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ports feature continued from page 8

ay, but rather the point of having 75,000 eople or more confined in a stadium all atching the same event. Any minor occur-

nce that happens on the field will instantly |

ffect the euivalent of nearly two thirds of the opulation of this province directly, and in me cases, violently. This theory is jaun- iced by another sport of similar proportions: aseball. The crowds are similar in number, utnot in temperament. Perhaps the laid-back smi-athletic style of baseball has something ) do with this. True, there are occasional ghts in baseball, most of which are entire am brawls instead of individual disputes like 1: hockey. Baseball can be violent, but as a hole it is not a violent sport. Another exam- le is football. Crowds can often surpass (0,000 people, and the game itself involves emendous physical contact between the play- ‘s. With the exception of possibly a crowd one berserk, no violent effects are made on ie fans. However, the aspect of anonymity in crowd so large could cause some unstable ople to lose control.

Italian society is the last possible scape- oat I can imagine, and this is based purely on ereotypes and hyperbolic images portrayed y Hollywood. Perhaps Mafia violence has ymehow corrupted the minds of some, who ow believe that violence is an acceptable way )solve problems. If this scenario was true, en we would see numerous murders at Ameri- in baseball, football or basketball games, nce the USA is one of the, most violent untries in the world. However, this is not the se. No matter how many violent movies are own to willing American audiences, there ¢ few acts of violence in professional sports at do not involve the players.

In truth, no matter how many excuses, istifications or scapegoats are used, we can- ot forget that a man was killed by another for 0 other reason than a difference of opinions volving a game. I am not an extreme sports , Social psychologist, ethical philosopher or pert in any related field, but I do hope that is incident is an isolated one, so that sports teturn to healthy competition, not a life d death confrontation.

By Sean McQuaid This week, folks, we snatch a fleeting glance at some of the current offerings from the fine folks at DC Comics. To wit: Blood Pack (4-issue mini-series; Writer: Charles Moore; Penciller: Christopher Taylor; Inker: Andrew Lanning)

Anyone remember Bloodlines? You

depth or form. Apart from beefing up the story and art, I’d also suggest adding a few more “‘new blood’’ characters like Prism (from the Eclipso Annual). Extreme Justice (Ongoing series; Writer: Dan Vado; Penciller: Marc Campos)

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s. . .. the Liefeld League of America!

Justice League, takes a few more disenchanted members (Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Maxima and Amazing Man) with him and sets up his own extremist vigilante faction of the League (featured herein). First, this business of mul- tiple contradictory Justice Leagues is initially intriguing but getting old (and implausible) fast. Second, the idea of an ‘‘extremist’’ League goes against the whole Justice League concept and clouds the

know, that sprawling multi-part summer epic a year or two ago which dealt with a plague of aliens who sucked out people’s spinal fluid (talk about spinal tap!) A few attack survivors mu- tated and gained in- credible powers, be- coming what DC proudly touted as the next generation of super-heroes. After that, most of them promptly vanished. Now, DC makes good on its publicity by un- leashing the Blood Pack, a team of these “new blood’’ heroes asthey’re called. The Pack is a super-team who divide their en- ergies between hero- icsand self-promotion for profit. This con- cepthas been done be- | ” fore (and better) by | g the Conglomerate and the sorely missed In-

Scott, of a

qced

finity Inc., though a pleasant surprise in the first issue is the | ; hiring of ex-Infinitor | 2 \ Jade (daughter of the | ; original Green Lan- tern) as the Pack’s mentor. Apart from Jade, interesting char- acters include Nightblade, Sparx | andGeistthe Twilight ' Man (who has the dubious power of be- ing invisible in bright

Az If

NaS NOWAS af fe NAN \Z a /

identity of the respective teams. Third, the charac- ters (with the exception of Maxima and the new bad- © | attitude Captain Atom) 7z | have never been extremist vigilante types by any stretch of the imagination. Fourth, this hard-hitting, ) | hyperkinetic outlaw hero P| team schtick was getting old even before Rob Liefeld and company ran it into the ground at Jmage Comics. Fifth, Captain . | Atom is insufferable in his ;| Currentincarnation. Sixth, the title smacks of its Im- age influences and sounds just plain silly to boot. Basically, this series ¥x9 | comes across as DC’s at- Ke | tempt to simulate an Im- age team book (complete ° with posturing heroes, tac- Wa | tical jabber and high-tech *| subterranean headquar- ters)-- right down to the profusion of tiny lines in the all-out-action artwork. On the plus side, it is nice to see Booster Gold and Blue Beetle being treated as serious characters again (though they’ ve gone from one extreme to another), and the original Firestorm is slated to return in these pages at last, so there are some engaging characters to sustain reader interest.

Writer's Note: Remind ‘me to explain to y’all sometime how the Ex- treme Justice crew are the

light but visible in the

dark). The story and characterization, apart Boy, this is one sick puppy, conceptually from the above points, are unexceptional. The speaking. The premise: Captain Atom (who art is a bit too slick for its own good-- lots of has been acting like a hyper-aggressive super- energy and line, but not much in the way of jerk for the last year or so) walks out on the

modern-day reincarnation of Marvel’s old Champions of Los Angeles team. The parallels (though presumably unin- tentional) are absolutely eerie.

*bruary 7, 1995