What I Bought 6/20/2025 - Part 2

I was looking ahead to July, and at the moment, it looks like 2 books out that I'd want every week of the month. Assuming I want to keep buying today's selection, that is.

Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #3, by Ram V (writer), Anand RK and Jackson Guice (artists), Mike Spicer (colorist), Aditya Bidikar (letterer) - That cover feels like the collage project I tried to do for art in 10th grade.

So, in this story, Mitch and the guy who would become Vandal Savage were a couple of cavemen who found a weird meteor that changed them. Savage killed Mitch, which obviously didn't take, but Mitch, despite making a spear from the meteor, opted not to respond in kind. Even given the chance to go back and do it differently, Mitch doesn't. And then Savage shows up to challenge Mitch while he's protecting Rhea, the scientist lady in Ivy Town.

Mitch wins the fight, still sticking around, right up until Rhea finishes her project (which looks like a Cosmic Cube.) And Mitch takes the cube with him, because his future/alternate self says it'll be useful. Though he Mitch feels bad about hurting her, of course. In the meantime, Vandal Savage comes across the Japanese general, still looking like a skinned corpse. And when he hears how this game came to be like this, Savage lops off his hand and lets the guy eat it.

I guess Mitch can only see his own timeline and the changes he's wrought. Otherwise, he ought to know what his betrayal did to Rhea, the crap Savage is pulling, and so on. I don't know if he'd change what he did - maybe he'd just not get close to Rhea, lurk in the shadows and wait - but it doesn't seem like this attempt to avert disaster is going great.

Maybe that's not really what Other Mitch is after. I don't know why he needs the cosmic cube for this big plan to save things. I'm not sure he is actually a Mitch Shelly. I'm probably not supposed to doubt that, but Anand mostly keeps his face shadowed by his cloak. There were a couple of panels in issue 2 that you could see more of his face, but other than startlingly blue eyes the same shade as Mitch, the faces are such vaguely defined shapes I wouldn't really say they're identical. I'm probably not meant to be doubting that, but I'm suspicious of cloaked figures speaking in vague portents.

What I Bought 5/8/2025 - Part 2

Today marks the last day people at my job get to work from home, thanks to our dickhead governor. I rarely took advantage of it, because I preferred to keep work at work and out of my home, but it was a real boon to several of my coworkers who have kids or pets or mobility issues.

Now, the new directive says people can still use alternative work locations on a "temporary" and "infrequent" basis, so I have been trying to convince my coworkers that short of a specific definition of those words, they could still work from home 1-2 days a week (infrequent). Do that for a few months (temporary), but then, darn, there are circumstances that mean you need to keep going for another few months (temporary). If circumstances keep colluding to make infrequent work from home necessary, well, what can you do?

I don't think our boss will care, and I'd rather my coworkers were happy and wanted to stay around (because I like most of them, and because if they leave it means even more work for me.) I guess we'll see if any of them take my suggestion and run with it.

Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #2, by Ram V (writer), Anand RK and Jackson Guice (artists), Mike Spicer (colorist), Aditya Bidikar (letterer) - I feel as though the Ouroboros in the skull's eye doesn't bode well for Mitch fixing all this.

So, even though Kagawa was burned up like most of Rabaul when Mitch's power returned in 1945, that little bit of Mitch he ate is somehow keeping him alive. As a hideous, gooey pink corpse-thing, but he can still talk! All his speech balloons are wobbly-lined and the words colored red, so I imagine his voice is an awful thing to hear.

Meanwhile, Mitch (as Mark Seivers) is trying to get to safety, with another new power. He died in a trap of spikes and barbed wire, and now can project those things into and through objects via touch. I gotta say, Ram V is doing a much better job of making Mitch's new powers reflect his previous method of demise than I remember Abnett and Lanning doing. Most of the soldiers escaping with him are afraid, but one, Ashar Singh, extends an offer to Mitch to come home with him.

