Comics Reviews: Firestorm Annual 4, Vigilante Annual 2, Warlord Annual 5

Firestorm Annual #4 – “Venom” – Gerry Conway/Rafael Kayanan, Dick Giordano. Gene Colan, Curt Swan, Al Milgrom, Martin King, Keith Giffen/Steve Mitchell, Bob Smith, Murphy Anderson, Steve Montano

This one starts with Firestorm flying frantically to New York to meet his father, Ed Raymond, who’s coming back from his honeymoon in South America. Unfortunately, Ed’s new wife Felicity (who Ronnie refuses to call his step-mother) got some weird disease in the tropics that’s shutting down her nervous system and will probably kill her. The doctors mention an experimental serum using snake venom that’s being developed in Los Angeles and call to have some of the serum sent out. Ronnie and Professor Stein figure Firestorm can get to L.A. and back faster, so they take off. In L.A., the doctor in charge of the research has the serum ready to ship when a nutcase whose features are distinctly reptilian busts in and kills him with a shot of venom. The doctor’s assistant (Peg) recognizes snake-face as Todd, a fellow researcher, but is shocked by his appearance (and his casual approach to killing). She gets a close look at the latter, as Todd tries to strangle her. Firestorm shows up to stop him, but is forced to let him escape (wit the serum) when he tosses Peg out the window. Firestorm saves her, but learns Todd has stolen the only serum that might save Felicity. Todd heads home, but three thugs are waiting to collect some money he owes to a gangster named Mr. Shark. Todd kills one of them and takes off, but they figure he’ll head for his girlfriend’s place to hide out. Firestorm shows up at the house and finds the dead goon, then follows the two thugs as they take off. Meanwhile, Ed has flown to L.A. to retrieve the serum but learns about it being stolen. He meets a reporter friend (Jody, who kinda reminds me a bit of Stan Lee), who tells him about Todd killing the thug and suggests Mr. Shark may know where to look for him. They go to Shark’s Bel Air mansion, where he tells them Todd borrowed money to develop a new painkiller (called Venom-X) that would be more effective than heroin but without the addictive properties. Unfortunately, Venom-X turned out to be highly addictive and had the nasty side-effect of turning people reptilian. Shark wants the drug to distribute, thinking he’ll make millions off it. He tells his men to get rid of Ed and Jody and Firestorm follows, saving them from the thugs. Jody figures he can find Todd’s girlfriend through his contacts, so Firestorm brings him and Ed along. When they find Todd’s girlfriend, she’s already told Shark where to find Todd, but she’s in bad shape because Todd gave her a shot of Venom-X. After pounding the thug Shark left with her, Firestorm and his posse learn Todd is in the snake exhibit at the L.A. Zoo. Shark is already there, but Todd ambushes him and kills him. Firestorm shows up and chases Todd, but gets ambushed and shot in the face with a dose of Venom-X. Todd says he stole the serum because he thought it might cure him, but now he wants to share the wonders of Venom-X with everyone, saying it takes away your fears. Firestorm is kinda out of it from the dose, seeing a desert landscape populated by snakes, including Todd. Todd urges him to forget humanity and embrace his new destiny, but Firestorm remembers Felicity and fights back, beating Todd and getting the serum back to Ed before passing out. The serum is flown back to New York in time to save Felicity, who thanks Firestorm. Firestorm splits into Ronnie and Stein so Ronnie can join his dad and Felicity, who he now refers to as “mom”.

Vigilante Annual #2 – “Trials and Tribulations” – Paul Kupperberg/Ross Andru/Tony DeZuniga

