Contains The New Teen Titans Annual #2, Vigilante #1-11 (November 1983 to October 1984)
Written by Marv Wolfman
Co-plotted by George Pérez (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
Pencilled by George Pérez (New Teen Titans Annual #2), Keith Pollard (#1-3, 5), Don Newton (#4), Chuck Patton (#6-7), Ross Andru (#8-11)
Inked by Pablo Marcos (New Teen Titans Annual #2, Vigilante #2-4, 6), Dick Giordano (#1, 11), Romeo Tanghal (#5), Mike DeCarlo (#7-8), Tony Adkins (#9), Rick Magyar (#9-10)
Coloured by Adrienne Roy (New Teen Titans Annual #2), Anthony Tollin (#1-4), Tom Ziuko (#5-9), Tatjana Wood (#10-11)
Spoilers from thirty-six to thirty-seven years ago
I’ve never read any of the original Vigilante series, but I’ve always liked the covers. I’ve always dismissed this character as a knockoff of Marvel’s Punisher, although with an arguably better (and also more identifiably 80s) costume. I remember being intrigued when he was replaced with a female version somewhere towards the end of the first volume, but then I never read those comics either.
When I started reading through the classic Marv Wolfman/George Pérez New Teen Titans run, I was surprised to learn that the Vigilante began as a spinoff from that title (I really never paid much mind to pre-Crisis DC growing up, except for a few specific corners of that universe). That prompted me to pick up this volume, to see if Wolfman was able to make him a character in his own right, and to separate him from the shadow of Frank Castle.
I do think it’s significant that Keith Pollard’s covers appear to have been influenced by Mike Zeck’s Punisher covers, but I might have the sequencing wrong.
So, let’s see what there is to see…
This book features the following characters:
Villains:
- Anthony Scarapelli (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Donna Omicidio (New Teen Titans Annual #2, #6-7, 10-11)
- The Scorcher (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Spear (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Bazooka (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Slasher (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Tanker (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Cheshire (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Mr. Quilt (#1)
- Brand (#1)
- Leonard Kord (#2)
- William Stryker (#3)
- Grace Moore (#4)
- The Exterminator (#4, 6-7, 11)
- The Controller (#4, 6-7, 9-11)
- Saber (Marschall Saber; #5, 7)
- Cannon (Henry Cannon; #5, 7)
- The Electrocutioner (#8-9)
- Henry Ebert (#8)
- Johnny Z (#10)
- Vincent Apollo (#10-11)
Guest Stars
- Robin (Dick Grayson; New Teen Titans Annual #2, #3)
- Wonder Girl (Donna Troy; New Teen Titans Annual #2, #3)
- Cyborg (Vic Stone; New Teen Titans Annual #2, #3)
- Starfire (Koriand’r/Kory Anders; New Teen Titans Annual #2, #3)
- Terra (Tara Markov; New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Changeling (Gar Logan; New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Lyla (aka Harbinger; New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Monitor (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Kid Flash (Wally West; New Teen Titans Annual #2)
- Raven (New Teen Titans Annual #2)
Supporting Characters:
- Captain Hall (NYPD, New Teen Titans Annual #2, #3, 5-7, 10-11)
- Theresa “Terry” Gomez (Chase’s research assistant; #1-10)
- JJ Davis (Chase’s computer and weapons expert; #1-7, 9)
- Charles Chase (Adrian’s father; #2)
- Marcia King (Assistant DA; #5, 7, 9-11)
- Alan Welles (Judge; #7-9, 11)
- Lynn (Adrian’s teacher; #7)
- Bloody Knife (Adrian’s teacher; #7)
- Chaka (Adrian’s teacher; #7)
- Chastity (Adrian’s teacher; #7)
Let’s see what happened in the comics, with some commentary as I go:
- This volume opens with New Teen Titans Annual #2, which I covered in another column recently, so I’m just going to plagiarize myself for its description. The Annual opens with a news broadcast that explains what happened at Adrian Chase’s apartment (it blew up). Robin loses his temper on a reporter at the hospital, where Robin has accompanied the Chase family, while NYPD Captain Hall refuses to answer questions linking the explosion to the mob. Gangster Tony Scarapelli also watches the news, in the company of some other mobsters, including Donna Omicidio, who is apparently above him in ranking. She’s furious that he’s brought so much attention to himself (he claims he never meant for the wife and children to be hurt, but the bomb he sent was hidden in a child’s toy, so there’s that), and she wants him to bring her all the files he’s collected by morning. We learn that Chase’s wife and children have died. Robin and Hall speak at the hospital about how the police have no reason to pursue Scarapelli for this crime, which makes Dick angry. The other Titans, except for Raven, arrive, and Dick ignores Starfire to speak with Wonder Girl; he refuses to let go of his anger at this situation. A doctor gives a press conference explaining that Chase has shrapnel too close to his heart to operate on, and that he was dead for seven minutes, but is now recovering. Scarapelli feels that Omicidio is going to kill him, and decides to call in some extra protection, and wants to call The Monitor. In space, we see a woman named Lyla bring some files to the Monitor, who remains unseen. He speaks with Scarapelli, telling him he can send him six “special” guards. Robin testifies in a preliminary hearing about Scarapelli, Scarapelli gets a court order to keep Robin from harassing him, and we learn that Chase has left the country to recuperate from his injuries, but don’t know where he’s gone. Dick goes to confront Scarapelli in a restaurant, and things start to get violent, but Kory arrives and gets Dick out of there. They talk on a roof about Dick’s anger and how Kory wants to help him. While they chat, we see that a sniper has Robin in his sights, but another unseen sniper shoots him. The dead sniper is dropped off at Scarapelli’s apartment, and he assumes Robin killed him. At the Tower, the team discusses Dick’s plan to shut Scarapelli down. Donna has reservations about this plan, but agrees to go along with it. Raven tries to return to Azaroth, but is turned away, due to the growing influence of Trigon on her, or something like that. We see a cool montage of scenes wherein the Titans, in three teams, take out criminal enterprises connected to Scarapelli at the same time, even though they can find no proof that he’s involved with any of them. Dick does research on the computer trying to connect all of the dots around Scarapelli, and Donna again asserts that she’s not comfortable with the team doing this kind of work. We see another series of scenes wherein the people recruited by the Monitor are brought into the story. First, a masked