BONUS BOOK - Batman and the Outsiders (1983)

BONUS BOOK - Batman and the Outsiders (July, 1983)
Writer - Mike W. Barr
Art - Jim Aparo
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Len Wein

Today we're going to take a look at the other Insert Preview I mistakenly believed I owned and had to run around town to find the other day.  This one though... kinda made me nervous.

I Googled the issue just to get a look at the cover, and saw it listed as the first appearance of Halo, Geo-Force, and now-DC Superhero Girls star, Katana.  I figured this one probably wouldn't be coming cheap.  I decided to see what the "going rate" was online... and, hoo-boy, this one looked pretty spendy.  Here, take a look:

That's definitely more money than I was interested in spending on this... even on the low-end of the above pricing-spectrum!  And, while I'd never push the "Buy it Now" button, in my experience, the online prices are (generally speaking) lower than what you might expect to pay in-store for "key" books.  What's worse, I recognized the cover immediately as a book that I had actually seen in dollar bins throughout the years.

Right then, I figured that I'd have to end the first-half of the BONUS BOOKS feature... one book short.  Even if I could actually manage to track this bugger down, I was pretty sure it would be tagged way out of my price range.

And so, I hit up some of my normal haunts... some of the "healthier" cheap-o bins, a couple used book stores, a few used record stores... and, came up empty.  Couldn't even find the Justice League of America issue we discussed yesterday.

Then, I remembered that one of our local shops has a pretty neat consignment program... where folks can sell their comics through the store, and they're sometimes tagged below normal "asking" price.  Lo and behold, I pop in... and managed to find both of the missing books... for just a couple bucks a piece!  Like, less than what I'd pay for a new comic!  In really good condition, to boot!  That's a Vartox-Week sized miracle, if you ask me!

Let's get right to it!

--

We open at the Gotham City Hospital, where Commissioner Gordon is trying to get some information out of a suicidal terrorist called Miklos.  This dude ain't interested one bit in talking... and was even willing to kill himself to avoid betraying his cause.  Gordon looks at his watch, realizes this is going to be one heckuva long evening... and wishes Batman were around.  Just then, a delivery van pulls up outside the hospital... except, the only thing they look to be trying to deliver is... bullets into the chest of the poor Security Guard on duty!  They're the bad guys, ya see.  They rush into the hospital on a sorta-kinda "double suicide" mission.  They're all planning to die tonight, though, not before doing Miklos the favor of killing him too.

Inside the hospital, a young Candy-Striper is bringing some cups of water to various patients.  She is approached by a man who appears to have an eye for her.  He asks her out to a Clash concert... which, she doesn't seem to understand.  How can "Clash" be a concert, when it's defined as "a conflict of some sort"?  Hmm...

Anyhoo, a terrorist with a flame-thrower strapped to his back bursts in the room... prompting our Candy-Striper to slink off to change her clothes.  Folks, this is the first appearance of: Halo!  She uses her powers to chase away the flame-thrower, while protecting the patients.

The flame-thrower fella rushes into the hallway, where he finds himself caught up in a Metamorpho-sized candle-snuffer!  For good measure, Rex fills the snuffer with Hydrogen... which doesn't work out so good for the baddie.

Meanwhile, in the Recovery Ward, several terrorists (wielding both guns and... swords?) have corralled some patients.  One, appearing to be an old woman, removes her rubber mask... revealing herself to be: Katana... in her first appearance!

Using the distraction from his teammate, a nearby Jefferson Pierce takes the opportunity to change into his "work clothes".  Black Lightning is in the house.

Katana is squared off having a sword-fight with one of the terrorists... who warns her that she has nothing to lose, as this is an actual suicide mission.  Katana replies that she doesn't have a problem with that... in fact, she'll save the suicidal-terrorist the trouble and kill her where she stands!  Turns out this was all it took to call the baddie's bluff.

The heroes continue fighting the terrorists... and we shift over to, the man of the hour: Batman.  He's doing some sorta-kinda detective work, in the form of counting how many sets of footprints entered the place.  He can account for five baddies his team has already caught... however, there is a sixth set of prints!  He deduces that the first five were just a diversion... and, it looks like he's right.

