Issue 19

Review by Robert K.S. Croy, Sr.

Title - The Dark Return

Writer - Bill Black

Penciller - Greg Horn

Inker - John Dell, III

Grey Tones - Rebekah Black

Letterer - Bill Black in his Walter Paisley persona

Cover Artists - Greg Horn & John Dell, III

Published - 1989

SYNOPSIS

• At a cocktail party, Tara, her father, T. C. Fremont and the other guests witness the return of the long-missing 1950's costumed adventuress, Jet Girl, when she falls out of the sky in true party-crashing fashion. Saved by Tara and taken under the collective protective wing of the Femforce, the dazed and confused Jet Girl relates her story. Suddenly Femforce HeadQuarters is attacked by four more costumed adventurers who've mysteriously reappeared after also having been missing for 35+ years. They're there to retrieve Jet Girl. A general brawl ensues. Thunderfox, Stardust and Dr. Weir appear on the scene, explanations are forthcoming and the situation is resolved. The backup story reunites Nightveil with her brother, the Avenger, who she'd believed died in 1955.

STORY

• At a party atop a rooftop terrace, Tara, her father T. C. Fremont and the other revelers are shocked to witness a young girl falling out of the sky toward them with a non-functioning jetpack on her back. The girl, dressed in a bright yellow costume, tries valiantly to land on the terrace, but cannot reach it. She grabs at the railing as she falls past and attains a tenuous one-handed hold, severely wrenching her arm. While she struggles to maintain her hold, Tara is galvanized into action. Tara leaps off the terrace, jumping from balcony to balcony on her way down to the beleaguered girl who is losing her grip on the railing. As the yellow-clad girl lets go Tara grabs her wrist, saving her, and hauls her up to the balcony.

  On the balcony, the girl reveals herself to be Pat Dale (not Pat "Carson," which is her real name), a scientist-detective/costumed adventuress from the 1950s, whose code name is Jet Girl. She relates to Tara that she, her partner "Tech" Carson, a.k.a. Rocketman, and many other costumed adventurers, super-powered or otherwise, were approached by renowned psychic investigator, Dr. Jonathan Weir, with a bizarre proposition. Weir proposed that he use his magical holy talisman, the Purple Claw, to put them all into a mystically-induced state of suspended animation. Because World War II was over there was no longer any great need for the world to have so many heroes. Secreted away, magically asleep in his mansion, they could wait for decades, never aging, remaining forever at their peak, until such time when they would be awakened to combat a great peril. Many went along with Weir's proposed plan and to the world it appeared as if dozens of heroes and adventurers had suddenly simply disappeared.

  Jet Girl goes on to say that earlier that evening Weir had awakened her, ending her thirty-five year sleep. Weir, who, although not asleep, had been affected by the power of the Purple Claw and also had not aged. Pat asked him if he'd revived her partner, the Rocketman. Weir told her that "Tech" was the first of the sleepers he'd attempted to revive, but he'd been unsuccessful. Looking past Weir to where "Tech" Carson lay deathly still on his cot, Pat became hysterical. Overwhelmed, Pat accused Weir of being insane and of allowing her partner to die and strove to flee. Crashing through a window and nearly falling to her death on the rocks below, Pat narrowly escaped by activating her jets. In her disorientation and confusion, she flew and flew until her fuel ran out and she plummeted from the sky.

  At the Weir Asylum, Weir and his hulking assistant watch a news report on the television covering Jet Girl's dramatic return. Weir resolves to retrieve her by waking more sleepers and sending them to Femforce HeadQuarters in Orlando, where she has been taken for protection.

  After Jet Girl tells her story to the other members of the Femforce, the HeadQuarters is suddenly attacked by the recently-revived Catman, Captain Flash, the Green Lama and the Avenger. All are heroes who have been absent from the world for over thirty years. A general brawl ensues. Catman attacks She-Cat while the magically-empowered Green Lama attempts to take out Nightveil. Colt and the Avenger engage in target practice with each other as their targets. Captain Flash, who was revived to counter the power of the absent Ms. Victory, is merely annoyed by the acrobatic antics of Tara, whose kicks and blows have no effect on him. She retreats from him to a treetop and his angry answer is to merely uproot the entire tree.

  Across town, Thunderfox and Stardust, walking home from a social night out, spy evidence of the altercation between Nightveil and the Green Lama when they look up and see a mystical "light show" spreading across the sky from the direction of Femforce HeadQuarters. They quickly don their uniforms and take to the sky.

  A short time later, back at FFHQ, everyone is suddenly blinded by a burst of stellar energy from Stardust and all fighting stops. Stardust emerges from the HeadQuarters followed by Jet Girl, Weir and a now fully-recovered/revived Rocketman. Explanations follow. As Rocketman had flown Dr. Weir to FFHQ, they'd encountered Stardust and explained that a great evil was once more at large in the world. Stardust pledged the assistance of the Femforce and the Sentinels Of Justice to aid in combating it. Reentering FFHQ, Weir dons the mystical Purple Claw and calls on its powers to reveal an image of the great evil. He states that evil from all corners of the world are being focused on one place, creating a power nexus to be used by the entity to crush the spirit of humankind. In the air an image forms of Tara's Jungle Island, showing itself to be the newly-forming nexus of evil power. At the Green Lama's and Tara's urging, Weir causes the visage of the entity to also be revealed. It is the Black Shroud. He, who Stardust had believed she'd killed years ago.

I REALLY LIKED:

• The use of the Arthurian concept of a heroic figure or figures sleeping, yet not asleep, through the ages, awaiting a time of great peril for the world to trigger his/their return. An absolutely GREAT device for the reintroduction of the Vault Of Heroes.
• Tara disrobing preparatory to leaping into action and her disdainful attitude toward her father's and the other party goers' shocked sensibilities.
• The Nightveil backup strip. I've mourned the loss of her own book for years.

I DIDN'T LIKE:

• There wasn't much background information presented about the revived Golden-Age heroes, who are mostly unfamiliar to today's readers. This is to be expected, though, as it's merely an introductory story, setting the stage for many more years of AC Comics production.
• I haven't seen an AC or Paragon book yet that doesn't have a final page. If they were all infinite in length, then perhaps I'd get a feeling of satisfied completion from reading one. I'm always left wanting more. With a book of infinite length there would have been more room for additional information about the revived Golden-Age heroes.

ART:

• Cover: Symbolic scene of the returned Black Shroud menacing She-Cat, Tara and Stardust with many large and evil snakes.
• Splash: Tara is menaced by huge evil undulating snakes.
• Title Page: Jet Girl is falling from the sky, witnessed by a rooftop cocktail party in progress.
• Generally: Black and white art and with the exception of the splash and title pages, the book's main story averaged four to five panels per page in normal closed-box format.

I LIKED:

• Dream-Snake-Colt-Thing rising up on top of page three after being stabbed by Tara, coming at her again.
• Seeing Tara in bed in her undies.
• Seeing Tara leap into action in her undies.

I DIDN'T LIKE:

• Greg Horn's and John Dell's rendering is only a step or two above average. After coming to expect absolutely superlative artwork from AC this equates to a letdown of sorts. But, it's really nothing to complain about and shouldn't prevent anyone from buying this very important book in the AC Universe.

EXTRA COMMENT FROM PAUL:

• Greg Horn who did the pencils in this issue and who worked on several books for AC has a new comic book coming out from Image. It's called J.U.D.G.E. (I think) and the art is a combination of hand-drawn and computer rendered. I've seen samples of the art and it's a very interesting effect. I believe it's probably worth a look.

The Official Femforce Index Page for this Issue at Joe Ace's Site

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