arsonist named The Scorcher is recruited, then a black man called Spear, who is a jumble of racist tropes mixed with Mr. T. After that Bazooka, a redneck character, Slasher, a female assassin, and Tanker, a purple rolling tank-suit guy, are added to the team. In Hong Kong, an old man named Wen Ch’ang goes to see his employer, a woman he calls Jade, about taking the same job. The Titans gather at a warehouse, where Kid Flash can find no connection to Scarapelli (Robin doesn’t appear to be with them). They are attacked by Bazooka, Spear, and Scorcher. Tanker knocks Donna pretty far. Starfire, leaving the building in order to return to it, runs into Cheshire outside (that’s Jade’s professional name), and gets knocked down by her. Slasher manages to throw a knife at Changeling while he’s shaped like a fly, and hurts him. Someone shoots Slasher from behind (we see this through a sniper scope) and kills her. Cyborg destroys Bazooka’s bazooka (Bazooka is a racist as well as a redneck), while Donna wrecks Tanker’s armor. Kid Flash takes out Spear. Scorcher is about to open fire on them all when he’s attacked by someone dressed mostly in black who knocks him out without the others seeing. Kory is rescued from Cheshire by Wally, who is scratched by her poisoned nails. The mystery sniper shoots at Cheshire, making her run away. Wally, in pain, calls for Raven, who shows up to help him. Back at the Tower, Donna again complains about the tactics that Dick has them using. Dick plays a tape he somehow acquired. On it is Chase’s voice, telling the team that Scarapelli has incriminating evidence on his fellow mobsters, and that he’s planning on surprising them at his desert property. Donna decides the team should be there. On that day, the mobsters under Donna Omicidio gather in the desert (why are they in the desert? Where is the closest desert to New York City?). Scarapelli arrives, looking confident. Raven teleports in, warning the gangsters that they are in a trap. Scarapelli has an underground bunker, wherein he’s hidden dozens of jetpack-equipped goons, who come flying out and attack the gangsters. There is a lot of mayhem, with the Titans apparently trying to save the gangsters. Scarapelli flees in his personal car, while Donna only now realizes that Dick isn’t with them. Scarapelli returns home (from the desert to Long Island takes how long?). His guard (who I assumed was going to be Dick in disguise) is taken out by the man in black, who as he chases Scarapelli through the house, shooting at him, rants about justice. He reveals himself to be Adrian Chase, now calling himself The Vigilante. Dick shows up to stop Chase from shooting him. Dick reveals that he figured out that Chase’s audiotape had to be made after the attack on him. When Scarapelli pulls out a gun and manages to shoot Robin, Chase shoots him dead. The rest of the Titans arrive (from the desert?) to find Dick unconscious and Scarapelli dead. Later, the news tells us that Robin, who suffered head and arm wounds, has been cleared of Scarapelli’s death, but Dick refuses to say who actually shot the gangster, stating he was unconscious at the time. The anchor ends her broadcast asking if there is a new kind of vigilante in town.
- The first issue of Vigilante opens with a brief recap of Chase’s origin, and a great splash page of him in costume. In Greenwich, a mobster called Mr. Quilt works his garden in his suit, while his bodyguard, Brand, stands with him. In Brooklyn, a woman named Eppie talks to her husband, Al, while their son plays video games. Brand busts down the door, demanding that Eppie hand over the thing that Quilt wants. Al goes to fight him and Brand punches him. He pulls out a hot branding iron (hence the name Brand) and threatens to burn Eppie with it. Al pulls out a gun, and appears to shoot Brand in the face, breaking his glasses. He flees. Three months later, Al is on trial for firing the weapon, which was unregistered. For this reason, the judge puts him away for a year; Al accuses the judge of working for Quilt and runs out of the courtroom. Later, at Quilt’s place, a dinner party is happening, where Quilt praises the judge, who is present. Al comes jumping through the window, accusing Quilt of paying off the judge. Brand kills him, and then pours the judge some more pink champagne. Adrian Chase sits in his large customized mobile home, brooding. He has two assistants – Theresa Gomez handles research, while JJ Davis is responsible for computers and weapons. Theresa is worried that Chase is locking himself off from the world, and goes to talk to him about her friend Eppie. Chase says he only works off research into legal cases that failed due to technicalities, but when Theresa explains that Quilt is involved, he agrees to take the case. He rides his customized red motorcycle, evading local police who have an APB out for him, and goes to see Eppie. She explains that she used to be Quilt’s secretary, and she thinks that he wanted her dead so she can’t testify in front of a grand jury. Vigilante heads to Quilt’s mansion, where he fights his way past all the guards, including Brand. Their fight ends up in Quilt’s living room, where Quilt stops Brand. Instead, he invites Vigilante to play handball with him, and tells him that Eppie stole records from him, and has been blackmailing him ever since. Quilt says he feels bad for what happened to Al. On the way out, Vigilante, revealing that Brand managed to brand his right shoulder, punches the assassin. Quilt keeps Brand from retaliating. Vigilante heads to Eppie’s apartment, but finds it emptied out. We see that she’s taken her son and gone to her father’s place in Ocean Parkway. Vigilante confronts her there, and asks why, if she’s been blackmailing Quilt for so long, she doesn’t have more money. As Brand climbs onto the verandah, Eppie explains that her child is Quilt’s, and that she has been blackmailing him to stay out of young Tommy’s life. Al knew she was pregnant when they got together, and assumed the child was from a rape, and raised the boy like he was his own. Brand throws some branding irons through the window, and Chase chases him. They end up in Coney Island, where Chase is upset to have good memories of his family tainted by their conflict. Brand climbs the Cyclone, and Chase chases him. They fight on top of the roller coaster, and Chase manages to brand Brand with his own branding iron, in the face. The villain falls off the ride’s structure. Chase returns to Eppie’s father’s place to get his wounds cleaned. He encourages Eppie to stop running. Vigilante goes to Quilt’s and gives him the papers that Eppie stole, telling him to stay away. Quilt admits that he wants access to his son, and pulls a gun on Vigilante. Chase shoots him dead and leaves.