Up in Miklos' room, the sixth man bursts in... and this fella is completely strapped with 'splosives.  The Outsiders follow him in... with Halo almost referring to Batman as "Mr. ... something".  Hmm... I didn't know the Outsiders knew Batman's secret identity?  Perhaps they changed their mind on this early on.  Anyhoo, the Bomber pushes the button, blowing the heck out of the hospital room.  On the ground outside, a trench-coated fellow looks on.

This fellow is: Geo-Force, making his first appearance!  Batman kept him outside, just in case he was needed for crowd-control or anything of the sort... and it's a good thing, too!  He is able to use his Earth-born powers to take care of any and all falling debris.

Once that's out of the way, he heads into the hole in the hospital... only to find his teammates alive and healthy.  Metamorpho was able to stretch himself out to deflect the blast, and protect his partners.  The only casualties were the terrorists.

Gordon is thankful... even though, by the looks of it, Miklos is dead too.  I thought the whole point of this thing was keeping him alive long enough to talk?  Oh well, I guess we take our victories wherever we can.  Anyhoo, Batman informs the Commish that he's no longer with the Justice League... and that he's running with a new crowd.  And thus, begins the legend of Batman and the Outsiders!

--

Not a bad little introduction to the Outsiders "franchise".  I think we might assume that this story could be slid in right after the opening arc (first three issues) of the ongoing Batman and the Outsiders series... since, ya know, they're already a team... and they all appear to know one another.  We've already discussed the first... and third issues of the ongoing.  Not sure how or why I skipped #2... but, whattayagonnado?

Batman and the Outsiders was always a series that I'd kinda give "side-eye" to when I'd happen across issues of it in the wild.  I've mentioned a time or two before that when I'm digging for comics, I've come to expect something of a "Batman Tax" (in current year, we can add a "Harley Quinn Tax" and a "Joker Tax" into the mix).  What I mean by that, if it's not blatantly obvious, is anytime I'd come across a comic that was tangentially Bat-Adjacent... you'd have to pay more for the privilege of owning the thing.

This has popped up again and again, even if it's just Batman making a cover appearance on an issue of Action Comics or something!  You could flip through the bargain bins... and you'll find every issue before and after the Bat-one... and they'll be a quarter or fifty-cents, each.  That Bat-issue, however... that's a "folding money" book.  And so, for the longest time, Batman and the Outsiders (outside of an issues here and there) was a series that fell just outside of my grasp.

I think, in my addled-mind, this lent to my both over-valuing it... and subconsciously under-valuing it, if that makes any sense?  I assumed it would be worth more than I wanted to spend... while at the same time, convincing myself it wasn't worth the effort to track it down on the cheap.  That was, until... just like with All-Star Squadron... I came across an awesome run of the things for a quarter-a-pop at a local used-bookstore.  Heck, it might've been the same day... I know it was around the same time period!

Anyhoo, so I got the books... read the books... loved the books.  Not since the first time I read New Teen Titans did I fall so quickly for a DC title.  It was superheroey, soapy, they seemed to put out Christmas issues every single year... it was just a really good time.  A very special book, indeed.

This here introduction "prevue" works well in giving all of the characters enough time to "get their stuff in".  New characters and old, everyone gets a chance to shine.  Though, for this piece, I want to pay special attention to those making their grand debut.

Halo, as written, is very interesting.  She appears to be completely lost... and, ya know, sorta inhuman.  She takes everything literally... and, at one point, even needs her memory jogged to recall what part of the body a "leg" is.  I'm not too sure about her knowing Batman's secret identity... though, in fairness all she says is "Mr."  I don't know if she was going to follow that up with "Wayne"... or "Smith".  We don't know how the Bat introduced himself... so, maybe it's best not to assume.

Katana is pretty awesome here.  She comes across as ruthless and willing to cross any line in order to meet her goals.  I really enjoyed her calling the terrorist's bluff... which, I mean... just feels so human.  Here's a follower of Miklos, supposedly prepared to meet her end, when... Katana offers to expedite the process.  This causes the terrorist to actually realize what's going on... seeing her fate right before her eyes.  It really makes ya stop and think.

