Leir (Marvel): part 4

In previous posts (here, here, and here) we've looked at the introduction of Leir, lord of lightning and god of the spear, in the pages of The Mighty Thor.  Today, we'll consider his brief contemporaneous cameo in West Coast Avengers #41 (FEB 1989).  The War in Asgard arc (which was wrapped up this month in Thor) serves as the macguffin to wrap up dangling plot lines in The West Coast Avengers.

The opening splash page represents the first and last appearances of Leir in this issue.  (At least he doesn't announce that he's "lord of lightning and god of the spear!").  Against this backdrop, Seth has despatched a lieutenant to ensure that the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu, does not participate in the resistance to Seth.

Meanwhile on earth, the estranged West Coast Avengers: Mockingbird, Tigra, and Moon Knight have sought out the aid of Daimon Hellstrom (AKA the Son of Satan) to investigate Mockingbird's accusation that modern-day Phantom Rider, Hamilton Slade, is a reincarnation of his ancestor, Lincoln Slade.  (Lincoln, as it turned out, had raped Mockingbird in a previous time-traveling storyline.)

While discussing possession with the skeptical Hamilton, Hellstrom's gaze leaves Khonshu (who had previously taken full possession of the human Marc Specter, AKA Moon Knight) wondering if his cover has been blown.

 

During Hellstrom's exorcism of Slade, not one--but two Phantom Riders spirits exit!  One is the spirit of the aforementioned Lincoln Slade, while the other is the spirit of Carter Slade (the original, heroic Phantom Rider).  The noncorporeal Hamiltons battle each other to a virtual standstill.  Hellstrom then announces a third spirit is needed to settle this phatasmagorical donnybrook.

No sooner does Khonshu appear, however, than Seth's minions do as well. At this point the general melee environment increases exponentially. Seth's forces are trying to eliminate Khonshu through use of the "etheromic phase out cannon"...and everyone else is pretty much engaging in the super-equivalent of a barroom brawl.

Of course, Seth's forces are eventually defeated and retreat back through a portal to Asgard.  The spirit of Carter defeats the spirit of Lincoln Slade, and then calls for Hamilton to embrace his destiny as this century's Phantom Rider.

With the immediate threat of Seth and the etheromic phase out cannon gone, Khonshu announces he's going to answer the call to resist Seth in the mystic realm, giving Specter back full control of his own body.

Shaken by these revelations, Specter announces he's leaving the Avengers, as being a member had been Khonshu's desire...not his own.  Mockingbird, having been brought face-to-face with the consequences of her previously relaxed attitude toward killing, is filled with similar doubts and refuses Tigra's call for them to rejoin the West Coast Avengers.

Other sources on The West Coast Avengers #41

• http://berkeleyplaceblog.com/2019/08/20/west-coast-avengers-41/ 

Leir (Marvel): part 3

The third appearance of Marvel's Leir, came in The Mighty Thor #400 (FEB 1989).  This wrapped up the arc that saw the Egyptian death god Seth threatening all life.

As issue #400 begins, Thor (to whom Odin had previously imparted the Odinforce) is engaged in a cosmos-spanning battle against the All-Father's eternal enemy, Surtur the Fire Demon.  As for Odin himself, the true liege of Asgard has returned to his shattered home to rally its defenders.

Leir is...well...he's being Leir.  But at least his Caber finally said what we've all been thinking:

While Caber is launching his one-man intervention, the Earth Force in a final act of rebellion attacks their creator Seth.  Sadly, despite their nobility, none of the three possess anywhere near the power necessary to defeat the death god.

With the Earth Force dispatched, Odin steps into the gap to tackle Seth in a mano-a-mano fight, proving that even without the Odinforce, the old guy's nothing to sneeze at.   Nevertheless, the sudden appearance of the dimension-hopping battle betwixt Thor and Surtur momentarily distracts Odin, allowing Seth to seize the upper-hand and potentially kill the Lord of Asgard.

At this dramatic apex, DeFalco does a great job (IMHO) of supplying deliverance from very unexpected sources.  The Black Knight, who has been struggling against the slow advance of the ebony blade curse--which has been turning him into an extension of that mystic blade--is completely paralyzed.  Hogun the Grim, who we've been repeatedly reminded is "marked for death" by Seth, decides to accept his fate by launching one last assault on Seth in an effort to save Odin.
Hurling the paralyzed Knight like a spear, the mystic properties of the ebony blade are able to pierce Seth's head, killing the death god.

 Following the defeat of Seth, and the (momentary) knocking out of Surtur, the Thor returns the Odinforce to his father.  Odin, in turn, serves as the deus ex machina by "absorbing the very essence" of Surtur into himself, so as to imprison the fire demon forever.  (Of course, if defeating Surtur was this easy, it begs the question why Odin didn't do it millennia ago.)

Note the largely tertiary Leir positioned behind Fandral, while Caber is on the other side of the panel.  Maybe the "lord of lightning and god of the spear" didn't appreciate being reprimanded?

