Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror #1 & 2, by Roger Langridge (writer), J Bone (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Tom B. Long (letterer) - What we have here is a story narrated by some thus far unrevealed actor. All we know is Cliff ran into him on the street and dropped his wallet. Quite how this guy knows everything that's happened since then, I don't know. I guess he finds out when he's able to return Cliff's wallet.Betty has a roomie, a Dahlia Danvers, hotshot reporter. Dahlia's investigating a missing scientist - who Peevy happens to know - and a mysterious, well I'd call him a charlatan, but I guess he's meant to be a prophesier, Otto Rune. He issues portents of doom, and uses hypnotic lights and music to bilk people out of their dough. Unfortunately, Dahlia gets in a bit of trouble and winds up in the desert, minus her memories. She did manage to place a call to Betty, which only convinced Betty to start snooping herself. That probably won't end well, but at least she has some back-up, in the form of Nick and Nora Charles.
I was not expecting a guest appearance by the Thin Man in this mini-series.
Cliff has problems of his own, besides a lack of funds. The man who designed the rocket (I always think of Howard Hughes, because of the movie, but I guess it's Doc Savage) wants it back for some tests, and sent his two boys to get it. Cliff managed to dodge them the first time. The second time, however, he was a little off his game, and they took the rocket. Well, he'd just been tossed into Hollywood Lake by the concussive force of a bomb designed to destroy a dam. Cut him some slack.
I really do like Nick and Nora showing up. It's kind of random, but Langridge captures them well. The constant banter, the seeming indifference in the face of threats. I do wonder how Nora's going to manage to get herself into trouble snooping on her own without Betty beating her to it. Perhaps we're at the point where Nick's realized the futility of trying to keep her out of things. I will be disappointed if I don't see Nick mixing himself some drinks soon.
I don't know the names of Savage's cronies, but the tall guy, with the cane, dressed like Batman: The Animated Series Clock King? He's got this odd thing going with his speech, where certain words are in a very different font than the rest. The letters are more blocky, and perfectly upright (all the other letters are leaning slightly forward). It only happens a couple of times, though, so I'm not sure what Long was going for. I sort of understand it for "CIRRUS X-3", since that's a significant phrase, but why "MANNERS"?I like how J Bone draws the tall guy, fyi. He contrasts nicely with his buddy. He's very rigid, while the other guy is always sort of hunched over. He keeps a small smile on his face - just half the mouth crooked up, really - versus the other guy's big, toothy grin. Neither smile is friendly, but neither are they, so it works. Cliff's the square-jawed hero type, Betty's all curves and big eyes. He gets across the speed Cliff travels at well, too. I think it's that he blurs out Cliff's legs a lot of the time, but also the way his contrails trail all the way out of the panel . He just flew into view and he'll be gone again in an instant.
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