Mitch goes off alone instead, and the other escapees are found and killed by the Japanese Army shortly after. In the special place with all the gears, the other Mitch tells him that with his new power, he exists in all moments of his life simultaneously, and can go back to change them. Our Mitch doesn't see much point, but remembers how he met his wife, Alize, by the both of them taking a chance they normally wouldn't. So Mitch returns to when he hears the shooting. Still too late to save them, but in time for Ashar to ask him to deliver a letter to his family.

OK, if Mitch can return and change any moment in his life, why didn't he go back a few hours earlier and not head out alone? Then he could have been there to try and protect the escapees. For that matter, why not go back and avoid going to war and being taken prisoner entirely? OK, it doesn't seem like he's twigged to the cause of the problem, but you can't say, "he can step into any moment of his life and change it," and then ignore the obvious ones. Unless we aren't supposed to trust Other Mitch, since he's the one who nudges Our Mitch to make that particular change. Guess we'll see.

Batgirl #7, by Tate Brombal (writer), Isaac Goodhart (artist), Mike Spicer (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) -  Superheroes ridin' a train, guess Batman's outta money again. Or it's a character-building exercise.

The entire issue is Cassandra riding a train, reading a book Shiva wrote of her life while listening to a recording Shiva made of the book (since she wasn't sure how well Cassandra can read.) Basically, Shiva (then Ming-Yue), and her sister Mei-Xing lived their early years on the run with their parents, for reasons the kids were not clear on. They were ambushed in the mountains, the kids fled and reached a monastery, while the parents died fighting.

Flash forward ten years, Shiva's studying martial arts, but doesn't do well controlling her temper or instinct to attack. She also idolizes her older sister. But after Shiva beats up a couple of thugs hassling an old lady (who may be selling blue flower petals clandestinely), the village comes under attack by the same guys that killed their parents. The leader of that group recognizes the girls, says a bunch of cryptic shit about "daughters born of forbidden love", then claims to be their uncle. He's also able to make weapons out of his own blood, which is just unsanitary. The lead monk buys the girls time to escape, they do, and that's where the issue leaves off.

I'm sticking with my theory Shiva's really the one behind the Unburied. One of her allies on the train in issue 4 was a guy who makes weapons and stuff from his blood. Which makes him current leader of the same group that attacked the village in this issue. Which, if the guy leading the Blood in this flashback is to be believed, means Shiva is also a part of that group by heredity. Which certainly makes the fact the current "Bloodmaster" got killed seem like either a bit of delayed revenge, or a clearing of an obstacle.

Goodhart's got a heavier line than Miyazawa, tends to soften and round the faces. But Cassandra's not fighting and the moment, and this is a younger Shiva we're seeing, not the hardened warrior of later years, so it works. And Goodhart makes good use of shadows to make the Blood leader seem more imposing (to the extent a scarred wall of muscle needs that), or to hint at what's boiling beneath the surface inside Shiva.

What I Bought 4/18/2025 - Part 2

The guy unhappy with the guy he let operate under his permit is now unhappy with how I'm attempting to resolve his problem. I mean, I knew he would be, but he's also been griping about wanting the guy gone for over a year, and I've been telling him for over a year I can't break the contract between the two of them, but he keeps griping, so I've taken the one option I am allowed by regulation to take. And he could avert it if he really wanted, but he doesn't.

Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1, by Ram V (writer), Anand RK and Jackson Guice (artists), Mike Spicer (colorist), Aditya Bidikar (letterer) - Mitch Shelly's found himself in a Spirograph dimension.

In reality, Mitch has tried to step away from a life of heroics, settling in with a family and living out his remaining years. He sneaks off his deathbed to die in the woods, and resurrects as a young man again, with the same symbol he's got on his back on the cover.

He's got some power pertaining to time, and that means he's about to get sucked into something big. Someone claiming to be another Mitch Shelly arrives to prepare this Mitch to face some creature that will end the universe. RK draws it as almost angelic in shape, but with a hole in the middle and made of seemingly a bunch of intestines and scaffolding.