- Two years ago, Adrian prosecuted a man named Leonard Kord for raping a nun. We see the trial, and how after the jury rendered the guilty verdict, Kord continued to insist he was innocent. After, Adrian and his family had dinner at his father Charles’s Westchester County estate, where Charles pushed him to join the family law firm and make some real money. In the present (by which I mean 1984), Charles is still trying to get Adrian to follow family tradition and work for the firm. Adrian says he’s not going to do it, and his father yells at him as he leaves. Adrian joins JJ in his car, where they talk about financial issues. Terry calls to tell Adrian that Kord has just been released. He suits up as the Vigilante and goes looking for Kord. Kord, meanwhile, is attacked by the people at his new job, and then fired. When he returns to his mother’s house, she tells him how unhappy she is to have him home, and a crowd throws a rock through her window. Kord’s ex-wife is there too, and she’s also upset with him, alluding to his first rape case, and how she believed him that it was a one-time thing. The Vigilante appears in the house to accuse Kord, who goes nuts and attacks him. They fight for pages, trashing the house in the process. The ex tries to intervene, claiming that the fact that he was freed by the police should prove his innocence, but Chase doesn’t believe in the justice system any longer. Kord attacks Chase again, and the fight continues, with Kord continuing to insist upon his innocence. Chase starts punching him in the face over and over, demanding he confess, until JJ runs in and stops him. He tells Chase that he did some research, and it was discovered that the son of the Alganian ambassador (the embassy was next to the church) was actually responsible for the rape (the nun is dead now, having committed suicide, and I guess she never testified either way). Chase looks at the destruction he’s caused, and feels terrible. Later, on Staten Island, he decides to quit being the Vigilante. Terry and JJ try to talk him out of it, but he gives up. Later, we see that he’s accepted his dad’s offer to work with him. Later still, we see Chase arguing in court on behalf of a white collar criminal who JJ and Terry, who are watching, can tell Chase doesn’t believe in. They try to talk to him, but he just gets angry when Terry pushes him hard, reminding him how he helped her when she was raped and no one believed her. We see a montage of Chase doing well for his father’s firm. At a meeting, they discuss the son of a senator who has been accused of rape, again, and how they’re going to beat the case. Adrian finally sees what he’s doing trying to protect the rich, and decides to quit. He goes to see Terry and JJ, who are packing up the RV, and tells them he’s back, and determined to do things the right way now.
- The Teen Titan Cyborg is handcuffed to a man named William Stryker (no, X-fans, not that William Stryker), and they are running through the woods, being chased by the Vigilante. It is clear that Vic doesn’t like Stryker, but is trying to keep him safe, as Adrian takes shots at them from the woods. He manages to hit Stryker in the shoulder, and thinks back to how he got there. Stryker is a real bad guy, involved in a number of crimes, including “white slavery” (which I guess in the 80s was different from other forms), prostitution, and child pornography. We learn that JJ’s fiancé was attacked by Stryker, as JJ watched, and she never recovered. Stryker got off on that crime, and after Adrian lost his family, he wanted to go after him, but Stryker got arrested before he could get to him. Now he’s being sent away for a year at Attica, but Chase wants to make sure he doesn’t get there. Vic tries to get away with Stryker, while lecturing him on what a bad person he is. Vic thinks back to how Captain Hall told the Teen Titans (Vic, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Starfire) that Vigilante had already taken one shot at Stryker, unsuccessfully, and asked that one of them accompany him to Attica. Vic agreed. Adrian shot at them when they were on the road, and their car fell down a cliff. Adrian takes more shots at Vic and Stryker, and Vic throws a tree at him, wrecking his gun. We see how Vic escaped Adrian when they fell off the cliff, and now he runs from him again, towards a farmhouse. Adrian catches up to them, and pins them to the wall of the house with some spiked bola things. He brings the wall down, and continues to fight, while lecturing Vic on the weaknesses of the law. Vic breaks the cuffs, freeing himself from Stryker, and then chases Adrian, who knows that he can’t win in a straight fight with Cyborg. Vic corners him, and they fight some more. Eventually, Vic gets Adrian on the ground, and pulls off his mask. He’s shocked to see Adrian Chase in front of him, and they argue some more about tactics. Adrian explains how he trained during the six months he was away. Vic tells him he has to take him in, but Adrian lands a punch in Vic’s softest parts, if you catch my drift, and then cracks him over the head with some nunchucks. He rushes into the farmhouse, where Stryker is holding the older couple who lives there at the point of a rifle with a bayonet. Adrian apologizes to the couple, and drops his gun as Stryker demanded. The man lunges for the rifle, and Stryker both stabs and shoots him in the stomach. Adrian pounces on him, knocking him down. He draws his gun, and is about to shoot, but realizes that he can’t. Just then Vic busts through the wall, and while Adrian tries to tell Vic he agrees with him, he also shoots him. Later, the other three Titans arrive, and find Vic unconscious, the woman holding her husband, and Stryker sitting in the middle of the room rocking back and forth. Adrian got him to make a detailed confession of all his crimes on audiotape, which Robin points out is inadmissible. Adrian returns to the RV, and tells JJ that he didn’t kill Stryker. He talks about how he has to rethink his mission, and JJ agrees with him. Later, Vic is in the hospital, and Robin reads him a get-well card from Adrian, thanking him for helping him to be better.
