“Immaculate Panel Discussion”: A Look At NFL Comics

Hello, my friends!  2020 has arrived as we enter a brand new year and a whole new decade.  As such, we’ll also be venturing into unknown territory.  As we prepare to do so, let us look back at an unusual pairing of comics and sports to say the least.  As such, I welcome to a special article known as…

That’s right!  We begin with a pair of past partnerships involving our beloved comic books and a professional sports league.  Sure, other high-end athletic associations have dabbled within the four-colored paneled walls, but there’s a reason why I’ve decided to look back at a few series involving this particular unionship.  It’s mainly because it has reached a historic milestone.

Back in 1920, the National Football League was created after a series of meetings in August and September.  Originally called the “American Professional Football Conference” before officially renaming itself as the “American Professional Football Association” in time for the inaugural season (before getting its more well-known name in 1922), only two charter teams are still around from that first year: the Dectaur Staleys (a.k.a. the Chicago Staleys or as we call them nowadays: the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (who actually date back to 1898 as the Chicago-based amateur team known as the Morgan Athletic Club, before becoming the Racine Normals, followed by the Racine Street Cardinals, then the Chicago Cardinals as a charter member, eventually moving to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960 and then once more to the greater area of Phoenix, Arizona in 1988).  Over the decades, more teams would get formed before a fierce rivalry against the upstart American Football League throughout the 1960s led to the formation of the Super Bowl.  After the AFL merged with the league in 1970, a few more teams would get created (as well as move) before leading up to the 32-team size that it is today.  Only within the tail-end of the NFL’s first century of existence would the rise of comic books eventually lead into our first partnership within the two entertainment mediums.

For their first dip into the comics pool, let us venture over to the big red House of M itself: Marvel Comics.  According to a Vice.com article, writer Fabian Nicieza was approached by editor Bob Budiansky with the chance to properly develop their new character made in collaboration with the National Football League.  Because he had grown up as a New York Jets fan, he was able to get free tickets to a game as a result of working on this book, not to mention that he got to attend Super Bowl XXVIII with several of his staff mates.  Getting back to the start of our featured character here, NFL SuperPro made his proper debut in the “Super Bowl Special” (with a publish date of March 1991), which would eventually get a re-release called the “NFL SuperPro Special Edition” (publish date of September 1991).  With Nicieza handling writing duties, Jose Delbo & Bob Hall splitting the role of pencils (Delbo for Chapters 1 & 3, with Hall handling Ch. 2), while Hall, Tom Morgan, Mike DeCarlo and Kim DeMulder in charge of inks, how does this historically infamous character kickoff his short life span?  Let’s take to the field and find out in the inaugural tale called “Fourth & Goal To Go”.

We begin with Chapter 1: “The Lift That Drops You” as an illegal operation is going down at a Newark-based warehouse.  Unfortunately for them, the titular SuperPro has been overseeing them before he charges right at the thugs.  He kicks half of the goon squad into unconsciousness before catching up to the other felons by tackling them.  He then attempts to interrogate them on their illegal chemical operation, but they express their obliviousness just as the police arrives.  SuperPro informs the cops that he’s been investigating this unauthorized steroid operation, but he didn’t learn anything else from this site before he takes his leave.  As he hops across the rooftops, he thinks about how he hasn’t been at this superhero business for long before reaching his car and driving off towards his date.  One half-hour later, our main man named Phil Grayfield arrives at a restaurant where his girlfriend named Jane Dixon has been waiting for him. Because he’s arrived late, she believes that he’s been working on a major story for his investigative sports journalism career as she asks him what he’s been up to.  However, he simply exclaims that she’ll have to wait a few weeks in order to find out.

We then cut to the next day at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey as Phil and his cameraman named Ken Reid attend a practice session for their show called “Sports Inside”.  As Grayfield casually mentions to Ken about SuperPro busting up a chemical smuggling ring, the visiting Chicago Bears are having their practice as an overly eager rookie defender tackles another player.  Afterwards, Phil is met upon by a current Bears player named Ron Macedon.  As Ken heads out to shoot more footage, Grayfield thanks Ron for the key tip on the steroid bust.  As the defensive rookie named Carl Bennings starts getting too rough with his tackles, Macedon secretly informs Phil that the young player is using steroids.

Later, Phil informs Reid of Ron’s tip as they prepare to head out.  Just then, they overhear Carl receiving a shipment as Ken manages to record the incident before Bennings drives off.  As the shady man heads out, he worries about the guy’s growing instability and whether or not he’ll handle the newest shipment.  Grayfield and Reid decide to discreetly follow him as they ultimately arrive at New Jersey State University.  From there, Phil initiates a plan in order to find out who he is.  Through the guise of attempting to return a document to Professor “Carling”, the receptionist corrects him by exclaiming that the man is actually named Professor Morrison.

With a name to go on, he eventually returns to the Meadowlands Sheraton as Ken looks up the name.  It turns out that the man is Professor Henry Morrison, a full-time teacher who specializes in Biological Chemistry and has both a research grant, as well as a consulting assignment with a pharmaceutical firm called Jakobs.  With a site to investigate, Grayfield decides to head out on a “fact-finding” mission”.  As he takes his leave, Reid decides to do a little research on his reporting partner.  Later, Phil arrives at the Jakobs Corporation as SuperPro as he sneaks his way inside.  He notices Morrison talking to a pair of scientists just as they take their leave before he hops down and searches the databanks for any “illegal steroid compounds”, but comes up empty.  Later, he makes it back to the hotel as he informs Ken about spotting Henry within the company, but that they’ll need some conclusive evidence to make a connection.  Reid exclaims that he can hook up his video equipment to their database in order to make some photo references on Carl Bennings.  Before he begins the process, he reveals that he already did the technical legwork on his reporter friend and discovered his superheroic identity.  As such, he wants to know how Grayfield became SuperPro, leading into Chapter 2: “Field Of Dreams & Nightmares”.

During his college tenure at Notre Dame, he was an All-American linebacker who met his girlfriend Jane there as they both “graduated with academic honors” while he got picked No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia Eagles.  Unfortunately, his NFL career never had a chance to take off.  He missed his rookie year after tearing his ACL during defensive drills before losing his sophomore season after breaking his femur within a gang tackle during an exhibition game as he was ultimately let go from the Eagles as a result.

The Chicago Bears would eventually offer him a tryout where he met Ron and his son Jeremy.  On that day, Phil turns in a great demonstration.  Afterwards, Jeremy runs up the bleachers and accidentally slips on a soda can.  Phil dives in time to save him, but he ultimately lands awkwardly and ended up breaking his knee.  This time however, it was so badly injured that it ended up putting a premature end to his pro career.

As Ken wonders how his friend went from bed-ridden to crime-fighting, Grayfield explains that Ron & Jeremy felt very bad for him.  As such, they brought in a producer/reporter duo from Sports Inside named Gessermann & Harriss who wish to interview him.  Phil is initially hesitant until Ron convinces him to start putting his Journalism & Criminal Justice degrees to good use.  Because he decided to go through with the interview, he also ended up getting a job at their offices.  Once he was able to walk again, he got his first assignment on “graft in the sports memorabilia trade” as he goes to interview a reclusive owner of NFL items named Rudy Custer.  He proceeds to give a tour of his pro football collection before showing him a unique football outfit.  Rudy explains that he invented the SuperPro uniform back in the 1970s as he constructed it out of fiberglass and plastic alloys in order to provide safety for its user.

However, it ultimately never came to be since each outfit would have to be molded into each player’s physique, plus the plastic compound alone was pretty expensive.  Suddenly, he and Grayfield are approached by a group of armed goons who found out about Grayfield’s interview via their own spies.  It turns out that they’re going to pilfer the collection as they kidnap Custer and tie up Phil with highlight film reels.  Afterwards, they take their leave, but not before they soak the place with gasoline and set it on fire.  Grayfield struggles to get free, but he accidentally kicks a vat of experimental plastic onto himself, causing him to searingly burn.  Just then, the overhead extinguishers kick in as his body gets drenched with the chemical foam, gasoline, plastics and chemicals from the highlight film.

As the goons drive off, the house blows up from the ever-growing blaze.  Fortunately, Phil takes the SuperPro outfit and used his newfound agility to catch up to the van in order to defeat the thugs.  He then concludes his backstory by explaining that the goons were arrested and that Rudy allowed him to keep the uniform.  As such, he’s been fighting crime every since.  Upon hearing this story, Ken vows to help him bust up the steroid ring and help him “do the right thing”.

We then move into Chapter 3: “Better Dying Through Chemistry” as our sports-reporting duo compare past pictures of Carl Bennings.  He had a normal physique early on in high school, though he started to abnormally gain some major muscle mass during his college tenure, which has continued ever since.  They soon discover that he attended New Jersey State, had Henry Morrison as his supervisor and he even interned at Jakobs Pharmaceuticals during his senior year.  After noticing a training camp picture of Bennings with some notable injection marks on his arm, Phil assumes that the guy started his illegal process when he entered college.  Reid exclaims that Carl was under the pressure of making it on the team due to the fierce competition, thus he decided to look for any kind of advantage.  With Bennings hooked on anabolic steroids and Morrison supplying him via Jakobs, Grayfield plans on confronting Henry in order to stop his operation.

We then cut to the next day with Phil & Ken showing up at the university as he simply walks right into Morrison’s office in order to ask him about allegations on steroids developed through him at Jakobs Pharmaceuticals.  When Grayfield brings up the connection with Carl Bennings, Henry ends up confessing on creating the new batch, due to the high demands of the players and schools looking for a winning edge, not to mention the potential “Black Market Profits”.  Morrison then explains that the new steroids will ultimately provide “a marked increase in reflexive action and physical strength” as Bennings is preparing to take it in time for his upcoming game.  At that moment, Phil and Ken realize that they won’t make it back in time.

Just over a half-hour later at the hotel, Carl takes his newest batch despite the worried feelings of his teammate.  Suddenly, he gets severely bulked up to the shock of his fellow colleagues.  By the team Grayfield and Reid arrive back, they’re too late as the overly bulky Bennings bursts out of the building.

As such, Phil emerges from the van as SuperPro before he engages the massive being, with him even saving a young boy who accidentally fell out of the hotel due to Carl’s fierce punches.  As the fight wears on, Bennings continues to abnormally bulk up as SuperPro continues to wail away while dodging the attempted strikes.

Suddenly, Greg starts gagging before he collapses onto the ground.  SuperPro discovers that he suffered a heart attack as he attempts to save him with CPR before he notices Bennings’ teammates and calls out for an ambulance.

A few hours later, Ron informs his fellow players that Greg wan unable to get resuscitated and has passed away.  They admit that they tried to talk him out of taking the drugs but were unable to sway him from his devious action.  Afterwards, Phil meets up with Macedon and offers his sympathy before assuring him that the familiar drug sellers will be shut down.  However, Ron says that there will always be buyers & sellers and that in the end, it’ll ultimately be what the individuals choose to do in the end.  As such, his teammates dispose of the new steroids in the toilet.  One week later, Grayfield is with Jane as his newest episode of Sports Inside reports on Henry Morrison’s arrest with Jakobs Pharmaceutical President Paul Patham denying any personal involvement and blaming it all on individualized group planning.  From there, the comic ends with Jane exclaiming her inspiration on finding out how her man digs up the information for his stories as her next piece.

From there, we move into the main 12-issue series as it ended up running from fairly late 1991 to late 1992.  Leading things off from the writing/penciling/inking team of Nicieza, Delbo & DeCarlo, we have our main hero looking to clear a particular player of illegal activity as a familiar web-slinger assists from afar in “You Bet Your Life”.

