Comics Scene #17 / 28

History

Comics Scene was produced by Starlog Communications International Inc. as part of the Starlog Group's stable of entertainment magazines, sharing infrastructure with Starlog and Fangoria. The second volume, which began in 1987, ran bi-monthly at launch before shifting to monthly frequency, and lasted 56 issues through early 1996. Issue #17 of that second volume was simultaneously numbered #28 in the combined overall run of all Comics Scene volumes (the first volume having run 11 issues from 1982–1983), which explains the dual designation in catalog records. The magazine was distributed through the newsstand system — drug stores, grocery outlets, and the like — rather than exclusively through the direct market, meaning it served as comics journalism for a far wider readership than the dedicated collector base.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published February 1991 by Starlog Communications International Inc.; the cover is attributed to Frank Miller, whose work dominated the issue's feature coverage.
• The dual '#17 / 28' designation reflects the issue being #17 in the second volume (1987–1996) and #28 in the overall combined numbering of all three Comics Scene volumes — the first volume ran 11 issues (1982–1983), making 11 + 17 = 28.
• Distributed via the newsstand system alongside sister magazines Starlog and Fangoria, giving the issue broad general-audience reach beyond the direct-market comic-shop readership.
• Contains coverage of the X-Men franchise — including characters across both the Uncanny X-Men and the newly configured X-Factor rosters — at the precise moment Marvel was overhauling its mutant line: the adjectiveless X-Men #1 (Jim Lee) and Peter David's all-new X-Factor #71 both debuted in mid-1991.
• Features an article on Alan Grant, who in early 1991 was simultaneously writing Batman for DC Comics and co-writing the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover graphic novel Judgement on Gotham (with John Wagner, painted by Simon Bisley) — a project connecting the DC Universe characters (Batman, Robin, Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane, Etrigan/Jason Blood) with 2000 AD characters (Judge Dredd, Judge Death, Lobo).
• The Frank Miller feature accounts for characters from Miller's landmark work: Elektra, Stick, and Jack Murdock from the Daredevil/Elektra mythology, alongside Dick Tracy, whose comic-strip history Miller was engaging with in the cultural context of the 1990 Dick Tracy film.
• Coverage of independent and alternative comics is represented by Omaha the Cat Dancer (characters Omaha and Rick Flint) and the inclusion of The Question, Ms. Tree, and The Dead Man alongside mainstream superhero and humor properties like The Simpsons (Homer Simpson) and The Flintstones (Fred Flintstone).
• The Deathlok character covered in the issue refers to the Michael Collins version, whose solo ongoing series launched in 1990 — the cyborg-soldier-with-a-conscience take that ran parallel to the X-Factor and X-Men titles of the era.

Cast · 40 characters

Full credits

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers