When we think of Rochester New York, many things come to mind. Eastman Kodak, Xerox, the scenic Genesee River, and, of course, manta rays and manta ray-themed superheroes.


Apparently Rochester only gets one super-person and it's this guy, who we assume has all the strength and powers of a manta. Which is to say, you want to throw him back if you catch him, but look out for the tail.


While in Rochester, visit J & J Comics, where they have lots of 60s and 70s Marvel and DC comics for only... one dollar!? (door slams, car starts, tires screeching)


"What the hell are you doing?!!" is the question a lot of us could be asking here, mostly about the contrasting tone patterns and the grainy pasted-in photocopies. And who is doing the (p-too) spitting? Cut it out!


Never Mind The Readability, Here's Mantaman is the name of this guy's debut album.


Didn't take long for the hunter to become... the hunted, as the Mantaman uses all his manta powers to really embody the manta ray's famous ability to kick in auto windshields.


Jesus Frankie! Look out for all that slippery grease pencil somebody scribbled all over the road!


What the hell are you doing, how did you get yourself into this, all questions the creative team of "Mantaman" probably asked themselves on a daily basis.


One year earlier; remember that summer day, blurry zip-a-tone as far as the eye could see, that kite we bought at the 7-11 was flying! Just like we planned it! "Planning" being defined as "figuring out which way the wind was blowing."


"Aww did your toy faw down?" is NOT what you want to hear when a busty blonde in tight shorts is grinding against you. Am I right fellas?


Yes, yes we are going to spend our Saturday night sewing like a couple of old maids and watching nature videos.


Spending our Saturday nights sewing and watching nature videos is like a dream to us! A blurry, poorly reproduced dream!


Ninja killers? Computer bulletin boards? Downloading software? Even MORE like a dream to us!!


I thought the wheelchair was for Mickey, but now I think it's for Dori here, obviously suffering from some sort of terrible hip displacement.


It's rare to see a fictional character so directly slander both the creators and the audience of the story he himself appears in. But Machine Gun Fake Elvis here did it!


Rather than remain segregated by pages, the past and the present become jammed together, separated only by thin lines of fuzzy ink and the rapidly diminishing patience of whatever readers are left.


Two months ago we see how men wrapped up in their hobbies and ignore their partners, leading to the tragedy of the "welding widow." And in the now, our religious observance has changed from Jesus Frankie to Jesus Elvis. That's a step up in my opinion.


Good for Spike! Now he gets to deliver that speech from "Repo Man" all about how he knows a life of crime has led him to this sorry fate, and yet, he blames society. Myself, I blame the aggressive, doodly textures overwhelming everything else on the page.


Rocket boots, infrared vision, expanding rods and no-slack airfoil material, all things commonly associated with... manta rays! Look, it's a Rochester thing, you wouldn't understand.


Feeling slightly rediculous? Well, there's a reason.


Free! Free to wallow in a special, likely problematic for the production team four color double-page spread! Free to fly, and free to hide under the car, which is a thing you can do in your gigantic flying wing exoskeleton, as unlikely as that may seem!


The flashbacks and the present day segments are starting to converge as our narrative reaches its crisis point and faces a moral quandary that so many of us have struggled with - whether or not to shoot the Elvis impersonator.


The wide availability of mid-century detached single-family Craftsman homes has made Rochester a popular choice for renters, owners, and flying manta-shaped power-suit enthusiasts alike.


I don't mean to distract from the horror and tragedy here, but I really connect with these self-made independent comics when it becomes obvious their own messy bedroom is being used as reference. ("Crime Of The Century" is how Mom described it)


So these punks and Elvis impersonators in the car Mantaman was chasing, they were the people who shot and killed Mantaman's friends! We finally have timeline convergence, and a reason for Mantaman to finally start shooting at Fake Elvis.


All this is because somebody downloaded some unauthorized software? Think about this tragedy the next time you fire up your VPN and your bitTorrent client and start downloading Adobe product!


smash cut to the offices of Gog & Magog Inc, in a scene where we finally learn what those "open" and "close" buttons on your office phone do. (they activate comically medieval door bars, is what)


"Shut up, Puss!" is how Mr. Moloch begins ALL his expository speechifying, it's like being back in 7th grade gym locker room, listening to all the expository speechifying.


Looks like Gene from "Bob's Burgers" didn't turn out so well.


"Pop." Well, that was not the sound effect I was expecting.


You're going to have to explain all this to them eventually, and I want to be there to listen to you explain how either your giant hand is picking up a giant pair of glasses, or why the police outlined a tiny murder victim on the floor, because there's something really off about that middle panel's spatial relationships. Well, take off your mask, buddy, you probably have some weight lifting to do after you mourn your girlfriend and your computer nerd friend who helped you build the...


WHAAA? It was the nerdy computer nerd guy wearing the Mantaman suit all along? I AM surprized! And confused! Will Mickey Mantaman take advantage of this veritable bonanza of criminality to destroy Mr. Moloch? You'll just have to wait sixty days to find out.


In the meantime, here's a nice color piece of Mantaman and what I assume is the Rochester skyline, helping you to remember Rochester the next time you're on the thruway between Buffalo and Syracuse and you feel like taking a side trip. See you there, we'll split a garbage plate!

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