Geo-Force is kind of an also-ran here... but plays his part well.  He gets the opportunity to show his stuff, while protecting dozens of looky-loos outside the hospital.  It's not like he'd have been able to truly "cut loose" with his powers in the hallways of the hospital... so, this was probably the best role for him here.

Overall... this was just a joy to (finally) read.  It's kind of familiar... so, I might've read it in passing in the SHOWCASE Presents volume... but, whatever the case... this was a lot of fun.  The art, as you might expect, was also pretty fantastic.  I'm glad to have this in my collection... finally "completing" my run of Batman and the Outsiders!

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Interesting (and Relevant) Ad:

BONUS BOOK - All-Star Squadron (1981)

BONUS BOOK - All-Star Squadron (August, 1981)
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Rich Buckler
Embellisher - Jerimiah Ordway
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Carl Gafford
Editor - Len Wein

A few days ago I mentioned that I discovered I was missing a few of the Insert Preview issues... which really kinda threw me for a loop!  I could'a sworn I had all of 'em... but, alas... I was missing two!  This one, and Brave and the Bold #200 (featuring the first look at Batman and the Outsiders).  I mentioned that we might need a Vartox-Week size miracle to find 'em in time... and, as luck would have it, the Mustachioed Adonis decided to smile upon us!  I managed to come across 'em both for a couple bucks a piece that very same day!

I do wanna thank reader and pal, Grant Kitchen for his comments that day.

Today, while I've still got it in front of me, we're going to take a look at the daunting and dense introduction of the All-Star Squadron from Justice League of America #193 (August, 1981).  Have your notepads ready... there's a lot to get through here!

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It's December 6, 1941 and a pair of shadowy individuals (who, spoiler alert: we eventually learn are President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his adviser Harry Hopkins) are attempting to get a hold of the Justice Society of America... but nobody is there to answer their phone!  Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, where it's still daytime, a footrace between Wonder Woman, Flash (Jay Garrick), and Green Lantern (Alan Scott) is underway with all proceeds going to the March of Dimes.  Johnny Chambers and his photographer, Tubby Watts are there covering the event.

Wonder Woman narrowly beats Jay in the race... poor Alan never had a chance.  Flash blames his loss on under-estimating his Amazon opponent... but, it's all in good fun.  Wildcat (filling in for Ted Grant, natch) presents Wondy with a trophy for her victory, probably cutting into the loot for the March of Dimes.

Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern decide to head off for anpicnic in Echo Park to get to know each other a little better.  They find they have a lot in common, in so far as being costumed heroes and what-not.  After establishing that this picnic will not be romantic (after all, they're all spoken for)... the evening is interrupted by: Solomon Grundy!  None of the heroes seem to recognize the baddie... though, he knows exactly who they are.

A battle rages, with Grundy taking out the heroes with relative ease.  Just when it looks as though Solomon is going in for the kill, a voice booms in his head commanding he deliver the heroes somewhere... or else, there'll be a "penalty".  Meanwhile, FDR still tries to get a hold of the Justice Society.

Hopkins suggests maybe they try the "Law's Legionnaires" aka the Seven Soldiers of Victory.  The Prez doesn't think that's such a great idea... and, frankly, he's got a point there.

We shift scenes over to a penthouse apartment in New York City.  It's the home of Wesley Dodds... the Sandman.  He's got company, in the form of Ted Knight (Starman) and... ugh... Johnny Thunder.  They're watching a news report being presented by Libby Lawrence, who we know as Liberty Belle.  Suddenly, they notice a Pirate Ship sailing through the... skies of New York!

The heroes get into costume... and/or say "Cei-U", and head out to see what this ship is all about.  They board, and find themselves surrounded by... well, pirates.  Johnny Thunder gets kayoed pretty much right out of the gate... leaving Sandman and Starman to put up their dukes against the mindless pirate-looking "robot-men".

It's ultimately revealed that their big-bad is... the Sky Pirate (first appearance: Green Lantern #27 - August, 1947)!  He proceeds to blast the remaining mystery-men with a gas gun, knocking them out but good.

Next stop, Salem, Massachusetts... and the home of Dr. Fate.  He receives a warning via the Orb of Nabu, which informs him that his old nemesis, Wotan (first appearance: More Fun Comics #55 - May, 1940) has returned.  They fight... by flying directly into one another, knocking them both out.  Only, it's revealed that "Wotan" was actually the Spectre... the real Wotan, stood nearby, concocted this ruse to snatch a couple more JSAers.

