I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) through Crisis! This week, I read the comics released the week of February 14, 1985, just before my 12th birthday.
Omega Men #25: Klein and McManus/Smith are in place as the new creative team, and they start the story so in media res I had to check to make sure I hadn't missed an issue. Nimbus contends with an insane X'hal and her son Auron, while the Omega Men, now led by Kalista and Tigorr, and contending with spider-themed invaders to Vega who aren't identified in this issue, but I assume are the Spider Guild, who also appear in the back-up.
In "Tales of Vega" by Moore and O'Neil, the Spider Guilds invasion of a world is thwarted by the giant inhabitants moving too slowly to take notice of them.
Amethyst #5: Estrada is back on pencils this issue. We pick up where we left off with Amy and Emmy in the hands of a headless robot made. With the help of Taffy the dog, they managed to destroy the robot. They start investigating the device Carnelian has apparently been building, visiting an alternate Plantworld where Princess Amaryllis battles the Dark Maple. Carnelian finds them and tells them he got stuck here and has been looking for a way back to Gemworld. Carnelian and Amethyst take the path he discovered, but it's not without dangers.
Arak Son of Thunder #44: This is another issue I bought off the spinner rack back in 1985. The Thomases and DeZuniga continue Arak's and friends' voyage to North America with Captain Re-Iz Hazz. They are sailing east to circumnavigate the globe (or go under the great turtle, as Arak explains it). They make a stop at the island of al-Hind, whether they are waylaid by a pirate with a grudge against their captain. He sales them to the island's corrupt priest as sacrifices for "Shiva." The priest transforms into a multi-armed monster in a ritual, but Arak manages to defeat him.
Batman #383: Moench and Colan/Alcala present a somewhat humorous story of Bruce Wayne just needing to get some sleep after several busy days for both him and his alter ego. Unfortunately, responsibilities to his home, business, ward, and romantic life keep getting in the way. Finally, after an unplanned night out as Batman, he leans up against a gargoyle on the side of building to at least catch a nap, forgetting he had made dates with both Julia and Vicki the following night.
Flash #345: This issue erodes what little faith I had in the Flash's lawyer, Cecile Horton, and perhaps the entirety of the legal system in Central City. The prosecutor brings a surprise witness to the stand, Kid Flash, who testifies to a number of ways the Flash could have stopped Reverse Flash without killing him. Apparently, there isn't mandatory discovery in the DCU. Cecile handles that reasonably well but treats it like some devastating blow that I just don't see it as being. Then she does something real dumb. After spying on the Allens and discovering the Flash's secret ID, she plans to reveal it in open court--without telling the Flash what she's going to do. Somehow convincing the jury he had a strong motive to kill the Reverse Flash is going to get him found innocent? Anyway, she pulls off his mask in court but he doesn't look like Barry Allen!
Jemm, Son of Saturn #9: Synn and Tull are both confident they duped the other in their recent deal, but we don't find out this issue which of either may be right. With knowledge of New Bhok, the White Saturnians make an attack. The Bhokian military has a super-weapon it has been eager to employ to wipe out the White Saturnians once and for all. Jemm, though, views himself as having responsibility to all Saturnians and destroyed the weapon. A renegade priest inflames a mob against and soon he is strung up for execution.
Legion of Super-Heroes #10: The candidates for President of Earth have been drafted, and the Legion has assigned one of their members to guard them which proves a prudent move as Khundian agents try to assassinate them. In the process of defending a candidate, Invisible Kid reviews new powers--maybe teleportation? It turns out though, the Khunds have also target the current President Marte Allon, who locally has her son, Colossal Boy on hand to save the day. Meanwhile, Cosmic Boy announces a leave of absence to the Legion.
Star Trek #14: Barr and Sutton/Villagran pick up where they left off last issue, with Excelsior surrounded and about to be destroyed. Kirk and crew have another trick up their sleeve, though, and that involves the two Spocks in the cloaked Klingon bird of prey causing chaos while Excelsior gets her engines ready for a transwarp dash to safety. It works, then Kirk sends the Spocks and Konom as emissaries to the Klingon Emperor, offering them the means the check the Empire. Konom has to go through a painful interrogation to prove their information is legitimate, but in the end, it works.
