MattBrady
10-06-2005, 01:38 PM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/quarterbin/Manhunter17.jpg" width="200" height="304" align="right"><i>by Ryan McLelland</i>
<b>Manhunter #17</b>
DC Comics
September 1989
Written by: Kim Yale and John Ostrander
Penciles by: Grant Miehm
Inks by: John Statema
Not that I’m counting but I think there’s been at least 345 Manhunters in the DC Universe. No one seems to have copyrighted the name and every single Manhunter seems to have their own snazzy uniform so there’s no infringement or network TV ‘Battle of the Manhunters!’. The Manhunter of the late 1980’s was a man named Mark Shaw – a superhero bounty hunter of sorts who seems to revel in his cocky good guy catch the bad guy ways.
Mark and his brother Jamie, who has no purpose to the story other then bitching at his brother about being a superhero, go to Gotham City. Are they there to catch a bad guy or just go to Bruce Wayne’s latest shindig? I have no clue as this really isn’t put out well. Who really cares though because once at the latest shindig there is Bruce Wayne sipping on champagne and talking to the poor folk (anyone with less than 80 million dollars). Wayne is talking with football team owner Tom Melcher with Melcher ranting about how superheroes must be hopped up on steroids to do what they do. Especially that Batman…he must be hitting the juice!!!
This makes Mark Shaw angry! Angry I say! How dare he say that superheroes are on the roids! Shaw jumps right into the conversation and lets Melcher have it. Bruce Wayne doesn’t seem too impressed by the wannabe hero (whose identity as Manhunter is public knowledge) but before he can lament some other steroid freak freaks out at the party and is subsequently removed.
The Juiced-Up-Freak is none other then Victor Gover, a former football star who was released from his contract because of taking the needle too many times. Gover wants revenge and what better way to get revenge then to…become a supervillian! My God doesn’t that seem like the smartest thing on the planet to do? Gover dons a white costume and becomes the brand new (wait for it) Sportsmaster!!! You might ask yourself…who? Me too, I have no clue who the Sportsmaster is but I’m sure the old Sportsmaster is probably contacting his lawyers about copyright infringement. I suddenly stopped reading the comic and flipped to the front cover. Sportsmaster is yellow on the cover but has a white costume on the inside. BAH – WHO CARES!?!?!? Bring on the Batman!!!
Through exactly fourteen seconds of deductive reasons both Batman and Manhunter separately figure out that Gover is the brand new Sportmaster! Both make it their number one top priority to stop this villainous master of utter evil and change into their costumes to take down the man who, hmm, could become the next Lex Luthor! Manhunter finds the brand new Sportsmaster first and subsequently becomes the first to get his butt whooped. Batman shows up to defeat the brand new Sportsmaster but, for some odd reason, decides to fight Manhunter as well. Some detective he is, you’re fighting the wrong guy brainiac! While the two tussle the brand new Sportsmaster takes out Batman with a discus bomb and runs away looking to kill the two men who wronged him in the sports community.
Yay, its obligatory team-up time! Both heroes get up and make their way into the building and use teamwork to defeat the brand new Sportsmaster, stopping him right in his tracks! With Gover defeated Shaw smiles happy as he stands to collect a nice bounty while Batman skulks off after quipping at Manhunter. Not that Batman should quip. He’s probably off to plan his next hoity-toity party to help save the children.
Never being one for the Manhunter mythos I was quite surprised that I really enjoyed this issue. Sure the whole go-to-Gotham-and-tussle-with-Batman thing seems very contrived but once past that it was fun to see Shaw as the cocky bounty hunter just looking to take out baddies just for the Benjamins. And it’s all the more interesting given what’s been going on with the former Manhunters in DC’s current <b>Manhunter</b> series.
Of course the story is helped by the team up between John Ostrander who co-wrote the plot for this classic comic book with his wife, Kim Yale. It might be drooling with cheesy DC eighties goodness but <b>Manhunter #17</b> was one silly, fun read that I enjoyed for one shiny quarter.
