NFL SuperPro #4: The Sanctioning

Sanzionare (now wearing a suit of power armor) kidnaps Jane and SuperPro has to rescue her from a booby-trapped football stadium.

Issue #4

While covering a local tax protest, Phil’s girlfriend Jane is kidnapped by Sanzionare, now wearing the power armor teased at the end of the last issue. I forgot if it was mentioned how he discovered SuperPro’s secret identity, but maybe it just doesn’t matter.

Elsewhere, Phil chills with some real life football guys – Phil Simms and Carl Banks – plus Tim Pressman, who you might remember as the guy accused of having ties to Sanzionare in the first issue. It seems between then and now, Phil helped exonerate Tim. Nice to finally have closure.

Later in a hotel, Ken works on installing a helmet camera on the SuperPro costume so he can have a more active role in Phil’s SuperPro adventures. Phil barges in, worried about Jane because when he called, someone else answered.

Elsewhere, Sanzionare sets a trap in a football stadium (of course) and inadvertently reveals to Jane that SuperPro is Phil and Phil is SuperPro.

SuperPro vs. Sanction

Phil arrives at Sanzionare’s penthouse and changes into his SuperPro costume, then gets in an elevator and heads up to the stadium (which is inside the penthouse??).

Sanzionare, now calling himself Sanction, shows up in his armor and shoots lasers and rockets and shit at SuperPro. Ken monitors the fight through the helmet camera he installed and is able to pinpoint the armor’s weakness – its arm couplings!

SuperPro messes up Sanzionare…er, Sanction’s suit, then booby traps pop out with more lasers, rockets, spikes, etc. SuperPro passes through all these obstacles, rescues Jane, who was tied to a goal post, then takes the stairs to the roof.

Sanction meets them there and grabs SuperPro, but SuperPro throws himself – and Sanction – off the roof. Sanction falls to the ground, while SuperPro twirls around a horizontal flagpole and lands safely. Sanzionare is arrested and Jane officially joins the SuperPro team.

Thoughts

Visually, not a bad fight; dialogue-wise, incredibly annoying. Sanzionare is so cliche and moustache twirly he comes across as farcical and evil for the sake of being evil: “…if you wish to play the part of the hero. Allow me the juicier role of the villain.” I’m so glad he’s now out of the way so we can move on to better (?) things.

1. Headline is plain black & white, underlined text.
2. Images aren’t from the actual game.
3. They’re actually calling the Captain Planet cartoon “garbage”?!