Death Ain't Supposed To Hurt!

Well, damn - this one's way behind. 

Between February and May of last year we ran four out of the five tales of Joe Guy - America's Foremost Hero! I kind of thought we'd run them all, but discovered that was pure delusion. So today, at long last, we have the final tale. If you don't want to go back and read those above links and don't know who Joe Guy is, here's the short version: He's the illegitimate son of Superboy and Amelia Earhardt, now marketing himself as America's Foremost Hero!™. Beyond that, just know that it's a weird world. I mean, different weird from how this one's gotten. And not a particularly enlightened one, though that may well be intentional. Partly, at least.

First up, here's the spread from the top of the first two pages, since you can't see the image when the pages are stacked vertically...

Now on with Jim Stenstrum & Abel Laxamana's twisted tale...
 

That whale splat rates somewhere between Oregon and Magrathea. But don't bet on this one making it to video.

page art by Abel Laxamana for The Rook #13 (1982)

Joe Meets Dad!

Dug out of my hole while waiting for things to happen and got some prep work done.
What does that mean to the intrepid reader?

At Long Last! The pen-ultimate episode of Jim Stenstrum & Abel Laxamana's strip - Joe Guy: America's Foremost Hero!
If you haven't been reading along on Joe's previous three stories, Joe Guy was basically the illegitimate love-child of Superboy and Amelia Earhardt. Now, the time has come and Joe has finally received word from his long absent father...

Joe Guy by Jim Stenstrum and Abel Laxamana from The Rook #10 (1981)

Wotta Guy!

If you missed last week's post with the first three pages of today's feature, you might want to read that first.

The answer to our mystery hero's identity:

We already know that Joe Guy is the illegitimate love child of Superboy and Amelia Earhardt (ish), but what can our hero actually do?

Joe Guy is an old favorite character, not a recent discovery from one of my digs. That being the case, you might guess he runs more than a bit on the Odd side, even when hewing to standard formula. The puns may be bad at times, but much is forgiven, in my eyes, by his Wotta-gear. So much mockery built in to a simple pun label.

Rather than attempt to summarize Joe further, let us continue his first story - picking up right after the three page prologue that appear last week (link if you didn't look at the link above and have now changed your mind)
I'll tell you one thing though - if they were somehow to make a movie, i have not the vaguest clue who to cast as Joe. I clipped Jim Stenstrum and Abel Laxamana's names from the first page of the prologue to hide the hints, so they've been inserted into the two page spread below to compensate -

I was thinking that Joe had about 7-9 adventures, but digging back it seems that there were only 5.
This first one appeared in The Rook #7 -

The Rook is another distinctly interesting character, one that we'll look at later. Probably about the same time we finally get back to Aztec Ace.

After spending the focus on introduction in the first tale, we start to learn more of the world in which Joe lives and adventures, including some of the other occupants -

Apparently it's quite the oddly mixed world, eh? And one that likely could never exist again. So we'll be coming back to follow along on Joe's adventures. Including that long-awaited reunion...

...but that's not until his 4th adventure. We'll get there...

Joe Guy: America's Foremost Hero by Jim Stenstrum and Abel Laxamana for Rook #7 (1981)