Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we look at the comics hitting the newsstand on January 27, 1983.

Weird War Tales #122: Kanigher brought us a Robo-Samurai and a Robo-Geisha before, so I guess the arrival of a Robo-Sumo was inevitable. George Tuska draws this one.

The second story is a gimmicky one, but pretty good. Roger Baker is bitter because he hasn't been given a chance to live up to his brother's example as a pilot but in New York in 1933 he gets more than he bargained for when he's called out to deal with a certain (unnamed) primate's rampage. In the last story by Mishkin/Cohn and Newton, a submarine commander hears of the attack of a mysterious submariner, and an old submariner from World War I tells him of an encounter with a vessel flying that same flag all those years ago.

Brave and the Bold #197: This issue by Brennert and Staton/Freeman has been reprinted in several collections, including Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. It's the Earth-2 Batman, a few months prior to his death, writing down in his memoir the story of how he fell in with one of his former enemies, Catwoman. As the cover indicates, it involves a plot by the Scarecrow, though the most interesting part of the issue (and the thing that leads to Batman being able to have a lasting relationship with Catwoman) is his realization that Bruce Wayne has really been the mask. The events of the story allow him to find both Bruce Wayne and the love of his life. It's a good story that DC can really only tell because it has the "spare Batman" on Earth-2.

Action Comics #542: Wolfman and Swan bring back Vandal Savage (last seen in #516), and he's got a cunning plan which somehow involves creating Superman robots to perform heroic deeds for Metropolis and then tricking the Man of Steel into destroying them. I feel like Savage could have come up with a simpler plan with a similar chance of success, but I guess we'll see how things play out. I'm also not sure how this will lead up to the "exciting new era" promised on the cover.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #6: Moench and Duursema/Mandrake have the Atlantean refugees looking for safety, so Arion and his friends make their way south guided by magic. General Balar has a different direction in mind, so he and D'Tilluh part ways with the group, while Arion leads Chian, Wyynde, and Mara on a quest.

They find a sort of lost valley with sub-men and dinosaurs. They're captured, but after Arion helps the sub-men with the dinosaurs, they become friends. Meanwhile, Garn breaks into Arion's tower to steal his magic. He summons a demon from the Dark World that possesses Chian. When her will proves to be too powerful, the demon takes control of sub-man chief, Grondar. During the battle, Arion and Chian are transported to Dark World.

All-Star Squadron #20: After standing around last issue and watching the JSA members fall to Brain Wave's power, the Squadron rushes in and, well, joins the fallen JSA on Brain Wave’s illusionary, psychic battlefield. 

Green Lantern finally arrives at the New York World’s Fairgrounds. He also enters Brain Wave’s mental environment, but his superior willpower allows him to overmatch Brain Wave. He manages to free his friends but the devastation wrought by his rage in the illusionary world leaves him shaken and quoting the Bhagavad Gita, "prefiguring" Oppenheimer and the Trinity test. And so the point of this sideline is revealed: to get in a reference to the horror of the atomic bombs that will end the war.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #14: Bridwell/Shaw and Gordon fallen get to the crossover with the Just 'A Lotta Animals promised in previous issues. These are the characters Roger Rabbit has been writing and drawing in his comics. We get a Silver Age-y brief on alternate Earths and then the traditional style of these crossovers, though it's continued next issue. There is some mildly amusing rivalry between Super-Squirrel and Captain Carrot.

Detective Comics #525: We get a new penciler this issue in the form of Dan Jurgens. My friend Chad Bowers had previously put forward a concept he called the "prefab villain." This is a villain created to be a big deal in contrast to a villain who is created for a story, then later evolves over time into a big deal. A prefab villain isn't bad--Galactus is sort of a prefab villain. But many of them are a bit "try hard." Killer Croc is clearly a prefab villain, but while Conway's intentions are evident, it's worked okay so far. In this issue, Batman tracks him into the sewers, and Croc gets the better of him forcing Batman to allow himself to be washed away from the fight which leads Croc to assume Batman is utterly beaten and a coward, when in actuality Batman's actions are more strategic.

Bruce also has a falling out with Vicki after he kind of implies their relationship is not serious. At the Sloan Circus, Robin makes a decision that may well have serious consequences, as he asks the Todds for their help in capturing Croc.

In the Green Arrow backup, Arrow manages to outshoot the crooks and get out of the situation he found himself in last installment, but Machiavelli beats a retreat. He shows up again at a Teamsters meeting late, but before he can talk them into a city-paralyzing strike, GA fakes a fire with his smoke arrow and shows the audience how they should depend on each other--rather than on "number one"--to get to safety. Worker solidarity over crooked demagogues.  

Jonah Hex #71: This is a weirdly paced issue in that Fleisher dispenses with what has been a multi-issue storyline in the middle of the issue with Tim Daniels heroically sacrificing himself to thwart the plans of the cult leader, Manitou. His conniving son goes to his reward courtesy of Jonah, who shoots a stalactite down so it stabs the younger Daniels through. That done, we move to the next story with El Papagayo kidnapping Emmy, and Jonah forced to steal a Queen Isabella necklace from the Mexican government while disguised as Papagayo. Of course, he walks right into a trap.

New Adventures of Superboy #40: Aliens appear in orbit and convince Superboy they are friendly when they really want to get him out of the way. There's a school dance coming up and Clark doesn't have luck getting a date. Ma Kent strangely reveals his identity to her friends, but no one believes her and when a kid at school makes fun of him and his mother, Clark loses it and slugs him. Clark decides decides to stop being Superboy. Not sure where Kupperberg and Schaffenberger are going with all of this!

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Adkins, a new villain called the Coil (not unlike Coil-Man from the Impossibles) stills the car of a wealthy man that Chris' dad happens to be driving for a security test. The kids dial up the identities of Kinetic Kid and Genesis to pursue him.

World's Finest Comics #290: Cool Hannigan/Janson cover. On the inside, Moench and Gonzales deliver another odd one. Bruce Wayne is enjoying a shiatsu massage from a woman named Yumiko, but before things can get more romantic, there's Bat-Signal in the sky and Bruce has got to go. He leaves Yumiko in his bedroom while he races down to the Batcave.

Meanwhile, Superman is dealing with a giant worm attacking a ship in the Atlantic. Unbeknownst to Supes, the worm takes the ship underwater to a cave near Gotham where a stalagmite humanoid commands its worm "brother" to drop the ship in a pit of magma. The creature then somehow siphons the energy from the oil inside and calls forth more of its kind.

Yumiko sees a green glow coming from a cave near Wayne Manor and investigates, getting captured by the stalagmite creatures. In the meantime, Batman is on his way home but is swarmed by bats and nearly driven off the road. Using a special sonar from the Batcave, Batman manages to wrangle the bats, and he contacts Superman for help.

Superman relocates the bats to elsewhere, and the heroes investigate what caused this. They go into the cave in where Yumiko was taken. As they get closer to the source of the green glow, Superman gets weaker until the heroes finally find the central chamber, filled with stalagmite creatures and Yumiko as prisoner of the leader of the monsters: Stalagron! Finally, Superman realizes what should have been clear from the beginning: the source of the creatures' power is Kryptonite.