Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1985 (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 October 11, 1985. 

Immortal Dr. Fate #1: In keeping with my standing policy, I won't review this issue as it is a collection of reprints of two Dr. Fate stories from the 70s (one of them being the one from 1st Issue Special #9) and one from the 40s, but I did want to mention it as I think it was likely my first encounter with Dr. Fate as a solo character--and it has a cool Simonson cover.

Amethyst #1: Mishkin/Cohn and Estrada/Colon take us back to Gemworld. Amy and Emmy (the Princess Emerald) aren't there, though, because they are stuck on Earth and can't seem to find a way back. What's more, there are new neighbors next door that appear to be Dark Opal and Prince Carnelian in 80s suburbanite disguise. In Gemworld, an evil is building while the houses squabble without Amethyst to lead them. That evil appears to be Fire Jade, who already has Sardonyx working for her. Thanks to a magical call from the ailing Citrina, Amethyst finally returns to Gemworld, but somehow without her body, leaving Amy Winston in a dangerous sleep.

Flash #341: The Flash's trial gets underway in earnest, and we find out Central City must not be in a state that requires grand jury indictments, because the prosecutor just announces in court he's changing the charge from manslaughter to second degree murder.  Meanwhile, the Rogues again capture and brainwash Big Sir who has been busy freeing dogs from animal control. He attacks the Flash just after court adjourns for the day and smashes his face to a pulp with his morning star. Flash is left unconscious and unmasked but unrecognizable.

Arak Son of Thunder #40: Interesting that Valda gets a special "co-starring" billing on the cover here. The Thomases and DeZuniga have Arak and friends participate in a living game of "Shah" (chess) for the life of the impetuous Alsind. This comes after Arak already used a ritual to save his life from his stab injury. The letter column contains some additional details about the Persian version of the game that became chess, so it's educational!

Batman #379: Moench and Newton/Alcala aren't done with the Mad Hatter as the villain pivots to a scheme to use crooks mind-controlled and given enhanced strength by special hats to set a trap for Batman. A trap the Caped Crusader and Robin fall into and would have been killed by had Nocturna not come to the rescue. She's keeping up her press to when the affections of the dynamic duo after the court awarded her custody of Jason Todd.

There are other plates spinning: Julia gets a job as a writer for the picture news. Vicki Vale is still interested in Bruce Wayne though she's trying to keep her distance. The blind girl and her dog have nursed Night Slayer back to health, convinced he is the Batman.

G.I. Combat #273: In the Haunted Tank story, Stuart's Raiders are sent to rescue two concentration camp escapees, a German stage memory expert and his Jewish wife, because the expert has memorized the names and contacts for the Nazi leadership's escape plans if the war should go badly. Briefly, it seems things are a bust because he has amnesia following a head injury, but an electric shock triggers his memory of the torture he suffered and everything else returns with it.

There are two more World War II shorts by Newman/Patricio and Drake/Gonzales. The Drake story has two G.I.'s escaping a German P.O.W. camp dressed as women. The final story is the "Bravos of Vietnam" with Trinidad on art. Kiley and crew are following an ARVN soldier to a supposed VC weapon cache, but they suspect he's a traitor leading them into a trap. That turns out to be the case, but the Bravos manage to beat the odds and make it out alive.

Jemm, Son of Saturn #5: Jemm is prisoner aboard the White Saturnian vessel, and that gives Potter and Colan/Janson time to catch us up on how there happen to be any White Saturnians still around since we were told they were all dead. Turns out this bunch was an exploratory expedition and all off-planet when the nuclear war happened. They've turned pirate since under Synn's leadership, and the soldier women have enslaved the scientist men aboard. Hearing that the hidden Red Saturnian city of Bhok was still around, they headed back home to check it out. Jemm and friends manage to escape with the help of Synn's concubine. Meanwhile, Superman has made his way to Bhok and tells them about Jemm, only to hear the leader say he despises the Saturnian Prince.

Omega Men #21: The letter column tells us this is Moench's and Smith's/Maygar's last issue, but the new creative team isn't announced yet. The Omega Men are on the planet Dreadfahl. After a bar fight, Nimbus tries the bring a wounded man peace but instead turns him briefly into an angry ghost. Losing the will to live over the horror he inadvertently committed, he goes into a catatonic state and Primus, Broot, and Doc enter his soul, facing perils there, to try and bring him back.

Star Trek #10: Captain Styles and Excelsior arrive at Regula Station to retrieve Kirk and his crew. The pompous Styles has no love for any of them and seems determined to make things as difficult as possible. When confronted by the Mirror Enterprise and its crew, though, he's quickly off maneuvered and his ship boarded. The Kirks of two universes come face to face on Excelsior's bridges.

Superman #403: Kupperberg writes both stories this month. In the main one, he's joined by Swan/Oksner and they reveal that Superman is potentially far too trusting. An alien master thief from the planet Ramox gets intel from the Monitor to start a crime spree on Earth. After a couple of clashes, Superman finally stops him, then the thief seems to change personality and claims he was suffering from a genetic compulsion to theft, but being caught broke the compulsion and now he'll never do it again. Superman buys it without any real evidence. 

In the backup art is by Saviuk and Marcos. It's got an interesting conceit, I guess, but it doesn't make for a riveting story. Johnny Webber, Clark Kent's old classmate and the reformed villain Dyna-Mind, invites Clark to come to a Smallville High School reunion, but keeps calling him "Superman" and calls Superman "Clark Kent." Webber seems unaware he's got this mixed up, but it causes Clark a great deal of consternation as he scrambles to cover this up and figure out how it happened. In the end, super-hypnosis comes to the rescue, to make Webber forget what he must have accidentally picked up as Dyna-Mind. It was nice to see the Superboy series not forgotten, though.