That's a hell of a cover.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

Love cover A. Very old school. I have to keep reminding myself that Mainframe is alive in this continuity, and no longer resembles a Tron action figure.

It does occur to me that Crystal Ball ... a guy with a different area of mind-tampering expertise (on the heels of Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Billy getting over their brainwashing) and Firefly (a guy with no small amount of history with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow) are both heading for Manhattan ...

Where only Joe, Jane and Mainframe are at the Chrysler Building ...

And Snakes, Stormy and Billy are all probably still in Manhattan ...

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

Another pretty cool issue with some serious notable stuff happening.

Firefly shoots Joe Colton! Joe survives thanks to a Kevlar vest. Firefly also secures his escape by strapping a satchel charge to hostages and exfiltrating with a remote detonator in his hand.

Chuckles is back! And is apparently Sneak Peek's handler. Perfect bit of character development, that one is, since Chuckles is often in charge of shaky operations and deep cover assignments. Sneak Peek begins debriefing him on where he's been since his "fake death" in Benzheen City - spying on Castle Darklon. Honestly, for a mistaken use of a dead character, this is turning into the best bit of character use in the run so far.

And the Arashikage trio encounter a dojo in Russian Brooklyn, filled with apparent ex-Russian Mafiya types practicing their style of martial arts under the tutelage of a former WWII P.O.W. ... and if I'm not mistaken, it's the Falling Leaf School mentioned back in Larry's brief "Storm Shadow" series.

Falling Leaf was the style that Hans Strellner, creator of the Ninja B.A.T. was a student of, and was also integral to Storm Shadow's final days with Anibal Alcazar and bringing the old spy some peace before he died. Of course ... all that was in the "possible future" of DDP, but it's great to see the continuity in Larry's storylines - especially when it's a good idea.

Oh, and in "final humiliation mode" ... Doctor Mindbender smashed the last Brainwave Scanner to bits!

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

That was awesome. When I saw that scanner I was like, "IT'S ONLY BEEN A FEW ISSUES!" but the resolution was appropriate. Of course Mindbender would try and rebuild it. It sort of took away from the ending of the same story some time ago, but it gave it a reinforced finality too.

I sort of felt punked by it.

So, Falling Leaf, huh? That makes sense. Weird. That really puts a lot of perspective into the SS series too. Man, that was a fun series. Two issues this week dealing with extended Arashikage branches. Synchronicity, Jungian synchronicity, Firefly, don't you get it, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

Man, I love this weird, cowardly, superstitious Crystal Ball. Bring on the closet hypochondriac Darklon with the nervous fidgety hands...

"There a problem, bro?"

Notice that the instructor could see a bloody possibility, but we know that nobody would have died. He's automatically assuming the worst of the other Arashikage. That doesn't bode well....

Absolutely love this issue!!

Overlord, that's a sharp observation you made connecting the ninja-prisoner who taught the Russian Arashakage to the ninja prisoner who taught Strellner - mentioned in Storm Shadow #5. Both ninjas imprisoned in a Russian gulag since WW2. But I'm wondering if they are the same person. Whoever taught the Russians featured in #169 taught them Arashakage style. And Storm Shadow refers to Strellner's teacher in SS#5 as the Last Master of Falling Leaf School. It seems to me that Arashakage and Falling Leaf are two different things.

But again, that was a sharp observation because the stories are similar - both involving a ninja master captured in Russia since WW2. I wonder if there is a connection. Hmm...

Your comment motivated me to re-read SS issues #1-7 for the first time in quite a while and I made another possible connection. In #167 Firefly introduces Crystal Ball to the Night Creepers. And in the Storm Shadow series CB is in league with the Night Creeper Leader...

I wonder if Larry is planning on connecting the current ARAH issues to the SS series??? If so, then cool!!

VERY doubtful of him connecting the two series intentionally anyway. I see it more as Larry using what he liked when he did the SS series for DDP in this series. If it connects? Great! However I would not hold my breath for that connection to fall all apart in #170 or later here.

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"Those with knowledge and information,not guns and ammo,have the true power over others."

I'm will Hellstrom. I doubt a connection. I think Larry is simply doing his thing on the Real American Hero title, using the original 1-155 run as a loose guideline, helping him stay within the boundaries he himself established (exception being the Sneak Peak thing...which he could always explain away as a fake Sneak Peak, etc.). If he does choose to connect it...hey, he's a master storyteller in my book and whatever he does is fine.

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TheDoctor: "Restricted access, no unauthorized personnel." Hmmm... [opens lock with sonic screwdriver]
Amy: That's breaking and entering!
TheDoctor: What did I break? Sonic-ing and entering,totally different
DoctorWho-The Hungry Earth

Speaking of him, where IS the Night Creeper Leader (who was introduced late in the Marvel run)?

along with slice and DIce and Cesspool

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You know, that's just too specific. I know Hama plays fast and loose, but come on.

I'll give you this though... it's a safe bet there's no timeline sitting around his office. But if Joe Declassified and Storm Shadow can overcome their "disavowed" status and stick out with the Marvel canon in the long term, that's awesome. They already are for me but if they could be officially recognized through being streamlined in, that's great.

I absolutely don't remember Crystal Ball even being in the Storm Shadow series, and it hasn't been very long since I reread it... he must have been going by his real name?

I appreciate that we're getting some non combat street level interaction with the ninjas. Where's Stalker?

Awesome issue!

potential spoiler...

...

OK, I was actually wondering whether the Arashikage prisonner in the Russian gulag might be Storm Shadow's father

I liked how Larry ended the brainwave scanner from the late Marvel run and, heck, even had some fun with it and pleased the fans with guest appearences by Venom and Kwinn!

I was wondering whether Venom would not download himself into Mindbender. We could then have our two beloved mad scientist personalities alternating from issue to issue, depending on who took control. But Larry chose to end it, which is also fine.

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

I really didn't mind this at all. It seemed sudden to revisit the scanner and Venom again, since the ending we got a few issues ago seemed to be pretty blunt and final itself. But then I remembered that the scanner was still active - and how they got to use "fraidy-cat" Mindbender again as the tool to its ultimate demise.

Though I'm still wondering how Mindbender knew who Kwinn was.....

The Brainwave Scanner was originally a "mind-reading" machine. They used it on Snake-Eyes hoping to read his thoughts and find out where the original Pit was. (Why they didn't use Scarlett and Zap after the initial failures with the the ninja master is beyond me!) All the information of the person's brain was recorded and could be replayed on a video screen. Mindbender probably has gone through many of the old files of Snake-Eyes, Baroness, Storm Shadow, Ripcord, Billy, etc.

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