems more like Loy. Either way, the whole thing is kind of charming and sweet.

Parobeck's art here is far closer to what I think most fans think of. Much more streamlined, fewer and stronger lines than in El Diablo. Some of that might be Templeton as inker. Not having seen Parobeck's pencils on their own, I don't know for sure. Very expressive, and with Taylor's colors, not too grim or serious. It fits with the overall tone of the story, which is ultimately just some second-rate Doctor Doom trying to protect his little kingdom from the dangers of working together for greater economic strength. For its own good, of course.

Sunday Splash Page #176

 

"Knock Before Entering," in El Diablo #2, by Gerard Jones (writer), Mike Parobeck (penciler), John Nyberg (inker), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), Willie Schubert (letterer)

I picked this up in a dollar bin search a few years back. About the time series writer Gerard Jones was being sentenced to six years in jail for possession and distribution of child pornography. I tend to assume the comic fans who read this blog are more aware of stuff like that than me (I hadn't heard probably a year after I bought this), but if you weren't, and it's a deal-breaker on having interest in this book, figured I should mention it up front.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to segue from that to talking about the book itself, but it felt weird to put that at the end, like "oh yeah, by the way. . ." Start with the bare facts, then. El Diablo ran 16 issues from fall of 1989 until the end of 1990. DC had an earlier character with the name, a Western hero created in the early 1970s, possessed by a vengeful spirit. And there's the later, pyrokinetic one that was in the Suicide Squad movie.

This version is non-powered city councilman named Rafael Sandoval, who uses his experience boxing to become a vigilante when he grows frustrated with the lack of help investigating some fires. Which probably explains why he's gotten the least traction outside his own series of the three. "Frustrated, civic-minded politician" doesn't quite stoke the imagination like "possessed gunslinger" or "remorseful firebug gang leader". Even if the energetic young politician being waylaid by the older, more comfortable members of his own party is depressingly relevant today.

Jones writes Sandoval as idealistic, but aware of the compromises and need for support that come with politics. The series takes place in a town called Dos Rios, close to the Texas/Mexico border. So racial tensions come into play a lot, especially during a multi-issue story about a series of child abductions. Everybody loves pointing fingers! Sandoval sometimes feels he's just a pawn in the mayor's (a good-old boy Democrat) attempts to court Hispanic votes. Sounds too intelligent for Democrats to me, but maybe.

We're still a few years away from Parobeck working as an artist on the Batman Adventures comics, or The Fly series for Impact!, or even his Justice Society work. His art isn't quite to that streamlined, very clean look we'd see on those books yet. That might be due to Nyberg's inks, although you see hints of the future look here and there. In the more exaggerated expressions, or sometimes the characters in the background, where there isn't going to be as much detail. (The mayor, who spends a lot of time with a big "aw shucks" smile definitely would have fit in Parobeck's later work.) Or it might be Parobeck feeling the book needs a somewhat more realistic look. The colors on El Diablo also aren't nearly as bright as they were on those books, but this is a different kind of book.

The series remains decidedly street-level. Other than El Diablo, the only other costumed type that shows up is the version of Vigilante that was a movie cowboy, not the owner of a chain of fried chicken restaurants. It's the late '80s, so drugs crop up a lot. Not just moving them across the border or selling them, but the crime that arises from addicts looking for money to buy more drugs. Immigration comes up in a string of dead workers not entering the borders through official channels. 

The series comes back repeatedly to the notion of community. El Diablo ends up with a small group of teenagers that agree to help for one reason or another, and the series deals with the fact they aren't always going to agree amongst themselves about what to do.

Batman Adventures Volume 3

I've been buying the collections of The Batman Adventures series of comics based on the '90s cartoon over the last year or so. They've been hit-or-miss. There'll be some really good issues interspersed among the merely OK or forgettable ones. But for the price, it's solid value.

Volume 4 just came out early last month, but I haven't gotten that yet, so I'm looking at Volume 3 instead, since it's the only one I have handy. It covers issues 21-27 of the series, plus an Annual. The Annual leads things off, with a series of short stories mostly related to the question of whether any of Batman's foes will ever be rehabilitated, with each story illustrated by a different artist (including Dan DeCarlo drawing a nearly silent one about Harley Quinn, a page from which is there on the right). The Ventriloquist story by Mike Parobeck and Matt Wagner is sad, but I find most Ventriloquist stories to be sad, just because Wesker seems such a pitiable figure.. This is a well done sad story, though. Still, the "Froggy" persona he uses as an expression of his good side is touching. Part of me wishes Bats had stomped Scarface to pieces the moment he started calling for the "Dummy" again, but I guess Wesker has to make the choice himself.

