So today, good friend and loyal WBW reader J-Hatch brought back some souvenirs from his trip to Alabama for me. Well, technically, he brought them back with him, like, yesterday or the day before, and he gave them to me today. It's a minor difference, but it's a difference.
Today's prize was three Marvel comic books from the year of my birth, two Transformers and one precursor to the modern day epic summer comic crossover event genre: a one-shot in which Spider-Man, Storm (of X-Men fame), and Power Man (now known simply as Luke Cage) team up to save a high school track star from making destructive life choices, as young Bret has started staying out late, neglecting his homework, and smoking! Little do Bret, Spidey, Luke, or Storm know, Bret's poor choices are being perpetuated by an illegal gambling ring that has a bet on the big state track meet and needs Bret to lose the big race. The mastermind of this scheme is none other than the villainous genius Smokescreen, a bad guy in black tights with gold armbands and a logo that features a silver "SS" interlocked in a Mario Bros.-esque cloud shape on his chest. Smokescreen captures Storm by suffocating her with harmful second hand smoke, but then she wakes up and escapes. Bret loses the race due to poor conditioning, and then the good guys beat up Smokescreen's gang, and the character Smokescreen is never heard from again.
Oops. Spoilers.
Oddly enough, there is a heroic character in the Transformers series named Smokescreen. See? It all comes around eventually.