Turns out, Mitch is responsible for this, and we're flung into a flashback to 1945, where he was a prisoner of the Japanese army. (Ram V uses the old bit about Hitler using the Spear of Destiny to keep superheroes at bay, so much can be killed and return, but he doesn't get any powers. Which seems inconsistent, without even getting into the notion the Spear is extending its power to the opposite side of the globe.) It looks like, with the war winding down, the commandant of the camp called for a feast, which included killing and eating soldiers. Like Mitch.

Basically, Hitler died and the Spear stopped working as Mitch's corpse was both being immolated, and his organs being eaten by that commandant, and so the guy got some kind of ability. Enough to survive Mitch resurrecting with flame powers and burning Rabaul to the ground, anyway.

I don't know, I thought the deal with Mitch Shelly was, everybody kept thinking he was Vandal Savage's foe, the Immortal Man, but he was actually something entirely different. But I haven't read the first series in years, and aside from having the artist, Jackson Guice, draw the intro page, I have no idea how much Ram V's following that versus the New 52 version, or something else entirely. Or if he's using anything beyond the basic concept of "guy gets new power every time he dies."

The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #1, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I thought the English were supposed to be good at boats.

Shauna's getting to borrow her uncles narrowboat to travel the English canals. She gets as far as Barton-on-Wendle, before a shoddy job of mooring, results in extensive - and expensive - damage. Now she needs the job to gets the moneys to fix the boat, or she's sunk.

After the requisite nervous breakdown, rendered beautifully by Sarin, a local poet - sporting Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 hair, true sign of a goober - helps her out. His mother owns a quilting supply shop, and needs someone who can make tea, make change, and put stuff in a bag, presumably without burning down the store. Shauna can almost certainly do those things!

I especially like that, when the confidence fades and desperation sets in, Sarin goes back to Shauna turning into a drippy, massive tear, as she did during her earlier breakdown. She's one road hazard away from complete mental collapse at all times, just like me!

The issue ends with someone lighting the car of the shop owner on fire. Or perhaps cars in England spontaneously combust often. Did England embrace the Ford Pinto as the peak of automotive design? I certainly hope not, they could at least go for a tempo. There's an '80s car that can. . .almost certainly get you up a small hill faster than a walking pace!

As you can see, the appearance of more Allison/Sarin comics has put me in a fine mood. Until that next road hazard, then I'm down like an old factory being demolished for hipster coffee bars and overpriced loft apartments.

They'll Let Just Anyone Into Heaven These Days

This didn't occur to me until I was doing the Year In Review posts, but Original Recipe Mitch Shelly caught a break.

When the Mitch we'd been following through the series was told it was time to go, with either Suriel or the other fellow, he handed them the Evil Mitch, the one who ran the Lab instead. The reasoning being they needed the soul of Mitch Shelly to balance the books, and this guy was Mitch Shelly, too, and just so happened to have a soul. And Suriel took him. Not happily, but she did it. The Resurrection Man found the loophole and exploited it.

However, that means Evil Mitch wound up in Heaven. That's who Suriel works for, that's where she believed she sent Good Mitch in issue 5. So the original Mitch, who was such a scumbag even Deathstroke could barely tolerate working for him, went to Heaven.

I noted once that based on the Spectre's arbitrary and nonsensical decisions on who to take vengeance on (ignoring the Joker or Luthor in favor of his human host's son), God in the DCU must be an idiot. If this Shelly situation is any indication, things aren't any better in the new DCU.

First Impressions Are Everything

I've read both volumes of Resurrection Man by now, the original and the nu52. Both of them had a common stumbling block for me. I was never interested in Mitch's search for his past.

That's not entirely accurate, since I was interested in things like where his powers came from, why his soul was so coveted, things like that. But Mitch seemed more interested in learning who he had been before his memory loss, and that didn't matter to me at all. I thought the first volume picked up significantly once Abnett and Lanning established Mitch had been a sleazy lawyer who got killed when he started to change his mind, because once they covered that, they could move on.

