Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1984 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on August 23, 1984.

Fury of Firestorm Annual #2: Conway and Arthur Byron Cover do one of those occasional illustrated text piece stories that I almost always find dull (which is the case here). The art by Kayanan and Colon doesn't seem up to their usual standards, so maybe it bored them too? Anyway, Ronnie plays poorly at a game and worries about letting the team down at the next one because he's hallucinating villains all over the place. To make matters worse, some weird alien, exiled by the Guardians of the Universe, has crashed on earth and decides to use Firestorm as a living power plant to get him into space again. The alien is thwarted, and Ronnie shoots the winning buzzer-beater, redeeming himself. The source of the hallucinations turns out to be the emerging psychic powers of the student manager of the team. The story has real Spider-Man vibes, but of the sort of Spider-Man story you might see in other media. 

Action Comics #561: Despite a cover by Barreto promising something with more, well--action, Kupperberg and Schaffenberger /Jensen provide a silly and mostly stakes-free story of the Toyman setting up a fake quiz show so he can trick a childhood rival into revealing what happened to the very first toy the villain made. The second story by Bridwell and Boring is marginally better with a red kryptonite exposure splitting two Supermen from Clark Kent: one, a Superman of the future with "future powers" and an eight-year-old Superboy from 1963. 

It's not like there haven't been stories done in a more modern storytelling vein or arcs with truly dangerous villains, but we keep coming back to this sort of continuity-free, low action material like it's still the Silver Age. I suspect the blame lies with Schwartz in the editor's seat.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #25: Kupperberg and Sherman-Tereno/Rodriquez open with Arion lost in the Darkworld with no way home after the defeat of Garn Danuuth. Guided by his father, he begins searching through the everchanging landscape for the Nexus, the one place where he might escape. He encounters some alien beings likewise trapped, and they become traveling companions for a time, but they encounter only violence and hardship. Eventually, Arion finds himself at the Nexus. Its elderly guardian demands Arion fight him to the death. Only one of them may leave Darkworld. Arion rejects all the violence and refuses to fight the old man. In being willing to be sacrificed, he frees both himself and the old alien, and they return home.

While the solution to Arion's conundrum was fairly obvious, I thought, this sojourn into Darkworld was a nice change of pace. 

All-Star Squadron #38: I owned this issue as a kid. Any new hero appearance was interesting to me, and I was unaware of Amazing Man prior to this. Thomas and Hoberg/Collins follow-up the events of last issue as a group of All-Stars arrive in Detroit to find Amazing Man. They encounter more racism than they expected and a Phantom Empire (Klan stand-in) rally attempting to drum up support for stopping black migrants to the city from getting housing. In a clash, Amazing Man is defeated by the masked Real American, who is somehow able to drain his powers. Trying to serve the law rather than justice, the All-Stars are spurned by both sides in the conflict. Meanwhile, in Washington, Green Lantern and Hawkman fail to persuade President Roosevelt to lend a hand, so they decide to fly off to aid their comrades.

Detective Comics #544: Nocturna is forced to attack the Thief of Night to save Batman's life, but the Thief gets away. She reveals she knows Batman's secret identity and again suggests they marry and be parents to Jason. Otherwise, she'll keep his secret, but she will still compete with Bruce for custody. Batman is so enchanted by her that he just has to get away rather than give an answer. The trail of the Thief is a dead end, but Batman has better luck pressuring the recently released hitman that tried to kill Bullock. The assassin reveals he's a member of Fang's crew doing the bidding of Mayor Hill. Convinced Hill is also responsible for Bruce's legal troubles, Batman vows to take the Mayor down. Meanwhile, Nocturna turns up the charm on Jason, too.

Omega Men Annual #1: Moench again leans into his very science fantasy interpretation of the Omega Men, as he and Niño/Smith revisit the situation with Harpis' missing wings. They fly through space (telekinetically, not by flapping, if that matters) chased by Hokum and the Citadel and Harpis. The other Omega Men are chasing after her. They come to the planet Sindromeda where a long-ago accident has created a hellworld and a psychically empowered monster. Confronting her on past, and with the help of a balloon-like grafalloon, Harpis reclaims her wings, but refuses to kill the creature that had usurped them. Whether this controversial-among-her-fellows decision leads to good or ill in the future is purposely left unrevealed.