We shift over to a little-charted island in the South Pacific, where Ensign Rod Reilly, aka Firebrand is trying to cool the jets of his hot-headed sister, Danette.  She's got some business to attend to there, in the form of some pretty high-risk volcanic research.  He wishes her well.

Next, we head to Gotham City... it was bound to happen sooner or later, right?  There, the World's Finest Heroes are present and accounted for at the opening of a brand-new USO Club.  Just then, a plane comes crashing through one of the walls of the joint... a plane piloted by Professor Zobar Zodiak (first appearance: All-Star Comics #42 - August, 1948)!  Never heard of this geek myself... but, he looks like he might be trouble.

So much trouble in fact, that he squirts a few drops of a special "elixir" into the air... which reverts Batman and Robin to infants!  Why, that's just adorable!

Then, turning his attention to Superman, Zodiak dangles his Philosopher's Stone in the Man of Steel's face.  You'd think this would be laughably dumb... but, you'd be wrong.  Ya see, his coated the Stone with some powder from a certain green meteorite!

Meanwhile, FDR makes another call... this time to an "FBI liaison", who I'm pretty sure will be revealed as being Plastic Man.  He asks Plas to "scoot over" to the Justice Society HQ and see if anything's awry.

Also in Washington, DC... Hawkman, Atom, and Dr. Mid-Nite are hanging out, admiring the Lincoln Memorial... when suddenly, they're attacked by The Monster...?  The who-now?  This is another little-known (to me) Golden Ager (first appearance: All-Star Comics #20 - March, 1944).

Unlike the other fight scenes we've seen so far, this one the heroes actually win!  Atom socks the Monster, reverting him into a harmless old-man.  Before succumbing to unconsciousness, the oldie reveals that the person responsible for all of the attacks is... old bread-head himself, Per Degaton.  A man in a hat and trenchcoat watches this all transpire from the shadows.

We wrap up with the clock striking midnight... beginning a date which, I'm not sure if you've heard, will live in infamy... December 7, 1941.  We learn that President Roosevelt was trying to have the Justice Society at the ready... just in case of a Japanese attack.  He feels it would have been best if he were able to put together an "All-Star Squadron" of mystery men and heroes to keep America safe during these uncertain times.  The President retires for the evening, hopeful that America will "come through this".

--

Well... that was one heckuva story, wasn't it?

Before getting too deep into it... allow me to share a personal anecdote.  I'm not sure I shared this here before, but this very blog almost became an All-Star Squadron themed place for a bit.  It was very early in my "career", where I thought I would perform a bit of multi-tasking.  If you've ever listened to any of my audio-exploits, you've undoubtedly heard me lament the fact that, when you're consistently "creating content", you have precious little time to engage in any "for fun" reading.

It feels as though everything you read has to go somewhere... be it this blog, or a podcast, or on some other site.  It's really nothing worth actually complaining about... but, it can be a struggle.  It's hard for me to justify devoting a lot of time to "learning" about a franchise or property, if I'm not going to parlay that knowledge into an "endeavor"... know what I mean?

Anyhoo... I wanted to actually learn about the All-Star Squadron.  It was one of those things that became something of an intentional "blind-spot" for me.  Something I found far too daunting to read and write about.  Then, with this blog... I figured it might be a fun project to devote a few months to this title... so I could both read and write about it.  There would be a dual-purpose, ya know?

And so, I set to doing just that... wayyy back in the day, I took a look at All-Star Squadron #60... just to test the waters.  I wanted to get as much as possible "right" with this one, and lemme tell ya, it took probably five hours to put that piece together.  I'd put together Google Docs upon Google Docs full of dates/issues/references/40's era pop-culture to try and keep everything straight!  As for #60, It's not even that long of a post... but, it still took wayyy too long to write.

Anyhoo, I published the thing... and, ya know, nobody cared.  That's not unusual for me... and so, I wrote it off as "just another day".  That evening, however, I saw images from my piece floating around social media... posted by someone quite a bit higher on the comics-commentary "food chain" (which is by no means a short list).  They shared my (awkward-as-always) photos... tagged a bunch of their friends with a "Hey everybody, who remembers THIS???"... but, for whatever reason, neglected to link to my site.