- Adrian, JJ, and Terry watch a Hollywood romance movie that JJ got his hands on before it was released. It turns out that the two stars, Grace Moore and Clark Reynolds, were married until Moore shot Reynolds dead. Adrian has gotten the three of them passes to attend her trial, which is happening in New York. Moore testifies that she found Reynolds in bed with an extra, and that when she confronted him, he attacked her. As he hit her, a gun from his large collection fell off the wall. Moore remembers picking it up, but doesn’t actually remember shooting her husband. The court adjourns for the day, expecting to hear the testimony of the maid that found Reynold’s body the next day. As Adrian and his staff exit the court house, they see the maid, who is shot dead by a sniper. Adrian sees where the shot comes from, rushes to his car, puts on his Vigilante uniform, and then climbs to the roof, where the assassin is waiting for him (why?). They fight, fall down some stairs, end up in an office, and then Adrian knocks the assassin, who is dressed in red and white, out a window. He bounces off some stuff, and ends up in the Atlantic Ocean. Later, at Moore’s mansion, she talks to the press, who want to know why the maid was going to testify for the prosecution. Later that night, someone in a green trench coat goes to see “The Controller”. This is an old man whose body, if he still has one, is encased in a large blue piece of machinery, leaving him only the use of his arms. The person wants to talk about anyone else who might testify against Moore, and after showing The Exterminator, the assassin we saw before, asks about what the fresh air smells like. The next day, Reynolds’s agent, Cynthia Grant, who is rumored to also have been his lover, is assassinated in her car as she heads to court. We see that the Exterminator fired a bazooka at her. Adrian is with JJ and Terry when he learns of that killing. We learn that Adrian’s gun can now fire sleep darts as well as bullets. Terry learns that her son has German measles, so Adrian sends her home to be with him. They see on the news that a man has confessed to both killings, but Adrian knows that he’s lying. He asks JJ to get him a list of other witnesses. Another Hollywood type – it’s not clear if he’s a comic actor or a director – is reluctant to testify, but when he learns that his police protection will leave if he doesn’t, agrees to go to court. The Vigilante watches as the man leaves in an armored vehicle, with a police escort. The Exterminator shows up in a helicopter, and bombs the vehicle. Adrian gives chase on his motorcycle, firing a suction cup at the chopper, and using a winch to climb to it (trashing his bike in the process). We get an aerial action sequence, with Adrian making it to the cabin. Some cops watch from the ground, and want to arrest them both. Eventually, Adrian is able to toss the Exterminator from the chopper, and yells to the police that he is the person responsible for the murders. When the cops get to him, all that’s left is some of his uniform; it looks like he’s melted away. Later, Adrian and the others watch the news, where they learn that Grace Moore had a breakdown in court, confessing that Reynolds was blackmailing her with video footage he took of her and another starlet in bed. Later, Moore calls The Controller from jail, but he tells her that he can’t help her anymore, as he’s just an assassin. We see that the Exterminator is standing with him, and that he’s a robot. The issue ends with a producer talking about how Grace Moore’s strict adherence to portraying her image a certain way made it impossible for her to grow as an actress or change with the times.