Sun Devils #5: Rik and Anomie are not quite as dead as it appeared last issue, but they are still being attacked by a relentless sauroid warrior. Their friends eventually come to the rescue but not before we get some of Scylla's backstory--and the revelation that there's a traitor among the Sun Devils. The rescue may be too late, though, as Anomie returns to consciousness to see Rik floating away into space, the helmet of his spacesuit shattered.

Super Powers #5: Kirby takes the reigns for this final issue, and the art gets a bit better, but unfortunately Theakston's inks smother a lot of Kirby's detail, so it doesn't look all that great. Despite the failures of Darkseid's emissaries, his invasion of Earth commences, but Metron joins in on the side of the heroes. The seed of Apokolips' armies defeat are in the powers given to Earth's villains. Anyway, I guess this helped sell toys. It was also probably a lot of kids' first introduction to Kirby.

Tales of the Legion #316: Newell works from a plot by Levitz/Giffen as Wildfire finds himself again in the Dream Dimension with the two Invisible Kids. Invisible Kid II has figured something out about these strange evens and reveals that Lyle Norg is actually a demon looking to trap them. The two manage to trick the creature and escape.

In the backup by Levitz/Newell and Tuska/Kesel, the other Heroes of Lallor conspire to help Duplicate Boy regain his confidence and his powers as he mops over Shrinking Violet dumping him.

World's Finest Comics #309: Busiek and a journeyman Texiera with inks by Alcala have Superman made the trustee of wealthy businessman Raymond Arnau's estate. Since Arnau appears to have been murdered, the selection of Superman seems particular significant, so he asks Batman to help him investigate. After some investigative work, the two heroes discover that Arnau's former partner Crane is wearing a powered suit and running a criminal operation as Quantum--and he murdered Arnau when he found out. As seems to happen a lot these days, Quantum's suit is able to emit Kryptonite radiation, but Batman is able to take out the villain while he's gloating. 

A Few More Words from the Wyvern's Prophet

Work in progress from Jason

While we're awaiting the technically still awaiting the announcement of the winners of the Appx. N Jam, I've been thinking about what's next for my project. Specifically, I'd like to do an expanded to include things I just could fit into 4 pages.

This will include things like more GM guidance for how to run the factions, particularly once their "balance" has been disrupted by the PCs arrival, and some additional encounters including a chance to visit the accumulator core of the installation and learn the strange fate of Dhu Rojat, former keeper.

Best of all though, it means more art from Jason Sholtis.

This won't be massive expansion. It's still intended to be a minor adventure. A side encounter in a hexcrawl, perhaps. Hopefully, though, this version will improve upon the basic concept. I'm probably bring it to drivethru as a pay what you want.

Cover Design

 I have been recently thinking about adding a page on the blog with a complete listing of my rpg related works including both things I have written and things for which I did some graphic design. Easily, some of my best collaborations in this regard have been with Jason Sholtis.

I'm particularly proud of the alternate covers I did for Completely Unfathomable, though I wasn't directly involved with the final decisions and preparation for print, and with the rush to get the project over the finishline, they maybe didn't turn out as well as they might have.

The one that was used for the final cover was this one with refer to as the "blacklight cover." It isn't blacklight, really, but I colored Jason's art in that garish sort of way to look like it might be.

Originally, we had designed it to use the logo I had made for the original Operation Unfathomable, but on seeing the final mockup Jason was gracious enough to let me quickly do another one I thought would fit the image better.

I had originally designed other covers for the various editions of the book, in the end I believe they just went with the one and the others were just given as extras? Anyway, my favorite of all of them was the faux bubble card wrapper cover:

Recently, Jason and I collaborated again on a cover for my Appx. N Jam submission. He held off his usual grayscale shading to make it easier for me to color. I added some texture in the background I hoped support his great image. The logo hand-drawn (or handconstructed digitally really) based on the title text of the Ace Double edition of People of the Lens by Leigh Brackett was actually the first thing done. Jason and I worked out the cover layout in discussion and then he drew the image.

Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1984 (week 3)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on August 16, 1984.

Legion of Super-Heroes #4: The plan of the Legion of Super-Villains is revealed as they cause Orando to be transported to another universe.  While the Legionnaires back in the main universe are at a loss, Light Lass escapes, regaining her lightning powers once more, and frees her captured comrades. In a life-or-death combat with Nemesis Kid, Karate Kid is pushed to his limited, but assistance from Projectra allows him to destroy the villain's plant-moving device, returning Orando to the mainstream universe--but at the cost of his life. Intense action from Levitz/Giffen and Lightle/Mahlstedt!