We open with a man named John Murtaugh exiting an L.A.-based club.  As he’s unknowingly within the cross hairs of an assassin’s gun, the narration explains that Murtaugh is a “financial wizard” who’s been performing illegal operations within an underground gambling unit.  Because he’s been caught, he’s going to turn in crucial evidence over to the police.  Before the gunman finally gets around to pulling the trigger, he’s suddenly approached by SuperPro who promptly disables him.  From there, he exclaims that John needs to be kept alive since he can prove the innocence of Raiders offensive lineman Tim Pressman who’s been accused of having ties with a gambling boss named Marco Sanzionare.

However, Phil hears a gunshot as he sees that the valet has killed Murtaugh as he hops into his car to escape.  As such, SuperPro knocks out the initial gunman before jumping down towards the fleeing felon.  He manages to land on the car, but the profanity-spewing gunman starts shooting at him through the windshield which causes him to hastily evade the opposing shots.

As the killer drives away and SuperPro attempts to chase after him, Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man observes the scene from afar via his camera as he manages to shoot a Spider Tracer onto the vehicle just as it gets out of sight.  After failing to capture the gunman, Phil contacts Ken who proceeds to drive over and pick him up.  Unbeknownst to them, Spider-Man has observed this and commends SuperPro for having a reliable partner before revealing that he’s been assigned by the Daily Bugle to cover the Pressman case.

Back with our main duo, Reid tells Grayfield to not be too hard upon himself he’s still fairly new in the superheroing world.  Phil exclaims that he wants to prove Tim’s innocence since he remembers him during his brief pro career as “cocky”, yet still “a straight-arrow”.  Ken exclaims that Pressman’s guilt comes from the fact that he’s been seen with Sanzionare and that supposedly, Murtaugh was going to present a tape to the Grand Jury that would clear Tim of his alleged crime.  Later, they arrive back at their hotel as Phil decides to make a long-distance call to Jane and informs her about his present inability to find evidence in favor of Pressman.  She then offers to do some research and try to help him out before they conclude their call.  From there, Phil recalls the series of events that led him to become SuperPro in the first place and how his youthful need to help out people before trouble comes their way is why he’s eager to help Tim out of his current jam.

Meanwhile, the profanity-spewing gunman named Edison finally arrives at Sanzionare’s mansion and presents him with Murtaugh’s tape.  He then brings up the fact that SuperPro almost interfered with their assassination, to which Marco tells him to make sure that he takes out Pressman before telling his bodyguard named Kent to head over to the library in order to (presumably) look through recent newspaper articles in order to do some proper research on SuperPro.  We then cut to the next day at the Los Angeles County Courthouse as Phil and Ken prepare for Tim’s emergence from the building, while Peter is preparing to do so as well.  As Grayfield and Parker give quick and curious glances at each other, Pressman exits the courthouse in order to address the reporters.  As he denies any and all connection towards “various organized crime interests”, Peter’s Spider-Sense goes off as he quickly ducks into a nearby alley and becomes Spider-Man in order to investigate some nearby trouble.  He soon discovers Edison armed with a sniper rifle and preparing to assassinate Tim.

Spidey stops the gunman in time as he attempts to run away.  Spider-Man sees the assassin attempt to leap across towards a nearby building and tries to stop him, but he somehow misses with his web shot as Edison is unable to reach the building and ends up falling to his death.  As Spider-Man decides to locate where his Spider Tracer is currently at, Phil informs Ken about the recently-deceased assassin being the one who took out Murtaugh before he decides to protect Pressman from Sanzionare’s wrath.  Later that night, Spider-Man arrives at Marco’s mansion and spots Edison’s car before noticing some armed goons prepped and taking their leave.  After launching another Spider Tracer onto their car, he heads inside to investigate.  However, he’s unable to find anything (even though we only see him check one room).

Later, the armed thugs arrive outside of Tim’s house in order to carry out their assassination gig.  Fortunately, SuperPro was waiting for them as he takes out one of the armed goons.  However, the others manage to blast their way inside as Phil responds by tackling another agent.

Pressman runs downstairs armed with a gun, but finds himself in the crosshairs of the assassin’s shot.  SuperPro manages to save him in time as the explosive shell creates a blast that takes out the last thug before Phil steps in and beats him up until he surrenders.  We then cut to several minutes later as the police arrive to arrest the goons as Spider-Man captures some pictures from afar.  And so, Issue 1 ends with SuperPro assuring Tim that while he was unable to get the tape that Murtaugh had, the busted thugs should be able to help clear him of any connection with Sanzionare.

For Issue 2, Phil gets called away from the greater New York/New Jersey area of his initial beginnings as a familiar face from his past is behind a missing figure with Grayfield taking his superheroics to South Beach in “The Killer Instinct”.

We open at Notre Dame Stadium in October 1985 during Phil’s college football career as he forces a fumble during a tackle and even recovers the ball.  After he heads back to the sidelines, he gets berated by his fellow teammate named Stu Moore since Grayfield was originally supposed to guard the opposing tight end while he actually defends the running back.  Phil counter-argues with the fact that they read the opposing offense about to perform a run play, so they changed up their coverage.  Several minutes later, the Fighting Irish defense is back on the field as Grayfield makes another key play before chastising Stu for going after the ball from an unreachable spot.  Following the game, Moore begins to recall every defensive play that his team ran during the game along with everything that went down during the contest.  We then shift ahead to the present day where he’s become a ninja-clad assassin as he ultimately strangles a unfortunate victim with his nun-chuks.  One of his henchmen named Sammy mentions how their hostage looks familiar, to which their boss confirms by stating that their captive will be a former player for the Miami Dolphins.

While the aforementioned wide receiver named Michael Frazier finds himself in critical condition, we cut to SuperPro reaching a Miami-based warehouse that he heard about via an FBI-informed tip that contains contraband in the hopes of finding out who shot Frazier.  He bursts in and demands for the thugs to tell him about both Michael’s shooter & the arm shipments.  As usual, they refuse and attempt to attack him.  As Phil beats them up, he tells the goons that Frazier was attempting to curb the recent rise of gang violence within Miami.  Upon reaching the final criminal, he demands to know which street gang would suffer the most if their crimes were stopped as the guy tells him that it’s a particular group called “Los Tiburones”, a.k.a. The Sharks.  Armed with this knowledge, SuperPro proceeds to take his leave.

As Phil hops across the rooftops, he thinks about Michael Frazier’s own community outreach program putting up an effective fight against various street gangs attempting to set up shop within the city’s most downtrodden areas as he feel the importance of finding him.  He ultimately makes it back to his Sports Inside van and shares what he learned with Ken.  As Grayfield gets dressed, Reid informs him that Frazier’s community outreach program helps to prevent young kids from joining street gangs and even have them help out by reporting any “illicit gang activity” that they knew about.  Specifically, Michael’s own program has been making a difference within his past community.  As a result, the street gangs have made death threats towards him and his center, with the Sharks even carrying out their own intimidation ploy.  Ken reminds his superhero friend that they’ve been sent down to Miami in order to cover Frazier’s former community prior to him getting shot.  However, Phil says that Michael has become a role model to the local citizens, especially since he never forgot where he came from and that he wanted to use the prowess that he gained from his NFL career in order to help others.  Afterwards, Reid informs him that the FBI has gotten involved as they look into it to understand why.

Later within a turbulent neighborhood under the Sharks’ control, the gang finds themselves under attack by the same ninja-clad felon who easily slays every last member before he reaches the last thug and demands to know where they’re hiding their stolen gun shipment.  The beaten goon says that they’re located in a small airport just outside of Hallandale before the assassin takes him out.

We then cut to the next day as Phil and Ken arrive at the South Street Community Outreach Center as Marrisa Delgado shows the various ways in which the facility helps out, ranging from its daycare for preschoolers and its bilingual tutoring for school-aged children to even allowing senior citizens to create both “promotional & informational material”.  She then explains that because many kids don’t have the same kinds of options to get out of this downtrodden neighborhood, Frazier created this center as a means to help out and give back to his community.  She then escorts Phil and Ken to an area where two boys who’re painting a mural used to be part of the same gang that Michael used to be in known as the “Blood Tigers”.  Grayfield then asks them why the Sharks would want to shoot Frazier, but they exclaim that they wouldn’t know since they got out of the gang life.  However, they are aware of a “score” involving them stealing guns from a mob boss.  When Marrisa explains that the mob wants those weapons back and that Michael tried to intervene by preventing them from falling into the Sharks’ hands, Phil wants to know where the stolen guns are being hidden.  However, the kids decide to decline.  As such, Grayfield tells them that they owe it to Michael since they’ll never stop being free from their past gang life if they continue to live “by gang rules”.  In the end, the kids mention to him about the guns being secretly stashed at Schulmann Airport.  With this new piece of information, Phil and Ken head out to deal with this situation.  As Grayfield suits up, Reid assumes that the Sharks are going to fly the guns out to Cuba due to their Cuban make-up.

We then cut to a couple hours later at Schulmann Airfield where the same ninja-clad assassin beats up the workers before finally coming across the stolen guns as he looks forward to his eventual payday.  However, SuperPro arrives as he looks to stop his newfound foe and find out who he works for.  Afterwards, the adversary reveals that he knows our hero’s actual first name before taking off his mask as Grayfield is shocked to see his former collegiate teammate (who’s now called “Karl” Moore, huh?).  Now that he goes by a new codename, Quick Kick, they proceed to fight each other.

As Moore says that he hasn’t forgotten “every single jab” that he received which now serves as his personal motivation against our hero, SuperPro dodges his strikes before tackling him into some oil drums which fall over and knock the wheel-jams out from underneath the plane, causing it to start moving.  Quick Kick runs after the craft and leaps onto it, accidentally breaking one of the wing’s support beams before kicking Phil away from him.  Grayfield tries to warn him about the damaged wing, but it’s too late as he lets go while the plane ultimately plummets into the ocean and crashes.  Afterwards, the police arrive as SuperPro informs a cop that the stolen guns and Quick Kick are now lying deep beneath the water.  From there, our hero then exclaims that he fought someone who cared too much about winning and that he wasn’t able to show him that fighting what you fight for is more important.  After that, Ken comes in and informs him that he got a transmission from their CB Radio that Michael Frazier is going to make a full recovery from the ICU.

From there, Issue 2 ends sometime later off of the Florida coastline as Marco Sanzionare learns about Quick Kick’s failure and that the shipment is in federal custody.  As such, he decides to finally see SuperPro get his comeuppance as he gives the order to call in “the killer who can cut through time” named Instant Replay.

Issue 3 sees a lack of brotherly love as our main duo must deal with a new adversary and another group of ruffians while Charles Barnett III supplies some temporary inking duties in this singular tale called “Time Out”.

We open with a fight between SuperPro and Instant Replay.  Our featured assassin demonstrates his abilities as he’s able to slice through our hero’s uniform, evades his tackle at an abnormally swift speed and even possesses teleportation skills.  From there, Instant Replay finishes the fight with a swift decapitating strike.  As the lights come on, it turns out that the version of SuperPro that he fought was actually a robot as Marco compliments his hired killer for his excellent display.  With our hero having foiled his past ventures, Sanzionare has resorted to hiring his newest agent from Stane Industries in order to finally have SuperPro killed.  As such, he sends him to another big city that has an NFL team to call its own as recent events have now popped up within Philadelphia.

As such, we cut over to the Sports Inside studio as Phil and Ken are working on a piece involving a local street gang that attacks anyone wearing Philadelphia Eagles clothing.  Not only that, but they also rob their victims and record their crimes for the local news stations to show.  Surprisingly, they haven’t beaten up any victims.  From there, Grayfield and Reid ponder over how they plan to approach this developing story.