Superman #406: This is a done-in-one by the Conways and Novick/Hunt, and like last month's Action Comics with Captain Strong, it sort of has the feel of an inventory story. The Daily Planet crew (including Lois) is featured prominently, and no mention is made of Galaxy Broadcasting or Lana. Mr. Mxyzptlk is up to hijinks and causes a crisis with a biomechanical worm designed to aid digging that the imp enlarges into a monster. With Metropolis threatened from underground, Mxy whammies Superman so that he passes his powers to others via touch. Once they figure out what's going on, Lois, Jimmy, and Perry, have to team-up with Superman to defeat the creature, but only after Mxy gets afraid the weakened Superman will be killed and calls the others in to help.
8 comments:
"The trial continues." At this stage what's remarkable about this Flash run is how marginalized the title character is now in his own book, almost as though Bates can't even hide how much more interested he is in the courtroom drama of it all and is using these pages to build out a more TV-friendly portfolio.
We can roll our eyes at this terminal Flash vendetta storyline (dragging on one way or another since 275 now) but I guess I appreciate the ambition better now. It starts as a riff on the Conway clone saga with the death of Gwen/Iris, hits the hardboiled revenge and interconnected rogues gallery beats . . . only to stall out here in court whereas Peter Parker actually finds a degree of redemption.
However, the entire Conway run is about half the length of this extended Flash narrative and still feels "epic" in its scope, so this is also an early exercise in extreme decompression. Ordinarily we could blame the company or the editor if a run like this drags, but because Bates is the constant presence I think he has to own it . . . this is his "Sandman" and we need to judge it on something like those terms because it takes six years of publishing either way.
So what happened here to make The Murder Of Iris Allen / Trial Of The Flash such a slog when the original clone saga is regarded as one of the best and most intricate Marvel storylines ever? It isn't necessarily the emphasis on criminal culpability because the published end of Dark Phoenix asked and answered that one without forcing Hank McCoy or whoever to dress up like Spencer Tracy in Inherit The Wind and rebut technical shi'ar procedural points, calling the team as character witnesses, blah blah blah.
That just wouldn't have been compelling comix. Did DC have an agenda or a plan here? Or were Bates, Infantino, Wein and everybody just clocking issues and cashing checks, dodging cancellation until the inevitable? When did they know they'd crossed the final event horizon? It really does feel in this era that the book has an invisible aura shield protecting it from too much scrutiny . . . a little like Swamp Thing.
But I would not read 275-350 again without good reason! Life's too short.
Good thoughts! While all of it was drug out, I feel like it's the court proceedings where things really start to decline. A better solution would be to have either had Flash turn fugitive or either get jailed and have a replacement for a bit.
Anyway, what had me curious, but got dropped, was Colonel Computron! I wonder where Bates was going to go with that character?
Okay I'll skim 'em and look for the obvious weird breaks in the narrative. Love the idea of Flash In Jail . . . maybe Barry takes the blame (I mean, BARRY is the one who has an interest in avenging Iris, everybody knows that! crime of passion) and needs to mostly stay incarcerated to protect the identity until the appeal or whatever.
Of course we know he ends up given to the crisis so it wouldn't happen either way, but it would've been a good way to continue if that was possible.
There is for an inspiration the Golden Age character 711 (Police Comics) who would escape from prison to fight crime then sneak back in!
Flash #345: Since you brought up the peculiarities of Central City's legal system, do you think jaywalking is a felony there? You know, because the streets are so wide the distance to cover is much greater than in a normal city? You'd be interfering with traffic for a lot longer - if the artist bothers to draw any cars, that is. :)
Superman #406: Are there any three "normal" people in Metropolis who are better prepared to use Sudden Onset Superpowers to their best potential? Jimmy and Lois pretty much get random powers every other story, and even Perry has his alien superscience cigars a few times.
Good point!
The only comic I got out of this batch was the Legion, which is still a pretty great comic post-Giffen.
Do these Star Trek comics feel like real Star Trek? I'd read some of the Gold Key and Marvel Star Trek comics published prior to this and they were not so good.
They vary by arc, but in general, as I've tried to point out in the reviews, the DC Trek is in general much more Trekian that either of the earlier iterations
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