Flashback Friday Night: April 30th.

Well, this is it, the debut of my newest blog feature, Flashback Friday Night! Or at least that's what I'm currently calling this post... I'm not really fond of Flashback Friday Night, but it's better then the name I was originally going to go with, which was Back Issue Bonanza... So if this post works out the way I hope it will, I'll have three weekly features, which means that after a year and a half, this blog is finally getting some sort of direction to it! Huzzah!!!

So what is Flashback Friday Night, besides a blatant rip-off of my old, "Best of the Rest" post? It's pretty much just me listing which back issues I've read during the past week, saying a few lines about them and them hoping that somebody will either be interested in learning more about one of the back issues I listed, or better yet, that somebody who had actually read one of those back issues would want to discuss it further... Consider tonight the beta test for Flashback Friday Night, because I figure I'll have a lot of kinks to work out before I get this post exactly the way I'd like it to be. Since this is the beta version, feel free to toss out helpful suggestions as to how I can improve this post so it can get better and better every week.

OK, I think I'm just about ready to begin here. I'm going to try to keep the books in alphabetical order, but that might not happen... Let's get this show on the road!

Batman: Devils Asylum #1(1995): This comic was a part of the Underworld Unleashed x-over from back in 1995. Basically some c-list criminal in Arkham makes a deal with Neron that he'll get Neron the soul of Batman in exchange for becoming the ruler of the world. The c-list villain winds up poisoning the entire Asylum and tells Bats that if he kills ONE criminal in Arkham, he'll provide the cure, if not, all of the criminals will die from the poison. In the end, Bats outsmarts the villain and tricks him into drinking the poison, which ultimately leads to the dumb criminal giving Bats the antidote in order to save his own life. Score: 6 out of 10.

Flash Plus #1(1997)): Flash(that would be Wally West)and his good friend Nightwing(the current Batman)go on a roadtrip to New Orleans and wind up in the midst of some convoluted story involving crazy old men, a mansion with staircases that lead to nothing and aliens... This was definitely a weird one... Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Green Arrow #136(Sept. 1998): This comic actually crosses over with the old Green Lantern series as Connor Hawke(who was Green Arrow at the time)teams up with a time-lost Hal Jordan to take on the terrorists that were responsible for the death of Connor's father, the original Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. Huh, 12 years later, Hal and Ollie have major roles in the DCU while Connor is a fringe character at best... That's life I guess. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Green Lantern #104(Sept. 1998): This is the second and final part of the Hal/Connor crossover. The heroes get captured by the terrorists, escape and defeat them. What, you didn't think the bad guys were going to win, did you? Seriously though, I enjoyed this story for the most part. Seeing Hal from the past and Connor team-up was definitely a novel idea. Score: 8 out of 10.

Green Arrow #137(Oct. 1998): This was the final issue of Connor's run as Green Arrow, as the series would eventually get rebooted with Ollie returning from the dead to take back the GA name. The Connor story itself was kind of crappy, and dealt with him beating up a robot to reclaim his monastery or something, but the ending with Parallax Hal bringing Ollie back was kind of cool. Of course Ollie wouldn't officially come back for a little while, because Kevin Smith couldn't find the time to write Ollie's return until 2001... Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Robin 3000 #1(Nov. 1992): Woooo baby, can you say train wreck! This comic was set in the year 3000 and followed the story of the Robin of that year trying to avenge his uncle(I think)Bruce Wayne XX... Apparently, the members of the Wayne family REALLY liked the name Bruce! Imagine a family reunion where EVERYBODY is named Bruce! Anyway, future Robin battles aliens and conspiracies and his hand falls off... I think that was about the highlight for me, so that's really saying something! Score: 4 out of 10.

