Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I look at the comics hitting the newsstand on April 28, 1983.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #9: Nice cover by Duursema. The conflict Moench foreshadowed last issue comes to pass as General Balar returns to Atlantis with an army only to discover that Arion and his companions have already liberated the city. Balar is angered when he finds the people erecting a statue of Arion and the technological defenses of the city destroyed. Arion is forced to intervene when Balar takes out his frustrations on some of the citizenry, so Balar orders his arrest. He doesn't have the power to make that happen, so he's forced to retreat and instead works to undermine Arion with the newly returned king.

Fed up with politics, Arion heads north to help save Atlantis from the approaching ice age. Chian goes with him on the quest which leads to a palace of emerald ice. Inside a seductive sorceress named Icestarr puts some sort of spell on Arion.

Ronin #1: This, like Camelot 3000, is another prestige product for DC and shows their editorial risk-taking in this era. Miller tells the story of a samurai from Feudal Japan whose battle with a demon over a magical sword causes them both to be reborn in a dystopian future (not unlike Camelot 3000!). What's different is, C3000 is basically a good comic of its era, where Ronin looks like it could have been published today with Miller's use of "widescreen" panels and other modern layout techniques. His art here isn't like his work in Dark Knight Returns a few years in the future. There are strong influences of both Moebius and (I think) Enki Bilal as well as Goseki Kojima. Modern as it is in some ways, it's also pure distillate of the 80s: all dark future and samurai swords.

Green Arrow #3: Nice cover by von Eeden and Giordano. After a little "harsh interrogation" of Count Vertigo, Green Arrow finds out the Russians sent him to keep an eye on the chemical company, but he doesn't know why. Ollie's next attempt to bluff a CIA agent and then the company's board to find out more, gets him nothing but embarrassment. So next, he tries playing the rich playboy buffoon to lull his hidden enemies into believing him defeated. Maybe that works? Anyway, he realizes what the dying Ted Horton was trying to tell him: he was drawing a benzene ring. With that knowledge he guesses Abby's password and learns the secret Horton project is a synthetic oil substitute. Unfortunately, his enemies know he knows and that marks him for death. Only the intervention of the CIA agent, Jones, saves him from an ambush. Green Arrow and Jones set out to reveal Abby's killer and bring them to justice.

This limited is underappreciated I think only because of the embarrassment of riches that 80s DC was to soon become.

Action Comics #545: Wolfman and Kane continued the Brainiac story from last issue. Brainiac captures Superman and keeps him alive only to analyze him, attempt to learn how to counter the Master Programmer. This, as seen last issue, seems to be Brainiac's conception of God--a god who has sent Superman to destroy him! Superman manages to escape, barely, but Brainiac is in pursuit. Supes knows he's going to need help to deal with this one.

Meanwhile, Cave Carson, Rip Hunter, Rick Flag, Dolphin, and Dane Dorrance--a group of "Forgotten Heroes" if there ever was one--comes together.

With this and the Lex Luthor story early in the month, the villain makeovers have certainly led to more interesting stories.

All-Star Squadron #23: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan introduce the first really new character in this book (though even he borrows the name of an actual Golden Age character). With some of the All-Stars and JSA in the hands of Ultra and his cronies, the remaining heroes sort of go various ways and pursue means to find their friends. Dr. Fate and the Atom headed for Fate's Salem tower, intent on finding the missing Spectre. The tower has been invaded, and Fate's powerful old full-face helmet in the hands of Amazing-Man, who has absorption powers. We get Amazing-Man's origin and understand why the former Olympic champion is working with Ultra.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #17: Thomas writes a prologue, but Bridwell is the writer working with a team of artists on this "solo adventures" issue that appears to be a filler. We get a Cannonball Run riff with a disgruntled stunt-platypus in a Rubberduck story. Fastback tangles with a jackrabbit thief whose real skill is being still, and Pig Iron visits Ewerope and fights a monster in "The House of Frankenswine." 

Detective Comics #528: Moench with Colon/Janson continue the misery for Gordon, as his newly appointed assistant (or underminer) Bullock re-opens the Savage Skull case when another cop is killed. Bullock manages to track the Skull to an abandoned building that was formerly used by the GCPD for officer training, but he is unable to reason we him despite their former friendship. Gordon shows up just in time to save Bullock's life, and Batman to save Gordon's. The Skull is defeated, and Bullock wants to have a press conference to say how wrong he was about Gordon and give the commissioner credit--but instead uses it as a platform to attack Gordon again. Moench's Batman is more "street level," a portrayal aided by the gritty Colon/Janson art. It's a harbinger, perhaps, of the "Iron Age" Batman that will emerge from the end of the Bronze Age.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Cullins/Marcos, GA saves himself from last issues cliffhanger by aiming the spray can at the ground and propelling himself back through the window. It turns out Ozone has accidentally stolen a cannister of a bioweapon, now even badder guys are after him.

Jonah Hex #74: Fleisher and Ayers/DeZuniga present a bounty hunting adventure of Hex's that drops the relatively close continuity of the previous few issues. Jonah is hired by a railroad to bring in a former Confederate turned bandit dubbed Railroad Bill. The situation is complicated by the Pinkertons already being on the case. There's a botched ambush not dissimilar to the opening of The Wild Bunch, to show us the Pinkertons aren't exactly the heroes as they are callous to civilian casualties. Hex catches up to them as they have Railroad Bill and are about to hang him. Hex's presence gives Bill the opportunity to escape, which makes it look as if they are working together--a misperception that gets Hex shot. The bounty hunter and the bandit do make common cause after that with the Pinkertons after them both. 

New Adventures of Superboy #43: Nice cover by Kane. Kupperberg and Schaffenberger continues Superboy's conflict with Dyna-Mind, who is secretly one of Clark's less honorable classmates. Dyna-Mind keeps besting him at every turn, but the Boy of Steel figures out his foe's abilities came from red kryptonite and will wear off soon, which they do, just in time. Ever Duplicitous Johnny Webber plays like he has no memory of what he did, and Superboy buys it was all the red kryptonite altering his personality. Also, Clark goes on a date to see True Grit, suggesting this story takes place in 1969,

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell and Bender/McLaughlin, comic artist Nick Stevens is kidnapped by the Master, who wants somehow harness the power that has been leading to Stevens' characters coming to life in Fairfax. Chris and Vicki attempt to intervene as (respectively) Spheror and Fuzz-Ball and Turnabout and Raggedy Doll.

World's Finest Comics #293: We've got David Anthony Kraft writing this issue, whose work I really only know at Marvel. Art is supplied by Gonzales and DeZuniga. It's not particularly distinguishable from what has come before with an emphasis on the "bro-dom" of Batman and Superman, though this issue does have the added twist of a villain bro team, as well. It's also interesting in Null and Void aren't defeated by Marvel-style punch 'em up, but they are more inclined to escape than fight as they really don't want to hurt anyone--they're just old guys with debts they are resorting to crime to pay off. The heroes capture Void after he transforms back into his civilian identity, but he refuses to give away his friend Null's identity. Null later faces his reckoning with the IRS. 

There also an amusing opener to this issue where the Daily Planet is under siege by a garish villain calling herself the Expropriator who wants to rob from the owner and give to the workers, who is revealed to be sham without powers, and really a Planet employee--a working mom angry about not getting a bonus.