<b>Manhunter #17</b>
DC Comics
September 1989
Written by: Kim Yale and John Ostrander
Penciles by: Grant Miehm
Inks by: John Statema
Not that I’m counting but I think there’s been at least 345 Manhunters in the DC Universe. No one seems to have copyrighted the name and every single Manhunter seems to have their own snazzy uniform so there’s no infringement or network TV ‘Battle of the Manhunters!’. The Manhunter of the late 1980’s was a man named Mark Shaw – a superhero bounty hunter of sorts who seems to revel in his cocky good guy catch the bad guy ways.
Mark and his brother Jamie, who has no purpose to the story other then bitching at his brother about being a superhero, go to Gotham City. Are they there to catch a bad guy or just go to Bruce Wayne’s latest shindig? I have no clue as this really isn’t put out well. Who really cares though because once at the latest shindig there is Bruce Wayne sipping on champagne and talking to the poor folk (anyone with less than 80 million dollars). Wayne is talking with football team owner Tom Melcher with Melcher ranting about how superheroes must be hopped up on steroids to do what they do. Especially that Batman…he must be hitting the juice!!!
This makes Mark Shaw angry! Angry I say! How dare he say that superheroes are on the roids! Shaw jumps right into the conversation and lets Melcher have it. Bruce Wayne doesn’t seem too impressed by the wannabe hero (whose identity as Manhunter is public knowledge) but before he can lament some other steroid freak freaks out at the party and is subsequently removed.
The Juiced-Up-Freak is none other then Victor Gover, a former football star who was released from his contract because of taking the needle too many times. Gover wants revenge and what better way to get revenge then to…become a supervillian! My God doesn’t that seem like the smartest thing on the planet to do? Gover dons a white costume and becomes the brand new (wait for it) Sportsmaster!!! You might ask yourself…who? Me too, I have no clue who the Sportsmaster is but I’m sure the old Sportsmaster is probably contacting his lawyers about copyright infringement. I suddenly stopped reading the comic and flipped to the front cover. Sportsmaster is yellow on the cover but has a white costume on the inside. BAH – WHO CARES!?!?!? Bring on the Batman!!!
Through exactly fourteen seconds of deductive reasons both Batman and Manhunter separately figure out that Gover is the brand new Sportmaster! Both make it their number one top priority to stop this villainous master of utter evil and change into their costumes to take down the man who, hmm, could become the next Lex Luthor! Manhunter finds the brand new Sportsmaster first and subsequently becomes the first to get his butt whooped. Batman shows up to defeat the brand new Sportsmaster but, for some odd reason, decides to fight Manhunter as well. Some detective he is, you’re fighting the wrong guy brainiac! While the two tussle the brand new Sportsmaster takes out Batman with a discus bomb and runs away looking to kill the two men who wronged him in the sports community.
Yay, its obligatory team-up time! Both heroes get up and make their way into the building and use teamwork to defeat the brand new Sportsmaster, stopping him right in his tracks! With Gover defeated Shaw smiles happy as he stands to collect a nice bounty while Batman skulks off after quipping at Manhunter. Not that Batman should quip. He’s probably off to plan his next hoity-toity party to help save the children.
Never being one for the Manhunter mythos I was quite surprised that I really enjoyed this issue. Sure the whole go-to-Gotham-and-tussle-with-Batman thing seems very contrived but once past that it was fun to see Shaw as the cocky bounty hunter just looking to take out baddies just for the Benjamins. And it’s all the more interesting given what’s been going on with the former Manhunters in DC’s current <b>Manhunter</b> series.
Of course the story is helped by the team up between John Ostrander who co-wrote the plot for this classic comic book with his wife, Kim Yale. It might be drooling with cheesy DC eighties goodness but <b>Manhunter #17</b> was one silly, fun read that I enjoyed for one shiny quarter.