Batman and the Outsiders #15: Von Eeden steps in for art duties as Batman and the Outsiders are challenged to a duel against Maxie Zeus and his New Olympians during the 1984 Summer Olympics. Each of the Outsiders is paired off against a different New Olympian for a specified contest, but ultimately it turns to one-on-on combat where the Outsiders are victorious. In the meantime, Batman learns what Maxie is after: all this was so Zeus could provide his daughter, Medea, with a mother figure. He just intended to do it by kidnapping an Olympic athlete. When the truth is revealed, Lacinia agrees to take care of Medea, and Zeus is willingly taken to the authorities.

Blue Devil #6: This is done-in-one that keeps up the humorous tone but doesn't really deal with the ongoing story elements, other than Dan Cassidy getting used to his condition. On the planet Maldor, two ne'er-do-well aliens, Jorji and Lehni (get it?), are running from the robot cops and accidentally go through a transport portal to Earth. There, they mistake Blue Devil for a cop, and get into a brawl at a studio party, until the robot cops arrive and they have to join forces. The Cullins/Colon pairing on art for some reason doesn't work as well in the first few pages, but mid-issue they hit their stride.

Green Lantern #182: In the wake of Hal's resignation from the Corps, he visits the grave of Abin Sur (providing a chance to recap his origin). Meanwhile, the Guardians have no choice but to select a new Green Lantern. It's just in time, too, because Major Disaster attacks a dam, demanding a rematch with Green Lantern. He's angered and confused, and Hal is shocked, when John Stewart arrives as Earth's new protector.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Cavalieri and Kevin O'Neil we go to the planet Grenda, where Yron is critical of the planet's fallen Green Lantern, Stel, and when the Krydos invade, also its new protector from another world. Yron thinks he could do it better, so he attacks the Lantern and demands the guy take him to Oa. Surprisingly, Yron's tactics work, and soon he's a new Green Lantern! However, when it uses his power in an attempt to save his people, he winds up harming them. This story is really made interesting by O'Neil's art that brings a 2000AD vibe to it.

Infinity, Inc. #8: We're still seeing everything the JSA members gone ruthless are doing, and the Infinitors and other Society members being unable to stop them. Green Lantern takes over the world's broadcasting airways. The Atom fights Nuklon at a nuclear reactor, and the kid loses and is apparently killed. Wonder Woman slaps around her own offspring as well as Hawkman's son before taking Steve Trevor to Paradise Island to save his life. Meanwhile, Dr. Mid-Nite and Shiera Hall search for the Ultra-Humanite, and Ultra makes a call to the Monitor.

New Talent Showcase #11: Well, there are fewer superhero stories this issue and some early (and amateurish) work by some artists that will be well known in a few years. The first of those is Tom Grindberg who is with Newell on a story of a disabled Native American(ish) boy who overcomes his disability and the prejudice of his tribe to become a great warrior after he befriends the horse of his dreams (literally): a black beauty he names Night Mare. 

The next story is a very 80s tale of a low intellectual functioning Vietnam vet who snaps and goes on a rampage after an ambitious journalist wrongly accuses him of having killed a child. It's got art by Breyfogle, but he hasn't developed his distinctive style yet. Then there's a comedic (I guess) detective piece by Timmons and Schwartz that I couldn't get into enough to tell you what happened. There's Nick O'Tyme (again). Finally, we get the follow-up to last issue's superhero story "Still Only Human," which is just as amateurish as last installment. 

Saga of Swamp Thing #30: Moore and Bissette/Alcala continue a slow build with Arcane taking time to explain to Abbie how he came to be in possession of Matt's body and Matt's reality manipulation power. Then he taunts the Swamp Thing and leads him to Abbie--who is now dead.

The most interesting thing about this story is how tied to the DCU it is. The Monitor makes an appearance. Arcane's magical power level is compared to that of the Spectre or Trigon. The Joker even gets a cameo. 

Sgt. Rock #394: In the main story, Rock and Easy get through a remarkable day without anybody dying, including any of the Germans they are in conflict with, despite Worry Wort being sure his number is up. The other stories are a short about pilot who is convinced he's got gremlins, and a tale set in ancient Rome where a group of rebellious gladiators see how a cruel Emperor likes risk his life in the arena in front of a fickle crowd.

Warlord #87: I reviewed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and friends face difficulties taking the captured Qlov back to the Sky City when they are pursued by a Qlov vessel. They are rescued by the timely arrival of the flying city of D'roz.

