Friday Night Fights--Old Man Logan Style!!

It's Friday Night Fights time, Slay Cadets, and that means fun!!

Now, usually I stick the "please vote message" at the end of the fight. But numbers have been dwindling on Friday Night Fights of late, and we really, really want to get those numbers back of there. So Spacebooger is having a side-contest to help attract new participants.

And yeah, there's a gift certificate involved, but man, it's not about the money. It's about the fun. One of the reasons I started this blog is because I wanted to participate in the Fights every week. It's fun to show off your love for comics, and for audacious fight sequences.

So when you go to vote for the winner each week, don't just vote--leave a comment in the forum discussing the why of your vote. If you participate all 12 weeks of voting, you're entered into a contest to win 20 bucks.

And don't be shy--if you're a regular here, you've probably got some comic books, and maybe have access to a scanner. Do your own Fight, and join in the the fun!!

On with the Fight!!

You know, there are some characters so ridiculously popular, who are popular because they're total badasses...except we never, ever get to see the actual consequences of said badassery. Except this time.

Scene: while being attacked by a trio of lame and forgettable villains, the Human Torch accidentally lost control and unleashed his "nova" heat, destroying a good portion of the ESU campus. Oops.

Now he's in hiding. And for reasons that are never clear (except to set up a new series(!)), Doctor Strange decides to get involved, summoning the "Secret Defenders" to track down the Torch and capture him. And these "defenders" just happen to be the same folks who made up the infamous "New Fantastic Four" for a few issues a couple of years earlier: Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider.

So the Double Secret Probation Defenders confront Johnny...

And that's exactly when the real FF, along with "Ms. Marvel" Sharon Ventura, show up:

And the fracas is on.

But for our purposes, tonight we're going to focus on feisty old Logan, Wolverine, everybody's favorite uncontrollable ball of rage. Spoiler alert: Wolverine's going to be having a bad day.

First Reed Richards teaches him a thing or two:



Then the Invisible Woman knocks him around:


And then Ben Grimm steps in:




Uh...wait...Wolverine just mauled a good guy? I mean, actually severely injured him? Yup. The consequences?


BOOM! Bye, bye, Logan.

I've been critical of Tom DeFalco's run on Fantastic Four before. So it's only fair that I give him some props here.

For years, Marvel writers tried to have it both ways with Wolverine: he's a mean, mean dude who's prone to "uncontrollable beserker rages" and is constantly getting into fracases with friends and allies. Yet no one ever really got hurt, and he was still portrayed as cute and cuddly and he said "Bub" and he was considered a good role model for Kitty Pryde and other children.

But for this one story, DeFalco called out that hypocrisy--if you're going to have a psycho who has trouble controlling himself and is, at the same time, an incredibly dangerous weapon, someone IS going to get hurt, badly. It's inevitable.

After 20 years of people unrealistically walking away from "scuffles" without so much as a scratch from those razor-sharp adamantium claws, someone finally got hurt--badly--and this time it was one of Marvel's first and greatest heroes. And he wasn't under mind-control, or possessed by the Brood Queen, or one of a million other excuses. He just lost it during a skirmish, and people got hurt.

How badly was Benjy mauled?


And after getting his face even more pummeled in a subsequent battle, the Thing decided to go with a helmet for the next year or so:

So, praises to Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan, and Danny Bulandi in Fantastic Four #374 (1993)(the last two panels are from the following issue, #375). For one brief moment, someone at Marvel actually dared to say, "Hey, maybe Wolverine isn't so cute and cuddly after all...maybe he's actually more dangerous to his friends than their enemies." For once, someone actually looked and realized that, given the characterization of Wolverine, it was inevitable that someone that someone would get seriously injured.

So the Illuminati got together and decided Logan was too dangerous and blasted him into space...no, of course not. Wolverine sold too many X-Comics for them to do that. All was forgiven and forgotten. Now, of course, he and Ben are members of the New Avengers together, and all is happy joviality. And Wolverine is such a total cash cow, he'll never hurt a good guy again, ever.

But for one brief moment, somebody actually dared to say, "maybe hanging around with an uncontrollable killing machine isn't a good idea." Imagine that.