This really turned me off from the "community", and very nearly caused me to pull the plug on this place.  Here's a person who visited my site (because those pictures were Chris-originals - ain't nobody else claiming credit to those), and clearly wanted to talk about the issue... just not with me.  I dunno... the experience really shined a light on how territorial this li'l group can be... really soured me in a lot of ways.  A real learning experience... and further proof that, in some ways, me and my little corner of the internet are little more than "vestigial limbs" of the greater community.

So yeah, that little "aside" went on far longer than I thought it would!  Sorry 'bout that!  A-hem.

So, All-Star Squadron... this 16-page preview pretty much embodies all of the reasons I was nervous about learning more about this property.  It's wildly dense... and there's a feeling that real research was conducted in order to put it together.  Real-world research as well as DC Comics history research.  It's just so seamless... with plenty of callbacks and allusions.  I couldn't even begin to imagine what an undertaking this would've been to write!

I mean, almost everything that happens here is important... or a reflection of something that came before.  Let's look, for instance, at the March of Dimes footrace between Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash.  While, on the surface, it seems like just a fun scene to let play out... it's actually a callback to the cover of Comic Cavalcade #1 (December, 1942)!

I mean, how cool is that?  This Roy Thomas "corner" of the DC Universe, with all it's references (both real and fictional) never fails to blow my mind.  It's as though I notice something new every time I check it out.

I really dig how Per Degaton's use of time-travel made it so villains from the near-future could be delivered back to 1941 to fight the heroes.  If you noticed, the heroes did not know who any of the villains were... but the baddies were quite familiar with the good guys.  This is because many of the villains hadn't yet appeared when this story was supposed to be happening.  Per Degaton snatched them from later on in the decade.  Very cool touch that I would've missed altogether had I not been in research mode.

The art here is pretty fantastic... it really feels as though we're looking at something special.  From the heroes, to the real-world personalities... just awesome stuff.  I'm on record as not being a fan of "crossing the streams" of comics-fiction with real-world political figures, but FDR's inclusion here just feels right.  Maybe it's just a "current year" thing for me... but, I dunno... FDR (and Winston Churchill, among others, who will play sizable roles in subsequent issues)... they almost feel "larger than life" as it is... ya know?  In my head, they carry such weight and importance that they're almost as "mythic" as the heroes!  I dunno... maybe I'm just being silly.

Overall... this is a wonderful series, that... if you devote the time and energy to... I bet you'll really get something out of it.  I've had a lot of fun with this run... and while, very little of it actually made it "into print", I'm still happy I put the effort in!  I did cover All-Star Squadron #1 here on the blog a couple years back (where my sole complaint was the fact that the real first story occurred in "some prevue pull-out"), if you wanna see where this headed.

UPDATE: February 16, 2020:
A piece from Amazing Heroes #1 (June, 1981) regarding Roy Thomas' arrival at DC Comics... and plans to revive the World War II Superheroes!

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Interesting (and Relevant) Ad:

BONUS BOOK - Flash Force 2000 (1984)

BONUS BOOK - Flash Force 2000 (November, 1984)
"Driving Force"
Writer - Robert Loren Fleming
Pencils - Denys Cowan
Inks - Sal Trapani
Colors - Joe Orlando
Letters - Gaspar
Editor - Andy Helfer

Happy New Year, Everybody!

For my American readers... are ya tired of seein' H&R Block commercials yet?  Lord knows I am.  I hope you all had wonderful Holiday Season, full'a family, friends, and food.  But now, as the song says, it's time for us all to "muddle through" (somehow).

That said, today we're looking at a Matchbox car tie-in called Flash Force 2000 (if only it were called Flash Force 2020, am I right?).  It took me a minute to recall what this one was all about... for a second, I actually thought it was a Barry Allen Flash-related thing.  It ain't though!  It's something else altogether... for better or worse.