I said mostly related because the Joker story, drawn by John Byrne and inked by Rich Burchett doesn't look at the Joker attempting to go straight at all. Rather, it looks at what he does when he's not on some big scheme (as it starts with Mistah J falling out of a blimp after failing to clock Batman with a wrench), and the Joker making a meandering path through the Gotham streets, causing chaos and death casually as he goes. If it's dealing with the possibility of whether there's hope for the Joker - and it may not be, it's after the conclusion of the framing sequence for the other stories, which dealt with whether Roxie Rocket was genuine in her claims of going straight - the answer it gives is "NO". Which is maybe not the best answer to give in that case, since then there's the question of, "Well maybe someone needs to go ahead and kill him, if he's never going to turn back from this," and that's a pretty tired discussion none of us really wants to go through again, right? The body language Byrne and Burchett give him in the story is excellent, though. The bored expression as he munches on a donut and explains to the guy behind the counter that his sweat is activating the Joker toxin in the funny money Joker handed him is great work, and chilling for how casual it makes the whole thing for him. It's as largely irrelevant to him as someone stopping you on the street to ask the time. Really, the whole way the Joker goes about that sequence is kind of an encapsulation of why I like Animated Series Joker. He goes out of his way to act as though he's just foolin' around, don't worry about him. He even pays the guy, and then stands there and watches him die before strolling out the door. The charm and the casual murder, and how hilarious he finds the whole thing is terrifying.

Outside of that, most of the other issues are in that "merely OK to forgettable" range I mentioned. There's one with the Man-Bat and that scientist who turned Catwoman into an actual catlady once. One where Batman needs Poison Ivy's help deriving an antidote to save a poisoned foreign president. Batman teams up with Mullet Superman in one issue, and Robin and Batgirl team up in the next. Again, none of them are bad, but none of them are great. I liked issue 22, where Batman thinks he understands Two-Face's compulsion to flip the coin and puts it to the test, but Two-Face's plan doesn't really make much sense. He breaks some guys out of one prison to start building a gang, then uses them to break into another prison to free some more guys he wants in the gang. Except it gets all his guys pinched. I'm sure he wasn't banking on the cops waiting for him, but it's hard to see what his endgame was. He wants to get Rupert Thorne, well the longer he waits, the better prepared Thorne will be.

My personal favorite was issue 27, where Batman tries to help a former Olympic athlete turned Batman cope with the loss of his wife in a mob hit. Batman understands the anger driving the man, of course, but tries to help him find something other than fighting crime to give his life meaning. Which suggests Batman recognizes his life is not something other people should try to copy (which then brings up the question of his sidekicks, but I guess Bruce Wayne is also providing them with a surrogate family that he didn't have, Alfred's best efforts aside). But the killer is called back to Gotham from where he's hiding in South America (that part I wasn't clear on, because I had thought Batman arranged to get him brought back through a false note. Except Bats told Alfred he was going to South America to get the guy, which means Rupert Thorne really did just happen to ask him to return just then?), and Dalton catches sight of him on the street, and winds up captured.

Parobeck and Burchett really sell Dalton's anguish with the art, because anytime we see him around the killer, he's in the fury, teeth clenched, eyes burning, and if he's not lunging for them man's throat, he's snapping ropes or throwing off whoever if trying to hold him back. It seems almost too much, but at the end, there's a moment where Dalton is holding onto a pipe in this crumbling building. It's all that's keeping him from going splat on the ground below, but the killer is holding desperately to Dalton's legs. And he lets go with one hand, and you know he's about to let go with the second. And Parobeck and Burchett at first give him this scowling expression, brow is furrowed, bit of a frown, but mostly just determined to see this done. It's really the first panel on the next page that catches my eye. When Batman calls to him and says not to do it, because Dalton seems completely calm in that one. Not angry, not joyful or sad, but possibly at peace with however this turns out. It's an extremely understated expression after all the larger ones he had up to then, so it always stands out. This is one of those times I really needed a scanner, because I'm not doing this justice.

So I don't know if I would recommend getting the entire trade, if you could just find the Annual and issue #27 separately, but the collection isn't a bad route to go if you find it for a reasonable price. Parobeck and Burchett are good enough artists to probably be worth the price on their own, and most of Puckett's stories at least have the core of a good idea, even if they don't always seem enough to fill the whole issue.

I also want to mention that Siskoid's doing reviews of each issue of The Batman Adventures as part of his current series looking at DC's Animated side of things, and he just went over each of the issues in this collection individually a couple of weeks ago.