- Adrian is out patrolling Manhattan when he spots a guy in a green jumpsuit with a sniper rifle. He follows him, and stops him from shooting at his target. They fight briefly on a rooftop, and when the guy manages to get away from Adrian for just a second, he uses it to shoot the older man he was after. Adrian knocks him down, and is about to shoot him when the guy surrenders. The NYPD, with Captain Hall (he got there pretty quickly) emerge on the roof, and hold both men at gunpoint. Hall and Adrian trade viewpoints, and then Adrian jumps over the side and ziplines down a conveniently placed wire that leads him right to his bike. He escapes. Later, back at the RV, he talks to Terry and JJ about what happened – they identify the gunman as Marschall Saber, and tell him that he killed Marco Rinaldi, the head of the mob. Adrian wants his people to dig into who Saber was working for, but is himself off to a party. A lawyer he used to work with, Marcia Hall, has made assistant DA; the others are happy to see him going out for a change. At the party, Adrian accepts a number of compliments on his physique, and then dances with Marcia. At the same time, on a boat off Long Island, some other mob types are having a party too. The men kick all the women out so they can talk about taking over Rinaldi’s turf, but then another costumed assassin, a guy named Cannon who uses knives and sais, attacks them and slaughters them. Adrian is back at Marcia’s place, and she talks about how she’s had to give up a personal life to make it as far as she has. She decides that they’ve both been celibate long enough, and takes Adrian into her bedroom, where she ignores a couple of phone calls while they make love. The next day, Adrian is in his own bed, reading the paper, and learning that Cannon surrendered after killing all those gangsters. Terry and JJ tell him that Marcia has put in applications to put both assassins in the witness relocation program (in a hurry too, since it’s just the next morning). Adrian is not happy to learn that they are basically getting off. The two assassins are in a hotel room in Hell’s Kitchen together, talking to someone who is clearly their actual boss. The plan is for the unseen person (it couldn’t be Marcia, could it?) to take over both mobs. At the DA’s office, Marcia is talking to her assistant when Adrian arrives. He wants to talk about the choices she’s making, but she insists that having both men flip on their respective mobs is more valuable. Adrian rides his bike through a picnic area in his Vigilante outfit, and learns from Terry where the two men are being held. Adrian scales the building, and overhears them talking about betraying their secret boss, and it’s also suggested they might be a couple, which stands out at that time. Adrian busts through the window and starts beating on Cannon. Sabre, who has his guns, starts shooting at him, and then Adrian starts to beat on him. Cannon manages to throw a knife right into Adrian’s chest. He knows he needs to get out of there, and tries to fight his way out. As he stands near the window, Sabre shoots him in the shoulder, and he falls out onto the fire escape. Sabre takes a couple more shots at him, as Adrian’s gun falls to the street, and he blacks out. Back at the RV, Terry worries that Adrian hasn’t checked in for a while. She tries to contact him through his belt buckle, but he doesn’t respond. JJ locates him, and leaves to find him. Captain Hall and some cops arrive outside the hotel, and find Adrian’s gun. JJ arrives to find the cops have blocked off the block. The cops knock down the door to the hotel room, and find Cannon and Saber both near death (but Adrian didn’t do that to them, we know). Hall finds Adrian on the fire escape, clinging to life, and calls for an ambulance (he also insists that no one takes off Adrian’s mask, so he can follow regulations). The paramedics take Adrian to the ambulance, and it starts to drive away. Hall realizes they haven’t loaded the other guys yet and therefore something is wrong (because apparently you can fit three unconscious patients in an ambulance). As the ambulance speeds away, we see that JJ has stolen it, and doesn’t know what his next move should be.
- In Westchester, all the local mob heads gather for a meeting at a fancy home that none of them have apparently called. Donna Omicidio, last seen in the NTT Annual, is among the attendees. The various mobsters are called to dinner, where an unseen woman (it’s got to be Marcia) is presiding. When one guy tries to walk out, some armored goons emerge from a wall panel. Donna Omicidio recognizes them as The Monitor’s men. The hidden woman offers the assembled people a deal. JJ is still driving around in the stolen ambulance with Adrian in the back, the knife still sticking out of his chest. Captain Hall is among the cars chasing them. JJ is able to get away from them by pulling into a parking garage. He pulls the knife out of Adrian’s chest, undresses him, and then carries him to Bellevue Hospital, where he leaves him with a nurse before taking off again. He goes back to the ambulance to move it, parking it in Brooklyn and taking the train back to Bellevue. Captain Hall asks his men about the Vigilante, ordering them to work up information based on parameters he’s set. Terry joins JJ at the hospital, and a nurse tries to get them to help her fill out the entry forms. JJ lies about their identities, and then concocts a plan to steal back the entry forms, knowing that gunshot wounds have to be reported to the police. Terry distracts the nurse while JJ steals the forms. They leave the hospital and go for a walk, talking about Adrian and how much he’s changed. Terry worries that he was starting to come back to being the man he was before he became the Vigilante; JJ comforts her. A cop tells Hall that they’ve had no luck calling all the hospitals and private doctors looking for Adrian. When Terry and JJ get back to the hospital, Terry asks a doctor how Adrian is, using his name, but the doctor (or the editor) don’t notice. We learn that Adrian was already starting to heal as they operated on him, and that they figure he’s going to be fine, although they’d like to run some tests on his rapid healing. Adrian, meanwhile, is dreaming about his family, and then remembers that someone came to see him at their grave. Adrian wakes up to find his friends by his side. When a doctor checks on him and says something about testing his healing, Adrian agrees it’s time to go. They find him a coat and sneak him out of the hospital. Back in the RV, Adrian naps and in his dreams, remembers some of his training. He’s standing by a burning cauldron, wearing only a loincloth. A woman wearing a hooded tunic demonstrates how she can heal from flame, and wants Adrian to stab her with a sword. When he won’t, she pushes herself on the sword, and then removes it, showing that she can heal from it too. She tells him that he’s the same now, and that he can still die, but not from something like a stabbing. When she wants to stab him, he wakes up yelling. He tells his friends that it’s time to explain how he became the Vigilante. At the same time, the gangsters are still meeting (it must have been hours now). One of the men doesn’t think the gangs should unify. The woman, who we know works at the DAs office, admits that she’s not in charge, and that it’s time to meet her boss. A wall opens, and we see The Controller emerge in his life-support system, flanked by three Exterminator robots. He wants to be appointed “The Overlord of Crime.”