I'm not sure why I wasn't invested in those plotlines, but my guess is because I didn't think it mattered. Mitch kept learning he hadn't been a particularly nice fellow. A real bastard in the nu52, actually. Sort of. So what? By the time we learn that, we've had issues of him using his powers t help others. We can see he isn't like that any longer, and I already like. I'm not inclined to stop liking because of stuff he did some time in the past before we were introduced to the character. If regaining his memories has produced some demonstrable change in Mitch's behavior, it might have been different, but he typically processes the information, then goes on as he was before.

I'm also a sucker for redemption stories, so that may limit the impact of dark histories on me. Add it in, and I just retrofit his past heroic deeds to some idea of his subconscious trying to make up for things he doesn't remember doing.

The Joys Or Miseries Of Dangling Plot Threads

I'm sticking to short posts for the time being, at least until they get the Internet service fixed at the housing. Until then, I'm reliant on a coworkers' goodwill and their personal MiFi thing.

With that in mind, let's discuss the recent Resurrection Man/Suicide Squad crossover. Not that I particularly want to discuss the current Suicide Squad, but Waller did finish it up with one of Mitch's hands in her possession. Now I'm not entirely clear on why she wants it. I'm sure she wants to figure out how he regenerates and resurrects, but to what end? She certainly can't want to duplicate in operatives. If you can't keep them dead, then the nanobombs or whatever can't keep them in line. They refuse, you set off the bombs, they die, then they resurrect and you have no leverage. Oops.

It could be to figure out how to counteract the Tekites or whatever it is working inside Mitch. That way you can make operatives unkillable from other means, but not safe from you.

Of course, it's only relevant if it ever comes up again. Considering that Mitch's series is ending this September, it seems unlikely we'll see any fallout from it there. So the question becomes, do you think it'll ever be followed up on in Suicide Squad?

Batman Would Not Approve Of Arson As A Signaling Device

When Mitch showed up at Fletcher's place and started burning it down, why do you think he made a sort of Bat symbol in the sky?

I can't see him trying to attract Batman. He didn't need help dealing with Fletcher, and the cops - who can legally arrest Fletcher, and are therefore more useful than another scary person - were there. Or was it how he got the attention of the police? It seems a big blue fire in an apartment building would have been sufficient.

It could be he wants to deflect attention from himself. He knows there's a crazy angel out to kill him, and perhaps he's reconsidered cooperating with the Body Doubles. If so, he'd want to stay of their radars as well. Making it look like Batman exposed this crooked Arkham guard, rather than a guy named Mitch Shelly who was supposed to be dead, would be a sensible idea. Sure, Fletcher can tell everyone it wasn't Batman, but he's also telling them it was a guy he previously shot in the head. People will think he's nutty, and go off what they know: That there was a big blue Bat-symbol in the sky over Fletcher's apartment, and he was terrified enough to confess to his wrongdoings. Sounds like Batman's handiwork to me.

The Transhuman Wants Something Different Than I Thought

I just figured out last weekend that when the Transhuman said he was at that rest home because he was waiting for Mitch Shelly, it wasn't because of Mitch's resurrection ability. It was because of the work we saw Mitch doing in the flashback in issue 5. An injection that enables one to heal from almost any wound* would sound promising to someone aging rapidly.

I'm not sure if what the Body Doubles have is what he needs. The compound, whatever it is, might simply perceive his aged body as being in a natural state, with nothing that needs fixing. Which could be a horrible twist for the Transhuman if he later did find a real reversal. He takes it, and the earlier compound registers the changes the true cure is trying to make, and blocks them. He might find himself not aging any further, which isn't terrible, since he's still young and healthy enough to be in full possession of his faculties, but he also couldn't get his body back to the appearance he desires.

* Does it work on illnesses? Can you stop Carmen and Bonnie with Spanish influenza, or would their bodies quickly overwhelm that, too?

The Mysteries Deepen

I'd like to know what it means that there was a skull left behind after Suriel killed Mitch Shelly. Because he isn't there anymore. Somehow, being killed caused him to appear close enough to Gotham that he was remanded to Arkham Asylum. Still, he left a corpse behind (part of one, anyway) but doesn't seem to be missing any vital bits in intensive care. Maybe instead of a new soul after every resurrection, he gets a new body? Except he usually pops back up where he fell. Unless her attack severely dispersed his atoms, and they didn't recombine until near Gotham. Which might jibe with Suriel's concern that she had perhaps destroyed his soul.

