Prog 4 - Harlem Heroes

Zack is plummeting to his doom!

Just as he's about to crash into the crowd, Giant and Hairy save him, and the spectators, from certain death!
They carry Zack into the pit where firefighters extinguish the flames from his jet-pack. The Heroes suits are made of fire-proof material and that's why Zack wasn't hurt by the flames.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Bulls have taken total advantage of the situation with Giant and Hairy too busy rescuing Zack, and not being able to call a time-out...the Bulls have scored.

Giant is pissed off. If it wasn't for Zacks cockiness they might have been able to stop the Bulls. He gives Zack the hairdryer treatment.
Giant and Hairy get back into the game. The Bulls are dominating. They're just about to score again when the ball is intercepted by Harlem's Chico. The Bulls are playing tough...to tough. They give away a free throw for a challenge on Chico.
The Umpire interrupts the game and informs Giant that they're short a player and he has thirty seconds to make up the squad. Giant is beside himself. All he has is what's already out in the stadium. There are no more Heroes left! Or so he thinks...
Giant decides to give Zack another chance.

The free throw is taken by Giant. Slim provides a decoy, while Zack Harper grabs the ball and smacks it down to Giant..but the Bulls are onto him quick and there's a pile-up!
In the chaos, Giant manages to score the equaliser by kicking the ball off an opponents face and into the goal. Just in time for the Half-Time interval.

In the pit, Giant receives a call on the holo-phone from Louis Mayer. Mayer tells Giant that he's had a lot of time to think while he's been in hospital and that he believes the road liner crash was no accident. Someone is trying to kill off the Heroes.
The Second Half begins!

Another good installment here. I like that, on top of the challenge to try and win the World Championship with a rag-tag team, Giant and crew have also got to deal with the fact that someone is trying to kill them off. Who and why, we'll find out later.

Nice to see Giant put Zack in his place, but to be honest...he had no choice but to let him rejoin because they'd probably have to forfeit the game if they couldn't field enough players. Giant knew exactly what he was doing to get the best out of Zack.

And it was also good to see another member of the Heroes, Chico, getting some page time!

I'm really looking forward to the next chapter.

Tom Tully is a master at writing sports stories.

Prog 3 - Harlem Heroes

Enter The Baltimore Bulls!

Giant has got a full team at last and now they face their first opponents since the road liner crash. What could be a bad sign of things to come judging from the splash page is, an aeroball team is comprised of seven members, yet here, we only see the roll-call of five. Doesn't bode well for the two 'missing' team-mates. Maybe or maybe not. Time will tell.

The Bulls make their impressive entrance and to add an extra bit of spice to the game...the Bulls are an all cop aeroball team!

Zack is obviously on edge because he's playing against a team comprised of cops. Again we're reminded by the fans about the impossible odds the Heroes face.
The game starts and already Zack has lost his discipline.
He breaks formation and crashes into Giant giving the advantage to the Bulls. Just as the Bulls are about to score...Conrad King blocks the shot...but at a price! He has hit the electric prods around the score holes and must spend three minutes in the 'Penalty Pen'.
King is pissed! Zacks recklessness is going to cost them the game!
Giant takes control of the game. He intercepts the ball and goes for an air-strike...but the ball bounces off the rim.
How the heck can they afford such a big screen in the slums!!!

Anyhow, Zack picks up the rebound by kicking a player in the back of the neck and punching another one in the face, all the while hurling insults at the cops!

He shoots! He scores!

But, it's disallowed. Apparently you can do all sorts of violence in Aeroball except kick a player in the back of the neck. It's a dirty foul and now Zack has got the cop team pissed! After the fracas, the game restarts. Zack, eager to please snatches the ball from the Bulls again...but this time he's going way to fast and it looks like he's going to end up kissing the arena floor in a blazing ball of flame!
More predictable and fun stuff from Tully and Gibbons. You could just tell from Zacks attitude in the last chapter that he's going to be a handful for Giant to get some discipline into. And that the opposing team is a team of law enforcers, doesn't sit well with Zack either, considering his run in with the law and the fact his old man is in jail.