- Captain Hall is at the hospital interrogating Cannon and Saber, who are sharing a hotel room. Cannon throws a plastic fork at Hall, cutting his neck (something I doubt even Bullseye could do). Saber calls Cannon Saber as he gets out of bed, grabs Hall’s gun, and uses it to shoot two cops that come into the room. They leave, as a doctor starts to treat Hall. Adrian is jogging in the park with Marcia in Central Park, and they come across a young, fit, Judge Alan Welles. He asks them if they want to join him for a bite to eat, and then they sit and only drink at a cafe. They talk about the witness protection thing for Cannon and Saber, which Marcia now admits was a mistake. Welles asks to speak to Adrian in private, so Marcia covers her ears for a second. Welles suggests that Adrian apply to fill in for a judge that is retiring. At the mansion in Westchester, the meeting of gangsters is still going on (it must be well into the second day by now, but they are all still just reacting to The Controller being the person who brought them all together. Donna Omicidio has no interest in working with him, and wants to leave, but The Controller reminds her that he’s a genius and promises her lots of money if she works with him. He asks for an hour to explain things (and what’s another hour, after all this time?). She agrees. At the RV, Adrian is hanging out. JJ reminds him that he was going to tell the story of how he became the Vigilante, so Adrian starts to narrate his tale. He explains that a woman came to him at his family’s grave, and told him to go with her. He did, and they drove across the country to a desert in a van. When they got out, Adrian wanted to know where they were going, but the woman, who was wearing a robe, flipped him over. She revealed that her name was Lynn, and together they walked into the desert for a few days. As they travelled, the heat got to Adrian, so he stripped down to his tighty-whities and complained about the lack of water. Lynn pointed out that she was doing everything he was, and was fine. She kept telling him that he won’t make the cut, without explaining what it was for. Finally, they reached a hole in the ground with a steel rungs descending into it. Adrian climbed down and met three other people, Bloody Knife, Chaka, and Chastity, who wanted to train him, but argued over his worth. Chaka explained that they want to help him to help people; he agreed. Over a training montage, we learned that Adrian was trained in martial arts and weaponry, as well as strength. He was afraid to test the cellular regeneration abilities these people gave him. At some point, he even fought a Neanderthal. Lynn continued to have doubts in him, and one day, after being choked by a guy in a turban and stabbed in a fencing duel, Adrian had had enough. As he walked out of the cave, Lynn made a comment about how he’s failed his family; this got to him, so he beat on the Neanderthal some more, and then attacked the others. To prove his worth, he stuck his hand in fire, and saw his burns heal immediately. The teachers gathered, we learn that Lynn chose him from the beginning, and Bloody Knife revealed one last lesson – all of the teachers were ghosts of people who were “victims of evil.” We learn that they are part of a society that has been training people for two thousand years, and they thought he was special. Adrian returned to the desert, and then returned to the world. He tells JJ and Terry that’s why his mission is ruthless. We see him suit up and talk about how he knows there are others like him out in the world.
- A criminal named Jose Ruiz runs across the rooftops, fleeing a shadowy figure that is chasing him, as we learn from the narrator about his crimes. The pursuer catches him and electrocutes him. It’s not the Vigilante that was after him, but The Electrocutioner. Adrian, meanwhile, is running from some guy in a tiny helicopter, who wants to get the microchip Adrian took from him back. This is a pretty involved chase, which continues even after Adrian runs into a subway station. The mini-copter guy follows him into the tunnel, but Adrian is able to shoot the rotor off. He drops off the guy and a bag containing the microchip with a pair of cops and disappears. The next day, Adrian is at some fitness club with Judge Alan Welles. Alan wants him to take the judgeship he’s offering him, and while they soak in a hot tub, Alan talks about the problems with the justice system (which he sees as not enough prisons). He invites him to his court the next day. For some reason, Adrian is standing around the police station when the copter pilot, Henry Ebert, is freed on bail by a lawyer that Adrian knows as crooked. Adrian wants Terry to dig into the microchip to figure out who would have freed Ebert. Later, at court, Adrian watches as Alan, who now looks significantly older, has to free a crook named Geraldo Cardazy on a technicality. As Adrian and Terry leave the court, Adrian is annoyed because he can tell Cardazy is guilty. That night, at Cardazy’s mansion, while Cardazy swims and talks to his girlfriend, the Electrocutioner sneaks onto the property and electrocutes him. Adrian is out for dinner with Alan, who still looks older, but not as old as he did in the courtroom (it’s like they realized that Patton drew him as about Chase’s age in the last issue, and that doesn’t make sense). They head back to the judge’s house, which is a massive home. Alan talks about how it’s lonely since his wife died, and his adult children moved out (how is this the same shirtless guy we saw last issue, or at the start of this one?). The judge’s study has been vandalized, with a note from the Electrocutioner written on the wall. They call the cops, and then sit to drink scotch in front of the fireplace, and debate vigilantes, and The Vigilante. Adrian suspects that Alan knows something, but isn’t saying. The cops arrive, cutting the conversation short. Back at the RV, Adrian talks to Terry about the stolen microchip, which has to do with long distance remote control. She also tells him that Ebert has mob ties, and Adrian mentions that he knows there was a big meeting the week before. He decides to go see Ebert. Meanwhile, as Ebert talks on the phone with The Controller, the electricity in his house goes all crazy. We see that Adrian is on his way there, as Terry tells him over the radio that she’s learned that Marcia is going to be commanding an investigation into the mob. The Electrocutioner is going to kill Ebert, but Adrian rides his bike right through the front window, maybe stopping him in time. Vigilante and Electrocutioner fight and argue about methods; the Electrocutioner thought that maybe Adrian would join his cause, but now that he’s turned soft, he wants to stop him. He shocks Adrian, and then leaves as the house catches fire. Adrian recovers and picks up the unconscious Ebert. He tries to carry him out of the burning house, but the roof collapses, pinning him under some wood as the house becomes fully engulfed.