Later that night at another part of town, the featured gang is relaxing at their hideout before their leader named Ronnie tells his cohorts that they’re going to strike since there’s an Eagles fans dinner over at Buchbenders.  As they dawn their green ski masks, Ronnie reminds his gang that they’ll only steal some merchandise and refrain from harming any civilian.  As they head out, he worries that one of his fellow gang members (specifically Cray) will go against his orders.  Thirty minutes later, they arrive outside of the restaurant and prepare for their assault.  Just then, Ronnie notices a parked green van with the Eagles logo on it.  As such, they begin to smash it up.  During the scuffle, two of the gang members notices that the Eagles script logo isn’t painted on and that it’s a sticker.  At that moment, SuperPro emerges from the van and easily defeats the goons.  Cray then takes out a handgun and threatens to shoot him, forcing Ronnie to get him under control and orders his gang to retreat.  Afterwards, the van pulls out as Ken lets Phil climb in before they drive off, unaware that Instant Replay was watching from afar.

We then cut to the next morning as Ken visits his sister named Claire, whom he hasn’t talked to for a number of years.  It turns out he’s stopped by to chat with her son who’s currently sleeping due to arriving back home late.  He heads in and confronts his nephew (which turns out to be Ronnie) about his involvement with the street gang, not to mention that he can help the young lad avoid some serious jail time.  It turns out that Ronnie’s hatred for the Eagles stems from the fact that he tried out for the team, but didn’t make the cut.  Ken exclaims that it was no surprise since he was “a walk-on free agent punt returner” before telling him to turn himself in to the proper authorities before things get worse.  From there, he takes his leave and tells Claire that his next visit is more “social”.

We cut to nighttime as Sterman’s Department Store had its Eagles display ransacked by the gang.  Ultimately, the police arrive as SuperPro oversees the scene before deciding to jump down and converse with the officials so that they share what they know about the gang.  As they converse, Ken comes in as he exclaims that he knows the mastermind behind the gang’s attacks.  Suddenly, a vicious blast rips down through SuperPro’s shoulder pad as he, Reid and Officer Nicieza (cute) look up and discover Instant Replay before he disappears.  Not too long afterwards, the specialized assassin reappears and attacks our hero with another hit-and-run session.  When Instant Replay tries to attack from behind yet again, Ken warns his friend as SuperPro responds with a precise hit that sends the agent into Sterman’s smashed-up window.  Just as he lands on some golf equipment, his teleportation device malfunctions and he ends up viciously disappearing.

As SuperPro wonders how Instant Replay’s self-transporting mechanism malfunctioned, Reid says that the metal make-up of the golf clubs interfered with the teleporter’s “electrical conduit”.  As Phil ponders where Instant Replay may have ended up as a result, Ken tells the cops that the leader of the Eagles Gang and the true leader behind their attacks is his nephew Ronnie McLaren.  Meanwhile, the familiar gang has approached a woman who’s accompanying two developmentally-challenged young boys who get threaten with harm.  Ronnie tries to call off his gang’s attack, but they’re not willing to back down as one of the goons slaps one of the kids.  From there, Ronnie attacks his volatile members while the lady and the two boys escape.  Afterwards, he says that this isn’t what he wanted as he officially disbands the group.  We then cut to one hour later as he sees the familiar sports van along with a police car in front of his house.  He considers running away, but ultimately decides against it before psychotics “like Cray really hurts someone”.  As such, he confesses to the officials about his involvement with the Eagles Gang along with where the majority of their stolen money is as he’s also willing to help them get the other gang members arrested.  From there, he gets incarcerated as Phil and Ken prepare to head down to the police station in order to finish their report as well as help “make this easier for Claire and Ronnie”.  From there, the scene ends with Reid giving an emotional hug to his sister.

From there, Issue 3 ends three weeks later within the Swiss Alps as Sanzionare has been preparing to finally step in and take care of SuperPro himself.  It turns out that he’s spent the last several weeks studying our hero’s ins-and-outs.  Because he now knows his secret identity, Marco is going to make this personal as he fights Phil “to the death”.

Now, we’ve reached a climactic confrontation for Issue 4 as Fabian Nicieza writes his swan song for the series in a turbulent tussle enacted within “The Sanctioning”.

We open in Trenton, New Jersey as Jane Dixon is with her Channel 9 cameraman in order to give a report on a rally in protest of a new tax.  Unbeknownst to her, Marco is observing her from the rooftops within his gold-platted combat armor.  From there, he shoots some tear gas towards her as she gets disoriented enough for him to jump down and kidnap her.  As a female officer warns him not to move, he simply fires some Concussion Mortars at her and the nearby cops before activating his suit’s fight system and takes off with Jane in his arms.

We then cut to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as Phil shoots a United Way promotion alongside famed New York Giants players Phil Simms and Carl Banks.  Afterwards, a familiar Raider approaches as Tim Pressman proceeds to talk with Grayfield about how despite people’s lingering doubts, he’s still thankful for getting the gambling ties against him dropped.  After a while, they go their separate ways as Phil makes his way back to Ken who still has a few exterior shots to get.  As such, Grayfield tells him that he’ll head back to the hotel.  A short time later at the L.A.-based Sheraton, Reid is working on adding a camera to SuperPro’s helmet in order to get a full 360-degree view.  At that moment, Phil tells him that he tried to call his girlfriend, but he got her answering machine with a voice that’s not hers.

Over in Manhattan, Sanzionare has Jane tied up in his penthouse as he exclaims that he’s aware of her boyfriend making his way towards their current location.  As he climbs into his battle suit, he reveals the playing field that he intends to defeat Grayfield upon.  Dixon then asks why he’s doing this, to which he says that her man has interfered with his own operations.  Because she’s unaware of Phil’s secret identity, Marco takes a delight in informing her that Grayfield and SuperPro are the same person.  Several hours later, Phil and Ken arrive just outside of Sanzionare’s penthouse apartment as Reid informs Grayfield about the newly-installed sensors upon his uniform in order to “create a tactical database” on whatever he gets in contact with.  He also brings up the helmet cam that’ll give him a view on what’s behind him, along with the fact that he did some hacking in order to get a schematic of Marco’s penthouse.  With all of this and the situation that’s ahead of him, Phil gets a little nervous.  Fortunately, Reid confidentially says that they’ll find a way to pull through this.

From there, things get set in motion as Grayfield is allowed up to Sanzionare’s penthouse.  He changes into his uniform on the elevator before confirming a communicative transmission with Ken.  Eventually, the lift reaches the particular floor as Marco riddles it with bullets.  When it opens however, he finds it empty.  It turns out that SuperPro expected this as he climbed out through the emergency shaft and used the cables to go one floor above the suite.  Just as he learns that Phil is on the 45th floor, Sanzionare catches up and opens fire. SuperPro dodges the opposing gunfire, but he ends up falling through a trap door and lands upon the football-themed battleground as he’s shocked to see Jane tied up to a goalpost.

She tells her boyfriend to stay back, but it’s too late as gets blasted by a Concussion Mortar just as Marco confronts him.  Ken sees their foe through the camera as he analyses the suit before telling Phil to attack his shoulder couplings due to them containing the “major network feed for his arms”.  SuperPro recovers and proceeds to attack Sanzionare’s shoulder armaments, causing him to malfunction.  Marco tries to fire back, but his suit’s weapons systems are down.  As such, he orders his computer system to initiate the “Goal Line Stand” as a full arsenal of guns, lasers and spikes pop out to attack.  SuperPro swiftly makes his way past the full-on barrage before he reaches Jane and helps her escape by ripping the goal post out of the ground.  Ken tells him to head for the roof, to which he and Dixon proceed to do.

Grayfield and Dixon manage to reach the rooftop before he asks Reid what they should do now.  Ken exclaims that he’s trying to find an air duct for them to climb into, but he can’t find one in time as Marco catches up.  As such, SuperPro attempts to kick him.  However, Sanzionare grabs his leg and proceeds to dangle him over the side.  Jane tries to stop him, but ends up getting slapped away.  Marco then exclaims about all of the devious ventures from their recent past that Phil has stopped.  From there, he begins to drop Phil.  Fortunately, he managed to reach up in time in order to grab onto Sanzionare’s hand as he jolts his foe down alongside him.

Marco is able to launch his tether line and manages to hook onto the side of the building in order to break his fall.  However, SuperPro continues to hold onto his hand as he causes Sanzionare to slam into the structure.  As such, his armament begins to fall apart.  In the end, his hand ends up slipping through his gauntlet as both of them resume their plummet.  Phil manages to grab an adjacent flagpole in order to save himself, while Marco ends up smashing through the awning before slamming onto the ground.  Five minutes later, Ken and Jane catch up to Phil as they see Sanzionare lying unconscious and alive.  Reid explains that with the police on the way, he’ll present them with the footage from SuperPro’s helmet camera in order to put this crime boss away.  Jane expresses her worry since Marco knows her boyfriend’s superhero identity, to which he says that they’ll possibly deal with it down the road.  From there, Issue 4 ends with Dixon exclaiming that she’s willing to help them out in their crime-fighting venture.

Issue 5 sees a change of the guard as Buzz Dixon takes over writing duties while our main hero heads back to the gridiron and goes up against a different kind of team in “Sudden Death”.

We open at Giants Stadium as the host Giants are competing against the Miami Dolphins while Phil and Ken chat about interviewing Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor following the game.  Just as a fumble occurs and Taylor dives for the ball, the ground suddenly bursts open as he gets pulled under by a mysterious being.  Grayfield and Reid enter the hole in order to find out where their kidnapper has gone to.  Eventually, they arrive at the stadium parking lot as an unconscious Taylor gets placed in the back of a van.  It turns out that the musclebound fiend named Hans is part of a devious group who proceed to go after Ken.  Phil manages to reach his van and gets his SuperPro uniform on before he engages the fiends.  However, he struck from behind by a broad pole from another familiar assailant.  This disorients him enough as Hans smacks him away before the group takes their leave, leaving SuperPro smashed upon an adjacent car.

Later, Phil is getting a massage from Jane when a news broadcast reports about the kidnapping of 21 NFL athletes.  Grayfield gets a realization as he tells Dixon that each pilfered player represents a starting position on offense or defense.  With the uniformed thieves still needing a quarterback to abduct, he realizes that his longtime friend Ron Macedon will be their target.  We then cut to the next day at the Chicago Bears’ practice camp as Phil warns Ron.  After Grayfield makes a snarky comment about his friend only being the “fourth best” quarterback in the league, Ron dumps a container of Gatorade upon him before taking his leave.  He’s then approached by the owner’s assistant named Mercy Sutter who offers to let him clean up with their showers and well as get his clothes cleaned.  After they arrive at the owner’s luxury suite, he tells her that he’s reporting on the kidnappings for his sports show.  Mercy assures him that there won’t be any more abductions since the league is taking extra security measures.  As she briefly mentions about her father being a former head coach, the familiar kidnappers reemerge in a makeshift blimp as they get to work on their kidnapping scheme.

The fiends initiate their plan as one of their members named Flinch stuns Macedon and his teammates with “two thousand volts” of electricity before he preps to scoop the unconscious quarterback up.  As Sutter heads out to alert stadium security, Phil knows that they won’t arrive in time as he dons his SuperPro suit before climbing up to the roof.  With the fiends kidnapping Ron and taking him up to their blimp, he jumps towards the craft.  He manages to grab onto the rope, but his cleat ends up puncturing the blimp.  Flinch responds by shocking Phil with his electric attack as SuperPro ends up plummeting to the ground.  Fortunately, he grabs onto the rope ladder and saves himself.  However, Flinch manages to cut it off before his fellow cohorts disconnect their van from the leaking blimp.  Unbeknownst to them, SuperPro managed to grab onto the underside of their vehicle as he withstands the landing and scraping momentum.

Later, they arrive at an abandoned football stadium where they carry Macedon into the facility while SuperPro emerges from underneath the van.  As he sneaks his way inside, he oversees the entire operation as well as the “head coach” that serves as the kidnappers’ leader.  As Phil prepares to alert the authorities on this illegal operation, one particular assailant blindsides him with a football bomb as he gets knocked out in the explosion.  Later, SuperPro wakes up in his cage as the coach introduces his team called the Head Hunters as several of their members include Hans and Flinch, but also Bullet and (the one who attacked our hero earlier) Kabuki-Back.

