Issue 6 opens with Pop Culture putting Jack through 'This is Your Life and Death' a takeoff of the old show 'This is You Life' He brings out Kojak, Jack's mom and Doreen in a rather pointless section. Damon then comes out and he and Jack engage in a long battle across channels. The comic starts using a whole ton of guest artists perhaps because they were just trying to complete the story and grabbed up anyone who could get them to that goal. Here are the various channels with artists involved.
1. Star Trek by Michael Gilbert with Jack as Kirk and Damon as Spock. Mind you at this point the story has descended into pure slapstick, a huge departure from where the series began.
2. I believe it's Sergeant Bilko. The artist is Fred Hembeck
3. Godzilla by Walt Simonson with Jack as Godzilla and Damon as King Ghidorah
4. Lucille Ball by Trina Robbins with Jack as Lucille and Damon as Ethel
5. Western by Jim Starlin
6. Road Runner cartoon by Kevin MacQuire
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Bill Wray with Damon as Leatherface. This one ends with Damon getting all of his limbs hacked off until he is nothing more than a torso and head (done humorously)
8. Giant Robot Anime by Keith Giffen with Jack as a small boy and Damon as a giant robot. Jack calls foul since Damon was ruined in the previous channel and the giant robot collapses to the ground
Jack is declared the winner and reality is returned to normal. Despite all that has happened Damon in the end is not a bad fellow and Jack helps him along as he appears rather shaken up. For some reason the de-limbing didn't seem to affect Damon's limbs in the real world. The series ends with Kojak hiding in some bushes. Apparently he is the only thing that didn't revert back to normal. Also, Jack spots someone who looks a bit like Pop Culture but disbelieves it with a, 'naaaaah'.
So that's Video Jack. I absolutely loved this series but the conclusion is just a smoking wreck as if everyone involved just wanted it to be over with. Whatever it was, whatever it could have been somewhere along the way there was a massive shift. The series starts with a brutal murder and ends with little more dignity than a Tom and Jerry cartoon. There is clearly a reason the issues can be bought at just about cover price and the series is almost completely forgotten despite the involvement of Keith Giffen. In my opinion this is a series that could be redone. Take the tone, style and plot of the first three issues and carry it forward.
I've noticed that the views on my journals have dropped precipitously to the point where people appear to be actively avoiding them and that's my own fault. You can either keep your audience or you can't and I've clearly lost my audience so I'm going to take a break for awhile since these journals take awhile to put together. I've probably spent way too much time on a series that really didn't deserve that much effort. At some point I'll come back and maybe adjust my writing.
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