This one starts with Adrian Chase and his lawyer (and kinda girlfriend) Marcia King arriving at the courthouse for the start of Adrian’s trial for his involvement in Judge Alan Welles’s death. Lieutenant Stein and his partner are there too and Stein doesn’t regret screwing up his career by ignoring orders and getting the evidence on Chase. Meanwhile, the current Vigilante (Dave Winston) is trying to help Adrian by tracking down a witness to Welles’s shooting, someone who’ll testify that Adrian killed him in self-defense. But the lead Vigilante is following turns out to be a trap and he gets jumped by Cannon and Saber (who don’t know this isn’t the same Vigilante they fought before). They almost kill him, but he manages to get into a dilapidated building and they’re forced to go in after him. At the trial, the lawyers give their opening statements and Adrian’s feeling guilty because he knows he really did kill his friend Welles, even if it was self-defense. Out on Long Island, we see the big Boss who’s been ordering the killing of all the mobsters; he looks a bit like the Punisher to me. His minion assures him that Cannon and Saber will take care of Vigilante. Speaking of which, the deadly duo have Vigilante on the run, but he lures them into a trap this time. It only half works though; Vigilante does shoot Saber, but Cannon puts a dagger in his shoulder. Instead of finishing Vigilante, Cannon freaks out and takes his wounded partner away to safety. (It’s never explicitly been stated, but it’s pretty obvious that Cannon and Saber are lovers, not just business partners.) At the trial, it’s lunch time and Marcia has another argument with Adrian about his feelings of guilt. She wonders if he might want to be found guilty of killing Welles as a way to assuage the guilt for all the things he did as Vigilante. Meanwhile, the current Vigilante goes home bleeding from the knife wound and runs into his girlfriend, Anne, who’s a cop. Anne didn’t know Dave was Vigilante, but she sure does now and ends up patching his wound for him. Turns out Anne isn’t too bothered by Dave’s alter ego, saying that sometimes justice needs a helping hand. Despite his wound, Dave heads back out to look for Cannon and Saber. They’re holed up in a hotel room and Saber has fully recovered from being shot (since Vigilante was only using tranquilizer darts), but he’s pissed off that his partner rescued him instead of finishing Vigilante. They know Vigilante overheard them discussing where they’d receive their pay-off and figure he might track down the Boss who hired them, so they decide to head out to the Boss’s place in case Vigilante shows up. They’re right, Vigilante is snooping around and manages to figure out where the Boss’s mansion is. He lures some of the thugs out and captures one, planning to use him to get inside the mansion. At the trial, Molly Williams (the bag lady who hangs out on Adrian’s street) is called to testify about the night she saw Adrian return home with a rolled up carpet that had someone’s arm hanging down from inside. After establishing Molly’s powers of recall and eyesight, it looks like the prosecution has some damning evidence … until Marcia gets Molly to mention being taken by flying saucers that same night, which naturally puts all her testimony into question. Out on Long Island, Vigilante makes it into the mansion and finds the Boss (who just looks like a regular scumbag with a big scar on his face), but there are six armed thugs waiting for him. Vigilante takes out the thugs, but the Boss reminds him that he has no real evidence that he’s ordered anyone killed. So unless Vigilante wants to kill him in cold blood, there’s not much he can do. The Boss has a gun hidden in his desk, but before he can grab it, Cannon and Saber bust in and attack Vigilante. During a break in the trial, Lieutenant Stein talks to Adrian (without Marcia present) and points out that Vigilante seems to be two different people, one right-handed and one left-handed … like Adrian. Adrian is tired of all the lies and guilt, so he tells Stein everything, not just about Welles but about his time as Vigilante as well. At the mansion, the Boss takes off on his yacht while Vigilante fights Cannon and Saber. Vigilante manages to trick them into taking each other out, but he’s pissed off that the Boss got away. At the trial, Stein testifies and admits he didn’t have a warrant when he retrieved the blood evidence from Adrian’s place, so the case is dismissed and Adrian is freed. Stein says he still doesn’t like Adrian’s methods, but they did get results and admits that maybe they’ve been on the same side all along. Adrian thanks Marcia for defending him and they admit they still love each other and want to make a life together. But if you’ve read my review for Vigilante 36, you already know that doesn’t last long (nor does Dave Winston’s career as Vigilante).

Warlord Annual #5 – “The Uxmal Encounter” – Michael Fleisher/Adam Kubert

This one starts with some tourists visiting the Mayan ruins of Uxmal, in the Yucatan Peninsula. One tourist (Doug Wendell) wanders into another ruined building to take photos and runs into what looks like a real live Mayan. Some time later in Skartaris, Travis Morgan is out hunting when he runs into some Mayans on flying sleds who capture him with their high-tech weapons. Morgan is taken to a Mayan city in Skartaris that’s linked by a tunnel to Earth. Recalling the Atlantean tech he found back in issue 6 that was linked to Macchu Picchu, he figures the Mayans might have fled from Earth ages ago and established themselves in Skartaris. Morgan sees Doug Wendell dragged out of the tunnel and offered to the Mayan god Kukulkan and realizes the “god” is a 3-D hologram projected by the High Priest’s staff. But the hologram is solid, so it can kill Doug. Morgan busts loose and fights a guard, blasting the staff and making Kukulkan disappear. The chief (Xtalpa) tells Morgan he’ll get anything he wants if he can survive the Path of Penance. Morgan agrees, but it was just a trick to get him to surrender and he’s thrown in the Well of Endless Sorrows. The High Priest leads an expedition through the tunnel to Uxmal and runs into some dope smugglers. They start fighting, but the Atlantean weapons give the Mayans an edge and the High Priest is so pissed off about being opposed that he orders his men to waste everyone in the city. In Skartaris, Morgan is pulled from the Well by a Mayan who takes him to Xtalpa. Xtalpa wants the secret of the High Priest’s staff and promises to let Morgan (and Doug) go free in exchange. But the Priest returns and attacks Xtalpa, giving Morgan a chance to take off. He rescues Doug and they steal a flying platform and a laser gun and head into the tunnel. The Priest (having beaten Xtalpa) goes after them and Morgan blasts the tunnel wall, collapsing it on his pursuers. Meanwhile, the CIA has heard about the flying Mayans and sends two agents (Redmond and Caroline) to check it out. The Russians have also gotten wind of it and order their deep-cover agent in Mexico to investigate. Morgan and Doug fly through the tunnel toward Uxmal and Morgan cautions Doug that he has to keep his mouth shut about everything that’s happened, even to his family. Morgan drops Doug off and heads back to the tunnel, hoping he can collapse it behind him. He’s attacked by Redmond and Caroline in a recon jet. They shoot down his flying platform and capture him and Redmond gets into some heavy interrogation techniques, but Morgan won’t talk. His fingerprints identify him and the CIA wonder if his disappearance over Russia years ago means he defected. Caroline pretends to be appalled at Redmond’s actions and helps Morgan “escape” in an F-15. They run into the Mayan Priest leading a squadron of Atlantean fighter planes over Uxmal. Morgan engages them using the F-15’s armaments (including a new sonic cannon) and beats them all. But Caroline turns out to be the Russian agent and orders him to fly out over the ocean to rendezvous with a Soviet submarine. Morgan sends her flying with the ejector seat and manages to land the jet near the tunnel to Skartaris. The Priest confronts him with a laser pistol, but Morgan knocks him over a cliff with the jet’s drogue chute. Morgan uses the Priest’s plane to return to Skartaris (there’s no mention of him closing the tunnel behind him, but I assume he did somehow), leaving the CIA and the Russians wondering what the hell happened at Uxmal.