It turns out that everyone involved within this malevolent group used to play in the NFL, but they weren’t good enough to last long.  As the head coach storms off, Mercy arrives as she reveals that he’s actually her father Buck Sutter as she believes that her dad didn’t get “a fair chance” from the league.  SuperPro counter-argues by stating that the league gives “everybody” a shot as he tells her to alert the cops.  However, she refuses to do so as she takes her leave.  Later, the captured players are forced into playing an illegal contest against the Head Hunters as they rough up their captives and constantly break the league’s rules of the game.  Phil uses his chin strap snap in order to jimmy the lock on his cage and break free before telling the NFL’s finest to stand aside while he deals with their captors.  However, the Head Hunters gang up on him as they unleash their wrath upon him.  Afterwards, SuperPro decides to unleash his full strength.

He uses his superhuman vigor to overwhelm his foes as Kabuki-Back attempts to take him down with another football bomb.  Fortunately, he notices as he times its bounce and promptly kicks it towards the power unit that operates the players’ cages.  From there, the captured athletes join the fight as they skillfully subdue the Head Hunters.  Meanwhile, SuperPro takes out Kabuki-Back who turns out to be Mercy.  Flinch runs in with bolts blazing as he attempts to strike back.  Fortunately, Phil tosses a nearby oil drum filled with water as the fiend ends up shocking himself.  While Buzz retreats with his daughter, SuperPro takes out the last Head Hunter (possibly named Bullet) as he activates the fiend’s thruster as he flies out of control.  In the end, the NFL players and Phil defeated the Head Hunters as they place the fiends inside their own cages.  Meanwhile, Issue 5 ends with Buzz and Mercy having driven miles away from the rundown stadium as they vow to recruit new members onto their team in order to get back our hero.

As we reach the halfway point of SuperPro’s existence, we now come across the infamous sixth issue.  It turns out that this entry involves an actual Native American tribe called Hopi with certain masks being worn by the villains of this piece that depict the Kachina, which are deified ancestral spirits in Pueblo mythology, whose beliefs are a part of the various Indian tribes in Southwest America, including the Hopi.  In a Comic Book Urban Legends article on Comic Book Resources, Buzz Dixon actually did do some research on our featured tribe, describing the Kachina as “a constantly evolving pantheon of gods, demi-gods, and spirits”  In Dixon’s studies, he discovered that the Hopi had two opposing political camps: the “hostiles” and the “friendlies”.  Through them, he emphasized that the non-Hopi villains (who wield weapons that the tribe never use) were being purposely ignorant and causing blasphemy.  Unfortunately, the real-life Hopi tribe took offense to this poor depiction as this sole comic ended up on national news with Hopi Chairman Vernon Masayesva writing a letter to Marvel demanding that it be removed from stores.  In the end, the company apologized and recalled 70,000 copies.  However, that was only done by the time the next issue was published.  So with this contextual explanation out of the way, let us finally delve into what our main hero has to deal with in “The Kachinas Sing Of Doom”.

We open with Phil and Ken observing the practice session of a world champion figure skater named Laura Eagle.  Unbeknownst to them, some disguised assailants have discreetly arrived as they smash through the skylight in order to attack her.  Grayfield jumps onto the ice to intervene, but he gets easily smacked away as he uses this as his means to slip away in order to change into his super persona.  Laura continually evades her attackers long enough for Phil to suit up and reemerge as SuperPro in order to fight back against the false figures.  One of the fiends tries to attack him with a chainsaw, but he misses and strikes through the ice.  He ends up damaging a refrigeration coil and releasing some lethal gas, thus SuperPro takes Laura out of the building before warning Ken, the rink owner and the cops of the poisonous gas.

Our hero attempts to make a statement towards the police, but the female cop doesn’t take him seriously as a hero.  Afterwards, the ice rink owner is appalled with the damage caused to the building’s interior due to the damaged Refrigeration Coil covering it all with Freon.  One police report later, Phil, Ken and Laura arrive back at Jane’s apartment shortly after midnight as Eagle explains her backstory to our main group.  She’s a Hopi Indian who has an older sister named He’e’e who was more into their upbringing than she was.  She also brings up the Kachinas who’re “the gods and spirits of our ancestors” as the adults dress up like them for “special ceremonies” & “tribal initiations”.  Outside of their Hopi upbringing, Karen and her sister still went out for sports as He’e’e was athletically better than her.  In the same year that they lost their parents, Karen caught a figure skating competition on TV and became inspired to take on the sport, to the point where she even took odd jobs in order to pay for her lessons over in Scottsdale.  On the flip side, He’e’e passed on an athletic scholarship in order to fully embrace her people’s “tribal affairs”.  Several years later, Karen became a gold medalist and reached various levels of success over the course of her pro career.  Not only that, but she never denied her Hopi upbringing in the media.  However, she believes that someone from her Pueblo past has been recently harassing & threatening her through letters and phone calls, to the point where her own apartment was trashed a week prior, and a message was left upon her wall accusing her of turning her back upon the tribe.  As she concludes her personal tale, Karen expresses her belief that “a radical Hopi political group” calling themselves “the Kachinas” (in poor taste, of course) is behind this.  Not only that, but her sister He’e’e (who’s named after a Kachina spirit) is also “involved in Tribal Politics”.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t know who’s the mastermind behind all of this.  From there, she announces her decision to go revisit her Hopi tribe for the first time in years in order to “learn the truth”.  Phil even says that he’ll join her in order to get coverage for a potential report, much to Jane’s semi-dismay.

Two days later, our main group arrive in Northeast Arizona as Laura gets a celebratory return from her Hopi people.  Phil is then approached by a man named Tyler Gaunt who sub-contracts a casino that’s placed upon the outreaches of Hopi land.  Even though the tribe technically owns it, a good portion of them hate it.  One of the Indian representatives swears that his people actually enjoy their guests, while dismissing the “dissidents” as “lousy malcontents who mouth off”, as well as anyone who potentially has any ill-will towards Laura.  Afterwards, our main group travel out to an area that was previous built and abandoned 500 years ago prior to the Hopi moving in to claim the territory for their own as her sister now occupies it.  Laura approaches the particular Hopi group and demands to see her elder kin but is initially refused.  However, He’e’e overrides her sentry as he disapproves of her younger sister for embracing the outsider ways of the “Bahanas” (whites).  Laura warns her sister to tone down her “radical ideas” or face the risk of jail.  Despite that, He’e’e only sees it as a thinly veiled threat from the “the Tribal Council” just because they refuse to “kiss up to the Bahanas”.  Phil steps in and exclaims that not all white people are pure evil in her eyes and that it’s possible for her people to learn from them in order to solidify connections between both sides.  However, He’e’e exclaims that her people “want modern benefits” and not “outsiders” finding ways to make money through them, especially since every past attempt at trying to be the better people only resulted in being shot down by “government red tape”.  Laura then tells her older sister to call off the thugs dressed up in Kachina outfits or else she’ll press a lawsuit on her.  However, He’e’e says that those gods are vital to the Hopis and would never commit such a dishonor.  Ken thinks that she’s lying, but Phil suspects some sense of truth.  In the end, she orders Karen away, to which she exclaims to He’e’e to “keep your pet Kachinas at home”.  As they drive off, Grayfield expresses his struggle at grasping “Hopi Politics”, to which Laura brings up the two main groups of “friendlies” (those who wish to converse with outsiders) and “hostiles” (those who want nothing to do with the outside world).

As she exclaims that she doesn’t see people in terms of skin color, the false-faced Kachinas unleash a surprise attack as one of them fires a volatile arrow that strikes the van and knocks it over.  Phil emerges before getting knocked out as Laura proceeds to berate the opposing group, only to get knocked unconscious and end up captured.  Afterwards, one of the disguised thugs doesn’t want to leave any evidence of their destruction behinds.  As such, he cuts up the vehicle’s gas line, ignites a flare and throws it at the crippled van which proceeds to blow up.  While the gang heads out, they’re unaware that Phil and Ken managed to escape in time.  Grayfield tells his friend to go get help before suiting up and heading out to tail their assailants.  Before long, he ultimately reaches their hideout.

He then peaks inside and discovers that Tyler is the leader of the inappropriately-dressed goons as he reveals that Laura’s kidnapping will result in the Hopi eradicating hostile members, thus clearing the group from his own personal way, to the point where he’ll even murder the famed figure skater if it’ll lead to his ultimate end-goal.  From there, SuperPro bursts in and begins to attack the masked thugs.  However, the archer of the group fires an arrow that disperses stun gas upon impact.  Gaunt prepares to execute him, but He’e’e thankfully arrives in time and disarms him with an accurate arrow shot.

As one of the goons attempts to recover Tyler’s gun, SuperPro intervenes and takes him down.  While the chainsaw-wielding fiend cuts He’e’e’s bow, Phil still manages to defeat him.  The last goon manages to reach Laura and holds up a knife to her throat, which triggers a traumatic moment in her past where an authentic figure in a Kachina outfit is about to strike her as part of her initiation, which causes her to unleash a horrified scream in the present.  He’e’e manages to take out the final thug before she comforts her younger sister.  From there, Issue 6 ends with SuperPro capturing a fleeing Tyler, thus allowing the proper authorities to arrive and arrest the culprits.  Afterwards, Laura brings up the crippling memory that was brought up in the moment, to which He’e’e admits her own fault and allows her sister to continue her own pursuits.  Meanwhile, SuperPro tells the officer that he’ll fill out the report while the two Hopi sisters “catch up on some lost time”.

Issue 7 sees the series switching writers again as Evan Skolnick will take our familiar hero outside of North America in order to stop some heinous deforestation in “All Abuzz”.

We open in the Brazilian state of Amapá which contains a section of the Amazon Rainforest as an activist group called the “Protectors of the Forest” are doing their part to combat deforestation by hanging up signs that seek to fend off log-cutters.  Just then, they’re approached by an assailant wielding buzzsaws who emerges and attacks the group.  Nine days later and 1,200 miles south of this location, we shift over to Maracanã Stadium as Brazil is engaged in a heated soccer match against Argentina.  With both sides locked in a 1-1 tie, the Brazilian teammates manage to weave their way down the field before their star player named Claudio Juarez pulls off a successful bicycle kick and makes the go-ahead goal.  Over in the Press Box, Phil and Ken are attending the game since they’re going to interview Juarez for Sports Inside.  At the match wears on, Grayfield notices a growing fight between opposing fans within the stands.  As such, he puts on his familiar uniform and jumps down to intervene.

He tries to stave off a potential riot, but the language differences prevent much progress from being made.  From there, SuperPro gets an idea, even if a tad destructive.  He rips out a piece of the stadium wall and uses it to create a barrier between the opposing groups of fans before also serving as his own guard to keep any ignorant attendee from attacking the adverse side.  We then shift ahead by a half-hour and 1,800 miles away at the Brazilian Loggie Enterprises building as the head fat cat named Antonio Matias catches the country’s win over Argentina on TV, which also showed SuperPro’s preventative actions against the rowdy fanbases.  Afterwards, he tells his hired assailant that his tree-cutting operation is getting opposed and thus, he wants his agent to go take care of their situation.