- Adrian comes to and manages to drag himself and Ebert’s body to his bike. The rear wheel is melting into the floor, but he guns it and manages to escape the house. He searches Ebert’s body, learns that he’s dead, and finds a singed business card in his pocket. He heads back to the RV, where only JJ is waiting, because Terry had to go deal with the fact that her kid got in trouble at school. JJ starts a search on the business card, while Adrian washes up. The next morning, Alan calls Adrian to ask about the judge position again. They meet at their club’s restaurant at 10:30 (Adrian already has lunch plans), and Alan tells him that if he doesn’t take the job, a more liberal judge will get it. Adrian leaves for his lunch date with Marcia in Central Park. They talk about the Saber/Cannon case and about whether or not Adrian should take the judgeship. They also flirt a lot and when it rains, end up under a bridge together before deciding to go to one of their places for sex (despite the fact that it’s a weekday at noon and Marcia is an ADA who probably needs to be at work). The next day, Adrian starts tracking down the person who hired Ebert. He checks out the apartment of some goon, thinking he’d know where to look, but the guy wasn’t home. Next he goes to a mobster restaurant, and does the whole Daredevil/Josie’s Bar thing. That leads him to some guy called the Owl, but then he decides to look for the Electrocutioner instead, staking out the apartment of someone named Remington Kord (what is it with crooks named Kord in this series?) who just got off for some crime. He sees the Electrocutioner cross the roof, but has trouble getting his suction cup line to stick in the rain. In the apartment, Remington and his wife are frightened to find the Electrocutioner in their apartment. The wife tries to hit him with a vase, but gets her husband instead. Electrocutioner kills Kord and then gives the wife a slight shock, and then Adrian busts through the window. They fight, and Adrian’s nunchucks are proven to be effective weapons. Electrocutioner is able to flip him back out the window, and is about to fry him when a cop comes in through the door. Adrian takes off, leaving the Electrocutioner to shock the cop and escape too. Back at the RV, JJ figures out that the business card is referring to a factory, and decides to try to hack their computer. This alerts the Controller to what he’s doing. The Controller sends a couple of goons to the factory to kill whoever is looking into the business (I’m not sure why he doesn’t send his Exterminator robots). When Adrian comes home, JJ tells him about the place, and offers to go check it out while Adrian rests. Adrian refuses, reminding him of the rules, but does let him drive past it and scope it out. When JJ gets there, and feels like the remote factory is abandoned, he decides to go in anyway and look at the computer. He notices the two goons, and tries to escape. He makes his way to a window above the river, and prepares to jump in when he’s shot. We see him fall. The next morning, Adrian and Terry talk about her problems with her son (who she is not looking after when she’s there making breakfast for Adrian in an RV that has a pretty big breakfast nook area. They see on the TV that a body has been pulled from the Hudson, and while there was no ID on it, they did find a photo – it seems that JJ walks around with a headshot in his pocket.
- Adrian and Terry are at JJ’s funeral (apparently he was only 20), and afterwards, when JJ’s mom tries to thank Adrian for having helped her son, he walks away silently. Back at the RV, he’s also barely speaking to Terry, who is upset with him. Terry is worried that Adrian’s going to try to kill the people who killed JJ, and she tells him that if he does, she’s going to quit working for him. The Controller is meeting with the various crime family heads again, and two of them, Johnny Z. and Vincent Apollo, decide they want out. The Controller takes the others into his control room, where he shows them that his computers allow him to look into the DA’s office (where Marcia King is talking to Adrian about JJ). The Controller takes credit for that kill. Later, Adrian is staking out some of the mobsters, following their car onto the highway. When he approaches them to speak, they shoot at him. He lets them think they’ve gotten away from them, but he ends up on the road ahead of them, where he basically plays chicken with them, and uses the missiles on his bike to take out their tires. As their car catches on fire, they agree to talk to him. Later, Adrian uses a mini-sub to approach Johnny Z’s compound. He sneaks into the house, and hears Z, who is older, talking to his doctor about his new computer-controlled pacemaker over the phone. When Adrian confronts him, Z agrees to talk about the Controller, but his pacemaker goes nuts, and he dies. The guards send dogs after the Vigilante, so he has to run, barely making it to his mini-sub. At police headquarters, some cops tell Captain Hall that they are receiving reports of twelve different banks being robbed at the same time. This is the Controller’s plan in action. Somewhere else, a group of goons wait in a van, and after some cops drive by, are able to walk right into a closed bank (even though it’s Monday morning, as Hall just told us), because the Controller can control all the computers there. We see Adrian suiting up, as Terry tries to reason with him one more time. At some other bank, which is also empty on a Monday morning, the vault opens just as some more goons approach it. At the funeral parlor where Johnny Z’s visitation is happening, Vincent Apollo gives his condolences to the widow, and becomes suspicious when learning that Z’s pacemaker was the cause of his death. As Apollo leaves, two FBI agents try to arrest him. They lead him to a car, and we learn that Vigilante has hidden himself in the driver’s seat. He takes off with Apollo. As the FBI agents chase them, Apollo claims he won’t talk to Adrian. Adrian pulls over, letting him think that the FBI agents are going to catch him, so he agrees to talk. As the chase proceeds, Apollo tells Adrian that the Controller uses his computers to control things, and that he has a woman in the DA’s office working for him. Adrian evades the FBI, and dumps Apollo at a dump, where he’s hidden his bike. He has the keys to the car, so Apollo tries to hotwire it, but the FBI agents catch up (somehow) before he’s able to. At yet another bank, a group of other goons (dressed like Black Panthers) walk out with bags of money. They don’t see that Adrian is watching them, holding an assault rifle.
