Vigilante #45

 

Cover Date September 1987

$1.50

BLACK THORN

Written by Paul Kupperberg.

Pencils by Tod Smith

Inks by Richard Burchett

Lettered by Albert T. Deguzman

Colorist - Bob Lerose

SUMMARY BRIEF

    At the Police Anti-Terrorism conference in Washington D.C., former beat cop, Harry Stein, stands at the podium, delivering facts and statistics about the threats America faces domestically.  Divorced with kids, Stein is quite uncomfortable, for he sees himself more as a hands on, pound the pavement type law man, not a shirt and tie guy at the microphone leading a conference.  In the crowd is Sargent Harvey Bullock of the Gotham City Police Department.  Harvey is depicted as a not so well put together, five o'clock shadow sporting, glazed donut eating, cheap, cold coffee having lovable Gotham bruiser type guy.   

Losing his place as he shuffles through his cue cards, Stein thinks of the person that put him in this position in the first place,  formerly associated with the Soviet Union Colonel Valentina Volstok, also known as Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol.  She's creating a super spy government agency, and she wants Harry to lead this operation once the institution is properly installed.  Harry also thinks about how well Valentina is able to handle an operation as well as keeping the bureaucrats and politicians a stone's throw away from those serving under her command.

    One questionable player on the board is former hot shot district attorney, Adrian Chase, who moonlights as the Vigilante.  Admittingly, he confides to Harry Stein to being too much of a loose cannon.  Although he has had thoughts of ending it all, he convinces Stein and Volstok that he has everything under control.  As understanding as Colonel Volstok is, she encourages The Vigilante to lay low out of town.  The Vigilante takes this as an opportunity to head back to New York to investigate this killer named Black Thorn.  

Adrian Chase doesn't waste a moment in the Big Apple.  Immediately, shaking down shady types to get answers on this Black Thorn perp.  Reimer, Jeweler of Reimer's Jewelry, assures Vigilante he knows nothing of Black Thorn .  Too bad this information came after Chase rampaged on Reimer's goons, destroying high dollar glass items.  

         

Clumsily, back at the counter terrorism conference, Stein and Bullock become friends.  Reluctantly on Stein's part, the two go shopping for new suits together.  Back in New York City, things are not so harmonious.  Vigilante is really giving who he deems as lowlifes and information havers the business, extracting any information about this Black Thorn character from their backsides.  

Adrian Chase heads to one of his rented safe houses to rest and relax.  Unfortunately, he sifts though memories of his family who were killed by criminals in order to get to him.  His wife Doris and two sons, Adam and Drew, were victims of a fatal bomb blast. One can see how Adrian Chase could slip from grace going from well-respected Judge to the murderous Vigilante. Before Adrian could continue to feel pity for his station in life, he hears a knock at the door.  On the other side is a woman who seems to be speaking Spanish.  Adrian assumes she has the wrong room, alerting the woman in her native tongue she has the wrong address.  Suddenly, the door kicks in, knocking Adrian to the floor.  It wasn't a Spanish speaking woman at all.  It was this Black Thorn character he was looking for all along.  And this Black Thorn figure is all woman.  

Yes, the creative team of this comic gifted/cursed Vigilante a female counter part for the last six issues of this 50 book run.  Sexy, psychotic flirtations are hurled back and forth leading to a night of intimacy.  Of course when the Vigilante wakes the next morning, Black Thorn is no where to be found.  Taking a shower, Adrian admits to having a good time with Black Thorn, but he's also real with himself about how crazy the situation is and how he knows nothing about her, Black Thorne. 

Debrief

Even though this is a Checkmate blog, I wanted to start with Vigilante #45 for the four supporting characters in the book, Colonel Valentina Volstok, Harry Stein, Black Thorn and Sergeant Harvey Bullock of the Gotham Police Department.

Valentina Volstok, Black Thorn, Harvey Bullock, Harry Stein

Valentina Volstok is a character created by writer Paul Kupperburg and artist Joe Staton, debuting in Showcase #94 back in 1977.  In December of 1982 she made an appearance in DC Comics Presents #52: Superman and Doom Patrol, where the new Doom Patrol is introduced to Superman.  Unfortunately, the circumstance is Negative Woman going berserk, wrecking the Metropolis Parade, where the citizens are celebrating its 309th year as a city. This story leads to Volstok having to wear the bandages.    

In addition to what was mentioned above, the character of Negative Woman appeared in season 2 of the brilliantly crafted Doom Patrol, where actress Mariana Klaveno gave a textured, lived in performance of the character.

Mariana Klaveno as Negative Woman

On Mission

Paul Kupperburg is definitely adding and moving pieces around on the chessboard, bringing the Vigilante series to an end, and ushering the debut of a book called Checkmate.  Going forward for the next few blog posts, we will follow the development of Harry Stein as a reluctant leader of the so-called Agency, a government organization, and how this Catwoman like character, Black Thorn, who has a penchant for murder, becomes a deputized member of Checkmate.