Meanwhile, Ken and Phil are taking a flight towards the Amazon area in order to properly interview Claudio, especially since he requested the location himself.  After touching down at the airport, Grayfield and Reid meet up with Juarez as he tells our main duo that one of the reasons that he wanted his interview in Amapá was that he grew up here.  As he escorts them away, he promises to present them with something else that he wants to show off.  From there, they arrive at a jeep which is driven by Claudio’s female companion named Felicita Oliveri.  After a twenty-minute drive, they arrive at the rain forest as Juarez begins to display the harsh rate of deforestation that’s occurring within the Amazon.  Phil is initially dismissive since his show doesn’t usually delve outside of sports, but Claudio assures him that the rain forest’s depletion ultimately affects the entire world.  He goes on to explain that the Amazon is home to certain tree species that aren’t found anywhere else on the planet and that even though the log cutters are only doing their job in order to “put food on the table”, he wants the company to be more “economically feasible” and allow the rain forest to stand.  However, he then warns Phil and Ken about a “super-powered hitman” that was hired by the log companies to strike back at protection efforts.  Juarez then exclaims that the deforestation has also created a cattle-raising operation.  However, the cleared land will only be able to support it for about a decade before it becomes worthless to all parties.  The group then arrives at the particular members of the “Protectors of the Forest” group who’ve tied themselves to the trees in order to take a stand against deforestation before Claudio finally allows Phil to interview him.

As Ken attempts to get a preferable angle for his camera shot, the group is suddenly attacked by the buzzsaw-wielding fiend as the Protectors of the Forest members flee for their lives.  It’s also during his attack that he introduces himself as Ripsaw before noticing Reid getting footage of him as he responds by destroying his camera.  Claudio tries to prevent his fellow Brazilians from ditching Phil and Ken, but they’re too terrified to stay behind.  With Reid in trouble, Grayfield lures Ripsaw towards himself before using his superhuman agility to leap over the assailant.

While the hired agent is pumped to get a worthy opponent, Ken informs Phil that his superheroic armor managed to fall off the jeep during the mad panic of the Brazilian activists’ haste retreat.  As such, Reid offers to distract Ripsaw while he dawns his uniform.  Phil only has enough time to put on his helmet, but he manages to kick his adversary into a nearby tree who manages to get briefly stuck.  Thankfully, it gives Grayfield enough time to put on the remainder of his outfit.  By the time Ripsaw freed himself, SuperPro is properly able to engage him and even land some key strikes.  However, the sharp agent decides to unleash a barrage of buzzsaws at him.

Phil manages to dodge the majority of the blades, but two of them are able to strike his leg.  As Ripsaw prepares to finish him off, SuperPro notices Juarez approaching within the jeep.  With a timely punch, Phil hits his foe towards Claudio who proceeds to ram into the fiend and takes him out.  Fortunately, Ripsaw is still alive, though he did suffer some broken bones and a separated shoulder.  He orders for one of the rain forest activists to tell the loggers to get the proper authorities.  While he destroys the buzzsaws, Juarez thanks him and wishes that it was as simple as that in terms of saving the rain forest, to which our hero exclaims that it’s possible as long as they “draw the line”.  We then shift ahead 20 minutes later as Phil reemerges in his civilian clothes while Claudio tells him that he missed “NFL Man”.  Grayfield exclaims that he “not a fighter” before mentioning that he won’t be able to give the interview due to Ken’s camera getting destroyed.  Fortunately, Issue 7 ends with Juarez’ friend Tony offering his camcorder in order to fulfill the professional commitment.

Issue 8 sees the creative team get a turnover in two spots.  While Matthew Morra gives his lone writing contribution to this series, Herbet “Herb” Waldo Trimpe takes over penciling duties.  As such, our main hero now finds himself teaming up with the Sentinel of Liberty in order to take on a familiar foe who looks to strike upon our heroes in an act of “Vengeance”.

We begin with Brock Rumlow a.k.a. Crossbones having just beaten up a group of lackeys before demanding to know why his services are needed.  The shadowy figure says that he wishes to hire him, to which Brock exclaims that his skills will come with a hefty price tag.  The mysterious boss says that there’s particular characteristics a man possesses that’re worth more than money: dignity, pride and honor.  With those taken away, all that’s left is a desire for revenge.  As such, he tells Crossbones that he’ll be going after SuperPro.  We then cut over to Soldier Field in Chicago where the NFL is about to present an anti-drug campaign, spearheaded by John MacAphee.  As usual, Phil and Ken are covering the press conference for Sports Inside.  During their conversation, we learn that this campaign takes NFL players on a widespread tour in order to share the message about the dangers of harmful drugs.  Shortly afterwards, John begins the ordeal as he introduces the four players who’ll be part of his anti-drug campaign: Bears quarterback Ron Macedon, Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Anthony Muñoz, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas and Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs.  During all of this, Grayfield tells Reid that during his brief stint with the Bears, he and Macedon got first-hand experience on how illicit drugs ended up destroying both the careers and lives of pro players.  Just then, MacAphee receives an urgent message as he invites Ron up to talk to the press while he leaves to take care of a sudden incident.  At that moment, Phil notices a trenchcoat-wearing figure emerging from the locker room.  After already knowing that the area was supposed to be locked for the day, he notices that the door’s handle has been forcibly broken.  As such, he dawns his familiar uniform and follows after the shady person.

Upon getting outside, SuperPro discovers the intruder to be Crossbones as they proceed to fight each other for a bit.  Phil manages to deliver a powerful tackle upon Brock before demanding an explanation for his actions.  Rumlow feigns his surrender before he subtly pulls out a dagger and tosses it at our hero, successfully slicing past his leg and causing instant paralysis.  With SuperPro lying helplessly, Crossbones takes out a handgun and prepares to execute him.

Suddenly, a familiar shield flies in and disarms Brock as it turns out to be Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America.  While Rumlow retreats, Steve rushes over to Phil and manages to suck out the Cobra Venom from his knife wound.  As Captain America states how fortunate he was that it was only a minor injury and that the blade didn’t create a deeper strike, SuperPro takes notices of the license plate number from Brock’s car as the hired assassin drives off.  Afterwards, both heroes exchange information about who Crossbones is and the fact that he was sneaking around the Chicago Bears’ locker room.  Rogers exclaims that he came here on a tip and was hoping to catch his foe, especially since the fiend’s devious partnership with Red Skull was recently terminated.  From there, SuperPro gets helped up as he comments about finally meeting his childhood hero.  From there, Steve tells him that despite his recent slip-up, he still compliments him for a commendable job.  Just as Captain America takes his leave, Ken comes in and tells Phil to come back inside since a major incident has occurred.  As SuperPro arrives back at the press conference, a reporter informs him that Ron Macedon just got arrested for drug possession.  As our hero is shocked to hear about this recent occurrence, John tells the media that he’ll contact the league and attempt to get Ron permanently suspended.  Afterwards, Reid informs Grayfield that MacAfee was presented with a search warrant by the police before they found drugs over at Macedon’s locker and immediately arrested him during his speech.  SuperPro heads outside and talks to Ron just as he’s getting put into a police car.  He says that those drugs don’t belong to him and begs for his help in proving his innocence before he’s taken away.

Later on, our main duo make it back to Ken’s apartment as he uses his computer to do some investigative work.  They discover that the search warrant mysteriously showed up at Chicago P.D. already signed by a judge, not to mention that the license plate Phil got from Crossbones’ car was a rental car acquired by “John Smith” and with no listed address.  Grayfield asks about the coat that their assailant was wearing, to which Reid finds a police report stating that it was expensive and entirely hand-made out of silk.  As Phil deduces that Ron was framed for the drug possession, Ken mentions that the report detailed the coat’s label containing the name of the tailor and address.  With something to go on, they make their way over to Tony’s Tailor as the owner exclaims that he never met the customer, but it was picked up by his butler named James.  Fortunately, Grayfield and Reid find out that he still has the customer’s address from the order as they manage to acquire it from the owner.  Later, they set up a plan for tonight as Ken mentions about a new setting that he installed within SuperPro’s helmet.  Namely, it’s an infrared filter that’ll allow him to see in the dark.  From there, we cut to nighttime as SuperPro contacts Reid about the successful implementation on the filter.  Afterwards, Ken brings up the mansion’s blueprints and informs him of a drainpipe that he can use to enter the building.  As such, Ken climbs up and reaches the roof, only to get met upon by a sentry.  Fortunately, he dives at the guard as they crash through the skylight.

Shortly after landing upon the floor, SuperPro comes across not only Crossbones but also his familiar adversary himself: Marco Sanzionare.  He exclaims that our hero wasn’t supposed to discover him until later when he’s made Phil greatly suffer, since Marco’s revenge plan would have begun with him taking out Grayfield’s closest friends.  However, he scolds Brock for leaving various clues as to his whereabouts.  From there, Sanzionare prepares to get his revenge for his past plans getting foiled and for spending months in jail as he reveals the retractable spear in his staff and lunges at our hero.  Fortunately, Grayfield fends him off and smacks him with his own weapon.  From there, Crossbones steps in and shoots out a barrage of spikes.  SuperPro manages to leap past the flying projectiles before he and Brock unleash a series of kicks upon each other.

Rumlow then takes out a pair of handguns and opens fire, yet SuperPro manages to dodge the bulletstorm before turning off the lights.  As Crossbones struggles to find his target, Phil uses his infrared filter to land a decisive punch across the fiend’s face.  However, Marco takes out his gun and prepares to take our hero out.  Fortunately, Grayfield dives out of the way.  Unfortunately, both Sanzionaire and Crossbones managed to escape.  From there, Issue 8 ends the next day over at Soldier Field as another press conference is held.  SuperPro has managed to get the charges against Ron Macedon dropped as John reinstates him into his anti-drug campaign.  Not only that, but Captain America is also present as Ron thanks them for their help.

Issue 9 sees some more turnover for the main creative team.  While Evan Skolnick returns as the book’s writer, Donald C. Hudson takes over inking duties as our hero sees another familiar figure from his rogues gallery making an unusual return in a struggle to fight “Time & Again”.

We open in the time stream where Instant Replay is constantly torn and reassembled following the tragic end of his fight against SuperPro.  Despite being caught within this constant strain, the thoughts of his past struggle against our hero haven’t left his thoughts as he wishes to get back at him.  We then shift to reality as Phil visits the Ridgway home in Windsor, Connecticut where he’s visiting his older sister Lynn and her husband Mark.  Lynn mentions that her daughter Melanie hasn’t been her normal self recently, so Grayfield reveals a football that he’s going to give his niece.  Just then, Melanie arrives home.  However, she’s doesn’t react with much of a positive response as she heads up to her room.  Phil goes and talks with her in order to find out what’s behind her glum mood.  Melanie explains that she used to be on her middle school football team.  However, she got kicked off due to the players’ parents raising some complaints, forcing the Board of Education to make their local school sport exclusive to boys.  Grayfield is stunned at the fact that she just accepted this and didn’t attempt to counterargue.  A minor argument ensues before she exclaims how there’s times when “you just have to accept reality”.

Later, Phil arrives at Windsor Middle School as he makes his way over to football practice.  The team recognizes him as their head coach named Rich Henchey exclaims that he’s heard of Grayfield through Melanie before offering him to help out with their drills.  Phil agrees, but on the condition that they have a particular talk.  Back at the Ridgway house, Melanie tries to find her uncle in order to thank him for the football and to apologize for her earlier outburst.  However, her mother Lynn informs her that he’s talking to Coach Henchey at this moment.  As such, she gets on her bike and makes her way over to the middle school.  Back with Grayfield, he finds out that it wasn’t Henchey’s decision to kick Melanie off the team, but it came from the Education Board caving into the players’ parents’ demands.  Phil learns that Rich was more than willing to keep her on the team, but he wasn’t determined enough to stand up for her.  However, Grayfield decides to speak to the board in order to get his niece back on the team.

Suddenly, Instant Replay appears behind Phil and begins to strike back.  Grayfield recognizes him and tells Rich to get his team away from here immediately.  He notices that his foe is talking to him in broken English, but is also concerned that he may have picked up some new skills since their last encounter.

He manages to swing onto a goal post and evade an opposing strike before asking if Sanzionare hired him again.  However, Instant Replay simply attacks the post in order to force him down.  Phil leaps over to his car and discovers that no one is around.  As such, he reaches a duffel bag in his car and puts on his SuperPro outfit.  Just as he notices the arrival of his niece Melanie, Instant Replay creates multiple copies of himself as he proceeds to gang upon him.

