NFL SuperPro #9
“Time and Again”
Writer: Evan Skolnick
Penciler: Jose Delbo
Inker: Donald C. Hudson
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Marie Javins
Cover: Rob Tokar, John Romita, Ron
Frenz, Joe Sinnott
Editor: Dave Wohl
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Published by: Marvel
Released: April 7, 1992
Don't look now, but SuperPro's got a rogue's gallery.
After taking on established Marvel super villain Crossbones, in the employ of crime boss MarcoSanzionare, last issue, 'Pro faces a grudge match with the assassin Instant Replay. Sanzionare hired him to eliminate SuperPro back inissue 3, but this time, well, it's personal.
It wasn't quite as cathartic as Casey Jones teeing off on Tatsu in the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, but SuperPro defeated Instant Replay last time around with a golf club. Sort of. When our hero knocked Extra Battle Gear Snake Eyes through a sporting goods store window, the errant club disrupted the electrical conduit that powered his time-shifting teleportation gimmick and caused him to disappear.
Since then, as far as linear time applies in this situation, I.R. has been trapped somewhen, being torn apart and put back together again. He's lost most of his mask (but not his wraparound shades) and been disfigured with all kinds of metal* and green scaly stuff appearing on him. Throughout his ordeal, he's remembered one thing: This is all SuperPro's fault.
The aforementioned superhero is in Connecticut, visiting his sister's family. He's surprised when his niece, Melanie, isn't particularly excited about the autographed football he brought her and learns she's been cut from the middle school gridiron team. Even Melanie acknowledges it's only a matter of time before she would be physically outmatched by the boys, but Phil heads down to the school to talk to the coach.
Coach Henchey** says he had no choice but to drop Melanie from the team after a board of education vote. Phil starts to tell him he should have fought harder, but, then, wouldn't you know it, this happens:
Instant Replay's words are all distorted because of the constant time shifting. But he manages to get his point across by slashing Phil while the coach and players scatter. This gives Phil the opportunity to change into his SuperPro gear and still preserve his secret identity. But his costume doesn't offer much protection from Replay's blades, and soon it's looking like fourth and long for the hero.
He gets a reprieve when Melanie zings a tight spiral right into Replay's face. That gives 'Pro an opening for an uppercut that sends the villain flying and Phil would make sure to use his own pseudonym correctly.
We'll talk about the ethics of reporting on one's own secret identity*** another time. Back in this issue, Melanie recognizes her uncle's face under that not-so-concealing visor. Phil gives up on denying it, electing to devote his energy to bleeding less, which seems to be pretty effective, since there's no blood from any of his wounds. Perhaps they're aiming for that younger audience again, but, if that's the case, maybe don't have your villain shout that the hero sent him to hell?
Replay seems to be winding down, allowing SuperPro to land a couple blows before launching him into the air and right into an electrical transformer. As the already mutilated villain writhes in pain, 'Pro thinks about how electricity seems to be his biggest weakness. Fair point, but lots of people, even outside of high-tech super villains, have trouble with massive amounts of electricity cascading over their bodies.
Being a hero, 'Pro tries to get Replay out of his predicament by taking down the utility pole. But that doesn't quite work out the way he was hoping:
The next day, Phil's a little banged and bandaged up and Melanie is back on the team. We don't really get much of an idea about what happened after the clock ran out on Instant Replay, except that Phil says nobody actually saw SuperPro. Melanie seems inspired that her uncle came back from his career-ending injury to be a superhero, and Phil says he's going to the next board of education meeting to try to change their minds.
We don't really learn anything more about Instant Replay than we did in issue 3, except that he's a white guy who can talk. And honestly, we don't need to know. He wants revenge on SuperPro, and his shifting appearance actually fits with whatever his predicament supposedly is. I still only have the narration's word to go on that his power actually involves time, but it is a pretty interesting battle that creates one of the tensest conflicts this series has delivered.
As long as the writers and editors are bringing back past villains, I'm kind of hoping for a subplot in the remaining three issues where Mercy “Kabuki-Back” Sutter tries to tap into Melanie's gridiron dreams and turn her against her uncle.
Look, I know I brought Mercy up in the last post too, but this just makes sense narratively. I'm really not that into her. She's a fictional character, for crying out loud.
And she's no Dazzler.
* - Perhaps he crossed paths with Cable and picked up a case of techno-organic virus?
** - Sadly that's not heavy handed foreshadowing that he's a henchman.
*** - Looking at you, Clark Kent and Peter Parker.
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