Thriller #12: DuBay/Niño sort of rally here at the end, I think, as things wrap up better than I might have expected from the last couple of issues. Or Dubay does. I don't know what's going on with Niño's art here, but it is just not up to his usual standards. Anyway, Lusk and friends are provoking a nuclear war to actually bring about the enlightenment of humankind and Angie seems to be helping them. There's a race against time element as the Seven Seconds work to stop things--and appear to make the bad decision to launch the U.S.'s missiles. Only they don't, because Angie has a plan and has been working Lusk. As the story closes, everyone is hopeful for a world with nuclear disarmament. 

While it's easy to criticize this rump half of the series, the truth is the first half was kind of rough, too. Thriller was always better in conception than execution. Whether with time and a sympathetic editor it could have become something great or whether Fleming's and von Eeden's reach had exceeded their grasp, we'll never know.

The Non-Fantasy Origins of Fiend Folio Monsters

I've mentioned before how the original Fiend Folio (as compared to the Monster Manual) seems suited as inspiration for sci-fi creatures. In part, I think that's because the inspiration for so many of them seem to lie outside fantasy fiction or myth and legend. They owe their creation to media that would generally be placed in some other genre. 

Here are a few I'm aware of whose origins I think are generally accepted, but I'm sure there are more:

Grimlock 
(by Albie Fiore)
Inspired by the morlocks in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (1895), particularly their portrayal in the 1960 film by George Pal.

Meenlock
(by Peter Korabik)
While the name likely has its origins in Wells' morlocks again, their portrayal adapts the demonic entities from the 1973 TV movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark written by Nigel McKeand and remade in 2011 by Guillermo del Toro.

Art by David Mattingly

Quaggoth
(by Andrew Torchia)
Their name was possibly coined by blending Sasquatch and Sagoth, a race of ape-like humanoids (serving the "orc" role) appearing in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar series, first appearing in At The Earth's Core (1914).

Art by Frazetta

Qsquip

(by Brendan Bulger)

Their description matches the ulsio (Barsoomian rat) first described in "City of Mummies" (Amazing Stories, 1941) later fixed up into Llana of Gathol (1948).

Art by Wayne Barlowe

Xill

(by Brian Ashbury)

Inspired by the alien ixtl in "Discord in Scarlet" (Astounding, 1939) by A.E. von Vogt fixed up into Voyage of the Star Beagle (1950).

Wednesday Comics: DC, November 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 August 9, 1984. 

Batman #376: A misleading cover here by Hannigan/Giordano. Maybe it's meant to be symbolic? Natalia Knight (Nocturna) seems to be winning the custody battle for Jason, thanks to Bruce's lack of chill in the courtroom, and perhaps the influence of Mayor Hill on the proceedings. It doesn't help that Jason told the court he wants to live with Natalia, because he thinks she's up to something and wants to go undercover to stop her. As Batman, Bruce is drawn to Nocturna, particularly given her intoxicant perfume, but are interrupted briefly by Anton the Slayer of Night who's even more jealous now that Nocturna has rejected him for committing murder and despoiling the night. Dangeorus interruptions aside, the two finally get their kiss.

Arak, Son of Thunder #38: Valda and Malagigi arrive in Baghdad at the court of Harun Al-Rashid as emissaries of Charlemagne, but don't find it as an enlightened a place as they had thought. While touring the dungeons (as one does) with Vizier Barmak they find Arak under torture. They free him and he explains how he and his companions were captued by Barmak in the desert. Sharizad is in the harem, Alsind is toiling as an alchemist, and Satyricus is in the menagerie. Alsind causes an explosion and escapes, and discovers Satyricus amid strange animals.

Flash #339: Bates and Infantino/McLaughlin plod along with the Trial of the Flash storyline, as Cecile interviews Barry's parents about the events at the wedding, then gets down to jury selection. Meanwhile, the Rogues contrive to make normally gentle Dufus, now armored up as Big Sir, enraged at the Flash. Big Sir attacks with ferocity, knocking out the Flash and flying off with him. The Monitor watches all of this only mild interest. 

G.I. Combat #271: In the Haunted Tank story, Craig is seriously injured on his birthday no less, but the crew are detoured from an attempt to get him to a doctor by the need to help Rock and Easy Company. Ultimately, a captured German physician renders aid and a German soldier with the same blood type agrees to give a blood transfusion.

 In the next story, Kashdan and Tlaloc gives the history of a particular bugle that plays its unlikely "Last Charge" atop a windmill in World War II. Then, Kashdan and Matucenio have a quick-thinking medic leave a map to Japanese tunnels on the back of another soldier in iodine before they are killed. Drake and Felugi have a paratrooper in France find a momento of his father than died in World War I. Finally, the Mercenaries head into the desert of Iran to take on a fanatical terrorist cult.

