YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE #16 - September 1998

Bonfire and Smokey

Credits: Dan Raspler (writer), Chuck Wojtkiewicz (penciler), Keith Champagne (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Noelle Giddings (colorist)

Zip-Kid goes out to dinner with her boyfriend Lou and meets his “business associates.” She, amazingly, isn’t able to guess that they’re all Italian gangsters even though they fulfill every conceivable mafia stereotype. When her boyfriend returns home wounded, Zip-Kid finally realizes that something fishy is going on and breaks off their engagement. Enraged that she’s listening to that tiny wimp Junior, with his talk of “respect” and “support,” Lou jumps into his car and drives off to kill the diminutive superhero. That’s his plan, at least. His car explodes as soon as he starts the engine. Meanwhile, Bonfire’s pet dog Smokey morphs into a monster and threatens Monstergirl after she gets into an argument with Bonfire.

In other news, people are having sex again:

Monstergirl reveals that she can shrink down to Junior’s size. After they catch Frostbite and Bonfire in the act, Monstergirl seduces Junior. By “seduce” I mean “forcibly makes out with him while taking her clothes off.”

Junior still has feelings for Zip-Kid, but as he tells Monstergirl, he doesn’t care if she did this out of pity. He’s just glad she did it.

Off-Ramp spends time with his outer space genie friend. She suspects that something’s going on with Off-Ramp and a teammate, which he denies. When he returns home…

Frostbite, who just finished an elaborate love scene with Bonfire, begins hitting on Off-Ramp as soon as he returns. Off-Ramp denies that he has any feelings for him, and punches Frostbite after he pinches him on the butt. This leads to an extended fight scene that’s broken up by Thunderhead.

So, the only real action in the issue comes from the burgeoning bisexual love triangle. If today’s “progressive” DC did a similar storyline, I imagine all of the bisexuals involved would be busty females illustrated by Ed Benes, but perhaps that’s unfair of me. It’s hard to tell where Raspler’s going with this, especially given the energy he’s spent on selling Bonfire and Frostbite’s relationship, and the list of former female lovers from Off-Ramp’s past he’s made sure we know about. Considering that this series only has one real issue left, I suspect whatever resolution we’re going to receive is going to be rushed. Meanwhile, Monstergirl continues to behave erratically, but apparently she’s sticking with her “bed every male member of the team” plan, hoping that it will lead to her being named new team leader. Using Junior as her latest victim opens up some interesting possibilities, especially given that Zip-Kid’s stereotypical goomba boyfriend is apparently killed this issue. But, once again, the series is drawing to a close, so I’m not expecting a particularly satisfying resolution to any of these threads.