Robin 3000 #2(Dec. 1992): This comic actually started off way better then the prior one, but the ending was just horrendous! Let me rephrase that, the baffling lack of an ending was incredibly frustrating... This comic kind of ends right in the middle of a mission... Imagine watching a crappy movie for an hour and a half, and just as the movie starts to show some promise, it just sort of ends... Ugh! Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

The Ray #6(Nov. 1994): This comic deals with Ray getting to team-up with the woman of his dreams, Black Canary, who he had been writing to after a prior team-up they had together. Dinah doesn't want to lead Ray on, but ends up giving him a call when she runs into a situation she thinks he's suited for. They wind up getting sucked into the a stargate to a far off planet in order to rescue a little girl, which was all pretty weird actually... Score: 7 out of 10.

The Ray #7(Dec. 1994): Ray and Black Canary wind up fighting through the aliens and rescuing the little girl, who they send back to Earth via a strange stargate. The stargate collapses after the little girl crosses through, and to make matters worse, the planet Ray and BC were on begins to explode. D'oh! Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

The Ray #8(Jan 1995): Ray flies aimlessly through space with Dinah in an air bubble behind him, trying to figure out how to return to Earth. Ultimately Ray finds an outer space bar, which naturally leads to a confrontation with Lobo. Ray and Lobo fight for a while, and eventually the barkeep manages to calm the two down and in the end Lobo gives Ray and Dinah directions back to Earth. Score: 8 out of 10.

The Ray #9(Feb. 1995): Ray and Dinah wind up making their way back to Earth in spite of Lobo's instructions, but Ray somehow manages to screw up and flies backwards through time, returning to 1941 Earth... Whoops! Once he realizes his mistake, he decides to search out his father, the original Ray, and ask for his assistance(without letting on that he was the original Ray's son). The two Rays meet up, and after a major misunderstanding Ray's father ditches him, leaving Ray stuck in the past(while Dinah waits impatiently on a rooftop in 1940's Seattle). Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

The Ray #10(March 1995): Still stuck in the past, Ray tries to prevent his father from altering world history by attacking the Japanese fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor. Ray's father doesn't want to hear it and he ends up sinking the Japanese fleet. After failing with his father, Ray heads back to Dinah, who tells Ray that maybe Ray's father was supposed to sink that fleet. Feeling a little bit better about his repeated screw-ups, Ray takes Dinah and decides to try to head back into space in order to attempt to return to their proper time. Score: 8 out of 10.

The Ray #11(April 1995): After trying(and failing repeatedly)to return to the present, Ray winds up trapped a few years in the future, where with an assist from his future self, he is given directions to his proper timeline. Ray and Dinah FINALLY get back to 1995, and against her better judgment, Dinah winds up sleeping with Ray, which leads to Dinah laying depressed in her bed and Ray doing a light-speed dance across the world afterwards... HA! Ray's father also battles against Ray's enemy, Death Masque, who happens to be a renegade computer program Ray created. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

The Ray #12(May 1995): Ray is still flying high after scoring with Black Canary last issue, and winds up defeating some low-level super-villain, further inflating his ego. Black Canary, not wanting to get involved with someone as young as Ray, breaks-up with him over the phone(OUCH!), and Death Masque begins to build an army. This was most definitely a set-up issue, but a damn good set-up issue. Score: 7 out of 10.

Underworld Unleashed: Patterns of Fear #1(1995): This issue obviously takes place during the Underworld Unleashed storyline(it's right in the title!)and deals with Neron trying to tempt Oracle into selling her soul for the ability to walk again. The Oracle/Neron stuff was really pretty good, but unfortunately half of this issue also included profiles for the various villains who had sold their souls to Neron for power. I really wish they would have dedicated more of this book to Neron and Oracle though... Score: 8 out of 10.

Valor #4: The only reason I brought this comic was because LEGION appeared in it. Valor and Lobo fight for most of the issue, and Vril Dox is his regular self(a pompous jackass), so I actually wound up enjoying this comic way more then I thought I would. Vril Dox rules! Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

And there you have it. The debut Flashback Friday Night post is finally finished up... Now let's see if I remember to do this again next week!