Phil gets viciously struck as he desperately attempts to evade his foe, even desperately throwing his duffel bag at him.  However, Instant Replay constantly teleports around and evades him before he attempts to take advantage of his exhaustion.  Fortunately, Melanie hits the fiend with her football.  This allows SuperPro to recover before he delivers a fierce uppercut and smashes his enemy into the school.

Melanie then approaches him in order to see how he’s doing.  As he tells her to stand back, she recognizes her uncle’s voice and quickly realizes his dual identity.  She tries to take him to the hospital, but he worries for her safety as he tells her to flee.  From there, he reengages Instant Replay.  As his foe teleports again, he preps himself for the blindside counterattack and succeeds with a timely kick.  From that moment, SuperPro takes advantage of his second wind and continues his assault.

He then caps off his barrage of fisticuffs with a fierce uppercut that sends Instant Replay flying into some electrical transformers.  Realizing that this is his foe’s greatest weakness, Phil attempts to slowly bend the electric pole in order to safely get him down.  However, Instant Replay slips out and lands on some power coils, suffering an electrified death.  From there, Issue 9 ends on the very next day as Coach Henchey allows Melanie to come back onto the team.  Phil then tells her that he has to keep his superhero identity a secret.  He then convinces his niece that if he can come back from his severe football injuries and become a costumed crimefighter, then she can do anything that she sets her mind to.  As he mentions that he’ll attend the upcoming meeting with the educational board, she gets her uncle to sign her football before they play catch with each other.

For Issue 10, we have the double return of Buzz Dixon as writer and Jose Delbo on pencils as our hero “goes wild” to kick off the final quarter of his series’ run in “A Bunch Of Guys Sitting In The Woods Beating On Tom-Toms”.

We open at Sports Inside headquarters as Phil and Ken learn about a mens-only camp that promises to help with restoring their self-confidence.  Having already registered them for it, their boss is sending them out there since they need to expose the operation as a possible scam.  We then cut to the next day with their arrive at Camp Runamuk as Reid is too embarrassed to be taking part in this, so he registered under the name of David Cassidy (a.k.a. Keith Partridge).  Unaware to them and their fellow newly arrived campmates, they’re being watched by the headmaster named Carragone who has plans for them (and even holds a stuffed cat for some reason).  Just then, he’s approached by his three head lackeys who want him to finish his machine so that he can implant them with superpowers.  Carragone promises them that despite his invention having taken several months to perfect, he’s almost at a break-through.  Meanwhile, Phil and Ken notice that their fellow newbies are a mixture of muscle-bound athletes and scrawny-figured guys.  As such, a small group of the later notices Grayfield from his show as they introduce themselves as Frank Moody, J. Pennington Pennypacker, Kwong Dae and Tubby Walsh (all four of them are old college buddies) as they wish to hang out with our main man.

Grayfield and Reid express some interest before they separate for now.  They then meet up with the three lackeys named Hubert Caryle, Peter Petunia and Edwin Dood as they assume that they’ll bunk with them in the pros cabin, but they end up getting sent to the lodge with “the other rank amateurs”.  Afterwards, they get informed about the initiation that’ll be occurring at sunset.  Later, Phil and Ken have been prepped for the evening’s event as they’ve been given togas to wear.  Afterwards, they and the remainder of their campmates have gathered at the campfire in order to bring out their “inner superhero”, with every last one of them finding this initiation to be utterly dumb.  Not too long afterwards, Edwin tells Pennypacker to come with him as Grayfield gets “an uneasy feeling” about this.  Shortly after Pennington makes it to the mansion, he gets zapped by Carragone’s machine.  When he comes back to the campfire, he’s stunned within a daze as Hubert announces that he’s been added into “The Society of Men”.

From there, Frank, Kwong and Tubby each get summoned up to the mansion in order to get zapped by the machine.  Unfortunately, none of them get any superpowers as Carragone’s main henchmen continue to lose their patience.  Ultimately, Phil gets called up as he gets blasted by his invention.  He examines the unconscious Grayfield and discovers that he has powers, falsely assuming that his machine has finally worked.  From there, he informs Edwin of his progress before ordering him to take Phil back to the camp.

After Grayfield gets placed back at his cabin, he tells Ken that he remembers some bizarre images and a reclining chair.  From there, we cut to the next day as Pete comes in and demands for Carragone to use his machine on him in order to get superpowers.  However, he wants to run a few more tests in order to be absolutely sure.  Meanwhile, Edwin takes Phil into the woods.  Grayfield notices that Dood has a group of fellow athletes armed with stun guns as they prepare to subdue him.  Fortunately, Phil manages to fend them off with his super strength.

However, one of the thugs manages to escape as even the scrawny guys notice.  Realizing that Grayfield can pose a serious threat to the entire operation, Pete orders his fellow muscular fiends to round up the nerd-esque campers.  Ken sees this from afar while Phil manages to change into his SuperPro outfit and notices his cabin mates getting captured.  Reid runs off to try and contact the police before his super friend tackles him into the nearby bushes in order to evade enemy sight just as they notice the bus containing their captured campmates.  They notice that the fiends are heading for the mansion as they ultimately tell their prisoners that they’re going to become the test subjects.  After overhearing this explanation, SuperPro bursts through the window and attacks the goons.  Just as Pete uses a golf club to hit a grenade over at our hero, Kwong starts to easily process some complex math, which comes in handy as they ultimately break out of their cuffs.

From there, the group springs into action.  Kwong uses his ease of complex math to will himself into performing a flip kick, Tubby takes out some goons with his super strength gut, Frank uses his blazing super-speed and Pennington shoots exploding coins to destroy the machine.  Afterwards, SuperPro captures Carragone and topples his plans.  From there, Issue 10 ends with the newly-powered campmates deciding to give themselves codenames in order to fight crime, even making Phil repeatedly smack his against the wall when they express their desire to become his sidekicks.

For the series’ penultimate chapter, Paula Foye takes over writing duties while DeCarlo takes his final solo bow as series inker as Issue 11 sees our hero go from the gridiron to the hard floor in order to deal with some scrupulous off-court activity while he searches for the certain connection that “Feels Like Team Spirit”.

We open with SuperPro slamming a basketball into a net while Jane and Ken watch him from the stands.  Through their conversation, we discover that our hero is participating in an exhibition contest for the charitable cause of allowing more people to get a college education.  Following the conclusion of the event, Phil heads towards the locker room in order to change into his civilian clothes and rejoin his friends.  However, he overhears a player getting hassled by a business man and his cohort over some money that he owes.  Afterwards, they let him go play his game while swearing to make him pay up later.

From there, Grayfield approaches the player and asks if he’s okay, to which he exclaims that nothing’s wrong and that he has to go.  Phil lets him go after exclaiming that he’s available to talk before he rejoins Jane & Ken in order to share his feeling about “something strange going on here”.  We then shift to the next day where Grayfield visits the Agency of Team Spirit, Inc. as he attempts to ask the head agent about his client named Bud Corkin.  However, the guy named Hal Leech says that he doesn’t have time for his questions and requests that he seriously refrains from imploring into his business.  With nothing gained from his visit, Phil heads into the parking garage as he becomes determined to find out what the guy is up to.  Just as he’s about to reach his car, he notices some goons who quickly surround and threaten him to stay out of Leech’s affairs.  Knowing that his superhero identity has to be the one that takes care of these thugs, Grayfield proceeds to muscle his way past them as he dashes for the side and pretends to jump off.

The henchmen are befuddled by Phil’s actions since they’re fifteen stories up, but quickly get over it since they didn’t have to raise a fist.  Shortly afterwards, they’re suddenly approached by SuperPro who promptly takes them on in retaliation for their low-life antics.  As he smacks the goons around, he notices that one of them is a former basketball player named Zip Ramirez before he tells the devious group to leave Bud Corkin alone.  Later, Grayfield arrives back at Sports Inside as Reid looks for a possible connection.  He soon discovers that both Corkin and Ramirez attended Clinton University.  Not only that, but he discovers seven other names with a common background, since they attended a school that’s known for producing big-league basketball players.  As such, Phil exclaims that they should continue their investigation by visiting the campus.

Later, they arrive at the school as they exclaim that they have to approach this carefully in order to not sound so forceful and direct.  As such, they arrive at university dean Robert Shahidi’s office as Grayfield exclaims that Hal Leech has signed several of his college’s players, but he may not be on an ethically-sound level.  However, Shahidi says that there’s not much that he can do to help since the athletes are out of his hands once their time on campus ends.  After Phil & Ken take their leave, a female employee tells them that she overheard their conversation and gives them something for them to look over.  Specifically, they should look at the athletes’ test scores.  After Grayfield and Reid head out, Robert contacts Leech about the snooping reporters.  Hal tells him that he’ll take care of this, though it’ll “cost us both a few more dollars to do it”.  As such, he calls up a mysterious assailant (who’s worried about Nick Fury possibly finding out about his present activities) and gets hired to take out our two reporters.  Meanwhile, Ken looks up the test scores concerning the pro athletes under Leech’s thumb.  It turns out that every single one of them scored poorly, but all of their GPAs are (at worst) a B+, thus allowing these players to move on without completing their education.  After Grayfield praises the education he got at Notre Dame while saying that his athletics career did come secondary to him, he feels sorry for those who’re under the false mentors who value sports over grades.

From there, he calls up Bud and tells him that his agent is crooked and that his school has a foul scheme prospering within it.  Corkin admits that he’s “basically illiterate”, since his pro basketball career was given major priority while Dean Shahidi would take care of his grades.  Wanting to make sure that this fact doesn’t get leaked out, he tells Phil that he’ll meet them over at the arena since he’s allowed in there whenever he wants.  Unbeknownst to Bud, his phone call was tapped and overheard by Leech’s hired agent which turns out to be Frank Payne a.k.a. Constrictor.  From there, he contacts Hal to prep his payment before heading out.  Later, Phil and Ken arrive back at the arena.  As they prep for Bud’s arrival, they discuss about Hal’s ruthless control over potential pro athletes at the expense of their education, yet that he’s not the lone enemy within this devious operation.  As such, Reid heads in to tell Corkin that Grayfield is on his way.  Suddenly, Constrictor hops down and wraps his adamantium-laced cybernetic coils around their necks.  Fortunately, SuperPro intervenes by throwing a basketball at his head.  Frank lets his victims go as Phil tells them to escape in order to contact the authorities.  From there, he proceeds to engage Constrictor.

The fights gets underway as SuperPro withstands the various strikes of Frank’s cybernetic coils and even a basketball backboard ripped from its foundation.  Phil manages to deliver a key punch as Constrictor feigns a broken back before striking back with a surprise attack.

Frank then manages to swing kick our hero before arriving up on the rafters.  Fortunately, SuperPro manages to leap towards his foe and takes him out with a precise kick as Constrictor plummets to the ground in defeat before his own coils are used to tie him up in time for the proper authorities to arrive.  From there, Frank gets taken away as he plans to contact Nick Fury with his lone prison phone call.  A few minutes later, Bud informs our hero and the officials that he’s not the victim of this scam as the school’s dean is also in on this and that he hopes to pick up the pieces of his life en route to a proper recover.  Sometime later, Phil makes his report as Hal Leech was taken to court and ultimately found guilty of collusion & fraud with his assets frozen in order to be split up amongst his victims.  Not only that, but Robert Shahidi has been fired from his position as school dean with a civil suit now looming over him.  Afterwards, Grayfield and Reid meet up with the familiar woman (whose last name is Morrissey) who informs them that she’s been appointed as the university’s new dean and as her first order of business, a new program in formed to help alumni and present students get their much-needed education.  From there, Issue 11 ends with Phil giving a speech as he promises the school’s attendees that stability will be brought upon their establishment.