I'm reading this in an issue of Tales of the Teen Titans (since I already had that longbox open anyway), and was reminded that this was an issue of that series I'd wanted to cover on the blog for quite some time.  It's a story that features a team called the RECOMbatants, who are analogous to the DNAgents from Eclipse Comics... which led to an unofficial crossover between the two books.  The DNAgents title would follow suit by introducing their own version of the New Teen Titans, called... of all things, "Project: Youngblood"!  (DNAgents #14 - July, 1984)

Pretty wild, right?  Well, the only reason I didn't go through with covering the the unofficial crossover, was... this Insert Preview!  I felt as though it would "muddy the waters" so to speak, and being a completionist, I'd have felt weird leaving it out.  Welp, after today's post, that won't be a problem anymore.  Hopefully, before long, I'll cover the New Teen Titans/DNAgents crossover event here!

This Insert Preview appeared in the following issues (all cover-dated November, 1984)

• Batman and the Outsiders #15
• Blue Devil #6
• Superman #401
• Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #317
• Tales of the Teen Titans #48
• World's Finest Comics #309

Worth noting, I did try and search YouTube for any Flash Force 2000 commercials... and came up empty!  I did, however, learn that there's a toy line called "Flush Force"... which, along with society's apparent obsession with a Poop-shaped Emoji, really makes me question just about everything about the direction we're headed!

Oh well, those are problems for another day... let's see what this story is all about!

--

We open with a quick-n-dirty look at what will be going on, presumably in the year 2000.  Remember... the future was such a long time ago.  Turns out there was a disaster... that both changed and reshaped the world, which is something the narrator will not allow us to forget.  Civilization has been whittled down to one major hub city... called Technopolis.  From it spurs a road, the Transway, which connects it to other, smaller communities.  And so, they built cars so they can travel.  There are good guys, and there are bad guys... naturally.  The bad guys are the "Mutant Scavengers" called the Dark Seekers.  As we join the story, the Seekers are raising a bit of hell on a trio of travelers.  After beating up/killing the humans, they look to salvaging their autos.  They do so under the orders of the EEEVIL Terminus-3!

We shift scenes back to Technopolis, where this event is being played out on the monitor of a genius inventor named Dr. Malcolm Ryder.  He laments the loss of the convoy, and blames himself for not showing them how to properly operate these new post-disaster cars.  He presents his "latest development" to his son, Flash and... I'm going to assume, Flash's girlfriend Shari.  It's a V.M.C.: a Vehicular Memory Chip, which is to say, something that can be implanted... either in a human, or a vehicle... it's not quite clear.

Now, this entire scene... well, the audio of it anyway... is being played out in Terminus-3's base.  Wait, I thought he was just salvaging scrap with the Mutants?  Oh well, whatever the case... ol' Termy is tickled almost as pink as his base by the news.

Back to Technopolis... Flash's twin brother Damon finally wakes up, and joins his father, brother, and would-be girlfriend.  Ya see, it would appear both of Mal's kids wanna git with Shari.  This is a rather jumbled, and highly dramatic scene.  Damon asks Shari out... she turns him down.  Flash shoves Damon, who bops into Malcolm, causing him to drop the V.M.C.  Malcolm tells Damon to be more careful, which prompts an epic teen-age rant... ending with Damon insisting he never asked to be born, nobody will ever understand him, and that he's running away.  He actually leaves the safety of Technopolis and heads into the wastelands.  Good Lord, we're only on page four.

Damon makes it about five steps out of the city before being descended upon by Dark Seeker Mutants.  Rather than fight back, he just begs them not to hurt him.  Whatta guy!

As luck would have it, Terminus-3 just happened to be wandering by... and he calls off the Mutant attackers.  After lying to Damon about wanting to make peace with Dr. Ryder, he and Malcolm's dumber son become fast friends.  Thinking that facilitating peace talks will make him an instant hero, Damon even offers to help Termy enter Technopolis using his security clearance!

Back inside, Damon waits for Flash and Shari to head off on their date before presenting his father with, perhaps, his new research partner... Terminus-3!  This is obviously a trap... and Termy threatens to kill Damon, unless Dr. Ryder, get this, "programs his driveless cars... for EVIL!!!".  What's that thing where the best villains always think they're working for "good"?  Well, not here.

Dr. Ryder throws his hands in the air, and agrees to program the cars... for EVIL.  Terminus-3 insists he wastes no time... the EVIL transition will begin right now!

