New tournament, new possibilities. “Mosquito” is named for Vito Antuofermo, whom I’ve never heard of because I’m not the boxing fan our Master of Ceremonies, Spacebooger, is. I don’t know how he got the nickname, but he did some acting later on. Sadly only mob movies were listed, so they stereotyped the Italian boxer-turned-actor.

Too often a good show based on a toyline is ignored as an advertisement for said toy, and to an extent that may be true. That doesn’t mean, however, that it then becomes a bad show. For example, look at Centurions. I really like that show, but had little interest in the toys. (Although I did design some of my own suits with LEGOs because that was fun. And kind of difficult to do with the Legoman design.) OK, a quick check showed that the cartoon came first from Ruby-Spears and the toys were based on that. Not that it would stop your average “do-gooder” parent group, mind you.

So when I stumbled upon the comic, I had to get it. There are some changes, like Doc Terror somehow gaining himself diplomatic immunity rather than having a secret base, but the characters are the same as are the battles. Here’s a quick one now.

“Mosquito” round 1

The Battlefield: The Centurions #3 (DC Comics; August, 1987) “Sound-Off”

The Promoters: Bob Rozakis (writer), Don Heck & Al Vey (artists), Cuckie Rozakis (special consultant), Carrie Spiegle (letterer), and Hansi Hoolahan

Sure to be fodder for a couple more fights, the basic premise is that the Centurions have lost their hearing and Doc Terror, unaware of this, is controlling the base’s staff (yes, the Centurions had more staff than one woman, her monkey, and a dog in the comics) with a sonic device. So when Terror sends his henchmen, Hacker, to find the heroes, Jake Rockwell (nice name for the land assault specialist) is ready for him!

Don’t worry, kids. He’s a cyborg. He can handle it.

For Jake’s sake, I hope there isn’t any kind of recoil on that thing.

click to vote in this week’s tournament

Head to Spacebooger.com and vote in the Friday Night Fights. (Forum membership not required to vote, only to comment.) The winners of these next 12 rounds will gather for a Prize Fight to win an Amazon gift card so feel free to join in. We could use the competition.