SuperPro now reaches the end of the line as Skolnick steps back into the writer’s chair while Hudson reclaims his inking duties as our hero closes things out by stepping up to the plate in order to combat a powerful eco-terrorist in a tussle of “Compulsion & Repulsion”.

Issue 12 open in Macara, Brazil as a being known as Repulsor is attacking a building that he believes are committing “environmental crimes on the planet”.  The police arrive and order him to surrender, but he simply rips off the front door and throws it with enough force to blow up their car.  Afterwards, he makes his way into the building and searches for where their head executive’s office is.  A short time later, he makes his way up and blasts into the CEO’s main suite where he holds the guy in petrified shock.  It turns out that his company currently has a deal with Roxxon as Repulsor looks to cripple this contract.  From there, he allows the guy (who’s named Antonio Matias) to live in his scared state before taking his leave.

We then shift ahead by five weeks over to Philadelphia as SuperPro breaks up a bank robbery.  Despite the footage that Ken shot for Sports Inside, their boss (who’s named Mr. Gesserman) doesn’t consider a sports-themed hero foiling a crime as anything sports-related.  He then asks if they have anything on Repulsor’s attacks upon overseas “logging & oil interests”, to which Phil says that they haven’t due to the fiend’s elusiveness.  However, he does bring up the fact that SuperPro stopping a bank robbery did occur close to New York’s newest Triple-A baseball stadium.  Gesserman decides to send him and Reid out there if the connection allows them to play the foiled robbery.  Just then, a live report gets everyone’s attention as it turns out that Repulsor has popped up in Newark and is attacking WRGN Channel 23 as he causes destruction within the station.

The fiend ultimately makes his way to the main news room as he broadcasts that he’s come to America in order to wipe out any person and company that’s harming the planet’s various environments.  He says that he tried going through legal channels to no avail before trying out illegal, though non-lethal, methods.  However, every attempt he made ultimately ended in failure.  As such, he calls out to every single “right-thinking” hero in America to help him out with his cause.  He then concludes by offering an exclusive invitation to SuperPro himself before he blasts off through the roof.  Despite all of that, Gesserman quickly brushes it off and gets the baseball tickets for Phil & Ken.  Meanwhile at the Roxxon Corporation, the head executive announces that they’ll be attending the same baseball game as a result of them bringing the deal together.  When one executive asks about the Brazillian Logging Enterprises, he’s told that Mr. Matias is spending the next several months recovering from the attack at his office.  However, it won’t deter them from their operations or their upcoming time at the game.  Unbeknownst to them, Repulsor somehow overheard them.

As he flies off, we proceed to delve into his backstory.  It turns out that this is actually the Brazilian soccer star Claudio Jaurez.  Following Ripsaw’s defeat and arrest, Antonio hired a hitman named Carlos Carago to terrorize the tree protectors with the Repulsor suit.  As such, Jaurez’ group known as the Protectors of the Forest began to get easily picked off.  As as result, Claudio and his girlfriend Felicita sneak into the corporation in order to steal the Repulsor armor for themselves.  However, they arrived just as Carlos was prepping to head out in the suit.  They struggle with him and ultimately manage to take it, but Felicita ended up getting blasted and killed in the process.  Juarez ultimately escapes with the Repulsor armor as through time, he managed to learn how to properly use it to get back at Matias and his company.  We then cut to the next day at Metro Stadium in Rye, New York where the Rye Metros officially open their stadium by playing against the Sarasota Panthers.  Phil and Ken just barely make it to the game just as it starts, while the Roxxon board are watching from the stands.  Just then, one of the boardmen notices something odd within the sky.

It turns out to be Repulsor who flies in and picks up an executive and blasts the scoreboard before soaring upwards while Phil runs into a locker room in order to change as the players evacuate the field.  Once he reaches a particular height, Repulsor drops the executive.  Fortunately, Grayfield manages to get his SuperPro uniform on in time as he catches the guy before engaging his foe. 

They fight for a while with Repulsor calling our hero a hypocrite.  Phil decks him to the ground before he cautiously approaches his adversary.  Claudio then takes off his helmet as he questions his former friend of his current actions before blasting him in the chest and criticizing him for not making any progress on protecting nature.

As Ken approaches, Repulsor demands that he preps the camera for Grayfield’s execution.  SuperPro tells him that he’s not a killer and that he can’t value the trees if he doesn’t care about people’s lives.  Repulsor says that he does, but he chastises our hero for not living up to his role model status and informing the citizens on how to save the Earth.  Phil tells him that he will, but also if his Brazilian buddy turns himself in.  As such, Claudio agrees to surrender.  Before he lets the police take his foe away, SuperPro has Ken broadcast his message on how Repulsor’s attacks are bad, yet he does have a point about the environment.  He tells the people that it won’t be easy, but people have the potential of doing anything grand.  And so, the series ends with him exclaiming that it all starts with caring, courtesy of “NFL SuperPro”.

After SuperPro ended and faded into obscurity, it wouldn’t be until the 2010s that the National Football League decided to try its hands on children’s entertainment with a cartoon called “NFL Rush Zone”.  Lasting for three seasons from 2010 to 2014 on both the Nicktoons Channel and even NFL Network, the show was about a group of six kids who’ve been chosen to protect an alien artifact called “The Core”, which shattered into 32 individual pieces and each shard is located at each NFL team’s home stadium.  Depending on which season the show is on, the program comes with a different subtitle.  “Guardians Of The Core” coincides with Season 1, “Season Of The Guardians” is its moniker for Season 2, while Season 3 concludes with “Guardians Unleashed”.

From my research, the show has three individual comics released under the Pittsburgh-based Action Lab Entertainment, which was formed in 2010 by Shawn Pryor, Dave Dwonch and Shawn Gabborin.  Because I haven’t seen the cartoon, I will judge these under their own merits.  First up, we have the show’s first comic book entry that was released in February 2013 and around the same time as Super Bowl XLVII.  It has three stories with various people who worked on them, so let’s dive in and see these young heroes defend the league on a particular level.

We begin on a brief two-page opening segment called “The Storm” (Writer: Kevin Freeman, Co-Artist: Chad Cicconi, Co-Artist & Letterer: Dave Dwonch, Colorist: Bill Blankenship) as it shows a major villain named Sudden Death who’s managed to descend upon the various cities who have an NFL team, go into their stadiums and retrieve each shard of the Core in order “to create a weapon of unimaginable power”.  With all but one shard collected, he reaches his final destination in the greater Dallas area (specifically Arlington) as he makes it to the Cowboys’ home stadium.  Fortunately, he was ultimately defeated by a chosen Chargers fan named Ishmael “Ish” Taylor who looks to prevent evil from harming the NFL alongside his friends.

From there, we proceed into our main story as the struggle of illegal tech will decide who truly is “The Game Changer” (Writer: Freeman, Artists: Jerry Gaylord & Flash Turner, Colorist: Bill Blankenship, Letterer: Dave Dwonch).  We open in Atlanta as a fan (who’s named Drop Kick) watches a Falcons game on TV as the team offensively struggles.  As such, he calls upon some help from Wild Card as his master creates a special remote called the Mimic Blitz Bot.  As he watches the game, he learns that he can use it to physically rewind the in-progress game every time the Falcons bumble on one play.  From there, he can command them to run a different play and thus have them perform far more competently.  Realizing that the specialized remote allows him to literally control reality, it gives him a costume as he becomes a villainous being called Game Changer.

Meanwhile in Canton, Ohio, Ishmael is competing against Ashley “Ash” Reynolds in a football video game.  As they duel upon the digital gridiron, his mother named Shandra comes in and gives them chips & cheese dip as Ash uses this distraction to score a touchdown.  After his mom takes her leave, Ish asks her if she would like to watch an NFL game that’s currently on TV, even willing to admit defeat in their game.  Realizing that her favorite team (the New England Patriots) are currently on, she agrees.

Suddenly, they’re contacted by their supercomputer mentor named RZ 6.0 who wants them to report to the Hall of Knowledge.  After they teleport there, he informs our two kids about an anomaly occurring during a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons.  He describes it as video feeds suddenly blacking out, to which the Falcons’ representative Rusher (a.k.a. a race of humanoid alien beings who helped create each of the NFL’s 32 teams in this universe) exclaims that every person inside the stadium even suffers from dizziness.  RZ 6.0 then warns them to be careful before they enter the Rush Zone, where they dawn their special uniforms and arrive at the Georgia Dome (which was the Falcons’ home stadium at the time).  They’re then approached by Atlanta’s resident Rusher named Talon who exclaims about a constant pattern where everyone blacks out following a play before a completely different play gets executed.  Ish then tells him to soar around the stadium while they talk to the players.  From there, he and Ash converse with Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan & wide receiver Roddy White who tells our heroes that they remember originally running one play, but only physically recall enacting a completely different play.  As Matt exclaims that both teams are experiencing this bizarre Deja Vu, the phenomenon reoccurs as everyone (including our heroes) goes through it.  The camera crew then calls our duo over as they discover that someone is interfering with their broadcast signal.  The cameraman isn’t sure what this means, but he lets them investigate within their TV van.  From there, the guy tells our heroes that he’s also experiencing the same bizarre Deja Vu as he exclaims how “someone is rewinding the game and playing it again”.  Fortunately, he discovers that the interference is coming from the nearby area of Grant Park.

Later, Ish, Ash and Talon arrive in order to locate the source.  Meanwhile, Game Changer is having fun manipulating the game.  Suddenly, he gets bothered by a traveling salesman who wishes to demonstrate a vacuum cleaner.  The fiend gets irritated to the point where he uses the Mimic Blitz Bot in order to get rid of the guy.  It’s at that moment that our heroes come in and attempt to stop him.  However, Game Changer blasts Ish and sends him away.  Ash and Talon manage to trip him up and attempt to get the fiendish remote from him.

Unfortunately, their adversary recovers in time as he grabs the device and zaps Talon away.  As such, it now falls upon Ashley to save the day.  She grabs a lawn gnome and throws it at Game Changer, which smashes the Mimic Blitz Bot and causes Drop Kick to de-power as he falls over in defeat while Wild Card is annoyed by his lackey’s loss.  From there, the tale ends back at the Georgia Dome at Matt and Roddy thank our heroes for their help, thus allowing the game to finish in peace.  From there, the group decides to celebrate with some food.

We then move into the issue’s final story: “The Calm Before” (Writer, Pencils & Letters: Dwonch, Colorist: Jason Martin) as the tale opens on a past moment when Ash was tempted by Sudden Death’s influence and had even previously imprisoned Ish.  Back in the present, she exclaimed that even though it wasn’t her fault, she still remembers being aware of assisting the fiend in nearly acquiring the 32nd and final shard in order to accomplish his world domination scheme.  From there, she suffers from self-doubt, to which Ish tells her that it’s the kind of feeling that makes them human.  In the end, she still defeated Sudden Death by deflecting his own shot back at him, allowing her teammate to take their foe’s axe away.

In the present, she exclaims how O.T. (a.k.a. RZ) told them about being a hero from within one’s self and that while Ish has done that, she doubts herself due to said past incident and even questions whether she’s truly worthy of her own power.  He cheers her up by exclaiming how they essentially have the time to move forward and do some special things for the future.  Afterwards, the rest of their teammates arrive as the comic ends with them ready to play a pick-up game of football while Ish thinks about what he has in store for his friends.

Moving on to March 2017, we have the lone trade paperback entry for the show’s brief life in comics.  For this Super Bowl Edition, it comes packed with five stories (though only two of them are new for the progression of this article) with a multitude of people working on it.  Familiar writers Kevin Freeman and Dave Dwonch would helm this book as Dwonch took care of art duties alongside M. Gooddwin, Chad Ciccioni, Jerry Gaylord and Flash Turner.  Bill Blankenship and Jason Martin handled the colors, with Dwonch also added lettering duties onto his plate.  So what further ventures await the youthful defenders of the Core and the league?  Let’s huddle up and find out.