- The last issue in this trade opens with Johnny Z explaining the Controller’s whole scheme, and how he plans to use his microchip to control bank computers so thieves can rob vaults (this seems like a very quaint way to plan computer-abetted crime now). Adrian narrates the events of the last issue, and lets the reader know he’s on his way to kill the Controller because he ordered JJ’s death. At the Controller’s place, one of the bank robbery crews brings in the take, and the Controller tells him that he’s upping his take. The guy, named Washington, walks away. Later, Captain Hall’s people have figured out that Washington is likely involved in the crimes that are happening, and go to investigate him. They find him dead in his home. Some of the other gangsters leave the Controller’s, and Donna Omicidio tells them that she plans to keep working with the Controller until she’s able to steal his secrets. Adrian watches as the gangsters all leave from his perch up a tree, and makes his way into the Controller’s house, taking out some guards along the way (he uses a $50 bill to lure one of them). The Controller knows he’s there though. Adrian is attacked by a number of guards, having to jump down a central atrium to get away from them. There, he’s attacked by the Exterminator robot, which fights on even after Adrian kicks its head off. There are at least four more though, and while Adrian destroys them, they also manage to herd him into a hallway that starts to shrink on him, and drop him through a secret hatch. Sawblades emerge from the walls and get ever closer to him, until he is able to get into the ceiling, and drop down in the Controller’s control room. There, the old man trains some ceiling-mounted lasers on him, trapping him. The whole time, the Controller is talking about how he listened in on his conversation with Marcia about JJ, and has deduced who the Vigilante really is (odd that he says nothing about his mole in the DA’s office though). Adrian tosses a shuriken through between the lasers, and manages to destroy some of the machinery on the Controller’s iron lung thing. This shuts off the laser, and also leaves the Controller immobile and in pain. He begs Adrian to kill him, but the Vigilante walks away. Later, Adrian, walking with crutches and bandaged up, visits JJ’s grave to apologize to his friend for not being able to kill the Controller, even though he knows his secrets. Marcia joins him, and tells him that the Controller has died having never regained consciousness. Later, Adrian is at the house his father has given him in the Village, lying in bed and recovering from his injuries, with Marcia and Alan visiting. They make it clear that Adrian’s told them he was in a car accident, and Adrian tells Alan that he’ll take him up on the judgeship.
I ended up enjoying this book a little more than I’d expected to. I found it odd, for a number of reasons, but I also became invested in Adrian’s journey, even when I didn’t fully understand.
I want to start by focusing on the positives. I think that the design for the Vigilante is actually kind of stunning. I’d always dismissed him as looking like a high tech skier from the 80s, but as I read this, and examined some of the very cool covers from this series’s first eleven issues, it really grew on me, especially when it disappeared into black backgrounds. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s a dated costume, with it’s very large and dangling pistol holster and its chunky ski goggles, but it still looks very cool.
I also thought it was kind of cool that Adrian was living in and working out of a deluxe RV that appears to just sit in some kind of wooded area in Long Island, without an obvious hookup for water or electricity. This gave the comic a very 80s pulp sensibility, reminding me of TV shows like Knight Rider. I mean, it makes no sense that the RV was as roomy as it was portrayed, nor does it make sense that he lives there, seeing as it never moves around, but it was a cool visual.
Beyond that, a lot of things don’t bear much scrutiny. The biggest flaw with this book is that Adrian’s mission doesn’t make a lot of sense, as it begins to evolve. At the beginning, he’s looking to execute criminals that had their cases tossed on technicalities. I don’t agree that this makes them worthy of death, but there is a consistency to that. Later, he comes to the realization that he shouldn’t kill. But then, what is he doing? These are crooks that already got off, so any vigilante-style investigating he does isn’t going to help them get a conviction. Does he just want to scare them? In some ways, he begins to transition from Punisher to Daredevil, but keeping a focus on punishing past crimes, not preventing new ones (except, perhaps, as a deterrent). It doesn’t work for me. Maybe this got explored in later issues; I don’t know.
I also had a hard time with Adrian’s origin story – that a secret group of ghosts from different eras trained him to pursue justice, and helped him develop some enhanced abilities and healing. It felt tacked on, like it wasn’t part of his original character.
I’d also have liked to have seen a more developed roster of gangster foes. It’s cool that Donna Omicidio, who debuted in the New Teen Titans, would follow Adrian into his own book, but she’s no Kingpin. Neither is the Controller for that matter, who kind of looks dumb.
I was also left wondering what happened with the Electrocutioner and if Marcia really was the person in the DA’s office working for the Controller. Presumably, these are plots that get resolved later in the series, but I’m not sure. They both kind of disappeared.
Now, if I want to get nitpicky, I’m left wondering about Sabre and Cannon, the two assassins that were perhaps in a relationship with one another. I don’t understand why Sabre was the one that used guns, while Cannon used knives. Was this intended as a joke?
The other thing that drove me nuts was the shifting age of Judge Alan Welles, who when we first meet him is jogging shirtless and looks to be younger than Adrian. Within a few issues, he’s a widower with adult children. I don’t think it’s important, but it bugged me, just like how two independent characters, both freed criminals, shared the last name of Kord.
Perhaps that can be blamed on the shifting artists on this book. Not counting the Titans Annual, there are four artists who showed up over the series’s first eleven issues – Pollard, Newton, Patton, and Andru. All of them are fine artists, in the traditional DC house style of the time, but their work is a little bland. I think the best issues are the first and last, which feature inking by Dick Giordano.
Pollard’s covers on this book are terrific. They’re a bit minimalist, and while they evoke Mike Zeck’s Punisher some, I think they are very effective.
I would definitely pick up Volume 2 (if such a thing exists), and would like to know more about Adrian Chase. The character doesn’t seem to exist in the current DC Universe (although to be fair, I’m not even sure what the current DCU even is these days), but perhaps there’s a place for someone like him again.
For my next Retro Trade Review, I’m going to be spotlighting an independent series for the first time in this column’s history. It’s written by one of my favourite superhero writers, but strangely, I’ve never read this series before. I’m looking forward to it.
You can check out my Retro Review archives here.
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