Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1984 (week 3)

Join me as I read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on May 24, 1984.

Warlord #84: I reviewed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal gets an audience with one of the mysterious, robed rulers of the floating city of D'Roz. He reveals that the Harashashan and the Mulge are creations of his people, and he is aware the Qlov are on Earth. He's unconvinced, however, that he should join Jinal's side over theirs. He tasks her with capturing a Qlov so they both can be questioned at the same time.

Legion of Super-Heroes #1: Here begins another direct sale only relaunch by the popular creative team of Levitz, Giffen, and Mahlstedt. It's off to a great start with the reveal of a shadowy group as it recruits Lightning Lord and extracts from him a vow to kill his brother, Lightning Lad. 

In a casino on Ventura, Star Lad, Dream Girl and Shrinking Violet have a run in with Micro Lad, but he's pulled away into a dimensional rift before they can apprehend him. Later, renegade Daxamite Ol-Vir is recruited from Takron-Galtos by what appears to be the same group and told he is to join a new Legion of Super-Villains.

Giffen's art has pretty much reached its final Legion form, though it's not as messy or angular here as in say Ambush Bug or the Legion of Substitute Heroes Special to come, though maybe that's down to different inkers.

Batman and the Outsiders #13: As BatO closes on its first year we get a silly story from Barr and Day/Marcos. Batman was poisoned last issue, and there's no antidote, but a physician prescribes keeping him physically and mentally active to maybe help him burn through the poison. So, at the suggestion of Alfred, they take him to Crime Alley and re-enact the murder of his parents! Somehow, a crime boss gets word of his condition, and they have to contend with a gang's assault. The trauma-reinforcing approach seems to work, and Batman's life is saved. He reveals his secret identity to the Outsiders, but of course, they already know.

Blue Devil #3: Mishkin/Cohn and Cullins/Martin pick up where last issue left off with Blue Devil being thoroughly examined by S.T.A.R. Labs (and repeating his origin for new readers). Meanwhile, Shockwave is being berated by his employer, Metallo, who decides to handle the situation himself. He attacks the lab, and despite Blue Devil's attempts to stop him, replaces his regular old kryptonite heart with the synthetic super-kryptonite. The radiation field is so potent, Superman can't get into the building to help. Blue Devil uses his brain, though, deducing that Metallo is powered by the kryptonite and contrives to get in close enough to remove it. Superman swoops in to help the mop up of Metallo's forces and after hearing his story, takes Blue Devil to introduce him to an expert in magic who might be able to help. The action and humor formula of this book is really coming together, and the art looks great.

Green Lantern #179: Wein and Gibbons present what seems practically like a backdoor pilot for a Predator series as the enigmatic new character singlehandedly takes down the Demolition Team with style and banter. He even steals a kiss from Carol Ferris, which I'm sure was intended for its 1984 audience to read as "charming rogue." I had previously assumed the Predator was Mr. Smith from Con Trol, but that's not made clear. They are definitely related in some way, though, which undercuts the "Predator as hero" idea. This issue also undermines the Demolition Team who come off like chumps after their big introduction.

Meanwhile, Hal is trying to save Omnicron Ceti IV. He gets the idea of using stellarium from asteroids to create damping rods to absorb the radiation from the planet's core and cool it. When the planet is saved, the Guardians congratulate Jordan for a job well done, but he angrily warns them that if his home and friends suffered in his absence, he'll make the Guardians regret it. He flies back to Earth and finds Ferris Aircraft in flaming ruins.

In the backup by Klein and Gibbons, we're back to the world of "Green Magic" and the conflict between science and sorcery with a young Green Lantern in the middle. Hollika Rahn struggles to bring together her sorcerer friend with her scientist ally, Tahrk. They agree to be allies just in time, as a stalking submarine of the scientists emerges near the shores of their island.

Infinity, Inc. #5: In a twist surprising no reader, I'm sure, the JSA members aren't really dead, but instead just out for a bit after "drowning" in the Koehaha River, also known as the Stream of Ruthlessness, which is no doubt from some Golden Age story. The Justice Society members wake up at their own autopsy without consciences and beat up the Flash and several Infinitors. Meanwhile, Brainwave Jr. and Star-Spangled Kid are ambushed by the Ultra-Humanite.