Frankly, if we're going to buy into the notion of a soul, the idea one can be completely eradicated is a little frightening. Can it be done without destroying the body, in which case you end up with one of those Hollows, like Green Arrow was when Kevin Smith, er, Hal Jordan brought him back? Can the body operate as before without one? Say, an angel destroys your soul, do you go, "Ouch," rub your chest, but continue on your morning search for coffee and crullers? Does having or not having a soul make a difference in terms of taking part in creating a child? I'm guessing a infant's soul does not come about in quite the same way as its genetic code, but in the new DC, who the heck knows? Maybe that's how we get a Ragdoll with no soul.

It could be connected to his being injected with that regenerative compound we saw during the flashback, but I think that's a feint. Certainly it gave Bonnie and Carmen healing factors and considerably greater than human strength and speed. Mitch dies, then comes back to life, hale and hearty, rather than simply healing before he can die. He only has superhuman strength and endurance if that particular resurrection provides him with it. Maybe the compound unlocked something in him, something the weird creature saw which prompted it to give him the injection, but I have my doubts.

Even the alien feels like part of something else. It may have recognized something inside him, but that wouldn't mean it's responsible for his resurrections. We can't be sure he hadn't had resurrections before then. It might have been awhile, he might have been better at hiding them. Maybe the compound is the reason his memories are so shot, and it doesn't have anything to do with his powers. They only had one test on one subject where it showed promise, which is no guarantee it wouldn't have different effects on someone else.

One other thing I find interesting is Suriel simply assuming Mitch's soul would be on its way to Heaven. Certainly he's seemed like a well-meaning guy thus far in the series, but as we've seen, he was a right bastard just a few years ago. We know the other side is interested in his soul as well. Is there any guarantee the good he's done the last few years would outweigh the bad? Of course, Suriel basically caused a plane crash, then shrugged it off claiming it was supposed to happen, so perhaps they're unfazed by Mitch's past actions. If the Spectre and Eclipso are any indication, Heaven is run pretty shoddily. Or stupidly, whichever.

What's The Value In It?

I've been thinking about why it's so vital to the powers in the afterlife that they get Mitch Shelly's soul. Offhand, it seems like there's some sort of cosmic rule that when someone dies, one of the afterlife realms/dimensions/planes has to get their soul. Total # of deaths = Total # of souls. Mitch, having died a whole bunch of times, would throw things out of whack. This also leads me to wonder how someone like pre-relaunch Ragdoll would fit in, since he had no soul at all, and it was indicated that while rare, that is not a completely unique situation. That would mean more deaths without souls landing anywhere.

The angel did make a comment that Mitch's soul shines brightly from all his resurrections, but I can't quite figure what that would mean. Are resurrections supposed to be the sole province of divine beings, and that fact Mitch can manage it so readily and so frequently makes him extraordinarily powerful, and thus valuable? Or does it make him an affront to their sense of superiority, and that's why they want to stop him? Neither side seems particularly nice, as I don't buy that bit about how the plane from issue 1 was destined to crash. Yes, it crashed because you attacked Mitch while he was on it and it was in the air. If she exhibits more restraint, or heck, less restraint and attacks while it's still on the ground, things would have been fine.

Then I had another thought. What if Mitch's soul does cross over every time he dies, but he gains a new one when he comes back? It could explain his lack of memories, if we go with the idea certain strong memories would be attached to the soul, rather than particular neurons in the brain. It might also relate somehow to his having a different power each time he dies.

In that circumstance, if Mitch is more frequently a good man, there would be an imbalance. Heaven, or whatever realms collect good souls in the DCU, would be getting a surplus thanks to Mitch dying all the time. He might be a jerk some of the time, so the other side would get a few, but on the whole, they'll be losing out. Which could be a sticking point, if you figure that the afterlife realms are in conflict with each other, and more souls equal more power. It would certainly be in the losing side's interest to cut that off, but it might also be in the interests of the side that's currently ahead. After all, given enough time, Mitch might grow bitter, resentful, angry, and lash out in ways that would start sending his souls the other way. Better to stop the whole thing while they still have the edge.

