Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics released the week of September 13, 1984. 

Flash #340: So finally, as the cover declares: "The Trial of the Flash Begins," but don't expect any legal drama from this issue. Bates and Infantino/McLaughlin are up to the same old thing as Flash escapes from and then befriends Big Sir but rescuing the misguided giant and a bear cub he's concerned about. Meanwhile, the Rogues go on a crime spree, and a psychic brought in by Captain Frye gets closer than either of them realizes to the hereabouts of Barry Allen. The trial begins with the shady DA confident of a conviction, and the Flash late to proceedings.

Arak Son of Thunder #39: We get an introduction to the various legendary beasts held with Satyricus, and as they all have a hatred of Barmak, the caliph's vizier for their imprisonment, they agree to join Alsind in seeking revenge. Meanwhile, Malagigi attempts to secure the release of the others, but the vizier denies knowledge of the other captives. The wizard finds Arak's otomahuk, proving Barmak is lying. He escapes Barmak's goons and finds the caliph with his harem. Just then, the beasts attack.

Malagigi, Arak and Valda fight to protect the caliph from the beasts. Most of the animals are slain, but after Barmak kills Alsind with a thrown dagger, the basilisk attacks him and turns him to stone.

Batman #378: Moench and Newton/Alcala reveal the verdict in the custody battle that has been running through the bat-titles: Natalia Knight gets custody of Jason. While dealing with all this, Batman keeps up the pressure on Mayor Hill, by "haunting" him. The Mad Hatter, meanwhile, wants Hellstrom's loot from the Nightmare, Inc. robberies and delivers a special hat to Natalia to get the information out of her mind. Thanks to this happening on Jason's fist night with her, Batman happens to show up to stop him, which is a good thing because if the Hatter had gotten away with the data in his computer, he might also have learned Batman's and Robin's secret IDs. Nocturna again makes a plea for a new relationship with Batman and Robin, but neither trusts her.

G.I. Combat #272: In the Haunted Tank story, Stuart's Raiders lead a one take invasion as they serve as the feint giving cover for the D-Day landing. Mlle. Marie and her resistance fighters make a guest appearance. The Mercenaries take a job to find a Vietnam vets Vietnamese wife and bring her to the U.S., but things get complicated when Vietnamese officials get in the way, and they discover the couple has a young daughter. 

Kana appears in a very unespionage-related O.S.S. story has he flies a mission to destroy a Japanese Kamikaze base and discovers his cousin Myobu is one of the Kamikaze pilots. In the nonseries story, the Allies send three French agents into occupied France to carry a code book to the resistance. One of the agents proves to be working for the Germans and takes the codebook to them, but the Allies were aware one of the agents was a traitor and so implanted homing transmitters in the dummy code books to guide a bombing raid.

Jemm, Son of Saturn #4: Something I've never thought of before, but Superman's appearances with other characters (particularly newly introduced characters) often involve Superman acting without full information and making the situation worse. Such is how he is utilizes by Potter here. Working with a government a rogue agent to track down the Saturnian, Superman suspects he isn't being told the full story but goes along with a confrontation that escalates quickly and leads to a fight with Jemm, then Superman getting shot himself by his revenge-maddened ally who has stolen a secret government super-weapon designed to take down any alien. Then, the White Saturnians show up, and Jemm and others are taken captive, but not before a young girl is accidentally killed.

Omega Men #21: This is a fill-in issue, done while Moench and Smith were working on the annual. Sharman Di Vono, the credited writer, just has a couple of DC credits and seems to have worked mostly in animation. Alex Niño appears to be their go-to for fill-ins on this title. His work is more pleasing here than on the late Thriller. Anyway, Omega (Wo)Man Syri (first and only appearance) and a robot sidekick are on a routine mission when they have to deal with leftover Citadel forces that have turned to piracy.

Star Trek #9: "New Frontiers" perhaps signals that Barr and Sutton/Villagran are stuck bridging the "gap" between two movies that (though maybe they don't know it) that follow directly. They do an admirable job of filling this (forced) space, even if the continuity produced isn't going to be seamless. We pick up where STIII ended, with Spock still convalescing on Vulcan and Kirk and crew heading off in the stolen Bird of Prey to do something else important. Meanwhile, Starfleet is sending Styles and the Excelsior to bring them in.

What Kirk and crew is up to is telling Carol Marcus about her son's death in person. She blames Jim at first but ultimately realizes that he has lost a son too, and they hold a memorial service.  The story then makes a disorienting shift to Enterprise at the Regula One Station. Kirk accuses Carol of undermining him with their son, then sentences her to death--and has the station destroyed. Before the last page reveal, I knew we were in the Mirror Universe, but the smash cut shift is a clever device.

Superman #402: Bates and Swan/Oksner have Daily Planet newcomer, Justin Moore encounters what appears to be a stubble-bearded Superman in an alley, with limited memory and powers, begging for help. Moore helps him avoid the apparent aliens searching for him and hides him in the Superman Museum. Unfortunately, Justin's help is repaid with paranoia, and he soon finds himelf running for his life from a semi-super madman. That is until the real Superman and the aliens, who are really cops from the future, arrive to take the psychiatric patient from that same future with delusions of Superman-hood into custody. The Monitor's satellite makes an appearance as the future folks seek out his help in locating the real Superman.

In the backup story by Bridwell and Boring/Marcos, it's a sort of Freaky Friday where Jor-El wakes up in the body of his adult son on present day Earth, while Kal-El is in his father's body in Krypton of the past, thanks to the machinations of Phantom Zone escapee, Kru-El.

Tales of the Teen Titans #49: The Titans are getting ready for Donna's and Terry's wedding. At least in the framing sequence with art by Perez. Most of the issue deals with Wally and Frances defeating Dr. Light in Central City (which Wolfman tells us is a small, suburban city in the Sunbelt, weirdly) which provides a good place for Infantino to make a guest appearance on pencils. An amusing detail is that Dr. Light never actually sees who defeats him, since Wally is moving too fast, and Frances' powers aren't visible. A brief cameo by the Flash confirms what Wally already suspected: using his super-speed power is killing him and there is no cure. Despite the horrible new, Wally phones to confirm his attendance at the wedding.