As the process begins, Terminus-3 is giddy as a schoolboy... literally jumping up and down chanting "Eeeeevil!  Eeeeevil!" as though he's friggin' Simon and Hecubus on Kids in the Hall.

See?  His celebratory "EVILing" is so loud, it manages to stir up ol' Flash Ryder, who's going to check out what all the hub-bub's about.

Down in the lab, Terminus-3 forces Damon into one of his EVIL "Rampager" cars... which, begins to operate on its own.  So, I guess those V.M.C.'s are for the cars then?  Anyhoo, the car takes it upon itself to... get this... kill Dr. Malcolm Ryder!  Like just atomize the poor sumbitch!  Like how the Sentinel does Wolverine during Days of Future Past!  Of course, Flash arrives on the scene just in time to see this go down... and, in the driver's seat of the killer car... his twin brother.  Uh-oh!  Further "uh-oh"... we're only on page friggin' eight.

Damon and the Rampagers take off, and Shari enters the scene.  Dr. Ryder shares a few final words with his favorite son about a "secret weapon" he'd prepared before perishing.  Flash heads into the next room where he's greeted by a trio of programmed non-EVIL cars... Maz(da), Scout, and 'Vette.  These cars tell Flash of yet another top-secret project the Doc had been working on, and sends the sobbing son through the third corridor in order to find it.

Shari heads up to the Technopolis gunnery and proceeds to fire into the swarm of Rampagers that are headed their way.  Meanwhile, the "Hot Rods" Maz, Scout, and 'Vette launch into some bumper-car action!  We get three or so pages of cars crashing into one another... with plenty of comments about their "explosive bumpers" which just so happen to be the main (and perhaps, only) "feature" of the Flash Force 2000 Matchbox toys.

The Hot Rods make quite a dent in Terminus-3's car-army (carmy?), until the Mutant baddies launch the (dun, dun, dunnnnn) Battle Van!  The Battle Van is, well, exactly what it sounds like... and it's tremendously huge.  Not sure why Termy and Co. don't just try and sell these things rather than doing... whatever the hell they're trying to do here.

Before the Battle Van can do any damage, we learn what Flash's final gift from his father was... Dr. Ryder's Tornado Chopper!  Terminus takes one look at the whirlybird before calling off the attack!  Seriously... that's all it takes!

Terminus flees from the van, and heads over to pluck his hostage Damon Ryder from his EVILmobile.  Damon isn't cool with any of this, but doesn't seem to have any choice in the matter.  In the air, Flash has a clean shot at the Big Bad... but chooses not to fire, as he cannot bring himself to harm his twin brother.

We (finally) wrap up with Flash taking all of his late father's responsibilities in Technopolis... and a twenty-one gun salute in honor of Dr. Malcolm Ryder.

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Holy Cow, you guys... is it still 2020, or did we miss it?  Damn this was endless.  Funny, out of this entire BONUS BOOK project, I bet this piece will wind up being the least read... but it took the longest time to do!

As a kid who, despite owning dozens of Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars, never cared one bit about 'em... I'll give the creative team a bit of credit in trying to assign a measure of personality and purpose to the Flash Force.  The backstory is a bit... I dunno... precious, but it works in a pinch.

I still don't have much of an investment in the cars... I mean, I couldn't even get into Transformers... because, what are the stakes there?  A robot is destroyed... you rebuild the damn robot.  Sure, it's a hiccup, but when the dust settles, the robot (or in this case, car) will be back, often better than before.  I suppose where this story... err, shines (?) is in the human bits.  Our twins are basically a post-apocalyptic Goofus and Gallant...

... which, I suppose is as good a trope as any.  I haven't ever come across any of the mini-comics that followed this Insert Preview (each toy came with an issue), so I don't know if they ever reconcile.  If I were to make a guess... I'd assume that they planned to reunite them, but the toy line got cancelled before they could.  Either that, or they were saving it for an animated series.  Who knows?  Not me.

Overall... this sure was something we read today.  The art was good... and, it seems as though Fleming tried his best to make something interesting of this.  Sadly it falls a bit short of that Hot Wheels series we looked at back in the long ago.  They can't all be winners!

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