Did He Come To Villainy Late In Life?

From what I can tell, in the current DC Universe, all these superheroes, supervillains, aliens, and so on appeared five years ago. Morrison's Superman is set five years ago. According to Grifter, the first known appearance of the Daemonites was five years ago. I think some of the other titles are set five years ago (Stormwatch? Maybe Justice League?)

Which brings me to Darryl. He was a friend of Mitch Shelly's (the Resurrection Man) father in the Portland rest home where Mitch's father lived out his last years. He was also, if we believe him, a high-end professional supervillain known as the Transhuman. Considering his suit of what appears to be high-powered armor, I'm inclined to take him at his word.

What I'm wondering is how long of a career he could have had. If he popped up five years ago along with all these other guys, he couldn't have been at it more than a couple of years before he retired to the rest home to meet and befriend Mitch's father.

The simplest answer is his career predates all the obvious superhero, paranormal whatever. That he was at it for years before Superman showed up in his farmboy jeans, terrorizing corrupt businessmen. Which would make sense, except I thought DC wanted to set things up so Superman kicked things off again, and it feels a little strange for their to have been costumed supervillain contract killers like the Transhuman and (I'm guessing) Deathstroke already running around. If that kind of criminal activity was already going on when Clark decided to get active, I'd expect him to be dealing with that from the start.

There is the possibility he only started within the last five years, was a huge success, but retired quickly, perhaps because the idea of being a supervillain didn't occur to him until he was fairly old? He'd always been brilliant, but the idea of using his mind to create weapons that would let him kill people other people would pay to have eliminated didn't occur to him until later.

Or. . . he isn't retired at all. He's still active, and got wind of Mitch Shelly being a man wanted by powerful, wealthy people, and he saw it as a big paycheck. Big enough he was willing to play the long game. Move in to a rest home. Befriend Mitch's father. Play up at being a crazy old man who thinks he's a supervillain. Eventually the prodigal son will apear, if only to collect his father's things after his passing. And then, ka-ching!

The other possibility is Darryl just thinks he was a supervillain, but never was, but is smart enough to build a suit that looks like powered armor (and for his sake, facing off with the Body Doubles, it better be functional). Which is probably the most likely possibility. If he was successful and retired, why would he live in that particular rest home? It didn't look that great, as far as those facilities go.

I'd Like To Blame This On Post-Turkey Gorging Brain Haze, But I Can't

One series I've been trying to piece together a complete run of is the first volume of Resurrection Man. I'm a little over halfway there. It's slow going, because I like to collect them in order, so I'm not trying to read issues with big gaps between them. Sometimes I break that rule, which is how I wind up with issue 25, when I haven't made it past #18 otherwise.

By the 25th issue, Mitch had crossed paths with the Forgotten Heroes, because they think he's their old friend Immortal Man, and they need help to stop Vandal Savage. The thing that caught my eye* was Cave Carson sporting a cyborg eye. Because it was the Nineties, I assume. I couldn't find any explanation online for that. I'm pretty sure he last appearance before these was in Wonder Woman, and judging by the covers, he wasn't rocking any techno-parts then. At least he hadn't started wearing massive shoulder pads.

Everyone on the team was wearing these matching collars. Basically three rings stacked on top of each other going around the neck, which seemed like an odd choice. The belts with "FH" on them made a little sense, but the neck bands, I don't know. When I saw Shelly and Carson wearing those and talking, I figured they were prisoners, and those were power inhibitors, or something designed to shock them if they tried to escape. Nope, just part of the team uniform. Like those bomber jackets the Avengers were fond of a few years earlier.

* Besides the fact The Ray was on the team, whoo! Ray Terrill appearance, and it even makes sense, considering Ray spent the second half of his series trying not to be manipulated by Savage. When he wasn't fighting a sentient computer program he'd created that was obsessed with pushing him to his limits, that is.