Other sources on The Mighty Thor #400

• http://peerlesspower.blogspot.com/2014/12/to-rise-again.html

• http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/thor_396-400.shtml

Midnight and His Pals Turn Back the Hands of Time! (Part 2) -- Smash Comics #52 (APR 1944)

Last week, Midnight and his pals traveled back to imperial Rome courtesy of Doc Wackey's  invention:  the time pills.  When we left our heroes, they were enjoying a soon-to-be-ended chariot joy ride...

A cohort of legionnaires are deployed to apprehend these "barbarians" for spectacle in the arena.  After a high-speed chase and dramatic chariot crash, the Romans succeed in seizing the dazed temporal interlopers.

Hauled in before the gluttonous Nero, the Emperor is less-than-impressed with them until Midnight displays what Nero takes for prophetic insight (and which the reader was, presumably, to take as evidence of the value of staying awake in history class).

Sufficiently impressed with the "wizard's" powers, Nero and Poppea ensure our hero dines like a king and is given a seat of honor at the gladiatorial games later in the day.

Stunned to arrive and discover his friends gathered in the middle of the arena floor, Midnight is alarmed when Nero announces they will display their "barbarian fighting methods" against a mad elephant!  The anticipated elephantine carnage comes to nought, however, as Gabby produces a mouse he'd carried with him from their dungeon cell.

As the hathi cowers in fear, an enraged Nero demands that the man-eating tiger be set loose to finish the job!  At this, Midnight springs into action to save his pals, using his trusty vacuum gun to reel in the...ahh...ummmm...tiger?

Even in the 1940s, I thought it was common knowledge that tigers have stripes
...and don't look like dogs.

His cover of imperially-solicitous sorcerer blown, Midnight and Gabby engage in their standard donnybrook of fisticuffs...this time against hardened Roman Legionnaires...with predictably superlative success.  Sniffer and Wackey, meanwhile, are busy trying to figure out what the Doc's done with the remaining time pills.

Doc finally locates the pills, but the legionnaires are right on the group's tail.  Sniffer tosses out a lit match starting a fire to impede their pursuers, and Midnight observes "Don't you know that's how the burning of Rome began--with a fire in the Circus Maximus?"

As the flames rise, our paladins quickly gulp down the time pills and assiduously concentrate on their spatio-temporal home.  In those tense moments, one gladius-wielding soldiers emerges from the flames and takes a last, desperate swipe at our heroes just prior to their disappearance (presumably back into the time stream).

Once safely back home, Sniffer--with his standard narcissistic jealousy--suggests that Wackey's "invention" was nothing more than sleeping pills and that they had merely dreamed the rest.  (No word from the self-proclaimed world's-greatest-detective on exactly how sleeping pills led to a shared dream)  The story ends with a well-timed Gabby barb to shut up the loud-mouthed Sniffer.

So...as a history-lover, I like any story that attempts to introduce real world historical events to young readers.  On the other hand...do you really want your heroes to be the ones responsible for a conflagration that killed a ton of people, destroyed a whole lot of property, and wound up as the pretense for the murderous Neronian persecution of Christians? 

Midnight and His Pals Turn Back the Hands of Time! (Part 1) -- Smash Comics #52 (APR 1944)

Smash Comics #52 (APR 1944)

The opening splash page leaves me with the impression this will be one of those rare (but sometimes well-executed) stories that attempts to teach a little "real history" in the midst of an entertaining superhero story.  Let's see how well Gustavson pulled it off.

The opening panels rehash the "Dave-Clark-just-wants-a-relaxing-evening-at-home-but-his-permanent-houseguests-won't-shut-up" trope.  Dave's grousing is interrupted by Wackey boisterously announcing his latest invention:  time pills.

Sniffer reliably questions whether Doc's invention will work; and Doc--just as reliably--seizes the bait and tells everyone to take a pill while he thinks of a time in history they'll all visit.  (Dave, incomprehensibly takes the pill--so much for a quiet evening reading the paper--but decides to put on his domino mask "just in case.")

Doc explains that the pills take a bit to work, and Sniffer complains of his "fiddling while Rome burns"...so you know where this is going.  That's right, they wind up in ancient Rome.  (Now, as Wackey explained the pills originally, you'd think that everyone who'd taken a pill would travel to a different point in time based on what they were individually-thinking about...but it was the Golden Age, so I guess nobody cared about gaping plot holes.)

Now a believer, Sniffer asks how the crew will ever get back home, to which the seemingly apoplectic Wackey announces they'll just take another pill and think of home.  Before they can do so, however, some Romans passing by in a chariot, terrified at the sight of a talking monkey, flee afoot and leave their conveyance behind.  Gabby suggests he and his pals take advantage of this and "see the Tiber for a dime."  To which his confederates--again without much discussion or explanation--suddenly agree.

As the reader sees Gabby and his ride-share companions passing through an arch into Rome, it seems Gustavson realized he needed to shoe-horn an in-story explanation for upcoming dialogue.

"Sure.  That sounds very plausible." -- no one ever