Jemm, Son of Saturn #3: Potter and Colan/Janson leave Jemm and friends in the sewer so we can get a flashback to Jemm's origin. We learn of the conflict between the polar White Saturnians and the desert-dwelling Red Saturnians and their fight over the only fertile region on the planet. Jemm is a prince of that verdant kingdom, educated in the ways of peace, and believed to be a ruler destined to bring complete peace to his world. Things don't go well though, and he has to flee, but after both races are almost completely wiped out. The robots of the White Martians continue to pursue him. Meanwhile, the government, considering the origins of the spacecraft, consults with an expert on extraterrestrials: Superman.

It's interesting that in 1984 the series goes all-in on a Saturn both with a rocky surface and life-bearing. I understand they hadn't yet retconned the Martian Manhunter's Mars, but that still requires less suspension of disbelief at that point than Saturn. Plus, Potter just replicates the ethnic conflict of DC's Mars to a new planet.

Omega Men #20: Moench and Smith/Magyar finally get Lobo to the asteroid to rescue the Omega Men before the force from Euphorix can destroy it. Tigorr and Primus are gone through a teleporter, though, and in the hands of a Psion who plans to vivisect them. They escape and trap the Psion is his own duplicator device. Lobo and the others figure out where they must be and pick them up to. I haven't mentioned it before, but there have been references to Lobo being the last Velorpian and the duplication process was derived from Velorpian reproduction. We get the story the destruction of his people at the hands of the Psions in this issue. His Czarnian background is a post-Crisis invention.

Star Trek #8: Barr and Sutton/Villagran continue their Saavik story, bridging her appearances in STII and STIII. In the grip of the pon farr blood fever, she threatens the Enterprise her attempt to take her shuttle to her betrothed, Xon. Xon is actually undercover, posing as a Romulan on a research facility near the Galactic Barrier. A Romulan scientist is trying to recreate the empowering of Mitchell and Dehner in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." They partially succeed, but then Saavik shows up with Enterprise close behind. They rescue Xon from interrogation and manage to destroy the Romulan base, then trick a Romulan warbird (which looks like the one in the original series episode "Balance of Terror" and not again).

Superman #401: Bates and SWan/Oksner revert to a more Superman: The Movie version of Luthor after the more vengeful version of recent appearances. They do keep the Lexorian warsuit, though. In fact, Luthor manages to trap Superman within the suit, adding features that make it difficult for the Man of Steel to use his powers to escape or to get help. Ultimately, though, he outsmarts Luthor by using heat vision to leave a Kryptonian message for Jimmy, and he contacts Supergirl, who uses a ruse to get Luthor to release her cousin. Later, however, Luthor muses to himself that the warsuit analyzed Superman's physical being and transmitted the information to him, which he intends to use against the Man of Steel in their next encounter.

Tales of the Teen Titans #48: A group of super-powered synthetic humanoids created in Dayton Laboratories, the RECOMbatants escape to the streets of Las Vegas, and the Titans are called in to help apprehend them. In the midst of their clash, the Titans realize the Recombatants just want to live normal lives and decide to help them. Ultimately, the synthetic beings realize their situation is hopeless and destroy themselves in a way that prevents the lab from making more like them. Meanwhile, back in New York, Gar Logan begins planning Donna Troy and Terry Long's wedding celebration at Dayton Estates, and Terry gets some off-color wedding presents from his students. After the Titans get back from Vegas, Joe Wilson again attempts unsuccessfully to reach out to Raven.

Wolfman and Rude/Gordon must have coordinated this issue with Evanier and Meugniot on Eclipse Comics' DNAgents. This issue with his stand-ins for that title's team comes about 3 weeks after the DNAgents faced a group of Titan stand-ins, Project Youngblood in DNAgents #14.

There's also a Flash Force 2000 bonus this issue by Fleming and Cowan/Trapani. It's based on a Matchbox toyline I didn't remember that DC did mini-comics for. It's about a post-apocalyptic yarn where both sides use vehicles with artificial intelligence.

Spelljammer Like This

To my mind, the these works and works provoke an impeccable Spelljammer vibe:

Don Lawrence (Storm)

Al Williamson

Magnus (Milady 3000, I Briganti)

Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon)

Howard Chaykin (Cody Starbuck, Ironwolf)