Out of Knowhere

 I must admit, I didn’t read the original Rocket Raccoon miniseries because I didn’t like Mike Mignola’s art back then. It took a while for me to appreciate his work. I think it was when he did a fill-in job on Byrne’s Superman reboot that made me realize how good his artwork was.

As for Rocket himself, I liked his storyarc the best among his fellow Guardians of the Galaxy in the movie trilogy.

The Lost Crusade

These guys were largely ignored in the 1980s Red Circle revival of Archie Comics’ superheroes, except for She-Fox who was introduced during that era. Three of them were in the second issue as villains, but those turned out to be artificial doubles and none were the real deal.

But in recent years Archie Comics has used them in short stories in their comics digests, usually interacting with Archie and the gang. So at least they’re not gone and forgotten.

Heads of State

 

This was a series that never seemed to end. I had some issues of this title that I bought as local Philippine reprints when I was a kid, and every issue I bought ended with a cliffhanger. So when the series was reprinted in the Essential line of B&W books some years back, I bought it to get the whole story. And yeah, every issue really did end with a cliffhanger that leads you to the next issue. I guess that’s why I gravitated towards DC more as a kid, because they did more done-in-ones while Marvel had a tendency to do multiple issue stories.

Cumulative Cumulus

 

Warp was my favorite First Comics title. I didn’t buy the series as it was coming out, but rather managed to buy scattered issues from various bargain book shops, bookstores, and back issue bins. I almost have the complete run, the only one missing is the final issue. Hoping that someday I’ll be able to find it somewhere out there.

Surfin’ the (Shock) Wave

 

Marvel started out the Transformers license by incorporating them into the Marvel Universe and having Spider-Man guest-star in the third issue. But they decided against it later on so that their Transformers stories existed in its own continuity. But what if they continued with their original route? We might have gotten something like this, where the Transformers might have had to worry about not just one but two planet devourers.

Cheesed Wiz

 

The Wizard was MLJ/Archie Comics’ first superhero, and was also one of the more popular ones in their stable. So it was kind of strange that with all the times Archie has revived its superhero line, he was mostly ignored. They even turned him into a villain in the 1960s (the gentleman on the right side of this cover). Although mightycrusaders.net says that this Wizard is Hans Martz, a Nazi sorcerer who defeated and killed the heroic Wizard (Blaine Whitney), then impersonated him. I can’t find the comic where that specifically happened, but this cover above is my take on what happened a bit after that took place.

Fashion Shoot

 I think Dakota North was not originally intended to be part of the Marvel Universe, but rather a standalone series in its own universe with no superhero trappings. Her series only lasted five issues, though. Maybe Marvel didn’t want the character to go to waste and later on integrated her into their superhero universe.

She was originally slated to guest star in Spectacular Spider-Man alongside Silver Sable, but that did not push through. So here’s my version of what was supposed to be Dakota North’s initial entry into the larger Marvel Universe.

Relative Unknown

 Phantom 2040 was designated as the 24th Phantom in the line, so that would make him the great-grandson of the current 21st Phantom. But since 2040 is a mere 15 years away, that isn’t accurate anymore. I think it was a missed opportunity not to age The Phantom in real time. Since he’s been established early on as a legacy character, it would have worked.

But, hey, a lot of Phans are happy that the current Phantom is still the same one from the 1930s, so what do I know.

Astro Void

 Vance Astro was a guy who was trapped in a containment suit. It was stated that he was thousands of years old, and if the suit was breached he would crumble into dust. That got me to thinking… that suit must be pretty indestructible, since even just a small tear would mean his demise. And if it was not, wouldn’t it make sense for him to always be wearing protective gear on top of it to ensure his survival?

Uncanny Resemblance

Back in the 1990s (and even the preceding decades) copyright laws were virtually nonexistent in the Philippines. They were there, but not strictly enforced. In this chaotic environment, there arose a publisher that took advantage of this and released a number of comic books that were pastiches (to put it kindly) of popular characters from the USA. One of these was the anthology titled Dragonboy Z, which included imitations of Dragonball Z and, as seen above, X-Men, retooled as X-Gen: The Unknown Generation. These were quite popular among kids and teens, despite their dubious origins.

Beast Friends Forever?

The Beast and Wonder Man friendship was one that seemed like a total mismatch, but it endured for around two decades in real time. The pair was split apart when Beast was “returned” to the X-books. They would meet every now and then afterwards, but I think it’s safe to say that their friendship has never been the same.

Dream Boy

 

 The ultimate fate of the Simon and Kirby 1970s version of The Sandman ended tragically, with him taking his own life due to loneliness of being semi-trapped in the Dream Dimension. Hector "Silver Scarab" Hall then became the next Sandman in another tragic turn of events.

 If DC didn't fold all their versions of Sandman into the Vertigo line, I would have liked to think that Jed Walker/Paulsen would have been a good idea to be the successor, since he was a more-or-less prominent supporting character in the short-lived 1970s series. 

Tarzan and the Castaways

 

This is a rejected cover idea for Comics Revue, but I'm recycling it here in this series just so it won't go to waste. Could be a fun crossover, don't you think?

Dusty in the Wind

 

In the tradition of kid sidekicks growing up, here’s my version of how Dusty (The Boy Detective) would have looked if he followed the Original Shield into the 1980s Red Circle revival of Archie Comics’ superheroes.