We kick off Chapter 1: “Fully Charged” as a fully-armored Ish is fighting off a group of robots.  They swap blows with each other before Ishmael’s uniform suddenly deactivates and he finds himself swarmed by the mechanized adversaries.

Just then, the training session ends as his digitized mentor named OT (who would go on to become known as RZ) mainly praises his performance yet tells him that he needs to work on his concentration while under duress.  Ish mentions that he’s still trying to get used to his high-tech watch (known as the NFL-R), but he gets told that he won’t have much time since the Blitz Botz will pop up to cause trouble again.  Taylor exclaims that Sudden Death came dangerously close to collecting all 32 Core shards, yet he was fortunate that the Chargers’ representative was around to help.

From there, we flashback to a year ago over at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego where he and his mother attended a game.  He then heads over to the concession stand to purchase a hot dog before he gets warned about a shady figure looming behind him.  It turns out to be a Blitz Bot as our young lad was promptly alerted by the Chargers’ representing Rusher named Bolt who proceeds to help him out of trouble.  They swiftly fly over to the locker room as Ish gets informed that he’ll have to be the one who takes out their mechanized adversary before he’s hastily given a uniform.  Just as the Blitz Bot is approaching, Bolt uses his lightning to stun the being.  Afterwards, Ish acquires some foam fingers in order to jam them into the mechanical fiend’s wheel axel before promptly tackling it.  They then removed the Power Module from its head and ultimately destroy it as Bolt becomes confident over what O.T. had said about our young lad before taking his leave.  Even when Ish officially joined the fight, initial preparations against their enemy came in the form of giant player-controlled robots called the Subs that were ultimately bulky and deeply flawed.  As such, the NFL-R was invented in order to provide a portable means to amplify his skills.  However, it meant that he had to restart his training, where he has made some progress.  For now, his session is over and he gets dismissed.

We then cut to the next day where Ish is prepping his fantasy football team before getting some help from his mother as she asks how his exercise went.  He says that it’s going well, but controlling his Guardian suit has been tricky.  Shortly afterwards, he heads into the backyard as he plays some frisbee football with his dog named Winslow.

Suddenly, he’s approached by Bolt and even Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers who “were just in the neighborhood”.  Ish exclaims that he’s been settling really well ever since he moved to Canton and that despite needing several more training sessions, he’s been enjoying his time as a Guardian, especially since the Rusherz have been helpful.  Bolt appreciates the compliment before briefly mentioning his race’s background where their home planet was destroyed by Sudden Death.  From there, they managed to reach Earth and protect all 32 shards of the Core.  Shortly after that, Ish gets contacted by O.T. as he heads out.

Later, Taylor arrives to resume his training as he wonders why he was chosen since he’s not big or strong.  O.T. tells him that his pure heartedness provides him with an advantageous personal value, especially since “a new threat” is gunning for our young lad.  While his NFL-R gives him access to grand power, he’s still able to “control and harness the power of the Rush Zone”.  Through training and continued learning of the Code, he’ll be able to use this vast power with greater control.  As such, the story ends with him learning that it’s through his choices that’ll help him protect Earth.

We then move into Chapter 2: “The Big Move” as Ish and his mother are unpacking the last of their boxes.  After telling his mom that his training with O.T. has been going well, his dad (Lt. Matt Taylor) arrives back with some food as he exclaims that he got some time off from work in order to have lunch with his family.  Not too long afterwards, Ishmael gets contacted by O.T. as he takes his leave.

Later, he arrives at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as Taylor’s mentor informs him of some Blitz Botz attempting to foil the construction of the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium (which would become Levi’s Stadium), even showing one of the captured machines.  As O.T. worries that either construction will be ruined or that the bots will wait until the team’s first game to attack and thus signaling the arrival of a massive enemy strike, Ish steps into the Rush Zone in order to teleport to Santa Clara as he pairs up with the team’s representative rusher named Pick Ax.  Later, they discover a pair of Drill Botz mulling around the site.  As such, Taylor transforms into his armor in order to engage the fiends alongside Pick Ax.

He initially struggles with his concentration and the fracas before O.T. reminds him to not solely rely on brute force and to also think about how he can finish this fight.

With Pick Ax struggling to fend off the Drill Botz, Ish gets an idea as he tosses a shovel towards a construction hook, slicing through its rope and causing some steel beams to crush the mechanized beings.  Later, Taylor arrives back at headquarters as they discuss about what their enemy could possibly be prepping for his eventual return.  From there, O.T. reminds him that he has to be mentally prepared as well as physically prepared, especially since Sudden Death is capable of being deceptive enough to nab all 32 shards in order to rebuild the Core.  He also believes that their new foe will be just as deceptive as he brings up a similar event from a year ago when our young lad attended the Detroit Lions’ practice.

Shortly after they discover that a Blitz Bot has disguised itself as wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Ish uses the Sub to subdue the fiend and allow Beast to take it out with a massive roar.

Following the flashback, O.T. says that even though the shard was protected, Sudden Death was still deceptive enough and they should expect a similar duplicity from their new foe.  Not to mention, Ish has faced several Blitz Botz of different forms.  As such, O.T. tells him that he must remain vigilant and ready.  Later, Ish is playing a football video game with his dad when his mother calls them in for dinner.  During supper, Ish is reminded that he must do his homework before he continues his video game session with his father.  From there, the story ends with Wild Card mulling just outside of Earth’s atmosphere as he prepares to foil our heroes, reform the Core and accomplish his goal of world domination.

From there, the rest of the trade consists of the three stories that were featured in the previous issue (“The Calm Before”, “The Storm” and “The Game Changer”), so let’s move on.

We have now reached the final comic released in conjunction with the cartoon, the publisher and the league itself.  On May 2013, this and a fellow Action Lab Entertainment dual book consisting of Molly Danger and Prince-Less were handed out on Free Comic Book Day.  I would love to dig into this, but the main content is a reprint of the tale “The Big Move”.  While it does contain a back-up story, it’s actually for another series from the company called Skyward, which ran for 12 issues and a Halloween ComicFest special release.

Overall, the National Football League’s brief runs with both companies ultimately delivered some underwhelming results.  With NFL SuperPro, it’s never able to build upon some potential bits that it’s able to initially present.  While Nicieza does get criticized nowadays for only doing this job in order to get some complimentary Jets tickets, at least his run had the feeling of an ongoing narrative over multiple issues, culminating the initial build-up with Phil’s eventual fight against Sanzionare.  Once he left the series however, it loses the momentum that it initially had.  The biggest example comes at the end of the fourth issue which saw Phil’s girlfriend Jane fully armed with the knowledge about her boyfriend’s secret identity.  At the conclusion of that tale, it was assumed that she would join the main group and help the guys out in some capacity.  However, she only makes sporadic appearances for the rest of the series.  Not only that, but every single issue contains situations that’re ultimately resolved by the end.  While the felons in Nicieza’s run can be somewhat given a pass since it can be the result of SuperPro slowly but surely taking out Marco’s heavy-hitting henchmen before finally reaching the big boss himself, the rest of the situations are ultimately done-in-one.  It also doesn’t help that the series was in a constant rotation of writers throughout the second half of its run, resulting in a lack of meaningful progression with narrative importance and vital character development.  While Skolnik does bring back Claudio Jaurez and his environmental sensibilities with some decent explanation for his villainous descent, his defeat felt a bit too simple.  It’s nice that SuperPro was able to win the day with words and not fisticuffs, but the resolution felt a bit too simplistic.  Even when long-time Marvel characters are brought in, it doesn’t utilize them in a way to make things better for the series.  Our hero doesn’t do anything with Spider-Man aside from being in the same area while they’re in civilian garb and he only has one fight alongside Captain America.  However, Crossbones & Constrictor do get a fair amount of use in their villainous roles and their fights against SuperPro are decent.  While the series does suffer the most within a narrative spectrum, the art work is actually competent and presents its events in a coherent manner.  There’s never any moment of ugly presentation as the pencils, colors and inks allows the characters to be shown with enough detail to stand out amongst each other.  Sure, there’s the sketchiness that comes with figures seen from long-distance, but it’s something that can be easily dealt with.  In terms of SuperPro’s rogues gallery, only Sanzionaire/Sanction, Instant Replay and Claudio Jaurez (even though he doesn’t start off as a villain) make multiple appearances throughout the series.  Marco is essentially meant to be a major adversary to SuperPro, similar to Lex Luthor though more of a crime boss instead of a corporate mogul.  Had the series been allowed to continued, he could’ve returned with even more devious machinations, especially since he already knows the hero’s secret identity and can strike back at both him & his loved ones.  Alas, he never got to reach even the most decent heights of villainy.  Outside of the returning fiends, there’s only the Head Hunters whose leaders vow to return but ultimately never do.  Ultimately though, what prevents NFL SuperPro from taking a decent hold upon the public conscious is that it struggles to walk that fine line between the absurd comic book nature and real-world seriousness. While the overall tone of the series is never severely jarring, it struggles to naturally blend real-life elements (steroids, Hopi Indians, the harming of Earth’s ecosystem, etc.) with the more lavishly ludicrous things you would see within the four-wall panels (full-body mech suits, teleportation tech, nuclear-powered blasters, etc.) in order to create a satisfying world for our hero to run around and save the day.  In the end, it’s not the absolute worst thing to ever happen to comics (As an AT4W fan, I’ve seen far-worse material that’s not worth your time), but it’s more along the lines of what could have been.  Only check them out for yourself if you’re remotely curious.  As for the comics that tie in with NFL Rush Zone, they’re better in terms of what kind of kid-friendly tone you could expect if you watch the show.  They’re mainly tied in with the second season, since that’s where the cartoon was at by the time these comics came around.  These mainly follow Ishmael Taylor and his various ventures & struggles.  Only in two other tales would another fellow Guardian (Ashley Reynolds) join in and get some spotlight time.  Aside from that, these comics give a good idea of what kind of superheroics go down within the show.  While I did have to go online and find names for certain characters, these materials present its premise fairly well.  While more work could have been done to solidify its own mythology upon the printed page, the basic idea of how this heroic struggle came about is presented in a child-friendly fashion.  The art work is colorful, vibrant and greatly resembles the cartoon in print form as both sides of good and evil are represented in truthful form with modern art techniques.  It’s pleasant to the eye and captures the absurd nature of its material a lot better than NFL SuperPro, thus giving it a leg up towards its intended audience.  While the trade paperback and the FCBD copies are guilty for reprinting stories that already appeared in previous books, it’s only in the final two books.  Still, it would have been nice to have read the regular series issues that it advertised within the books, since it would be nice to see other adventures involving other members of the team.  After all, you only see Troy, Tua and Martin briefly at the very end of the story called “The Calm Before”.  Not to mention, Ricardo is the sixth member of the team and he’s not included in any of these comics.  As such, more comics where the rest of the Guardians get a chance to shine would have been nice.  Despite that, it’s still worth checking out it you’re curious, especially since it’s of slightly better quality than NFL SuperPro.  In the end, the National Football League isn’t the strongest comics license out there.  However, it was an interesting experiment for them to try.  After all, this pro sports league has seen a lot of prosperous moments and tough growing pains throughout its first century of existence.  It’s still nice that they took a chance and tried to experiment in various mediums over the years.  Still, these comics aren’t for everyone.  Because I love both this sport and the medium of comics, I managed to get some form of enjoyment out of them.  As such, it may depend on what you enjoy in order to get interested in reading both of these series.  If you wish take a “Hail Mary” chance on these two series, then give them a try and see how much a Gridiron Hero’s performance both of these ultimately display within your eyes.

NFL SuperPro (created by Fabian Nicieza & published by Marvel Comics) and NFL Rush Zone (comics published by Action Lab Entertainment) are owned by the National Football League.