I'm back. No excuses or long winded stories. Suffice it to say that life happened and now I'm back.
Onward and upward!
Alright THIS time out we've got a whale of a tale for you! And I don't mean whale as in size. More of in the tradition of 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'...
...by that I mean: "utterly pointless."
Anywho. Remember Crisis? Yeah that big DC event that took place somewhere in the mid 80's and made things crazysauce for a little while? Well, before it was all said and done with, Ragman made at least ONE more appearance before the end.
Oddly enough, this appearance came in the pages of 'Infinity INC.' #22.Rags didn't have a thing to say in the issue and barely even appeared. But he was THERE and that's ALL that matters to this tracker of the Tatterdemalion!
Now according to some sources this is a hard and fast Ragman appearance and others call it a Spectre appearance. I'm going to obviously go with the former and I'll explain why. Two reasons is all I need:
1) When it came to crowd shots during Crisis, the artists of various tie-ins liked to maintain the scene from the main Crisis issue/panel/double page spread. I say that for this reason: remember this panel from Crisis #5?
2) If you read Crisis at all, Spectre didn't get involved until right about...
Oh yeah. There. And he and the other mystical, magical, ghostly characters were just puttering about before then taking in the sights and not in other places...like crowded asses to elbows in a spaceship with other heroes and villains.
So you see? That HAS to be Ragman because it sure as heck ain't the Spectre.
Now what about the rest of the issue? Well, honestly it's just a close up of the confusion that characters are experiencing as a result of suddenly appearing on the Monitors satellite. But since you asked nicely, here are my favorite moments...
First up we've got a duo of awesomeness: Plastic Man and Elongated Man goof off in the background AND Starfire catches the gaze of yet ANOTHER man...
Next up we've got a member of the Helix team (Arak) with a SICK taste in music (hey, it matches MY tastes)...
And then, from the page that brought you a Ragman appearance, we've got a character who's relentless pursuit of women might rival that of the (still to come at this point) adolescent clone Superboy! No seriously, Star-Spangled Kid just DOESN'T stop. But hey, Wonder Girl IS pretty freakin hot. Married or not.
And last but not least, a Scott family team up fight against Solomon Grundy! Hey, I'm a Green Lantern fan remember? How could I NOT showcase a fight between Grundy, Alan, Todd and Jade? Too good to be true and yet here it is!!!
Well, not quite. The second half of this issue is some off the wall story about a version of Dr. Midnight and Hourman that I've never heard of in my entire life and, quite honestly, couldn't force myself to read. For all I know these are the best, most underused characters in all of DC comics (second to Ragman of course) but I couldn't care less. So I didn't read it. Sorry.
But that concludes this appearance. Honestly I wish I could have given you more here. 'All Star Squadron'/'Infinity INC.' are two series that I WISH I had every issue to. I've been wanting to read those stories ever since I got into comics, but somehow never found a single issue. I'd love to be a walking encyclopedia on these stories and characters but I've got nothing for you. Maybe someday I'll finally get my comics wish and have the entire run. Here's hoping...
So thats it for this time! Don't forget to comment, share, tweet, etc. this post and join/follow the blog! Ragman needs all the help he can get and showing your support for his home on the internet is definitely a good place to start! Comments are epic because it lets me know you guys are out there and interested and sharing spreads the word! So run the full gambit and go nuts! See you guys next time!