New Talent Showcase #8: First up is a new feature apparently named "Jenesis" (there's not a title in the issue though) by Newell with art by Beachum/Alexander, accentuating the 80s-ness of an already 80s story. Anxieties about women in the workplace collide with the ghosts of Vietnam as scientist Alix Ward loses her baby perhaps due to her reckless pursuit of knowledge or maybe due to a fight with a crazy vet but develops super-powers to rescue herself and her husband from the husband's former friend out for revenge for choices made during the war.

Mirrage is still dealing with Slice, the ruthless enforcer for drug lords, who kidnaps Mirrage's girl. Like a few stories this issue the writing and cramped layouts make this seem longer than its page count suggests. The poster child for that is "Cosmos Clinics: Clinic Conflict" by Marchman and Orzechowski/Pharms that seems to cram 32 pages of story in. It involves a chain of clinics that offer a chance at super-powers but deliver those with a side of mind control and creeping government takeover. They maintain fear through a group of enforcers clad in pink and magenta leotards with high collars. But hey, there is a resistance trying to take them down.

The "Class of 2064: Dragonfly" story, probably the best of the issue, concludes with the young pilot on her summer break managing to bring the ship in relatively unharmed with the help of her robot, winning the respect of her father.

Saga of Swamp Thing #27: Well, we get to the climax of this story and like with many of the decompressed comics this storyline prefigures, it seems a bit flat given the buildup, and ironically, rushed. This isn't a comic about punch 'em ups, so I don't expect pages of slugfest between Swamp Thing, the Demon, and kamara. The point is, ultimately, that the kid Paul has to conquer his fear and in doing so, defeat the entity. But given the two prior issues' pacing it seems to me we needed another complication or wrinkle in the plot before the resolution. Anyway, I'm glad Moore worked the Demon into the story, and poor Matt Cable's unwise deal with a talking fly is suitably ominous.

Sgt. Rock #391: I think this is the last of those stories that appeared in the Best of DC #61 anthology I keep mentioning: "Killers Also Smile." It wasn't one of the highlights of that digest for me, but its tale of a sadistic but pleasant and smiling SS commander killing the children of a town probably struck me more then than it does now after I've been reading Kanigher's war comics for years for this blog. I will say, it is better than average script for Kanigher made into a better comic with Gonzales' layouts and visual storytelling. 

The backup story by Joe Moore and Rex Lindsey has an old pilot prove that he should be listened to by the young fighter pilots in the Pacific. While this is inspired by true events (at least based on what I read on Wikipedia) the choice of Lindbergh as the hero of a World War II story is more than a little ironic given his early Nazi sympathies.

Supergirl #22: Infantino and Oksner are back just in time for Infantino's pencils to go to good use drawing a weird, future creature with a design that harkens back to the pulp illustration-inspired Silver Age, but with the twist of the change in his style in the years since. There's a blackout in Chicago and Supergirl spends the evening saving the day, but Dr. Barry Metzner doesn't hear the taped message he set under his pillow to play while he slept. The message of which he had no memory wherein he urges himself to forget the past and only concentrate on the present. As Metzner's suppressed memories surface, he's transformed into a spindly, macrocephalic, futuristic man with psychokinetic powers. The future-Metzner lashes out with his psychic might, causing devastation but so far not hurting bystanders. When Supergirl arrives on the scene, he envelopes her in flames from a wrecked car. Oh, and before that, Supergirl appears breaks up with the guy she's been dating.

Thriller #9: DuBay is joined by new artist Alex Niño, and the exit of the creators of the title is complete. Trying to escape from the Soviet Union after the events of last issue, Angie Thriller leads the Seven Seconds to a super-secret installation where genetically engineered lifeforms tend genetically engineered foodstuffs under the supervision of an AI to feed all the Soviet Union. This is slavery, and Thriller means for her operatives to destroy the base with a nuclear warhead to put the creatures out of their misery. The team have feelings about all the deaths they wind up being responsible for, but hey. DuBay seems committed to keeping Thriller weird, but this just doesn't feel like the sort of story Fleming would have done. Nino keeps the art very much in the von Eeden style, but has a different storytelling sensibility.